//------------------------------// // 17 // Story: Seven Lights // by Fresnor //------------------------------// “I really love the early months of winter. So many of the dangerous animals are hibernating, I can get a lot of practice refining my fire magic to keep myself warm, and the air smells so crisp and clean.” Aegis Flare inhales deeply through her nose as she takes in the scents of the environment around her before she starts hacking up a storm as a foul scent reaches her. Once she recovers she covers her nose with a hoof as she looks around in confusion. “Ugh, what in the world is that stench? If it wasn't for it being winter I would have thought something had died.” Digging through her bags she pulls out a strip of cloth to wrap around her muzzle before she adjusts her goggles and starts searching for the source of the smell. With how clear the air is of all other scents it doesn't take long to find the source and she looks around with a bit of wonder. “Well this is an interesting find. I think this might be the perfect place to bring Scootaloo for our little winter trip. I think I know a few others that would enjoy this place as well.” She would be a poor sister if she didn't thoroughly examine the area for danger but the smell seemed to have driven off most of the wildlife that would still be active. Looking over the area she found nothing that was overly dangerous, though she made sure to mark a couple areas as unsafe for those not prepared. As she was about to leave she made one last walk around the place and found a depression that she had missed before. As she started to walk down into it she was thrown back as her warming spell, which she didn't think to turn off when entering the warmer area, reacted with something in the air causing a small explosion. Once she recovered from the shock wave she let out a little cough before looking back into the depression. “Right, better mark that area as well so that I remember to check it out again when I return.” <><><><><><><> “Darling, is this surprise really worth all this trouble climbing through all the snow through this horrible place? Not to mention those horrible monsters that came after us.” Rarity looks back behind herself at the remains of the timberwolves that had tried to intercept their party. Twilight was also looking at them but was doing so with a more disturbed and slightly queasy look. “And did you really have to go that far with them? I know that timberwolves are a menace and you don't like them but was it necessary to outright kill them like that?” Aegis Flare just rolled her eyes as she checked over Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle after the attack before letting them climb up on her back again. “If it was that easy to kill them then there wouldn't be any anywhere close to Ponyville by now. I'm not even sure what it would take to do that to one of these things. Give it a week or two and whatever is animating these things will make it's way back to their den and into a new body. Fighting them inside the den is even worse as they are back nearly instantly so you'll have an unstoppable tide of them. And for the surprise I'm pretty sure you'll be happy with it.” They all look thoughtful as they consider her words when Scootaloo's ears perk up a bit. “SO wait, those could have been the same ones that... well...” She motioned her hoof towards her sister's scars and while she couldn't see the motion she still understood what she was referring to. “It's possible, but if they are the same ones then I wonder about how intelligent they actually are since they keep coming after me. It's not often that I meet anything during the early winter months so there shouldn't be anything worse than those between Ponyville and our destination.” She moved to the head of the group once again and used her magic to form a barrier to part the worst of the snow as they moved. While it made it extremely easy to walk through the forest it still left enough for Rarity to complain about. A short period later they started nearing the area where the orange mare was leading them and the first signs of it was revealing itself. “Eww, what is that smell? It's like something died.” Scootaloo nodded at Sweetie Belle's words and added her own comment. “Yeah, it's even worse than Sweetie's cooking.” “Hey!” Two of the adults chuckled at this, leaving Twilight a bit confused, as they had experienced the filly's lack of culinary abilities. “What is that smell anyways? I haven't smelled anything like that since Twilight was on a week long study binge during the summer and she forgot to clean up or eat one of her earliest breakfast.” Twilight turned her head to glare back at her dragon assistant with a faint hint of a blush as she couldn't deny it. She then turned to look at Aegis Flare, along with all the others, waiting for an answer. “It just means we are almost there now. At least there is a breeze this time so that the gas doesn't build up to levels like when I found it.” The two adults and three younglings look at her strangely as they don't understand why this makes a good surprise for them. As they continue to walk the smell steadily gets stronger and they try to figure out where it is they are going, though something tickles at the back of the minds of the other two adults. A few minutes later Aegis Flare pushed back a bit of brush and smiled at what she saw. “Here we are now. The surprise just like I told you about.” Stepping through the enshrouding greenery she stepped aside so that the others could move through to get a good view of the place. They all take in the view of the many pools scattered around the place, many of the m with steam coming off of them, along with the yellowish terrain that went with them. Scootaloo leapt off of her sister's back and trotted over to get a closer look at one of the pools before turning back with a look of confusion. “This is the surprise? A bunch of hot muddy pools?” While Aegis Flare rolls her eyes at her sister's comment the others take a better look around the area. “These are hot springs, aren't they? Sulfur hot springs to be exact judging by the smell and the color of the geography. But how can this be