A Himaneighan Tale

by MasterFrasca

Quid Pro Quo

“It is tiny princess pony again,” one of the two guards said as we turned around to reveal ourselves to them. “How you get past gate?”

“I can teleport magically,” Twilight unenthusiastically responded to the hulking guard. “I wanted to visit with Elder Rosensarch and Prince Rutherford as soon as I can, because I believe we’ve found our Yeti.”

“Ponies found Yeti?” The guard on the left asked in surprised, raising his eyebrows enough that we could see his pupils. “Did ponies kill Yeti?” He seemed a bit too excited asking the question.

“No, we didn’t kill the Yeti,” Twilight said, much to the dismay of the yak in front of us, “because there is no Yeti. There never was one. It‘s just a storybook monster that got out of hoof up here. This over here is your so-called ‘Yeti,’” she finished, motioning to Divvy who had his fur suit and goggles and mask snugly fit across his face.

“Greetings,” he managed to say through the mask, muffled by the fabric and restraint his jaw was under.

“This not Yeti,” the other guard grunted, looking closely at Divvy’s getup. “Creature too small to be Yeti,”

“Exactly,” Twilight interjected, the exasperation clear on her wind-smitten face. “This isn’t a Yeti. This is Divvy, a friend and trader I found up here. I need to get him to see Elder Rosensarch.”

“Halvard,” Galearis stepped in front of Twilight, addressing him by name. “These are my guests. You’ll remember we left on a quest for the Elders. We’ve returned now with answers, so please step aside and let me escort these ponies to see Elder Rosensarch and the Prince.

“Ponies still not welcome in Yakyakistan,” Halvard threatened before taking a step back. Galearis stood firm and gave him an evil eye until he took another few steps back. “Ponies are free to go,” he said after a few seconds of this silent standoff. “Halvard and Brosnan need to return to guard post. Halvard is watching ponies.”

“And I’ll keep an eye on you, Halvard,” Galearis responded with a toxic sting to her words. It was obvious how fed up she was with the Yak guards. We stood there for a few seconds as the guards sauntered back towards the main gate and Galearis turned back to us. “Sometimes those guards can be so hostile towards ponies for no reason. Apparently they haven’t even forgiven me and my team for crashing here so many years ago.”

“Thank you for dealing with them, Gale,” I said, pulling my hood tightly around my head, the chill of the mountain air really starting to get to me. “Now let’s get to Rosensarch.”

“Right,” she said, nodding and turning around to face the temple that we had seen coming into the town to begin with “back to the old job I suppose. Come on, we’ve got no time to waste.” With that, she began, heading towards the steps to the monastery. Reaching the massive snow-covered steps, she climbed them triumphantly, the three of us following closely behind.

It was amazing that only a few days ago we had been on these same steps offering our services to the town. Now we came back, veritable veterans, nearly getting crushed to death by an avalanche and having found a creature of legend, even if that creature really turned out to just be a stallion.

The snow on the path up to the door was untouched, meaning that at least since the night prior, no one had been directly outside the monastery. I had to assume that the Yaks were still inside, making sure to keep safe from the blizzard. I personally couldn’t blame them. If I had access to a warm place amidst this veritable frozen mountain, then I’d take it all the chances I could get to be inside.

We approached the magnificent doors to the place when Galearis stopped in her tracks, just outside the place. She seemed to be frozen for a second staring straight at the place for a few seconds before Twilight spoke up. “Galearis, what’s wrong?” she asked as all four of us stood just outside the place of meditation. I was sure Galearis wanted to go in just as much as the rest of us, but something was wrong. She wasn’t standing motionless outside without reason.

“The meditation,” Galearis responded, voice barely audible over the whipping wind around us. I looked over to see her eyes were fixed to the door and her face was a blank expression lost deep in thought.

“What meditation?” I asked Galearis as she blankly stared behind me. When she heard my voice, she glanced over to look me in the eyes. “Gale, what’s got you so frozen up?”

“The meditation songs, Moon,” she softly said to me. I perked up my ears, but only the sound of wind met them. I couldn’t hear any of the songs she was talking about.

“Gale what are you talking about?” I asked her, putting a hoof on her shoulder to look closer in her eyes. She seemed distant and worried, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. “I don’t hear anything.”

“That’s the thing,” she suddenly said, turning slightly to face the others. “In the five years I’ve lived up here, I’ve never been at this temple where there wasn’t at least one yak meditating. I’ve never heard it this quiet before.”

