The Quest for the Mountain's Heart
It was a sunny day in the hills outside of Ponyville. Rarity and Spike was out on one of their regular gem-hunts. As usual, Rarity located the gems with her magic and Spike rushed over and dug them up with his claws. Occasionally he would dig up a gem that was too small or too unclear to be useful in any of Rarity’s fashion creations, so he would get to eat it. It had been a long day and Rarity’s cart was about full when the two suddenly bumped into somepony they had not seen in quite some time, and did not expect to meet.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the diva-pony and her little dragon-boyfriend out collecting rocks.”
“What are you doing out here Trixie?” Rarity replied drily, “Hiding from an angry mob? Or perhaps looking for a smaller crowd to make a fool of yourself in front of? I can tell you from first hand experience that Diamond-Dogs are not too gracious an audience.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie did not come here to be insulted! In fact Trixie is here to settle a score. the first time we met you challenged me to a talent contest...”
“I seem to recall you were the one challenging everypony in town, I just happened to be among the ones to accept first.”
“Quiet! Ehm… I mean… Let Trixie finish please. We had a talent contest and you impressed greatly and Trixie simply ran you off stage by turning your mane green and ugly.”
“Hey! Rarity’s hair is never ugly! Take that back!” Spike shoot in.
“It’s quite allright spiky dear, it was quite ugly. And I did not need to be reminded of it. Did you have a point or are we just catching up miss. Powerful.” Rarity’s voice was as sweet and sarcastic as only her’s could be.
“Trixie does have a point, and she would get to it if she would just stop being interrupted! That was the first time we met. The second time, Trixie had an evil amulet of eldritch forbidden powers that basicly mind-controlled the Great and Powerful Trixie into enslaving you and your friends and forcing you to work for me under threat of torture.”
“Oh, gee, I had forgotten that! I'm sooo glad you reminded me!” Rarity replied, still dripping with sarcasm, but when she saw Trixie’s annoyed expression she added: “go on dear, I’m sure when you get to the point it will be all worth it.”
“So the point is: we never decided who’s the most talented! That’s why the Great and Powerful Trixie has come up with an ultimate contest. Trixie even choose a task within your special talent, to make sure you would have no reason to chicken out.”
Rarity just looked at her for a moment, not too impressed or convinced, but eventually she said: “For a moment there I almost thought you were going to apologize.. oh well, lets hear it. What challenge are we going to compete in this time?”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie is glad you asked! I challenge you to the ultimate gem hunt!”
“Fascinating.” Rarity said while glancing over at her almost full cart of gems. “I think I might have already won. Oh, well, you win some you lose some, good night. Come on Spike, it’s getting late, Twilight will be worried about you.”
“Wait!” Trixie stomped her foot in defiance. “That was not the challenge Trixie was thinking of! To collect loads of common gems is no trick, Trixie’s challenge is far grander! The greatest gem-hunter in all of Equestria will be whoever locates and claims the Mountains Heart!”
As she almost shouted the name she pranced her forehooves into the air, making her star-spangled cape flow in the air and her wizard-hat almost fall off. Rarity couldn't help but find her quite silly, but showed only a polite smile.
“Intresting. What then is this ‘mountains hart’ you speak of? And how will we find it?”
“You probably won’t”. The two unicorns had been discussing so intently that they had not noticed that the alicorn princess Twilight Sparkle had approached them. “The Mountains Heart is a legendary ruby, supposedly brought to the mountains south of the Everfree Forest by zebra settlers. Equestrian expeditions have never found it, but that mountain-range is huge; even the zebra settlers living in them have not mapped every valley. There’s no actual proof the gem even exists though.”
Suddenly Spike seemed very excited. “Wow! Imagine that Rarity! You could be the only fashion shop in Equestria making dresses with real zebra-gems. You'd be famous.”
“Sure I would Spike, but traveling through uncharted mountains chasing something that might not even exist doesn't seem too productive. Besides, it might be dangerous.”
“Did somepony say dangerous?” A rainbow-maned pegasus hovering a few feet above the group asked suddenly.
“Rainbow Dash! Have you been spying on us?” Twilight asked.
“Uh. No. I was just following Pinkie Pie.” Dash said.
“Pinkie isn't here Dash..” Twilight replied, slightly annoyed.
“Yes I am!” Pinkie said from right behind Twilight.
“Argh! Okay, let me rephrase: Pinkie Pie, are you spying on us?”
“Not really, I just figured with so many ponies gathered in one place, there might be time for a party!” Pinkie grinned.
