A Himaneighan Tale

Chapters

Tip of the Iceberg
Elder Rosensarch
Premonition
Travelers in the Snow
The Path Less Traveled
The Yeti
Divvy Out the Truth
Alternate Path
Quid Pro Quo
Galearis's Garret

Tip of the Iceberg

ZAP!

The world shot in from the darkness, as a blinding white light barraged my eyes. Before I could properly focus on what was going on, a feeling of limbo overcame me. I tumbled forward, the world flipping in perspective a few times before I landed on my stomach with a thud into the cold fluffy ground.

Lying for a few seconds in the divot my body had made, I waited as my head spun from the sudden change in perspective. After recovering from my bout of limbo, I realized I was sitting in a snow drift. The wind blew over me as the cold dust brushed through my mane, nipping at my cheeks. Getting my bearings, I pushed myself to my hooves and checked to make sure my supplies hadn’t been damaged. Focusing some energy into my horn, I levitated my bags off my back and in front of me.

I opened the flap of the left one, glancing quickly through and listed off everything I had packed. My clothes were still intact and snow-free, thanks to the protection spell I cast earlier. Our food was in its place, and hopefully underneath it all, my exploration books were still dry as a desert. I closed the flap and slung the bags back in place, not bothering to check Twilight’s side. Her stuff had probably survived the fall as far as I was concerned. I didn’t know what was in them to begin with either.

Shivering a little as the wind whistled past my ears, I opened the flap on my bag again, procuring a scarf. It was much colder than I expected it to be. I had never been outside Canterlot much less traversed a mountain range before. I was hoping we could solve whatever this problem Twilight had been blabbing about quickly so I could go back to my home. My nice, warm home...

I didn’t even know why she wanted me to go with her on this anyways. She could have easily taken one of her other friends. They always seemed to be going on adventures together, and I would just be someone to send a letter to every once in awhile. The way she kept going on about the culture of the people up here and how we were going on an academic quest had pulled me in, though.

“I better be winning a bunch of awards for this paper,” I grumbled, wrapping the scarf around me further and shivering. The cold started to dig into me, and I was not enjoying it one bit.

I looked around to see where exactly Twilight had been trying to teleport me to. The snow and wind around me was decently thick, so I couldn’t see much of anything. With what little visibility there was, at least I could make out that I was on the side of a rather large hill. There were a decent amount of trees spotting the area around me. Twilight had definitely sent me to the middle of some forest. She kept telling me about something-or-other-istan when she sent me out. I just hoped she knew her way around up here, because I would not want to get lost in this forest.

“Lots of awards...” I mumbled to myself again, pulling another scarf from my bag and wrapping it tightly around my neck as I focused my magic into casting an aura around my glasses. At least it would help keep the snow out of my eyes if not help with the visibility issues I was having. A small pop resounded from my horn and my glasses seemed to fog up slightly before the ice and snow melted off them and slowly dripped off.

“There we go,” I mumbled, smiling a bit. I knew I could cast that protection spell, even though I had never had to use one in my life.

Blinking a few times as my vision cleared up, I started to look around once more. Before I could gather anything else, a loud pop above me shattered the drone of constant wind. A rather large thud next to me confirmed that it was who I had been waiting for.

“Glad to see you could make it, Princess,” I sarcastically said, adjusting my glasses as Twilight rose slowly to her hooves. She shook her head and got all the snow out of her mane before turning to me.

“Sorry for the delay, Moondancer,” Twilight said, glancing around and gathering her bearings. “I was just getting a final check and making sure we had everything... for our…” She paused, her eyes darting back and forth. “Um, you didn’t happen to see a town around here?”

“I haven’t exactly moved much from this spot,” I replied, looking at the ground to show that the snow had remained untouched around the small little holes that we had created in our brief plummet.

“Right...” She frowned, looking around once more before opening her wings and flapping them a few times. “I’ll be right back.” With a mighty flap she launched herself skyward, blasting a fine dusting of snow in all directions, including directly at me.

“Bleck,” I complained, brushing the cold substance out of my mane and off my back. “No need to show off now, ‘Twily’,” I grumbled, watching as the alicorn twisted around and around in the sky, holding a hoof up to her face presumably to block the bright sun and blistering wind.

I heard her call something as she pointed a hoof down the mountain into the dense deciduous forest in front of me. Her words were lost in the wind, but I assumed that she was pointing to the town we were supposed to be in by now. I gave her an exaggerated nod and waved for her to come rejoin me.

