Under the Northern Skies

by Prolet

Chapter 4: On a Trail

“Do you like them?” I asked from Rarity, holding a bunch of roses in my mouth.

She seemed delighted. “Oh my, Twilight! They look astounding; thank you so much!”

Rarity smiled, and so did I. “I’m glad that you-“

I felt a light pat on my head. “Huh?”

“Twilight.”

--

“Twilight… rise and shine!”

I saw a white face in front of my eyes, only inches away. “Gah!” I confusedly let out, snapping my body upwards with a swift jerk and almost falling out of the bed. Rarity barely dodged me.

“Twii! Time to wake up, darling!” my friend giggled. Her voice felt incredibly loud and painful, just like the light pouring in from the window. It looked like the morning was already in its full glory, and I had missed the doubtlessly wonderful sunrise.

Giving Rarity a scornful look, I rose up from the bed. I was greeted by the awfully cold and intimidatingly shaking planks of the wooden floor. Our room was in the second story, and falling down would certainly be painful. The building was in good shape and holding together, but you never knew if mould or age had taken the integrity of the wood away.

“That wasn’t very pleasant of you, Rarity,” I commented. She smiled back.

“Perhaps it wasn’t. But you really needed to wake you up, for it’s almost midday already!”

I was dumbfounded. A glance at the old cuckoo clock by the wall told that what Rarity had told was true. “Midday? That’s… bad,” I said while putting my brain to work. Schedule for today… now what was it…

Leave at dawn with the guide. Cover as many miles as possible.

All my magical might was almost instantly put to work: I threw all the stuff I’d taken out of my bag back in with a speed not many ponies could hope to match. “We’re late, Rarity!”

“Huh?” she responded.

“We were supposed to leave at sunrise! This might mean an extra day of traveling!”

“Don’t stress about it. There’s no hurry. Besides, our guide still hasn’t shown up,” Rarity said with a soothing voice. “I wouldn’t terribly mind hiking for a day more, as the scenery here is simply marvelous. Not to even mention that with a more leisurely pace we wouldn’t catch too much sweat!”

She was in the right, of course. I managed to calm down a bit, but we still had a huge problem with the former guard being somewhere. We didn’t even know his name.

“In any case, we’d better go ask around and look for him. I might have good enough navigation spells for us to get to the excavation site, but he knows the terrain like the back of his hoof. Our trip would likely take double the amount of time without him.”

Rarity nodded. “You’re right, darling. Let’s not waste any more time.”

Having agreed to take action, we made our way down through the dark staircase, taking peeks at the beautiful but somewhat ominous paintings depicting the Crystal Mountains that covered the walls. The ground floor was very much like that of the Apple family – the building was just like any farmhouse, except for the fancy decorations and a small counter to buy food, beverages and lodging from. Unfortunately, the receptionist wasn’t there to greet us. He was probably working on the fields just like everypony else.

“So, what are we going to do now, Twilight?”

“I’m not sure, but I think the best decision would be to simply go and ask around on the fields. It’s not like we’d disturb them for more than a minute.”

My friend looked a bit unconvinced, but agreed with a nod. We headed out of the large wooden door to be greeted by a cold morning breeze. Like we’d predicted, no ponies were by the houses, all being either working or doing something else.

The stroll to the fields was a short one. Everywhere ponies were cutting the stalks of rye; the second harvest of the season was on its way. The first to stumble upon us was a red-maned and brown-coated unicorn mare. Sweat dripped down from her forehead.

“What business are you here for, strangers?” she asked without a hint of excitement in her voice. In fact, the mare looked a bit nervous.

“We’re looking for our guide – a former royal guard,” Rarity answered before I could get my mouth open. “Do you have any idea where he might be? We’d also appreciate if you knew what he looks like.”

“You mean Grey Thunder?” the mare let out, looking at us with her eyes wide open. “His coat is grey and mane brown. And in case you have trouble identifying him out of all the other dull-colored ponies here, there’s one feature that stands out. He limps.”

Rarity was again quick to speak. “Thank you very much, Miss...”

The mouth of the brown mare was agape for a moment. “Autumn Harvest. And you are? ”

“Rarity. Pleased to meet you. I’m sorry for bothering you this much, but could you also tell where he is right now?”

“Well… I haven’t seen him around for a week. The best bet would probably be his cottage. It’s a few miles to the east from here – a path leads there from the edge of the forest.” The brown mare’s eyes were wildly glancing around. “But I think I have to get going now. It was nice to meet you, strangers.”

With a brisk trot, she left us standing alone on the meadow. I could only wonder what caused her to be in such a hurry, but there was no reason to ponder about it too much. Taking a look at the forest, I could indeed see a path.

“Let’s get going. We don’t have more time to waste,” I said to my friend.

“Alright, Twi. Don’t stress too much about this. It’s not like a delay of a day would end the world.” Rarity told, winking. I could but scowl at her as we walked towards the woods.

The field ended very abruptly into a wall of trees. Tall pines and spruces extended towards the sky indicating the end of the tended land, making me feel dizzy. Ahead of us was a dirt path surrounded by the foliage and underbrush that thrived this close to the fertilized fields. The path continued into darkness, the thick canopy overhead keeping most of the light out.

Really? I could only think.

For some reason I couldn’t comprehend, I put a hoof inside my saddlebag, feeling for the rough surface of the book. It was there. A temptation of pulling it out stormed my mind, but I was able to resist the sudden urge.