“We weren't that many before you.. argh, never mind. Trixie here is trying to lure Rarity onto a treasure hunt after some artifact from an old pony-tale.”
“Hihi, Twilight, if I didn't know better I'd say it sounds like you still don't believe in pony-tales.” Pinkie said with a laugh.
“Pinkie does have a point.” Rarity said. “I'm starting to warm up to this whole idea. What if we all go and call it a field trip?”
“I guess, if Trixie doesn't mind.” Twilight said.
“Of course not. We will be needing a judge anyways, and who’s better than a princess?” Trixie said, “You don’t get to help her with the challenge though. The challenge is between Trixie and Rarity, if anypony else finds the gem the challenge is annulled.”
“Well, I’ve heard that one before.” Spike said. “I guess I’ll stay in ponyville. Somebody's got to take care of the place while you guys are gone.”
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, I'm sure. I promised Fluttershy to help her herd the new ducklings down to the water. And this adventure of yours sounds like a lot of walking in cold mountains. I'm a dragon, i prefer warmth.”
“Very well then.” Trixie proclaimed, “We can all walk to the mountains together, but once we're there it’s everypony for herself. May the best mare win.”
“So Twilight.” Rarity said, walking up to the alicorn who, despite having wings still prefered to walk. Rainbow Dash was the only one in the group flying, and she regularly went ahead and had to wait for the others to catch up.
“Why don't you tell us about this legend you talked about? You seemed to have some idea what we are looking for?”
Twilight thought for a second, as if to figure out where to start, then she began:
“When Celestia and Luna first became princesses Equestria was still a wild and dangerous place. Areas like the Everfree forest was the rule rather than the exception, and many monsters and other threats lived all over the place. There were also other settlers living nearby, many of them age old enemies, or at least competitors. As I mentioned, these mountains were the home of zebra settlers. They where a peaceful people keeping mostly to themselves, but the mountains was also home to a kind of monsters they say rose out of the deep lakes when the mountains were first created. The zebras feared these creatures so much they built temples to them and filled them with treasure.
“However, that was no permanent solution. The things still attacked villages from time to time. The two princesses wanted friendly relations with their zebra neighbours, so they dealt with the creatures. Some were trapped inside their mountain, some were chased to the wild lands beyond the mountains, and a few particularly nasty ones were even sent to Tartarus!
“The zebras kept the temples around, mostly for traditions sake, and except for a few raids by rouge griffins the treasures should still be intact.”
“Why would the zebras keet temples full of treasure just lying there?” Rainbow asked. “Why not collect it and use it to make stuff or sell it or something?”
“I would not be surprised if most zebras today don’t even know that the temples are full of treasure.” Twilight said. “It’s been over a thousand years since they were filled, and due to the stories most zebras would be afraid of disturbing the temples. Besides, the temples are built at the top of ridiculously tall and steep mountains. Zebras do not have wings, and they don’t care as much about shiny stuff as some ponies do.”
“I have no idea who you are referring to” Rainbow said with a smile, while looking at Rarity.
Twilight smiled to. “Anyway, I think, even if the zebras knew about the treasures, they would not consider it worth the effort to bring it down.”
The party had been walking for the best part of a day when they finally started ascending the first part of the mountains. In the first pass there was a small zebra village where they all spent the night. Early the next morning the journey continued. At the top of a plateau overlooking the village there sat a lone, ancient zebra, seemingly in deep meditation with her eyes closed, but as the group approached she spoke.
“So, what are a crowd of outsiders doing around these parts. We don’t usually get many visitors.”
“Hi, my name is princ--” Twilight started before Trixie interrupted her.
“I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, is on my way to find the Mountain’s Heart, and these ponies here have come with to admire my amazing gem-finding skills.”
Rainbow Dash and Rarity rolled their eyes in unison, while Twilight looked slightly offended and Pinkie just giggled. The zebra didn’t react at all, but soon replied in a steady, deep voice.
“Your quest is doomed to fail.”
“Really?” Trixie said. “Because of monsters? Or because someone emptied the place before us?”
“Thieves are possible, there's been more than a millennia after all.” The zebra replied calmly. “Monsters I know little about, but I do know these mountains. They are not quiet for long. They shake and roar, and sometimes even sneeze fire. The treasure is probably on the bottom of a lake, if it still exists at all.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie has no time for this negativity.” Trixie said. And then, facing Rarity: “The challenge is on. May the best mare win.”
She kicked her forehooves in the ground, creating a puff of purple smoke that obscured her for a few seconds, following which she could be seen running ahead up towards the next pass.
Rainbow Dash seemed ready to rush after her, but slowed down when she saw Rarity walking slowly and relaxed.