She retracted her wings into her body and fell a few meters before flinging them out, gliding the rest of the way down, turning into a shallow spiral. As Twilight slowly fell back to earth, I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but crack a smile. She had been such a different pony when I had met her back in school, always very analytical and down to earth. Yet, here I was watching her spin in circles on a mountaintop, a Princess of Friendship or something like that.

As she gracefully touched down with a crunch on the snow, she beamed at me. “That was so much fun! Rainbow Dash has been teaching me how to do that until I got the call that this place needed help.”

“I’m glad to see at least one of us is enjoying themselves,” I said, taking a third scarf out of my bag and wrapping it around my neck. I realized at this point that the scarves were no longer helping.

“Heh, sorry for the overshoot in teleportation,” Twilight apologized, shaking her wings out before tucking them against her back. “We’re not too far out of town. It’s just on the other side of those trees. We’ll be able to get ourselves some supplies and information, not to mention a night’s rest, before we set out in the morning. I’ll tell you what, those long distance spells are really tiring.”

“Sounds like a plan then,” I said, abandoning the third scarf back in our bags before turning to the trees. “Shall we?” I raised a hoof in front of me, coaxing Twilight to lead us to whatever town it was we were going.

“Sure,” Twilight nodded before taking the first few steps towards the trees, the snow crunching underneath her hooves.

“So where did you learn to do a spell like that?” I asked, the curiosity of its origin getting to me “I didn’t think long distance teleportation spells like that were easy, at least not from my readings.”

“Well,” Twilight started, tilting her head to make sure I was still following her, “I really didn’t ‘learn’ it from anywhere. It’s your typical short distance teleportation, but modified a bit by yours truly.”

“Really?” I cocked an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you were into research of that nature.”

“I’m not,” she chuckled. I didn’t understand how she could’ve ever figure out something so complex without spending hours and hours on the dissipation algorithms. She’d also have to work out the reapparation matrices and account for any environmental hazards not to mention the dangers of not having a definitive coordinate system to–

“You coming, Moondancer, or are you just going to be lost in your thoughts until we both freeze out here?” Twilight broke me out of the apparent trance I was in.

“Sorry,” I said, trotting ahead to catch up with her. “I guess I’m just a bit baffled how you figured out such a complex spell now that you always seem to be going on adventures with your friends.

“I still have plenty of time to study my magical tomes, Moonie,” she replied with a name I hadn’t heard in decades. “You gotta realize though that most of my learning, and most experimental learning, happens in the field, outside a library.”

We trotted through the trees as the wind whipped through the branches, clumps of snow dropping here and there every so often. I made sure not to bump any branches while we navigated our way through the thick brush. The last thing I needed was more snow on me.

“That’s why I brought you with me today. I was supposed to do this by myself, but I figured it’d be a great opportunity for you to learn about the Equestrian North and the Himaneighas.” Twilight said, pushing some branches out of her way with her large wings. “Plus you’re getting out of the house.”

“Whatever,” I replied shivering some more. I hadn’t been this cold since last Hearth’s Warming when all the power went out in Canterlot’s Castle and I had to study in the cold. “I’m just here to get this paper written so I can go home and publish it, out of this cold.”

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad,” Twilight said, breaking off a few branches and tossing them aside to make a narrow path in front of her. “At least the sun’s out!”

The sun may have been out, but the shade certainly wasn’t helping its case any. “So where exactly are we headed to, Princess?” I asked, pushing my glasses further up on my nose.

“Please don’t be so formal, Moonie,” Twilight said, turning her head to me. “We’re friends. Just call me Twilight. Or call me Sparkles like you used to. I don’t care, just… I don’t like it when my friends refer to me as ‘Princess.’ I’m just a pony like any other.”

“With vastly more magic prowess,” I finished for her with a smirk.

“Oh please…” Twilight blushed slightly, looking away from me before continuing on the path we were headed.

“So, Twily Sparkles,” I started, pulling out a really old name from ages ago. “Where are we going and what are we doing there? You never fully explained it to me.

“Right!” Twilight said, her ears perking up before turning slightly to me to make sure I was still following behind her. “We’re headed to a bit of a remote village called ‘Yakyakistan’ where we’re going to be solving some sort of friendship problem.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, ducking under some low hanging branches, making sure my scarves didn’t get caught up in the pointy bits. “What sort of friendship problem?”

“That’s just the thing,” Twilight replied. “I really don’t know. We’re going to have to figure out what that is.”

“Seems promising,” I sarcastically remarked. “Can’t wait to get there.”

I think my cynicism was lost on Twilight as she stepped through the final bit of trees and into a sort of open field and jumped up into a bit of a loop for some reason. “Then you’re in luck!” she said after landing on her hooves again. “We’re here!”

