A Shimmering Intellect

by DungeonMiner

Chapter 8

Flash looked up the mountainside, staring at the stone monolith above him. The peak of Everhoof loomed over them like a manifestation of death. It towered like the Grim Reaper and stared down with just as much care and consideration that Death would afford.

They made good time up the slope. They were four days away from the Crystal Empire and about a quarter of the way up the mountain. In fact, they were moving so fast that Flash was starting to worry about his breathing and the altitude.

When he asked Sunset about it, she replied. “Oh, you won’t need to worry about it. You’re a pegasus. Your body is made for fast changes in altitude. I’d be the one that would have to worry about it, but I also know the spells needed to get my body used to the changes without having to take days on end.”

“Oh,” Flash said. “You make it sound so easy.”

“Magic can do that, sometimes.”

As they packed up Camp, Sunset looked over her topographical map and glanced up. “There’s a cliff edge about halfway through the day we’d have to climb. Our trail cuts right through it.”

“And I assume I’ll have to fly you up that?”

She looked over him from over her map. “Flash, you learned to fly three days ago. I’m not going to trust you to lift me. You’ll take up a rope. Then I’ll climb it once you’ve secured it somewhere.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“It has nothing to do with confidence,” Sunset replied. “We’re still not sure you have the strength to fly with that much weight for that long.”

“I’ve been flying for hours a day.”

“Yes, but there’s a difference between flying yourself and lifting a whole other pony. It’s like walking and then carrying someone else on your shoulders. Those are two very separate things.”

Flash rolled his eyes. “Sure, whatever you say.”

“I will suggest that we tie ourselves to each other at a ledge after the cliff face, though. It looks a little thin, and even if you can’t lift me, dropping slowly will be better than the alternative.”

“Alright,” Flash muttered.

“Let’s go,” Sunset said. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

They set off without much else to say.

The sun shone this morning, but the breeze kept the warmth away. The collected snow began packing itself under its own weight as the cold kept it from melting. Sunset used magic to push the snow aside, creating a magical snow plow that cleared the area before her.

Flash, meanwhile, split his time between walking behind Sunset in the cleared snow or flying ahead and beside her. The ability to fly still intoxicated him, though he was starting to feel the weariness of flying everywhere. That weariness meant nothing compared to the freedom it gave.

Flash dreamed about flying once, and that absolute freedom, that carefree weightlessness of actual flight, followed him into his adult life. The chance to go where he wanted, whenever he wanted, to break the rules of gravity themselves was a sensation that Flash wished he could experience again, and here, in another dimension, it was his for the taking.

Flying was as far away as sprinting or walking. He had the muscles and the wings, and he needed no fuel. This was everything he hoped it would be.

Was this how people in wheelchairs felt about walking? About standing on your own? Maybe, maybe not. He just knew he loved it.

A few hours passed before they finally arrived at the cliff edge, and sure enough, it rose like a wall at a ninety-five-degree angle.

Sunset nodded. “Alright, it’s a little steeper than I thought, but the strategy is the same. You got this, Flash?”

He shrugged. “Tying a knot without fingers is going to be the most difficult part. Hand me the beak pitons.”

Sunset removed her bag and reached in it to pull out a pair of hook-shaped, flat metal pieces with carabiners attached to the ends. “I suppose you want me to tie the rope to the carabiner myself?” she asked.

Flash nodded. “It wouldn’t hurt, Miss Magic.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, but you’re taking the bags up first.”

“Alright,” Flash said before he flew up to the top. It stood fifty feet high, which seemed far taller than usual since he occupied a smaller body, but he climbed it with no problems, thanks to his wings. As he crested the ledge, he found a large, empty area with only a few rocks sitting on it. He landed on the shelf and looked around, looking for any sign of a crack he could bury the piton in.

He didn’t find anything the first time, so he dropped his bag and took off for the second.

Once the second bag was up, he found that Sunset had weaved the rope through the metal loop and pulled it into a tight knot.

“Perfect,” he said before flying up the cliff a third time.

It took some searching, but he found a spot in the ledge to hold if he hit the piton right.

He’d never done rock climbing before, but he knew the basics of using a piton. You had to hammer the steel into the crack until the piton’s noise changed.

Flash started by slamming the piton into the crack, trying to force the steel to fit before he took out the hammer and began beating the steel hook into the stone.

Ping! Ping! Ping! The piton rang as Flash beat the hook into the rock. He banged against it repeatedly, and the piton began to twist into the crack.

He stopped.

They weren’t supposed to bend. “Uh…” Flash said, staring at it.
“I uh…” he began before returning to the cliff’s ledge. “Uh, Sunset?”

“Yeah?” she said, looking up at him as she worked on slipping on a harness.

“The, uh…the piton bent.”

She stared up at him, and he could swear he blinked. “What?”

“It bent. I was trying to get it into the crack, and it bent.”

