The Mare walks Equestria, just weeks after Discord's defeat, protecting ponies from the great beasts that now roam the nation. Nopony knows where she came from, and nopony knows where she is going.
The first few towns the Mare comes to might think her to be a curious, quiet sort. That's alright though: the Sisters have only just defeated Discord, and enough ponies bear scars caused by the tyrant for everypony to know when a mare just wants to keep to herself.
The defeat of the King of Chaos isn't the end, however. Great beasts now roam Equestria, preying on its inhabitants. On her quest, to Sisters-know-where, the Mare will defeat the monsters, and finally bring peace to the nation.
How many ponies could say they had met one of the celestial sisters? Walking back to her family farm, Tilia Linden felt lucky to know somepony who had the honor: not only had Cobblestone met both sisters, but he was one of the ponies who had heeded their call to retake Canterlot. It was there that the sisters had finally been able to vanquish Discord. He had returned home only the day before – having spent one week in Canterlot after the victory, then another on the road – and was telling everypony in town about his adventure.
Sighing softly to herself, Tilia turned onto the path that led to her family's farm. She wished that she could have met even one of the sisters, just once. Lemon Grove was a safe town, though, far away from Discord's attentions. Towns like it were visited by refugees fleeing the chaos, not by revolutionary heroes. Like most ponies, she had been too scared to go to Canterlot—Cobblestone's stories would have to be enough for her.
The sun was hanging low in the sky; somewhere, probably in Canterlot now, Celestia was lowering it to make way for the moon. The constancy of the shift between day and night had been a symbol of hope for two long years—the first sign in so long that something was actually beyond Discord's influence. With the chaotic tyrant gone, everything was finally normal.
Walking towards the sun, Tilia squinted. It was hard to make out, but she thought she could make out the sight of somepony walking into town. She stopped and shielded her eyes from the sun with her right hoof.
Sure enough, she could see that somepony was crossing the bridge over the stream. With the slight elevation of the bridge, and the sun so close to the horizon, the traveler almost looked like she was stepping out of the sun itself.
"Oh, hi!" Tilia immediately exclaimed, waving her hoof at the newcomer. She trotted closer to her and was able to see more details. Though she wore a cloak, her orange coat and brown mane were visible under the hood. She pulled a large cart behind her.
The newcomer stopped as Tilia approached her. Something about her blue eyes struck Tilia: she seemed like her mind was far away. It was a look she had seen before, on far too many ponies who had come to Lemon Grove in the past.
"Good evening," the newcomer said. She looked around to her left and to her right. There was no sight of anything but lemon orchards on either side of her, and for at least two miles down the path behind her. "Have I reached Lemon Grove?" she asked.
Tilia nodded. "Yes," she answered. She paused for a moment, unsure of what else to say to the pony. Up close, the cart's contents were visible. It seemed to be mostly filled with necessities: some tent poles, rope, and a few sacks that probably contained supplies. The only personal item she could see was a large box, three feet on its long side, painted white. It looked almost like a music box, but Tilia had never seen such a large one before.
"Um..." she stammered. Her eyes moved from the newcomer's cart back to her eyes. At the moment they were regarding Tilia with patient attention, so she felt permitted to speak her mind. "Are you a refugee?" she asked. "The sisters defeated Discord two weeks ago," she said. "Nopony needs to run anymore."
The newcomer paused for a moment, considering Tilia. "I'm looking for a friend," she finally replied. Her eyes turned down the path, looking at the town in the distance. "I heard he was traveling this way."
"Oh," Tilia said. Her face scrunched as she thought. "We had some ponies come in last week. What's your friend look like?"
"He's very loud," the newcomer said, looking back at Tilia. "And doesn't fit in very well." She paused again. "If he had come to town, he would have been the first thing you wanted to talk to me about."
"Um... No then," Tilia said. "I don't know about anypony like that in town, sorry."
"Thank you all the same," the traveler said. She started walking again, following the path into town. As she watched the stranger pass by, Tilia caught sight of the stranger's sparse wagon again. With so little to call her own, she probably didn't have much to trade or pay for lodging with if she tried to go into town.
"Um, hey!" she called, moving to catch up with her. "Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?" she asked once she was walking alongside her.
The stranger shook her head. "No," she said simply. "I just need somewhere safe to keep my cart, and somewhere to put up my tent."
"Well," Tilia said. "If you want, I'm sure my parents would let you stay at the farm tonight."
The stranger nodded. "I'd appreciate that," she said. "Thank you."
"Come on," Tilia said. "It's just a bit back the other way, over the bridge again."
Tilia woke up groaning. The first thing she was aware of was an annoying throb in her head, like somepony had been screaming into her ear while she slept. She turned to the clock at her bedside, which said it was two o'clock in the morning.
Wide awake, she hopped out of bed. If she couldn't sleep, she might as well check on the orchards before going back to bed. She smiled as she realized how silly it was: with Discord gone, the odds of a sudden cold snap were low, to say the least. Still, it was a habit that her parents had drilled into her since she was very young. The fresh air would probably help clear her head too; even though she had only just climbed out of bed, she could already feel the throb lessening.
She shivered as soon as she stepped outside. It was no blizzard, like they had one night the previous summer, but the night had a definite chill to it. She could practically feel the cold's fangs nipping at her ears.
Everything outside was still, exactly as it should be. As she walked towards the north orchard, Tilia could feel her headache vanishing—as if it was draining out of her ears and into the night. Briefly, she considered going right back to bed. She had already gotten up though, so she decided that she might as well give herself some time to get drowsy again.
It only took her a few minutes to reach the edge of the north orchard. She stopped and listened but didn't hear any sounds being carried towards her on the breeze. Having second thoughts about checking the orchard in any more detail, she stopped. There were an awful lot of trees, and sweet lemons weren't as fragile as their name implied.
Habits were hard to break, but Tilia nodded and told herself that with Discord no longer walking Equestria, she didn't need to check the trees anymore. Besides, the trees would warn her themselves if there was any trouble.
As she turned back to the farm house, she spotted the large shed where the stranger was keeping her cart. True to her word, she had pitched her tent outside of the shed.
The traveler had briefly shared the family's table for dinner. She had spoken little during the meal, restricting herself to first expressing gratitude for the food and then complimenting each dish in turn. After the main course, she had thanked them for their hospitality and excused herself from the table. Father wasn't one to allow the family to talk about anypony behind their back, so that was the end of that.
Still, Tilia was curious. She stepped quietly, not wanting to disturb the traveler's sleep, towards the shed. Once there, she opened the door gently. Luckily, the hinges had been oiled recently—they did not creak.
The contents of the traveler's cart were illuminated by the moon, hanging high in the cloudless night sky. Tilia could see that she had been right before: the traveler carried few mundane possessions. Her white box, however, sat prominently in the cart.
Its appearance perplexed Tilia. There was some sort of very fine grating on the left and right sides of the box, and a spout sticking out of the front. There was a pretty picture of a fountain on the front, drawn in gold leaf. A blue gem was embedded in the front, a few inches above the spout, and it glinted as Tilia looked at it.
The box was beautiful, but she still had no idea what it was for. She thought for a moment. The gem looked magical so it might make the box do something. Leaning her chest on the cart, she reached a hoof towards the gem.
"Please don't touch that."
Tilia jumped as the voice came from behind her. She spun around to see the traveler standing with her head leaning slightly to the side, those distant eyes seeming to look beyond Tilia and into her soul.
"Oh, I," Tilia stammered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."
"Don't worry," the stranger replied. "You wouldn't have broken it."
Sheepishly, Tilia closed the shed door again. "I'm sorry," she said again after the door was closed. "I didn't mean to wake you."
The stranger shook her head. "I was already up," she said. She turned her head to the north, where the breeze was coming in from. Her mane blew in the wind as she looked into the night, with those far-gazing eyes of hers.
Tilia looked to the stranger's tent. With the way it was pitched, the breeze must have been blowing straight through the tent for some time. While the stranger stared at the orchard, Tilia's attention turned back to the shed.
"I have a question," she said. The stranger turned back to her, then nodded. "What is that box on your cart?" she asked. "It's beautiful."
"It cleans bad water," the stranger answered. Tilia furrowed her brows, confused.
"I never heard anything about the rivers going bad or anything," she said. "Is there really that much unsafe water out there?"
"I seem to run into a lot of it," the stranger said. She turned back to the north.
"Oh," Tilia said. Standing behind the stranger, she waited for a moment. Her walk had fulfilled its purpose: she was just about ready to go back to bed. She lifted a hoof to begin her walk back to the farm house. Just as Tilia was about to excuse herself, the stranger spoke again.
