Chapters "Ride, warrior, ride, With your blade at your side, Follow on your spirit-steed, While wounds darken and bleed. Reap the wind as you fly, Hear the night beast cry, Cold tears run with the rain, Down the horse's mane." - Mercedes Lackey .
"I've never seen a heroine before" she said over the whistling of the wind. "Don't misunderstand me, I know we have valiant mares, but I swear, never in my life have I seen something truly heroic again, and good Horsemaster knows its been long!"
Her eyes lit themselves with the bonfire as above the remnants of the storm were slowly dying away. Snowflakes would occasionally fly close enough to the communal hut to show themselves by the yellow light of the fire, but as they passed the torrent that overflew their heads was more and more slowly getting steadier.
"And how is it?" asked a mare from the other side of the fire. "That something truly heroic can be different from everything we've done so far?"
The mare's words rose approbation from the present, and a murmur of conversations accompanied the unintelligible voice of the wind.
"Yes, chief, why isn't it heroic what we've done?" continued another one. "I mean, we've lived here since the fall of our crystal sisters and endured. How is being heroic different from beating our powerful foes or protecting our fillies?"
Another generalized murmur. The tribe's questions rose again, but the disorder made them unintelligible. The chief, sitting at her honor spot, simply waited for the crowd to calm down.
"Tell us, please!" asked the first mare at last. "How are our noble acts of bravery, or all of the others' in Ponyland different?"
The chief remained silent and waited with her eyes, lost in the nothingness of the flames until she suddenly smiled fondly.
"That is a very interesting question, Snow Drops, very interesting indeed" she got rid of her cover and stood up. "To properly answer it, I would have to acknowledge you the many years of pondering and reflection that that question has circled inside my mind, but for the time being I'll leave you my ponies with this single question: what have you mares done that any other wouldn't?"
Again the murmur began, and just as it reached her ears she was readying to appease them when suddenly the voice of Snow Drops changed the direction of the subject.
"And I suppose you could give us an example, chief?"
And just as simple as her words came out of her nuzzle, the rest of the present mares turned to plead their leader to fulfill their request.
"Yes! How did it happen?" asked someone from the crowd. A little filly that was in front of all the others. "How did you met her?"
More voices followed hers, and in a second every mare from the tribe was asking the same thing. The chief, overwhelmed by her mares' voices, patiently waited again, but this time she the comments didn't cease.
It was just until Snow Drops and her young companion called for silence that she spoke.
"Oh, that is a whole adventure in its own!" she chuckled. "And lest to say that is not a short one too."
"Don't worry, chief" said Snow Drops, looking at the cloudy sky. "I think we got time…"
Just as everyone in the village paid attention to her words, the winds ceased to blow, and the clouds overhead became dead where they were. Every Snow Pony knew that was a good sign.
"Okay, since you insist…"
It is said that during the eras before to the downfall of Equestria, and even before, the Crystal Mountains used to be a feral land. A place where nature and magic coexisted, and where savage creatures dwelled the land. It was not strange to know that many orc tribes and gobbling clans inhabited the place, and legends speak of worse… But among those who lived and endured in that hostile territory, among our sister and ancestors, the most valiant of all were the hunters and huntresses of the Neighdiq herd.
Valor-driven and freeborn, the Neighdiq tribes stayed independent when there wasn't any Equestria, and even resisted the Equestrian authority. They lived in peace with the other herds, and even revered the Horsemaster in their own way, coming to defend their beliefs with their own lives.
I assure you none of you've heard of it, but at its time, the Neighdiq wrote a certain letter to Celestia concerning her royal authority that no other would've dared to. Poor princess; when the letter was read out loud in front of all of her court the alicorn was so embarrassed and enraged that she declared them enemies of the state! The Neighdiq then rebelled and thus happened the Rising of the Golden Herd.
…But I'm straying too far from the subject. What I wanted to tell you with all of this, is that even though it may be possible that they share a common ancestry with our Crystal Empire ancestors or not, what no one knew for sure was if their herd continued to exist after the downfall of Equestria. There are rumors, of course, but nothing is definite since the Crystal Mountains became too dangerous for anyone to venture there again. Perhaps our good sisters are still out there, surviving and enduring the scourges of their homeland, or perhaps they all passed away in their particular ways.
Indeed there are a lot of suppositions about our sisters, but the reason I brought them up to begin my story is because of something that is very real in comparison, and that no one, not even the wisest egghead of Ponyland have been able to deny as a simple truth: The Crystal Mountains change you. It is not immediate, or noticeable at first, but of the many mares and stallions that have gone there, no one has ever emerged the same as when she entered. Some become broken and shattered, empty husks of what their principles used to be. Others emerge wizened inside, learned from the experiences from the powers of the place, but full of sorrow for the region that took so much of them. And some others, the least in my opinion, find something else, something that they gain from not letting themselves be broken by it. They find their valor...
I know that some of you may not believe me, but in the end the final transformation is up to one and only one self. No one knows how they will change you for sure… Until I, in an unwilling twist of fate, happened to end up there, to find out for myself.
The clouds creeped over the mountain peaks as they crawled slowly to the land below. At that great heights the sky wasn't blue, but it had became a gray mass that kept the sun hidden from view. Since the first lights of the morning a tone of gray and dark blue had fallen down over the earth and impregnated the rocky walls of the mountainsides and the valleys down below that hadn't been covered by fog.
From one slope to another, series of woods and meadows rose up from the wall of clouds that swallowed the land, and slowly creeped over the mountains, like waves of vegetation that had frozen while breaking in the middle of a gigantic sea storm of flora.
A sound traveled through the cold air as it took form. The cliffs and hillsides resonated with its echo, and it lost within the entrances of the earth before being recognized. The shape of screams accompanied by an all powerful roar of a larger and coarser throat soared to unrecognized reaches. Both noises broke the pace of the place, but were lost in an uncaring scenario as the battle for survival, as seen everyday in the wilderness of those mountains, took the place and time of the least thing any traveler would want to happen.
Chilly Breezes hit the floor with a dry sound, that most surely took the breath away from her since she wasn't able to make a noise. All that came from her throat was an unintelligible pant, and perhaps what was the hint of a whine. The mare bounced a little bit, and with a wild look on her face laid low, failing to get air back into her again.
"Breezes!" Mittens cried in awe, but couldn't do nothing, as she was the next one.
With a deafening roar, the ogre that had struck Chilly Breezes just a second before sent a straight punch at the other Snow Pony. Mittens didn't saw it coming at first, but she snapped in the last second and jumped, dodging the blow and turning to Jingle Jangle as she landed, who was watching at everything dumbstruck.
"Run!" she shrieked as she dodged another strike.
Jingle didn't react. In the same stance where she was she'd seen everything: how the monster had mercilessly beaten Chilly Breezes and sent her nearly ten feet away with a single swipe, and how Mittens's spear had broken trying to pierce through the creature's thick skin, which only had gotten it angrier, and now she was just lying there, seeing her last standing chance of survival fleeing and dodging the strikes of the powerful beast.
"Didn't you heard, filly!? I said run!" Mittens shouted again as she leaped to dodge another blow.
The ogre tried to reach the pony, but Mittens wasn't like Breezes, and the mare leaped from place to place, letting the strikes pass her as they opened every time bigger craters in the ground. Jingle still stood where she was. Perhaps the words of the mare would've made her snap, but being a filly as she were, Jingle Jangle was too shocked to know what to do. Heck, she was too shocked to know what to think!
"Jingle!" Mittens whinnied again. "What are you waiting for? GO!"
Mittens jumped again and again, making the monster start to growl in frustration. After a few tries its punches began to became slower, and the power with which they were sent started to diminish. It looked as if at this rate the creature would exhaust itself, but sadly the mare's luck wasn't that good.
The ogre, beginning to realize she wouldn't be an easy meal, suddenly changed its tactic, and in an unexpected move charged ahead. Mittens was taken by surprise, and dodged again, jumping as far away from the reach of the creature as she could, but couldn't get out completely. The ogre extended its huge arms to get her, but in the end it passed its objective neatly, falling over its belly while it did.
The earth shook under the excessive weight of the creature, and the monster made a loud crack noise in the stone floor as it was being broken underneath. Mittens landed with a little more effort, but this time her timing wasn't as good, and the backlash of the attack made her stagger and trip. She hit the floor as well and took a second to recover, but when she did the ogre had already stood up and was ready to squash her.
Jingle jangle watched as the creature rose its arms and aimed for her helpless friend.
"MITTENS!!!" she screeched.
"Cover your eyes!" another voice suddenly exclaimed.
"W-what?" Jingle stammered, taken by surprise.
"I said, cover your eyes and duck!" the voice shouted again, this time revealing itself straightly behind her.
Jingle didn't know what to do. Everything happened so fast… Before another second passed a floating dot of light appeared in front of the ogre, and the second that followed, much to the surprise of everyone in the scene, it exploded with the loud noise of a powder shot. Jingle didn't close her eyes in time, and was thrown to the ground by the shockwave. The world in her sight became a blurry sequence of images, and her ears ringed with a sustained note that faded everything she could perceive from the outside. Her spacial perception, also shaken by the flashbang spell, created the sensation that she was flying, even when she realized that two curiously shaped hands took her from her belly and carried her over a shoulder.
Jingle gasped, but she couldn't hear anything as her sight steadily returned, changing at times from a white screen to the moving reminiscences of the land. What she could hear though, as her world was shifting its valance in her head, was something that she found little less difficult to explain as to how did she got there.
In the sequence of images, she could see Mittens, shaking her head, attempting to get over her numbness, and the ogre, struggling with its own equilibrium as it was trying hard apparently not to pass out. She could hear the vibrations of the air, and know that someone was screaming, but couldn't tell who. Before anything else could happen whoever was carrying her suddenly dropped her in the snow.
Although with care, Jingle shook when she hit the ground and stared as her sight, now more connected, showed her the figure of a clocked pony, standing behind Mittens, and battering the ogre with a purple energy blast. The creature, when received the shot fell to his back, but a second after recovered when it used its large arms to stand up again. The stranger struck it again, but this time the ogre was more enraged, and it let out a deafening roar that she could pick up halfway.
As the creature readied to attack again, Jingle could pick up the face of the stranger when she pulled up her hood. Judging by the blurry factions she couldn't tell wether she was a mare or a colt, but by the horn in her head she could assure she was a unicorn.
"COME ON!!!" she whinnied in an unmistakably female voice.
The stranger sent out two more rays of energy, that the ogre deflected with its arms, and then galloped away. The ogre, triggering its predator instinct, charged after her, tearing rocks away and toppling down trees as they got lost in the forest. Jingle tried to follow them with her sight, but couldn't go far before her eyes lost their focus again.
"Show off" another voice spoke when the two of them disappeared.
Jingle tried to say something, but in an instant all the strength in her body disappeared. Just as she felt how the hands carried her again she passed out.
When Jingle Jangle woke up she was lying in the ground again. The clearing around her had disappeared, and instead a world of trees had absorbed everything. She tried to look around, but her sight was impeded a couple of feet away because of the spell. Everything she could do was lie there, breathing for as long as she could…
"Okay now let's see what the damage is…" she suddenly heard a male voice.
Jingle tried to move, but her coordination had also been heavily damaged. The only thing she could do was squirm as she tried to order her body to recover its functions.
"Clam down, will you?" she heard as that curious hand once again took her and held her still. "This is going to pinch just a little-"
And suddenly, just as he finished his phrase, Jingle became overwhelmed once again when all her perceptions were reestablished. Her sight became clear again, and her ears returned to their full functionality. The tension in her muscles returned, and a strength that she didn't know she took her up in a single leap.
"AGH!" Jingle screamed as she tried to gallop away.
"Hey wait!" two arms suddenly wrapped around Jingle's neck, and stopped her in her tracks. Jingle tried to struggle, but her captor held her firmly. "It's okay" he said, though his voice somehow was still blurred. "You're safe now!" Jingle tried to hold still, though it was difficult to calm down. Yet her captor had her firmly, and only when her breathing normalized and her pulse became steadier the stranger finally let her go. "That's it" he sighed in relief. "Now go take a stroll or something. You need to reactivate your legs or you'll get cramps."
Jingle Jangle stood up for a moment and looked to her savior. The human… Like creature wasn't taller than a normal pony, and when he walked his backward-knees and white tail jumped to the fore. His face was covered by some sort of white mask, and from the back of his head a set of long ears displayed along with a black mane, tied in a curious arrange that strongly resembled a pony tail. He was wearing a white kimono, and his feet had sandals despite the snow. Immediately after releasing her, the stranger walked to Mittens, who was still apparently baffled from the explosion, but somehow still as a series of needles shone over her fur.
Jingle blinked a few times. Though many things crossed through her limited conscience, her sense of understanding was almost instantly picked by the most obvious of them.
"Who are you?"
The being was bending over the mare, taking one by one the needles out of Mittens's body, but rose again when he heard her voice.
"Didn't I told you to stroll?" he questioned, a little annoyed. Jingle puzzled from his answer, but the stranger didn't let her respond. "Whatever. It's your body tanin ."
And then, without saying nothing more, he took out another needle and inserted it in the middle of Mittens's forehead.
"Okay now, if you run I'll be very mad at you" he whispered as he pulled the last one out.
Mittens suddenly rose up, and as Jingle released a loud gasp before the being rapidly closed her nuzzled with his hands.
"Seriously hosu , you're making this very difficult for me!" he groaned as he struggled with the strength of Mittens, far more than Jingle's.
It seemed as if he would say something else, but before that could happen Mittens suddenly pushed him away with her frontal hooves.
"Air!" she panted and inhaled deep, then focused on the strange being, who was lying on the ground. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" she changed to a more aggressive mood, assuming guard stance.
"Why the anger?" he tried to stand up, but Mittens pushed him back down. "I thought you hosu were friendly!"
"Guess again, pal" Mittens pressed more on her hoof. "Now, who are you, and what are you doing here?"
"What's a 'hosu '?" asked Jingle following up.
"What's a hosu ?" he turned to Jingle. "What kind of stupid question is th-" and stopped when Mittens's hoof pressed against his throat.
"Our questions first" she said threateningly.
"Okay, okay, you win!" he tried to articulate chokingly. "Just… Let me breathe!"
"Fine" Mittens retrieved her hoof, but still lied on top of him. "But you better answer me, or else…"
"Can you cut the threats out, please?" he retorted. "We still have plenty of day ahead of us, and I would like to eat something before night-" he stopped again when Mittens heavily stomped her hoof aside his head. "My name is Takai, from the Hohige clan, what is yours?"
"Why would you care-"
"I'm Jingle Jangle, from the Snow Ponies" the filly stepped in. "Nice to meet you!"
"Jingle!" Mittens scolded her. "Don't give away your name just like that!"
"But why?" she whinnied. "He gave us his. The least we could do is present ourselves, Mittens."
"Mittens?" asked Takai, trying to conceal his amusement. "Your name is Mittens? Seriously?"
"You shut up!" Mittens focused on him again. "And prepare to explain yourself if you want to see the rest of today."