“Aren't you gonna race her?” Rainbow asked, somewhat impatient.
“Oh darling.” rarity replied. “That gem has been hidden for a thousand years, I'm sure it'll stay that way for a few more hours. Let’s let Trixie do some scouting and rule out a few places it’s not hidden and catch up with her when the real hunt starts.”
And so the four ponies walked, flew and pronked along up the long road deep into the mountain range. They talked and sung and played games and had a merry time. The weather was perfect, the scenery was stunning and the group covered more than a dozen miles during the day. Closer to evening, when the sun hung low over the mountains and the air started to get chilly, they arrived at a crudely made suspension bridge spanning a chasm between one set of mountains and another. On the opposite side of the bridge stood a familiar light-blue unicorn with an evil grin on her face.
“You think you can just follow the Great and Powerful Trixie to the gem, do you?” she shouted and levitated a scissor out of her saddlebags. “Well, think again!”
She started cutting the ropes holding the suspension bridge fastened to the far slope, all the while laughing loudly.
The four ponies could just stand and watch as the long, scrawny bridge lost its support and swung uselessly down into the chasm.
Twilight looked mildly annoyed for a moment or two, before she glanced up at Rainbow Dash.
“You can carry Pinkie Pie, right?” she asked. “I’ll take Rarity.”
Rainbow just nodded and stooped down to nudge Pinkie unto her back before she effortlessly flew across the gap. Twilight followed more slowly and carefully, which gave Rarity time to use her magic to levitate the bridge after her. Once she had her feet back on solid ground she waved her horn and in a flash the bridge was re-attached.
“There, better than we found it.” she said with a smile. “Do you always have to ruin things, Trixie?”
“Yeah, what was that all about.” Rainbow said. “Did you want to be a Daring Doo villain or something?”
Rarity, Twilight and Pinkie Pie all laughed at that, but Trixie just grumbled to herself and walked on. The rest followed.
The whole group walked together throughout the night, chancing upon several old temples and ruins, but both Trixie and Rarity waved their horns to no effect. These temples had either never been home to any gems, or they were already emptied. The night was clear and starry, but the mountain air was cold. Pinkie Pie was the only one talking, and even her less than usual, her voice echoed through the valleys sounding twisted and creepy. Any shelter to spend the night would have been welcomed, but rocks, cliffs and an occasional waterfall was all they encountered between the ancients sites, that were too dark and scary to sleep in.
When the sun finally breached the far edge of the valley and the ponies could finally see more than a few yards in another direction than up the view revealed a big mountain lake. The lake lay at the bottom of a long valley with a steep mountain side on either side. On the one side there was a small village. A few zebras was already up and about, gathering firewood and making ready for breakfast. On the other side the road went up the cliff until it became a criss-cross staircase chiseled into the mountain rock itself. At the top of the cliff, hundreds of yards above the lake, the stairs ended in the maw of a gigantic stone head. The head -- also seemingly chiseled from the mountain itself -- looked like something between a snake and a lizard. The ponies only stood and moped at this sight for a while (with a loud “oooohhhhh” from Pinkie Pie) when suddenly Raritys horn started to glow and she started to trot towards the stone staircase.
“Oh, thats for me. Excuse me darlings”
“Hey!” Was all Trixie managed before she sat in a gallop after her.
“Oh, it is on!” said Rarity, and then they raced side by side up the steep cliff.
“Okay girls” Twilight said, “lets not get in their way, but don’t let them hurt themselves -- or each other -- either. They're both slightly more competitive than what’s healthy.”
“Pfff, their fine” said Rainbow Dash, “I just want to see who wins.”
Twilight and Rainbow took wings and observed the race from a distance. Pinkie Pie literally bounced up the staircase four steps at a time, but still did not catch up with the two unicorns galloping like crazy. Several of the villagers across the valley had stopped what they were doing to watch the colorful spectacle, but nopony payed them any mind.
When the two unicorns was more than three quarters of the way up, Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped.
“Uhm.. Is it supposed to do that?” she said loudly, apparently to herself.
“Do what?” Twilight asked, gliding in closer. Rainbow kept watching the race above.
“I dont know.. Like, shaking and stuff?”
Soon they could all see and hair the mountain vibrate slightly. Small pebbles started rolling down the stairs and the steps started to come loose. Trixie and Rarity began to slow down. “This isn't good, is it?” Rarity commented.
Suddenly and without warning a huge crash sounded and the entire top of the mountain shifted. Something huge and green pushed its way out of the stone figure’s mouth, tearing the entire top of the mountain in the process. Huge boulders started falling as more and more of the massive stone cracked and fall to pieces.