She pointed a hoof at a structure sitting in the middle of a plateau formed by the mountain. the structure was a massive wall, presumably holding a town within its borders. In the front was a massive gate, seeming small beneath the two massive Yak statues standing guard above it, torches lit in their upper hooves. The fire blazed in the torches, being whipped about by the chilling wind.

I could barely make out a sentry standing above the gate, an old shield in his hand like those fixated to the statues. The wall looked terrifying yet, welcoming in this bleak environment. “Let me do the talking when we get to the gates, Moondancer,” Twilight told me, looking up at the town with a serious expression. “They’re expecting me, but not another visitor. It may get a bit hairy, but I’m sure our good relations with the Yaks will pull through.”

Twilight hadn’t warned me about their hostile attitudes when we began the trip. I could feel a cold sweat break out on my forehead. I simply nodded and we continued on our way, trudging towards the mountain town. This certainly was going to be different from going into Canterlot. I’m sure there was no identification system here besides word of mouth. I took a big gulp, realizing that my heart was starting to speed up a bit.

What would happen if I wasn’t allowed in? I thought as we made our way closer and closer to the ever-prolific gates of the town. Would I be stuck out here in the cold with no way of getting home? Would they even let me leave alive?

My teeth started chattering, a mixture of the cold and fear within me finally setting them off like some sort of subconscious motor. I tried to strengthen my thoughts back up, rationalizing that Twilight would never leave an innocent pony behind, much less one she calls a friend. She needed my expertise on documentation for this trip anyways.

“Halt!” a bellowing voice cried out as we approached the doors. Looking up, I saw it was the sentry at his post, gratuitously larger than he had seemed from farther away, a spear raised in his hoof, poised for attack. “Who approaches Yakyakistan?”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle, sir,” Twilight called boldly up to the menacing creature who was still pointing the spear directly at us. “I am here to solve a friendship problem of some sort. I was called here by a greater power to assist you in any ways you folks need.”

The guard lowered his spear, but with his hair obscuring most of his face, not to mention the blistering wind blowing around us, it was hard to tell if he was any more trusting of us ponies. “And who is parter?” He pointed an accusing hoof right at me. I cowered behind Twilight a bit, almost expecting the spear to come any second.

“This is a good friend of mine, Moondancer,” Twilight calmly replied, her focus unfazed by the harsh emotions the guard displayed. “She’s here to assist me in this endeavour.”

The guard finally lowered his hoof, standing motionless on his perch once again as the wind ruffled his thick fur around. For a second it seemed as if he forgot there were ponies outside and was once again on the watch for other intruders, but suddenly he called back down, “Are ponies here for..” the yak trailed off, a morbid silence surrounding him, “Yeti?”

Twilight’s expression glazed over for a moment before she briefly turned to me, a look of confusion in her eyes. I gave a little shrug and pursed my lips to show I knew about as much as she did on why we were here. “Potentially,” Twilight called back, looking back up to the guard. “May we please come in and talk more extensively with your leader about this Yeti problem?”

The guard nodded before turning around and speaking to some entity behind him. Turning back to us he shouted one final warning. “Be careful ponies,” his bellowing voice commanded as the large wooden doors creaked and groaned, the sound of gears clanking in the woodwork. “Yaks no like foreigners.”

I took a gulp as the wooden doors finally lurched backwards, slowly but surely opening inward to allow us to pass. “What do you think he meant by Yeti?” Twilight whispered to me. I thought back on the research I did on the Himaneighas and vaguely remembered the word.

“I think the Yeti is some sort of monster of legend if I remember correctly,” I told Twilight, recalling the passages I read on the culture of this area. “He apparently attacks hikers and lives up high in the mountains. I don’t recall anything about an incident inside a village. Especially one that’s this fortified. I remember it just being a scary story to keep ponies from venturing too far up the dangerous mountains.”

The doors finally split apart enough for us to glance inwards. A large, snow-covered square greeted us, a massive shrine to some sort of cow with a long trunk placed directly in the middle. The creature, of which I think was representative of some deity if I recalled correctly, was posed in a meditative state, eyes closed and hooves pressed together, as if focusing energy. Flags tied on pieces of rope were positioned around the statue, leaving an opening to let one walk up to the front. Many burnt candles were melted into the base of the statue, surrounded by small pots of various sizes and colors.

Twilight and I stepped in and looked around the desolate place. Behind the statue was a large building that looked to be a monastery. Small paths to the left and right of it led to what looked to be homes built into the walls. Darkened windows and cold stone walls were all that greeted us from the sides. To the left and right of the statue were two raised platforms, meant for what I had to assume were normally gardens when the winter season passed. A few benches were strewn around the square in the expected places, but nopony was to be found.