"Hey, lets hold our tongues back, specially on the people who save you!" Takai exclaimed defensively. "…And I thought we Kitsune had trust issues, jeez!"
"Saved us?" Mittens puzzled. "What?"
"That's right, hosu , or have you lost your mind too?" Takai didn't move, but it was clear that he was smiling under his mask. "Try ask your friend there. I'm sure she can tell you how we got here."
"My…" Mittens frowned in disengagement, but her confusion didn't last long. "Breezes!"
A few yards away, Chilly Breezes was lying on the ground, still baffled while more metal needles showed in her coat. Mittens jumped from over Takai to reach her, and tried to move her until she discovered the apparent trance state in which she was.
"What did you do to her!" Mittens turned to where Takai had already stood up.
"Don't touch those!" he almost screamed when he saw her. "It's what I've been trying to do with you! The spell was too strong for you to handle, so I was healing your physical forms and putting you back to shape!"
"Healing us? With these?"
"Yes! It's called acupuncture, you're welcome tanin ."
"Tanin ?" asked Jingle again.
"Never mind" Takai dismissed her and turned to Mittens again. "So, you are going to let me do my work or not?"
Mittens stared back at him with a stern look for a moment. It seemed as if she were going to refuse.
"Can you help her?" she asked, finally.
"If you don't stomp on my head…" Takai shrugged. "I can make her snap for starters."
Another second passed before Mittens changed that stern face into a more compliant one.
"Good" she sentenced. "But I'll be watching you, so no funny business!"
"Okay, but don't rush me!" he retorted while he walked down to her. "This has to be done with care, or else I could stop her heart or something" one by one, he started to take out the needles. "Let's just hope that your friend is more understanding…"
Two minutes later…
"Dammit mares, are you all mad!?" shrieked Takai as he brushed the dirt off his kimono. "These things are not easy to clean!"
"Well woe for you!" Chilly Breezes walked, more limped, backwards as much as her stiff leg allowed her to. "That was for treating a mare so insolently! And thank your gods that I'm not on my fours, because if I were-OW!!!" she almost fell when she tried to lean on her hurt leg.
"Are you alright?" asked Jingle when she noticed the pain drawn in her face.
"You should try to lie down" Takai continued to brush himself off, a little more calmed this time. "That leg doesn't look very well."
"And what do you know-AGH!" Breezes tripped when she tried to walk again.
"Breezes!" Mittens reached for her. "What's wrong?"
"My leg…" she panted in pain. "I think it's broken."
"Well you hosu have turned bitter, haven't you?" Takai folded his arms. "I used to hear stories about the greatness of Ponyland, but I'm starting to think that so many time in the open has made you all crazy!" he diverted his look. "…I guess Mariel was right after all."
"Who's Mariel?" asked Jingle Jangle again, still curious.
"My partner" he shrugged. "She's the one that saved the three of your flanks."
"Your partner?" she puzzled. "You mean the unicorn?"
"Yes, that one" he let himself sat down, still with his arms folded and remained silent for a moment. "…Which reminds me, by the way, that by now she should be-"
"…Back" spoke another voice. "And in one piece, fortunately."
All eyes turned at once and focused on the newcomer. The unicorn mare that'd just appeared from the woods was standing in the edge of the scene. She was wearing a black silk cape, mostly covered in dirt along with other small pieces of nature.
"And who are you?" asked Mittens, more collected.
Mariel looked at her, but her expression left whatever was passing through her mind unknown.
"Isn't it obvious?" she said, before coming into sight. "I'm this little kitsune's ride."
As soon as she came closer, Jingle saw in detail what she could of the mare. She had a grayish green color fur and purple eyes. Two stripes of the same color ran across the sides of her face and over her eyes, and turned into purple hair lights in her platinum mane, that was carefully tied into a half ponytail.
"Hello there Mariel" Takai bowed his head. "How did it went?"
"The ogre should bother us no more" she simply said as she passed him.
This, nonetheless, didn't just passed by for the rest of the presents.
"Wait a moment, did you've just said that you vanquished that monster?" asked Mittens, cutting her path. "But… How!?"
Mariel stared unshaken at her and remained like that for a moment.
"Ogres are pretty clumsy in nature" she shrugged and stepped back. "I lost him in the cliffs that stretch east from here" her horn suddenly began to glow and her cape came off her body, revealing the rest of her person as well as her sword, strapped to her shoulders in a black sheathe. She had a slender build, though it seemed more due to bad alimentation rather than anything else, and a cutie mark of two purple pentacles overlapped that created a ten pointed star. "…But if I were you I wouldn't venture there by myself at least in over a week or two. Chances are, he'd still be looking for some snack" she shook her cape in the air of its dirk and put it back. "That's better."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" asked Takai from the rear.
"Right…" Mariel levitated from her cape two black sheathes of katana blades and gave them to the kitsune. "Sorry for taking them" she said as he took them as strapped them to his belt. "I figured that way you wouldn't do anything stupid."
Takai stood up to this in fake disbelief.
"Me? How would I?" he glared to the mares. "It's not like I wouldn't have anything to be upset towards…"
"You owned it" Breezes looked away in the same tone.
"Putting away misunderstandings" Mariel spoke again. "It's too risky to be here in the open" she turned to Mittens. "I'd recommend you to look for a place to spend the night."
Mittens was about to speak, but Takai beat her to it.
"What about our camp" he asked. "I mean, they have a little hosu here, and our base is safe enough…"
"It's too far away" Mariel turned to him. "We wouldn't reach it before night with a crippled member" she slightly diverted her look to Chilly Breezes, still on the floor.
"Hey, who says I'm crippled!" the mare retorted as she tried to stand, but fell in pain after a moment.
"I'm just pointing things out" Mariel said, still unshaken, then looked at Takai. "Tend her leg."
"Give a step closer and you're dead, fiend!" Breezes shrieked at the kitsune.
"I wouldn't recommend you threaten me!" Takai immediately reached the hilt of his sword.
"Would you two stop that!?" yelled Jingle Jangle, finally blowing up. "Breezes, these people are trying to help us, so why don't you just accept it? It would be a lot easier if we just stick to one another instead of pushing them away! …And don't give me the 'you're too young to understand it', Mittens, because all this journey I've been nothing but obedient of you two, and ever since we left Dream Valley our life has been nothing but trouble!!!"
When Jingle closed her nuzzle and opened her eyes she realized that she'd been screaming almost at the top of her lungs. All the others were looking at her with blank expressions, save for Mariel, who still had that unimpressed look on her face. Jingle, again, didn't know what to do about it, but after a second her embarrassment began to sink… And then Mariel smiled at her.
"Well… I guess we haven't handle things pretty well these last weeks" Mittens finally gave in, then turned to Mariel. "We need to get to safety and soon, would you be so kind as to lend a friendly hoof with it?"
Mariel rose an eyebrow, then looked briefly at Jingle.
"It would be my honor" she smiled sideways.
"Good. Where should we begin?"
"By splitting up. We can't take the risk of carrying Breezes around with her… Hurt leg. Not at least before Takai has attender her."
"I'll do my best" the alluded shrugged.
"And regarding the filly, we could meet some trouble up ahead. I don't think it would be the best to bring her."
"Okay, so it comes down to you and me" completed Mittens.
"And you are a traveler?" asked Mariel, turning to her again.
"I'm a ranger, I know how to map terrain" she said, eagerly.
"Good, that should help us" Mariel turned to the rest. "We're going to search for shelter, then we're going to get back here and take you there, understood?" the remaining three nodded. "Fine. Takai, you tend her leg. See that she can walk again by the moment we come back, and if you encounter something dangerous, hide wherever you see fit. We'll seek you when we get back."
"Understood" Takai nodded again. "I will make sure we make it until your return."
"Then off we go" Mariel turned and walked away with Mittens. "Now at least I hope we can get some place to sleep before dark…"
"Well, I guess that solves our problem" said Takai when they left, then turned to the mare.
Chilly Breezes stared back at him with an unfriendly look on her face, but then sighed when Jingle struck an even sterner look to her.
"Fine" she conceded, stretching her leg. "But don't try anything funny."
"Don't worry, I'm just getting you to walk here" Takai knelt beside her. "…And besides, tanin , you're not my type."
Later that day, Mittens and Mariel returned before dark, just as expected, and took the three of them to their new campsite. The march took them the rest of the day, though the place wasn't too far away and Chilly Breezes could regain her ability to stand. Either way she had to be assisted with equilibrium during most of the trip, since the terrain wasn't very leveled. In the end, their destination appeared before them as the form of what seemed to be an old tower.
When Breezes looked at it at first she thought that there wasn't anything special, save for the fact that it looked like a giant pile of rocks in the border of a cliff, but when she came closer the entrance in its base and the uniformity of the structure revealed themselves to her.
"What is this place?" asked Jingle.
"A broch" said Mariel without turning. "It's the safest place we could find in such short time."
"Right, and you would't believe how it was when we got here" whispered Mittens in fatigue.
Breezes noted that perhaps it wasn't the better to ask, but Takai had already taken his own decision.
"How was it?" he questioned.
Mittens stared back at him like a filly that has asked an embarrassing question.
"Well… It was… It was a…"
"It was a goblin hideout" said Mariel over her shoulder. "But I'm happy that we got to clear the place before we came back. If those things were still there they would've hurt someone one of these days."
"What?" Breezes stopped in shock. "Are you saying that we're spending the night in a goblin lair!?"
"What's the problem?" asked Mittens, looking back at her. "Don't you want to sleep tonight?"
"Well… Yeah, but not in a dirty goblin hole!"
"A hideout" corrected Mariel. "Goblins wouldn't be clever enough to build one of these, specially with the threat of someone like us discovering them" she stared at the tower for a moment. "Broches are older than them. Older than Ponyland…"
Mittens frowned at this, and Jingle looked confused at Takai, who just shrugged. Breezes wasn't the best listener, but even her could tell. Mariel's voice had turned off in that last sentence.
"Is everything alright?" asked the kitsune.
Mariel seemed like she didn't listened, but after a second she snapped.
"No-nothing" she shook her head. "Come on, let's get inside."
Takai immediately obeyed, and Jingle followed him closely. Mittens friendly pocked Breezes to advance, but the mare took another moment to start moving. Somehow, seeing how she'd been kidnapped by lava demons and had previous issues with orcs, she had the feeling that whatever lied inside that place wouldn't be a pleasing surprise… And oh was she right.
Inside the structure the goblin occupation had left it's clear mark around in the floor, the walls, and even what seemed to be the remains of a rudimentary roof. Spread on the lower walls, inside niches, barbaric artifacts and other miscellany was kept in disarray. Breezes didn't expect less of goblins. They were, after all, barbaric creatures in nature. But what really caught her attention and awe was the horrifying fact that, even if the structure stood more than thirty feet tall, its past occupants had found a way to stain everything with their filth, and now it was stuck in every inch of the place.
"So, what do you think?" asked Mittens when they entered.
But Breezes was already dumbstruck.
"So… This is what you managed to take away from them?" she asked in disbelief, looking around. "Are you sure they didn't build this thing at all?"
"Eww, this place stinks!" snorted Jingle while covering her nose. "I wouldn't be able to sleep here, not now, not ever!"
"I've had nightmares… That are pretty similar to this" muttered Takai while staring at the black muck stains on the walls.
"It may not be perfect, but it's what we got" sentenced Mittens. "You should be thankful that we got something firm to begin with! Even if we had to take it away from the goblins."
Speaking of which…
"And what if they return?" asked Breezes. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mean any disregard to your efforts. I only happen to know that those creatures become more feral during the night. What if they remember that they have guts and decide to take their lai-broch back?"
"Then we will put up a fight" answered Takai, unsheathing his sword and looking at it.
"Actually, what Breezes says makes sense" spoke Mariel from the other side of the room. "We should take guards."
"Shotgun!" shouted Takai, seating where he was.
"And there we have it" giggled Mittens. "Our valiant volunteer!"
"What?" he puzzled. "Wait, no! Isn't that what you hosu say when you don't want to do things?"
"Dear, I believe you want to check you vocabulary again" Breezes smiled amusingly too. "Because you've just said 'Me' in hosu ..."
Nobody could help but laughing. Even Mariel chuckled at it for a moment before reassuming her serious semblance.
The night fell quickly, as it always did in those mountains, and in no time covered the land in darkness, only signaled by the glittery shine of the stars. Since their arrive there, Breezes had always considered that odd. In the rest of Ponyland day and night were pretty stable, with transitions as to when they began and ended. Even in the Frozen North, where they had entire months of night, there was a clear period of transition, but here it was different. One moment it was broad afternoon daylight, and the other the stars shone in the sky. There wasn't any indicator that the night would fall other than the fact that the land was suddenly covered in shadows.
Well… They could be definitely worse. At least, different from the other nights they had to dig a refuge or enter a cave for shelter, this time there were walls around them, and that was more than she could ask for in those circumstances.
With the help of Mariel and Mittens, they started a bonfire, and after some discussion Takai accepted and reluctantly stood on the entrance, but still as close to the fire as it was possible. The rest of them sat around the bright light of the wood and lied there as the shadows around their hideout became more and more thick.
As Breezes lied on her side to stretch her broken leg she took another chance to look around. At first sight the signs of the goblin occupation were everywhere, but with a detailed inspection she could ascertain that even with her experience in huts it was clear that those brute beasts couldn't have possibly done something with the style and genius as this. The walls, despite their deplorable state looked still firm and strong, and the stone by which it was made didn't had any mortar between them that she could detect. That was the most impressive, though she wasn't any architect. That a structure so tall that were just literally a pile of rocks stocked over each other could have lasted more than a couple of months, lest to say a year exposed to nature… Perhaps she had misjudged this place after all.
"How was this built?" she muttered, though not low enough to escape the rest of her party.
"Nobody knows" answered Mariel as she sat down beside the fire. "But they've been here ever since the early years of ponykind… Or so I've heard."
"Looks pretty rough to be that ingenious" added Mittens, staring at the walls as well.
"That is because things before were obviously tougher" said Takai, giving the stone a friendly kick. "My people say that in the old times strength used to prevail over cunningness, because of its usefulness, but even after intelligence began to gain control, simplicity still means a great deal of power" he gave another kick to the stone, even though it didn't move. "I think my ancestors should look at this place and rejoice, for this would mean that their sayings are right after all."
"Where are you from?" asked Jingle Jangle. "I've never seen your people before."
"Yes, why haven't we heard of your kind?" continued Mittens. "I didn't know you were inhabiting Ponyland."
"That is because we aren't" he scratched the back of his head. "Well, at least not officially…"
He looked at Mariel, with something that unmistakably was nervousness, shining behind his mask. The mare was seating at the other side of the room and rose an eyebrow questioningly, but when she picked up on the kitsune's question she seemed to understand.
"It's okay" she nodded. "Explain yourself."
"Okay then…" he sighed, taking seat in the entrance. "We kitsune are not from Ponyland, as you hosu , but came here from Indar, from the other side of the Great Sea."
"Indar?"
"Great Sea?"
"What's a kitsune?"
