//------------------------------// // Stubborn Monks and Unobtainable Mountains // Story: Utaan // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Sonikah slept soundly... or at least as soundly as she would allow herself to. The mare curled up under a burlap sheet of sackcloth, shivering. Her breath came out in misty vapors. “Mrmmfff...” Wincing, she rolled over on her mat. Doing so exposed her fuzzy face to the first rays of dawn. Her eyes rolled beneath their lids. Then, after a few tense breaths, she squinted into the morning haze. An empty wooden floor stretched across the foyer of her run-down “sanctuary.” “Hmmm...” The monk's eyes fluttered closed. Seconds passed. All of a sudden, her eyes flew back open. “...!” The mare sat up with a gasp, gawking at the emptiness all around her. The sleeping mats belonging to bother her two Luminard companions were gone... along with the Luminards themselves. She sat in place, braids flouncing with each shiver that ran through her body. Despite the pain in her cold joints, the mare hobbled up to her hooves and scampered out and onto the courtyard. A thin layer of snow blanketed the old stones and patchwork grass. The newly-constructed wooden trough had formed a fresh sheet of translucent ice along the top of its watery surface. A pale rabbit lingered at the edge of the babbling brook—and upon sight of Sonikah, it dashed off into the powdered forests of Elm Prefecture that surrounded the abandoned habitat. Sonikah stared left and right. At last, her gaze fell to the floor—and she jolted slightly. Three sets of hoofprints in the snow led away from the clearing, heading due west along the beaten path, surrounded by trees. “... ... ...” Sonikah's brow furrowed and she snarled: “Theanim...” “And—you know—the interesting thing is...” Theanim smiled as he marched along the wooded path, his bulging backpacks flouncing under snowfall. “...they only do it to make themselves more 'streamlined' for swimming.” Two pious stallions trotted after him, carrying bags of their own. “You mean it's not an exercise in ascetic cleanliness?” “Well, I suppose one could say that the Nealand tradition of mane-shaving is hygenic in its own way, but it's not religiously motivated.” Theanim looked over his shoulder with a smirk. “The long and short of it is: I've been to many... many places across Rohbredden and the seven seas abroad. And in all of those travels, I find that manestyling—or the lack thereof—is the chief way one can identify culture.” “Are there any ponies who bind their manes like the foals of Verlaxion?” “You mean like your Luminard siblings and cousins?” Theanim shook his head. “Negatory. Although I do hear that the Snow Bloods of Dust Prefecture like to use dyes to off-set the predominantly pale mane colors that are indicative of their geneology.” “Oh?” “Yes. Through a rudimentary application of smoke embers and lichen pigments.” Theanim fidgeted slightly. “With a touch of bat guano so as to ward off prowling mountain manticores.” He let loose a chuckle. “A good old friend of mine is rather fond of that last detail...” “Professor!” Sonikah's voice reverberated through the trees. “Ohhhhhh defecation.” Theanim cleared his throat, pivoting until he was trotting backwards. “Looks as though the morning sun rises twice today...” Huffing and puffing, Sonikah caught up to the trio on galloping hooves. Flustered and frowning, she dragged her hooves and barked at the group—but mostly just at Theanim. “Professor Mane, what do you think you're doing?!” “Respirating.” Theanim shrugged. “Cellular regenerating.” A smile. “With more or less success, abominably digesting.” “What gives you the right to trot off with my brethren?!” “Uhm...” Theanim raised an eyebrow. “I asked them? Politely? You do remember politeness, I hope.” “This is outrageous!” Sonikah stomped her hooves. “How dare you attempt to make off with the forsaken foals of Verlaxion!” She pointed east, back down the path. “We were granted sanctuary!” “Funny you should say that!” Theanim beamed. “Because that's precisely where I've offered to take them!” He pivoted so that he was facing west towards where he was marching. “Sanctuary!” Sonikah blinked. “Huh?” “Dearest elder...” One of the two pilgrims looked back at her. “Pleace. Patience and good temperament. By Verlaxion's grace, we entreat you.” “I have good temperament!!!” Sonikah growled. The two monks winced, glancing at each other. One stallion cleared his throat before saying, “We meant no direspect, elder. You had made it clear that you wished to remain at this sanctuary. That is why we did not wish to disturb you.” “And yet you wished to abandon our holy station?!” Sonikah's voice cracked. “How does this fall within