Other than the blistering winds scattering snow about the square and blowing the many flags adorned around the shrine about, the town was eerily quiet. “Where is everypony?” Twilight mumbled to herself loud enough for me to hear.

“Is the town normally this desolate?” I asked Twilight, walking up to the shrine and giving it a better look. The statue was a greenish-grey and seemed to be carved out of solid stone. It’s heavily worn surface showed its age, but for being in such a harsh environment, it seemed to be in a fair condition.

“I’ve only ever been here once before,” Twilight began, joining me in front of the statue as we heard the wooden door close behind us with a walloping boom, “but the town was set up for market at the time, so the square was so crowded it was hard to move around.”

“Maybe it’s a different place out of harvest season,” I commented, looking back at the doors to see no sign of even the guard that had let us in. He probably was instructed to not leave his post.

“This is worryingly different though,” Twilight said, her eyes darting around looking for any sign of life. Her ears perked up when she glanced at the monastery.

Looking over to where her gaze was fixed on, I saw that the door was open, and someone stepped out, glancing over at us. It looked to be another pony, but they were wrapped so tightly in a winter coat it was hard to tell.

The new friend waved to us, beckoning us to come inside before disappearing back behind the door. Twilight glanced to me to make sure I saw before I motioned for her to once again lead the way. We trotted towards the pony as the wind started to pick up, snow starting to fall from the skies.

I looked up, re-adjusting my glasses so that I could try to make out what was happening in the sky. The clouds were so thick, it was hard to tell what was going on. It did appear as though a storm was brewing. Whether planned or not, I was glad that we had gotten here when we did. I wasn’t about to get caught up in a polar vortex up here.

We finally made our way to the monastery steps, clomping up the few that were present. The door was ever so slightly ajar. I grabbed it in my magical aura and swung it open to let Twilight and myself in. The faint sound of a drum lightly being played reached my ears as we crossed the threshold of the impressive structure. Glancing back, I made sure twilight had joined me before shutting the door tightly behind both of us.

A hymn was resonating against the walls, the sound of the wind outside almost completely drowned out by the low drone of dozens of voices humming in unison. In front of us sat nearly half the town, sitting together in meditation, creating the mesmerizing noise surrounding us. Yak after yak sat in rows beside each other, facing the far wall where another shrine had been mounted. One yak sat off in the corner, melodically tapping a frame drum to the odd music. Despite finally being out of the cold, a shiver ran through me as I heard the noise drone on.

“Hello there,” a soft female voice broke the trance-like drone alluring us from beside me. The pony who had been wrapped up in the winter outfit was standing before us, now with only a scarf adorned around her neck. “Welcome to Yakyakistan, Princess.”

Elder Rosensarch

The mare bowed, showing her respect to Twilight. Her coat was a light purple, and her mane a radiant gold, almost warming the room all by itself with it’s pleasant color.

Her wings were spread as she nearly pressed her head to the floor. A few moments of stillness passed, the drone of the humming yaks still reverberating around the structure. The pegasus raised her head once more, a small smile on her face.

“My name is Galearis,” the pegasus informed us as I packed away my many scarves, noticing the building was warm enough to make one forget they were in the mountains. “I was told you were gracing us with your presence.” Our new host turned her attention to me, asking, “But I was unaware you were bringing a guest.”

“Her name is Moondancer,” Twilight replied for me, a big grin on her face. She really was enjoying having me around to boast about it seemed. “She’s an old childhood friend of mine.”

“Moondancer,” Galearis repeated, the soft grin still ever present on her face. “That’s a lovely name. We at the Budan Temple have our own celebrations for the sun and moon that have their own dancing, among other festivities.”

“It’s a pleasure meeting you, Galearis, but I assure you my name is just a name,” I replied. “I’m not much of a dancer, although I could give you an extensive history of the moon and the past it carries with Princess Luna, from horror stories to historical accounts.”

“So I take it you are a scholar?” Galearis asked, a smile lighting up her face as she gestured for us to follow her. Before I had the chance to answer, she spoke again. “I’m one as well. I came up here to study the different herbal remedies and flora that this region has to offer.”

We followed behind as she took us towards a set of steps leading down into the ground, torches illuminating the small path. The small stairwell was tucked neatly into the corner of the monastery, and the steps it held seemed to be very steep and narrow. It looked almost as if it were just big enough to fit two ponies side by side. “Where are we headed, Galearis?” Twilight asked before the pegasus leading us could take a step down.

“I was told you were sent here to help with our yeti problems,” Galearis said, an unconfident look in her gaze. “So I’m to take you to our eldest priest to see what you can do.”

