Mountain Rising

Havel sat alone for most of the trip to the Crystal Empire. His thoughts were flooded with Luna's memories, pondering them, comparing them to his own pain.

"Damn, brother," said Tosh as he sat down next to Havel, "you've been quiet for this whole trip, and everypony be sayin' that you look like you seen a ghost, you were chatting just fine as we were leaving,"

Havel turned his face away from the bat pony, his thoughts heavily clouded by Luna's memories.

"Was it somethin' between you and that princess, brother? Maybe you saw somethin' you weren't supposed to,"

Havel glared questioningly at the blind soldier, "How did you know?"

"The Black Dragon's secrets, brother, he comes in dream and in life, you can never escape that being's eye, not even the princess of the night,"

Havel looked away again, "I'm not in a mood to talk, Tosh, I've got a lot of thinking to do,"

"And what you be thinkin' about? Would it be the princess?"

Havel finally gave in, "Yeah, we did a memory drift together, and now..."

Tosh leaned in, saying "You've got nothin' to hide, brother, just let this one flow, like the rivers do,"

Havel sighed, "Now, I feel as though I want to hold her dear..."

Tosh remained passive, "You be fallin' in love with Equestria's moon goddess, brother, " he said, "if you're gonna do what your heart's tellin' ya, you'd better do it real damn well,"

Havel looked over at Tosh, his expression miserable.

"She's gone through what you have, brother, just in a different way. Your pain is fresh and burning, while her's is aged and seasoned, either way, you wanna be pleasin' her, you've got a lot of pain to disperse, yours included," said Tosh.

"I know, I just don't know how," said Havel.

"When I was young, the elders always said to me that when there is too much sorrow in one's life, you must uproot the sorrow, and replace it with joy,"

"Great," he said sarcastically, "how do I do this... voodoo,"

"Now, you don't want to see the voodoo, that I do, brother, as for the girl, anythin' is fine,"

Havel raised an eyebrow, silently questioning Tosh's logic on anything being fine.

"Now the last thing you want is sleepin' with the princess, brother,"

"That's more like it, Tosh,"

"Instead, make memories, brother, to drown the bad in what is good, play a game, go dancing, have fun with the pigs,"

Havel finally smiled, "Yeah, the pigs just love pranks," he chuckled.

A bitter wind blew across the deck of the Gypsy.

"Damn, it's freezing, are we there yet?" asked Havel.

"Yes sir, we are," said a pig.

Both Havel and Tosh made their way to the edge of the air ship, overlooking vast plains of ice and snow, with a large dome-shaped barrier of magic in the center of it. Outside was a rampaging blizzard, every gust of wind hailing down razor snow.

"Best get this done fast, don't wanna freeze out here, that means I'll need to focus most of our forces to th-"

"Excuse me, excuse me, there you are!" shouted a unicorn at Havel.

"Um... excuse me?" said Havel turning to face the unicorn, "but did you just address your commanding officer... Blueblood?!"

The snobbish unicorn was dressed in a thick red coat, the edges bearing white fluff, "Yes, it's me, pig, I've come to oversee the mission as instructed to by princess Celestia herself,"

"Uh-huh, you sneaked in, didn't ya?" said Havel, "a prince always has to be the damned hero, anyway, the buck are you doin' on my ship? Tryin' to impress ole' auntie Tia?"

Blueblood gave Havel a nasty glare as pigs grabbed his front two legs.

"Would you like us to jettison the dead weight, command?"

"Wait...w-what?!" shrieked Blueblood.

Havel brought his hoof to his chin, "No, in fact, I want you two to welcome him, strictly war pig style," Havel said.

Devious grins grew on the faces of both pigs, "We've got so much to show you, prince, most of it will amaze you til' yer speechless,"

____________

After several hours, many tents, campfires, and magical constructs littered a campsite of elite mercenaries and a frightened prince. Surrounding the entire camp was a huge circular trench.

