Grandiur

by Takarashi282

Chapter V - The Village on the Mountain

Locating their position on the map, Grandiur announced what they were to encounter. "As we follow the gorge, we will encounter a small wood," he said, "After we travel through it, we have a lot of ground to cover before we reach the edge of the desert. The foot of the mountain-" he gestured toward the peak on the opposite side of the gorge, "- is not too far into it."

"Sorry Grandiur," Crimson said, studying the map, "but this map doesn't have a scale. One inch be 20 miles or 200."

"Well, we did cover a lot of ground between Camp Ricordo and Bogg."

"Yeah, eight days, though. Don't you remember how we almost got lost in Apple Loosa?"

"I was just following you guys. I hadn't a clue where I was going."

"Following us from the front? You were just wandering aimlessly!"

"Hey, at least I was heading north."

"Yeah, at least... not too far north, huh, Rainbow Dash? For you at least..."

They traveled the days by. They drank their water supply sparingly, and lived off of small rations they brought with them. In the forest, they would occasionally stop to gather more rations, Radi's vast knowledge of wild fruit saving them from being poisoned.

A little more than a week passed when they finally traveled out of the forest, the drier climate clearing the trees out. At this point, the trio of troopers were running out of their water supply. They considered travelling to the mountains in the west to hopefully find a source of water, but since they had water supply to last them a little longer, they decided to continue following the gorge. "Besides," Grandiur chimed, "once the gorge levels out, we'll be able to get water from the river. Or maybe we'll run into the aqueduct."

They managed to save their water supply for three days before it ran dry. The gorge was getting shallower, the river becoming closer to the lip. Grandiur tried using magic to levitate the water to their elevation, but right before it was halfway up, he couldn't lift it up any farther. They traveled on, rations running out, dehydrated, and exhausted. By the next day, they were starting to get delusional. Crimson almost fell into the gorge, and Radi 'saw' a lake to their right. Grandiur had his set of mirages, scenes occurring that he hadn't recognized. They still went on, even though their legs were shaking under their own weight.

The following day, they barely had the strength to stand. They could barely walk five minutes without stumbling, the heating air another contributor. At midday, Radi fainted, leaving Crimson to carry her. Grandiur studied the map a few times, vision doubling and blurring. He looked back and forth between the map and the gorge. The depression was shallow enough so possibly, if they were very desperate, could descend the meters left from them to the river.

Crimson fainted only moments later, barrel-rolling into the small depression. "Crimson!" Grandiur rasped, clumsily descending down the side. Sliding and tripping, he made it down to the bottom of the depression, and ran to Crimson's side. Even though he took a clunky tumble down the wall of the shallow gorge, he seemed alright for the most part. Just to make sure, Grandiur summoned more of his magic power to see his bones. Fortunately, none of them were broken. No internal bleeding or anything of the sort. He was just banged up on the outside. Grandiur sighed a sigh of relief, and moved them under the shade of an overhead rock.

Grandiur settled next to his barely-conscious friends. He needed to get them water. It didn't take a fool to realize they had heatstroke. Grandiur looked ahead of him to see the river a couple meters away. He could separate the impurities from the water using magic, but would he be able to conjure any more? He realized he was thinking way too far ahead. I need to cool them down first, he thought. He searched their saddlebags to see if there was any sort of cloth. Radi had the most of the first aid materials. Best he should start the search there.

After raiding her travel saddle's saddlebags, he managed to find at least two small cloths. He proceeded to soak them in the river, wringing out unneeded excess water. He brought the two damp cloths to the two, patting them on their foreheads, careful not to overdo the cooling process. Every now and then he would go to the river and drink the water there in small portions, purifying it before he drank. As his friends slowly regained full consciousness, he brought them water, adjusting the cloths on their heads.

As the sun set on the horizon, he and his friends were back in good condition. Even though they could travel on, after the long day they had, they decided to set up camp in the shallow gorge. They restocked on water and some food found on plants around the river, and rested through the remaining hours of the day. When the sun had finally set, and the other two went to sleep, Grandiur sat by the fire they'd built, unable to sleep. Even though he'd worked himself hard to recuperate his friends, he was restless.

Some time passed before Radi joined him at his side, looking into the fire. They shied from talking, just staring into blank space. Radi would occasionally look at Grandiur, turning her head back to the fire, as if considering an action, but dismissing it. They just sat next to each other, the awkward silence unhindered. Grandiur sorted through subjects in his head, none of which were at all that great. The silence lingered for a little after, but then Radi spoke up.

"I don't know how many times I've said this, but thank you." Radi offered.

Grandiur smiled. "Fifty-four."

"What?"

