The Mare With No Name

by GC13

Issue 4: The Sisters' Rest Inn – Part Two

Zannah and the buck led the way through the passage created by the slice in the rock. Weighing each step as though the floor could collapse under her, Tilia followed. Finally, behind her, the last doe of the group kept a sharp eye out for trouble.

Even though light made its way in from the open sky, the passage was still shrouded in shadow. It felt darker than it should be. Uneasy, Tilia couldn't be sure if it was the monster's presence or the rock's own magic. She couldn't shake the feeling that it could tell her something, if only she knew how to listen.

It was of no consequence. The formation was unnatural, and so was the thing they were hunting. Tilia could feel her heart flutter as her eyes darted back and forth, trying to see the beast before it saw her.

Zannah slowed her pace until she was walking beside Tilia. "Don't worry," she said. "We've fought many beasts of the wild before. Everything will be fine."

"No," Tilia said, shaking her head. "I've heard all of the tales: these things aren't beasts of the wild. They're different. Dark," she said. "Hungry."

Zannah's expression soured, and her eyes met Tilia's. "Have you seen very many before?"

"Just one other. It..." Tilia closed her eyes, and immediately she could see the horrible wolf creature projected against her eyelids. It was just a memory, but it was still enough to shake her. "If she hadn't shown up, it would have eaten everypony."

The group came to a large opening in the maze, where two passages interested. It formed a small room, and the other two deer began searching the ground for tracks while Zannah stayed close by Tilia's side.

"So," she said. "What do you know about her? Where did she come from?"

Tilia shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "She just showed up one day, looking for that monster."

Zannah nodded. "I heard that she was once lived in a grand city of alicorns, atop the firmament above the sky. As punishment for some grand crime, they say she was stripped of her wings and horn and thrown to the ground below."

Tilia's jaw hung open. "Could it be true?" she asked.

"I have no idea," Zannah said. "A lost city of alicorns is common folklore among the ponies who live to the east, but I never believed in it myself until I started hearing about her. Now..." She dug at the ground with her hoof. "Now I'm not sure what I believe."

The other two deer made eye contact with Zannah and shook their heads. She nodded, and the group began moving down one of the passages again.

As she walked, Tilia wondered. The stranger had told everypony that she was atoning for something, but surely she would have mentioned a city... Tilia could feel the blood rush to her cheeks as she realized that the stranger hadn't really said anything about herself. It was why she still felt so comfortable just thinking of her as a stranger.

Every step she took down the passage, Tilia felt the urge to shiver. The creature was waiting for them, she knew it. She turned to look at Zannah, who was more tense than she had been before.

"Can you feel it too?" Tilia asked.

Startled, Zannah's head turned towards Tilia. A simple nod gave Tilia her answer.

"I..." Tilia said. "You know it's not too late. This isn't your fight."

Zannah defiantly shook her head. "No. A warrior must persevere even when things are hopeless. To retreat is a grave dishonor." She closed her eyes and lowered her head. "And I have brought far too much dishonor on myself already." Her eyes opened and she raised her head again. "This time, I'll see it through to the end."

"Why are you even doing this?" Tilia asked. "What's so important about that crystal?"

"Discord may have been content to spend most of his time making ponies miserable, but he claimed all of the land for his own. He struck our home during our highest festival, and we vowed to avenge the insult." Zannah's hoofsteps began striking the ground with much more force. "But he was far too powerful. I saw five of my brothers and sisters fall to him, and I..." She clenched her teeth. "I could not persevere, so I ordered a retreat."

Tilia's heart sank. She had known Discord to be many things, but... The look in Cobblestone's eyes when he had said that the final showdown in Canterlot, after the Sisters had fought their way to the king himself, was "nothing worth telling about"... How could she not have known?

"The very same thing happened to Rani," Zannah said. "We both lost our nerve. Neither of us can return home in shame, so we must present our leaders with a token of absolution. However, we are of different sika. We cannot both take the crystal and present it to our respective Serene Does."

"There was more to it than that," Tilia said. She could remember the encounter in the inn very clearly, and the mutual dislike the two groups felt for one another. "Why do you have to fight each other?"

"You see Cole up there?" Zannah said as she motioned with her chin towards the buck that was leading the way. "Even if he wanted to, he never could have joined the Nagi: they only accept does. They say bucks aren't worthy of being warriors of their or any sika."

"But what else?" Tilia asked. "Why do you have to act like you're enemies?"