"My friend is going to arrive tomorrow," she said. The change in subject was sudden enough to surprise Tilia. She set her hoof down, and the stranger turned to face her. "Would there be any way for you to assemble everypony in town tomorrow morning?" she asked.
Tilia opened her mouth to ask why but realized that she probably wouldn't get an answer. Closing her mouth, she thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, everypony would come to a town meeting, I guess."
"Nopony would skip it?" the stranger asked.
"No," Tilia said. "Everypony likes to get together and say 'hi' to their friends, if nothing else."
The stranger nodded. "Then I would be most grateful if you could call everypony together tomorrow morning."
Tilia smiled at her. The stranger had asked for so little, it warmed her heart to be able to give her something she didn't need, but wanted.
"I would be glad to," she said. The stranger smiled back at her. "Well," Tilia said. "Good night." She yawned. "I need to get back to bed." The stranger nodded to her, then turned back to the orchard as Tilia made her way back to the farm house.
The dull murmur of the crowd filled the town square in the early morning. In a farming community, everypony was accustomed to getting up early. True to her word, Tilia had gone through town telling everypony about the meeting. From there, word was sent to the farm houses outside of town. Everypony had gathered to see what the fuss was about.
In Lemon Grove, town meetings were at least as much about socializing with the neighbors as they were about disseminating information. Cobblestone had attracted quite a crowd, and everypony else had at least one friend they wanted to chat with while waiting for the assembly to get underway.
Gradually, the crowd hushed; everypony was ready to hear what Tilia had to say. Nervously, she stepped onto the speaking rock and cleared her throat. She had always wanted to call a town meeting, but they had never seemed so scary back when she was standing in the audience. Now that she was looking at a hundred pairs of eyes staring back at her, she realized why she had never called one before.
"Um, hi everypony," she said, grinning anxiously while butterflies flapped around in her stomach. Her stage fright was silly, even she recognized that. She closed her eyes and concentrated, while everypony in the audience smiled knowingly. They were too polite to chuckle, and risk making her even more anxious, but it was always a treat when somepony called their first town meeting.
"Okay," Tilia said. She opened her eyes and looked back at the crowd—she was ready. "Well," she said, addressing the crowd. "Let's just get right to it! Last night, a traveler came to town. She said she was looking for a friend, and she thinks he's going to—"
Tilia had clamped her hooves to her ears before she even realized what had happened. The need to shut out the sound was so powerful, she didn't even know if she was still talking. In front of her, as her eyes filled with tears, a hundred more ponies fell to the ground, hooves on their ears trying to block out a sound that echoed in their skulls. Wincing with pain, she forced her eyes shut.
It was a howl—a monstrous howl. Her heart beat furiously, trying to hammer its way through her ribcage. Panicked breaths flew in between her clenched teeth, and her chest heaved up and down.
When she had finally recovered enough to open her eyes, she saw the stranger standing beside her. Somehow, the stranger was standing tall, as if she were unaffected by the sonic assault.
"He's here," the stranger said, looking down at her. She turned to the crowd. A few of the ponies were stirring, but most of their limbs were locked in place. "Those of you who can move: don't." She walked through the crowd, her eyes fixed on something in the distance.
Tilia tried to get up but couldn't. Her head was still spinning, but she thought she could see something approaching. Some thing.
It had the same shape as a wolf, but it was enormous. Standing on all four legs, it was at least half as tall as the building it stood next to. Its mangy black fur was thick and revolting. Its black claws were long. Though they were dulled, they still looked like they were sharp enough to cut deep into a pony's side. The saliva dripping from its mouth had a faint green tint to it, but its gums were sickly and red.
The long, yellow fangs sticking out of the gums were what she focused her eyes on, though. They were gigantic and filled the mouth from front to back. Each was sharpened to a dagger point, and the memory of the howl echoed though her mind again while she pictured those yellow teeth biting clean through her leg in one mighty chomp.
Terrified, she tried to scream. She tried to cry out—to warn everypony, or to try to distract the thing so she could run away on her dead legs, she didn't know. No sound came out of her mouth but a soft squeak and a desperate, sickly breath.
Having seen enough, she closed her eyes. Even against her eyelids, though, she could still see the beast. It dove at some poor woodland creature, swallowing it without even taking time to chew. Savoring the sensation of sustenance in its ever-empty belly, it bayed into the night. The breeze carried the dread sound for a distance. When it tired the orchard took over, passing the warning from tree to tree.
Her lemon trees—they had been trying to warn her. Tears streamed from her eyes. She should have known to listen to them—known to warn everypony, known to run.
The echo of the howl bounced through her mind again, like the monster was forcing itself into her thoughts. So clearly, she could see herself and her family running from their farm, only to be leapt up by the monster. It—
It was too terrible. Her eyes flew open, and she saw the beast looming over the crowd. Through her tears, she could also make out the stranger, standing in front of it. The stranger, always confident, had seemed so tall around Tilia; in front of the monster, though, she looked like a small herding dog standing up to a mighty stallion.
The monster utterly dwarfed her but it seemed to regard her cautiously. Though it could easily see the mass of helpless ponies from its high vantage, it seemed uncomfortable looking over her. It twisted its neck from left to right, trying to see around her instead.
The stranger didn't waver from her stance. She, alone among all of the ponies, was still standing. If there was anypony else who could still move, they were certainly too scared to do so, for fear of attracting the monster's attention. Unafraid, the stranger stood in front of it, head tilted up so she could look directly into its bloodshot eyes.
"RARGH!" The monster shouted into the sky. "Why!?!" it demanded. "Why you not let it feed?" It leaned down towards her and snarled. Tilia could swear that the thing's jaw came within inches of the stranger's face, but she didn't flinch—she didn't move at all.
It roared again, this time directly at the stranger. Still in control of her face, at least, Tilia managed to grimace as the sound assaulted her ears. It was different than its howl—it was just as savage but it was purely natural. There was no magic in the roar, just rage.
"You think so clever!" it shouted at the stranger. "Too many ponies can hear, its howl not hurt them!" Tilia tried to gasp, but the outburst came out as more of a hiccup. If its howl was weakened by there being too many ponies that could hear it, what would have happened if it had made its way into town with all of the farmers back at their homes?
Its lips curled back, and it bared its fangs at the stranger. Tilia looked up at its eyes, and the creature didn't seem angry anymore. In fact, it seemed to be smiling. The howl echoed in her head again, and she saw a picture of the beast pouncing upon the stranger, clamping its jaw over her back, and—
Tilia tried to call out to the stranger but she choked on the words in her throat. Tears started flowing out of her eyes and down her cheeks again, as she tried to watch what was happening.
"You brave," it said to the stranger. With a sudden burst, it leapt forward. "Not smart!" It only had a short distance to cover, and its jump was swift.
The monster's jaw reached the stranger too quickly for Tilia to make sense of the movement. When it snapped its teeth shut, however, it didn't bite into the brave mare. They closed on empty air, and Tilia's eyes opened wide. All of her tears were gone—she was too awestruck to be scared.
The stranger had darted to the left as soon as the monster started its leap. As the beast attempted to pull its head up and back, she lifted her front-right hoof and slammed it into the bottom of the creature's jaw. She stood up onto her hind hooves, pushing as hard as she could.
Tilia's eyes opened even wider. The hammer blow to its jaw hadn't merely annoyed the beast—it hadn't even done something so slight as staggering it. Reeling from the stranger's strike, the beast fell onto its back. Shaking its head, it rolled over and hopped to its feet.
Not wasting any time, the stranger charged forward. Quick in a fight, the monster swung its claws straight for her. Each claw must have been almost as thick as one of her legs, and it would only take one of them to tear her flank open.
Each claw could have been as wide around as a tree trunk, for all the good its swipe did. Long before the claws could connect with her and dig into her flesh, the stranger had already leapt at the beast.
Arcing gracefully though the air, she landed on its head while it was still driving its claws at the spot she had been standing just the instant before. It took her a mere moment to turn around, then she lifted her hind hoof and brought it slamming down onto the beast's skull.
The beast was so strong, it had barely noticed the added weight of a pony standing on its head. The devastating hit from the stranger's hoof was a whole different kind of problem for it, though. As soon as the hoof struck its skull, the creature's head came crashing towards the ground, chin-first. The stranger herself was flung into the air, the force of a single hoof still being enough to lift her up much further than the mightiest leap of any pony Tilia had ever even heard of.