“Well, all the more reason to get inside,” Divvy said, nodding his head towards the door. “We’re not going to figure out what’s going on slowly freezing out here.”

“Right,” Galearis said, turning back towards the doors to the temple. “Welcome to Yakyakistan’s Busdarna Temple, Divvy.”

Galearis pushed the door ajar just enough to let us in. Funneling us through to the main room, this time inside the temple, however, no candles were lit for warmth and none of the yaks I had seen meditating were to be found. Galearis shoved the door closed behind us once we were all inside. We stood for a second in the eerie chilly silence, looking around for any sign that someone was around.

“Hello?” Twilight called out to the empty temple, her voice softly reverberating around the spacious room. No response came from any of the walls. She shouted again and again we were met with only her reverberations.

“I’ve never seen the place so empty before,” Galearis mumbled, going over to a candle and grabbing one of the matches next to it, striking it on the wood and keeping the candle lit. Before she could pick it up in her teeth, I levitated it off the ledge it was resting on and over to us.

“Where could they all have gone?” I asked Galearis, walking over to join her next to the candle as Divvy took off his goggles and Twilight pulled up another map, presumable of Yakyakistan itself.

“I don’t know,” Galearis said, shuffling from side to side, looking around, the silence and chill of the place starting to get to her. “I need to go visit Elder Rosensarch. I fear something bad has happened in the few days we’ve been gone.”

“Right there with you,” Twilight said, stepping over to the underground entrance that we had taken our first day here. “We didn’t exactly part on the best of terms a few days ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if this absence of yaks has to do with that political tension I was seeing. Elder Rosensarch is most likely dealing with this unease as we speak.”

I glanced at Divvy who put out a hoof in front of him, bowing his head slightly to silently tell me to lead on and that he’d follow. I trotted over to join Galearis and Twilight at the entrance of the long and cavernous path that eventually led to Elder Rosensarch’s chambers. Twilight picked up one of the unlit candles from the room and put the wick against a lit torch, transferring the flame for our trek into the isolated tunnel.

Twilight looked back to make sure we were behind her before descending the steep stone stairs, holding out the candle in front of her. Galearis waved us through before taking up the rear of our short line. “Try to stay relatively quiet as we approach the elders’ chambers,” Galearis said, her voice echoing off the walls and reverberating down the tunnel as if to prove her reasoning. “I don’t want to get roped into anything we’re not ready to deal with.”

“Got it,” Twilight’s voice echoed off the walls, the frozen stone doing little to dampen the reverberations. Divvy turned to Galearis and me and put a hoof to his head, giving a quick salute before turning back towards Twilight. I gave a soft nod to Gale to let her know I understood just as well as the others.

The cavern was just as cold as it had been inside the vacant monastery. As we seemed to descend further and further into the earth, I could feel the chill rising and rising, every breath I took leaving behind a cloud of mist that soon disappeared. I wrapped my scarf tightly around my neck to no avail. The chill was seeping into my skin, and no amount of clothing seemed to be stopping it.

The only relief was the slight patches of warmth that were brought on by the torches that became further and further apart. Soon enough the tunnel started to flatten out and narrow as it had before. The torches seemed to stop almost entirely after a while, burn marks still appearing on the walls, as if someone had taken all the torches away for some reason.

Twilight seemed to take note of this as she would occasionally levitate the candle up to these marks to note that a torch holder was sitting empty. After what seemed like an eternity of cold echoed walking, the path widened again, opening eventually into the cave that we had seen the first time we visited the area. I couldn’t help but shake the tense feeling in the air.

When we had first come here, we had chatted the entire way, and nothing but warm conversation was to be had, but now there was almost a sinister feeling, with the silence and the chill of the place really starting to get to me. We took a few steps when suddenly, the wind whipped up around us, and the candle Twilight had been holding blew out.

For a few seconds, the world was dark, and the only sound was that of the wind moaning in the caverns above us. All four of us were standing motionless, each of us afraid to speak the first word. A few, terrifying seconds of this unnatural darkness passed and the near-silent soundscape oozed around us when the faint hum of magic broke the tension in front of us, a purple glow appearing with it. Twilight was casting a light spell to let us see what was going on.

Silently, she turned to Galearis and glanced forward, instructing her to lead from here on out. Galearis nodded and walked past us, leaving me to hold up the rear now. The two led on simultaneously, Twilight providing the light and Galearis providing the direction. We were getting very close to the Elders’ Chambers now.