Zannah opened her mouth, but her eyes widened and she said nothing. Her gaze dropped to the ground, and she clenched her teeth and looked away from Tilia. "It's complicated," she finally said. "You couldn't understand."

Tilia opened her own mouth, but words failed her as well. Instead she sighed and kept walking, turning her eyes up to the sky above. It was so bright, and she wished more of it could make its way down to her. She felt so cold...

Something brushed up her leg again. She could feel its empty, bony chest scraping against her through a thin layer of soft, downy fur. Teeth clenched, she immediately looked down but saw nothing.

She turned to Zannah and tried to open her mouth, but her jaw was locked shut. Desperately, she tried to speak through her clenched teeth. The only sound to escape her throat was a sickly and panicked squeak.

Zannah's eyes narrowed, and she tensed her muscles.

"It's here."

Her voice seemed to boom in the empty passage. The other two nodded and converged on Tilia. Each deer put their back to her and looked out, scanning for the monster.

"There." Cole finally spoke, pointing up at the wall not far down the passage.

Tilia strained to turn her neck: there it was. The monster was walking on the wall as easily as it had earlier walked on the ground. It was far worse up close: Tilia could make out the stain of blood on its teeth as it opened its mouth to snarl, and its black coat was covered in dirt. Brambles clung to the fur, and its entire jaw was matted with dried blood.

The thing's eyes glowed a sickening shade of sky blue, tinged with splotches of the green of a lake about to be killed by a thick layer of suffocating algae. It looked from victim to victim, wondering who it should feed on first. Tilia's eyes looked down to its chest and saw its rib cage sticking out, plain for anypony to see.

Its eyes fell on Tilia. She tried to gasp as she felt a breath of hot air on her ear. A dry snout worked its way from her head down to the base of her neck, taking in the scent of its next meal the entire way.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Tilia's scream echoed off of the walls as she felt the sensation of dagger-tip fangs on her neck, far more real than any figment should be.

Her. She knew it had seen her back when the stranger had fought it. It wanted its tails back, wanted to be big again. After making a meal of Tilia and the deer, she could feel it telling her in her head, it could be as strong as it was before.

"Take it down!" Zannah ordered her team as Tilia crumbled to the ground.

That was the only order she needed to give the highly trained warriors. Cole leaped forward and pulled a hoof back. A cloud of bright green energy formed around it, small at first but growing quickly. As he thrust his hoof towards the wall-crawling monster, the energy surged and reached the size of a hoofball.

The monster raised a paw and met Cole's strike with its own. It struck tentatively, leaning its body away from the punch even as its paw clashed with the deer's hoof. Tilia had to look away as the cloud of energy exploded, briefly filling her eyes with a bright green flash.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness again, Tilia could see Cole leaning forward in mid-strike. The monster held his hoof in its paw and grinned. Its eyes narrowed, and it licked its lips with its tongue as saliva dripped to the ground.

The beast's paw snapped like a trap. Too quickly for Cole to react, the monster closed its paw around his hoof and whipped him back.

Flying through the air, Cole acted quickly. He kicked at the monster's face with a hind hoof, and reached for an outcropping of rock with his free forehoof. His muscles strained against the monster and the momentum he had built up.

The monster growled as Cole's hoof hit its jaw. The mighty CLACK of hoof meeting bone filled the passage, and the other two deer moved in to finish the fight. Zannah and the other doe struck as a team, Zannah attacking the arm holding Cole and the doe attacking up towards the beast's flank.

For a moment Tilia hoped the fight was over. When the monster's eyes turned red, her heartbeat quickened. Cole fell to the ground as the monster released its hold and jumped down from the wall. It arched its back up, and in her mind Tilia could feel how offended it was by the very idea that these insignificant specks would dare raise their hooves against it.

The monster leapt forward, swiping a paw at Zannah. Flowing like water, she stepped forward and to the side. Just like Cole's hoof had, hers formed a large cloud of bright green magic as she thrust it towards the beast's throat.

Her strike hit; the monster's missed. A bright flash of green temporarily blinded Tilia as dust and chips of rock flew off of the wall behind Zannah.

Again, Tilia's eyesight recovered quickly. The monster's four claws had gouged long markings into the uneven stone wall, but Zannah's strike had forced it to stumble backwards. It coughed violently as it raised its tails into the air.

"Look out!" Tilia cried in warning, pointing at the dangerous tails.

Back on his hooves, Cole joined in attacking the monster on one flank while the doe attacked the other. Each dove to the side just in time as a tail came crashing down on them, slamming into the ground and leaving a large crack on the stone floor where they had been standing.