“Then by all means lead on,” I said, glancing to Twilight and giving her a nod. I could see her questioning look ready to fire query after query, but she stayed silent as our guide continued downward.

We silently walked a few steps down the cramped staircase before Galearis spoke up below us. “We’ll be in these tunnels for a bit unfortunately. The elders like to live deep in the mountain to avoid the harsh weather conditions outside. Plus they feel that they’re more in touch with Busdarna down there.”

I recognized the name from my time in religious research. “Busdarna, you say?” I asked to nobody in particular. “I thought that religion was only practiced in the Crystal Mountains. I had no idea they practiced it this far north in the Himaneighas.”

“Yes, that is where it originated,” Galearis called back to me. “Apparently it was introduced to the yaks here decades ago by crystal pony explorers who discovered Yakyakistan. I’ve learned a lot about the religion from my time up here. For as aggressive as the yaks seem to be, I think the focus on Meditation does wonders for them.”

“Doesn’t seem to be true for all the residents,” I mumbled to myself, thinking of the sentry who had warned us to watch our step.

“Not all of them practice the religion, Miss Dancer,” Galearis chuckled back, having heard what I thought was an inaudible mumble. Perhaps the walls reverberated more than I had given them credit for; we were making our way through a solid stone tunnel lit by only torchlight after all. At least the steps had finally given way to a mostly flat walk now.

I stayed silent, blushing a bit at being exposed so easily. In the silence, I could still hear the low hum of voices traveling through the tunnel, almost amplified by the resonant structure of the rocks around me. Once more, whether from the cold or from the sound, a chill ran down my back, the voices sounding almost too close to the moaning of a creature deep within the earth. The mixture of silence and humming put me on edge, so I decided to keep the conversation going.

“So where are you from?” I asked Galearis, peaking over Twilight’s ears to see the other purple pony as we trotted further and further into the winding tunnel. “How’d you end up here in Yakyakistan?”

“Well, I’m actually from the Los Pegasus area. I grew up there with my uncle just outside the city limits,” she began, ducking under a rather low ceiling area. “I guess I’m what you call a city mare, although my heart has always been in the wilderness.”

We continued further, the tunnel getting noticeably wider as we went on “I finished my schooling in one of the colleges at Los Pegasus, the Fairweather Academy, in Herbal Sciences and Medicine. After graduation, I was approached by one of the Deans of the college asking if I was interested in a research opportunity. I agreed and before too long, I was on a trip with three other researchers to Yakyakistan, even years before their Ambassadors met with you Princess Sparkle.”

“Please,” started Twilight, blushing a little at the formality, “just call me Twilight. Aside from these wings, I assure you I’m not different from anypony else.”

“If you wish,Twilight,” Galearis replied, giving a slight nod as we pushed deeper into the cave we seemed to be entering. I could hear a faint humming coming from the end, although different from what we had encountered at the temple. This one sounded as if only one or two voices were singing in harmony instead of a single long drone.

“So you said a research team had been sent up here, yourself and three others,” I continued, interested in what they were up here for. “What were you all doing up here, and where are the others?”

“Like I said earlier, I came up here to study the implications of herbal remedies this tribe can produce. These yaks can craft almost quasi-magical brews with ease, so we came up to understand the process and ingredients a little better. As for the others, they went back home. I elected to stay. I love this place, and I don’t think I would ever trade it for anything. Let’s just say I’m on year seven of my three month excursion up here in the Himaneighas.”

“It sounds like you really love Yakyakistan,” Twilight commented, the voices I had been hearing growing in volume as we continued towards the end of the cave, torchlight dancing off the uneven walls around us.

“I do, very much” Galearis replied as we abruptly came upon a large wooden door in the cave wall. Galearis turned to Twilight and me and took a deep breath. “For your sake, lets hope that the Prince is in a good mood.”

“Prince Rutherford?” Twilight questioned, taking a subconscious step back. I shared in her concern, having heard how the delegations with the Yaks had gone from Twilight a few months back. “I thought we were going to see the eldest priest?”

“And we are, Twilight,” Galearis replied, turning her head briefly towards the wooden door before turning back to us. “His father, former King Rosensarch, is the eldest priest now. He stepped down from rule a few years ago to study under the teachings of Busdarna and the Temple of Budan. Prince Rutherford denounces the religion, saying it leaves Yaks vulnerable to attack. Elder Rosensarch and his son were never the best of friends after the changing of the throne.”

“So what happens if the two are in a sour mood today?” I asked, hopeful that it wasn’t the case.

“Then I’m afraid our walk will have been for naught,” Galearis replied. “Rosensarch refuses to talk to anyone until he has gone through his many sessions of Meditation.”