Asked Mittens, Chilly Breezes and Jingle Jangle consecutively
"Yes, all that and more" he rolled his eyes. "But it's not always been like this. When we came here, two hundred years ago, we were just farmers and peasants, but our settlements grew over time, and we were able to create a large colony. It was only a matter of time before we were fully established again."
"And your community is where?" asked Mittens.
"Really?" Takai almost jumped. "You think I'm going to reveal where my whole people lie?"
"He's right" added Mariel, before Mittens could reply. "I don't think most kingdoms here are ready to accept kitsunes, let alone discover them."
"And leave something like them unknown to ponykind?" Breezes questioned bitterly. "All this time they've been living under our nuzzles! What kind of mare are you to take his side?"
"No one's taking sides" she sentenced. "I'm just saying that they pose no threat to our race… Yet. And besides Ponyland has enough problems as it is."
Takai laughed, a curious sound, almost like distorted bark, to this.
"Have you heard of anything that has happened related to us?" he looked as if he were rising his eyebrows. There wasn't response. "I thought so. We would never interfere with your daily life, hosu . You got each other to do that. We would just like to be left alone to our own business, that is all."
"Well, we've come out of the Grogar Wars. If you haven't done anything since then I sincerely don't see how would you become a threat to our kind in the future" said Mittens as she shrugged. "…But I'd still like to visit your home sometime, though."
"Everything I'll say is that they are somewhere in the northwest coast of the continent" commented Mariel. "You're free to look for them whenever you wish."
"And I too hardly doubt that we pose a threat to you anyway" continued Takai. "The only big thing that we have accomplished in our two-century stay is reestablishing our old society almost to its fullest… As well as to learn some things about you hosu ."
"Really?" Breezes rose an eyebrow, unbelieving. "And what have you learned?"
"Few things" he shrugged, obviously pouting at her. "We haven't come in contact with your kind because most of my people believe that you are belligerent savages, so we have tended to grow to the inside, if you know what I mean…"
"My hoof is going to grow inside your face-mask!" Breezes snapped. "And then I'll show you a belligerent savage, if you know what I mean… "
"Breezes…" Mittens glared at her. "Let's set aside hostilities for once. We're all sharing the same place here."
What's up with Mittens and sympathy for these strangers? Breezes asked herself. Anyway…
"Okay… I'll do my best" she sighed.
"Takai?" questioned Mariel.
The kitsune didn't spoke, as if he were foal doing a tantrum, but a moment later he sighed too.
"Yes, I believe it works for me too."
"Good. At least that's over" Mariel stood up. "Now I don't know you, but I want to sleep."
"Yes" Mittens nodded. "We better go to rest before we make Jingle yell at us again, right? …Jingle?"
Mittens looked for her with her gaze, but didn't have to worry that much. The little filly had already fallen asleep beside the fire.
"Looks like she's the most prudent of us five" asserted Mariel with a light smirk. Next she took off her cloak and lied it over the filly, as a blanket. "Many fillies of her age would be playing, or doing silly things. Yet she's here… Stuck with us."
"Looks like you got a thing for fillies" inquired Breezes.
"I know my way around" she shrugged. "It's something I learned over time. How was it called? Motherly instinct?"
"Do you have children, Mariel?" asked Mittens.
Mariel immediately stopped, her ears risen in tension. Breezes was about to follow up, but then the mare turned to show the two of them a death glare, just as if what Mittens had said were an insult. Every trace of her tiredness banished, and even Takai in the entrance had stood up and looked at her, as if he could smell her apparent state. Chilly Breezes didn't fell back on this. In an instant she could see a million different emotions cross her eyelids before they were repressed by her more rational part.
"No…" she said at last, something between an sentence and a lament, as her face lost its tension. "I don't."
She stood like that for a second, then turned and walked away to a corner.
"I'm sorry to hear that" muttered Mittens at her back. "You could make a great mother."
Mariel stopped again, but this time she didn't turn. Only the notion that something, like a muscle, had been shattered and constricted at the same time came out from her like an imperceptible perfume. Mariel again stood frozen like this but didn't do anything else. Again, her body after a while recovered its mobility and let itself lie down on the floor, her head facing the other way from them. Nothing came from the mare other than the deep breathing after that.
"I believe this conversation is over" commented Mittens with spoiled mood. "Good night, Breezes."
"Night, Mittens" she answered as the other one went away and lied beside an already snoring Jingle Jangle.
"Yeah you hosu sleep: I will wake up Mariel when I'm done" Takai assumed his post. "I just hope she is in a better mood by then…"
Takai went away, and Breezes had the chance to lie her head down, even though the broken leg still made her position uncomfortable. The night around them, even with Takai awake, soon became a mantle of silence and peace that was maintained by the broch's thick walls.
While everything went more and more quiet, Breezes stood awake for a while. Her leg didn't allow her to sleep. She turned and turned again, watching for her limb so it wouldn't be turned or twisted, but nothing seemed to fully appease her. She was willing to give up on peaceful sleeping when a noise broke through her ears.
At first it was futile, not loud enough to be understandable, but after it repeated a second time Breezes was able to ascertain it. It was Mariel.
The mare was having somewhat of a restless sleep, moving and mumbling in her dreams. The only problem was that her words, at least that which she said, weren't just in her dreams, and incoherent segments of her rant could be heard from time to time. Chilly Breezes quickly dismissed it as something normal, but when she was about to return to her struggle, something reached her that made her stop and rise her head again. The three words that were clearly whispered by Mariel's lips, soft like a plea, and fervent like a prayer, with a cadence that denoted the only thing that only her was able to hear:
"Mittens… Thank you…"
"Watch out!" she pushed her out of the way as the creature missed its leap attack.
Mariel landed a few steps away, but immediately reassumed the fight, cutting the goblin with her sword. The little monster squealed a dying shriek and lied inert on the ground. Mariel immediately turned, and in a moment was stuck in combat with the next one while Mittens had just slain another one with her improvised spear. The goblins still fought them, but every time with more hesitance with each new loss until none of them dared to cross blades with the mares. In the next five minutes, the last handle of them was fleeing down the cliff.
"And never come back if you know what's best for you!" yelled Mittens at their backs.
"Was that all of them?" asked Mariel as she stabbed off a wounded.
"I think so…" Mittens cleaned the sweat from her brow. "Phew! Those things sure know how to pile up inside wholes."
"Coward vermin" she hissed. "They used to have honor, will, and pride. Now they squirm under some overlord's iron fist."
"You speak as if you know them…"
"I just know the legends" she gathered the bodies into a levitating pile with her magic. "This place used to be home for many feral tribes. I've heard a couple stories about them." She was about to walk away when she spot something. "What is this…" she reached for something under a corpse and took out a sheathe. The piece was mistreated by the rough use, but its needlework cover had still masterful details. Besides, it still had a weapon inside. "Hey Mittens, what do you think?"
The sheathe fame flying to her.
"Let's see…" she cached it mid air and unsheathe it. The weapon inside it was a curved blade, like a scythe, but with the grip and balance of a half-sword. "Nice!"
"It's too good to be goblin made" she stared thoughtfully at the bright steel.
"Do you think they stole it?" Mittens put the blade back in its sheathe.
"Perhaps, or they killed its owner” the pile of dead creatures suddenly stopped levitating at the edge of the cliff. “Most probably the last one.”
"How sad…" she looked at the object with a little apprehension. "Anyone who'd wield these kind of weapons should be a great fencer."
"…Or head taker."
"Or head taker" she agreed with another look at the weapon's layout.
"Well, there's no point in arguing about a dead we didn't know" she sheathed her own sword. "Are you going to keep it or not?"
Mittens stared at the blade again, and contemplated its design. She didn't know what to think of swords and weapons professionally, but even her could recognize the artisanal touch in its craft.
"Okay, only until I know what else to do with it" she sheathed it back again and strapped to her back. "After all, this must have belonged to someone."
"Good call" Mariel nodded then walked to a body that was leftover. "Now help me out. If we skin one or two of these we could have a good dinner."
"Excuse me!?" Mittens jumped back, somehow between confused and horrified.
"What?" Mariel puzzled. "Don't you like steak?"
Mittens tried to say something, but all she could do was to wonder if she should answer or not.
…Luckily, she wouldn't have to.
"Of course I'm kidding!" chuckled Mariel after a moment.
Mittens took a second to realize it, but then snorted in amusement and shook her head.
"You almost got me, you know?"
"Yeah, tell that to our friends when we're back. Perhaps Breezes will swallow it."
Another snort of amusement.
"Knowing her, perhaps she'll even puke it!"
Mittens laughed at the thought, and Mariel only chuckle . She was covered in leftovers from the fight, and the general ache of her body called for rest through the rest of the day, but even though she and her companion were in pretty much the same state, in that moment a question sparked within her.
"Mariel, which herd are you from?"
Mittens expected something along the lines of a straight answer, but as soon as she finished her phrase Mariel instantly dropped her laugh.
"Who? Me? Why do you want to know?" she immediately questioned back, defensively.
"Hey, calm down, I just wanted to know" Mittens rose her forelegs in surrendering sign. "I don't mean to distrust you, but even though you saved us, we don't know who you are, and we're traveling with a filly. I just want to make sure what kind of pony are you, that's all!"
"I see…" she stepped back, thoughtful, and took a moment to respond. "Well, I used to live with Histling colonists in a settlement, in the western mountains. Before that I didn't really had a home."
"Interesting. It should've been a good life."
Mariel changed her expression, but hid it after a second.
Strange… If Mittens wouldn't know better, she'd say that the mare had been pray to a cramp judging by the wince that ran across her face.
"Yes. It was…" she said, but her intonation was different. Somehow… Off.
"Was?" she puzzled. "What happened?"
Again that hesitance, and this time, the change of mood inside the mare was more visible to her.
"We had a bit of trouble…" she began, evading eye contact. "I had to… Leave, along with everyone else. We parted ways in the process. Se la vie I guess…"
"I'm sorry to hear that" she muttered. "I hope they're fine."
"Me too. That and… Well and…" she suddenly went quiet, as if she had just restrained something from breaking loose from her mouth.
"And?"
But Mariel remained hesitant for another second.
"Well, and I believe that is all" she snapped and turned away. Mittens frowned confused, and was about to question her further but Mariel beat her to it. "Let's go get the other ones. There's no point in cleaning the interior if we want to be safe before nightfall… But first let's find a creek. We can't come back looking like slaughterers."
"Yes, I think you may be right…" she looked at the blood stains in her fur. "After you."
Mittens woke up. Around her rose again the walls of the broch, and, in the center, the last remains of the fire, emanating a soft red light as they died away. Breezes and Jingle were still sleeping, and Takai was against a corner, grasping on his samurai sword as he breathe steadily. It didn’t take her much to know that probably it was too early in the morning.
Just as she stood up, Mittens inspected her surroundings again. The broch the last day had seemed as something out of a mad architect’s imagination. Something without use or shape, but in those early hours of the morning her vision of that place had started to change. Now it seemed as if the whole structure had been built to mean something else. Just as the sun hit its walls an peeked over their edge Mittens had the sensation that perhaps it wasn’t meant for strangers to hide inside, but to stand firm, to point a way… So sad that now its use had been reduced to a decent shelter and scum hideout.
A movement outside drew her attention. Mittens instantly assumed guard stance, but then remembered that she hadn’t seen Mariel inside. Just as the shadow of the walker outside was narrowing, she didn’t loose time and went to meet her.
As she expected, Mariel was outside, looking at the distance. Below the precipice, the valley that extended between the mountains was a green plain that embraced the course of a river, and space enough for a small town to be settled. It was somber now, infested by fog, yet that didn’t seem to discourage Mariel, and in the darkness that the sun hadn’t touch her eyes were scouting for something… Or just enjoying the scenery. It wasn’t such a bad sight after all.
“Good morning” Mittens greeted her.
Mariel took of her sight from the landscape, though she didn’t seem surprised.
“Morning, Mittens” she greeted her.
“I see that you took the second guard” she stood beside her.
When she reached her place it didn’t take her much to understand why was she standing there. Through the mountains a fresh scent of air flowed like an invisible river, and against the sun, her fur became warm and soft. She hadn’t have breakfast yet, but the place she was standing now was an ideal spot to recharge batteries. Specially when you’ve ended the night shift.
"Takai and I are going to leave you" Mariel said suddenly as she stared at the front again. "Our time with you is overdue."
Mittens looked back at her with surprise, for she hadn’t expected them to leave so soon, but after a moment she complied.
It wasn’t like we were starting to get along…
“So sad…“ she lowered her gaze, but rose it up after a moment. “Well, I wish you best of lucks.”
“Thanks” Mariel turned to her with a fond smile. “Good luck to you too. You have a safe heaven until your friend can walk again, and in the meantime you can scout for your survival. There shouldn't be problem for you to find food in the foot of this cliff."
“Yeah, there shouldn’t be a problem…”
Mariel frowned slightly.
“You don’t look so encouraged.”
“It’s nothing” she suppressed the plead for them to stay. “I just haven’t had anything to eat yet, that’s all.”
“Right…” she nodded, but by her expression she didn’t swallow it. “I’m sure that if you travel south you’ll find someone to tag along. I’ve heard that caravans use to go around these mountains with good protection, and some of them, foolishly if you ask me, through.”
“I’d like to know who would be so dumb as to think going through here is a good idea” she sighed. “This place is far more dangerous than I expected.”
Mariel shrugged.
“Well, there are some more stubborn than others…” she thought about it for a moment, then chuckled. “Thank the Horsemaster that there are others as mad as you!”
Mittens thought about it for a second, then giggled as well.
“Yeah, thank her” she patted Mariel in the shoulder. “We damn fools need to cover our backs!”
This caused Mariel to giggle louder and poke her back with her fist.
“Watch what you say or we could end up having a herd on our own!”
“Mariel and Mittens, founders of the Moron Herd!” she embraced the distance with a wide gesture. “Doesn’t sound bad for the most numerous one in Ponyland.”
Mariel openly laughed at it. It was a sound that Mittens hadn’t heard from her before, and that in her person sounded so natural. It was a shame that she hadn’t heard her before… For a moment it made her wonder what kind of reasons would take a mare’s laugh away.
“Oh boy” Mariel sighed. “How many time has passed…”
“What?”
“Nothing” she regained her composure. “We should start looking for something to eat. With some luck we can even make some tea with the leftovers of the fire.”
“And after that?” she asked, although already expecting the answer.
“And then nothing” she muttered. “Takai and I are going to get on our way. Probably point your location to a Histling patrol… Assuming there’s someone that would like to get inside this place in order to rescue you that is.”
Histlings… Somehow that seemed to meet something side her that she had disregarded before… Something that she’d came across not so long ago… Wait! That was it! In fact, now that she remembered-
“Is something wrong?” asked Mariel when she seemed to notice her realization face.
“It’s juts interesting that you say that" she rubbed her chin. "Because we happened to get across a Histling caravan as we were making our way into the mountains."
"You did?" she narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, and it was weird, seeing how they were being escorted out of here and not inside, as we thought. Perhaps… Perhaps they've beaten us to what we came here in the first place."
"Did you see where they came from?"