CRACK! Chin struck ground with horrific force, and Tilia could hear the sickening sound echo among the buildings. The monster stifled whimpers, turning them into deranged growls in its throat. Even from so far away, Tilia could see the last parts of white in its eyes turn to red as it struggled to rise.
CLACK! The stranger finally hit the ground, and her landing echoed through the buildings even more loudly than the breaking of the beast's jaw. Standing to its left, the stranger examined the creature. Though it was in terrible pain, it opened its mouth.
"It..." it choked out through its broken jaw. "It KILL YOU!" The movement was so fast Tilia couldn't even see it: all she could see was that in one instant the beast was lying on the ground – vanquished – then in the next it was standing up on its two front paws with its mouth open, as if it were shouting as loudly as its massive lungs could manage. The stranger clenched her teeth, closed her eyes, and turned her head away from the sonic assault.
Tilia closed her own eyes and flinched, expecting to hear the beast's horrific roar again. After a moment, though, she realized she couldn't hear it. She opened her eyes and looked to the crowd. A few ponies craned their necks to see what was happening but nopony attempted to cover their ears. Somehow, the beast was focusing the entire attack on the stranger.
Feeling panic rising up in her again, Tilia forced herself up to her hooves. Her movements were stiff and slow but she could finally control her muscles again. At first, she turned to run. With dread, though, she realized there was no way she could hope to outrun the beast. With great effort, she turned back around to look, to see if it was behind her.
Her eyes fell on the monster, still sitting up on its paws. It was panting for breath, exhausted, and its eyes were wide with bewilderment. "How..." it choked out as it panted. "H-how?"
In front of it stood the stranger, her eyes narrowed. She didn't say anything. When she struck, she was quick and brutal. In a flash she had turned her back to the monster and dove forward onto her front hooves. Tilia could hear the impact from two hundred feet away as her rear hooves struck the beast's throat.
The monster reeled backwards again, this time flying until it hit a building. After impacting the structure, the beast crumbled to the ground in a heap, coughing and sputtering. Propelled by the force she had unleashed on the beast, the stranger's front hooves dug a short trench in the dirt street until she, too, was stopped by striking a building.
Everypony in the crowd was finally starting to stand. Those who had better control of their bodies helped others who still couldn't move as well. Each pony looked to the others, hoping that somepony else would break the eerie silence that had descended on the scene, but nopony seemed to want to speak.
Eventually, all eyes turned to Cobblestone. He had faced Discord's minions in Canterlot: it just seemed right that he should be the first one to speak.
Cobblestone was barely aware that anypony was looking at him, though. His eyes were focused on the monster. It was laying on its back, leaned against the sweet shop, silently gasping for breath. But for the actions of one pony, it could have devoured everypony in town. Eyes wide, mouth opened in disbelief, he was at a loss for words. It felt like an eternity before he finally spoke.
"By the Sisters' light..."
Nopony could disagree.
Down the street, the stranger returned from around a corner with her cart. She had already put her cloak back on and turned away from the crowd so she could walk towards the monster. The stranger's white box sat prominently on the back of the cart, its spout hanging over the edge.
As the monster's howl echoed weakly in her mind, Tilia could feel its fear. The stranger finally reached it with her cart and stopped. She stepped out of the cart's harness and walked around to the back. Without sparing a glance to the felled beast, she pressed the gem on the box's front.
Upon being touched, the gem began to glow. After a moment, the monster's fur began to glow as well, as if it had acquired an aura the same color as the sky.
The gentle glow gradually turned sinister as it penetrated deeper onto the beast. As more of its body began to glow, those parts that had already been lit turned into a fine mist. The fog sought out the box, entering through the grates on the side, and through the top.
After a minute, there was no monster anymore. The last of the mist was sucked into the box, and the gem ceased its glowing. Water poured from the spout, less than a cup of it, then everything was still again.
Wordlessly, the stranger hitched herself back up to the cart. Her eyes turned east, towards her original path. Turning the cart around, she headed back to the town square. She paid the ponies in the square no mind, but her approach stirred something in the crowd.
A few of the ponies in the crowd who were closest to her bowed as she neared them. After that, a wave struck the rest of the crowd, and each pony hurried to kneel to the stranger. Tilia hurried to press her head to the ground as well. Everypony heard as the stranger and her cart came to a stop.
"Get up," she said. Nopony could see her face, but the irritation was plain in her voice. Too nervous to move, nopony rose from their bow. "I said to get up." Still nothing. Tilia could hear as the stranger sighed.
"I am an atoner," the stranger finally said, addressing the crowd. "Not a savior." Perplexed, and comfortably at the back of the crowd, Tilia dared to look up. She could see the stranger standing, still harnessed, but nopony else had lifted their head. Seeing that somepony, at least, was willing to look at her, the stranger turned her head to look Tilia in the eye. Tilia cringed, but something inside her gave her the courage not to duck her head back to the ground.
"As I have done wrong, I must now do good," the stranger said. She nodded to Tilia, then turned back to her journey.
Tilia shivered. Everypony else was still kneeling, their chins on the ground, but something made her stand. She clenched her teeth, looking out at the stranger as she walked down the road. Breathing heavily, she looked down at the townsponies: her family was there, her friends. But so was Cobblestone.
She couldn't let fear hold her back. Not a second time.
"Wait!"
Her voice was enough to startle the townsponies into a reaction. Heads sprung up, and gazes turned to her, but Tilia wasn't going to back down.
"I was too scared to go to Canterlot!" she called out. "But not this time! Let me help you!"
The stranger looked at Tilia from behind her hood, then nodded once.
Immediately, Tilia started running through the crowd, stepping around and hopping over the ponies she had known all her life. She passed by Cobblestone, who looked up at her with heavy brows and understanding eyes. He didn't try to say anything as she ran past him. All he did was nod once, then it was over. As quickly as that, she had passed him by.
"Tilia." Her mother's voice pulled at her, and it was enough to make her stop. The mare looked up at Tilia with her big, purple eyes. "Please," she said. "Be safe." She fought back a sob as she closed her eyes, and tears started gently streaming down both cheeks.
Tilia leaned over and nuzzled her mother. "I will," she promised. "You all just take care, okay?" Giving her best, most confident smile, she looked her mother in the eyes. "I'll be back, with all sorts of stories. You'll see." She nodded and turned back to the stranger.
Determined, she continued making her way through the crowd. When she was finally clear, she broke into a canter, leaving her family for adventure.
At the edge of town, the stranger waited patiently. Tilia ran to her side, then stopped. Wearing a brave face, she turned to the stranger and smiled. Looking back, the stranger was as calm as ever.
"You know, this is not a path that all ponies can walk," she warned. "All I can promise you is that if you ever wish to turn back, your way home will always be clear."
"I'll see it through," Tilia said, setting a hoof down and puffing herself up. "I promise."
The dead branch scraped through the dirt and tasted bitter in Tilia's mouth. She had been biting onto the bark for so long that her jaw was starting to ache. Only a little bit further to the campsite, she reminded herself. Just a little while longer...
It wasn't how heavy the branch was that made it tiring—at least it wasn't just how heavy it was: it was the way she had to turn her head. With every step she took she had to use her teeth and neck to pull the dead weight along with her. When she heard the stranger's hoofsteps behind her, and the gentle crackle of the fire she had made, she was relieved.
She carried the branch the last few feet towards the pit that the stranger had scraped out for the fire. When she opened her mouth, setting the firewood down, she couldn't help but stick her tongue out briefly. It was as if she was expelling the taste of tree bark from her mouth.
"Do you think this will be enough?" Tilia asked the stranger.
The mare turned and looked the wood over with the same dispassionate expression she had worn since she arrived in Lemon Grove and during their three days on the road together.
"That should be enough," she said. She sat herself down in front of the fire but still looked up at her companion. "Thank you, Tilia."
"Oh, I'm happy to help." Tilia smiled broadly at the stranger, then turned back to the wood she had brought in. The stranger had built a small fire, just enough to give them a bit of warmth and light as they prepared for sleep, but it still needed to be fed.
Stepping onto it with her hoof, Tilia broke a skinnier branch off of the main piece. She grabbed it with both of her forehooves and pulled the ends down until the dry wood snapped—like a twig, she couldn't stop herself from thinking with a grin. Idly, she threw the wood onto the fire, then trotted to the wagon.
Leaning in, she grabbed a sack in her teeth then turned back towards the fire. Stepping quickly, and with a spring in her step, she joined the stranger at the fire.
