GOLEM

by Mokoma

Chapter 1 - Antaŭe Hollow

The prospect of camping out in the middle of the oppressive and cold mountains was at best, unthinkable. Raging winds and evergrey skies were the tyrannical, omniscient forces that would kill; if not the body, then the soul. The cold and wind was depression, and desolation.

With four skilled unicorns, a baby dragon, and a survival expert however, this felt more like a cozy sleepover. First, the unicorns made a shield bubble to prevent interruptions made by the wind and cold - while a tent was made. There were a few difficulties, for the unicorns found it somewhat harder to cast the spell. They were unsure why - they each had their own theories. Altitude-based pressure, hypothermia-induced failure, exhaustion-based failure, and so forth - rapid-fire theories for a problem that otherwise wasn't too great, yet. Despite a few flickers, the shield - the colors of which constituted a blend of the unicorn's unique magical colors, was held up.

While the dome was formed, the zebra set up a large, orange tent - big enough to give all its inhabitants ample space, and then some in the middle for food preparation. The tent not only was made of a sturdy and completely insulated, waterproof and windproof material, but its construction was both firm and designed to catch as less wind as possible, allowing the current to flow seamlessly along.

Now, the seven creatures sat together inside - enjoying the meal that the zebra had brought along; which were the preserved rations. He made them himself, and was working on getting it all heated up for his new friends. They occupied a fair bit of space in their backpacks, but were all crucial - providing thousands of calories, and great flavor despite their preserved nature.

The ponies began to eat and drink - and while all did so heartily, Fluttershy was somewhat less enthusiastic in doing so, idly picking away at crackers with peanut butter.

Moondancer coughed softly to catch Seefar's attention. "Isn't it a bit redundant to have all this preserved food? Our trip shouldn't last more than a couple of days, no?" She said, struggling to eat the veggie stew - partly because she was skeptical that preserved and processed meals could taste so fresh and nice with the mere addition of chemical heating elements.

"I'm quite enjoying the novelty! And this chocolate protein drink's great!" Sunburst smiled, having dug into his meal very heartily. "Nice!"

Starlight herself was enjoying a brownie - which she expected to be just as tough as one of the gems Spike was nomming on, but turned out to be smooth and almost velvet-y. She did notice, however, an interesting abundance of chocolate in Seefar's provisions.

"It's a bad idea to play with the minimum." Seefar explained as he prepared more hot water via the heating element. The unicorns looked at it in fascination - that the Zebra mastered the science behind this art and was able to make boiling water just by introducing chemistry to the process; no flame or anything, letting Spike rest and eat. Yet, Fluttershy hadn't gazed much at it, zoning out.

"How so?" Asked Moondancer, happy to gulp down the last of the stew that turned out to be quite good, before moving onto the chocolate bar she was provided.

Seefar smiled softly at her. "Any trip can take more than just a few days despite what you plan for. Unforeseen events may extend the trip to the point where you may have to resolve to gather food from the wild. We can't hunt either seeing as we're all herbivores, too. This kind of food is easy to prepare, and can stay edible for years in the right conditions."

"Is there always this much chocolate?" Twilight asked, ironically having just finished a bar of chocolate, and now reaching for a mug containing hot chocolate. "Ouch!" She yelped as she touched it- the metal container was hot and burned her hoof. She resorted to levitating it, and blowing on it gently - waiting for it to cool down.

The zebra frowned, leaning in to take a look to make sure her hoof was okay, and sighing in relief as he saw no burns.

"Please be careful ma'am. Anyhow, to answer your question - for this terrain and this level of exertion, yes there is." He nodded. "You see, chocolate's a good source of calories and energy, not to mention a great morale booster. You'd be eating other things were we in the desert or jungles, though. You'd want something lighter on the stomach and something that won't raise your internal temperature so high. Usually I swap the hot chocolate for a cool fruit-based protein and pack more trail mix. You should explore the Bone Dry Desert with me - that place is awful, so I've made a special MRE for it that makes the trip a lot nicer to bear."

"Sure would've been nice when we traveled through it on our quest to reach Mount Aris." Twilight giggled softly.

"Yeah - I'm not a fan of it either. Deserts are nice - but not that one. Anyways, Miss Fluttershy? Give me your cup please, chocolate's ready."