"No, now that you mention it. Breezes thought they were smuggling through the mountains, but I'm not convinced."
Mariel frowned, disengaged.
“They shouldn’t…” she muttered to herself, then turned again to Mittens, a serious look in her eyes. ”You said you were here for a reason? What was it?"
"Well… We… were heading home when we decided to take a little detour."
Mariel rose an eyebrow.
"Okay, a huge detour!" she excused. "Our legends use to tell about a series of roads and highways that used to traverse this whole region, built by the Crystal Empire thousands of years ago. But when the Empire fell the knowledge of these roads was lost, and now the mountains are a very dangerous place to get through" she paused briefly as she remembered what happened yesterday. "You understand the importance of finding this out, don't you? If we're able at least to map a fraction of these ancient trade ways, transit through the Crystal Mountains would be safely restored! Think of how many caravans would reach their destinations in time, how much time would be saved. It would largely improve the contact of the north with the rest of Ponyland! …And with my tribe."
Mariel remained unexpressive until she mentioned her tribe. That last part seemed to caught her attention.
"Your tribe?" she questioned. "You never told me about that."
"I didn't?" she puzzled. "Well', it's not a long story, but not a short one either…" she rubbed her left leg nervously. "I guess that I'll tell you someday if you come visit us."
“Someday…” Mariel looked like she was going to say something else, but then silenced herself and diverted her sight to the horizon again. “If only Someday wouldn’t be so difficult to catch on” she muttered, though it didn’t escaped her.
“What do you mean?” she puzzled. “What’s wrong?” Mariel didn’t answer, and Mittens was about to press on, but in that moment a better question sparked within her. One that, curiously, should had come out before. “Why are you here?”
Mariel didn’t turn in that moment, but the question had an almost visible effect on her. Her shoulders tensed, and the muscles on her face, even though she weren’t looking at her, became so hardened that Mittens could swear she’d grown a steel mask over her.
Mittens gave a step back. Even though something inside her whispered to her mind not to push forward, she chose to ignore it.
“Mariel?” she pocked her, but her reaction instantly expunged any curiosity that was left.
The mare suddenly turned to her, showing that fierce expression, as if she would unsheathe her sword and use it against her at the minimum provocation. Mittens jumped back, and by her mind the thought of dragging her own weapon sparked like a reflex, but thankfully she wouldn’t have to. As soon as that expression of violence appeared over Mariel’s face, it banished, replaced with a sudden realization, and then a burning regret.
“I’m sorry!” she backed away. “It’s…” but she ran out of words.
“It’s what?” she pressed, more exalted than anything. “I ask you and you react as if I were gonna stab you! What’s the matter?”
“It’s none of your business” she turned away again, this time completely. “Don’t ask.”
WHAT!?
“What do you mean by that?” she galloped around her and faced her. “You haven’t answered a single question about yourself, and I’ve been nothing but honest with you. The least you could do is return the favor!”
“You don’t get it!” she snapped. “And for your sake I hope that you never will.”
“What are you talking about?” now she backed away, disengaged. “W-what do you mean?”
Mariel seemed to doubt it, and Mittens was expecting another evasive, but in the end she sighed.
“Do you really want to know?” she asked her with a tone that was more like a warning than an actual question.
Mittens doubted herself for a second, but then nodded. Mariel’s expression didn’t change. She looked back at her as if she weren’t denying her information, but, somehow… Protecting her.
“Mittens, you are a good mare” she began. “But sometimes being good doesn’t get you along.”
“What are you saying?” more confusion, this time slightly mixed with uncertainty.
“There are bad things” she continued. “In this world. And sometimes those bad things can put us at risk. Lives like yours or mine, we don’t usually meddle into other’s matters, but if the threat was there and it was real, wouldn’t you take a chance? To protect the ones you love.”
She had looked away again, but this time in something Mittens could recognize as sorrow. She frowned. Even though she couldn't understand one word she were saying, the suppositions of what she meant had started to pile upon her thoughts. And all of them were equally obscure. Just one thing she could tell for certain.
“Mariel…” Mittens led a hoof on her shoulder. “You lied when you told us that you didn’t have a family, didn’t you?”
Mariel didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. The pain that ran across her face, though brief, was response enough.
“I told you it wasn’t of your concern” Mariel stepped backwards, her eyes already watering. “It doesn’t matter if we find each other or not, our paths must part here, for the sake of us… And your filly’s welfare.”
“Jingle?” she frowned. “What does she has to do with this?”
Mariel was about to respond, but something prevented her of doing so. Her look suddenly diverted to the distance, behind Mittens, and in a moment her face went from sorrow to surprise, and complete bafflement. Mittens was about to ask, but when the phrase formed in her lips Mariel was already running back to the broch. When she followed what Mariel had seen it didn’t take her more than a second to know what was she so altered: somewhere in the valley, at the end of it to be precise, there was smoke coming from the horizon.
When she turned again, Mariel was already at the broch’s entrance.
“Takai!!!” she called aloud.
“You don’t have to tell me twice” suddenly jumped the kitsune from within, folding himself in his kimono and carrying Mariel’s cape. “I smelt it from here!”
“What’s happening?” she could hear Breezes from within.
“He’s in the farthest river marsh” said Mariel as Takai jumped on her back. “If we hurry we can get to him before he moves into another town!”
“Right…” he muttered. “Oh Bodhisattva, I just hope that we make it in time…”
“Hey, what is happening here!?” broke out Breezes. “Mariel, what’s the meaning of this?”
“No time to explain!” she exclaimed as she galloped away. “I will come back for you, I promise!”
“The Oni!” continued Takai. “We found the Oni!”
Mittens watched them go without saying anything, mostly because everything had being so sudden that her mind hadn’t have time to process it all. Chilly Breezes and Jingle Jangle were already out of the broch, and were standing beside her, but all she could think, aside from how ridiculous they’d look like, cluelessly staring at what had unfolded, was a simple questioning that repeated inside her, like an echo: What had just happened?
“Oni?” asked Breezes, obviously as disengaged as the rest of them. “What the heck is that?”
“Ryakudatsu!” Takai said from the distance, just before getting lost definitely. “Ryakudatsu is here!”
Smoke stopped rising after a few hours, but that hadn’t stopped her. Mariel had climbed down the precipice as fast as her legs could run and once in leveled terrain she’d sprung in a galloping frenzy. Mariel had a slim complexión, but even with Takai at her back she was able to travel over fifteen miles at full speed before the kitsune made her stop. Takai had already told her to rest, to save strength, but the mare was stubborn as herself, and if he hadn’t been pushed to resort to acupuncture to stop her on her tracks she would probably suffered a cardiac arrest.
Lest to that say how she sotpped wasn’t pretty.
“You know these kind of things are because I doubted to bring you along” commented Takai as he cleaned his mask from the dirt and grass in the river’s marsh. “Because sometime I knew we would go down to this.”
“You brought me along?” Mariel asked back from her lying place, disbelieved. “Nice way to speak to the one mare who’s cared for you!”
“I never say anything about that!” he replied. “I’m just saying that you’re taking things too heartened, that’s all. We could have helped those mares back in the campsite, but instead you didn’t doubted in dumping them to their own fortune! Ittai , we don’t even know if we’re going to get out of here alive!”
“Who says I’m expecting to get out of here alive…” she muttered.
“STOP THAT!” he turned to her, his fox face still bare, showing the irritation those words had caused him. “Look, you have enough reasons as me to hate him, I understand, really, but to die in the way to the last battle is a vengeance not worthwhile.”
Mariel quiet for a few moments, then snorted.
“Kitsune philosophy?”
“Common sense. Something you hosu seem to lack a lot.”
“Figures…” she sighed. “Still. You made me stop, you won. Why don’t you unparalize me?”
“So you can beat me until I pretend to be dead? Don’t think I haven’t learn anything since that Breezes-savage brutalized me! She was lucky I didn't have my sword, otherwise-”
“Ahem…” she called him back. “Mittens and Chilly Breezes didn’t know you, and Jingle Jangle either. Would you like to be handled by a complete stranger? …And besides I've told you many times over that mares are the dominant gender in pony society, so what you did was really out of hand.”
“Females ruling a society. HA! No wonder why you hosu have so much trouble-” he stopped when he saw Mariel’s facial expression. “…As a personal opinion of course. A very personal one-”
“Don’t push it, just… Let it be” she shook her head. “I’ll forget you said that.”
“Well, thank you” he said as he got out of the water.
“You’re welcome” she answered, still serious. “Now about my legs…”
“Ah, don’t you think that I am getting you to your Kitsune-beating mood!” he sat beside her and pulled a paper folded package. “We will just wait until you can walk again. Besides I haven’t eaten yet” he teared the paper and took out a rice cake, which he didn’t loose time in start devouring. “Want some?”
Twenty Minutes Later…
I hate mares. Those words repeated inside him like an anthem. I really hate them…
Mariel had regained her strength in the time the kitsune had anticipated, and it all seemed good… That was until he was beaten up by her in a manner that made Breezes hits look like caresses. Now, he was sure, his ribs would hurt for the rest of the day, and he would be coughing dirt for the rest of the week. The kitsune rose his mask to spit again. The taste of blood in his mouth was such that he found it strange that he hadn’t loose any teeth.
He would need weeks to heal himself, not to speak of his quest, but on the bright side, Mariel had calmed down, and now had paced herself from a full continued gallop to an intermittent trot, which for the moment he was glad for, but was the most unpleasant for all of his bruises bumping up.
“Oh, Bodhisattva…” he groaned when he touched his lower back, where Mariel had landed a kick with her full strength, and demonstrated in the process that she didn’t need to be larger to have such force.
“I told you to unparalize me. If you’d have complied this would have never happened” she replied below him. “Besides, I already apologized for that.”
“Ah, you hosu are crazy…” he sighed in defeat. “But I guess it’s my fault for not noticing before.”
He couldn’t see her face, but in that moment he was sure that Mariel struck a half smile.
“Apology accepted.”
“Anyway, didn’t we have an Oni to hunt down?”
Mariel snorted amusingly, but deep within Takai could tell how much of a killjoy his commentary was to her.
“And now you want to end this quickly?”
“Let’s stay focused” he shrugged. “I don’t want to end up being taken by surprise by that thing” A shiver went down his back at the thought of it. “I just… Wouldn’t like being turned . Can’t even imagine how it must feel.”
“Trust me, we won’t” she assured him with a serious tone.
Another shiver, this time more powerful.
“Okay, if you say so…”
“I do” she sentenced. “Let’s go.”
It didn’t took more than an hour to get to the place. The sun had risen almost to the point of zenith and there was no more smoke in the sky. Mariel and Takai didn’t had to struggle before finding a way into their destination. As soon as the earth started to show the natural slope of the mountain side, a finely craved dirt road appeared before them. Almost as if it were pointing the direction. Mariel didn’t hesitate to follow it, this time starting to accelerate unconsciously because of her expectation. Takai had dedicated his time mostly to calm himself, he was true when he said that he didn’t wanted to face Ryakudatsu unprepared, but in the face of the circumstances, he couldn’t deny that he felt nervous. In normal circumstances, he would have resorted to meditation, as his master had taught him, but Mariel apparently wasn’t of the same idea, and before he could notice they were already standing before it. Then in that sole moment his inner peace went away. There was nothing relieving about that place.
The site was a town, or at least used to be before the sole reason they were there wrecked the whole place. A great building raised at its centre, reached by four separare roads upon which houses and other constructs piled in relative order, at least if somepony were still alive there. At both sides of a main street, collapsed roofs and the remains of what used to be a fire, now turned into a pile of carbonized logs, emitted a light white smoke, no longer being able to feed from the dirt of the road. Around, on the outer structures, over the ground, and even still on some standing tables, the signs of occupation displayed told of a recent conflict. Even though the destruction had taken away most of its buildings, the place still had the distinctive features of a Histling colony.
Everything was quiet, not even nature herself daring to show up. Birds and other wildlife sounds had fled or rather died out, leaving behind the noise of crackling wood and the stench of past fear. Nothing remained save for a mute note, the unrecognizable tone of the absence of life. And that was that, there were nothing else that indicated the loss of lives, or even the existence of blood, that would otherwise indicate at least if there had been casualties.
Takai watched the devastation of the place awestruck but said nothing. In the presence of such a scene there was nothing to say. Everything was all too wrong… And all too familiar.
“Takai” Mariel broke the silence, letting him off of her back. “Stay alert.”
The kitsune landed a few steps away, wincing from the pain of using his legs to support his body agin. He glared back at Mariel, but the mare had already moved on. He puffed.
Seriously, what’s up with her?
He’d have to find out later. For now there were more urgent matters. Mariel hadn’t let Takai down for nothing, and as soon as he deemed the task of comprehending the female of pony species impossible for the hundredth time he ventured further with his companion, who already had taken a little advantage on her own.
Mariel was not oblivious to the state of things around, he could tell, but by looking at her, Takai couldn’t make if she was deliberately ignoring the town as she made her way to the hall, or just was lost in her thoughts. Either way she didn’t seem to be moved in the conventional way of the word by what she was seeing, but mirroring it instead, like some kind of reflecting surface that concealed what was truly happening inside her.
It’s not strange to think, he said to himself. After all, she has been through this before.
“Takai” she called him.
As the kitsune had pondered about his friend, Mariel had continued exploring, and now was at the center to the town, facing the large wooden doors of the hall. The only ones that were completely closed, now that he thought. Before another thing happened, he was already at her side.
“What do you think this means?”
“I don’t know” she said, still staring at the wooden planks. In her semblance there was something that he couldn’t recognize for its futility. Remembrance? Takai couldn’t continue analyzing her because she had already turned to him, her horn glowing as purple as the handle of the door. “Let’s get this over with.”
The handle began to rise and the door crackled when the pressure began to pull it out, as if its hinges had never been oiled. Takai tried to remain collected, but his hand had already taken the hilt of his sword, and were readying to unsheathe it. The door began to move. At his side, Mariel was focused on trying to displace the object, but in her eyes, the tension of jumping inside with her sword out was almost tangible. The gap became wither, and through it the sunlight was beginning to creep inside. Takai remained in his place even though his eyes desired to get inside there.
From within the hall, a distinctive stench reached his nose, and even Mariel’s for the wince that crossed through her face. The kitsune fought the impulse of covering his nose for not being prepared to kill whatever could peek its ugly head from that aperture. The smell was terrible, but all the more too familiar. It was a stink of rotten things with a touch of iron. Almost as if it were bl-
Something ripped his attention from the entrance. Suddenly, a loud noise of something falling reached his ears and raised the fur of his hindhead. Next thing that happened, the kitsune had turned and unshaded his sword, seeing how the blade gleamed with the high sun. Mariel must had heard it too, because not a moment after she was already beside him, sword drawn as well.
“What happened?” she asked as her sight shifted from one corner to another.
“I heard something” Takai placed facing backwards to Mariel’s rear and both started to scan their surroundings. “You think-?”
“No” she whispered. “They’d have already attacked us by now.”
“Okay” his eyes turned to somewhere in the road, just from where they’d come from. “And Ryakudatsu?”
