Snowflakes fell on a stretch of polished white stone. Dim gray light from a hazy sky bent and danced with the shifting of thick clouds overhead. A blistery mountain wind picked up, shaking a throng of thorn bushes.
Out from the brambles fluttered a frightened beetle. The insect landed on alabaster granite, where it proceeded to crawl in listless figure eights. At one point, it stopped. A glint of light caught the patterns in its shell, bending the colors from green to black to a fiery red. The outer carapace split in two, exposing a pair of gossamer wings, then closed again.
Just as its antennae began twitching, a heavy shadow passed over it. The beetle sensed this, and it lifted its tiny frame to move—but it was too late. A dark blue hoof landed, smashing the insect to a pulpy mess against the stone.
Grimacing, a young unicorn in a tight leather jacket leaned back. She held her limb up in the gentle snowfall, frowning at the mess of insect parts cleaning to her fetlock.
"Mrmmfffghh..." Her velvety muzzle scrunched, and she rubbed her hoof clean against a nearby rock. "Tia...?!" She looked down the mountainside while another thick cloud passed overhead. "...I found a cave entrance!" A bang of midnight blue hair peeked out from her hood and she tucked it back in. "But I think the only things hiding here are a bunch of creepy crawlies!"
"Keep an open mind, Luna." A slightly older unicorn marched up the steep incline of rock. Her bright pink mane was pinned under the hood of a leather hiking jacket. She nevertheless bore a determined expression that clashed with the youthful tone of her voice. "If mere insects can make a home out of this part of the mountain, then who knows who or what else could be hiding inside?"
"But it doesn't make any sense!" Luna stammered. Each breath produced vapors in the cold air. She pointed into a dark tunnel opening just a few meters below the mountain's summit. "No mere pony could survive more than a day at these altitudes! They'd freeze to death!" Her eyes turned into daggers. "I'm freezing to death—"
"Shhhh!" The older unicorn held a pale hoof to her muzzle. Her brow furrowed, Tia pointed at the vapors coming out of their mouths. To add emphasis, she leaned towards the cave and exhaled heavily.
Luna watched as Tia's breath wafted towards the entrance... only to be violently pushed skyward—dissipating into the cold snowfall surrounding them.
"There's something from the inside that's generating heat," Tia explained. "And lots of it."
"But..." Luna squinted. "...what is it from? A fire?" She gazed into the dark cave once again. "There are no trees this high up to chop down. And any pony carrying enough lumber for a bonfire would surely have fainted and died of frostbite."
"I doubt it's a flame kindled through any traditional sense," Tia murmured, trotting towards the cave entrance. "I suspect it's something of magical conjuration."
"Magic?!" Luna scoffed, smirking for the first time in hours. "Are you serious? No unicorn is advanced enough to conjure magic without proper ingredients! I mean..." She pointed at herself. "Besides you and me, of course."
"What of our Master?" Tia asked.
"Yeah, but—"
"Even the most expert tools of magic can be mimicked," said a raspy voice from below.
Tia and Luna spun around, gazing downhill.
A wrinkly old unicorn hobbled up the steep mountainside, assisted by a tall stallion clad in shiny gray armor. The elder shivered, despite being bundled in several brown layers of burlap. She leaned against the stallion's strong body as she squinted up towards the peak.
"...especially when the rules of magic are being broken." She shuddered, exhaling vapors as she came to a jittery stop. "Your intuition has served us well, young ones." She pointed a shivering hoof. "Our destiny lies within that cave."
Luna glanced at the tunnel, then back at the old sage. "You really believe she's fled inside there, Master Clover?"
"Mmmmm..." The elder nodded. "Your magical senses and tracking skills have led us to the right location." She bore a wrinkled smile. "Or have I not taught you well?"
"You know best, Master Clover," Tia said, stepping up towards the entrance and peering in. "Now, let us find out the real reason why the chancellor's turned treacherous—"
"Tia, wait!" Luna held a hoof out, then spun to face their teacher. "Master Clover, if she's truly hiding within these mountains, then this could very well be a trap!"
"Luna..." Tia sighed, gazing back. "Dearest sister. Do you honestly think that we've trotted all this way only to turn back now—?"
"Luna is right," Clover said.
Tia did a double-take. "Huh?"
"Meaning we should exercise caution," emphasized the teacher. She hobbled forward, grunting slightly from her aching joints. "There is no stronger force to confront our target than what we have assembled. She will know this... and will likely put up a formidable resistance."
