Journey to the center of Equestria

by Rarity Belle

Chapter XXXVI

Uneventful, that was the very word with which the series of following days could be called. Only three days and three nights had they spent upon the icy plains. In those three days had they not encountered a single living thing. Or anything made out of ice for that matter. The plains were dead while the route to the castle was a long one. The castle of the ancient king laid right in the middle of the middle. The one place that was still just so far to travel towards.

The company hadn’t seen the night in the longest of times. The sun never set itself further than halfway. Their nights consisted out of the reddish glow that covered the whole of the frozen land. Yet their flames managed to keep their blood warm. The coat around their hearts was actually more than enough to make certain that everything would remain in the ways that they were supposed to be.

Hypothermia wasn’t going to be a problem for any of them. Yet both Fluttershy and Twilight were constantly on alert towards the symptoms of it, just in case. Though they couldn’t help themselves but to feel watched when they traveled along. Nothing on the plains seemed to have been living there, but the eyes. Those prying eyes that were always aimed at the company. It was something that managed to terrify them to the brink of death.

“It’s the isolation of this place, it makes you see things that aren’t there,” had Twilight explained. Everypony seemed to be suffering from the thing. But even though the mare said her words with confidence, not even she knew whether or not there was actually nothing roaming the fields. Only the next night could possibly tell for certain just what was lurking at the group of mares.

Words had it about hulking giants that were about twice the size of the normal anthrony that were wandering through the place. Hulking giants who were made entirely out of nothing but ice and hatred. Their souls as black as the former king of the land. The hatred that the king carried towards everything had caused the very Windigo’s to descend upon him and created the eternal winter that raged on. Legends still had it that the king remained alive, as long as the North remained frozen.

The legend was known to them all, but some had forgotten it as it was being told as this fable. A tale for the foals when they would be going to bed. Yet Twilight knew that every legends had core of truth thrown into it. Much like every legend their land was rich.

How much she prayed to be right on the matter of isolation, especially when she was on watch during the fourth night. With her staff locked in her tight hand, Twilight was ready take on everything that could be heading their way. In the reddish glow of the sun did everything appear to be calm. But she knew it was just the calm before the storm.

Her eyes peeked at a constant rate through the horizon in the hope to see nothing. They were scanning an area that was the size of Cloudsdale itself all the time. The group had set up their camp right in a valley. Perhaps not the smartest idea for the dangers of avalanches. Then again, if the snow decided to move with them on top, there wasn’t any other place they could be going.

Yet Twilight wasn’t unprepared herself. Out of caution had she cast a shield around the tent, that should have been able to protect them and take the near crushing weight of the snow on top of them. Her purple rimmed eyes continued to look further, further and higher to the mountain tops.

There she saw something that she to have been impossible. For among the snow there was also something else wandering. Something clear with a black dot, high on the mountain ridge. “Impossible,” she whispered to herself as the rest of them laid peacefully asleep. It couldn’t have been possible that she was looking right at one of the giants, could it?

Seconds she continued to look at the thing as it suddenly came to a standstill. She then felt a set of prying eyes which fell upon her. For the first time there was actually a cold shiver down her neck. The flame was still working and there wasn’t any wind. The case just had gotten a whole lot stranger.

The unicorn left her position and took a couple dozen steps forward in the snow. The snow in and of itself was also a problem, its depth sometimes caused them to advance only a couple miles instead of the ten they had always planned to reach at least. The Frozen North was only have been a quarter of Equestria’s soil, but could be the harshest mistress to conquer.

The eyes of Twilight continued to look at the thing. She never wanted to get it out of her eyes. She needed to be certain just what it was, whether or not it actually was a hulking giant of myth. Talking against a creature born out of hate wouldn’t have helped at all, she had to find another way that would be keeping her close to the tent and not to make her climb the whole mountain.

Slowly did the horn of the mare charge itself up, while the orb on top of the staff did the same. The magic was channeled through her body and into the object before it was raised over her head. What happened next was that a massive shot of arcane energy had been released in the form of a flare. It most likely happened to be the only hope that Twilight would be having to discover whether or not it actually was a hulking giant.