Zannah stepped forward and threw another punch, aiming for the creature's exposed jaw. Again, the monster raised a paw so it could meet a deer's strike with one of its own. However, rather than tentatively swatting, it leaned into the blow and put all of its still-considerable strength behind the attack.

Before she could even begin gathering energy for the attack, the paw hit Zannah's hoof. The force lifted her off of the ground and sent her flying backwards down the slowly curving passage until she finally slammed into the wall and dropped to the floor. Tilia cringed as chunks of stone, knocked off by the impact, fell onto the stunned deer in an uneven succession.

"Zannah!" Tilia called, rising to her hooves. "Zannah, get up!"

The deer winced and stood up on shaky legs. "I'm fine," she said. She clenched her teeth, and her eyes widened as she looked over Tilia's shoulder.

Tilia spun around in time to see the monster looming over Cole, who was lying on his flank. Its mouth was open, and more saliva was dripping onto the wounded buck. The doe, wrestling with one of its tails, desperately bit into the fur to try to distract the monster, but the discomfort didn't even register.

"Run!" Zannah's voice called to Tilia as she ran past her, charging towards the fray. "Just run!"

Tilia turned back and ran down the passage, pursued by the sounds of combat: the sound of hoof-on-paw and cracking stone.

"Rani!" she called into the maze. "Somepony! Please!"

Her own hoofbeats echoed off of the walls as she ran, taking whatever turns would bring her closer to the side the Nagi had entered. Behind her, the sounds grew quieter but no less urgent. Tilia gritted her teeth, and forced herself to run faster.

"Hold, pony!" Rani boomed.

Tilia, shocked, slid to a halt just barely short of running into the doe. "Rani!" she shouted. "Come quickly! It's here! It's going to eat them!"

The deer scowled. "A fitting end for her." She lifted her chin and turned her head away from Tilia.

"But you have to help them!"

"I most certainly do not. They chose their path the moment they swore to the Coda. They have no one to blame but themselves."

"None of that matters!" Tilia shouted. "You're the only ones who can save them! Doesn't that count for anything?"

"It isn't done," Rani said, turning back to Tilia. "Even in exile, I will not betray my sika by defending the Coda."

Tilia gritted her teeth. Every second mattered, but Rani was refusing to listen. For all she knew, the monster could have swallowed each of them whole as soon as she had gotten too far away to hear anything. She cringed, as she wasn't sure what would be worse: knowing or not knowing.

The thought made her puff out her chest. She couldn't give up, not while there was still hope.

"Rani," she said, looking up at the deer. "Please, I know you don't get along, but you two are a lot more alike than you might think. Can you really leave another deer, one of the few who knows what you've been going through all these years, to meet her fate at the paws of some monster?"

The doe inhaled and held the breath in. Jaw clenched and gaze to the floor, she shook her head. "I am sorry," she said. "Really, I am. But the ways of the sika are clear: I can't interfere." She closed her eyes and let the last of her breath out.

"But that's all from far away," Tilia said, the words coming out as little more than a whisper. "You're only here because you can't go back."

Rani dug at the ground with her hoof and looked back to her two followers. Eyes closed and heads hung low to the ground, they gave her all the answer she needed.

"Lead us there."

Tilia spun around and began thundering down the passage. Far from having exhausted all of her energy, she felt like she was able to run faster than ever before. Taking every left turn she could, she galloped until she could hear a small commotion up ahead.

Before she could turn her head back to speak to Rani, Tilia saw the three does leap over her head. They hit the ground in front of her perfectly and carried on running as easily as if they had never stopped.

The monster, towering over deer and pony alike, was the first thing they could see as they made the final turn. It held both Cole and the doe in the grip of its tails, the ends twisted into the form of talons.

Directly in front of it stood Zannah, several long scratches dug into her side. The blood flowed down her side and covered the floor, and she seemed somewhat shaky on her hooves. She weakly turned her head as the roar of hooves reached her ears.

"Tilia?" she asked, her eyes looking at the filly following behind the Nagi.

The monster threw back its head and filled the maze with laughter. High-pitched and grating, it made Tilia wince. As she shut her eyes she could see more images of the beast, digging its jaw into the body of some deer—or pony.

"You bring it more food?" the beast asked, showing its teeth in a cruel, mocking grin. "It so happy, it eat you last for thanks." The shadowy talons at the ends of its tails released their grip, allowing the two deer fell to the ground.

