My Little Pony: Forever Stranger

His heart was in his head, hammering and gasping away. His lips were sandpaper. The sticky clasp of a bandage was yanking at the edges of a hot penstroke in his side, so he was all too awake before he opened his eyes.

A simple wool mat kept him off the crumbly, volcanic rock floor. He stood, steadying himself against the black wall, and cupped his face with his hoof. Complications happen. Remember the mission. Now to- He took a step towards the door. Steel Summit and Flint entered. She had her spear again. He drew his broken sword, not stopping to think how he still had it. The two sparred stares as Summit slowly sat.

"You say you're not here to hurt us," Flint seethed. "Next thing we know, you're walking into Slate's stronghold like you own the place."

Gale sheathed his sword, lit his horn. "You shoved a spear in my face this morning, then kidnapped me. I'd say that makes us even."

"Saved you. And yeah, and you would know about kidnapping, wouldn't you?"

Summit shifted. "Enough, Flint. He's done nothing to us." He paused. "We found you not far from here. You must have slid halfway to the foothills. Scrapes and bruises, mostly. Very lucky. We tended to you as best we could."

Gale rubbed his side. "What time is it?"

"Eleven. Evening."

"Underground."

"Yes."

Gale sat. "It's cozy, for a cell."

"You are not our prisoner, Bearing Gale. But I need more than your bout on the mountain to know where you stand with Slate."

"I'm not working for him. I told you already."

"Then how did you get into his lab?"

Teeth gritted without realizing. "The oxen let me in."

Summit patted the air with his hooves. "Alright. I believe you." Gale bared his teeth, and the old ox smiled apologetically. "I had to be sure, even with what Flint told me. But I still do not know as much about you as I would like."

Gale sat. "There's not much to know, Steel Summit. My princess sent me here to find anything I can about Slate. I found you, then the oxen in the tower. Almost found Slate, before they attacked me. So whatever issues you all are having with each other, it's got nothing to do with me."

Summit sighed. "So he is still here. A long time passed since I saw him, but I have reason to believe he is behind what is happening, not the oxen who attacked you."

"Neither of us is in a position to know that. True or not, my orders are to leave as soon as possible. I have until noon tomorrow to meet my ship."

"Could've saved yourself a lot of trouble by not coming," shot Flint.

Summit's eyebrows sank. "I have a hundred oxen to protect from Slate and his followers. Less than a month of food to make last for the rest of winter. And a pony Slate wants for reasons I can only guess are bad for me and everyone I care for."

Gale was silent.

"Alright," Summit conceded, "no use comparing problems. Apples and oranges, as you ponies say. You say your mission is to find Slate, fine. What do you need? Maybe I can help."

About time. Gale rubbed his eyes. "I just need to know about Slate. Where he's been all this time, where he is now, what he's been doing."

Summit nodded, "I can answer some of that. Over dinner." He stood. "Come. In exchange, I would like you to pass on a message to your princess."

Easy enough. Gale stood, facing Flint as she jerked her head towards the door. She stepped behind him as he followed Summit out.

For ten minutes the three of them walked along the underground avenue- lava tubes, carved out eons ago by the mountains when they were hot and bubbling with life. Their camp, Summit explained, ran throughout the ashy labyrinth. Buildings emerged, carved from the walls and floor, so some stood three or four stories on their own. For light, the oxen didn't usually rely on anything so dangerous as torches. The underground streets were paved with turquoise streams, gleaming as they gurgled along either side. Light enough to move around comfortably, dark enough to discourage horseplay. Oxplay.

Town square was a cavern as big as two barns. The center pond silhouetted a dozen oxen as they talked, poked at crock pot coals, and gathered water from the pitter-pattering ceiling. The glittering cones which dotted the floor and ceiling intermixed with the oxen, as if they were simply part of the community. At the far end, the cavern sloped down into an amphitheater of glittering, white crystal.

Gale's mouth opened slightly as he and Summit approached the center. This place is magical. Summit shook the hooves of several oxen as they walked. A couple even nodded at Gale as he followed. The two sat on a mat as they waited for Flint to return.

"It's beautiful."

"Thank you. It was just a small mining town, retired before Slate pushed us off the mountains."

When Gale took out a scroll and quill, a dozen eyes turned his way. An oxen and her calf passing by froze at the sight of the hovering stationery. In a not particularly subtle gesture, the mother stopped and stepped to the other side of her son, then kept walking.

Summit coughed. "It's not personal."

Gale hung his head, frowned, then shrugged. "It doesn't matter. They'll never see me again anyways."

Summit's eyes narrowed, yet his mouth dropped. "I guess not. From the beginning?"

"Yes, please."

"Slate first came to us only a few years ago. It was one of our harder winters, but it wasn't much trouble accommodating him, especially when he started with his...magic. He said he was doing scientific research on magic in different lands. He had been all over the world, he said, looking for a discovery that would revolutionize casting and finally connect magic with science."

Gale frowned. Ponies already could do that, to an extent. Whatever the research was, it had something to do with that machine in the tower. Slate, what were you doing out here?

Summit continued, "He made life easy for us. New crops in the middle of winter. Heat. Shows for the kids. It was nice. Different. He was the first pony we had ever met."

"What changed?"

"Small things at first. As the years went by. His magic took on a larger and larger role in our lives. Some I knew became spoiled, like children. Sometimes fights broke out, families arguing who had traded Slate for the nicer pot or jewelry. It was very unlike us. Slate forgot himself from time to time, criticized how I did things. At first I understood how he felt. We must have been living like barbarians in his eyes." Summit shook his head. "He came to my home one day in the fall and asked me to do something I couldn't agree to. He was different then, and after that day..."