out here like this and aren't there usually clouds of hydrogen sulfide in places like this?” All heads turned towards Twilight in confusion, though a light of understanding came to the orange unicorn's eyes a few moments later. “It's an issue with the Everfree Forest, somehow places like this appear from nowhere and stay for a few months before being sent off elsewhere again. You did mention an interest in some of the sights out here and this is a pretty safe example. Though if that gas you mentioned is what I think it is...” Looking around for a moment to orient herself she lit her horn and launched a small ball of fire in the direction of where she last had an issue, much to Twilight's shock. When a small cloud of flames erupted from the depression that had gathered up some more gas again the other looked at it with wide eyes before turning back to the unicorn. “...It should be clear now again, though I've marked the dangerous areas that I've found that you should be careful around, especially the more dangerously hot pools.” The others look over towards one of the marks in the distance that she indicated while looking a bit wary. “Well this place sure is interesting darling, but why would you think that I would want to have anything to do with a place like this?” Aegis Flare raised an eyebrow at her friend before looking around the place again. “Well it may be lacking the usual comforts you would prefer but I'm sure that you can't deny the benefits of a natural spring like this. I remember seeing quite a few magazines on them at the spa that I'm sure you've also read through.” Rarity looked around a bit and noticed her sister and Scootaloo had already moved into one of the nearby pools and were already splashing each other in play. Her main focus though was on the lack of the comforts she would have expected at a resort spring as well as how everything looked. “Well I have been wanting to try out one sometime. I just didn't expect for the first one I have a chance to go to to be so... filthy.” The white unicorn moves over to the pool that the two fillies were playing in and dipped a hoof into the water before examining it closely. While she was doing this the two fillies were whispering to each other while glancing at her. “No you do it, it was your idea. Besides my sister would kill me if I ruined her mane like that.” Rolling her eyes, Scootaloo turned her back towards the prissy unicorn and slowly backed up through the water towards her. When she was close enough she started to buzz her wings rapidly before leaning back for them to dip into the water. Rarity's ears perked up at the sound of the buzzing and when she looked up her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as a wave of water washed over her, flattening her mane. The laughter of the two fillies drew the attention of the rest of the group to see Rarity standing there soaked with her eye twitching to which they backed away from. “Oh It. Is. ON!” At these words the eyes of the fillies widen as Rarity takes a running start before diving in after them to get her revenge. The other two unicorns just watch in amusement as the three splash around while Spike just shakes his head while he builds up a small fire in a safe area for cooking a meal. Shaking their heads, Twilight moved off a distance to examine some of the rock formations while the other unicorn found another pool a distance away to relax in while the other three had it out. Eventually they calmed down and Rarity joined the other unicorn in her pool while the fillies rested elsewhere with the lunch the dragon had prepared. Spike himself was busy hovering over his crush as he served her personally with the various tidbits he had brought for her. “I guess this isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Once you get past the smell it is really quite comfortable here. I wonder if Aloe and Lotus can somehow make something like this at the spa.” Aegis Flare opened her eyes a bit as she glanced over at Rarity before closing them while keeping her head resting on the edge of the pool. “Well I did bring them a few samples to look at so they might have something soon. I think that they use a bit of sulfur in some of their mud bath treatments already but there could be something different about the stuff here. It wouldn't be the worst thing I've had to carry but I'd still have to be careful with the raw sulfur since it can be a bit flammable.” Their conversation was interrupted by a shout of pain from the other unicorn in the area causing them to look over at her in shock to see her rubbing at the base of her horn. “Twilight! What happened? Are you all right?” The purple unicorn looked over at her friends and feebly waved a hoof at them in reassurance. “I'm fine, but I'm not sure what just happened. Everything was fine when I was scanning the area but when I tried to use a more powerful spell there was a backlash from the mana field in the area.” She paused in her rubbing to focus her attention on the local expert of the Everfree. “Flare, have you ever had any problems with it in the entire time that you've been out here?” The orange mare looks thoughtful, though with a hint of confusion, as she thinks back through all her experiences. “I don't think I've ever had any problems with my magic out here, but what exactly is this mana field?” Twilight and Rarity stare at her in shock, before the purple mare brings her other hoof up to her face. “Right, right, the whole spellblind thing. I didn't think it went so far as to prevent you from drawing in the ambient magic as well.” She pauses for a moment before her eyes narrow at the orange mare. “Hold on, if you can't access the field, then that means everything you've done has been with your own personal energy.” Rarity's eyes widen as the implications of that hit her and she turns to stare at the mare next to her. Aegis Flare just shrugs her shoulders at all this and goes back to relaxing again. “It's probably not as impressive as you think. Seeing as I only can do the two things with my magic they have steadily gotten easier over time. It's not any different from how other unicorns struggle with levitation at first until they