Mount Nightmare

by computerneek

Rockslide

She pauses along the path. It’s fully three hours after she left- but she hasn’t seen anything yet. As a matter of fact, her only clue to her location is the navigation spell she cast when she first entered the forest. The map it projects on the inside of her brain informs her she’s exactly eight miles in, though she’s run a full ten miles’ distance; her path is not quite direct. If she remembers her maps correctly, that means she’s got…

Eighty-nine more miles to go. As the crow flies. She lets out a heavy sigh, reducing her pace down to a walk. She glances back, wishing she’d thought to prepare before she came- up to and including verifying exactly how far and preparing adequately for that. It might even have been advisable for her to drag somepony along with her- though she doesn’t know who she’d bring. A few Royal Guards? Even if she’d asked, they wouldn’t have come- rather, they would have stopped her, for her own safety.

Pah! Like she needs them worrying over her! She can keep herself safe, even in here! As a matter of fact, her little navigation spell- something she’d come up with on her own- is a perfect example of that! Most ponies would get lost- but with this spell, not only can she trace her path flawlessly, but they lay of the land is recorded as well. Anything she sees or hears is processed and possibly recorded into it. Right now, that means everything; this way, if, say, a bridge collapses behind her, it’ll be a piece o’ cake to route around it on the way back. If she gets caught in an avalanche-

Wait! Why is the pathway collapsing out from under her, looking to fall off that there cliff? She turns to gallop back the way she’d come, but it’s too late. She does manage to hit the less-moving stone underneath, though, long before the pathway slides off the edge and plummets to the ground. She scrabbles for grip, slowing herself down- and finally draws to a stop. Unfortunately, she’s not in the best position to have finally stopped, now hanging onto the cliffside by only her forehooves. A quick glance shows the rockslide has stabilized- and she’s not sliding further off. She glances down and to both sides, before holding her position on this rockside while she analyzes the localized map her spell built for her with those tiny glances.

So, while scanning this map… Had she turned right a half mile ago, then followed the valley… The rocks would have fallen on her head instead of out from under her. Also, it would seem the path she’d been on before is a dead end. Distance to the valley floor… Way to far to drop safely. Though there’s a few roots sticking out of the sheared soil; she uses her magic to slice one off, piercing the ground in front of her with it. Finally, she uses it to help her climb back up onto the slope. Only one way to go now- back a half-mile, and down. She shears off a second root, using the two to aid in her climb back up to the ruined pathway. She doublechecks that her original course was, in fact, a dead-end before heading back the way she came.

Something like an hour later, she passes the fallen debris from that rockslide again, and shudders at what would have happened if she were at the bottom. She watches the high cliffs, just in case it tries to happen again, as she passes. Her mapping spell has now proven its worth- but she hasn’t turned it off yet. As a matter of fact, it’ll keep running until she turns it off, whenever she leaves this infernal forest, Elements of Harmony in hoof!

She marches on.

Comments

[LostArchivist]

Still not clear how/why she suddenly decided NMM was a problem and not a myth, though.
Otherwise, it sounds interesting so far. (which might be because it is rather surprising that the original group actually succeeded, despite the fact that it worked -- see Maxim 43 :D )

[LostArchivist]

I LOVE the Maxims. Heheheh. (The webcomic they came from is even better, but the maxims alone are hilarious.)

[computerneek]

8805097
I'm not sure on that one either- perhaps she realized it was talked about as a prophecy in a history book... but only connected the dots after sleeping on it XD