Closer and closer did the flare came to the location of where she thought to have seen the beast. But when she then looked closer at it, the realization of it not being there anymore set in. Her eyes blinked a couple of times as her arcane energy just floated away. On the top of the mountain ridge was nothing to be seen anymore. Nothing, no clear thing, no black dots.

The mare scratched herself behind the head as she hadn’t even the slightest of clues about what was happening to her. “Is paranoia finally getting to me as well? Have I really been that fixated upon finding whatever laid behind those ridges that I imagined seeing one?” she questioned to herself before her hand stroked her chin.

She then just turned herself around and walked back to the tent. She would be needing her sleep more than anything and somepony else would be taking over the watch for the rest of the night. For the following day they would be heading right up the mountain ridge where Twilight saw the creature. Over the top it should have laid, the very remains of the ancient crystal castle.

Though as soon as Twilight had turned her attention away from the ridge, something else was happening right on top of it. The crashing and crushing of ice could be heard clear as crystal before a deep groan was being released by something.

Shards of ice and snow began to gather themselves together before they would be forming a massive figure. The figure that Twilight had seen, was actually there. It’s face turned purple as the flare was still travelling past the ridge and the eyes narrowed themselves a little bit.

It had found its prey again, but the creature of ice never set in the chase or dropped down. Instead it just trudged through the snow and ice, carrying an arm behind it. The hand had morphed itself into a spiky ball of icy shards that could be used as a weapon. Another groan followed and actually echoed through the valley where the tent stood.

Twilight almost wanted to enter the tent when she caught the sounds within her ears. “Something’s out there for certain,” she said to herself. In her mind she tried to figure out just what it actually was that could be hunting them. She decided to not enter the tent just yet and turned back around. She did a couple of steps forwards.

Once she stood in the right place where both of her legs stomped right into the snow until she had a good place to stand. What then followed was that she rose the staff with both of her hands above her head. Arcane whispers were released through her mouth as the symbols began to cover the staff. Only then was the staff rushed back down into the ground and a wave of fire emerged from it. A wave of fire that would be circling the tent and its protective shield.

Arcane fire was being used to give the tent a secondary layer of protection, it’s intense heat would be melting anything that would be getting too close to it. Twilight seemed to have been content with the execution of the spell as the barrier that separated fire and ice was mere nothing. Nothing would be getting to them.