"Alright, boys, we don't have nearly as many soldiers as we did before, and now is not the time to mope about it," announced Havel, "I want a quick and clean job, nopony's dying on the job today, understand?"

"Urah!" they responded.

"Good, now I want pigs equally split among the trenches, except for what's facing the barrier, I also want void wolves layin' low with those pigs, and coverin' their asses. Flyers are going to hang back on the ground until further notice, that is if you see somethin' that wants t'kill you, kill it first, there are a lot of wild beasts in these parts, plus Celestia knows what with those shadows about. Infiltrators, yes I mean the bat ponies, you're to aid the flyers if things get rough, and watch over the prince, make sure he doesn't do something that'll kill him. Jaller, take Gypsy and hang here in the center, go where you're needed most after that. I want all lead figures with me, we're goin' hunting, as soon as the winds die down, that means Tarkus, Tosh, and DuskWing, you're with me to take down those shadows, let's get this show on the road, I wanna be home for dinner,"

"Urah!" they responded again.

DuskWing approached Havel, "When do you think the winds will calm, command?" she asked.

"Dunno, don't care, all I want is everypony kept warm and fed,-" Havel's stomach growled audibly, he hadn't eaten before he left, "-myself included, maybe some decent sleep with that too,"

Havel walked towards his tent, a large one made of fur. He settled himself on a small bedroll, "I could use some z's before going after those things,"

"Commander," began Dusk, "are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course it is, Dusk," said Havel, rolling over, "I was always told that a warrior needs their rest,"

"O-of course, command," she said,

"Do me a favor, Dusk, wake me when the weather's agreeable,"

"Yeah, sure," she said, walking out of the tent. She made her way to Tosh's side.

"Something's gotten into Havel," she said to Tosh.

"You just noticed, Dusk? For the last six years there's been somethin' up with him," said Tosh.

"So you're unsure too, huh?"

"Me? No, cause I know what it is inside of 'im, I know what it is that's been changin' him,"

"What is it, then?"

"You can find that yerself, Dusk,"

"Y'know, fine, since you seem to be some great oracle, why don't you explain to him why sleeping isn't the best idea!" shouted Dusk in frustration.

"Dusk, if he ever went on the wrong path, I'd be dead already,"

"Oh, this is all about you now, huh?"

"Good bye, Dusk," said Tosh, simply abandoning the pegasus in the cold.

"Wait!" she said.

Tosh only continued to walk away. But I didn't mean it... Dusk thought to herself.

_________________

Havel dreamt peacefully when he first closed his eyes. Before him was a great organ, much like the one he loved to play in Canterlot. Havel gratefully approached the organ and seated himself at it, playing a lively tune. Havel felt joy with every ring of the organ's individual keys, each with its own expression, its own story. Amid his joyous playing, Havel heard the sound of hooves behind him. He ignored it. The sound came again, and Havel turned to find nothing but what seemed like the edge of a forest. Gloom hung upon the tree's low branches like a old coats drying in the sun, while crude stones protruded from a thick cloud of fog just beneath Havel's hooves. Havel examined his surroundings, seeing an old, rusted iron fence embracing the crudely organized rows of stones. Havel finally trotted towards a stone, reading small print on its front. HailStorm, it read.

"A graveyard..." Havel whispered. Hooves began to move behind him again, this time, towards him. Havel turned, finding a large black mare standing across from him, its slitted eyes piercing his soul with fear. The mare slowly stalked towards Havel, bearing rows of razor sharp teeth.

"Nightmare Moon?" Havel wondered aloud. The mare lunged, growing in size until it could swallow Havel whole. With open jaws it did so, ending his dream.

__________________

Havel was jerked awake by his nightmare. Hastily scanning his tent for its appearance, he found a dark figure sitting next to him, startling Havel to the point of attack. He threw his hoof wide for the being's head, only to be stopped by its own hoof.

