The Mountain of Shadows
Chapter 2: Shadows Rising
-Twilight’s Castle-
It was the morning after the quake as Twilight sat with her friends in the main dining area. They had a busy day yesterday and only now were talking about it over breakfast. Spike had set up trays of pancakes and waffles of various styles as the girls were talking about yesterday.
“Darn yesterday was a nasty one,” Applejack spoke up in her usual southern accent taking a try of food for herself. “I had to round out all the cattle that got spooked, they nearly ran right back into town again like last time. Not to mention all the apples that fell loose and some minor repairs all over the place.”
“Poor old Big Mac and Apple Bloom were darn tuckered out by the end of the day.” She wasn’t one to talk either as she had fallen asleep as soon as she had hit her bed. If the roosters hadn’t woke her up she might still be asleep.
“Oh I know it was horrid,” Rarity put a hoof to her head in a slightly dramatic fashion. “My entire store had to be fixed up. Everything got knocked down and all my materials had to be sorted all over again. It took me simply forever to get everything right again not to mention poor Opal was just inconsolable.”
Her cat had been so scared that it had taken Rarity two hours just to get the cat off a tall self that had held lots of her fabrics. How her precious little pet even managed to get up there was a mystery. She had tried to magically place her cat on the ground but she simply struggled or rushed right back up there.
“All my animal friends were so scared,” Fluttershy spoke up next. “The poor things were terrified and I had to round them all up and make sure they were all alright.”
“None of them were hurt were they?” Rarity asked.
“Thankfully no but a few of my birdhouses fell and I have to make some new ones.” She replied she had already started and thankfully the birds were sharing the houses that didn’t fall to the ground and had broken. She was just thankful it wasn’t nesting season and there had been no baby eggs in them. That would have been horrible to her to witness. When she finished she planned to make sure that nothing like this happened again in the future.
Rainbow Dash grunted as she had her head resting on the table. “Man I really wanted to experience a quake just once.”
“Wait, you didn’t?” Twilight asked her colorful friend.
“Uh, hello? I spend more time in the sky than on the ground, I live in a cloud and even on the ground I tend to hover a lot. Plus we don’t get them around here all that much so I’ve never felt what one is like on the ground.” Rainbow explained she had actually been working with her team to clear the clouds when the quake hit. At first she hadn’t even noticed what was really going on until it was all over.
“Oh oh, you missed out then,” Pinkie Pie spoke up as happy as ever. “It’s really fun and exciting as everything shakes.” To prove her point she started shaking up and down like a jackhammer. “The only problem is the mess after it.”
“I heard that Sugar Cube Corner was a mess,” Twilight commented having read a lot of the reports yesterday on all the damages.
“Oh it was,” Pinkie nodded quickly. “Me and Mr. Cake had to clean up all the food that spilled all over the place. All the cupcakes were on the floors, the cakes were on the walls, all the frosting was all over the place. It was fun and yummy to clean up but it took forever and Mrs. Cake had to help the twins they were so scared when it happened but in the end it was all good. We all came together and got the place up and running again by the end of the day and the twins were laughing and having fun again.”
“I’m just thankful there wasn’t too much damage,” Twilight sighed. “Even though the village wasn’t built in mind for quakes we didn’t have much in the way of damage. Although the list of injuries could have been better.”
“No pony was serious hurt were they?” Applejack asked she hadn’t heard of anything about anyone seriously hurt but she could have missed something.
“The worst was that poor stallion that had been on a ladder outside his home,” Twilight told them. “He fell off it and ended up in the hospital with a broken leg but the doctor said he was going to make a full recovery in time.”
“Oh that poor stallion, who was it? I want to give them a get better soon flowers or something.” Fluttershy spoke up making a mental list of all the things she would need.
“I think it was Lucky Horseshoe.” Twilight said remembering the report.
“I swear for a guy that’s named Lucy he has anything but luck,” Rainbow rolled her eyes as it was kind of a joke around the town how Lucky was one of the most unlucky of ponies. Well when your cutie mark is three upside down 7s it was no wonder. “I didn’t even know it had been him next to me in the hospital that time I was in there because of the body cast he had been in.”
“Still I think it will be nice for somepony to visit him,” Fluttershy told her friend.
“Thankfully other than him it wasn’t too bad just some minor injuries,” Twilight finished. “I had to get everything written down and sent a report to Princess Celestia last night.”
“Yeah we were working late last night,” Spike said after finishing off his meal.