Yes, Twilight. Really. A dark and scary path in the woods. Just what you wanted, huh? Go ahead. Continue. You want to know where this leads to, don’t you?

“Twilight?”

Rarity was already on the path, a dozen yards in the woods.

“Oh, sorry. I was just lost in my thoughts,” I said, already following my friend deeper.

--

At both sides of the partially overgrown path emerged trees and thick underbrush like walls. Rarity was walking in front of me, glancing around with a frown on her face. I didn’t like the gloom atmosphere of the forest either, but it’d have been pointless to turn back now after ten minutes of walking. We’d probably arrive to Grey’s cottage in no time anyway.

Suddenly, Rarity stopped in her tracks, staring blankly ahead. I peeked past her, but didn’t see anything but the barren path and darkness ahead of us.

“Rarity? Something wrong?”

She stumbled back, letting out a loud gasp and coughing. Turning around to face me with a blank look, she inhaled deeply.

“Did you see that, Twilight?” she asked with a nervous voice.

“See what?”

Rarity raised her eyebrows. “The… the…” She shook her head. “Just forget it.”

When my friend turned around again, neither of us moved a muscle. The forest was completely silent apart from the noises of our breathing. It was just as dark and broody here as in the Everfree, and that was saying a lot. The memory of being turned to stone by a cockatrice was already creeping into my mind. With a brief surge of willpower, I managed to get my legs working again and walked to Rarity, who was still staring ahead, shivering a bit.

“The faster we walk, the faster we also get out of here. Remember that we’re on a mission. We have to do this.” Yeah, more like you want to impress Celestia at any cost. Not to even talk about your friend…

“Well, I guess we don’t have much of a choice,” Rarity answered with a sigh.

We slowly picked up the pace again, carefully watching the woods and keeping close together. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for us to reach the cottage. After only a couple of minutes, we saw a small wooden building at the end of the path. Light was coming out of its sole window, casting dim shadows on the ground. Relieved by finally getting somewhere, Rarity and I traded smiles.

Swiftly moving to the door, we knocked and waited for a response. And waited. But after a while, nopony had opened. I could but wonder whether we could get in through the window if our guide wasn’t currently there, when Rarity knocked at the door once again. This time, it opened. In front of us was the single room of the house: a table in the middle and a messy bed by the far wall. Some shelves were placed under the window. A single, almost burnt-out oil lamp hung from the ceiling. The stallion we were looking for was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m sure he’ll be back in no time. The lamp is still burning, after all,” I pointed out to Rarity, who was already entering the building. I followed her inside and shut the door behind us. Only now did I notice a note on the table.

“Mmm… I hope you’re right,” Rarity mumbled back to me with a nervous voice. Enveloping the note with my magic, I levitated it closer and read.

--

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic,

I’m sorry that I couldn’t wait for you. I already left towards the excavation site, and advise you to not follow me. Don’t risk yourself for nothing.

Grey Thunder

--

“Great,” I snorted out at Rarity. “Our guide has left without us. My navigational skills are decent, but we’ll be having a very hard time accomplishing what we came here to do.”

Rarity clopped her hoof at the floor and turned to look at me. “Why? What could be more important than a task given to him by Princess Celestia herself? What does the note say?”

“That’s the problem. It doesn’t say anything; just that he’s gone and that I should understand his unexplained reasoning. Perhaps I should be seeing some kind of grand connection, but I just can’t,” I exclaimed. “In any case, we have to do this by ourselves now. I’m sure we can reach the site in a few days. This note says that he doesn’t want us to follow, but since we’re here, I say we ignore that.”

My friend looked frustrated, and for a very good reason. It was unheard of that a royal guard, even a retired one, would abstain a direct order from a Princess. Why in the hay did he abandon us here like this? Is this mission some kind of test of Celestia’s, and this is just a part of it?

Even though Rarity and I were both angry, there was no argument about continuing. We hadn’t traveled all the way to this backwater town just to back away when the first problem surfaced. After satisfying our curiosity by searching every nook and cranny of the house for clues about Grey’s reasoning and finding nothing of importance, we fastened our saddle bags and returned outside. Circling the house, we found out that the path continued in its backside towards the right direction. It looked much better maintained here than on the other side, though I couldn’t wrap my head around on why.

It took us only a moment to get out of the thickest part of the woods, and now we were in a much more spacious pine forest. The sparse canopy of the majestic trees didn’t block out the light like that of the shorter and younger ones now behind. The atmosphere was much lighter as we trod onward, yet something about the situation was still troubling me. What if something actually happens to us? Or even worse – this is a test and we were supposed to comply with Grey’s request?

Comments

[Ficta_Scriptor]

You're back to posting again! It's been too long, my friend. I guess we'll find out soon enough what's in store for Rares and Twi, though I already have my suspicions. I'm betting that 'Dark' tag ain't just for show.

If there's one thing that I'd change, it's that I'd have liked to see the dream sequence taken a little bit further. And no, I don't mean like 'OMG sxey teimz', but I'd have liked to have seen a bit more of Twi's personal musings and feelings when she's not constrained by reality.

Anyhoo... keep it up!

(And it says '1 views'? Am I the first one here? Victory lap!)

[Clouded Mind]

you're back. A good chapter. Looking forward to the next one.