Takai strained his ears, and in another second he heard it again. There was something coming from there. With care, he pointed his guard towards where the road turned into a downward slope, pending from anything that may peek over there as if he could shoot it from where he was. At his side, Mariel had assumed guard stance towards the same direction.
“I guess we’ll find out…” she muttered through the hilt of her sword.
A second passed, and then another one. Time marched inexorably as they waited, and the hands on Takai’s katana fastened their grip. He was in a high guard that he’d seen in a painting, and in his face, through his mask, his factions were as hard as stone. The sounds of the road started to clarify. He didn’t wanted to show, but something inside him was worried. Ryakudatsu was an Oni, an unholy demon from Diyu, and he… Well, he’d never been the best of fighters, not to say the most cunning of priests. Even when he was an apprentice he had to be put down several times because of his clumsiness! And here he was now, facing with one of the Seven Torments of Indar. The sounds of the road started to become almost discernible. Whatever was below it would appear at any moment. Takai’s hands fastened so tight around the handle, that he was impressed he didn’t break it. There was no way out of it. He would have to fight.
Oh I hate karma so much…
“Mariel?” the voice that unexpectedly emerged from out of sight made both of them jump.
Mariel instantly shut off her horn, which was glowing with a dangerous light, wincing from frustration and anger as she did, and Katai lost his balance and tripped backwards, almost cutting his friend, who instantly glared back at him. Takai outlined an ‘I’m sorry’ face, but then remembered he had a mask.
This day’s been just perfect, hasn’t it! He thought with contempt as he got up again. He was about to speak but Mariel had seized her advantage.
“Who goes there?” she spoke back, more like a threat. “Show yourself!”
There was no response from the other side, and for a moment tension began to rise again, but luckily it wouldn’t return as it was a moment ago. Just when she showed her head over the cover of the hill Takai thanked and cursed at the same time when he recognized the forms of Mittens and Chilly Breezes walking toward them as the last was being aided by Jingle Jangle.
“So, this is where you ran off” pouted Breezes. “You could at least let us know that you were going to leave before dropping us in the middle of nowhere!”
“What is this place?” asked Breezes as she stared at the deplorable state of the town. “What happened here-?”
She stopped when she found herself face to face with Mariel, who more than a grateful expression was striking a spear like glare at her. Just like a mother who’s found her fillies doing something they weren’t supposed to. Takai didn’t know what to expect, but in the presence of that look, even him backed away a little.
“I-” Mittens began, but never finished.
“I told you we would be back!” Mariel exclaimed sternly. “Why did you followed us?”
Mittens was about to answer, but appeared to have second thoughts against that heavy look. Takai didn’t know why, but something inside him just yelled to his conscience to interfere. Before things went out of hand.
“How did you get here so fast?” he asked loud enough for his voice to break through the two mares. “I mean, it took us several hours to get here, and you should have moved faster than Mariel at full speed.”
Mariel in that moment broke away and redirected her gaze at him, who in that instant didn’t wish for anything else rather than for the mare to have mercy on him, but on Mittens’s side, her stare wasn’t reprovingly, but grateful.
“We took a boat!” put in Jingle.
“The goblins left an escape boat hidden in the cliff foot” continued Breezes. “We just took it and followed the stream. The rest was easy.”
“See?” carried Mittens. “There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation as to how we got here!”
But that didn’t move Mariel.
“You didn’t answer my question” she pressed, more threatening. “Why did you followed us?”
Mittens gave another step back when her furious sight set on her, and in their respective places all the witnesses became tenser. Takai would have liked to avoid these kinds of situations, but now it seemed that there wasn’t anything he could do to this. He just hoped that Mittens would have something clever to say.
But she didn’t say anything. She just deviated her gaze as if she were a scolded filly, which seemed only to enrage Mariel further.
“Do you even realize what you’ve done?” she carried on. “This is no game or adventure affair. By coming here you’ve put yourself and your companions at risk! Do you sincerely think that’s worthwhile!?”
“No” she whispered, barely audible for Takai’s ears, lest to say the presents’. “We… Just wanted to know-”
“Know what? How much can you last before you all die!? How responsible do you think is that?” she almost screamed. “I told you before, and I’ll tell you again. This is not of your business, SO STAY AWAY FROM THIS!!!”
Her last words resonated even to the sides to the mountains, and if they didn’t caused a landslide it was because of the grace of the Housemaster herself. Takai had taken a step back at her reaction as if her voice were a physical form of pushing them away, and for what he could see in the others, they weren’t any better. Jingle looked as if she was about to cry, and Breezes wasn’t too far behind. For as comical as he thought of it somehow the seriousness of the situation placated it that instant.
Mariel hadn’t moved, and like an executioner, she seemed to hear a sentence to carry out against Mittens, who was so shocked as if she’d struck her with a magic bolt. But Mariel, thankfully, was no felon, or at least not in that way, and instead of cinder her with an almighty blast, she just sighed instead.
“I guess the damage’s already done…” she shook her head disappointingly, then turned to Mittens. “Do you want to know what are we doing here?” she asked, but not without that grave tone. Mittens didn’t say anything, but nodded with the same air of severity, like trying to assert her decision. Mariel hold her gaze at her for another second and then turned away. “Fine” she headed back to the great hall, though that scent of graveness was still on her. “Follow me then.”
Mittens doubted to comply, but after a change of looks with Breezes and Takai she went after her. Mariel made her way to the great building, where the doors were still in the verge of opening, and stood before the place in silence until Mittens got to her. Takai got himself behind the two of them, but he could see the questioning look in Mittens’s eyes towards Mariel. He was about to get there, but the stern gaze of the other mare made him change his mind. He wondered what could be inside that Mariel wanted to show her, until he remembered the smell of iron, then he turned back to the other two, who looked curious.
“Don’t get near” he said to Jingle. “For your own sake.”
Jingle looked back at him with confusion, but Breezes, who seemed to get it faster, gave him an understanding look. Takai nodded slightly to confirm and then went on his way. He didn’t take more than ten seconds to reach them, but by then Mariel had made her point. The unicorn had opened the door and both mares had just stepped inside. Takai stopped at the entrance when the stench invaded his nose once again, and even gave a few steps back in utter horror when the sight of what was inside peeked the corner of his eyes.
The structure hadn’t been exempted from damage, like he’d thought. A great whole in the roof was showing in the room. The sunlight was at a perfect angle to enter the place and illuminate the interior, which only augmented the balefulness of the scene. The sight was such that even for a moment Takai couldn’t control his impulse to run away. In the floor, the walls and even the beams of the roof that were still standing, things hanged or lied inert, lightly rocking with the mountain winds. Pieces of things, so shattered that they were no longer recognizable, that used to be alive…
Takai had already expected this to happen, but this time he had to recognize that his objective’s malice had reached a new level. This wasn’t at all like he used to kill. This was far more cruel, and far more horrifying. Perhaps he’d learned the value of pony souls, or that he wasn’t in Indar anymore. Whatever it was it seemed that he had changed his ways, and that only served to terrify him all the more.
The kitsune fell to his knees and joined his hands in praying sing.
“Holy Bodhisattva give me strength” he repeated over and over with zealous fervor.
But if that was the reaction on him, what the sight of death caused in Mittens made his own look as futile as a simple shrug. The mare, as soon as she realized completely what had happened, opened her eyes wide, in her face the tangible sign that the darkness that had taken away her thoughts made it turn pale. Her ears, otherwise risen, suddenly became low and remained there, showing how much she was being overcame. Mariel reacted as well, but not with as much intensity. The mare just lowered her head in sadness and grief, and didn’t move any forward, not even when her horrified companion run passed her, tears of desolation flowing free through her eyes.
Mittens ran away from the great hall, and passed Takai galloping so fast that he thought for a moment that she weren’t the same pony.
“Mittens, what is it?” called her Breezes, not so far away. “What did you see?“
Mittens stopped on her tracks and stared blankly at her friend and the filly. There was a feral fear on her features. Instead of saying anything Mittens turned away and ran off to the first place where she could peek out of sight. Next thing that happened the pony emptied her stomach of her breakfast.
“Now you understand?” Mariel appeared from inside the door, shutting it close at her back. “You need to leave or else all of you will be in danger.”
“How…” Mittens panted from her hiding place. “Why?”
“I told you you were a good mare” Mariel made her way to her. “But sometimes being good is not enough.”
“I can’t believe he did this” muttered Takai as he stood up. “He is getting out of his way to feed.”
“And that’s not the end of the problem” Mariel noted. “These Histlings are stubborn fools. They heard the warnings and yet they insisted on founding colonies here. All because of their greed, and now they may be one of the causes to put all of Ponyland in an unprecedented danger!”
“Seems like you’re sympathizing with him” commented Takai grimly.
“I’m only pointing the facts!” she snapped. “Now he has strength again, and more of those things to follow him to conquest.”
“Hey wait a second. This may not be a lost situation yet. How many yokais do you think that he could have gotten from here?”
Mariel took a quick look around, trying to calculate the number of inhabitants of the place.
“Fifty” she said afterwards. “At least.”
Takai gave thanks for his mask, because when he heard it his expression dropped.
“I think you’re right then” he pointed. “This is bad…”
“Uhm, excuse me?” put in Breezes. “What risk to Ponyland are you referring to?”
“What are you talking about?” asked Jingle too, trying to hide her fear.
“Haven’t you seen enough already?” Mariel turned to them, still angered. “Why do you still insist on putting your lives in danger?”
Breezes was about to reply when Mittens spoke for her.
“If that thing did this” she cleaned a trace of muck from her mouth. “If it’s after Ponyland then it’s not your problem alone, but for all ponies as well.”
“Yeah, don’t you think that we’re gonna surrender the fate of our homeland to you two” continued Breezes. “Specially not since you’ve shown us your attention so much. Let us introduce you to the Snow Pony hospitality. Perhaps that guy can use some of it too.”
Takai smiled at this. More hands, or hooves for that matter, wouldn’t be bad in this mission, but Mariel’s reprovatory expression didn’t change.
“If you really want to come” she began. “Then you’re dumber than I thought.”
There was no contestation. Both mares remained firm in their resolution, just as Mariel to dismiss them. Takai was readying to argue in their when something else caught his eye… Or rather his ear.
“Hello?” the voice invaded the scene from the distance like an arrow shoot agains their position. The three mares turned at unison to the source, but couldn’t see nothing as the owner of the call was behind a set of houses. The call repeated again. “Is anyone here? Please answer me…” the last part seemed like accompanied by a light whine that denoted crying.
Takai had taken his hand to the sword hilt again, but when the stranger spoke again he’d let go of it. Not so far away, Mariel had shared an indecipherable look with Mittens and Chilly Breezes, trying perhaps to clarify their course of action. Takai didn’t have to wait long to know that the answer appeared in the three’s faces and the party swiftly moved away.
Takai followed them as fast as his feet could go, at least faster than Breezes, who couldn’t run, and again, in less than a minute Mariel and Mittens had already turned around the great hall and were looking at the adjacent main street of the town. Takai didn’t got there in time, so he was confused not to hear anything afterwards. It was only until he reached them that he saw what they were seeing.
In the middle of the road, just at the outskirts of the town, the single form of a filly was staring at them, trembling as she did. Mariel and Mittens were looking at her with disengagement, a feeling of uncertainty in their features that denoted their doubts wether or not to speak to her.
Mittens gave the first step. She started to walk to her, even though the little one seemed startled at her pace. The filly looked as if she were about to run, but in the end she decided not to. She just stared blankly to her as she came closer. Mariel had started to narrow too, but she wasn’t as daring as the Snow ranger, and was walking with more care.
The filly stood her ground, looking more confused than anything. Like if she were wondering if they were real. Takai had also started to walk behind Mariel, and now that he could see her up close he could advert. There were burning signs all over her fur, and in her skin bruises and welts had gathered on her body. The poor creature had surely been to Diyu and back. Much like the two that had started this adventure.
But Takai would have to think about that in other moment. As soon as Mittens and Mariel were just a couple of yards away the filly began to bounce dangerously, and before either of the two could speak the filly collapsed.
Mittens instantly rushed forward to get her, but it was Mariel, who swept for her, the one that reach the little one before she touch the ground.
“Hey, hey…” she whispered in a calming manner as she shook her lightly to make her snap. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
The filly remained still for a while, and it almost made Takai think that she was gone, but after a minute or two she opened her eyes.
“Please” the filly pleaded. Her voice was a whisper almost without mass. Tears started to fall from her eyes. “My town… You have to go. We’re under attack!”
“Under attack?” asked Mittens. “From who?”
The filly turned to the mare, and once more fear began to take hold of her features. She looked as if she were about to faint again.
“Take your time” insisted Mariel, tranquilizing her with light strokes to her mane. “Can you get us to your town?” the filly nodded. “Good” she stood up, letting her on her hooves gently. “Then let’s not waste time anymore.”
“The devil” suddenly said the filly with a broken voice. “The devil is attacking our town.”
Mittens turned confused, but Mariel’s eyes opened withe. Inside them, the flame that had carried her over miles without resting had revived, and even if Takai was supposed to remain collected, inside his guts, the power of those words made his fingers grasp the hilt of his sword and this time ready themselves for unsheathing it. He didn’t even had to ask his companion to know what was inside her mind. At last vengeance was at hand.
“Ryakudatsu… ”
When she arrived everything was unfolding. The houses were on fire and screams filled the air. The town was larger than the last one, reason why she couldn’t locate the great hall right away, and the columns of smoke that were rising from it were so dense that she thought they could be seen dozens of miles away. Somewhere in the midst of the confusion metal clashes tinkled and strange noises rose from the havoc. The smoke was so thick that it shadowed the sun, and between the black and brown stains in the air flames peeked out from which wherever they were burning.
"Good Horsmaster…" She muttered in disbelief. "Oh Mittens, what have you gotten yourself into?"
Breezes gasped when the weight of what was happening dawned to her. She had never seen a village under attack, but the sight of it made her want to turn away and flee, just like those lucky ones that were doing so at the outskirts of the place. For a moment she wondered how would Mittens and Mariel be doing in there.
Mittens… The thought that she was stranded in the middle of all that made something inside her resolution come to her mind, swiflty becoming an overpowering order, one that, she knew, would push her to risk her life at the prospect of fatality. Right after she made a decision she immediately covered Jingle’s eyes, who was watching at everything with baffled expression, and drove her away from the conflict. That was no sight for a filly.
“Stay here” she told Jingle when they reached a spot where she was sure they wouldn’t be spotted. “Keep hidden until I return.”
She left the filly under a tree, and as the resolution began to grow inside her of what she was going to do, turned away, readying to enter into the fray. It didn’t matter that her leg was useless. She would get to those three, even if she had to limp for it!
“Wait!” Jingle called at her back. “Where are you going?”
Breezes turned briefly. The filly looked desperate, but in the wake of what was happening the answer came to her almost as if it had been waiting to be asked for.
“I’m going to bring Mittens back!”