"Are you ready to eat?" she asked after she set the bag down. When the mare nodded her assent, Tilia peered into the bag, looking at the sunflowers she had picked along the road during the day's travel. The big, meaty flowers would be quite the treat, and there were enough for dinner and breakfast.
Tilia laid the bag onto its side between herself and the stranger, propping it open so its contents were easily accessible. Eyes wide, and smile wider, she looked to her traveling companion and waited.
The mare looked at Tilia briefly and smiled slightly. She reached towards the bag and took the nearest flower then placed it into her mouth. As the stranger calmly chewed her food, Tilia reached over and took her first morsel.
It was even better than she had hoped it would be. The few daisies she had picked the previous day had been good, and the posies the day before that weren't bad either, but the sunflowers were delicious. She couldn't help herself: she quickly ground the flower into a paste in her mouth and swallowed, then reached for another before the stranger had even finished her own.
"Oh, these are great, aren't they?" Tilia asked before throwing the flower into her mouth. The stranger finished chewing, then swallowed.
"Yes," she agreed. "And far better than grass." She smiled, then reached for her second flower. "A very good choice."
The two sat together for a while, feasting on the sunflowers. They made their way through about two thirds of the bag, but eventually their appetites realized that they were no match for the mass of food that Tilia had collected that day.
Content, Tilia sat in front of the fire. Some time during their meal, the sun had gone down and the moon had risen to take its place. Though the fire was weakening, it was still able to cast long shadows on the trees behind the two ponies.
As the stranger stood up, Tilia pondered to herself. "I don't think I've seen so many flowers since I was a little foal," she said.
"Oh?" the stranger asked. She stepped gingerly behind Tilia, to where the filly had left the firewood.
"Yeah," Tilia said. "It must have been years ago: it wasn't long after Discord showed up."
The mare briefly turned towards Tilia but quickly looked back to what she was doing. She lifted her hoof up, then brought it crashing down onto the thickest part of the branch. The force was enough to shatter it where she hit, and she threw the resulting piece into the fire. After it, she also tossed in a collection of skinny twigs from the opposite end to help rekindle the flame.
"It was so beautiful," Tilia said as the stranger walked back to her place. "Everypony woke up, and what did they see when they looked out their windows?" She beamed an elated smile. "Flowers," she said. "Flowers everywhere." She turned to the stranger, who was just sitting down, grinning from ear to ear. "Not a bit of grass to be found," she said. "Each and every blade of it had been turned into some kind a flower or another."
Tilia turned back to the fire, remembering that day. The family farm grew mostly lemons, but her bedroom window overlooked the family's hay patch. The grass had been really long, almost ready to be harvested, and every blade of it had turned into a sunflower. Discord wasn't one for sameness, Tilia guessed, because since each flower was the same type they were all different shades of all of the colors. Reds, oranges, blues... Even a purple that matched the shade of her eyes perfectly.
"After waking my mother and father, I ran into town," she continued. "I guess I couldn't understand why they weren't excited, so I wanted to tell somepony who wanted to jump for joy like I did."
When she had reached town, there was certainly plenty of excitement about the flowers. Her school friends had been dancing in the streets, and it seemed to be all that the grown ponies could talk about. Still, things didn't stay great for long. Eventually, somepony would get hungry...
"Oh, the town looked so beautiful," she said, smiling. "But the flowers were magic: anypony who ate one started acting like they were a bee." She chuckled, remembering the sight. "Ponies running around trying to collect pollen on their muzzles, shaking their rumps at each other. Can you believe that my friend tried to sting me with her tail?" She chuckled again, then sighed. "We all had a good laugh about that later."
Tilia sat back, grinning. It had all been so long ago, but she could never forget how gorgeous everything had looked. Even though things had gotten so hectic that day, she had still been somewhat disappointed when she woke up the next morning and everything was back to normal. Her parents had seemed relieved, though.
Back in the present, the stranger sat next to Tilia. She had listened attentively to her story, but now her eyes were looking down at the ground Tilia was sitting on. For a little while, the crackle of the fire was the only sound in the camp site.
"I'm glad that you were so young when it happened," the stranger finally said. There was a grim tone to her voice. She turned away from Tilia, instead looking into the fire. "Discord's games were always far more distressing to those who were older, and had grown used to the world having some order to it."
The awareness hit Tilia suddenly. Even before ponies had started acting strangely, none of the grownups seemed happy about the sudden change. "I-" she stammered. "I never thought about it like that. My parents never really talked much about what things were like before, and I was just a very young foal when Discord came."
The fire danced sluggishly as silence filled the space between the two ponies. As it consumed more of its fuel, the fire's color turned to a darker red and its light dimmed. Even just at the edge of their small encampment, Tilia could barely see the difference between where the fire's light was reaching and where it wasn't.
Putting a smile back on to her face, Tilia turned back to the stranger. The mare was still staring into the fire, though, as if she were contemplating something. The red flames reflected off of her blue eyes, the only time Tilia thought she'd ever see a fire in the ever-stoic mare's eyes, and her brows were slightly furrowed.
"We should get some rest," the stranger finally said. She stood and looked down to Tilia. "We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and we should get an early start."
"Oh," Tilia said. "Alright." As the stranger covered the fire with dirt, Tilia reluctantly walked to the patch of cleared ground where she would spend the night.
She was suddenly aware of how tired she was. Farm work wasn't easy, but walking for most of the day wasn't either. Setting herself on the ground and resting her chin on her forelegs, Tilia drifted to sleep as she resolved to herself to ask the stranger how she was able to pull the cart all day.
The morning had come and gone quickly. The remaining sunflowers had made for a hearty breakfast, but they had only kept Tilia energized for so long under the brisk pace the stranger was keeping. The day was already half gone, and the stranger had not so much as slowed down, let alone stopped for a break.
Beside her, Tilia managed to keep pace. Her legs ached, and her stomach growled, but she wasn't about to ask the stranger to slow down for her.
Hills dominated the terrain, making it hard to see very far ahead on the narrow path they were following. Luscious, green grass covered the ground, and Tilia's mouth watered at the thought of having something to eat. If she stopped, though, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to get going again.
Tilia had long since given up on counting how many hills the path took them over. Instead, she gritted her teeth and forced her way up the path, fighting gravity the entire way. Each step was a battle when fighting her way up the incline, and her sore legs shouted at her in protest.
Reaching the top was always its own reward, though. On those last few steps, she could finally see over the peak. Her eyes barely poked over at first, and all she could see was the next hill she would have to climb. But the next step revealed a hint of what was to come. Maybe the top of one of the scattered trees would come into view, or she could see a hint of one of the caves dug into the side of the hill.
By the time her hooves rested at the peak of the hill, though, she could see everything. An entire valley lay before her: grass, trees, maybe a stream. Off in the distance, beyond the hillscape, she could see the canopy of a forest painting the horizon a dark green.
The entire trip down the slope, gravity rewarded her for meeting the challenge by helping her out. Their burdens lessened, her legs sighed with relief and eagerly accepted the reprieve. She could then spend the next few minutes getting to know the new valley she had walked into, before it was time to climb the next hill.
During the whole ordeal, the stranger kept hammering away at the ground with the same brisk pace. If she slowed down at all when climbing the slopes, Tilia swore it was only for her benefit: the stranger betrayed no discomfort, no matter how long the trail wore on for.
Rather than take in the natural splendor, the stranger's gaze seemed much more focused. Her eyes would go from feature to feature, passing over the smaller trees relatively quickly and the big trees and caves more slowly. By the time they were down the slope and on level ground again, she had finished her sweep and was focused entirely on the path ahead.
Tilia's legs groaned as she forced them to climb yet another hill. Just a few steps further... She could see the peak of the hill coming up, just a few feet above her head. One more hill. She promised herself, for the fifth or sixth time, that she only had one more hill to climb.
She made one step, then another. Finally, on the third step, her eyes reached the peak. She could see the next hill straight ahead, and she knew that the easy descent of the downward slope was just a few more steps away.
The hill wasn't the only thing she could see, though. Dark clouds floated in a gray sky, stark contrasting with the bright green of the grass on the hilltop. Tilia looked straight up and saw more of the same gray sky, though the clouds had not reached them yet.
Stuck out in the wild lands, far from any pony settlement, during a rain storm. It would certainly be a heavy one: the pegasi kept the towns clear of rain, and they only diverted some of the clouds to the farms. All of the rain clouds that the farms didn't need would get sent out into the wild lands, so the storms out there tended to be heavy and long.
Heavy, long, and right in their path.
Completely unfazed, the stranger kept walking without even slightly slowing her pace. Dutifully, Tilia continued alongside her.