Shaking their heads, they forced themselves up to their hooves. Tilia could see that Zannah wasn't the only one the beast had got its claws on: Cole had been scratched as well, and the doe had some short but deep gouges into her leg.

Rani leapt forward, and her followers jumped to the attack as well. They gathered magic around their raised hooves, just as Zannah and Cole had, and drew their legs back for powerful blows.

While the monster raised its tails and a front paw to defend itself, Cole and the doe made quick jumps away. Falling in behind Zannah, they joined her in closing their eyes and bowing their heads. Tilia could barely make out some words being said in a strange language while the three deer moved their legs in unison, tracing something in the stone floor.

When they opened their eyes the fatigue of battle was gone. Their legs no longer shook, and their wounds had stopped bleeding.

"Now!" Zannah shouted.

The three Coda warriors jumped into the fray. Cole sliced through one of the beast's tails with his leg, causing it to fade to a sickly shade of gray for a fraction of a second. It was long enough for the doe being clutched in the clawed hand at the end of the tail to slide through the suddenly immaterial fingers.

She sprung off of the floor as soon as she hit it, delivering a powerful kick to the monster's underbelly. Tilia heard the sound of two blows come from the attack. The first was of bone striking flesh, and it forced some air out of the beast's mouth. The second came about a quarter of a second later and was far louder than the first, like a firecracker going off. The force of the hit knocked the monster five feet off of the ground, and any air that was left in its lungs was expelled.

Zannah and Nagi struck it together, while it was too overwhelmed by the doe's attack to defend its face. Already in the air, the monster was flung into the wall by the combined hits.

It hit the wall then fell to the ground, but rose back to its feet right away. Rather than pain or fear, its face showed only rage. It crouched low to the ground and slammed its front-right paw into the ground heel-first.

Faced with a foe that had just shrugged off their most powerful attacks, the deer hesitated for just a second—far too long. The monster didn't merely move quickly: one instant it was standing with its back to the wall, the next it had appeared behind the deer and was facing their backs.

Startled by the abrupt movement, Tilia hopped backwards, slamming her haunch into the wall. She winced with pain as a sharp rock dug into her skin, but she wasn't the only one in pain. Opening her eyes wide, she couldn't even make sense of the motion as the monster swung at the deer wildly with its front paws and its tails. All she could make out was the result: wounds appeared on the deer as they went flying, hitting the wall hard enough to send deep cracks racing towards the sky.

Snarling again, the beast turned towards Tilia. It looked at her with those deep, red eyes. They looked like they were filled with blood, but it could see her just fine. When she saw her neck reflected in her eyes, she winced again and looked away.

"Bad pony," it said, stalking ever closer to her. "It decide it eat you first."

Tilia stood, weak-kneed and quivering, with her eyes closed. She desperately told herself that the monster couldn't have won: there was always some last-minute revelation, or somepony else to come to the rescue. Where was the stranger?

The loud CLACK of hooves striking stone filled the passage, then the stomach-turning CRACK of bones breaking. Her jaw clamped shut, Tilia opened one eye and slowly peered to the front.

She caught sight of a pony's orange leg, and her other eye shot open. The stranger stood tall in front of her, wearing the same calm expression she always wore. In between them, the monster writhed on the floor in pain.

Always somepony to come to the rescue. Tears started flowing out of Tilia's eyes and down her cheek, and she ran forward to rest her head on the mare's shoulder.

"I was so scared," she managed to choke out as her tears streamed onto the stranger's back.

The stranger leaned her head down and gently nuzzled Tilia. "You were very brave."

Down the passage, Tilia could hear the sound of hooves on stone. Zannah! Still fighting back against her tears, she turned to see all six deer either standing or helping their fellows up.

As the last deer was lifted to her hooves, the stranger's gaze hardened. Rani and Zannah, still clearly shaken by what had just happened, and almost happened, closed their eyes and hung their heads low.

Looking back and forth between them, Tilia held her breath uneasily. The terms of the challenge had been clear, and neither group had proven itself worthy of the crystal. While she certainly didn't wish to see them steal the crystal, though, she couldn't shake the feeling that the lesson was far too harsh. The willingness to fight together was hard-won, and Tilia would be much more comfortable celebrating that than making sure everypony remembered the terms of the arrangement.

"I..." Zannah said. "I yield to your victory."

Rani sharply inhaled then gently exhaled. "I do as well."

All eyes turned to the stranger. Standing still, she appraised the deer for just a few moments more.

"Very well," she said.