"You had a sweet dream?" asked Tosh, casting Havel's hoof aside.

Havel sighed deeply, wiping sweat from his brow, "D-don't... do that, Tosh, I thought you were my nightmare,"

"I'm the nightmare of a thousand beings, brother,"

"Well this being is on the verge of madness, Tosh, and I need to stay sane, first I have Daayan screwin' with my brain, now I have this random nightmare of Nightmare Moon,"

Tosh thought for a moment, "You did a mind drift with the night princess, right?"

"Yeah, what're you speculating?"

"I bet that the nightmare you saw was the memory of princess Luna, during her time as Nightmare Moon,"

"Memory drifts don't last this long though,"

"But, on a rare occasion, brother, there are exceptions to that rule, you understand her feelings so well that they stay with you. Call it a curse, if you'd like,"

Havel groaned, "Is it almost time to go? Has the weather calmed down?"

Tosh poked a hoof out his tent, "Yes, but aren't you gonna eat somethin', brother?"

"Not hungry," Havel said trotting out his tent.

Outside, the winds had finally died down to the slightest breeze, and Tarkus, Dusk, Tosh and Havel were to leave momentarily. Many pigs looked bored, but were warm and full. Dusk's flyers, called wraiths, shared the same state, as did Tosh's infiltrators.

"Move, pig! Uh! Don't touch me!" shouted Blueblood as he stormed up to Havel, "Well, pig, when are we leaving?"

"Wait, wait, wait, you can't be buckin' serious," asked Havel.

"I am, and you can't do anything about that, after all, I am the nephew of both princesses,"

Havel grabbed Blueblood with his magic and pulled his face close to his, "Listen, filth, you're in my town now, I rule this little kingdom here, so you are going to listen to me, understood?" Havel dropped the prince and turned to leave, "You're going to come, just to see what it's like in the field, just to see how important everypony else truly is, and if you die, it's not my fault, because I never agreed to watch over you, if you die, know I'm going to leave your rotting carcass for the animals, if they'll even eat such a putrid thing. So, watch your back, cause the beasts will be chewin' on it,"

Blueblood sat in horrified awe of Havel's cruel words as Havel allowed himself a smile of satisfaction, "When you die, Havelock," said Blueblood in silence, "I will have saved everypony of true importance from you,"

___________________

Havel seemed to be taking his time, scanning the horizon of the barren snow wasteland. The clouds had parted, allowing the sun's rays to push through and cast dancing lights on the serene snow. Many would have thought that this was great beauty, but the mercenaries found it hard to enjoy with Blueblood's consistent complaints on the cold, despite having the largest, warmest coat of them all.

"For the ump-teenth time, kid, we don't care," said Tarkus

"Maybe if you shut up, Prince Blueblood, we'd get the job done faster, your moaning has compromised us several times now," added Dusk.

"You ruffians! As soon as I get back you will face the consequences of not tending to the higher class, especially, if he is your prince," scolded Blueblood.

"Tosh, shut him up, will ya?" said Havel.

"Can't do much if I can't bleed him real slow, brother," said Tosh.

The small crew continued on, never bothering to slow down for Blueblood despite his threats and pleas. Havel kept his nose close to the snow, as if trying to find the most nuance details. His focus eventually became unbreakable by even the prince. Suddenly, Havel halted, raising a hoof to stop the others behind him.

"Hold, you smell that?" Havel asked nopony in particular.

Tosh sniffed the frozen air around him, "Barely, but it's getting stronger by the moment,"

"It's putrid," said Dusk sniffing the air herself.

"Aye, that be the smell of death before ya," said Tosh.

Havel looked down at the snow, black as char, a clear sign of a nearby shadow. Havel followed the tainted snow, keeping low as he moved quickly across the freezing wastes. Four other figures followed along, one of which had to be dragged to avoid being caught. Havel was now on his belly, crawling through the numbing snow up a hill. Over the hill he saw a large, black, and formless gaseous creature, much like the unformed Sombra.