It didn’t take much for Breezes to get back to the fight. The town was downhill, and the terrain was smoothly sloped. Just as she crossed the land, Breezes thought abut how lucky she was not to be in the necessity to jump or climb, that would have been uncomfortable. But that for now was the least of her worries. Breezes had never considered herself a valiant mare beyond the boundaries of her equals, and that showed when the first couple of ponies run past her in the opposite direction. That almost stopped her on her tracks.
Just as the couple of mares went screaming as the galloped away Breezes felt something inside her falter. When she returned her sight to the front, something about that place seemed very out of order. The fire, the smoke, the screams and the sounds. All of them seemed all the sudden like they could kill her where she was standing, more like direct threats to her life than the indicators that inside there a battle was unfolding.
"Snap out of it!" she slapped herself. "Your friend needs you, and there’s nothing that’s gonna stop you from getting to her! For Mittens!"
Something suddenly drew her attention. The sound of something crashing with strength into a building, tearing wood and stone apart with a mighty boom followed by an explosion. Breezes looked at the place from where the sound had come from, staring at longer tongues of fire coming out from where it’d happened.
“On second thought…”
"NO!!!" her own voice resumed her way into town, every time being embraced by more and more sounds of the fight as she immersed into the battle. "Wait for me Mittens, I’ll save you!"
The Snow Pony rushed into the place, feeling how she was being engulfed by the sounds of the battle around. The sun didn’t take long to disappear, and the ambient around suddenly turned heavy and oppressing. Breezes didn’t know by which devise, but her pace around the town had become lighter, almost as if she could trot with her leg as it were but still she had to make a constant effort to withstand the pressure that background gave her.
She went down an alley that connected two different blocks. The roofs over her head were burning, and the mell was as fetid as only charred meat could be. Breezes had to restrain herself to puke when the thought of to who that stench would belong to crossed her mind.
“Just keep going, Breezes” she told herself over and over. “Just keep going!”
She reached the end of the alley and got to a wider dirt road. Everything should be on fire, but something inside her, perhaps her sense of direction, told her she was near the centre. She turned to every direction, but it seemed that the fight, so close, still eluded her. There was no sign of anyone there. Breezes cursed, and was bout to turn back and look elsewhere when a crash warned her that something had been destroyed at her right.
She turned again, and saw something that she couldn’t make. Down the road, two houses away, a building had collapsed, and now something was debating itself inside there with all the debris. The creature squirmed and twisted, so Breezes couldn’t know what it was. Breezes thought about coming closer for a second, but when the Histling warriors appeared from above she took cover as fast as she could.
The pegasus soared down from the sky and quickly surrounded the place where that thing had fallen down. Breezes tried to listen, but they spoke in their homeland’s idiom and she couldn’t make anything. She wondered for a moment if it would be a good idea to show herself to them or not, but what happened next convinced her of otherwise. The pegasus surrounded the building and the adjacent roofs. They were no more than six, but Breezes wouldn’t have the opportunity to properly count them. As soon as they narrowed enough to the remains of the house, the creature that was inside broke out, and in unbelievable speed for its size charged at the Histlings. The pegasus, caught by surprise, tried to flee, but as soon as the first one moved he was cut down by something that gleamed in the yellow of the flames.
The pegasus flew away by the hit and toppled down the next house’s wall upon impact. One of his three companions yelled something in response, but couldn’t finish as she was next. The other two rushed to retreat, but the being wouldn’t allow them, and just as the first one they fell pray to that strange blade, that swung converted into a blur and ended the lives of the two of them in an instant.
Breezes backed away, watching as the creature stood its ground. From where she was she couldn’t make much of it, but what she could see were its height, ten feet tall, and the shredded cloak that covered its features. Below its feet two blue tongues of fire sprung in all directions and engulfed them like torches. Something moved behind its back, but Breezes couldn’t know if it was a tail or wings, and its posture was bowed. Breezes stood there in silence as she saw in utter horror how the monster, making a funny movement as it walked, picked up one of the Histlings it just murdered with a heinous looking claw and examined it for a moment, or at least held him still where she imagined that his head was supposed to be.
Mittens remembered the words that Takai had said. How did he called it? An Oni ? She held her breath when she saw the monster turn in her direction and backed away even more. The creature was looking at her hideout like if it knew she were there, but then turned again, apparently dismissing it. Breezes tried to remain collected, but the beating of her heart was rushing so fast that she could swear it was going to pop out. When she peeked away again, the monster had walked away and was just staring again at the dead pony in its claw, which it kept on doing for a moment before tossing him over as if he were a pileup.
Breezes knew she should stay hidden, but the act turned the fire of her wrath faster than she believed, and to an intensity he could barely manage. How could it do something like that to a pony? Were they nothing to it? Did it just saw her kind as some kind of sport!?
She, pondered it would be better to leave it for later, and apparently she’d have another day to live, because as soon as it appeared it left with a leap that propelled it over the roof of the next house and out of sight, just leaving two burning spots of blue that slowly turned to yellow, then red, and then finally disappeared.
Everything else became normal again, at least for the atmosphere around, just as if nothing ever happened. Breezes stepped into the streets when the creature was gone. The place was completely wrecked. the thought of calling for Mittens crossed her mind again, but she quickly dismissed it for fear of calling that thing over again. Instead, she walked to the other side of the road just to see if she could pick up something. Today wasn’t her lucky day, the sounds of what was happening around completely covered the position of the Oni.
"Don’t worry, it should be fine." She told herself. "As long as you keep out of that thing's way everything should be-"
Something drew her from her thoughts. Behind her back, something moved and cracked. At first she thought it was another platoon of pegasus, but after a second she realized there wasn’t anything in the sky. The sound had came from her back. When Breezes saw it she thought the image of the monster had left some traces on her, or that it was a play of light. From the fallen bodies of the ponies that thing had carelessly murdered, a strange kind of black mist was emanating. Breezes scrubbed her eyes, and narrowed her sight to see it it would blur away, but the curious smoke persisted. Moreover it was beginning to thicken.
Breezes didn’t know what exactly did it mean, but before she realized it it was already happening. Suddenly the smoke that was coming out from every pony came to life, and in an arcane form of animation began to solidify. When the mare realized what was happening, a strange being had appeared before her. It had the body of a pony, strongly resembling the broken carcass of where it came from, but with different features. Its fur was black and ethereal, its wings, mane and tail expelled a trace of darkened vapor, and in its head, crowned by two antinatural long ears, red dots gleamed under a white mask in the form of a growling face, a caricature of a demon that came to be the creature’s permanent facial expression.
Breezes’s eyes opened wide, and her muzzle shut a scream of terror before it came out of it. Before her, the creatures that had emerged from the dead didn’t lose time, and as soon as they came to be, they picked up the weapons of their former selves and suited themselves with the pieces of their costumes that were in good condition enough to still be used.
Breezes couldn’t believe what she was watching. The dead were rising… The dead were rising! Oh good Horsemaster, it was finally happening!!! Not even in her wildest dreams she’d imagined something as terrifying as this to happen. The thought of getting out of there as fast as she could came back to her, and this time a strange determination that wasn’t entirely hers was willing to obey it, just as the nearest one of those things turned its sight and fixed it on her. Then Breezes’s blood ran out of her face, and even for a Snow Pony she paled. The urge to run amplified within her, but she knew it was useless. They would catch her in no time, if not with its non-broken legs, with those wings. The creature’s eyes stared at her with nothing else that couldn’t be a death wish. She was done for…
The creature let out a loud roar, or at least what she thought was a roar, and charged towards her with its axe rose high. Breezes tried to think what to do, but the panic won her over. Everything she was able to do was shut her eyes and shrink, waiting for the death blow.
Yet, she wouldn’t have to wait. As soon as the creature gave a step in her direction a purple light shone from above, and a loud boom vaporized it where it was standing. Next thing that happened was that with a strange noise Takai appeared leaping from over the roof of a house and fell right into the second one, stabbing it with his sword as he did. He was followed by Mittens, who wielding that strange blade she’d seen her with directly struck into the third as she released her own battlecry.
The abominations were taken by surprise, and couldn’t react before being cut down by the three of them. When everyone struck a deadly blow to them, they banished, turned into vapor, and left their physical belongings after that, which fell to the ground when there wasn’t anything to hold them.
Chilly Breezes stood where she was, at the end of the street, seeing them gathering together as if what they’d done had been nothing. Nothing! Breezes couldn’t believe the slovenliness which everyone looked like. They were risking their lives, and they were as worried as if they’d been out for a picnic! With a monster as she’d saw how was this whole thing supposed to be taken lightly!? She was about to speak, but she didn’t need to. The surprise on Mittens’s eyes when she turned at her spoke for her.
“Is everyone okay?” asked Mariel as she teleported into the scene.
“I’m fine” said Mittens, sheathing her blade.
“Everything is clear” continued Takai. “At least in this side of the town.”
“Good” she sheathed her sword as well. “Make sure every pony around here gets out alive” and then turned to Breezes, though her expression didn’t show anything else rather than she’d found her. “Looks like quite a run for someone on your estate, don’t you think?”
Breezes took a second to acknowledge that she’d been spoken to. Then, that sensation of enragement returned.
“Not as comparable as you, throwing yourselves into this mess!” she talked back.
Mariel didn’t seem bothered. She just shrugged and turned away.
“At least you’re okay.”
“Breezes, where is Jingle?” asked Mittens, worried. “Did… Did you-?”
“…Bring her along? Of course! ...NOT!” she snapped. “Gosh, I may be a messy mare, but at least I’m a responsible one!”
“What does that mean?” she rose an eyebrow.
Now she was just messing with her.
“Look at this place!” she embraced the town in fire. “How was I supposed to know if you’d return when you galloped off to This!? To that… Thing!”
“What?” Mariel instantly turned back. “Did you saw him?”
Breezes snorted to it, unbelieving.
“Did I!? Who do yo think that brought back those three? Tirek? HA!!!”
Mariel didn’t seem moved by the pinprick, but turned to Takai instead. In her gaze was a sternly look, but what Breezes could make out as a question. Takai was still wearing his mask, but he looked back at her with the same seriousness and nodded. Neither Breezes nor Mittens were able to pick up on what that meant.
“What’s the matter?” asked Mittens.
“Get the filly” said Mariel as she walk passed her. “We’ll meet you later when this is over.”
Breezes silently thanked her for her change of opinion, but Mittens didn’t seem to share her thoughts.
“What!?” she cut her way. “Are you seriously leaving me out-”
She stopped when she saw Mariel’s face, turned into a glare so fierce that even the creature’s masks looked harmless in comparison. For a moment, besides the intimidating stare, Breezes thought about how funny it was that that mare could silence Mittens, and even back her away with the power of her stare.
“Get. Out. Now” she said, though the last word came out more as a growl. “Takai, go with them.”
“Sure, no problem!” the kitsune agreed, but mostly because the mare’s stare had had the same effect on him.
Mariel stood where she was, with Mittens still facing her by some unknown devise which seemed to involve foolish courage. The other times she had been pushed away, but now it looked as if she was standing her ground against the unicorn. Breezes for a moment even had the impression that they were about to fight…
A house suddenly went down at the end of the block, and a blue fire invaded the air in a turning swirl of deadly light. Before another second passed, all eyes had turned to the direction from where the noise had came from, and all of them saw with equal surprise and tension as the creature returned to sight again.
From nothing the tongues of fire, the monster that Breezes had evaded earlier showed again, this time accompanied by a horde of revived ponies. All of them wielding something that related even remotely to a weapon. Everyone immediately reached for the hilts of their swords, save for Breezes, who could only wonder with horror, how many ponies had that thing killed in order to have such force at its back… The number gave her chills.
“You were saying?” Mittens turned back to Mariel. “There is no way in Tartarus that you’re facing off with that thing alone!”
“Looks like this guy doesn’t know when to quit” Takai unsheaded his sword and assumed guard stance. “This is going to be very messy…”
Breezes was about to make her retreat. In reality there wasn’t much she could do in her estate save for watch, and the last thing she’d like to see was how her friend was getting murdered by that unholy demon from… Wherever it was.
Mittens, on her side, hadn’t been slightly discouraged, and was about to pick up her blade but Mariel immediately stopped her.
“No!” she walked to the front with her sword on her mouth. “He’s mine.”
Takai sheathed his sword without a word, and Breezes just stared at her as if she’d gone crazy. Mittens tried to argue, but when the creature gave a step forward from its horde, the discussion was over. Mariel stared sternly to it, and the monster, cloaked as it was, only seemed to reach for something at its waist. The moment after, some kind of curved staff emerged from its roves, and it unsheathed it to reveal two sword-like blades, attached to equal portions of its sheathe.
In that moment even Mittens kept her distance. None of the presents dared to make any comments. The meaning of it was clear enough: this would be it.
Mariel assumed guard stance, and snorted in defiance. The Oni, on its side, remained calmed, and with unconcern waved its blades in both its hands-claws before doing the same. The crowd of black creatures stomped their terrain in support for its leader, and Takai and Mittens directed nervous looks to Mariel on their side. Breezes just waited for the inevitable to happen as time went forward while Mariel and her foe stood still. None of them were moved by the events. Both remained looking at each other, thirty yards away.
The Oni was the first one to react. With a doubtful step forward, he began to move when its contender imitated him. Both started to narrow, discreetly walking at first, then taking up speed at trotting, and after at least a dozen feet both Mariel and the creature were charging at each other, the Oni using its backbent legs to move him forward at an unnatural speed for its size and Mariel galloping at full speed, making her horn glow dangerously as she neared to him.
Tension built up as both of them sprinted at each other. When they were roughly ten yards away Mariel’s horn exploded into a blast of magic that impacted her surprised opponent, turning him into a ball of purple fire with a loud boom. Everyone looked at it open-mouthed, and for a moment Breezes thought that it was over… But they weren’t so lucky. Emerging from the fire, followed by a trace of flames, the Oni continued its charge after a second and went straight for Mariel, who hadn’t stopped galloping in all this time.
The contact between the two of them was swift. Both blades met, and both steels clashed in a musical note that spoke of the strength with which they had been wielded. The Oni, aided by its powerful legs, made an air twirl as it struck at Mariel, while the mare, seemingly expecting it, sent a swing upwards. Breezes couldn’t see which one made the hit, but when the Oni landed unflinchingly on the ground, and Mariel lost her valance and tripped, rolling over her back and remaining still, for a moment she thought she had been defeated.
The monster stood in its guard for a moment more, and in that time, since its cloak had been burned away, Chilly Breezes was able to impress every detail of it in her mind, as was sure that her companions were doing as well. It was a kitsune, or at least resembled strongly to one, if Takai were ten feet tall. Its fur was completely black, and at its back several tails flowed in a disturbing motion, leaving traces of black smoke while they moved. Its eyes were two blue spheres of fire that moved by the will of its owner in a terrible but garish manner. It was wearing a full set of samurai armor, that displayed a darkened red color as it reflected the fire round it, save for the helmet, which was his own white mask, crowned by two excessively long ears, that imitated a kitsune’s face, but with those demonic details in it which made it look as if it was laughing and growling at the same time.