The rain clouds finally reached them as they arrived at the middle point of the valley. A wall of water poured out of the sky, sweeping towards the two ponies until it overtook them.
Tilia hadn't noticed the chill in the air as the storm had approached, but the drops of rain felt like ice water as they struck her and worked their way into her fur. Before long, she was completely soaked.
At first it was something of a relief. The day had been warm, and the cool of the rain felt soothing to her sore legs. By the time she was halfway up the next hill, though, her legs were crying out with the same pain they had been before. The only difference was that in addition to an ache in her legs, Tilia was cold and wet as well.
When she finally reached the peak of the hill, the new valley didn't have the same majesty as it might have had when brightly lit by the sun. Sure, the green grass was still there, as were the trees. There was another stream they would have to cross, though its cool water wouldn't be the much-anticipated relief for her throbbing hooves that it would have been before.
What had been added to the scene was the never-ending gray sheet that was pouring from the sky. It muted the color of everything, and drowned out the natural sounds of they valley with the never-ending roar of the rain. Even if the birds hadn't taken shelter, there would be no way that Tilia could hear them over the sound. Not only did she hear the rain savagely striking the grass, but it pattered as it hit then slid off of the stranger's cloak, plinked as it struck the cart, and plupped as it smacked her sodden fur.
It felt like each rain drop was adding to the burden she was carrying, forcing her legs to work harder as she struggled onwards. She knew that it wasn't true, though: in actuality, her coat was actually saturated with water and couldn't take on anymore.
That was hardly any comfort. Each drop of rain that struck her coat brought new, cold water to replace the water that had already been warmed by her body heat. Every rain drop took away a little bit more of her warmth, and over time Tilia started to breathe more and more heavily as she started to shiver and her strength was sapped.
It was the third or fourth peak since the storm had started. Or had it been the fifth? Tilia suddenly realized that she had lost count. All she could focus on was putting one wobbling hoof in front of the other.
The march through the rain carried on, hills came and went, and the downpour refused to relent. Everything ran together in Tilia's mind until, in a daze, she stumbled into the stranger's leg as the mare extended it across her chest. Snapped back to reality, at least somewhat, she opened her eyes fully for the first time in quite a while.
Her mind was far away, and her voice was just as distant when she spoke. "What?" she managed to ask.
"Follow me," the stranger said. "We're going off the path a little."
With that, the stranger started walking again. She veered right, onto the grass, and Tilia followed. Her teeth chattered, her legs shook, and the wet grass tested her tenuous balance. Again, she focused on putting one hoof in front of the other.
The stranger's pace was much easier to match, though. No longer driving forward, she stepped slowly and carefully. Her eyes were fixed firmly ahead, at the entrance to another cave. This one was dug straight into the hill, and looked quite large. The opening would easily accommodate the two ponies and the cart, and provide shelter from the rain.
Tilia's stomach churned upon the sudden realization, and she hung her head: the stranger had noticed her shivering. They were going to stop because of her. Instead of helping the stranger, she was slowing her down.
The truth was, though, that Tilia was relieved. She couldn't stop shivering, and she had been so cold for so long that even a patch of dry dirt to curl up in seemed inviting.
She clenched her jaw shut, finally stopping the chattering of her teeth. The cave entrance was just a short distance away, and could finally make out some details through the pouring rain. It was surprisingly regular in shape, neatly rounded at the edges, much like most of the other caves in the area. No supports held the ceiling up, and Tilia briefly worried that the whole cave might collapse at any moment. She was far too exhausted to be picky about her shelter, however.
Her first hoofstep into the cave immediately filled her with dread. The air inside was cold, enough to keep her shivering despite being out of the rain, but something more magical hung in it as well.
A sense of death pervaded the entire tunnel complex, which suddenly seemed extraordinarily large. It wasn't the smell, old earth with the smallest hint of dampness, but she felt it in her nose all the same: the must of decay. Likewise, though all she could feel under her hoof was tightly compacted dirt, she still sensed blood on the ground as she walked. Nervously, she pulled a hoof up and examined the bottom, but saw nothing more than a tiny bit of mud caked onto it.
The chill in the air curled around her body, uninvited, and quickly wormed its way into her fur. A sharp tingle ran up her spine as the cold reached her core. She closed her eyes and clamped her jaw shut again as her teeth resumed their chattering, enduring the air's icy onslaught.
Her teeth finally stopped their jumping as the tingle subsided, and Tilia let out a deep breath of relief. She opened her eyes, only to find herself face to face with the ghostly image of a disembodied talon, opened and grabbing at her face.
Instinctively, she jumped backwards. Her heart began to race, and she prepared to run as quickly as her aching legs could carry her.
As quickly as it had appeared, though, the talon dissipated into a nebulous cloud of water vapor—her own breath. Tilia's head quickly turned to the stranger, who was stepping out of the cart's harness just a few feet away.
If there was any danger, Tilia assured herself, the stranger would be the first to know. Nervously, Tilia forced a smile on to her face. There was nothing to worry about; she was just cold.
Still, Tilia could understand why the cave would unnerve her. It was pitch black inside, and the storm clouds outside let precious little light into the cave mouth. Beyond maybe ten feet in, Tilia couldn't see anything. Her own shadow was difficult to see, due to how dark the floor was.
Even over the torrential downpour outside, Tilia could hear the sound of water dripping from her tail, chin, and legs onto the dirt floor. Each massive drop hit the floor like a boulder, kicking up dust and leaving an enormous crater that nested in the ground like a new lake.
The tremors of her shivering caused water drops to fall off of her quickly, with several plummeting to the ground at any given time. It wasn't quick enough, though. Too cold and wet to worry about decorum, Tilia shook the water off as best as she could. She bounced her head up and down, swayed her tail behind herself, and even slammed her forehooves into the ground a few times to get some stubborn drops off of her flank.
With great effort, she had mostly succeeded. Her fur was still wet and matted, but it was no longer saturated with water. She could already feel the cold air creeping under her coat, brushing up against her skin. It was giving her another chill, but it was also slowly drying out her fur.
Once she saw that Tilia was finished shaking, the stranger finally removed her cloak. She set it onto the cart, and pointed her body deeper into the cave. After standing silently for a moment, she turned her head back to Tilia.
"Try to get warm," she instructed her. "I won't be long."
Her teeth chattering again, Tilia nodded her head and curled up on the ground. While the stranger walked deeper into the cave, quickly disappearing from sight, Tilia tucked her legs tightly against her chest. Her legs were cold, like the rest of her, but she could feel them warming.
For a while, she enjoyed the break. Gradually, her shivering stopped and she finally stopped feeling so chilled. She turned her body so she could look outside, where the rain continued to come down. Tucked snugly inside the cave, however, Tilia was finally dry.
Eventually, however, the sense of dread she had felt upon entering the cave came creeping back. Even with her dry fur keeping the cave's air off of her skin, Tilia still felt that same uncomfortable tingle creep back up her spine. She found herself looking over her shoulder more and more often, even though the darkness stood not even five feet behind her. If anything, it was slowly inching towards her: looking back again, Tilia could swear that she could see even less of the cave than she could before.
Her chest rose and fell quickly as she took rapid, shallow breaths. Slowly, with stiff and aching legs, she rose to her hooves. She turned and faced the darkness, stepping backwards nervously. Her mouth opened, like she wanted to call out to the stranger, but the words got caught in her throat.
The panic was rising in Tilia, and her wild eyes darted from one side of the cave to another looking for whatever it was she sensed was after her. When she exhaled a breath of mist, like on a snowy winter day, she gasped and her eyes grew wider: she remembered the talon from when she first entered the cave.
This time, though, the mist was unformed. She could sense life in it, however, and saw it thrash in its rage at her as she backed away from it. Too scared to breathe, she held her breath as the mist inched towards her. She didn't dare breathe in, even as her lungs begged her for air.
When she could endure no longer, she flung her mouth open and filled her lungs with the most air they had ever taken in at once. Just like that the mist was gone, destroyed as she inhaled. Nervously, Tilia held her breath again. She could feel it, whatever it was, waiting.
Tilia couldn't hold out forever. Again, the air burst from her burning lungs and immediately turned into an angry, amorphous mist. Her lungs still burned, though. Partly because of her thirst for air, and partly out of sheer panic, she breathed in and out quickly, unable to help herself.
Each breath she exhaled would struggle to take some form or another. Tilia could feel their hatred, though she couldn't make sense of the shapes they were trying to take. Maybe she didn't have to: the chaotic forms meant "danger" to her, and each one terrified her more than the last.