"Could..." Tia fidgeted. "...could she actually have grown that powerful?"
"No doubt the source of her power is that which drew her into these mountains to begin with," Clover said.
The stallion finally spoke up, his voice deep and resonating: "Madame Clover, apprentices, if I may..." He stepped aside and peered at the elder. "Let me go in there first." Bright green eyes peered beneath a windblown black mane. "After what the vile traitor has done to my vassals and their families, I owe it to our citizens—all of our citizens—to seek retribution."
"There is no telling what you will find in there, Prince," Clover wheezed.
"With all due respect, Madame." He bowed. "Even if my line wasn't faltering, the will of Equestria is ever-changing. I am no longer indispensable. However... if something tragic was to befall you or your apprentices..."
"Certainly not!" Luna shook her head. "You're just as precious as the rest of us. I suggest we all go in at once or else we—"
"You've made your point, dear Prince." Clover nodded her aged horn. "Go forth. Lead the way."
Luna blinked hard.
"Very well, Madame." The stallion stood tall with a proud expression. He aimed his horn downhill. "I shall summon my mightiest knights to join us in—"
"No."
He glanced at the elder. "Madame Clover?"
The sage shook her head. "I fear that a multitude of aggressors will only feed her at this point. You saw what she did to Hurricane's Valkyries."
He swallowed hard. "Understood. Then I shall signal the forces to await our return."
"Whatever you do, do it quickly!" Tia said, gazing into the cavern. "I fear we've wasted too much time as it is!"
Clover nodded to the stallion, and he fired a pale blue blast of magic into the dim sky. The mana exploded like a flare, illuminating a camp nestled hundreds of feet below. Armored ponies signaled back before retreating into an array of canvas tents flapping in the cold, snowy breeze across a lower plateau.
"I shall now proceed," the stallion said, trotting briskly into the cave's entrance. "I advise that you keep yourselves a stone throw's distance from me at all times—no closer. I shall holler at the first sign of an ambush."
With a glint of his gray armor, he vanished into the darkness. Tia followed second, followed by Luna—who supported Clover's haggard figure the entire time. Three and a half horns dimly illuminated the corroded interiors of the earthly passage.
"Mrmmmff... I do not like this," Luna grumbled into the dank corridor.
"Your protests are duly noted," Clover droned.
"Luna's right, Master," Tia spoke from ahead. "Prince Miller is not fit for whatever may lie ahead."
"Good luck convincing him of that," Luna muttered. The air grew staler and less moist around them. "The stallion's stubborn. Just like his grandmother."
"Neither of you knew Princess Platinum quite like I did," Clover said with a brief smile. Her wavering voice formed solid echoes against the walls of the narrowing tunnel. "The bloodline has come a long way. Today, it is something that boils with fearlessness. I'm quite fond of it."
"So is Luna, I gathered," Tia said with a smirk. "Judging from how passionately she defended him a moment ago."
"Guh...!" Luna's eyes twitched, and a rosiness darted across her dark blue muzzle. "I... I only meant to state the obvious!" She pouted. "Prince Miller does not possess the power of sorcery! And even if he did—would it truly end up a better situation than what's happened with the Chancellor?"
"That's why we're here, sister," Tia said. "To make sure that power falls only into the hooves of those who are properly tempered to wield it."
"Do not be so forward with such thoughts," Clover said. "Prince Miller is as equally deserving of magic as any other pony in Equestria."
"But Master—"
"I trained you because it was my Master's foresight that underlined its importance." The elder's nostrils flared. Glazed eyes reflected cold stalactites forming a stone forest above them. "Someday, the magic of this world will have to be properly harnessed in order to preserve the balance of harmony. This much is true. But there will also come a time when the magic will be shared with the general populace, and it will usher in a new age of tranquility."
The group wandered forth in pure silence, until Tia looked back with a deadpan expression. "Master, will you ever tell us the full extent of Starswirl's prophecies?"
"I am telling you all that you need to know," Clover said. "Just as he told me all that I needed to know." She sighed. "For the rest to fall in place, we must live as we see fit. Destiny will become destiny in time."
"Yes... but if we knew more," Tia murmured, "Then perhaps we could ascertain a reason for why the sky is dimming?"
Clover said nothing.
Before Tia could protest anymore—
"Hold!" The Prince's voice called out from ahead.
The two young mares scuffled to a stop alongside Clover. Luna gently helped her master lean against a rock wall before scampering forward to join the Prince's side. Together, they gazed into a sudden chasm illuminated by Prince Miller's horn.