Breezes stared at it with a mix between fascination and horror. It stood up and waved its blades once more in a manner that she couldn’t follow, then it turned to her and the others, like challenging them to stand up against it. Breezes in that moment gave a step back, and even if Mittens and Takai reached their respective sword hilts, they didn’t look convinced to start a fight. If that thing had killed so many ponies, what made them think that they stood a chance against it?
The Oni stood in guard for a moment, and then relaxed its posture, apparently not sensing any other worthy opponent. Instead of charging up to them, it just started to walk normally, convinced, as much as its opponents that they didn’t stand a chance. After some point it even started to swing its dual blades amusingly at them.
Takai and Mittens shared a concerned look, and Breezes felt how her panic, which was pleading her to run, turned into a bleak desperation, and then into a heartbreaking acceptance. It had the advantage and it knew it. There was no point in running. It could just leap to them and then they would be history anyway. They were as good as dead…
Something broke the tension, just as the hopelessness that had been built up at this point. The Oni suddenly turned, as well as its objectives, no doubt taken equally by surprise. From within the smoke, an arrow pierced the veil and impacted upon the creature, making it screech in surprise. A second later, a band of Histling warriors appeared from the smoke, wielding their battle axes and broadshields as they yelled frantically.
The Oni assumed guard stance and readied for impact, but its own pegasus creatures entered into an interception course with its attackers and managed to lock them in the fray. Anyone who dared to get through the creature wall and face the Oni was struck down by it and immediately turned.
Breezes almost cheered when the Histling warriors appeared, but her heart sank low again when the Oni’s servants interfered. It almost looked as if they could beat it, but they had forgot about its horde… Great way to get one’s hopes up before certain dea-
Suddenly a loud noise broke through the battlefield, and the Oni was engulfed by fire again, leaving a blazing trace in the air as it flew away by the impact. Breezes then turned with her gaze full of stupefaction. In the same place where she had fallen, Mariel had risen up and her horn was now glowing like a wildfire, magic emanating from every hair of her coat, forming a brilliant aura around her person.
The Oni flew at least thirty feet away before recovering and landing in a controlled manner. This time the surprise and anger in its features was even more heightened by the expression of its mask. Mariel was looking at it with pure rage in her face, and it even seemed as if her purple lines were glowing along with the air. She sent another powerful blast, that the creature dodged by leaping, leaving a large crater where it was standing a second ago. The mare then charged back at it, but apparently this time her opponent seemed to decide it wasn’t worth the risk.
With a loud whistle, the Oni and all of its dark pony mimicries retreated from the place. The troop of black creature disbanded at once, and the Oni itself jumped over a house’s roof, and jumped again out of sight before the whole building was blown away by Mariel’s wrath.
Breezes followed everything with a shocked look. In fact everyone did. Just as the Histling stallions proceeded to secure the area, and Mariel herself joined with the others, the sounds of battle that had been resonating around went gradually quiet. After a few minutes the whole town was engulfed by a death silence. It was clear that the Oni hadn’t just retreated to strike back again. This time it’d left the village once and for all.
To say that silence hung heavy after that was only an understatement. A spell of quietness fell over the world, and nothing, not even nature showed up to fill it. Breezes gathered with the others when everything was over, though none was in the mood for talking. She could understand them. What had just transpired had been just too much. Even she didn’t know how to begin.
“Well… We’re alive” spoke Takai, trying in vain to sound humorous.
It was better than nothing.
“Yes, we are” nodded Breezes, just to keep going. “But for how long?”
“Damn him!” suddenly broke Mariel. “I almost had him this time!”
“Calm down” put in Takai. “What you did was the most valiant thing anyone would, but I was afraid that it would end like this…” he lowered his head thoughtfully. “Many, and much better have fallen to Ryakudatsu’s blade. You should be grateful to be alive!”
“I don’t need to give thanks for anything!” she shrieked. “Not until that bastard’s dead!”
Everyone backed away by her sudden reaction.
“How many times I have to tell you?” Takai exclaimed back. “It’s an Oni, you can’t kill him! At least not in the traditional way…”
“What do you mean in the traditional way?” she confronted him. “Is there another one? And you didn’t tell me!?”
Takai looked away in shame.
“It’s…”
“Speak up!” she straightly yelled at him. “How can I stop him?”
“It’s too dangerous, okay?” he snapped defensively. “You need to tie him to a living vessel, like a prison, otherwise he will just regenerate in time!”
“A living vessel, you say…” she murmured thoughtfully.
Takai snapped his fingers to draw her attention.
“See? this is why I didn’t want to tell you, because now you are thinking!”
“And?” she rose an eyebrow.
“And I know what you are thinking, and it’s crazy!” he rose his arms in exclamation. “There must be another solution. You hosu may not be the most sober of species, but this… What you’re planning is a disregard for life. It’s antinatural! A complete madness!”
Before he could finish, Mariel was facing him again.
“Madness you say? Madness is letting him go, roam the land destroying whatever he desires! Tearing apart more villages! Taking lives! Killing off loved ones-” she couldn’t continue. Tears were already welling in her eyes. To that moment Breezes couldn’t have completed the puzzle about her, but now, by some unknown devise, everything connected inside her mind… And in all of the present’s too. She was about to speak, but by then Mariel had already rubbed her eyes and turned away. “Fine, if you don’t wanna help me go along! Bugger off!” she spoke bitterly as she walked away, trying to conceal her broken voice. “I’m gonna stop him, one way or another…”
“And you think you are going to do something with that leg?” suddenly put in Takai as he folded his arms. Mariel stopped. “Yeah, don’t you think I didn’t notice, unless you got a thing for limping now. He truck you, and you are bleeding. I can smell it.”
“I’m fine-”
“Then pick up your sword!” he confronted her now. “I dare you.”
Mariel still didn’t turn, but complied. Just as she let her right leg to sight, everyone could watch as it was moving. Breezes stared at it eyed-opened. Takai was right. Mariel indeed tried to reach for her sword, but the moment she flexed her knee a wince came across her face of pain that she could barely disguise. In the end the pain was too much for her, and she desisted after a moment.
“It’s nothing…” she panted. “I… Just…”
“You’re gonna loose it if you keep up like this” commented Takai with severity. “At least let me treat it before you bounce off to your insanity again.”
But she was already walking away, or bouncing for that matter, now noticeably not putting any weight on it.
“I’m fine” she muttered. “I just need some rest.”
“Would you stop that already!?” he growled, exasperated. “It’s too bad for us to be here already-”
“I SAID I’M FINE!!!” she bursted. “Just… Let me be.”
And then she defiantly walked away.
“Mariel!” Mittens called her, but she ignored it.
No one tried anything else. Breezes didn’t know what else to do, and from what she could see, everyone else wasn’t going to risk facing off with her. Not when she’d just blown a house into dust. Even Takai seemed discouraged at her. Mariel, on her side, just walked until she came out of sight. She were followed by concerned looks, but she still ignored them. On the bright side at least she didn’t have that wrathful air on herself anymore. Everyone stood in their places as she turned in the first alley and disappeared. They just stood where they were in silence until it was the kitsune who blew.
“Damn that stubborn mare!” he yelled. “I swear, that if I weren’t a priest…”
“Are you a priest?” questioned Mittens, unbelieving.
Takai was about to answer, but thought it twice.
“A deacon, actually” le let his shoulders down. “Even if I don’t do it pretty well…” he muttered to himself.
But that wasn’t on Breezes’s interests.
“Well, I guess that Mariel’s just ditched us, again” she put in with a sigh. “What are we going to do?”
“What else?” questioned MIttens as if it were obvious. “We’re going after her.”
Ah, at least some reason-
“Indee-what!?” she jumped. “After what we saw you want to get into that again? Who arranged your priorities? Discord!?”
“Hey, she may be stubborn, thickheaded, and susceptible to mood changes, but she is still my partner” accomplished Takai. “It doesn’t matter how big a pain she may be in my tail at times, I still care for her, and that includes watching over her person so she wouldn’t get into something she can’t handle… No matter how many death threats she throws at me.”
“How touchy” Mittens half smiled at him.
“Wouldn’t you do something similar for yours?” he crossed his arms.
“Let’s not stray away from the subject” commented Breezes. “You're crazy, okay. And we’re going in, okay. But before we move I think there are some questions that need to be answered.”
“Yeah, I think you need to explain us some things” joined Mittens. “For example, what is this all about.”
The kitsune was about to speak, but then quieted when she finished. Upon hearing this, Takai didn’t seem so secure.
“Right… What’s happening…” he scratched the back of his head, then gave up at it. “I don’t think that’s going to be easy to tell.“
“What’s the matter?” asked Mittens.
“It’s complicated” he rubbed the bridge of his muzzle, or at least where his muzzle would be. “I would have to rephrase you everything from the beginning.”
“Well, I don’t think that she’s gonna go far” remarked Breezes. “Not with that leg, that is…”
“We’ll have time as we reach for her” continued Mittens. “You can explain yourself in the way.”
Takai doubted for a second, but then he reassumed his confidence.
“Yeah, I think I ca-” he suddenly stopped.
“Now what?” asked Breezes.
“Beginning…” he muttered, thoughtfully. “Aren’t we missing someone?”
“I don’t know what are you talking about” puzzled Mittens.
“I do!” he snapped his fingers. “The little one! She was supposed to be with you, wasn’t she?”
“The little one…” Breezes thought about it for a moment, until the answer suddenly hit her. She turned to her companion, but she was already thinking the same. “Mittens!”
“Breezes?”
“JINGLE!!!”
The Seventh Torment of Ponyland
Darkness fell again without hesitation over the whole world. The fires had all been put to rest, and what could be saved was already piled into a communal reserve of supplies for disposition of what could be used and what couldn’t. The survivors had been called back, gathered in the great central hall, that was now turned into a communal hut where the leftovers of the raid were being distributed, the wounded attended… And the burial sites disposed.
Jingle Jangle lied down on her bunk bed with Chilly Breezes. Around them, the sounds of the great hall that had been adapted to be a shelter revolved as everyone was trying to find a place to sleep for the night. Everything was terrible. When she had arrived to the town accompanied by Mittens some fires were still burning, and yells of horror and desperation only echoed the silent cries of the hapless. The rest of the day had passed over in a tranquility that neither brought ease or relief, as the horrors of what had happened displayed as leftovers from the fight every time the Histlings tried to scavenge for something that could still be used.
Jingle had tried to perk the others up whenever she could, but the adults paid no heed to her, apparently not able to understand her, and the fillies all were too shocked or too scared to be talked with. In the end she had resigned to just stand and wait as everyone else did the best they could to recover from that tragedy. Now she was silently thankful for the night to have come, but in her heart there was nothing she could find to brighten the well of sadness that had been dug by the visions of the day.
“What a day…” Takai appeared, wiping his hands from a substance Jingle didn’t want to see up close. The kitsune looked weary and tired, but his stance and the way he looked like hinted her that he somehow had gotten used to it. “We got fifty two wounded. Ten of them I’m afraid have low chances of being able to see tomorrow” he sat on a bunk in front of them, and then acted disengaged when Breezes’s stare centered on him. “What?”
“Nice way of bringing the news” she retorted sternly, though Jingle didn’t mind. She’d seen the graves as much as anybody else.
“I’m just acknowledging the facts!” Takai leaned back on his bed. “We were lucky to survive. Many others wouldn’t be so fortunate to see the sunset. Not when he attacks…” he lost his sight in the infinity. “Ryakudatsu doesn’t leave survivors.”
Breezes snorted.
“Sometimes I wonder if that wouldn’t be the wisest thing to do…”
Takai frowned under his mask to this, and even Jingle stared back at her in disengagement, but after a moment she picked in her intentions.
A dozen feet away, with her head hung low and her back bent by the effort of remaining standing, Mittens laid back on her corner. There were still bunk beds, but she’d rather leave them for those who’d need them. She laid her head against the wall, but watched from closing her eyes. She looked as if she would she’d fall asleep. Throughout the whole afternoon, she’d helped in any way she could, from rescuing survivors to digging the grave ditches in the new cemetery outside of town.
Breezes and Jingle had aided in this last task mostly out of their sense of duty to these people than anything else, but when they had the chance to look back at the improvised gravestones, at the weeping families… Breezes had decided that it was time to give it a rest. Mittens, on the other side, looked as if she’d given a far larger stretch than the one they already had, and now her physique was on the verge of surrendering.
“Mittens, you look terrible!” pointed out Jingle from her bed. “You should have some rest!”
Mittens snapped when she recognized the voice of the filly, but her eyes were filled with heaviness, so she couldn’t help but to lower her head in some kind of nod.
“Hey, are you alright?” asked Takai, straightening. “You should lie dow for a while.”
“I’m… fine” she made out with her words. “I’ll be better with something to eat.”
She was starting to loose valance, but in that moment Takai’s hands graved her.
“Now, there is no need for you to exhaust yourself” he carried her to her fours and accompanied her to the bunk he’d been using. “You have done a wonderful job but it’s time you take up a rest… And besides, we already have a grudging mare to take care of.”
Mittens slowly nodded, and Jingle got it right away. It looked as if the mare still wanted to see her despite all what’s happened. In the bunkbed at the other side of the room, away from the rest of the wounded, Mariel was lying there without moving. She hadn’t fought it, she hadn’t resisted, she didn’t even say anything. She’d just came back and lied there, unamazed and undisturbed, but still with that scent that drove everyone away from her save for what was absolutely necessary. Only Takai had been daring enough to attend her, and even he didn’t seem confident enough when he cleaned her blood and bind her leg.
Jingle knew that Mittens had tried to talk to her, do something, but her occupations had kept her away from it and now… Now she doubted she had the strength even to get there on her own.
“Here” reappeared Takai after a moment with a plate of something steaming. “Have something in your belly. It will make you feel better.”
Mittens could barely lift her head, but the moment the smell of food went through her nostrils, the sensation of hunger, something that she’d seem to forget throughout the day, returned, and her body demanded her to eat it, whatever it was.
“What is this?” Breezes asked, since Mittens had snatched it from him and was already eating directly from the plate.
“I don’t know” Takai shrugged. “But it tastes good, whatever it is, doesn’t it Mittens?”
“Wha?” she plunged out her face from the stove, drawing all the other’s stares into her. “What now?”
She didn’t notice at first, but when the amused looks of the three gathered enough Jingle figured that she could feel the heat on her fur… It only took her a moment more to know that she had what she was eating all over her face and muzzle. And another for the trio to start laughing.
“Haha, very funny…” she cleaned herself with a piece of fabric that Takai fetched her. “And now that I remember you still have something to tell us.”
“Yeah, you still have to explain what’s up with everything around here” interceded Breezes. “And what is that thing you called Rya… Ku-”
“Ryakudatsu” she completed.
“Yeah, that guy!” she turned again to Takai. “And well?”
The kitsune had taken a step back, and after a little hesitance he assumed that thoughtful pose again.
“It’s not an easy tale” he muttered. “Lest to say a short one either.”
“We got time” Mittens glanced over her shoulder to where Mariel was, facing the wall. The mare hadn’t moved in a long while, but at least her steady breathing showed that she was alive.
Takai’s confidence still seem to falter a little, but it was just a little.