Again, the sensation that something was behind her seized Tilia by the mane. Clumsily, on wobbling legs, she swung her body around only to come face to face with the empty outside. The rain was still pouring, and its dull roar came back to her ears as she could feel the tension leave her body and her breathing return to normal.
Feeling calm again, she lay back down on the floor. She needed more rest, not a senseless panic attack. Tranquil, she laid her head on her forelegs. The warmth of her cheek on her leg felt nice, and it was good to finally rest her head.
Hearing the sound of hoofsteps behind her, Tilia's head quickly shot up and spun back. Looking into the empty abyss of the dark cave behind her, she could see nothing. Nervous, her heart rate quickened again.
When she heard the stranger's voice, she exhaled in relief.
"Tilia, are you alright?" the mare asked.
"Yeah," Tilia replied. When she heard the stranger start fiddling with the cart, she turned her body around and saw her stepping back into the harness of the cart. Tilia narrowed her eyes. "Was that..." she started, holding her mouth open in disbelief. "Were you...?"
"Yes," the mare answered simply. "But don't be afraid: it's over now." She nodded to Tilia as she tucked the harness snugly against her chest. "Again," she said. "I won't be long." With that she disappeared back into the cave, towing the cart behind her.
A few minutes later, the mare's hoofsteps reached Tilia's ears again. Wordlessly, the stranger stepped out of the harness and approached her. Still tired, Tilia didn't even bother to look back.
"Tilia," the stranger said, breaking the silence. As Tilia's ears perked up, and she finally turned her head to look at the mare as she lay down beside Tilia.
"I'm proud of how well you did today."
Confused, Tilia's head angled to the side as she looked the stranger in the eye.
"I know it couldn't have been easy for you: the hills, the rain." She motioned back into the cave with her head. "But we got here in time."
The two sat together for several minutes, silently staring into the rain. Now that she was out of it, Tilia could finally appreciate its savage splendor. It demanded attention, and it wouldn't let itself be denied.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" the Tilia asked, still staring out of the cave.
Tilting her head gently to the side, the stranger continued contemplating the scene outside.
"It's really funny, actually," Tilia said, head turned towards her own flank. "Most of my family has cutie marks about lemons: lemons, lemon trees, lemonade, lemon zest." She nodded to her own cutie mark and turned her head back the direction she was walking. "But here I am, with this sun beam instead."
"That must have been a surprise," the stranger said, her eyes scanning the woods that she and Tilia were walking through.
"Oh," Tilia said. "It wasn't such a big deal. My grandpa's cutie mark was a grass patch." Her mouth salivated a little bit as she remembered all of the meals she ate at her grandfather's farm. "He could grow the best hay you ever tasted." After clearing her mouth, she continued. "Anyway, it wasn't that much of a surprise: my mother had called me her 'little ray of sunshine' ever since I was just a foal. I guess it just fit."
"Cheer is an admirable trait to have," the stranger said, her eyes still scanning ahead. "I'm sure your friends miss you as much as your family."
Tilia's eyes turned down to the ground. Leaving her mother had been hard. Thinking about how much she meant to everypony else would have made the decision even more painful. From time to time, usually at night when everything was quiet, Tilia would still think about her parents and friends.
"I know they do," she said. "And I miss them too."
For several steps she walked with her head down. The loneliness was something the stories about heroes never seemed to talk about. After just a week away from home, Tilia had developed a new appreciation for how happy the reunions always were in the tales. She also appreciated how there always was a reunion.
On her next step, Tilia stamped her hoof determinedly into the ground and raised her gaze back up. She'd see everypony again, but until then she had to stay focused.
"You are a little ray of sunshine," the stranger said, her lips curling upwards in a smile. "Nothing can keep your spirit down for long."
Tilia smiled to the stranger, then turned to her own cutie mark and smiled at it too. Good cheer would help both of them on their journey: she knew it.
Curious, she turned to the stranger. "What about your cutie mark?" she asked. The stranger's cutie mark was of a hoof in some kind of a dark cloud, and like so many cutie marks didn't make much sense to anypony else. "What does that symbolize?"
The stranger's head turned slowly to the left, away from Tilia, and there was a brief pause before she spoke. "It's a Breaker," she said. "A kind of attack found at the top of most martial arts." While she examined the way ahead she explained further. "The cloud of magic that forms around the hoof in the Breaker used in my homeland is slate gray, just like my cutie mark." Her eyes narrowed a bit, and she turned her body the way she was looking.
Surprised by the sudden change of direction, Tilia walked forward on her own for a few steps before finally turning to match the mare's new direction. She added a bit of bounce in her step to catch up more quickly, but found the stranger had slowed down.
Tilia opened her mouth to ask if they were close, but when she tried to speak the air passed through her lips without making a sound. She felt something furry rubbing against her legs, but when she looked down she saw nothing.
Eyes wide, she tried to keep her breathing under control. There was no danger yet, she knew that. Sucking sharp breaths through clenched teeth, she reminded herself that she had been through this before.
When she looked up to the stranger it was like she was looking at her through a tunnel: she couldn't see anything but what was straight in front of her, and the loss of her peripheral vision meant what she could see felt even further away.
The stranger stepped out of the cart's harness, and crept slowly towards the edge of the river bed they were standing beside. She looked down for just a moment, getting her target in her sights.
"Stay here!"
With that, the stranger leapt over the edge. Tilia rushed forward, then brought herself sliding to an abrupt halt. Just as she was about to go over the edge her vision had returned to normal: what she thought had been a small, dry riverbed was actually a large gorge carved into the ground.
The gorge was at least a hundred feet across, and almost as deep. No water ran through it at the moment, but the silty soil lining the middle implied that it wasn't dry year-round.
The stranger finally hit the ground with a loud THUD, kicking up a small cloud of dust around each of her hooves. She began running up the gorge, and Tilia instinctively trotted after her even though there was no hope of matching her pace.
Looking ahead of the mare, Tilia could see her target: a black-furred fox of immense size. It was probably fifteen feet tall, from foot to shoulder, and much longer than that from nose to tail.
Tails, Tilia mentally corrected herself. The monster had many tails on its backside: sixteen if she guessed right, seeing the way the tail ends clustered together.
The beast snarled as it saw the stranger running towards it. Its teeth were enormous, sized to match the rest of its body, and a vile hatred glinted in its eye.
There was no room for patience in the monster, only hunger. It opened its mouth into a twisted grin and ran its tongue over its top row of teeth.
With far more speed than any creature of its size should have been capable of, the beast leapt forward and to the side. As soon as it had sure footing it lashed out at the oncoming mare, who was still charging forward at a tremendous pace.
One paw raised off of the ground, with four jagged claws jutting out of it. It was just a blur, black fur against brown dirt, from Tilia's vantage point. The monster leaned into the attack, putting all of the power its mighty body could behind the strike.
Halfway between the beast and the stranger, the blur stopped. The mare had turned her body and thrust forward with one forehoof, slamming it into the center of the creature's paw—safely below the savage claws.
The monster was still so much larger than her, though; the mare's head barely came up to the thing's knee. Even Tilia, having seen what the stranger was capable of, halfway expected her to be hurled back by the overwhelming superiority of mass the monster enjoyed. At the very least Tilia expected that she would be pushed back by the monster's attack until its paw could reach no further.
As soon as she saw what had happened, Tilia's eyes shot wide open and she looked down at the scene in sheer amazement. The mare had met the creature's blow so forcefully that she flung it straight back. The beast kicked up a gigantic cloud of dust as it slammed into the side of the gorge.
The mare charged forward, pressing the attack while the monster was off-balance. It quickly flipped itself back to its paws, but it began regarding the attacking pony cautiously. The beast's eyebrows furrowed as it evaluated the pony, and it kept its mouth open as it panted for breath. It crouched lower to the ground, sacrificing its ability to reach over the mare so easily in exchange for being more able to protect itself against an attack.
Most importantly, it arched the end of its back up and its tails waved high in the air in defiance of gravity. Their ends shifted and blurred together, now seeming to be made more of shadow than flesh and fur. It watched the stranger rush towards it, then clenched its jaw and tensed its back.
When it lashed out, the beast didn't strike with a paw, but with a tail. The chosen tail swung over the creature's back, the shadowy half growing in length until it was ever-so-close to the mare. Just over the stranger's head, and still arcing down, the end of the tail finally took a shape: a jaw, filled with teeth and wide open, large enough to bite the pony in half.