Verlaxion's will?!” “Our duty is to our fellow brothers and sisters, as well as to the gracious Goddess. Have you not taught us that, as Kyron did?” “Huh?” Sonikah blinked, her muzzle awash in confusion. “Oh!” Theanim glanced over his shoulder. “That's right! Now might be a good time to relay the message, dear fellows.” “Please, elder.” One stallion hoofed her a scroll with the Talon's seal. “Take special note of this. Perhaps then you will see the necessity in our departure.” Sonikah grabbed the scroll. Hobbling along, she read it with squinting eyes. Her lips pursed wide and wider in disbelief. “We had every intention of returning, elder. But—as you can see—it is necessary that we look after the remaining members of the flock—” “Professor!” Sonikah scampered past her two fellow monks and backtrotted in front of the stallion in question. “Theanim. Explain this to me.” She frowned. “Is... is this some kind of forgery?” “Pfft! I would most certainly hope not.” Theanim smiled. “Or else the Lieutenant of the Right Talon of Verlaxion has a great deal of explaining to do.” “But... but if this is real, then...” Sonikah shook her head breathily. “Why h-haven't I been told about it?!” “It's like I keep trying to tell you...” Theanim leaned forward, his blue eyes narrow. “The Consortium brought you here for their own interests. They didn't want you and your fellow companions to prosper in some spiritual sanctuary. They wanted you to perish, alone and miserable and forgotten in the dismal heart of Elm Prefecture!” He took a deep breath. “Well...” He pointed at the scroll in her grasp. “By the look of things, somepony else has a different idea.” “This... has t-to be some sort of trick!” “And just who would such a trick benefit, hmmm?” Sonikah was silent. “'A doubting soul deserves enlightenment.'” Theanim smiled. “Isn't that a basic tenet of worshipping our Goddess? Regardless of one's loyalty to the ill-fortuned Quade?” “Well, yes, but...” “I implore you to come along with us, elder,” Theanim said. “Indeed, we will have to take a train and a steamship to arrive at our destination, but... I promise you.” He strapped his goggles over his eyes and smiled into the falling snow. “It's a long, arduous, and undeniably painful trip on hoof to get even halfway there. Plenty of time for ascetic introspection and meditation, yes?” Sonikah frowned at him. The professor merely grinned back. “Mrmmmfff...” Sonikah slowed her trot, taking position behind the two stallions. “Very well. But I am only doing this to oversee the safety of my two fellow pilgrims.” “Splendid!” Theanim continued forward with a slight skip to his trot. “And—perhaps, along the way—you can teach me some of your awe-inspiring monk chanting! I've heard it's a veritable world wonder of vocal accomplishment!” “We will do no such thing.” Sonikah grumbled. “This journey is not meant to hold court to your whimsy.” “Dear elder!” One of the stallions smiled at her. “Did you know that some cultures put bat guano in their mane for purely secular reasons?” “That is irrelevant to Verlaxion's ultimate plan of mercy and retribution!” “Ahhhhh yes...” Theanim smiled twitchingly into the elm forest surrounding their path. “This is going to be a long trip indeed...” “Would you look at that...” “Wowie zowie!” “Just... h-how did those trees even manage to grow on such jagged peaks?” “Time, Rarity. Many... many eons of geological erosion mixed with the persistent moisture of an especially preserved microclimate.” “I see tulip trees... dawn redwood... ooooh! Look at those dove trees! Aren't they absolutely gorgeous?” “And that mist! It's... it's almost as if the rocks are floating!” “Heeheehee! Oh look! Dashie's waking up! She's gotta see this!” “Rainbow?” Twilight's voice whispered. “Rainbow Dash?” “Mrmmmf... huh...?” Rainbow Dash raised her head. A red whelt persisted on her brow from where she had spent several nightly hours resting it against two crossed hooves. The mare took one look at the hazy morning light around her, and she gasped. “Holy—!” Rarity and Fluttershy spun about. “Rainbow!” Rarity reached out. “Careful! Don't move too—” Rainbow Dash caught herself at the last second. Teeth gnashing, she teetered backwards before she could plummet off the side of a sandstone cliff. Overcome with panting breaths, the mare slumped back into a tiny curved niche of rock just two steps from the edge of that portion of mountainside. “Just calm down, Rainbow—” Twilight insisted. “You... you morons!” Rainbow gnashed her teeth. “You let me fall asleep?!” Her voice cracked. “I thought I made it clear that I had to put as much distance between—” Fluttershy suddenly floated in front of her. Turquoise eyes burned like torches. “Keep. Your