“Okay" he began. "Since you insist…”
It didn’t happen recently, nor was it too long ago for our kind to remember. As I told you, our kind wasn’t born in this land, but rather a much distant one: Indar, the Land of Sunset. Before we came here to Ponyland, we Kitsune used to live among our relatives in the mainland. There we shared a piece of the land with everyone else, and all of its blessings. Indar wasn’t only a country we could call home, it was the place were we prospered. Our cities and our culture flourished, the great continent was divided among the resting places of our outermost ancestors, and from the youngest to the oldest, all of our generations enjoyed the blessings of the great spirit Bodhisattva. You could say that that land shaped us into what we are now… But like any people, our history doesn’t hold only tales of fortune and rich.
No one knows how it started or why, but before we reached the era of stability that my people knew with the rest of the races Indar saw dark times. Driven by enmity and hatred, the proud lords of ancient times declared war on one another, and tainted the land with red as their battles became more and more deadly. Nature was ravaged, sacred places were despoiled, and powers that shouldn’t be used were wasted in endless blood feuds between kins. In the midst of ever growing confrontations, the people of every kind suffered, and, some say, vanished. The endless period of war waged its wake throughout Indar until, after a thousand years of war, when the swords parted away, only the strongest, cunning, and wisest prevailed.
We Kitsune were lucky. Aside from us, the Dari, Zun, Haiko, Maraise, Suinoko, and Anthe remained, each of them holding a large piece of land, as large as their greed were, and each of them equally worn out by the conflict. Every one of us were tired of the war, and after millennia only the least of our peoples remained. One would say that with no fighters there can be no war, but we wouldn’t give into reason, and still hatred directed our hearts. But even when every last warrior exhausted himself on the battlefield, and every last pound of rice was consumed, the Bodhisattva wasn’t done testing us, and our problems were far from over.
You must understand that the Great Spirit is tied to the land and all of its fruits, and just as much as it sprung mountains and valleys the peoples of Indar were of its kin, so it had watched and suffered as the sons of the land teared each other apart. Now that the era of war was finally over, and the rivals had no longer any strength to fight with each other, Bodhisattva rejoiced in the rest that he had caught from all the suffering and pain. But even though its mind was clear now, its heart had turned grim, for it had witnessed the ends of the evil its own children were capable of inflicting on each other, and even though it’s in its nature to be forgiveful, it is so to maintain balance, and in all of its infinite wisdom, it determined that we should be tested of purity.
Such test wasn’t a natural disaster or a divine task that we would have much grated it for, but something far more different, and far more dreadful. By taking the anger and hatred that our kinds had shared for so long, Bodhisattva shaped those emotions into seven different entities, the Seven Torments of Indar, and released them to punish us in the name of the sins we had committed against one another, and against ourselves.
With the breath of the divine, the Seven were casted from Bodhisattva into this world, and by its words haunted our lands and spoiled our trophies. Bodhisattva only left us a promise:
“When kin and kin are united, evil can still be forgotten.
If you would reach expiation, only death will be unbroken…
But if you live and enlighten, then life will be forever begotten. ”
And with those words he left us to our fortune against the lashings of our own blindness.
…It sounds better in mi idiom.
Every race in Indar had its own evil, Ryakudatsu was just the one that for all of his existence would punish Kitsune. Under his command, the legions of Diyu broke into this world burning and killing everything in their path. Many opposed him, but after so much fighting no one could withstand the power of the Oni, and countless lives were lost in the battle. Some even thought that this would be the end.
But thankfully it wasn’t, for before Ryakudatsu could finish our kind, the least of our race stepped up to face him in a last confrontation. They were nine, wise and old, they had chosen to forget our past ways and seek out a new dawn for the Kitsune. One that could ensure peace for our people and all of the others. The Nine Sages that gathered to face the Oni fought back in the name of our salvation, and by the power of Bodhisattva they vanquished him. But they knew that Ryakudatsu wasn’t just a force of evil, he was the embodiment of our sins, and until we had payed for them or enlightened as a people he wouldn’t be destroyed. Instead, they tied him to themselves, and forced him to live inside a container where he would dwell until the lineage of the Nine would finish.
The rest of the races all defeated they own demons, and a thousand years later, despite minor setbacks, peace in Indar remained. We Kitsune were able to rebuild and erase the scars of our past, and even breed a new society that strayed away from our mistaken ways. But it was so that after time passed by the old sages passed away, and their legacy was left to us to maintain it. After their demise their remains were guarded like relics, for they were more than meaningful in our culture. They were the cage of Ryakudatsu, and as long as their heritage would continue and the bases were whole the Oni wouldn’t have the power to rise again.
…His army is another story, for when the sages sealed him, they ensured that his legions wouldn’t rise unless all of our people be dead.
…Yes I know that’s ambiguous, but I didn’t make the rules, I’m just telling the story. Would you please?
Anyway, when I was born all of this had happened a long, long time ago. I was instructed to be an acolyte of the Nine, and at my work… I couldn’t say I was the brightest.
…Okay, I admit it, I messed it up… Several times. But none of it was on purpose!
The night it happened… I will not forget it. Not now, not ever… It was during the late hours, I was supposed to take the night shift along with all the other novices. The sky was clear and the wind was cold, I couldn’t choose worse night to be up than that one, yet there I was, standing my guard like I should…
What? That didn’t happen! I wasn’t…
Okay, I was asleep. The night was cold, and some careless douche, not me, got a sake jar… If you would drink that thing you would know what a pain it is to stay awake after even a couple of drinks! Anyway, I was slumbering in my post when I heard something. It wasn’t accident, and it wasn’t coincidence, because it woke me up.
I didn’t know what happened exactly, but by the time I arrived the damage was done. My masters were slain, and my companions… He made his way out. I tried to stop him, but he was too powerful, and I could only watch as my temple, my town and my relatives, all were destroyed. I was supposed to protect them, but I couldn’t.
“In that moment I had to make the decision wether if I wanted to die here and now, or live, and rectify my mistakes” Takai returned his gaze from the infinity to the present moment and wiped something under his mask. “Is the least I could do for them.”
The sounds of the place steadily returned to their perceptions. So enraptured Jingle was in the tale of the kitsune that she hadn’t noticed that it had been over an hour since the tale had started. Most of the ponies were already asleep and snoring, or making noises in their slumber. It was obvious that after today something would stay with them in their dreams for a long time. Takai had actually found his own bunk bed while he was telling everything and she hadn’t even noticed.
Mittens seemed satisfied, but Breezes’s face told a different story.
“And?”
“And?” Takai puzzled as he set himself free from his kimono and upper roves. “What else do you want to know?”
In a swift movement Takai folded his clothes into a compact package, and while he did Jingle could observe the anatomy of the kitsune. Takai wasn’t tall or muscular, but his tone was well sculpted. His limbs were fairly developed, and the state of his fur and complexion made her think somehow of someone who hasn’t been fed the best of nutrients for a long time. Only when he let out his mask his face, somehow a strange feature in him, seeing how he’d always had it on, showed how much tiredness he had.
Breezes continued the argument.
“Gee, I don’t know, if you’d have a moment to talk about our friend the Horsemaster? Who do you think I’m speaking of?” she raised her voice, but lowered it again when she heard herself. “What happened to Mariel? How did she fit into this?”
The mention of the mare arose Mittens’s curiosity once again.
“Yeah, what happened to her? Why is she after Ryakudatsu, I mean, aside from the obvious?”
This time Takai did wince when he answer seemed to crash against a bulwark that had rose in the end of his lips. Without the mask Jingle could understand why did he wear it, seeing how expressive his face actually was in comparison to the actual porcelain.
“She… Is just another one of them” he nodded to the ponies that were trying to find some sleep. “It’s just that they were lucky. She wasn’t.”
This didn’t amuse them.
“Seriously? Is that everything you can say?” questioned Breezes. “Because we’ve just seen her blow a house apart because Ryakudatsu was on its way!”
“Yeah, there’s got to be more to it” continued Mittens. “The way she acts… Doesn’t entirely makes sense.”
“You hosu don’t make entirely sense, but I have learned to live with it!”
“Takai…”
“Okay, I’m sorry” he scratched the back of his head. “I was traveling into the mountains, tracking Ryakudatsu when I found her. It had been a month since his release, and his acts could be seen throughout the place. Yokai camped the land, and the dark trail of his footsteps could be spotted talmost without effort I am amazed that none of you hosu ever noticed him until it was too late. At first I had my reserves, but by the fifth week of travel, signs that Ryakudatsu had picked your race as his new objective were staring to make clear. He only struck at your towns, produced more Yokai, and moved to the next one. Until I began this journey I never realized how much of the stories about him were true, and how much had the legends tuned down about his powers…” he suddenly stopped when a cough almost made him jump in his place. The three mares caught it too, but the scare was slim, and after that he reassumed. “Anyway, I followed him day and night, trying to fix all that he had caused, but for every battle I won against the Yokai, Ryakudatsu had made another victory of his own. We could have continued this chase until the end of times, but then I found Mariel… Or rather she found me.”
“What?” asked Mittens. “What do you mean she found you?”
“I’m going there” he said with slight annoyance in his face. “Would you please?”
“Alright” she sighed defensively. “Sheesh…”
“As I was saying, I tracked Ryakudatsu through all of the mountains, always trying to keep up with his pace, and always seeing my efforts dwindled by the evil creature. It almost seemed like he was going to definitely outrun me until I, in a moment of brilliance, took a shortcut. And when I reached him he was already under attack” he suddenly stopped, but not because of some outside interference, but this time his gaze lost in the void again.
Jingle shared a confused look with Breezes, and nothing much changed when Mittens joined as well. They tried to wait, but Takai had gone dumbstruck.
“So?” questioned Breezes. “What happened then?”
Takai seemed to not listen, but a moment after he rose his lips in some way of twisted, affected smile.
“It’s curious, you know?”
More confusion.
“What-?”
“That none of you had been able to defeat him” he put in. “Don’t get me wrong, I know you hosu are great fighters, but still Ryakudatsu is an immortal being. None of your male warriors lasted against him in battle… But her. When I saw her the town was already on fire. There was chaos everywhere, and Yokai had taken over from the victims of Ryakudatsu. Again I thought I had come too late, but then Mariel showed up, wielding that sword. She fought the Yokai and rescued me from a certain death. Together we managed to destroy the army of Ryakudatsu and set the Oni on retreat. We pursued him but couldn’t catch him. He just disappeared into the mountains and reemerge whenever we were too far away to reach him in time. It’s like if he is playing with us, you know? Almost like he likes being chased… I had already doubted my mission, but Mariel has stayed behind him all this time” he let out a amused gasp. “Sometimes I wonder who is chasing him, if me or her.”
“And that’s it?” asked Mittens lowly. “It certainly tells why is she with you, but doesn’t explains why she's... So...”
“Angered?" completed Takai.
"Yeah."
"That is because you didn’t see her look” his eyes became more somber. “I said that she rescued me, but I will never forget the look on her eyes that day” he paused, as if he were recalling something unpleasant. “I don’t know about all of your race, but I can recognize it when I see it. That look wasn’t the one of a normal being… Hers was different.”
Another look between the three of them, this time with concern.
“As in ‘madness’ different?”
Takai shook his head.
“As in broken” he took a long breath, and peeked over his shoulder briefly, to where Mariel was. “I don’t know what she did to stay alive, and I am not really sure if I want to, but of one thing I am certain: She hates him. And is not just mere anger or sense of payback, she won’t stop until one of them is under the sword of the other. That is why she is like that whenever any sign of trouble comes our way. She wants to blast him out of this world so bad that I fear that she may loose something else in the way of her vengeance...”
Takai lowered his head along with his ears. Around him the other two mares imitated his actions when the meaning of those words sunk in… All but one.
“What is it?” asked Jingle, disengaged of what was happening. “What can she loose?”
The question took everyone by surprise, and for a moment they looked at each other, like trying to agree on how to explain her about it.
“Something far more precious than appetite or sleep, I can tell you” Mittens tried to outline a joking smile, but in comparison to the other’s expressions it looked out of place.
Breezes took her word.
“It’s not easy, Jingle” she combed her mane. “Sometimes, when you want to hurt others, you may end up hurting yourself more than the ones you wanted to do something bad in the first place.”
Now that made more sense.
“Like when Ice Mirror tried to prank me into seeing a sea lion?” she asked. “At first it didn’t show up, but then it appeared, and-”
“We know, thank you very much!” Breezes cut her, though she couldn’t hide the color on her cheeks. “Returning to the subject…”
“Oh, right…” Mittens erased her bemused expression that the thought of it had caused her, and was about to continue when Takai took the word.
“Revenge is a path full of twists and turns. One must watch for oneself on it, or perhaps she would be amazed as to how could even the most righteous of causes can turn into a vile one.”
“…Yeah, I believe that sums it” Mittens grinned at him, who had already wrapped himself in the single blanket that was over his bed. She wrapped herself on hers. “Come on now, we need to rest if we want to be ready tomorrow.”
Breezes and Jingle didn’t take long in imitating her.
“And so we were plunged into a mission to save Ponyland that weren’t our own... Again” she sighed. “I know you’re my friend and all but sometimes I wonder, how did you got the position of ranger to begin with?”
Mittens chuckled at this.
“That’s a story for another day” she rested her head on her pillow. “For now lets focus on getting a good sleep, shall we?”
“Whatever…” she turned so she would give her back to Jingle and extend her leg. “It should be a boring story anyway.”
Another chuckle
“On the contrary. It has a snow golem, a seagull and a very friendly polar bear fighting with a yeti! Pretty silly in truth, but slightly above the average if you ask me.”
Breezes mumbled something unintelligible, but Takai had already shown signs of interest.
“A polar bear fighting a yeti? Why were they fighting about?”
“Me” she yawned. “They were debating who would get their chance.”
“Their chance for what?”
“To eat me” she shrugged. “You know, natural predators and stuff.”
“Yes… Stuff…” Takai let his head down over his pillow again.
“People?” stepped in Breezes.
“Yes?” asked Mittens in return.
“Sleep.”
That ended the chatter. Everyone greeted each other good night and rested for good. Jingle bid her good nights to her elders and the kitsune, and then snuggled to Breezes’s back. The mare’s fur was soft and warm, it was slightly longer than the average pony, as it was supposed to be for a Snow Pony, but for her it made almost the perfect material to stick to in order to fight the cold of the night, and she would have hugged it if it weren’t because Breezes were a restless sleeper.
Still time went forward, and as Jingle Jangle began to eventually feel her conscience being reclaimed by the dream world, one last thing caught here eye. Or rather her ear for that matter.
“Mittens?”
“Yeah?”
“What happened between Breezes and the sea lion?”
Mittens’s face lightened in her mind with the memory, and even Jingle had to struggle not to giggle by imagining her laughing expression.
“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you” she said, though by her tone she was trying to suffocate something. “But you should check the left side of her flank whenever you can. Tell me what you can see in any special shape.”
Takai seemed to think about it for a moment, but then he apparently got it and chuckled.
“Understood” in Jingle’s mind amusement appeared over his face as well. “Though I would still really want to hear it.”
“Someday…” yawned Mittens. “If… Only someday…”