"You've said 'Thank you,' fifty-four times now."

"You were keeping count?"

"What, I thought it'd be fun to see how many times you said it. The majority of them came from that one minute embrace."

"You were also keeping time of that hug?"

"Hey, a colt's gotta keep himself occupied somehow."

She giggled softly. "But I guess after fifty-four times, I've finally expressed my gratitude." She rested her head on Grandiur's chest, surprising him. His mind went blank for a moment, his peripheral vision blacking out. He could feel his face getting hotter as Radi scooted in, snuggling. His heart rate bounced from normal to as fast as a rabbit's. He couldn't decide whether or not to be comfortable or uncomfortable. But what ever she was feeling, he wasn't exactly feeling back.

"I-I'd better get to... sleep." Grandiur stammered.

Radi smiled lightly. "Okay," She replied. To top it off, she pecked Grandiur on the cheek, throwing him into a daze. "Sweet dreams, Grandiur." Head floating, Grandiur stepped back from the fire's flame to find the Goldilocks point, and laid there. He closed his eyes, stomach fluttering, unable to comprehend what occurred moments before.

---

Dawn broke over the horizon, bringing with it no sound, except for the scurries of small creatures around them. Grandiur woke, fog dispersing in his mind as everything came back to him. He looked about, seeing that his two other friends were still subconscious. He smiled and sighed, sitting up on his haunches, tracing patterns in the dirt. We all had a long day yesterday, he thought, I should give them more time to rest. Without prior thought, Grandiur ended up tracing two hearts, one smaller to the top left, the other bigger below it. The next moment, he was self conscious, flailing his hooves over the ground to clear the image. He sighed for relief. Is my head still in the clouds? He remembered Radi the previous night, snuggling up next to him. This memory retracted most of his alertness as the clopping of multiple hooves came his way.

"Any signs of him?" said a feminine voice with a southern accent.

"None," replied a masculine voice, with an accent aquired in a much more northern area.

"Damn..." groaned the female, "we need another to thwart the Elements of Harmony."

Grandiur's eyes widened. What the hell...? he thought. He hugged the gorge lip, trying to remain out of their sight.

"Have you tried Discord? He is the lord of chaos, after all."

"Discord wouldn't join us. The five have already converted him. He wouldn't leave his friends whatever the cost." The mare said 'friends' and 'five' as if they were a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Well, then, we will keep searching. There is a village nearby. If he came this way, he'd be there."

"Good thinkin'." Trotting on the lip of the gorge continued and moved farther away.

Grandiur sighed for relief as the trotting faded in the distance. They were headed toward a village, most likely the same village they were traveling to. He knew their intentions, but the consequences if they weren't fulfilled were unknown to him. If they intend to overthrow the Elements of Harmony... he thought, perking up his head. They needed to depart now.

After waking his friends, they left at a gallop, following the river. They zipped past obstacles, morning air hitting their faces as they ran. "Grandiur!" Radi called, "You never told us exactly why we're running at ramming speed?"

"I overheard voices up on the lip," Grandiur replied, "they said they were trying to thwart the Elements of Harmony, but they need one more."

She mouthed to herself, clearly recognizing the cause, but she couldn't match it up to a name. She then nodded to him, acknowledging their haste.

The gorge became shallower and shallower as time went by. Within about half an hour, they could see over the lip, cracked ground appearing on it. The heat intensity grew as they galloped along the river, the desert climate taking the warm morning. Two hours later, the gorge finally leveled out, the ground becoming less dense and sandier. The mountain was now towering over them, the foot of it on a steep incline. They noticed a bridge-like figure in the distance, coming from the north, ending at the foot of the mountain, the connecting part at the stop remaining level the entire way. The aqueduct! At least they were heading the right direction. Unfortunately, so were a group of ponies ahead of them.

"Hold on, Grandiur!" Crimson ordered, skidding to a stop. The other two stopped dead in their tracks as well, walking toward the grey stallion. "First off," he started, "what are we intending to do here? If we're going to confront them, you need to acknowledge that we're clearly out-numbered!"

"We have to do something," Grandiur responded, "What if they harm the villagers?"

"What if they harm you?" Crimson snapped, "Look, Grandiur, you're the only one who can activate the statues. We've almost lost you a couple times before, and you're just asking for it again! Your luck is going to run out, Grandiur, and when it does, Equestria will fall!"

Grandiur sighed, gritting his teeth. He couldn't afford to have those villagers be hurt because he didn't take action. He couldn't bear that burden. He stared at the ground, anger welling in his mind.

"Grandiur," Radi said, "Crimson's right. You're not thinking this through. Just let it go. It's better to sacrifice a pawn than it is to sacrifice a king."