But whether it was paranoia toying with her or there was actually something out there, couldn’t be told by the mare. “Better safe than sorry,” she mumbled to herself. After which she finally walked back to the tent. The next anthrony in line was ready to do the watch. And that anthrony happened to be Rarity.

~~~~

The day came once again and Rarity had stretched her legs a little bit as she had been keeping the watch until the sun would ‘rise’ again. The unicorn on the other end had actually fallen asleep within the last hour before she shocked back into action.

Though during her watch hadn’t she seen a single thing about what was wandering over the ridge. Nothing had caught her eyes as everything felt like it was actually dead. Frozen in time like pretty much the whole place. She got back up on her hooves and began to just walk a bit more around to stretch her legs.

Twilight happened to be the first mare to leave the tent and for the first time she actually asked again for a report. “Nothing, complete and utter nothing,” replied Rarity as a direct response of the question. “I swear, I haven’t seen or heard anything during my watch. But a question for you, how do you plan to cross the ridge?”

Rarity knew where Twilight would be heading to. Only the manners of how they would be getting there was something that always managed to capture her imagination. “We break up the tent again and walk into the route we intended to follow, we came in by the low part of the valley. So the only logical thing is that we keep on walking up and then turn unto the ridge,” the soothsayer replied as plain as she could.

The explanation was actually enough to get Rarity concern again, yet one last question still lingered within her mind. “And what if there is a steep drop on the other side?”

“Please, don’t even start about it, okay?” Twilight replied. She followed her words by giving the unicorn a really nasty look with her eyes. “Another problem for another time.”

“Okay, okay, I was just wondering,” replied Rarity quickly before the soothsayer disabled not only the arcane fire, but also the shield around the tent. They had survived yet another night in the dreaded place. Yet who was to say there wouldn’t be many more to come?

Not too much later was the company back on its hooves. All of them were walking up against the mountain of snow in the valley. The depth remained the same though. They only sank in up to their ankles while they should been having gone down too far in their middles. Or being buried inside of the stuff. It surprised all of the anthronies but Twilight’s attention was constantly focused upon the ridge where she had seen the dreaded creature.

“Why aren’t we sinking so far?” Rainbow asked then. Curiosity had gotten the better of her about the whole thing. It was also a little bit strange that it was her who asked the question. The major of the air force was known to sometimes just take off into the air and fly around to scout ahead. None of the other members really questioned it aloud though.

“It’s because of the permafrost,” answered Fluttershy. She would be taking the heat off of Twilight for a change. The unicorn hadn’t even heard the question in fact.

“Permafrost?” the cyan pegasus replied with a tilted head. Never in her life had she heard a word like it. It even sounded like Fluttershy would have made up the word just to give some form of answer to her. “You’re kidding me here, right?”

“I’m not,” the doctor replied while she turned herself towards the major. “The ground we walk on has been frozen of decades, centuries, millennia perhaps. It’s always subzero here, everything freezes shut and not even the tiniest of gaps can escape it. When everything is frozen and remains like it for years, it eventually becomes permafrost. It holds the atmosphere as it was ages ago, times before the factories were invented.”

“Hey, don’t become a treehugger on me, alright? I respect your beliefs, but I have had a bit enough of that,” said Rainbow then in a stern tone. The tone was actually more than enough to give the pegasus a little scare as she then held her mouth again. “Good, and thanks for the lesson on this, permafrost.”

The doctor only let out a little squee just before Applejack decided to meddle herself into the mix. “Ah’m glad it’s permafrost, mah leg couldn’t handle that much snow and ice being thrown against it. Running on all cylinders here just to prevent it from freezing up,” she said aloud. All of their attentions were given to her. They could actually understand of just why the admiral was so happy about it.

Yet the pirate of the group couldn’t believe why Twilight was so fixated upon the ridge they were walking to. “Twilight? Twilight!”

Finally there was some reaction that came out of the unicorn as she shocked up out of her concentration. The attention was then turned over to Rarity with the question being asked. “Why are you calling me? Did we miss it, or something?” she asked in an almost sarcastic tone.

But Rarity shook her head as she then gave her own words again. “No, we didn’t miss anything yet. I’m just wondering why on earth you keep on staring towards the ridge. Have you seen a ghost upon it or something?”

All of them expected a reply about she was looking at the geological structure of the ridge or how the snow could be staying on top of it. “I, I think I have,” said Twilight then. Those words were some of the category that they had never expected to see. “I, I can’t say for certain. But during my watch last, ‘night’, I meant to have seen something wandering on top of it. Never saw it again afterward though.”

Rarity released a deep ‘hmm’ through her throat. The others just glanced over to the soothsayer for a moment before they would continue their journey. Plowing themselves through the snow of ages to get to the place they needed to be. “An interesting matter indeed. But don’t wind yourself up about it too much. If it has left, it has left. We’re well-equipped remember, I think we can handle a couple of beings here, just as much as everywhere else.”

“I can only pray you’re right, Rarity.”

“So do I,” the pirate whispered under her breath. Then her sapphire blue eyes looked one last time over the ridge.

~~~~

Finally had they made it, finally had they made the journey out of the valley and had turned towards the stone ridge that they needed to be going. There were they granted a wonderful sight over the plains as well as something they had been dying to see for a long time already. For their eyes were looking at the very foundation of the crystal castle.

Massive shards of dark colored crystal could still be seen sticking out of the ground, bending in ways like they were the teeth of the Maw. They were at the right track at least, that much was certain for all of them. “Hey, look over there, what’s that?” Fluttershy then said as she pointed with her finger into what seemed like nothingness.