"Ah, ye fugly, gotcha now," Havel whispered to himself, inching closer to the beast.

The crew followed blindly, all but one ready to pounce until a thought came to them.

"Er... Havelock, how are we supposed to fight something that's formless, or in other words, out of reach?" asked Tarkus.

"Only way, magic," he responded.

Havel lunged out in front of the shadow, his horn shining with a bright golden aura.

"Is he mad?!" shouted Blueblood.

"No," said Tosh following Havel, "He just likes to improvise,"

"Tosh, keep him busy, you too, Dusk!" Havel shouted, "Tarkus, get over here!"

The huge earth pony thrusted his body towards Havel, diving for his hooves. Havel then cast his aura on his sword, making it glow brilliantly.

"Sword's enchanted, get swingin'!" shouted Havel.

Tarkus did just that, with his mighty sword in his teeth, Tarkus began to run by the shade's side, his blade piercing its dark veil. During this, both Tosh and Dusk were long into performing many air-borne acrobatics. Havel laid back, looking for the perfect shot at the beast's center. He inched in slightly, his horn glowing like the sun itself, until he was knocked back into the far hill.

"Argh!... Damn..." he muttered, using his hoof to wipe blood from his brow. The shadow had noticed Havel and was closing in on him, ignoring the display around it.

"Tarkus!" Havel gasped, "firebomb that thing!"

Tarkus pulled out a small bisque with a string attached to it. The string was looped to allow anypony to throw the bisque with their hooves.

"Fire in your hole!" shouted Tarkus, hurling the small object into the moving abyss. A small spark was seen within it, grabbing its attention.

"That was supposed to be an inferno," Tarkus moped as he backed up slightly, the enchantment on his sword fading.

Havel struggled onto his hooves, his horn glowing brightly again, "Lights out," he said, firing a powerful blast of magic at the shade's back. The monster let out an ear-piercing screech as it dissipated.

"Hehe, one down," Havel laughed wiping his brow again, dying his hoof crimson, "wha-..."

Everypony there looked at him with great concern, Dusk landing next to him to examine his condition.

"Your head... Havel, you need to get some help. This is a lot of blood,"

Havel looked down at the snow, no longer black, but a deep red.

"Oh, that's my blood, that's a lot of my blood," he said, lying back.

"A little healing magic should fix him right up," said Tosh.

"What about the finer details? Havel only knows basic healing," claimed Dusk.

"Knew basic healing... I learned a couple... a couple... better healing tricks,"

"You're in no condition to use those, Havel,"

"Let the stallion try, cause then we can all go home and get rid of this... waste of the princess' time," said Tosh.

"Tosh, have you even been listening? He needs help,"

"Then let him help himself,"

Dusk rose, approaching Tosh with a look of anger, and a hint of hatred, "You don't know what's best for him, Tosh,"

"Neither do you, Dusk,"

"Well at least I can feel, anypony inside you died long ago, you're just a husk of a soldier, with no sense of pity or mercy,"

Blinding light shone behind Dusk, with Havel arising mended moments later, "That's enough, Dusk," he said regaining balance, "Tosh has helped me more than anypony here, and after hearing your words, I'm sending you back to camp, cool off while you're there,"

Dusk looked at Havel with utter shock, "But-"

"Dismissed, Dusk,"

Dusk's eyes began to water as she bit her lip, "I try to look out for you, Havel," she said, "but it's hard when you won't accept it,"

She flew off, allowing the now smaller team to continue on.

"She was never like this six years ago," said Havel.

"That one day changed us all, brother," said Tosh.

Havel brushed the thought aside, looking for tracks of the next shade.

"Any ideas, on speeding this up? Where's Blueblood anyway?" asked Havel.

"He followed Dusk, the bloody coward," Tarkus said.