“Well we had to Spike,” Twilight explained to him. “We needed to get an accurate assessment for all damages and injuries as I’m sure she wanted to know what happened. All other towns will most likely have sent in their own reports because Princess Celestia would need to know if any major damage happened.”
“I’ve even been thinking about how to quake proof the town for future ones,” Twilight said proudly. “I’m thinking of going over to Mayor Mare when I’m done with the proposal.”
“Twilight it was one quake in...I can’t remember the last time we had one,” Rarity told her. “Although terrifying, remember all the trouble we went to with that whole warning from the future thing you told us about?”
Twilight blushed remembering that whole ordeal, she had been so worried about this ‘dangerous future’ she had done everything and anything to try and prevent it. Even getting the whole town danger proofed and in the end it had all been for nothing. “Did you have to remind me of that?”
“You were only trying to think of what was best for everypony,” Fluttershy offered trying to sooth the blow.
“I know,” Twilight thought about it. “Okay maybe I’ll just draw up a proposition for the mayor and she can decide if the town needs it. In fact I better research just how many quakes this town has had.” Her eyes lit up a little at the thought of research one of her favorite things to do.
“Well I think Granny Smith might help,” Applejack told her friend thinking of her grandmother. “She’s lived here longer than anypony else so she would know, although she might get the exact dates confused if she remembers them.”
She loved her grandmother dearly but AJ knew that Granny’s memories ain’t what they used to be.
“Great,” Twilight liked a starting point. “Although I do wonder where it came from originally.”
Twilight thought about it, the things that could cause a quake were few, either a shifting of the crust, or a volcano erupting but they would have seen the smoke if that was the case. The same with a giant impacting meteor, that would have been seen not to mention heard before it impacted. Excessive underground tunneling could do it from the large caves caving in on themselves. That made her think of the Diamond Dogs, she hoped they hadn’t been digging too dangerously as there was a pack close to Ponyville but they kept to themselves normally. Okay there was that one time with Rarity and they did make a lot of tunnels underground.
Well whatever had caused it, it was a mystery and she did love a good mystery from time to time.
-Newberry Village-
It was a nice little village, it had only been around for about a century but it was a close knit village where every pony knew each other. It was a farming village where of course the main export was berries. You could find a lot of berries being grown here, from raspberries to blue berries and more.
Two mares were currently walking to the center of the village were an older one and a younger one a pair of sisters. The elder of the two was a light green in color with a mane of white in twin pigtails, with a mark of a tree on her flank. The smaller had the same mane color but she didn’t have a cutie mark yet and her coat was a blue color.
“Come on sis why can’t I help with the planting of the trees?”
“I told you Willow, you have school and these new saplings need to be planted before the fall,” her older sister Evergreen said with a smile. She liked that her sister wanted to help her in her duties as the pony that helped keep the forest near their village alive and well but she still had school to go to. “Besides I know for a fact the real reason is because you have a test that day.”
“Awww, but math is so boring,” Willow pouted.
As they entered the center of the village they could see stalls all over the place for various items being sold. They were here to buy some stuff for their mother as the two Earth Ponies looked around. The elder sister had the list in her saddle bags she had on her as she looked for the first thing she remembered on the list.
“Hey look it’s that strange pony from the woods,” her young sister whispered pointing at him.
Evergreen looked to see him there, he was a very odd stallion that stayed in the woods alone, no pony had seen where he lived. While she had been doing her job as a forest pony she had seen tracks from that wagon of his going deep into the woods, far deeper than mostly anypony else goes, even her.
He came to town from time to time to trade, he came with various items some were wooden pieces of art or tools that were very nicely made. Others were herbs that grew in the deep forest that were hard to find because of how deep you had to travel, sometimes even up into the mountains. There were gems from the mountain range as well from time to time.
He always brought them in that wagon he pulled and he always wore this brown cloak with a hood. It was obviously a well worn article of clothing that had seen a lot of use and had personal repairs done to it. His dark purple coat could be seen but only his legs and part of his face and neck were seen. She had always been unsure about him like many of the other ponies. It was just odd how he kept to himself a lot but when he came into town he wasn’t unfriendly just kind of distant.
He was also kind of big for a pony, larger than the normal stallion which didn’t help with how intimidating he could be. There were ponies that bought from him regularly and they always said he was fair and not as scary as he might first seem but many still were a little weary of him.
“I heard the kids at school say he does black magic in the forest,” Willow whispered out looking a little scared of him.
“Willow that’s a horrible thing to say,” Evergreen chided her young sister. “Besides he’s not a unicorn how could he do regular magic like that let alone black magic?”
The young girl thought about it, “oh right that makes sense but he’s still kind of scary.”