All of the anthronies followed the finger and they all came out on the same thing. A small, chapel-like igloo in the middle of the snowy foundation. None of them could believe the facts as they were as some actually became just that little bit scared about it.

Fluttershy lowered her hand again as the feelings of relief were traveling down the spine of Twilight. They had found it, they had found the possible place where soothsayer Cadence could have been hiding herself. Relief was being exhaled before it would be making place for terror.

It was right behind them, on mountain slope behind them and on its far side could the howling winds be heard. The winds travelled far and wide before they went straight past their ears. Applejack’s twitched heavily as she then turned herself around. Though the sights she saw were of something that was just unbelievable. “Ah, Ah don’t wanna make panic, but Ah think it’s best we just go down. B-Blizzard storm!” she stuttered before a finger pointed to the black clouds that that were heading their way.

“What?!” Twilight exclaimed just before she quickly turned around. Immediately did the pupils rims shrink themselves in size as a truly massive blizzard storm was heading right for them. “Run! Just run as fast as you can to the foot of the mountain! Roll for all I care. I don’t want any of us on the summit of this place when that erupts!” she shouted to all of them.

And so had the race for the company begun. They wanted to clear themselves off of the top of the mountain as quickly as possible. They ran down with the steps of giants before they all be tumbling over and roll down the rest of the mountain.

Tumbling down like things thrown down the stairs they went, screams and yells of terror were released by all of the mares as Rainbow managed to work her way into the skies. She zapped down as quickly as she possibly could to await the others. Her only hope was that there wouldn’t have been any broken bones.

In the end had each of them reached the foot of the mountain, albeit it dizzy and completely disorientated. No bones were broken luckily, only a couple of bruises and bumps. They could be speaking of complete and utter luck that they managed to get out of there the way they did. But the clouds still loomed above them as the first flakes of snow were dropped.

“It’s best if we keep on moving, find some form of shelter to hide in for the time being!” Twilight said while the other agreed in unison. They had to wander for as long as they could, as long as the weather allowed it. Who knew how bad it would be on top of the mountain by then, a thought none of them wanted to think about.

Yet the more they wandered through the building blizzard storm, the more of those strange, little igloo’s they encountered. All of them were made out of nothing but ice with an extinguished fire place within them. “How long since these have seen life?” the soothsayer questioned to herself as she traced over the symbol that was carved in one of the blocks of ice.

The more she travelled over it with her finger, the more she realized it was actually the symbol of both the goddesses. For the sun and the moon were merged into one symbol. “We’re close, she must be somewhere around here. Look for a chapel bigger than the rest.” She then turned herself around to look over to the black clouds above them. “And please, for the love of the goddesses themselves hurry, we’re literally running out of time here.”

Winds howled passed their ears while the flakes of snow rained down upon them like hail. The very fires that were resting inside of their hearts were given a hard time to keep the blood on the right temperature. Nopony knew just how cold it actually was outside, but if their flames were having troubles, it meant it was perhaps better to take shelter somewhere.

With the greatest of difficulty did the group manage to walk forward. All were hoping to find that one last chapel in which they could be hiding themselves for the storm. Everypony was sticking close to each other as losing even one inside of the storm would be resulting in an actual death. Yet each of them were just so glad they weren’t standing on the top of the mountain anymore.

Who knew just how bad the weather had become on the very top of the mountain? In their eyes it was well worth the risk of getting the bruises and bumps they have gotten. For they were safely down there.

"Where’s that bloody thing?!” Rarity exclaimed as she turned her attention all around her. She wanted to see something, anything that resembled something like an actual igloo. But the fact that remained unknown to them was that they had past the last little chapel already. They were crossing over the massive foundation of the destroyed crystal castle with the hopes of getting better weather.

Somehow, somewhere where their prayers actually be heard. With the wind that howled behind them, Rainbow Dash couldn’t resist bit to look up at the mountain. There she saw something that wasn’t seen in a long time. “I see blue skies!” she yelled over the heads of all the other mares.