The trio continued with their mission, traversing the now wind blasted wasteland. They wandered seemingly aimlessly for tens of minutes.

"Shit! It's freezing!" shouted Havel.

"We should go back, I'd rather not be a frozen corpse for the beasts," said Tarkus.

"I'm with Tarkus, brother, something here isn't right," said Tosh.

Havel looked around, but couldn't see anything in the whiteout. If only I could see Havel thought. The blizzard stopped, and standing before them was another shade, lying still and flat on the snowy ground. With prying red orbs, it stared at Havel, almost pleadingly, then dispersed.

"Anypony else see that? Or was that just the cold?" asked Tarkus.

"We're done here, brother, whatever did that to that shade, has already gotten the third one," said Tosh.

"Yeah, now let's get the buck outta here, Tosh," said Havel.

Tarkus and Tosh both turned to leave the cold, but Havel stood there, waiting for the one other thing that could defeat those shades.

Daayan.

The two sub-leaders didn't know that their own leader had stayed behind, and thus continued walking.

_________________

"So, you've devoured the remaining pieces of King Sombra, thus, bolstering your own power, smart move, Daayan," said Havel, facing the horizon.

"I thought I'd help you out, after all, what do two lovers do?" asked a voice behind him. Daayan.

Havel turned, his eyes bearing dark magic in a harsh scowl, "I... do not... love you..." he hissed, his eyes returning to their soft brown state, "what lover butchers over half of her lover's family?"

Daayan walked over to Havel's side, circling him once, then stopping in front of him, "That was before I knew it, I've been trying to apologize for all these years,"

"Oh? And what, pray tell, told you that you were in love?" asked Havel, expecting Daayan to pounce now.

Daayan looked into Havel's eyes, softening the hardened strategist, "Our little filly did," she said.

Havel was taken by surprise, That was years ago, he thought.

"I thought you'd use magic to keep that foal unborn, what the hell happened?!" shouted Havel.

"I... I couldn't do such a thing, Havel,"

"Ah, well, great, you've now screwed me, my career, and my troops, again, is that all you're good at, demon?"

The black mare stepped back a few paces. Daayan, made an alicorn by void magic, spread her wings slightly, as she looked down into the snow. Havel rolled his eyes at this, having seen her perform such antics during his early years with her. He looked back at her, ready to see waterfalls well from her eyes. He removed his helm, exposing his head and mane to the cold. Oh for the love of-

"Daayan-"

At that moment, Daayan leaned in, planting a deep passionate kiss on Havel's lips. Her tongue forced its way through Havel's lips, exploring the inside of his mouth. Havel roughly pushed Daayan away with his hoof, his face not bearing horror, but surprise and a slight blush.

"What're you doing?!" Havel spat.

Daayan leaned in again, "Making us whole..."

Havel stopped Daayan from coming closer, "I know what you're playing, trying to sneak more void magic inside me, it won't work,"

"Oh, but it will," said Daayan, putting her front hooves around Havel's neck, "and then we will be together, for as long as the void lives," she leaned in again, only to be shaken off by Havel.

"I'm out," said Havel teleporting back to his camp.

Daayan turned away, "Only a bit more time," she said.

__________________

Havel was back in his tent with a sore head, "Argh, gotta stop doin' that,"

He galloped outside shouting to all, "Pack it up! We're done here!"

He looked around, seeing warm weather and joyous crystal ponies in the now exposed Crystal Empire.

"Got that, command, where we heading afterwards?" asked a wraith.

"Er... Crystal Empire looks fine,"  said Havel, "pack everything! Let's go!"

The soldiers worked hard, strapping the odd structures and loading their leftover supplies onto Gypsy.

Tosh landed next to Havel, "What's next after this, brother?"

"We get ready for Daayan," said Havel, "she's back,"

"Hmm, can we really fight all those raakshi, brother?"

Havel paused for a moment, "All I know is that either we finish what we started," said Havel, "or she will,"