can do it effortlessly, is it?” Twilight was about to respond to the question but she stopped to think more deeply on the question for a moment. “Well theoretically it would work like that, but I don't think anypony has taken the time to truly study the effects of constant use of the same spells. But even so it would still take a lot of power to do some of the things that you've done.” Still not fully understanding their reactions to this information, Aegis Flare just yawns a bit before chewing on a sandwich that Spike had made. “It's really not that much really. It took almost everything I had to distract that Ursa that one day, and you remember what happened when I tried to block Nightmare Moon's attack.” Rolling her eyes and letting out a sigh of exasperation, Twilight decides to drop the issue for now but adds a note to one of her lists to look into it later. After putting the scroll away she remembers that she had tried to check on this before but was forced to wait then as well. Looking around she doesn't see anything else that she can check on without having more tools so she joins the others in the hot spring. “Still, you could have at least gave me a hint that you were taking us out here so I could have brought a few more instruments with. There is only so much I can do with just magic and the interference of the Everfree's mana field makes most of those option impossible.” She was surprised to get a chuckle out of her friend with that comment who quickly answered her questioning look. “Well if I did tell you then you wouldn't take the chance to relax. You really need to get out of the library more than you do. I think Pinkie was planning some things as well to get you out more as well.” This information left Twilight with a look of worry but when she looked to Rarity for confirmation she didn't get any reassurance. Sighing the purple unicorn settled down in a comfortable spot on the side of the pool and relaxed as much as she could, though the heat of the pool soaking in pushed her further than she intended. The three mares dozed off and when they came to it was much too late to head back to town. It wasn't too hard for them to clear away an area for them to camp out at and with the heat of the springs they didn't need more than a light covering which both Rarity and Aegis Flare had available in their saddlebags that would serve for the purpose. After the sun went down and the others had fallen asleep, Aegis Flare laid on her back, with her sister asleep on her chest, as she stared at the stars above them. The day had gone much better than she expected and she had never thought that she would be able to show others the things she found out here until the events of the Summer Sun Celebration had occurred. Before she drifted off to sleep herself she decided to keep an eye out for more opportunities like that as she found enjoyment in seeing the looks on her friends' faces at seeing the place even if it was a simple place compared to some of the things she had seen. <><><><><><><> The winter months always went by slowly so when the end of winter came around Aegis Flare was itching for something to do. It was always a pain trying to push through the snow even if she would just melt a path in front of her and three months of working like that was two too many for her. She had woken up early to survey the borders of the Everfree as had been her job since the timberwolf attack two years prior. It was only then that she had learned that her parents had always dealt with organizing an emergency response group in case of problems like that or injuries during the days of Winter Wrap-up. After a quick look and not seeing any obvious signs of predators on the borders of the forest she headed back into town to meet with the others in her group. This year there were five of the town's pegasus guards on lookout duty along with nurses Redheart and Tenderheart who answered to Doctor Horse as the medical crew. Once their position were set out they all moved to their positions with her in a position around the middle of the line bordering the Everfree so she could react in any direction as needed. It actually looked to be a boring day for her as there were no disturbances from the Everfree for the first half of the day. Reports from the guards told her much the same which was fine with her as it meant that there was less chance of injuries if nothing showed up. She was considering having one of them gather lunch for them all when she noticed a pair of purple Ponyvillians walking towards her. “Hey Twilight, what brings you out this far from the town?” Twilight looks around the area questioningly but sees nothing that she was expecting to see. “I was about to ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you be helping out with Winter Wrap-up Day with all the others?” Aegis Flare cocked her head to the side a bit until she realized that Twilight must not know much about how the day worked around here. “I'm part of the towns emergency response team, Twilight. With the season changing like this some of the creatures of the Everfree get worked up and can make their way into town. My parents started it up when they were here and I've taken over this side of it once I realized it was here a couple years back. A boring day is what I hope for but if something happens I need to be somewhere that I can be reached easily so I can't run around doing other things to help out.” The purple prodigy gains a look of understanding before she looks around and sighs in disappointment. “So you probably don't need any help out here then, do you? Aegis Flare just shakes her head in response. “Not really. It's pretty much an unofficial position and if anything does happen where I need help there are five pegasi ready to race into town for backup.” With a disappointed sigh her friend nods and turns to head back into town leaving the orange mare to her period of boredom. That entire day ends up like that with the only real break being a report of an accident out near the fields. She was actually pleasantly surprised when things wrapped up on time this year allowing her team an early respite from the tedium that was building up that year.