Listening through the door, I could hear the harmonic humming continuing to resonate around the cave surrounding us. “I take it the harmonics are not a good sign then?”

“It’s hard to tell,” Galearis responded, kicking a small pebble underhoof. “Elder Rosensarch usually meditates alone regardless of his mood. He could be calm and peaceful, or under a lot of stress and tension, and I really wouldn’t know unless I tried to talk with him.”

“Then I suppose all we can do is head in and see,” I commented, taking a step towards the door. Galearis held up a hoof, briefly blocking my way, before turning to both of us with a serious expression.

“Let me talk with Rosensarch until we know if he’s in a good mood or not,” Galearis said to us, looking right into our eyes awaiting a response. “Please.”

“You have our word Miss Galearis,” Twilight said. “We’ll stay quiet. After all, we’re here to make friends, not enemies. Right Moondancer?” Twilight turned to me and I gave a nod, seeing that she wanted to be certain I was going to uphold my end of the silent treatment deal. Galearis lowered her hoof and took a deep breath in, letting it out as she slowly pushed the door open, knocking softly on its wooden frame just loud enough to be heard over the humming.

She entered the room as the humming went on uninterrupted, and we followed her in, awestrucken by the cavernous place. The room was a massive circle, a spiral staircase wrapping around multiple times before disappearing into the ceiling above, nearly three stories higher than a normal house’s rooms. On the far end of the door we had entered, a crackling fire sputtered sporadically, juxtaposing the constant humming coming from Elder Rosensarch, who was situated in the middle of the room atop a pile of strewn pillows and hay.

Elder Rosensarch looked like your typical Yak, horns protruding from the top of his head, and scraggly fur bellowing over every inch of his being. He wore nothing but an orange robe draped over his back, and a wooden beard ring. His eyes were covered by his long hair, which made it difficult to tell if he had even heard us come in, but soon enough he gave away that he had heard more than we thought.

As Galearis closed the door behind us, he held out a hoof and with very minimal movement, beckoned us to join him in his bedding of pillows and hay. I looked over to our pegasus friend and she nodded, pointing a hoof over and silently telling me to have a seat. I trotted over quietly to the edge of the spread, listening to his soothing drone, only penetrated by moments of silence due to his need to breathe. I stepped softly onto a pillow and shrugged my bags off, levitating them gently onto the stone floor beside me before scooting closer to the yak.

It was only now that I realized how truly large he was in comparison to me. The elder yak towered a good couple of feet above me, sitting on the bottom half of his body, his top hooves touching as if he was praying. I took an involuntary gulp as I realized how easily this giant creature could overpower me.

Twilight soon joined me, placing her bags next to mine and sitting down close to me, her wings outstretched to help her keep her balance in such an awkward sitting position. Galearis soon followed after and the four of us sat together; the sound of humming coming from the gigantic yak was completely transfixing me. I was strangely terrified of the lumbering yak beside me, but yet entranced with his one note song. I made a mental note that I might have to try some meditation when I returned home proper.

Galearis had her wings spread and her eyes closed, lost in the mesmerizing atmosphere Elder Rosensarch was weaving. Soon enough, I heard a second voice join Rosensarch’s. The soprano voice was in perfect harmony with the basy voice of the old Yak’s. It took me a second to realize that it was Galearis who was making the sound. It added another amazing layer to the song. I had no idea that two notes could have such power before then.

And suddenly, a three part harmony wafted into my ears as I heard Twilight’s vocal chords join the mix. A beautiful chord resonated in my brain, an air of suspense surrounding it as if it were missing something important. The structure needed one more note to be complete. I could hear it in my head from all those piano lessons I failed. I couldn’t place the chord exactly, but I could hear the note in my head, I just needed to find it in my voice.

And then there were four. The notes bounced off each other, the room practically vibrating with the sound of our voices. It was amazing to hear, yet such a simple thing to sing. I could hear our voices waver with imperfections, but it felt better somehow to hear it that way. I took a breath every so often, but I felt powerful belting out my lower note along with Twilight and Galearis’s higher ones. I realized now why the yaks back at the monastery sang like this to meditate. It was uplifting and yet calming. It felt like I was floating on a cloud. I could barely describe the warm feeling in my gut.

Just like that, the chord was over. I realized the other three had stopped humming only after the dull silence reached my ears. Opening my eyes I saw that all three of the people in the room were now looking at me in anticipation of the perfect silence. Once my eyes were open and I had blinked a few times, my face turned a deep shade of red as I felt embarrassed for holding my note for too long. Elder Rosensarch finally spoke up.