Tilia saw the stranger look up at the jaw, then spring to the side as it came crashing down towards her. The sharp CRACK the tail made as it whipped through the air finally reached her ears, followed by its crash into the ground as it missed its target.
Spitting dirt out, the jaw turned towards the mare like any animal infuriated at being out-done by its prey might. Rather than let it arch back for another attack, though, the stranger leapt forward with her hoof bent back and ready to strike.
The stranger's hoof shot forward, and the next sound to reach Tilia's ear was like the sound of an entire cabinet full of plates and glasses shattering at once. Pieces of the tail were already hitting the ground when Tilia could understand what had happened: starting from the point where the stranger had hit, then spreading from there, the entire tail had been turned to ice. Even the part that still looked furry had been transformed. From there, the simple force behind the attack had shattered the now-brittle appendage.
If it had been cautious before, the monster had become scared. Tilia squinted and leaned forward: she couldn't be sure, but she could swear that when the beast lost the tail it had shrunk as well.
Smaller or not, it scrambled backwards, trying to get away from the mare but knowing full well that exposing its back meant doom. It arched four more tails over its back, hanging them there as some kind of warning.
Paying them no heed, the stranger darted forward again. The tails came crashing down towards her, twisting into several dangerous shapes: a giant claw, a stinger, talons, and a nasty set of quills.
Again, the sound of so much ice breaking filled Tilia's ears as the tails were frozen and exploded one after another. This time Tilia could be sure: the loss of four tails at once had certainly shrunk the monster, though it was still standing somewhat close to its original height.
Losing so much strength and stature in one attack filled the monster with panic: it forgot its earlier caution, turning its back to the mare and running as quickly as it could up the gorge. Behind it, protecting the main body, floated its tails: one in the form of a fox's face in panic, its eyes shot wide open as it looked down at the onrushing pony and directed the others.
The stranger ran after it, tacking to the side to attempt to cut it off. Each time, however, it swept a tail to the side to strike her. It was trivial for her to reach up with a hoof and destroy the tail the same as all of the others, but the sacrifice achieved its aim: the mare was forced to slow down, giving the monster precious time to flee.
Tilia looked up and saw the creature's goal: it was fast approaching a rock wall that reached all the way to the top of the gorge. Several slices that ran the entire height of the wall were cut into it, like very tall caves that had no ceilings. They appeared to nest in unpredictable ways further inside, forming something of a maze.
In the final stretch of the race, the monster threw away two more tails to the stranger's attacks to buy itself as much distance from the pursuing mare as possible. The stranger crushed the ice under her hoof as she carried on with the chase, leaving what appeared to be rapidly melting snow in the deep hoofprint she left in the dirt.
Perhaps ten feet in front of the mare, just a little bit less than its reduced body length, the monster finally reached the slice it had been running towards. With a great leap it forced itself along those last few feet it needed to make it inside.
The stranger ran in after it without any thought or hesitation. Tilia slowed from a canter to a walk as she peered in, trying to make out how deep into the slice she could see. It was perplexing, though: even though she had been watching closely, she hadn't seen the mare go in at all. One moment she was outside in the gorge, the next she had vanished.
An orange shape in the corner of Tilia's vision demanded her attention. Her head quickly turned so she could look at it; sure enough she could see the stranger slowing herself to a stop.
She stood in the center of the gorge for several seconds, looking straight ahead into the slice the monster had darted into. Tilia's mouth hung open slightly, and she racked her brain trying to make sense of what had just happened. However that creature had shunted the stranger out of the slice, Tilia couldn't imagine she was happy about it.
When the stranger finally turned, Tilia expected her eyes to be filled with that determination the heroes in the stories always seemed to have in their eyes. Actually, though, she was wearing the same distant gaze she had worn ever since Tilia had first seen her.
As simply as one might hop over a puddle, the stranger leapt the eighty feet into the air back to the edge of the gorge and started walking towards Tilia.
The monster had gotten away. How? Bewildered, Tilia ran forward to meet the mare. When she finally reached the stranger, all of her questions fought one another in her throat. As a result, she simply looked up at the mare with her mouth hanging open and her eyes pleading for an explanation.
"It can't keep that magic up forever," the stranger said as she walked past Tilia. "Come. There is an inn nearby where we can stay."
Tilia turned around and hurried to again reach the stranger's side as she walked the long way back to the cart. Magic... Really, she knew she shouldn't be surprised. Even back in Lemon Grove the more talented unicorns could surprise her with some of their more ingenious tricks, and they had very limited abilities. What could the beasts they were chasing be capable of? Could they teleport themselves?
"Um..." Tilia stammered. When the stranger turned to her, still completely unmoved by the battle and its inconclusive end, the enormity of the monsters they were chasing after struck her for the first time since she left her home. Nervous, she swallowed before continuing. "How long do you think we'll have to wait?" The longer they waited nearby, the longer the monster had to decide to strike at a time of its choosing.
Looking into Tilia's eyes, the stranger's expression softened. "Just for the night," she said in a warm tone that reminded Tilia of her mother. "It will want to lick its wounds, and will be focusing its attention on its wards to make sure I don't cross them. By the morning its guard will be down."
"The Sisters' Rest Inn?" Tilia asked, her excitement showing clearly through her voice. "The first place the Sisters ever appeared?"
The stranger nodded her head and smiled. "The very same." The mare stepped out of the cart's harness, then walked back to Tilia's side.
The inn wasn't very large, but the sign bearing its name was enormous. It would be easily visible from the road during the winter months when the trees lost their leaves, but was currently comfortably secluded half a mile up its woodland path. Peering around, Tilia could see the wonderful view each of the rooms must have of the valley behind the inn.
Grinning widely, Tilia stepped eagerly towards the door. When the stranger suddenly blocked her path with her left leg, Tilia almost felt hurt. She looked up at the mare with eyes just as wide as they were back at the gorge. Everypony had heard of the inn, and she was so close.
"Just a moment," the stranger said, looking towards the door. There was that tone she had in her voice again: danger. Tilia gritted her teeth and turned her head back to the door. Nervous, she wondered what might be waiting for them behind it.
True to her word, though, the stranger held Tilia for just a moment before withdrawing her leg. "Alright," she said in her matter-of-fact tone. "Now we may go in." She took the lead herself, stepping through the swinging doors and walking straight into the lobby.
Wary, Tilia stayed two steps behind her. She stopped briefly in the doorway, using a hoof to catch the door as it swung back at her before following the stranger in.
Everything looked normal enough inside—certainly there was nothing dangerous waiting to pounce on them. The entire floor was made of a dark, hard wood polished to a beautiful shine, and several lush purple rugs added a touch of elegance to the room. A brighter-colored wood had been chosen for the walls, keeping the room from feeling like an empty cavern, and sky blue shades covered the windows.
Every so often on the walls there was some token or another: paintings of previous owners, a tapestry of the sun and the moon, even a few saddles with plaques beneath them. The front desk was stationed opposite from the door, and a gray-coated unicorn stood behind it.
Standing in between the door and the desk, however, was a pedestal. On it, inside a box made of glass, rested a brilliant orange crystal half the size of Tilia's hoof. Around the pedestal sat a special-cut rug woven to look like the sun.
"Good day," the stranger said, briefly looking ahead to the desk. She stepped around the pedestal, though as she did she turned her head so she could get a closer look at the crystal it held. As she examined it she raised an eyebrow. After she passed the pedestal she turned her head forward to the innkeeper.
"A sun crystal?" she asked him. "You must be quite proud: the Sisters do not bestow their favor lightly."
Far from beaming with pride, the unicorn gritted his teeth. "That's true," he said, looking the stranger in the eyes. After a long pause, during which the stranger finished approaching the desk, he forced a smile. "I... Suppose you'd like to rent lodging?"
The stranger nodded, then looked back to the door. Her eyes fell on Tilia still standing close by it, and she narrowed her eyes.
Tilia swallowed uneasily. She took in a deep breath and looked behind herself before walking further into the lobby. As she exhaled through clenched teeth, she tried to step while making as little noise as possible. Finally, she made her way onto one of the purple rugs and sat herself down facing the side wall. From there, she could look at the front desk or the door just as easily.
"Well," the innkeeper said, still making eye contact with the stranger. "It's been pretty busy here," he said. "I, er... Think we're all booked up." He finally broke eye contact to turn to the side. "Oh, yeah," he said, turning back to the stranger. "Sorry, you'll need to head about six more miles down the road to Lakeside Inn. I'm sure they have a vacancy this time of the week."
The mare returned the innkeeper's eye contact. "Is it the deer?" she asked.