voice. Down.” Rainbow immediately zipped her lips. She stood in place, shivering, eyes darting left and right. Fluttershy sighed, then smiled gently. “The Talon are far... far away, Rainbow.” “Flutters thinks they missed us completely!” Pinkie said. “For the last two hours, they've been searching in the wrong area!” Fluttershy nodded, facing Rainbow again. “As soon as they started making their way back to this location, we were prepared to wake you. In the meantime—” “—we felt it necessary to afford you some rest, darling,” Rarity said. Her ears folded back as she murmured, “We only have your best interests in mind. Please don't be mad at us.” Rainbow sighed. “I'm not mad,” she whispered. “It's just... dang it...” “We're looking after you, Dashie,” Pinkie said in the pale morning mists. “It's gonna be okay! You'll see!” “Uh huh...” “Are you...” Twilight Sparkle floated close. “Are you feeling well rested?” “Uhhhh...” Rainbow brushed at some bangs that weren't there. “Yeah. I... k-kinda am, actually.” “Goodies!” Pinkie grinned a crescent moon while floating backwards. “Then fears your eyes on this!” She swept a hoof at the northern sky. “Mrmmmf... please, Pinkie. As if anything you girls have to show would have a snowflake's chance in Tartarus of... surprising... ... ...me?” She blinked. Hard. Before her stretched a sea of mists—a foggy ocean adrift with jagged stone formations jutting up out of nowhere. Pale lengths of brown and yellow rock shone in patches beneath emerald vines and clusters of verdant green foilage. The “mountains”—if they could even be called that—were more akin to sandstone needles, sticking up out of the mists to make inexplicable islands of geological wonder. Some scraped the sky for hundreds of naked feet—only to be capped off with a miraculous rooftops of lush trees at the very top. To Rainbow Dash, it looked like the Mist Cliffs comprised a forest that continued itself one impossible frog-leap after another across horizontal and vertical space. What amazed her even more was the sheer scale of this topograhical phenomenon. Through the occasional hole in the mists—affording brief, lengthy glimpses across the mountainscape—she could spot more and more ridges stretching up out of the canyon as far as the pony eye could see. There was no telling just how far the sandstone needles went. In the distance, some mountains even careened against one another, like granite lovers embracing with loose boulders balanced precariously atop their heads—all joined together by loose vines and thick foliage. No matter how precarious the landscape, the forest simply did not cease. To say that Rainbow Dash had been rendered breathless was an understatement. It almost looked as though the Petrispines had made love to the mountains surrounding the Sunset Tract—and the union had given birth to an ocean of petrified mountain peaks, resting in a craggy valley like the ribs of a giant, slain beast, now awash in rolling fog and humid moisture. “Well... that's something else,” the pegasus murmured. “Isn't is just gorgeous, though?” Rarity cooed. “And inspiring too!” “Bet it's giving you a headache, Rare-Rare,” Pinkie remarked. “Still tihnk your horn you can guide Dashie around?” “Oh please!” Rarity waved her hoof while rolling her eyes. “Pish posh! I have this structural sensibility game down to a T!” She smiled daintily. “It's like sewing the hem of a dress with my eyes clothes and coming out with something fit for a princess!” “Always the princess analogies with you.” Pinkie squinted. “Take it or leave it, love.” “Now m-might be a time to leave it,” Fluttershy muttered. “I feel the Talon sweeping their way east again.” “Then there's no time.” Rainbow Dash kept her voice down. She re-fastened her saddlebag and shuffled along the cliffside path. “Did we reach the barbed path that Pearl talked about last night? I can't remember.” “Not yet, darling,” Rarity said. “That junction of converging paths is somewhere east of here.” “Then it juts north?” “Erm... more or less.” Rarity nodded. “Affirmative.” “Shhhhhh...” Twilight insisted. “We have to keep our voices down.” “Don't you mean just Dashie?” “I get what she means, Pinkie,” Rainbow whispered, crouching low. She glanced aside, watching as the mists rolled swiftly through the stone needles like silent white froth. “Something tells me this is gonna be like hide-and-seek... only with my neck on the line.” “Ohhhhh...” Fluttershy's ears folded. “I was never good at that game.” “That's fine, Fluttershy!” Twilight wheezed. “You do the seeking while we help Rainbow with the hiding.” “Uhm... okay.” “Goodness gracious...” Rarity shivered as she followed Rainbow into a patch of stone-grazing fog. “...I've got a very bad feeling about this.”