The pegasus, who was zoning out, blinked at the zebra. "Oh, r-right." She hoofed over the metallic mug - and the zebra gladly poured the now piping hot hot-chocolate into it. Without hesitation, Fluttershy's hoof wrapped around the cup. She pressed it to her lips to the piping hot liquid immediately, and let out a sigh of contentment.

"We'll apparently reach our destination tomorrow." Said Starlight as she gave another look over to the map. "What was the name of that location again?"

"According to the few sources that even document it..." Moondancer spoke up. "We're looking for "Antaŭe Hollow"."

Fluttershy's ear perked up.

"Antaŭe Hollow..." Moondancer continued. "Is, well, a hollow in these mountains. A hollow indeed may imply that the terrain could be stable enough for some sort of...development - but this climate seems highly limiting. Even if the weather's not an issue, I doubt one could find the food necessary to live."

"..." Fluttershy kept quiet - wanting to speak, but refraining.

"We'll see tomorrow." Twilight smiled. "Right?" She asked the zebra.

"If your map's correct, I assume we can get there early afternoon." He said. "If there's indeed a hollow in these mountains, the difficulty will be the approach. Either we're gonna have to climb up, or climb down. Let's hope it's the former - trust me when I say climbing up is often preferable to climbing down."

"Can't we just levitate down?" Spike asked.

"We already ran into issues shielding Seefar while he made the tent..." Starlight proposed. "I suppose the rough climate might be affecting us - though I've never faced something like this before. Still, I think we should be careful. Let's not use magic for life-or-death situations, okay?"

"Good call." Fluttershy suddenly spoke up. "And, I want to advise something..."

"Oh." Twilight blinked. "Well, of course Fluttershy, what is it?"

"Stick together." She firmly said. "We should not split up. Not even when we think it's safe. A-After all, uhm...we can't let our guard down."

Sunburst thoughtfully paused, then nodded. "If you say so - I thought we'd need to split up to search the area better, but I guess if one of us was to be in trouble, we'd need to be ready to help."

The yellow pegasus smiled warmly. Then, she got herself comfortable. Not to sleep - but rather just keep an eye out. She watched the other ponies, and the dragon. They would finish their meals, talk a little - and one by one, they would fall asleep.

Fluttershy opted to stay awake. She didn't need sleep. Instead, she kept an eye on them - time was, at the moment, a concept she could ignore.

***

"Hang on!" Seefar screamed.

Through the blizzard, a cord with a carabiner was thrown - and expertly, it was able to latch onto the harness, which was attached to Sunburst's coat. It was an expert move - for the zebra's skill, familiarity with physics, and muscle memory prevented the unicorn from falling down deeper.

Yet, Seefar's move was desperate - it was a risk he had no choice but to take, and unfortunately, the fears came true. The section of rock he fastened himself to cracked as Sunburst's weight was now attached to him - and both males were now on a steady decline, sliding down the icy mountain.

And yet, a yellow hoof quickly wrapped itself around the zebra's hoof. Fluttershy, using her wings, was able to dash in just in time. Seefar could not see what she held onto, the panic and fog making it unclear just how the pegasus was not only to lift the two up, but how she was steady enough not to slip or fall with the sheer weight pulling her down. With a triumphant grunt, Fluttershy was able to pick the two stallions back up onto safe footing - a small section of relatively flat rock.

"Sunburst!" Starlight cried out. "Seefar! Are you two okay!?"

"F-Fine!" Sunburst nervously yelled through the howling winds. "Sorry, that was some bad hoofwork! I didn't mean to put you into danger..." He told the zebra.

"No worries! I'm happy Miss Fluttershy came in with the clutch!" Seefar giggled. "Listen, I'll ask you six to try and keep your hoofing together just for another fifteen minutes! We should be able to see the hollow once we reach that peak!" He said, pointing at the top of an adjacent mountain. It was a relatively easy climb - but the tired ponies and dragon were already faltering. Only Fluttershy appeared to be strong enough to carry on.

"L-Let's go." Fluttershy declared. The meek, shy mare took initiative, and led the ponies forward - much to their surprise.

***

Descending to Antaŭe Hollow was difficult. Not for any technical reason - the decline wasn't as steep as Seefar feared, and he was able to fire a very safe zipline that had a gentle incline. The winds were also less extreme here, and they had respite from the elements.

The difficulty of descending to Antaŭe Hollow was that the explorers were utterly unable to stop staring at it. They were mesmerized by not only the sheer beauty, but by the sheer disbelief.