Paranoia was starting to get to me though at the back of the dark line. I found myself sneaking glance after glance behind us, looking for something that didn’t belong. The cavern wasn’t inhabited, but I kept feeling like we were being watched. Every so often I would catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye and whip my head around to find what had moved. Everytime, I was only met with rock walls or stalagmites and stalactites. I told myself the cold was messing with my vision, but I never seemed to truly convince myself.

Before I could find the demons in the caves, our party came to a halt, the same wooden door that I had seen from our first day here conspicuously positioned in the middle of the cave wall blocking our path forward. Gale held up a hoof as she gingerly put an ear up to the wooden door. From the back I couldn’t hear anything but the slight white noise produced by the currents in the cave.

Galearis stood there for quite a long time before lifting her ear off the wood and going for the handle. She held out a hoof once more to tell the rest of us to stay put as she slowly cracked the door open just enough to see inside. Light poured from the crack and spilled over the cave floor, lighting up the dull grey rock and providing some warmth to the dark dreary cave. But as soon as the light was starting to feel welcoming, Galearis shut the door again and turned to us.

She took in a deep breath and sighed slightly, whispering to us, “The place is empty. Rosensarch doesn’t seem to be in his chambers.”

“What does that mean?” Divvy asked, keeping his voice as quiet as he could while still letting us hear what he said. “Where else would he go?”

“The only place I can think of if he’s not in the monastery is the Grand Stupa of Reconciliation,” Galearis responded.

“What’s a stupa?” asked Divvy.

“And more importantly, where is it?” Twilight added in a hushed and slightly scared tone.

“A stupa,” Galearis started, “Is a holy shrine to the Budan religion usually picturing their deity Busdarna during one of the significant stages of her life. The Grand Stupa of Reconciliation, which is actually part of this underground structure, is a stupa built by the Elders themselves to represent Busdarna’s reconciliation with all the bad in the world. It’s a place of forgiveness and a place to meditate on reconciliation essentially.”

“So this stupa is located in this complex?” Twilight asked. I could see the need in her eyes to learn more about the place and its history, but I could tell she was trying to stay on the task at hoof.

“Yes,” Galearis responded, trotting over to the spiral staircase that led out of the room. “The stupa is built into this place just above the living areas for the Elders. The visit it in times of need of spiritual guidance, or for any sort of debate. They’ve got to be there, trying to solve this yeti scare. Hopefully it’s being done peacefully. Rosensarch takes the stupa seriously, but I know how Rutherford can get.”

“Then we have no time to waste,” I said, walking up next to Galearis and looking up the stairs to see a wooden door separating the room from the rest of the complex. “Let’s get there and get this all sorted.”

Galearis nodded and looked back to see Twilight and Divvy close behind. Nobody said a word as we quickly ascended the rather hazardous staircase that ran counterclockwise around the circular room. Getting to the final steps, we found ourselves in another cave-like hallway with plain wooden doors lined up on either side every so often. Lanterns were lit along the hallway itself and at the end another staircase led upward. The doors beside us all read off different names, but I didn’t have time to read them as we half-galloped down the hall towards the stone steps. I assumed they read off the names of the elders that lived here.

Reaching the stairs, our little group bounded up the stone steps as the sound of voices started to echo throughout the caves. They sounded like a babble of yaks all intermixing with each other. They didn’t sound happy either. As we reached the top, we were met with a circular room with three doors, one across from us and two opposite each other beside us. The door opposite us was very cold and I could only assume this was the normal entrance to the Elder’s living quarters.

The sound of crowded voices shouting was coming from the heavy door to our left. “Oh no…” Galearis muttered, turning to us a deep frown imposed on her face.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that’s the entrance to the stupa,” Divvy said as all four of us stood staring at the door that seemed to be producing an awful racket. Galearis merely nodded before turning back to the door. I walked over to the wooden structure and put an ear to it. The sound of dozens of voices all talking over each other met my ear. I couldn't make out one from the other with the muffled sound.

“Let’s get in there and stop this before it becomes violent, if it already hasn’t,” Twilight said, surrounding the door in magic. Opening it gently as to not let it slam into the wall and announce us unprepared, the sound of voices seemed to multiply as if she had taken the lid off a jar of angry wasps.