She stared up at him. “Okay…So, do you want to come back down, and we’ll switch out the pitons.”

Flash nodded before he grabbed the piton and tried to yank it free.

It didn’t come loose, and Flash felt pain in his teeth, trying to pull it out with his mouth. He dropped the rope and turned back. “I can’t get it out.”

Sunset sighed. “Alright, I guess I can start climbing then. If it’s not coming out, it should be safe to climb, right?”

“I guess?” Flash said.

“Throw me the rope!”

He did.

The rope uncoiled down the cliff, and Sunset connected it to her harness. “Just be ready to pull me up when I reach the top.”

With a winch in one hoof and holding the rope in the wrist—or was it an ankle? Flash wasn’t sure—of the other; Sunset began the climb. First, raising her torso above the ground with the clack-clack-clack of the winch before she planted one rear leg into the wall.

She cranked the winch, then took another step up the wall.

Clack-clack-clack, clack-clack-clack, the winch sounded as Sunset slowly began to rise up the rope. Step by step, she climbed, covering the distance slowly but steadily. Flash watched the rope as she climbed, the fur on the back of his neck standing on end. Watching Sunset climb up the cliff made him feel sick. Thinking that maybe she could fall at any given moment twisted his stomach in knots.

She climbed higher and higher up the wall until she made it three-quarters of the way up. And then the rope bounced.

Sunset glanced up, staring at him, and Flash spun to look at the piton. The bent piece of metal had its handle on the ground, twisting from the crack.

He dived for the rope, pinning it between his hoof and the ground, but the piton gave way. The cable slipped out from under him, nearly sending him face-first into the snow and rock beneath him. He grabbed the rope with his teeth and hooves while his wings began to flap wildly.

He pulled as hard as he could, holding Sunset as she dangled over the drop. “Hurry!” he yelled, rope in his teeth. “I’fe got yhu!”

Clackclackclack, clackclackclack. Sunset cranked the winch quickly, turning the slow beats into staccato percussion. She kept climbing the wall, moving faster as Flash pulled the rope up, flapping his wings desperately to try and keep her from falling.

He could hear the winch as she climbed, but his teeth ached as he continued to pull. He tried wrapping a hoof around the rope, but without any slack, he couldn’t move his arms without dropping Sunset. All he could do was keep flapping.

Clackclackclack, clackclack. Sunset’s hoof popped over the edge, and Flash felt some weight ease off the rope. She began to heave herself over the ledge, and Flash pulled with all his might before she tumbled over the edge and to safety.

Flash slumped over and spat the rope free, groaning about the strain on his jaw. “Ow…are you sure ponies use their mouths for stuff like that?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Still don’t believe you.”

They waited there for a moment longer, catching their breath. Then Sunset rolled onto her hooves. “Alright,” she said. “Let me see this piton.”

Flash laid still, staring up at the sky.

“Flash…” Sunset groaned.

“What?”

“Did you try forcing the piton sideways into the crack?”

He glanced up. “Yes? I mean, I thought it would bend if I put it in at an angle to the cliff.”

Sunset sighed before she pulled out another piton and slipped it into the crack. “And then this one slides in right next to it and reinforces the first.”

“Oh,” Flash said.

“How is it that I’m the one that knows how to use pitons, and you’re the extreme camper?”

Flash shrugged.

Sunset sighed before grabbing the first piton and wrenching free the other before using a spell to bend the destroyed hook back into shape. She glanced over at Flash, who still lay on his back, staring at the sky.

“You going to be okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, I should probably get up in a bit so I stay dry,” he said before continuing to lie there.

“Well?”

“Hang on.”

He waited another minute before rolling onto his hooves again. “Alright, we have another thing ahead of us?”

“Yes,” Sunset said, having just finished coiling the rope.

“Then give me a second,” he said before approaching his bag.

“What are you doing?”

“Putting on my own harness.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not holding the rope in my teeth again.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m not holding you up by my jaw again.”

“You wouldn’t have had to if you put in the piston right.”

“Yeah, but if you have to cross a ledge, you’re the only one who can mess that up.”

“And I’m not going to.”

Flash smirked. “Sure. Just like you wouldn’t look like an idiot at the school dance that one time.”

“I looked great, thank you.”

“Your dance moves say otherwise.”

“It’s not my fault that pony dance moves don’t look good in a human body!”

Flash smiled. “Sure. Come on, let’s go.”

---♦---

They continued to climb Everhoof, moving up its twisting trails as they made their way up to the top. Sunset took the lead, alternating between the map and her spell to find the magical signatures she singled out. Flash followed behind, but this time, he stuck to walking.

The experience at the cliff wore him out more than he thought it would. He still wanted to fly, but he decided that he’d have to wait for the ledge that Sunset mentioned before he’d take off again. He’d save his strength just in case something went wrong.