“That was beautiful moment we had there,” the yak said, standing up on all fours and stepping off the cushy area of the floor. “Thank you.”

“It’s always a pleasure to participate, Sir,” Galearis responded with a smile, looking up to the lumbering yak in front of her.

“So what brings ponies here?” The elder yak asked looking around and seeing both Twilight and I still sitting on the pillows in the middle of the room.

“Sir Rosensarch, this is Twilight Sparkle and Moondancer,” Galearis replied, getting up from the makeshift resting area to point to me and Twilight respectively. “They are visitors from lands far south, and they’re here to help us with the problems we have been having recently.”

“Did Rutherford send them?” the yak asked accusingly, his voice gruff and his tone cutting the mellow mood the room had been in. Galearis hesitated in replying, looking back at me and Twilight with a worried expression. I could tell she had hoped that wasn’t the case.

Twilight finally broke the tense silence. “Nopony sent us here, Elder Rosensarch,” She calmly stated, levitating her saddlebags back onto her haunches. Her horn glowed as a purple aura surrounded the bag on her left, the flap lifting up as she pulled a scroll from its depths. “We’re actually here to ask for your aid in getting us to our true destination,” she said while unfurling the scroll with her horn to reveal a map of the area, walking over to the massive yak to give him a better view.

“Which is…?” Galearis asked. I was glad because I had thought that Yakyakistan was our final destination.

“Here,” Twilight said, pointing to the bottom half of what looked to be one of the mountain peaks surrounding us. “This location, known as Bullheart’s Bluff, is where I was sent to investigate. I have a sneaking suspicion that whatever is out there is affecting your town as well.”

I spoke up to aid Twilight’s explanation. “We’ve been hearing you’re having problems with something known as a Yeti.” A silence broke out in the room as both Galearis and Rosensarch looked at me.

“Then someone spreading nonsense rumors,” Rosensarch replied heavily, looking back at Twilight's map to give it a thorough study.

“The ‘Yeti’ is just a children’s tale about a creature that lives up here and preys on those who are too lazy to prepare for the harsh environment.” Galearis explained, walking over to look at the map with Twilight and Elder Rosensarch. “It’s supposed to be scary to warn children that hard work is necessary for continued survival. It’s such an old yak’s tale at this point, some residents might have blurred the line between fact and fiction.”

“Then why would it have come up in conversation recently?” I asked, as Rosensarch returned to the middle of the room and resumed his place on the comfy flooring. Twilight rolled up the scroll and replaced it in her bags before trotting beside me to hear the answer.

“Rutherford,” Elder Rosensarch replied grimly as if he spoke of a great evil. “Been spreading rumors of Yeti attack. Say they responsible for destruction of encampments and traders.”

“Encampments and traders?” I questioned, furling my brow and shooting a confused glance in their direction.

“The town needs food to survive, just like any other place,” Galearis responded as Rosensarch fell back into the meditative state we had found him in, humming away with his hooves held together as he seemed to balance perfectly in place, solid as a stone. “We get most of it from trading the resources here, like wood and various ores to traders. They rarely come this far north though, as it’s a perilous journey, so we usually set up trading encampments. The place you mentioned, Bullheart’s Bluff, is one of those camps. We haven’t had contact with the workers there for days.”

Galearis shooed us back into the cave that we came from before continuing on. I assumed she didn’t want to bother Elder Rosensarch any further. “So have you any idea what might be causing these attacks?” Twilight asked while following Galearis.

“Nothing solid, unfortunately,” Galearis somberly replied. “It’s been rough getting anyone down to investigate the attacks due to the weather. There’s also been a rather touchy debate about the political implications of it all.”

“I sensed something about that the moment I mentioned the Yeti,” I replied trotting close to the other two as the cavern grew smaller and smaller until it would barely fit a yak once again. “It looks like Rutherford wants to blame a mythical creature and Rosensarch wants to blame…” I trailed off, a thought not coming to me, “something else. What I can’t gather is what he blames.”

“From what I’ve seen from the past few weeks, I feel Rosensarch blames his son for most of the attacks,” Galearis responded, a sad look in her eyes. A few silent seconds passed as Twilight looked nervously back at me and then to our guide, who had kept her head forward the entire time.

“You weren’t kidding when you said they didn’t see eye to eye, huh,” I said, breaking the awkward silence. “I didn’t think Rosensarch would ever suspect his son of committing heresy and attacking his own kind.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Galearis corrected me. “I think the elder believes that his sons denouncement of his faith is causing some greater power to gunk up the works.”

“Greater power?” I laughed. “He can’t quite possibly think the Princesses are behind this can he?”