We looked down into the stupa, a set of steps leading down into the center of the room, where a massive horde of yaks were standing all facing the middle of the carved circle. They were all up in arms, shouting at the middle of the room about things that I couldn’t possibly understand with their special dialect of Equestrian. In the middle of this circle of yaks, a rather wide gap was left open with two yaks in particular standing and facing each other. The two yaks at the center of attention were no other than Prince Rutherford and Elder Rosensarch, locked in each others serious gaze.

“Rutherford, tell yaks to leave this holy place! This is sacred ground, and meant for religious yaks only,” Rosensarch yelled to the sound of dozens of yaks approval and dozens more disapproval.

“Why?” Rutherford responded with almost a growl. “So Rosensarch can order the yeti to slaughter non-supporters?” Rutherford stepped to the side slightly as if it were two lions about to jump at the bit and fight to the death. Rosensarch followed suit, mirroring the prince’s actions.

“Yeti is not working for Rosensarch,” Rosensarch loudly argued to more boos and cheers. The crowd seemed to be completely split on who to be in favor of. If I weren’t surprised, a few more days of the controversy and there may very well have been a civil war in Yakyakistan.

“Then why are Elders not fighting Yeti?” Rutherford accused Rosensarch, taking another step, digging his hooves into the ground and huffing looking very close to charging at his own father.

“Elders believe in peace. We sent out pony team to help with Yeti. Why does Rutherford still accuse Elders of fighting against him? Yaks are all on same side.”

“And where are ponies?” Rutherford quickly snapped, not letting anything get past the massive yak on the other end of his stare. “They have been gone many days. Why are ponies not back to speak to us unless they are part of Yeti plans.”

“Cover your ears,” Twilight whispered to us at the top of the stairs. “I’m stopping this.” We all quietly obeyed and got down on the ground, covering our ears, I glanced up as I saw Twilight rapidly charging up magical energy. I closed my eyes too, knowing exactly what she was doing. The best way to get the attention of a noisy crowd in a large room was to be the noisiest.

A second passed of the same dulled arguing before suddenly a flash of light and a loud bang erupted through the room, followed by pure silence. I opened my eyes to see the crowd facing us and Twilight standing tall at the top of the stairs. “Here are your ponies, Rutherford.”

We all stood up as Twilight walked down the staircase towards the center of the silent room, her voice echoing off the walls along with our hoof-steps. “And I can tell you now that we’ve found your Yeti.”

Twilight continued into the middle of the circle, the yaks parting and staring at us as we went past them to the Prince and the Elder who up until a few seconds ago were preparing for a fight. When she came to the middle of the circle, we stopped and stood for a few seconds in the middle, the silence of the room being broken up by mumbled conversations around the room.

“Where is Yeti, then, pony?” Prince Rutherford bitterly spat, his aggression not having subsided a bit. I gulped, suddenly realizing that we were in the middle of a very large group of yaks that could easily beat us in any fight.

“You’re Yeti is right here,” Twilight said, pointing to Divvy, who waved a hoof in fake greeting, even going so far as to blowing a few kisses to the crowd. He didn’t seem as phased that the creatures around him were easily twice his size and there were probably a dozen of them for every one of us.

“He was dawning that coat you see before you in the wild, and he has noticed that the yaks population is avoiding his trading posts. He has told me himself that there seems to be no reasoning behind this lack of visitation.” Twilight continued her explanation to a very angry-looking Rutherford, Rosensarch standing solemnly at the other side, as innocuous as ever.

“But raided camps and destroyed trading posts,” Rutherford replied back on the offensive.

“Shouldn’t exist,” Divvy piped up. “I manage all the trading posts up here in the Himaneighas, and I have yet to get any reports from camps other than the occasional snow-in or natural wear and tear. The camps are in no better or worse condition than they’ve been in the past few years to the best of my knowledge.”

“Prince Rutherford, I do apologize, but our trip to Bullheart’s Bluff was only affected by the snowfall and a surprise avalanche,” Twilight said. “There were no Yetis or any signs that a Yeti was the cause of any sort of damage. I think what’s going on here is fear-mongering.”

An audible gasp arose around the room, everyone realizing that Twilight had just accused Prince Rutherford of lying to his subjects. “Whether or not the yeti is real will always be up for debate,” I chimed in, wanting to make matters clear to everyone. “But all the evidence we’ve found shows that the trading posts are well off and in no danger from anything, much less Yeti attacks.”