In a near instant did everypony came to a hold in the storm. They looked into the direction the pegasus was facing. She was right, they all saw the clue blue sky travelling behind the black clouds. Soon enough would the storm be laying down, that much was true. And soon enough could the search for Cadence actually resume.

But for the time being did they had to suffer the storm. Their fire coated hearts had to work even faster in order not to make any of them freeze to death. Suddenly had hypothermia become the least of their worries. Freezing to death however, had taken its rightful place in all of their minds. How long would the storm last above them? What if the wind would have been laid down? They would have still been trapped.

Hope, hope was all that they had in the case as they had to push on. Push on not only for themselves or Twilight, but push on for Equestria itself. If they would fail in their quest, the land would be lost. The risks were great, their lives even greater, but their home was them dearest.

With the passage of time had the storm been lowered. Finally had the dreaded blizzard storm just travelled passed them and the five mares were hugging one another tight. Not out of thanking that they had survived, instead they were warming up their bodies. The little arcane fire wasn’t powerful enough to keep them completely warm.

Failures had come as the storm had reached its peak and each of them were shivering as a direct result. The coat still worked, but not as much as Twilight would have liked. They all needed to give it a little moment before the warm blood would be pumped again through their bodies. Until then, all they could be doing was to hold the hug firmly.

“T-That was, t-t-terrible,” the major of the air force said with clattering teeth . She rubbed her arms over the back of both Rarity and Fluttershy. All of them had to agree upon the facts as they were, none of them had even looked at the location they were. For all they knew they could be on an island in the tropical seas, it didn’t matter for them. As long as that terrible cold would have been removed out of their systems and bodies.

Each of them rubbed over the backs of the others before the warmth of their bodies had finally returned to them. It must have been one of the closest calls that they had made during the whole trip so far. But they weren’t out of the fire yet.

For when Twilight rose her head up, she stared right into the entrance of something. Something that she hadn’t seen before. The hug was broken from her side as she then went around the rest of the mares. Then was the hug broken as a whole while all of their attention was turned over to the same thing as Twilight. “This must be it…” she spoke up as she looked at the largest igloo chapel she had seen so far. “This has to be it.”

The soothsayer then rushed towards the entrance of the igloo without a second thought. Though she had to admit that she was surprised to see a door that was made out of nothing but ice. Confused about it, she still knocked upon it as the rest of the mares just looked towards it from a distance. Yet something told them all that they had to get in closer. That they had to see the events that would be happening next.

So that was exactly what they did. Even though they were all truly hesitant about it, the group of mares still walked forward towards the door. A door that was being opened and in its way stood a mare. A mare with a horn larger than any unicorn they had seen and a pair of wings upon her back. The rest of the company –as well as Twilight– were genuinely surprised to see the state in which the mare was. They thought that it was impossible to have both a horn and a pair of wings.

It seemed like it was actually possible for an anthrony to be having both. They needed to know the finer details of it all even if it was just a well-kept secret. Yet the eyes of the mare in the doorway went wide as she didn’t expected any visitors to be coming her way. Though the whole expression changed the second that Twilight laid her arms in the neck of the mare and pulled her in for a hug.

“Oh Cadence, it’s so good to see you again! Finally have we managed to find you among the frozen plains, you remember your Twilight, right?” said Twilight in a voice that was truly overjoyed. Yet Cadence herself had a little bit of a difficulty to gather the knowledge of the mare.

All of the sudden did the eyes went wide and a small gasp for air was being made. “Twilight?! As in, Twilight Sparkle?!” Cadence then said in return. She couldn’t believe that it was actually Twilight who was standing in front of her. “Oh my goodness, where and how have you been?”

“I’ll tell inside, can we please come in? We have been sitting out that blizzard storm outside just yet,” said Twilight before the hug was being broken again. Without a word were they just allowed to enter the igloo as the soothsayer was the first to enter. Who was then naturally followed by the rest of the company of mares. All of them had their introduction with the other soothsayer before they walked further into the warm living room.