“You really shouldn’t judge a pony by their looks,” Evergreen told her.
“Then how come you never went up to talk to him before?” Her sister asked innocently enough.
“Uh...well...” The truth was she was nervous she just didn’t know how to go up and talk to this strange pony. “I just never wanted anything he sold.”
Her little sister looked up at Evergreen with a look that said she didn’t totally believe her but paused when something caught her attention. She thought she saw something move in the corner of her vision and looked around. At first she didn’t see anything but then behind one of the houses there had been something at the corner. She narrowed her eyes trying to make it out but it was strangely all black and hard to make out the form.
But then it started to come closer and as she got a good look at it, it was like something out of a nightmare and worse, there were others behind it.
“S-sis!” Willow backed up into her sister.
“What is it....” she paused seeing her sister’s scared face and looked up to where she was looking. Evergreen couldn’t help it, she screamed getting not only every pony’s attention but apparently the creatures as well. They bared their teeth as a screeching sound came from them as they rushed forward.
Evergreen quickly wrapped her sister up trying to protect her out of instinct. She stared wide eyed in fear as the lead creature was bearing down on them. She had never been that scared in her life, she wanted to run but her body wouldn’t move and she couldn’t leave her little sister unprotected. The malformed dark creature tore into the earth with claws, it was thin and moved unnaturally.
It leapt as Evergreen was preparing to push her sister away and take the attack but it never came. A blur ran in front of her as the Peddler pony from the forest rushed in and with his massive body struck the creature sending it flying back. The hood had flown back to reveal that he had a long mane of black hair that was wild and unkempt but in that moment she didn’t care.
“Get to the center of town,” he spoke and for the first time she heard the deep voice. He seemed aware she hadn’t moved and he turned his head to lock eyes with her as she saw his blue eyes as hard as steel.
“Move!” he said in a loud voice not yelling it was more commanding. Whatever it was it had the effect of jolting her moving as she pushed her sister forward. They ran to the center of town just as he told them and already she could see various ponies doing the same.
The creatures were starting to move out among the ponies looking all over the place almost like they didn’t know what to do first but the ill intend was clear. She dodged behind a stand with her sister as she pocked her head out. Some of the ponies were fighting the creatures, a few unicorns were using various objects with their magic as improvised weapons. What really caught her attention was the pony from the forest.
She had never see anypony move like he did, despite his size he moved quickly and with a fury she had never seen before. He almost danced among the creatures, there one moment and suddenly in a different spot just as the creatures tried to attack him.
Evergreen saw one of his large hooves slam into a creatures head sending it slamming into the side of the building with enough force that a normal pony most likely would have gotten something broken. Instead what happened not only shocked her but him as well as he took pause at the creature’s body. It seemed to melt into a pile of black goo as it bobbled and seemed to hiss as it slowly vaporized leaving nothing but a black ash behind.
She had never seen anything like it and it was only because he was in her line of sight that she noticed that two of the creatures were sneaking up behind him. She had to do something to warn him as she started to yell out to him.
“Behind y-!” She didn’t get to finish as with his back hooves he kicked the two creatures with his strong legs. She blinked a few times as he had somehow known they had been behind him, she watched as he looked around and noticed her. He locked eyes with her and gave a small nod as he went to attack more of the creatures.
Although she hadn’t really done much she felt a little embarrassed that she had yelled out to help him but it looked like he didn’t need it. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him as one after another he went after the creatures and exterminated them with an almost ruthless determination. He showed no fear at all at the sight as he battled on like it was just another day for him.
“Sis,” came a frightened cry as she looked down to see her little sister shaking in near tears.
Evergreen immediately ducked down and wrapped her sister closer to her. “It will be okay Willow, everything will be okay, I’m here and I will not let anything happen to you.”
“I’m scared, I want mommy and daddy,” she whimpered.
“It’s okay I’m here I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Just hold onto me okay?”
The young filly nodded into her sister’s chest. Evergreen looked around them as ponies were either hiding or fending off the creatures, some were flying in the air as the few Pegasus ponies did their best flying in patterns to avoid being attacked while attacking the flying versions of the creatures. They would loop and bank, a few of the creatures slammed into houses as they turned to that black slime as they faded into ash.
Although ponies were not an aggressive species they did fight to protect each other and their homes when the time came. Unicorns were making barriers while Earth ponies used their natural strength to fend off attacks. Thankfully the creatures were few in number as none of them were trained fighters, the ponies of this village were largely farmers and merchants by trade.