Gale was leaning forward in his seat, stopped scribbling. He looked up. "What?"

"He drove us out, faster than I could have imagined. Gathered every ox who would follow him over me and kicked the rest of us out. We lived in the surrounding area ever since. The land became warmer, hot even, then colder than ever. The winters lengthened, the soil withered." He shook his head. "The Stone Heart seems so far away now. The tower where Slate ambushed you was only halfway there. We had several villages there once, before."

Gale shook his head. "If all Slate had to do was conjure up some sparks and trinkets, who knows how loyal they were to begin with."

Summit glared. "Don't talk about things you don't understand, Bearing Gale."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"Slate promised them comfort and luxury. He made them do it- with his magic. It is the only way they would have betrayed us." When Summit said that, his face changed. His voice became raspy, betraying both feelings and age.

Since he was old enough to make a light, Gale's teachers had taught him the bond between power and responsibility. In the wrong hands, magic could destroy worlds. "I'm having trouble wrapping my head around that. Ponies don't brainwash other creatures."

"Just each other, then?" Summit's head rested on his hoof. He nodded at the leather-bound corner sticking from Gale's cloak. "Slate often took it upon himself to give me a 'proper' education. Though he never had much to say when it came to the horrors ponies are capable of."

"Most ponies aren't like that."

"He said that, too. Once."

Gale frowned. Who the hay did Summit think he was? Gale wasn't the one sitting underground in the dark, hating someone he barely knew. Slate was an eccentric, whimsical but brilliant scientist, not King Sombra. What did Summit know about him, ponies, or magic? Whatever- he'd heard enough. He didn't need to know why the Summit and his group hated Slate and his. Gale knew roughly the old unicorn's whereabouts and the current situation. Enough to leave this frozen dump tomorrow and report back to the Princess so they could figure the rest out. He couldn't discover much more without getting too close. Orders were orders. He knew his duty. His teeth showed a bit more as he muttered, "So what's your message?"

Summit opened his mouth as if to say something, perhaps an apology, then sighed and looked away. "Tell them that I request their presence in Bovaria-"

Scribbling. "Alright."

"- so that they may see Slate's crimes, destroy his stronghold in the Stone Heart, and restore Bovaria to its state before he arrived."

Gale stopped writing and looked up. "You're really counting on them to do that?"

"Slate told me your princesses are the most powerful beings in the world. Ridding us of him and fixing our land should be a small request, especially after everything he has done."

"We didn't send Slate here."

"He is a pony."

"I don't see you apologizing for what the oxen up there did to me."

Summit muttered, "I suppose loyalty runs deep in both."

"I'll make sure they get it."

"Thank you."

Flint returned, carrying on her back a trio of polished geodes that steamed from their openings. She put one in front of Summit, then Gale. There was no end to the oxen's inventiveness, it seemed. The bowl's outside had been worn down to a porous, ridged surface, easy to grip. Beneath the murky soup, the interior where the crystal prisms once resided was now a smooth jigsaw of gray, blue, and yellow.

"Did I miss anything?" Flint asked as she sat.

Summit sipped his bowl. "Ancient history."

"And he said he'd deliver the message?" Summit looked at her and nodded. "You're kidding. Wow." She gulped down her soup, eyes on Gale.

Summit said nothing, chinned at Gale's bowl. "Not too bad, I hope."

Gale nodded "It's great, thank you. They never made anything this good in the cafeteria at school."

"And he likes our food, too?" jeered Flint. "Next you're gonna tell me you like the cold, and want to learn about us."

"Enough, Flint," said Summit.

"Maybe I'm not a scholar like Slate," said Gale, "but I was curious about your building down here."

Summit's raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Gale nodded. "I mean...for starters, how do you keep the air fresh down here?"

Flint answered as she licked her bowl clean. "Vents in the ceiling, hooked up to a pump. Puts in the good air and takes out the bad."

"Impressive." He pointed towards a nearby aqueduct. "And does the water do that naturally, or was that you?"

Summit nodded. "Naturally, but we have learned over time that adding certain minerals make the fungus glow brighter."

"That's why you have to collect water from the stalactites. You can't drink it."

Flint stopped her ministrations and stared at Gale. She made a face, narrowing her eyes, then looked at Summit, who smirked. "I think I'm gonna turn in," she said, standing. "Goodnight, Dad." She held out her hoof.

Summit took it in both of his, then let her go. He turned to Gale. "Can you find your way back to your room?" Gale nodded. "Goodnight then, Bearing Gale. Tomorrow we will see you back to the coast."

"Goodnight. And Steel-"

"Summit is fine."

"Summit. For what it's worth I'm..." He stopped. "I think the princesses will help."

It was a long walk back to the hut. As he stepped through the doorway, Gale took a deep breath, then blew it out. Maybe Summit hadn't given him the red carpet treatment like Frazil, but he was sincere. He and Flint led with the spear, rather than smile and wait until Gale's back was turned. While the oxen in the tower had sabotaged the mission, it was Flint and her father who saved him. Still hard not to blame all of them. This was their family feud. If any of them thought they could jeopardize his mission, his future, they were setting up to be disappointed.

Another thought crossed his mind: why didn't Summit mention he and Flint were family? Because that's none of your business, pony. Gale shook his head. A royal agent couldn't afford to be sentimental about who he met on missions. He needed more practice.

He levitated the mat off the floor and draped the doorframe for an impromptu curtain. This time, he didn't sleep sitting up on the rocks. Another spell, and soon he was lying in a bed of ground-up shale and mud, just as he'd learned at the academy. It was familiar, better. An hour later he fell asleep, Slate's memoirs slipping from his hooves.