---

The six deer walked down the road, stepping through the moonlit night in two single-file lines: three in each, neither sika mixing. They walked in silence, heads still low after their humbling defeat, until finally Tilia approached too closely for them to pretend they could not hear her.

"What is it you wish, my little pony?" Zannah asked, a mournful tone to her voice. All of the deer stopped and turned to face the newcomer.

"I'm really sorry about..." Tilia said. "Well, everything." Using her mouth, she untied the knot holding her burden onto her back. Unsecured, it slid out of its carrying cloth and down her flank, then hit the ground with a dull thud.

Even under the milky light of the moon, the sun crystal looked beautiful. All of the deer widened their eyes, and Zannah shook her head.

"No," she said. "No matter the cost, we can no longer claim the crystal."

"You don't have to take it," Tilia said. "You just need to touch it. I..." She grinned sheepishly, but found the courage to point to the crystal. "I think it wants you to."

Rani raised an eyebrow, and Cole and the second Coda doe turned to face one another.

"Can't you see it?" Tilia asked, waving her hoof at the crystal. "It's glowing. It... It wants you to understand."

The deer shook their heads, and Tilia gritted her teeth. She was sure she was doing the right thing, but it seemed so... Strange. Magic always was.

Zannah's voice broke the silence. "I suppose there's no harm in it." The crystal's glow briefly became warmer, as if in approval. Zannah looked to her right, then to her left: each of the deer nodded in turn.

They formed a circle around the crystal. Zannah was the first to raise her hoof, and the others followed her signal. In unison, they placed their hooves onto the crystal. It flashed white for an instant, then the deer pulled their hooves back in a sudden jolt.

There was silence again. Each deer stood still, deep in thought. The wind blew, and the trees swayed with the breeze.

Finally, a look of understanding came over each of the deer. Rani and Zannah looked to one another and nodded as they quickly found agreement. Both turned to Tilia.

"Thank you," Rani said. "For helping us understand."

Tilia looked down to the sun crystal. Its mission fulfilled, it had ceased its glowing and returned to the dormant state it had been in when she had first seen it. She hurried to collect it, and secured it to her back again.

Zannah smiled, seeming truly content for the first time. "It's time we stopped longing for a past that's left us behind." She nodded to Tilia. "Safe travels."

The deer departed, again walking in silence. This time, Tilia noticed with a proud smile, Nagi intermingled with Coda with no regard for sika. Whatever the crystal had made them realize, they could find their new way together.

Her mission accomplished, Tilia trotted off in the opposite direction: back towards the inn. She wanted to get the crystal back where it belonged, then get some sleep in a soft bed.

---

With another monster behind them, being on the road somehow felt more natural. Maybe it was the sun that seemed to shine a little brighter, or perhaps the breeze just a bit more refreshing. Tilia couldn't shake the feeling that it was something else: the feeling of having done good.

Beside her, the stranger carried on with her quick pace. Tilia was able to match it far more comfortably than she had at the start of her journey, and was even getting more accustomed to the long periods of silence. Still, there was something she felt the need to say.

"Thank you."

The stranger looked at her, head cocked slightly to the side and a curious expression on her face. "Oh?"

Blood flowed to Tilia's cheeks. "For not coming down and asking me where I was taking the crystal last night."

"There was nothing to ask," the stranger said. "I trust your judgment."

"Oh." Tilia's cheeks burned even more than they did before.

After some time traveling down by the road, Tilia turned back towards the stranger.

"I just... Is it true that alicorns come from a city at the top of the sky?"

The stranger chuckled. "No," she said.

"Then where do they come from?"

"From a magical place, Tilia. A wonderful, magical place."

Comments

[TheStratovarian]

The parables in this are just that enjoyable. I really hope you keep enjoying these as I do reading this.

[Law]

Awesome, in every sense of the word, thats the only way I can describe this story. Spacing is perfect, story is immersive and engaging, and (although I have no right to say this being the worlds worse editor) I have been unable to spot a single error worth remembering. Props to you and your editor(s).

[Alondro]

This is quite the epic tale, set is a feasible alt-universe with a much darker Discord and consequence of his horrid reign. So much is right about it, I would have to spend pages going over it chapter by chapter. Each episode adds a little hint here and there to the primary narrative, while maintaining a solid tale to each 'episode'.

I suppose it reminds me a bit of 'Cowboy Bebop' in that way.

[NotSoSubtle]

FORE-SHADOWING!

Seriously. You've opened the door to talking about the metaphysics of this universe, now you have to answer where alicorns come from someday.