“Wow. That must be like.. lets see.. the second biggest frog I've ever seen!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“What the fudge do you meen second bigg--!” Rainbow begun, but was interrupted as Pinkie disappeared in a flash of purple light. Surprised Rainbow looked around and realized that Twilight had teleported all three wingless ponies off the staircase and down to the ground just in time before the stepps cracked and started to fall.
“Go to that village and get the zebras to safety,” she shouted down at them, “Rainbow and I will keep the monster busy, whatever it is!”
“Right! On it!” all three shouted in unison. Rarity was already running towards the village and Pinkie did not take long to catch up. Trixie was just frozen in place, moaping at this unbelievably huge lizard thing. Twilight and Rainbow turned the other way and ascended to get at the thing from above.
Even though the monstrosity had by now chipped away the entire stone head, it did not quite fit rough the opening with more than it’s head, neck and one claw. It had an uncanny resemblance to the stone head clearly made in it’s image. It was scaly and looked a lot like a snake, but with clawed, comparatively small arms.
Rainbow dash swooped down close to it and gave it a kick on the head, then again on the clawed hand, then at the back of the neck. It did not seem to have much effect in the way of hurting the thing, but it did annoy it enough that it started to focus on swiping after this new nuisance rather than struggling to get itself loose. This provided Twilight enough time to charge up one of her most powerful spells.
“Rainbow, get out of there! Here it comes!” she shouted with a heavy breath as her horn started to shine with a purple, electrical light that soon outshone the rising sun.
Rainbow flew down towards the lake and the village, and the monster, taken by surprise, only rose it’s arm to shield its eyes from the purple light that seemed to form a eerie, glowing plasma that covered the top of the mountain and pushed the thing back down into its hole. Soon the glow faded and an exhausted Twilight sailed to the ground where Rainbow catched her and they landed safely together, huge boulders still falling from the crumbling mountain top.
When the dust settled there were no sign left that there had ever been a stone figure at the top at the mountain, nor that the top had been ripped off. The mountain top was just continuous, massive stone.
On the other side on the other side of the lake Pinkie and Rarity had gathered the zebras and Trixie under a magical dome-shaped shield emanating from Rarity’s horn, like a miniature version of the one Shining Armor had used to keep the changelings out of Canterlot.
The rest of the village was pretty much obliterated by the mass of water that had been whipped up by the falling boulders. When Rainbow and Twilight finally joined them Rarity took down the shield and greeted them.
“Nice work with that thing.” she said to them both, then to Twilight: “And thank you for teaching me that shield-spell earlier, who’d know It would come in useful this fast.”
“Good job yourself. That could have gone badly.” Twilight answered.
“Could have?!” Trixie shouted, having suddenly regained her composure. “The temple was crushed before we got to look for the gem? How will we ever know where it is?”
“You didn't notice?” Rarity said with a smile, “I guess it takes some skill to notice such things. The Gem fell from the mountain top together with the rubble. It’s right there, on the bottom.” She pointed to the lake.
“Well that’s no better!” Trixie was still annoyed, “This lake is volcanic, it could easily be hundreds of fathoms deep! Nopony can get to it.”
“That’s right,” Rarity replied, still smiling, “but that was not part of our bet. While you were busy watching the impressive flight-show I had a talk with the village elder. We agreed that I will pull some strings in canterlot and talk to the Apple family and get plenty of strong, hard working earth-ponies to come here and rebuild the village, perhaps even set up a watering system so they can grow crops here, in return he will name me the official owner of this lake and anything that might be in it. Locate the gem and claim it, that was the wording of the challenge, was it not?”
Trixie turned red like she’d tasted a rainbow and tried to stammer up a protest, but when she couldn’t think of anything she pulled on her wizard-hat and stormed off.
“Come on girls, let’s all stay together.” Rarity almost sang and trotted after her. The other three smiled and followed.
Trixie refused to talk to, or even look at, any of the others for many hours, but soon they arrived again at the village that had taken them in the first night of the quest. The same old zebra that had spoken to them then were still sitting, meditating in the same spot. When the group approached she spoke:
“So, you return. Any luck in your hunt?”
Finally Trixie got a chance to vent, and she decided to use it.
“No! No luck at all! You want to know why? Don’t you think the entire damned treasure lies on the bottom of a bottomless lake!”
The zebra opened one eye to look at the group for the first time. When she saw Trixie’s outraged expression she smiled to herself and resumed meditating.
“Is that not exactly what I said?” she said calmly.
Trixie stormed off in rage while the others just laughed and let her go.