Grandiur glanced behind him. He could see the troop galloping in the distance toward the village. A whirlwind of emotion stirred in his head. He was letting them get away, most likely at the expense of the villagers' safety. All negative emotions filled his mind before rationality flooded in.

"You win," Grandiur sighed, studying his hooves, "now what do we do?"

"We wait," Crimson answered, "we need to make sure that they're out of the village before we come."

They rested for some time, eating rations very sparingly, and drinking sips of their water. While Radi and Crimson talked, Grandiur sulked, feeling as if he failed. By now, they could've laid waste to the village, and they didn't do anything, even though they knew the threat. While his friends reminded him that it was for the better, he didn't feel that same way. Tracing patterns on the ground, his mind slowly detached from what he didn't do. He accepted the fact that this was for the better. After some time, rationality set in his mind again, and he was no longer angry at himself.

He apologized to his friends for his behavior, and naturally, they forgave him. "Just remember to think before you do stuff," Crimson suggested, "It will save a life or a limb." They talked for a while, making fun of the mirages they had, expressed concerns, and had a laugh and a tear. Crimson explained his first friends at the camp, and how they helped him, and times he returned the favor. Radi went on how she uplifted people's moods, even when she was in the dumps. As for Grandiur, he explained his feelings while he was taking care of them while they had heatstroke. This was the first time he'd ever shared anything with his friends that they hadn't known before. Even though it was sort-lived, he felt as if he was a person for the first time, not just an empty husk void of memory.

At late afternoon, they decided to start trekking toward the village on the mountain. Along the way, they shared remarks that kept their minds off the effort, making time fly faster as the foot of the mountain eased closer. They took sparse and brief breaks on their journey, between them the mountain looming up and up, raising their spirits. By sundown, their destination was just kilometers away, the steep incline going meters into the air before flattening.

"This is the foot of the mountain?" Crimson asked, "A better name for it would be 'knee' or 'lap'."

"I would have to agree," Radi said. The 'foot' was a hop, skip, jump, bound, and a tumble away from the ground, a steep switchback going up to an undesirable height. "Well, the mountain's not going to lower for us," Grandiur sighed, "let's get this over with." They hiked up the switchbacks, the incline cramping their sides. Radi was the first to the top, where minutes later, the two colts crawling to the surface. Radi looked back, and the two stood up, chins up nonchalantly, Crimson polishing his hoof on his chest, Grandiur studying his right front ankle as if there was a watch on it. Rolling her eyes, she turned back around, the stallions breaking character immediately after, panting and wheezing.

There were houses and shacks, but nopony in sight. The quiet of the dusk unsettled the trekking trio. Dead silence. Until hoof steps were heard to their right. Crimson simply held out a hoof and clothes lined the oncoming target, the filly landing flat on her back coughing. Crimson chuckled. "You need to think up a less cliche plan of attack," he said.

The filly scrambled back to her hooves. "Who... the hell... are you?" She rasped. Weakly, she swept the ground with her back hoof in a low stance.

Crimson raised a hoof from the ground. "No need to be so hostile, we're not the bad guys here."

"Why should I trust you? You -" she coughed, "-you bucking clothes lined me!"

"Hey, you're not intimidating us with using language. But you were rushing at me with a knife. That was just self defense!" A knife laid on its side under one of his hooves.

"Yeah, right," she said, her sarcasm sounding not that sarcastic.

"As for who we are exactly, these are my two friends, Grandiur and Radiant Beam -" he gestured to them with a hoof, "-and I am Crimson Blade. We are traveling around Equestria to activate statues to deploy of shield that will keep the creatures of the night from entering our borders."

She tilted her head to the side. "The three sent by Princess Rainbow Dash?"

"The one and only trio."

The filly nodded. "Come with me, then. We have something to show you."

Grandiur and Radi glanced at Crimson. He shrugged, and followed the kid, the other two not far behind. They walked through the village, small houses passing at either side. They followed a wide path, dust kicking up behind them.

Grandiur looked to his side to find Radi looking down at the road, eyes low, barely picking up her hooves. Is she alright? he thought, No, stupid question, she isn't. She would occasionally meet eyes with him, only to quickly look down again. He looked away from her, noting her behavior. He would ask her what was wrong at another time. Right now, they needed to aquire as much information as possible.

The filly led them to an infirmary, where it was filled to the brim with ponies shifting uncomfortably in low mattresses. "This is what we need to show you," she confirmed, looking about the room. "Ever since a troop of bad ponies came, many of our civilians have fallen ill." Grandiur studied the occupants, noticing they never opened their eyes. They shifted and stirred and groaned, but never opened their eyes even once. "Stay here," the filly said, passing behind a set of curtains.