The hollow's environment was not like the mountains around them. There was no blizzard. Furthermore, there was no snow.

The hollow was green,and warm. While the mountains were devoid of any vegetation, this was not the case here. This hollow was enormous, and almost every inch of it seemed to have growth of some kind. Not merely moss or evergreens, but real vegetation akin to what you'd find in a field. There were trees, flowers, and blades of grass coating the entirety of the hollow. Most remarkable was a large, and even at first glance a very ancient bristlecone pine - lush with leaves as it stood in the middle of the flat area.

What's more is that the moment the creatures went down the zipline and touched down, they felt incredible warmness overtake them. The sun was able to shine - through a peculiar, almost convenient cloud formation that gave the sun an almost perfect angle to shine exclusively upon the hollow. Immediately upon touchdown, Starlight felt as if she was practically boiling inside her jacket, and it was discarded on the spot.

"I don't get it..." Twilight said through her astonishment. "I've heard of such geographic formations - but this...This seems to be way more than what I'd ever read about." She said, eyes unable to remove themselves from the scenery as she took off her heavy coat.

"I've never seen anything like it either." Seefar commented. "Could it be...magic?"

"No. It isn't." Fluttershy said. Seefar squeaked in surprise, realizing that her words were spoken quietly, and directly to him. He could only watch her as she stepped forward. She didn't bothering to take off any of her clothing, somehow unaffected by the temperature.

"Well, l-let's begin our search!" Moondancer happily bounced. "I'll start to dig around in the soil! Maybe we can find those alleged artifacts, o-or maybe we can find something magical?"

"I'm sure there's nothing here except for plants." Fluttershy said - once again, surprising all by her uncharacteristically firm and confident tone of voice. "Let's just take a look around, record what we see, and leave."

"Fluttershy..." Twilight whispered.

...

Starlight began to yelp in panic - the mare's reaction of distress causing Spike to jump up in surprise. All turned to her - except for Fluttershy.

"What happened!?" Sunburst called out.

"My horn...M-My horn's not working! C-Check yours!" She exclaimed, constantly prodding the sharp object on her head to see if light percussive maintenance would do the trick - but it didn't. No matter how much she tried, her horn didn't levitate her backpack up into the air.

"...She's right!" Moondancer gasped - eyes shutting and teeth gritting as she attempted to force even the smallest spell.

"What!?" Sunburst copied them - and all of his spells never resulted in as much as even a spark.

Twilight was the final hope as an alicorn - and yet, no magic came from her either. "But I don't get it, why wouldn't magic work here?"

"Perhaps more reason to leave." Fluttershy concluded simply.

"No - we can't..." The purple unicorn turned to the pegasus. "Everypony, look...Don't panic. Our magic isn't working - but this gives us only more reason to investigate this phenomena. We're either facing a geological anomaly, or...something..."

"But why?" Moondancer yelped. "I don't wanna spend another minute here if our magic's gone! W-What if staying longer here may result in this becoming permanent!?" She cried out, anxiously shivering.

"What if we've already lost our magic for good?" Sunburst suggested - not to genuinely ask, but rather to get Moondancer to simmer down.

"I still don't get why stay here..." Moondancer whimpered, shaking in fear.

"Because if this is something that can endanger Equestria..." Starlight exchanged a glance with Twilight - the two unicorns had the same idea. "We need to figure out what it is, and if need be, stop it."

Spike - curious to see if this affected him too, attempted to use his dragon's breath to burn a leaf, and deliver it to himself; a trick he learned to test his power. And as it happened - it went nowhere. "My breath isn't working either - this is weird..."

"How will we even find the source of this thing?" Moondancer anxiously looked around. "It's all flowers and trees around..."

"I've got goodbad news for you." Seefar said, coughing to catch her attention, and everyone else's - the zebra was much calmer on the account of not having much magic to lose, and took the time to survey the area closely..

"Goodbad?" Moondancer gulped.

"I found a cave for us to check out."

Comments

[Bicyclette]

"I'm quite enjoying the novelty! And this chocolate protein drink's great!" Sunburst smiled, having dug into his meal very heartily. "Nice!"

aww, yeah! that is why MREs are fun for me. but then again i’ve never had to actually subsist on them instead of them being a novelty 

Twilight was the final hope as an alicorn - and yet, no magic came from her either. "But I don't get it, why wouldn't magic work here?"

ooh, mysterious!