The igloo itself was in fact a whole lot wider than they had expected as well as higher. Even though it was a chapel to honor both of the goddesses, it also happened to be the home of the other mare. And like a good hostess had Cadence closed the door behind the last anthrony and she was busy setting tea for the lot of them.

Yet then did the question of questions do its turn. “How is it possible for an unicorn to have both a horn and a pair of wings?” Twilight dared to ask to her old mentor. Because the last time that the two had seen one another, the wings weren’t there.

Cadence herself chuckled up softly as she removed a strand of hair out of her face before the answer came. “When a soothsayer does something exceptional, he or she is granted an option by the goddesses. To become an anthrony that carries both the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn or not. Though who accept become a creature that is called an alicorn. Really rare to come across actually. I believe I was the first one in, fifty years? Maybe even longer if my memory serves me right.”

The words were already a tough pill to swallow for the rest of them. They didn’t really buy the story though. Even though the evidence of it being true was right in front of them. “An alicorn,” the younger soothsayer said while she stroked her chin. “Curious, highly curious.” The word wasn’t something new for her, for in the book about the evolution of the anthrony she had read that alicorns were also existing within the time of the ponies.

Something didn’t seem right in her eyes though. But the thought was lost the moment that Cadence walked back in with the cups of tea. Everypony was just happy that they finally would be getting something warm inside of them next to the fires. They could really, really be using it for a change.

Cadence took place in the one remaining chair inside of the igloo as she focused her attention upon her former pupil. “I don’t take it that it is mere a meeting of seeing one another again, is it?” she asked towards the mulberry mare who was just taking a sip of her tea.

The liquids were swallowed before the cup was being set down. Twilight then shook her head as the truth of the matter had to be told. “I wish it was, Cadence, I really do. But I’m afraid this isn’t. I’m sure you have heard about the tremors that have been hitting Equestria right?”

“Heard of them? Why do you think the castle has been fallen to its foundation?” Cadence then said to show Twilight her position in the game that was played. “But yes, I have heard of it.”

The younger soothsayer nodded towards the alicorn before she released a deep exhale. There must have been a way in which she could tell the whole story in just two, maybe three sentences. The mare took a deep inhale before it was slowly being exhaled. “Basically, I have gotten a vision in which the goddesses themselves told me on how to make an end to all of this. The only problem is that we have to go to the deepest cavern system in Equestria, a cavern system on which I was told you might be knowing where it lays.”

The words actually came a little bit shocking over towards the alicorn. She coughed a couple of times as some of her tea had accidentally fallen inside of her trachea. With a couple more coughs that followed was the emergency avoided before she looked deep into the eyes of Twilight.

The stare was returned just as deeply as Twilight already began to have her doubts about Cadence. Something told her from the bottom of her heart that that Cadence wasn’t the Cadence she came to know.

“I do have to say sorry here, Twilight. I honestly do not know where the entrance to such a cavern system laid. I’m sorry to say, but you wasted your time coming here,” said Cadence in a sympathetic tone. She tried to show compassion towards the group of mares. A compassion that didn’t seem natural to Twilight in the least bit.

“Well then…” the younger soothsayer just answered with. Her cup was set again to her lips and closed her eyes. She was waiting for the commotion to be released by the other mares. All while she would be brooding on her own little plan of action.

Comments

[Yellow Gate]

HOLY CRAP! That took forever.... But it was totally worth it, and I've yet to catch a glimpse of what you have planned for Pinkie?

The curiosity is killing me!!!

[Rarity Belle]

6911623 All I'm going to say for Pinkie, is that you'll either love me, or hate me for it. Give it time, give it time and all shall be revealed.

[Yellow Gate]

6914939 Augh, you make me wanna rip my hair out!

This isn't healthily...

[Rarity Belle]

6916372 Are any of my tales healthy, then?

[DualKitsune]

Well, hello Chrysalis.