"Great... whinnying windigoes..." Luna stammered. "...what... are we looking at?"
"Crystals," Prince Miller exhaled. A kaleidoscope of bright oval reflections danced across his gray coat and muzzle. "Thousands of them."
The unicorns' glowing horn revealed an enormous abyss filled to the brim with shiny surfaces—like a sea of mirrors. The reflections of the spelunking quartet reflected back a hundredfold.
Tia stepped up to the rocky outlook beside them. "What exactly do we know about these mountains that we're in?"
"Erhm..." Prince Miller cleared his throat. "Not much... save that it's one of the highest points in the land." He waved his glowing horn around, illuminating more and more crystalline shards. "The farmers of the outlying fields—descendants of the House of Puddinghat—call these mountains the 'Hills That Canter a Lot'... namely for how they playfully scrape the morning sky."
"I see," Tia remarked.
"I wonder what they've called them over the past few months," Luna remarked. "There's scarcely been a rising sun to canter to."
"Prince." Tia pointed. "Shine your light a little bit higher."
The stallion did as the sorceress commanded. At last, his light revealed a dark hole that clashed against the sea of reflective surfaces.
"Look!" Prince Miller exclaimed. "A path, perhaps?"
"Only one way to find out." Tia clenched her jaw. "I suggest we go in and investigate." She looked aside. "Luna? Do you remember our mutual levitation spell that we practiced?"
"Of course. Yes." Luna rolled her eyes. "Heavens... why do you have to be so formal about everything?"
"Then let us proceed." Tia channeled energy into her horn. "Get behind us, Master. Any magic you can contribute would be greatly appreciated." After receiving no answer, she glanced over her shoulder. "Master?"
Clover was calmly sitting down against a stalactite behind them. As she settled her aching joints, she sighed and drew her hood down.
"Master?!" Luna galloped over, eyes bright. "Are you okay?" She leaned her ear to the old mare's chest. "How's your heart—?!"
"I'm fine!" Clover briefly growled. "Away, filly!" She shoved Luna gently back, then sighed through a tired smile. "I must meditate. It has been many weeks, and I am far... far from my laboratory."
"But... Master..." Tia pointed across the chasm. "We're about to engage our target!"
"Yes..." Clover smirked. "...you are."
Luna and Tia exchanged confused glances.
"I have trained you in the art of sorcery since the day I discovered you both... alone and abandoned along the banks of the Everfree River." Clover took a wheezing breath. "At first, I followed Starswirl's foresight in guiding you. But... there came a day when I had to rely on my own wits alone. And now... the day has come... for you to rely on your wits..."
"But... Master..." Luna gulped. "...do you really think we are ready?"
"Sooner than later... you shall be," Clover remarked. "Starswirl has foreseen it..." She winced, shifting her bony weight against the stalactite. A sigh rattled out of her. "...and so have I." She drew her limbs into a meditative pose. "Now... go forth. Confront she who has brought us to this juncture." Her eyes closed. "And once this trial is finished... we shall understand more about the fate of Equestria."
"But... but..." Luna grimaced.
"I do not mean to break the sanctity of this moment," Prince Miller whispered. He pointed at the entrance across the chasm. "But we must hurry! Time is of the essence!"
"Then hurry, we shall," Tia said, trotting boldly towards the cliff-face.
Luna gaped at her older sister. "But Tia—"
"But nothing. It is time we took charge of defending Equestria's integrity." Tia turned to glare at Luna. "Or would you rather the land suffer eternal darkness?"
Luna sighed. She took a moment to nuzzle Clover. "We are grateful for this opportunity, Master. We promise not to let you down."
"Concentrate on the task at hoof and you won't have to," Clover murmured. "Now go."
Luna joined Miller and Tia at the cliff-side. The apprentices exchanged glances, and their horns glowed with identical brilliance.
"It is a long distance, Tia," Luna remarked.
"We can cross it, sister." Tia managed smirk. "Be a good sorceress and grab the Prince tight."
"Hrmmmm..." Luna frowned, nevertheless steadying Miller with a hoof as—
Flaaaash! A beam of blue and pink light ribboned between where they were standing and the entrance across the way. Prince Miller let loose a nervous gasp as the two mares carried themselves—and him—across the chasm and towards the entrance beyond. Once their limbs made contact with solid rock, they resumed their brisk trot into the heart of the mountain.
Clover the Clever stayed behind. She breathed in and out... softly... thoughtfully.
At one point, she popped a single eye open—gazing—then closed it just as swiftly.