As soon as she mentioned "the deer" the innkeeper twitched. He didn't say anything, but he nodded his head in affirmation then motioned towards the stairs to the second floor.
The stranger turned not to the stairs, but to the front door. "You might as well come inside," she said without raising her voice. "I know you can hear me."
Tilia's head immediately turned to her left, and she fixed her eyes on the door. She didn't hear the hoofsteps, but she could see the shadows as they stepped towards the inn.
Then the door swung open, revealing a doe. Her coat was beautiful, light brown with small white spots, but she wore a terrible scowl on her face. Tilia shot to her hooves and scrambled behind the stranger.
Peering out from behind her, Tilia could see the others arrive: two more does followed closely behind the first, and walked with her to the right side of the inn. A few seconds passed before the next group entered: a doe leading a buck and a second doe. They took a position on the left side of the inn.
All of the deer looked stern. Tilia shrunk back behind the stranger, trying as hard as she could to disappear. Still, she could not help but peek out at the scene that was playing out.
The three does, on her right, leaned forward. Their leader's eyes moved between the stranger, Tilia, and the innkeeper, while the two followers had focused their attention: one on the stranger and one on Tilia.
The second group had taken a more hesitant posture. Standing ahead of her two subordinates, the leader's muscles were tensed. Her attention was focused completely on the stranger, and the doe and buck behind her were following her lead.
"What is the meaning of this?" the stranger demanded of the two deer. While she spoke relatively calmly, she still sounded quite firm. She stood tall, and drilled her eyes into the deer.
"I am Rani, of the Nagi!" the leader of the first group exclaimed, refusing to back down. "My sika claims this treasure, and you have no right to interfere."
The second leader bristled as Rani spoke. She briefly turned away from the stranger to give her rival a hateful glare. "We claim it as well," she spat before turning back to the stranger. "I am Zannah, of the Coda," she said, nodding her head respectfully. "We also mean to claim this treasure for our sika."
Tilia could hear the innkeeper shaking as he cowered on the ground behind the counter. The stranger must have heard him too, keen as her ears were, as she turned her head slightly back towards him.
"You seem to have made quite the impression," the stranger said as she turned her head back towards the deer. "Are you always so callous in your dealings with others?"
Rani stamped a hoof onto the floor, and the clack resounded through the lobby. Afraid of what might follow the outburst, Tilia closed her eyes and ducked behind the stranger again as the sound bounced off of the walls and into her ears over and over. Only the sound of the mare's breath, even and measured as always, reached Tilia's ears after the echoing died down. It was comforting, like a mother's heartbeat to a foal. The room was still, and Tilia found the courage to open her eyes and peer around the stranger again.
After Rani's hoof stomp, the doe and buck in Zannah's group had turned to face her rather than the stranger. They gradually relaxed their muscles, but they remained arched forward and ready to repel an attack. Both had picked out one of the two does following Rani to look up and down, evaluating them for any hostile intent.
Rani and her followers glared back at them. The two does behind her seemed to be doing the same as Zannah's followers, preparing for a fight, but Rani herself quickly turned away dismissively.
"Would the Coda not be so cowardly," she said, chin upturned. "The matter would have been settled days ago." She snorted and looked to Zannah. "But we will not stoop to their level."
Zannah stepped one hoof forward. "I keep telling you, Unworthy One." She slowly dragged her hoof back to its original place, the slow scraping sound making Tilia's back tingle. "There will come a time when our patience is expired, and you no longer have a choice."
The stranger took three steps forward, surprising everypony. Zannah flinched, hopping half a foot backwards and reorienting herself towards the mare. The two deer with her followed her lead and adjusted their defensive posture towards the stranger.
Rani took one small step back, keeping her eyes locked on the stranger's. Seeing that the Coda were focused on the mare, she nodded her head once. Her two followers obeyed her instruction, and turned away from Zannah to face the stranger.
Finding herself suddenly standing exposed, Tilia looked from side to side. Everypony was facing the stranger, who was now well towards the center of the room. Teeth clenched, she ducked down and scurried behind the front desk.
The innkeeper was still behind the desk as well, his two front hooves covering his head. He was shaking violently like a tree in a strong wind, and his teeth had begun to chatter as well. In and out he breathed, much too quickly. Signs of fear that Tilia, unfortunately, was getting far too used to experiencing herself.
She gently placed her hoof onto his shoulder. "Everything will be fine," she whispered as reassuringly as she could. The poor stallion... She only ever had to face scary things for a few minutes at a time, but the deer said they had been arguing like this for days.
The innkeeper's teeth slowly stopped their chattering as he regained control of his jaw. He took a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly. Putting on as brave a face as she could, Tilia patted his shoulder once more as he took in another deep breath, then turned herself back towards the counter. Sticking just her eyes above the desk, she returned her attention to the scene unfolding in the lobby.
Everypony was standing still: the deer arched and defensive, the stranger tall and imposing. She was the first one to move, slowly sweeping her head from Rani on her right to Zannah on her left. Finally, she centered her gaze on the pedestal standing just a short distance in front of her, and the crystal it held.
"Worth."
She let the single word hang in the room. The deer gradually relaxed their stances, and their battle-ready expressions softened as their curiosity started to show.
"The favor of the Sisters, as valuable as it is, is not worth anypony's life."
Her head again turned to Rani, then back to Zannah. Both leaders' eyes were filled with determination, and they clearly disagreed: the crystal obviously meant a great deal to both of them.
Turning back to the crystal, the stranger slowly shook her head with disappointment. When the crystal began to glow ever so slightly, casting a gentle light, she stopped her nodding and focused on it. None of the deer seemed to show any sort of recognition, but after a moment the stranger nodded twice.
"If you must risk your lives then," she said, the words sounding heavy in her throat. "I know a feat of skill that would decide your contest." Slowly shaking her head from side to side with disappointment, she sighed.
Rani and Zannah looked to one another. Each carefully appraised the other, then turned back towards the stranger. Both leaders gave a single nod, in unison, to the mare.
"A ferocious beast of great power rests in a gorge not far from here," the mare explained. "If you enter its hiding place, it will stalk you, then attack you. Whoever defeats it may take the crystal, with no more violence." She turned towards Rani. "Is this satisfactory to you?"
The doe closed her eyes and contemplated. She took in a sharp breath and immediately exhaled, then opened her eyes again. "Yes," she said. "If the Coda shall agree to those terms, then the Nagi shall agree as well."
All eyes turned to Zannah. The doe's wary eyes turned first to Rani, then back to the stranger. Finally, her gaze fell on Tilia.
"I have one condition to add," she said.
The stranger tensed slightly. Clearly displeased, she nonetheless nodded. "And it is?" she asked.
"She must accompany us."
Tilia clenched her teeth and swallowed. Getting in close to the monster? Even after it had been weakened so much, it was still a frightening prospect. She was forced to put more of her weight onto the counter as her hind legs started to shake.
The stranger turned back towards Tilia with the same furrowed brows she had worn when Tilia had still been standing by the door while the deer crept about outside. As best as she could, the mare weighed her options.
Making calculations of her own, Tilia looked down at the innkeeper. He had calmed down a lot, but he was still cowering on the floor. If she and the stranger hadn't come along, the deer would surely have fought each other for the crystal eventually. Were the stranger to simply wait, deal with the monster, and leave, who knew how much longer the innkeeper would have to live in fear? Or what sort of damage the battle would do?
As bad as that was, Tilia realized that simply stopping the deer might be even worse. When the stranger fought huge monsters, she knocked them all over the place. What damage would she do to a much smaller creature? Even if she held herself back? Not worth anypony's life... she had said.
Tilia shuddered. "Okay," she said, her eyes closed. There was nothing else she could do—not as long as the deer were set on getting the crystal without care for the cost. She swallowed again then opened her eyes. "I'll do it."
The stranger nodded once. "Very well." She turned back to Zannah. "I expect you to take care of her."
Zannah bowed her head halfway to the floor. "As if she were one of my own." There was a grave solemnity to her voice. Again, though, determination filled her eyes—and all of the deer. Perhaps they were truly so skilled, or perhaps they didn't know what kind of threat they had agreed to face.
Tilia stepped out from behind the counter and approached the stranger. Involuntarily, she gritted her teeth again.
"Don't worry Tilia," the stranger said. "You'll be fine." Her expression said differently, however. Eyebrows furrowed, she was clearly worried.
"Everything will be fine," Zannah said as she approached the pair. "Even one warrior of the Coda is more than a match for any beast. It won't know what hit it."
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."