The trio studdied the occupants. "What illness spreads in less than eight hours?" Crimson asked, passing by the beds again.

"Not any natural illness, I'll tell you that," Radi said, studying one of the patients. "Look at their breaths."

Crimson and Grandiur studied the patients. "You can see them." Grandiur reported.

"Exactly. Whatever illness they have has depleted their core body temperature drastically."

"That doesn't make any sense though," Crimson chimed in, "wouldn't they be frozen if their body temp was this cold?"

"They would be pony-sicles, that's for sure, but..." Radi put a hoof on a patient's forehead, "...they're burning up."

The filly poked her head from the curtains. "You may enter." She held the curtain open for the trio, the trio uttering thanks to her. Inside were two mares, one with an orange coat, the other with a purple coat. "Grandiur, Radi, Crimson," the orange mare addressed, "are you familiar with the Essence of Darkness?"

"We have encountered it in the form of the creatures of the night, and we know its origin," Radi answered, "well, at least Crimson and I."

"Wait, you guys know about it?" Grandiur asked.

"Yes," Crimson responded.

"Enlighten me."

"Pretty much, long story short, the Essense of Darkness is the physical remains of darkness that once resided in one's heart. This dates all the way back to the defeat of Nightmare Moon, about ten years ago. Upon the six defeating her, the darkness that created her took physical form and lurked in the darkest places of the world. As the six continued extracting the darkness from people's hearts, it grew and grew, the dark powers of a person transferring to it."

"This illness is caused by it," said the purple mare, "We believe it was spread by one of the troop members that passed through hours ago."

"However, none of them had the symptoms that our patients have," continued the orange mare.

"So, the Essence has a client," Crimson proposed.

"Yes," responded the orange mare, "it was spread by one who possesses the power of darkness."

"Do we have any idea of who the client is?" Grandiur asked.

"No," the purple mare answered, "But what we do know is that there was a jailbreak at Mikaz Prison two and a half weeks ago. In order to escape that prison, one must have power that a normal pony doesn't posses. This person must be from that prison."

"Interesting..." Crimson said, "... but what relevance does this information have to us?"

"The relevance is that you need to know a powerful entity is on the loose. You should be wary that on your quest, you should avoid contact with that troop."

Crimson nodded. "Okay. We will stay aware of this entity."

"Good," said the orange mare, "We have contacted Zecora to assist us with creating an antidote for this illness. She will be arriving here tomorrow. We will need you to fetch supplies if needed. As for the statue that needs to be activated, it lies in the heart of the mountain. The entrance is not too far from here. But that's for a later date. Right now, find a place to sleep. You will need your energy for tomorrow."

---

The room was dim, only lit with small candles. On one side of the room, Grandiur lied on a straw mattress, looking across the room to the other light. Radi sat in the bed opposite to him, looking at the wood floor. Her behavior was bothering him. What was bothering her so? Grandiur didn't have the courage to ask her why she was down. He didn't want to stress her out even more. But the question gnawed at his mind and clawed at his tongue. He couldn't simply let this down; he wanted to know. His gut clenched every time he tried to ask, and his mouth clamped shut afterward. He couldn't get his vocal cords to vibrate. He just wanted to ask a simple question, yet his body was resisting him.

Grandiur took a deep breath. Don't worry, he thought, there won't be an everlasting grudge. Just ask. Another deep breath, and the question fell from his lips like water. "Radi, what's wrong?"

Radi looked up at him and sighed. "Grandiur," she started, "did I make you feel... uncomfortable?"

Grandiur recycled this question over and over in his mind, trying to find an honest answer. "A little," he replied, "I just wasn't expecting you to do that."

Radi looked back down at the floor, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry, Grandiur. You've done great things to help us. I didn't know how to express a proper thanks beside that."

Grandiur managed a small smile. "It's alright. You just surprised me, that's all."

"Yeah, you say that..." her voice cracked. Grandiur bit his lip. Was she really getting all worked up about this? He walked up to her and sat next to her, wrapping a hoof around her. "Radi, I like you, really. Don't get all worked up about a small act of gratitude. I forgive you."

Radi sniffed. "Really?'

"Really really."

Radi leaned into Grandiur. "Thank you," she said softly. This time, Grandiur accepted this offer to snuggle, resting his head on top of hers. Crimson walked in seconds later, stopping as he saw the cute scene. "Oh, well, I think I stumbled into the wrong room! I'll just stay out here." Radi and Grandiur exchanged looks, then continued the cuddling, as if nothing had happened.