The breeze was picking up, and the air was getting colder. Despite that, both ponies continued to move without slowing down.

Flash hoped he didn’t go too hard on Sunset at the cliff. He found it hard to go back to their usual joking and picking at each other that they were used to. He always felt like he was taking it one step too far, that he’d bring up a topic that was too sensitive to joke about. So far, he hadn’t pushed it far enough that he’d made her mad, only that level of mildly annoyed that they would constantly get back when they were dating.

“Well, there’s the ledge,” Sunset said.

Flash glanced around her and stared at a sudden drop. The path continued on the right-hand side, with barely enough space to place a single hoof.

“The ledge curves around,” Sunset explained, looking at the map again. “So we’ll have to be careful, but first, take the bags.”

Flash nodded before he took off, flying around the mountain’s curve and dropping his bag off on the other side of the ledge. He set it down close to the rock wall next to a massive boulder where it wouldn’t tumble over the edge if something went wrong. Once he was sure it wouldn’t move, he flew back, staying close to the ledge and checking it as Flash went with the careful touch of his hoof as he went.

“What are you looking for?” Sunset asked as he came into view.

“Checking the ledge and making sure it’s stable,” he said. “There’s some ice, but hopefully, you’ll be able to cross without any issues if you’re careful.”

“Glad to know you’re looking out for me,” she said with the slightest edge of sarcasm.

“I’m being honest,” he said.

“I know you are,” she replied. “I just don’t think that you need to be worrying.”

“Well, too bad, I am,” he said, grabbing her bag and pulling the rope and Sunset’s harness free. “Go ahead and put that on and secure it. I’ll cover you in case something goes wrong.”

She rolled her eyes and began to work on the harness, and Flash flew Sunset’s bag across.

---♦---

Sunset tied the knot quickly, securing her harness. Flash was ridiculous with all of this. Sure, she could fall, but she knew what she was doing. She’d been on enough adventures, after all. The chances of her messing this up were slim to none, but he wanted to ensure she was safe, and she had to admit that it was better to be safe than sorry.

He returned, still wearing the harness he had been wearing for hours, and pulled the free end of the rope through the loop. “Can you tie me off?”

She used her magic to pull the rope through and tie it tight. “Alright, we’re all secured. Are you happy?”

He nodded before he took off and hovered beside her. Sunset shook her head and moved forward, slowly approaching the icy ledge and the hundred-foot drop. She knew she’d be fine, but as they both got closer, she began to feel much more comfortable with the rope connected to her waist.

Taking another breath, she got onto her hind legs and hugged the wall, moving against the ledge as she carefully maneuvered across the gap. She moved carefully, sliding her hooves until she reached study patches she could trust. Once or twice, she shuffled around to stretch her hoof over the ice and get some footing onto the solid stone.

Flash hovered behind her, never far away.

“How am I doing?” she asked.

“A quarter of the way there.”

“Already?” she asked. “And here I thought this would be tough.”

She kept moving forward, feeling her way over the ledge.

“Halfway.”

She stepped forward again and felt her hoof slip for a second. The rope went taut as Flash moved to try and intercept, but Sunset acted first. Her horn rang to life, and her Control Matter spell took hold, shoving a rock further out and under her hoof.

“I’m good!” she said. “I’m good. We’re alright.”

“Are you sure?” Flash asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I can take care of myself.”

“Okay, okay,” Flash said. “Let’s go the rest of the way.”

She nodded and continued to move, clinging tightly to the wall. Her heart raced, even though she caught herself. The fact that she nearly fell to her death didn’t leave her as she moved. She didn’t relax, either, breathing in short, controlled inhales until she reached the other side. Her hoof touched solid ground, and she smiled. “There, see Flash. No need to worry.”

“Glad to hear it,” Flash said as he landed and grabbed the bags. “But I’ll have you know I was still—”

The boulder beside him shifted. Snow dropped off the rock as it moved, and Flash leaped out of the way as the snow threatened to bury him. He took off, hovering next to Sunset as she watched with wide eyes at the moving stone.

It picked itself up, leaning forward like a massive ape or a troll. Unlike trolls, however, this thing did not look at Sunset with a gigantic, stony face. Instead, a single, empty hole faced her, with a burning yellow light glowing in a terrible, cyclopean eye.

The monster pushed itself onto stubby legs and, moving faster than Sunset would have thought possible for a creature that large, used its long, gangly arms to reach out for her. She cast by instinct, throwing up a shield of pure magic to defend herself, and ran down the snow. Flash flew after her, carrying both bags.

Then they both were yanked to a halt.

“The rope!” Sunset managed to think before she was lifted off the ground. Both ponies stared in the face of the stone creature before it reared back and tossed them down the mountain by the rope.

They tumbled down Everhoof, getting lost in the snow.

Comments

[Noobblue]

Oh dear, that's quite the yeet