“Rutherford, Rosensarch,” Twilight said in a pleading manner. “You must see that these constant fights and this fear mongering are splitting your people up. Everyone is living in fear of what could be lurking outside those walls. Say what you will about leading subjects in a kingdom, but something needs to be done when all that’s happening is internal fighting.”

She turned to look directly at Rutherford. “Things happen in this world that we don’t enjoy, Prince Rutherford, but compromise has to be made at some point. You can’t attack someone’s ideals and stay in power with fear. That’s no way to win anyone over and it’s no way to be a good ruler.” Elder Rosensarch gave a hearty harumph in agreement, causing Twilight to turn to the large yak.

“And Elder Rosensarch, you can’t just be exclusive because of what religion you practice. Sure some may not agree with you and may annoy you, but shouldn’t the teachings of Busdarna be available to all those that are willing to listen? Also, shouldn’t you be more inclined to talk with your son about everything that’s going on instead of just having shouting matches in front of the town? Busdarna didn’t hide from the unpleasantries of life, she dealt with them until she achieved internal peace. In the same way, you need to talk with your son more, not shut him out.”

“And you need to be willing to listen to him, Prince Rutherford,” I commented as Twilight finished up her little spiel. “Accusations and hurtful words will only split a family apart, and to a greater extent, a town. A debate is a debate, but petty argument won’t solve anything.

“Ponies are right, Rutherford,” Elder Rosensarch said with a sigh. “Rosensarch and Rutherford have not been the best of yaks.”

“Rutherford may have been a bit attacking,” Rutherford agreed. “Rutherford does not like Budan religion, but that doesn’t mean he should discriminate.”

“Rosensarch apologises for silence to Rutherford,” Rosensarch said, walking over to his son. “He did not think anything needed to be said.”

“And Rutherford apologises for unkind words to Rosensarch,” Rutherford apologised back to his father. “He just wants what’s best for yaks in Yakyakistan.”

The two came into a big embrace and the rest of the town began to softly cheer, getting louder and louder until the entire stupa rang with cheers and happiness, the two old yaks in the center hugging and finally making amends after fighting for so long.

I felt a hoof wrap around me, and I turned just in time to watch Galearis pull me in and plant a kiss directly on my lips. I was so surprised about the sudden exchange I didn’t know what to do with myself. I looked around to see that Twilight and Divvy were staring right at the two of us. Twilight was jumping up and down, whistling us on. Divvy was smiling like an idiot right next to her.

When I saw their happy faces, I took the kiss in full stride, closing my eyes and letting the cheer and happiness of the stupa melt away. For just a few moments all there was in life was Galearis and me, locked together in an embrace that could never end, happy at last with our adventure finally over.

“Everyone!” Elder Rosensarch’s voice bellowed from behind us, dragging me back to reality as Galearis and I ended our public smooch, her timid smile melting my heart. “Tomorrow is day we remember Busdarna Reconciling with all her demons in life. In honor of Rosensarch and Rutherford reconciling, Yaks are having celebration in Grand Stupa of Reconciliation! All are invited, even little pony friends.”

He stepped over to us as the cheering continued, talk spreading throughout the room and plans being rapidly made to set up the festivities. “Thank you Twilight, Galearis, Moondancer, and…”

“Divvy, sir,” the trader finished Rosensarch’s sentence. “Kit Divvy. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Divvy,” Rosensarch repeated.”Thank you all. Without ponies, yaks would be at war, but instead they are at peace. Please enjoy tomorrow’s festivities. We will set up rooms for three visitors.”

“Actually, Elder Rosensarch, sir,” I piped up, still being gripped by Galearis. “I’d like to stay with Galearis tonight. We’re going to discuss my moving up here to assist her in her field studies.”

Rosensarch gave a hearty laugh before saying, “Then we will set up two rooms. Enjoy your time with Galearis. You are always welcome to come back. All of you are.”

“Thank you, Elder Rosensarch,” Galearis said before turning to the rest of us. “What say we get the night over with so that we can get to these festivities?”

“Sounds like a date, Gale,” I said with a wink.

“I’m telling you guys,” Twilight said, leaning in close. “Beautiful fillies.”

“Goodnight Twilight,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

“We’ll catch up with you all tomorrow here at the stupa. We might be sleeping in after a rather eventful night of planning,” Gale said giving my flank a bump with her own.

“Can’t wait, my flower,” I said, giving her nose a nuzzle.

Author's Note:

Read, Comment, Enjoy!
-MasterFrasca