There was one exception though as the mysterious pony form the woods fought the creatures and this was noticed by a few of the residents. Evergreen could see him now as he charged into one that was going for a pair of ponies taking shelter by an overturned cart. He slammed head first into the thing and then leapt forward to smash the head with his hoof. He never once hesitated and acted with lightning quick efficiency. One by one he managed to whittle down the creatures and with the other ponies helping soon they had managed to defeat all the creatures that had come into the village.
When it was all over everypony gathered together in the center of town.
“What in the name of Celestia were those things?” An older stallion asked looking around at all the ash piles. This was a greying older Earth pony by the name of Steel Hoof the town’s blacksmith and metal worker.
“I have no idea,” a slightly injured Pegasus said as her wing had taken a bite when she had flown too low, one of the things had been on the roof of the building and jumped onto her back. She had shook it off but not before it bit her wing. “I really hope I don’t get sick or something from that thing’s teeth.”
“You might want to get the doc to look at you just in case,” Steel said looking around. The place was a mess with overturned carts, stands and everything else. Thankfully no pony was killed but a few were sporting some injuries a couple the doc was looking at placing a bandage around more serious claw marks on one.
He turned to see the large stallion from the woods hooking up his cart, he had seen the young stallion in that fight. Although he was a mystery to the village he was glad to have had him here on this day. Steel walked over to him. “Thanks for your help there, you really showed those things something.”
In response the purple pony pulled his hood back on, “It wasn’t an issue but you should send word to Canterlot. I have never heard or seen anything like these creatures before and there could be more, maybe get the Guard to come down here and do some searching to find out where these things came from and if there are more out there.”
Steel nodded it was a good idea, the mayor could send it out with a priority mail carrier. He looked at the pony in front of him, the way the stallion fought told him that this pony was no stranger to fights and he had to have had training. He decided to try a little fishing. “So when were you in the guard?”
“I wasn’t in the guard,” he told the older stallion.
“Oh? You sure fought like someone who I would expect to have military training.”
He paused to consider an answer, “It wasn’t the guard but something close to it.”
That gave the older pony something to think of, before he have moved out here for a more quiet life with his family he had studied and worked under the armourer in Canterlot. He had seen the guard in his youth training sometimes when he made deliveries for their armor and weapons. The way this pony in front of him moved had reminded him a lot of those times. He didn’t feel like he was being lied to but if he wasn’t in the Guard there weren’t many options.
“That so?”
“It’s not around anymore, it was...a family tradition a long time ago.”
“Come from a long line of fighters then?” Steel figured he could pry a little personal history out of him since no pony knew much of anything of the stranger that showed up a few years back.
“A very long line,” he said cryptically.
It was then that two young mares walked up to them, he knew them both as Evergreen Tree and her little sister Willow Tree.
“E-excuse me?” Evergreen said nervously coming up to them and facing the other male pony. “I just wanted to thank you for saving me and my sister.”
He looked at her and nodded his head. “Happy to help.”
With that he finished putting on his harness making ready to go home.
“Are you sure you have to leave right away, I mean I know my parents would want to thank you too.” Evergreen said to him hoping he would stay. He has saved their lives and she really wanted to return his kindness plus now that she got up and close, he wasn’t that scary. He was kind of handsome in a rugged kind of way and his deep voice was somewhat soothing to hear when he did talk.
Steel gave the young mare a look and tried to hide a smirk, ah to be young again he thought to himself.
The purple stallion gave her an apologetic look, “I’m sorry I have to get back home to check to make sure those things didn’t come by and wreck anything. I do appreciate it thought and I’m glad that you and your sister are fine.”
“O-oh okay then,” Evergreen’s ears flattened a bit in disappointment her younger sister looked up at the large pony.
“Mister I wanted to thank you too for fighting the monsters.” She said to him no longer afraid of him smiling up at him. “Everypony at school says you’re scary but you’re actually really nice.”
He gave her a small smile and nodded his head to them as the girls heard their parents calling their names. They were most likely worried about them and were searching for their children. Evergreen said their goodbyes as the two rushed to their parents side to let them know they were alright.
Steel looked at the other pony, “You do realize that mare was looking for an excuse to spend some time with you.”
The other stallion’s face got more serious as any good humor seemed to melt away as he looked at him and for a moment Steel felt like the pony in front of him had aged suddenly. “I know but it wouldn’t work out in the end.”
Then he just started moving out without another word leaving Steel Hoof scratching his head in confusion. He really just didn’t know what to think of that strange pony as he made his way to the forest.
Next up Chapter 3: Luna and the Elements