Twilight shot me an annoyed glance before explaining, “I think she means something more along the line of a greater being in the Budan faith, like Busdarna for example.” I didn’t even consider that she meant another “God.”

“Right.” Galearis agreed with the assumption before turning to us. “Whatever is happening out there, we’d be grateful if you could help us figure it all out.”

“We’ll certainly try our best to help you guys out,” Twilight replied with a warm smile. She certainly did imbue the Princess of Friendship when she wanted to. “But as I said before, we are in need of some aid. We could really use some winter gear and rations for our trip. I wasn’t certain how much you could spare, but we could certainly trade for most of it if needed.”

I pulled out a bag of bits from my left sack to show that we were prepared to spend the money. “Moondancer, Twilight,” Galearis stopped and looked at both of us. “If you can stop these attacks from happening, then you’ve already paid more than necessary to Yakyakistan.” She continued up the path we had been down, finally reaching the stairs where we began our descent into this tunnel.

“I’ll ask around the Monastery and see if I can’t get you some food and clothing for the trek down to Bullheart’s Bluff, but I don’t think you two should be making the trip tonight.” Galearis commented. “There seems to be a large storm passing through tonight, and you’d have a death wish trying to make your way through it, especially in our dark nights.”

“Duly noted,” Twilight responded as the tunnel started to finally grow lighter, a draft softly blowing as we came closer and closer to the peak of the staircase. “Is there a place we can spend the night and try to get some rest for the trip ahead?”

“I’d offer my house, but I don’t have very much room for guests. I only have one spare bed. We do have something set up upstairs, but we weren’t expecting two ponies to join us today. We had only heard of you coming, Twilight, so I’m afraid we only had one room in the Monastery prepared for a pony.”

“If it’s alright with Twilight I can always take the guest bed while she stays at the Monestary. I don’t mind being split up,” I offered, glancing at Twilight who was considering the options. “Celestia knows we’ll probably be spending a lot of quality time together in the next few days.”

“That’s very true,” Twilight said, flashing a small smile back at me. Turning back to Galearis, she continued. “Do you think that can be arranged? I can stay here while Moonie stays with you?”

“Certainly!” Galearis cheerily replied, finally hitting the top stair, the mystical humming from earlier this evening having gone as well as the patrons who provided it. “It looks like everyone has gone home.”

Galearis walked over to a set of stairs in the northeastern corner of the building before turning to Twilight. “Twilight, your temporary arrangements are up these stairs and the third door on the left. Feel free to ask any of your neighbors if you need something. They really are nice folks.”

“Thank you once again, Galearis,” Twilight said, trotting over to the stairs.

“Thank the yaks who run this monastery,” Galearis replied. “They’re the ones who set all this up. I was just tasked with greeting you guys at the gate. I’ll see you here in the morning, Twilight. I need to get Moondancer and myself to my place before the storm becomes too unbearable.”

“Be safe out in the weather, girls,” Twilight warned us before heading up the stairs. Galearis trotted over to me as I pulled out my many scarves to wrap myself in. I could hear the wind whipping outside the door and I wasn’t about to go out there with nothing on. It sounded like the storm had already reached a dangerous level.

“Let me grab my coat before we head out,” Galearis said, trotting over next to the front door as I wrapped another scarf tightly around my neck. Galearis opened a closet door and picked out a thick wool coat. It was the one we had seen when she had waved us in earlier. After a few seconds, the coat was bound tightly to her body, the fluff making her look nearly twice the size of the pony I had seen moments ago.

“Stick close to me and we’ll be at my place before you know it,” Galearis said, throwing the hood up over her mane and pulling down the string as tightly as she could.

“After you.”

Premonition

“Twilight, where are you?” I called out through the snow. I didn’t know how I had lost her so easily up in the mountains. The snow wasn’t coming down that hard, and she would be obvious out here, her dark purple coat clashing with the intense white and grey that surrounded me. “Twilight!” I shouted into the sky, turning around and around in the white wasteland, not seeing any sign of her. The snowfall around me suddenly picked up, furling me in a cloud of white as the wind whipped the white stuff into my eyes.

The snow was caking on my glasses again, my spell having worn off a while ago. I attempted to summon the energy to cast it once more, but as I was building up, the wind bellowed into me, pushing me into the snowdrift and threatening to cover me in a blanket of frost. Pushing myself to my hooves, I abandoned my glasses, throwing them into my bags and squinting around, my blurry vision not much worse off than when I had them on.

The snow was fiercely obscuring my vision now. A sudden snowstorm had formed out of nowhere, and I was stuck in the middle of it. I trudged forward, the wind threatening to blow me over every second that I stood, and the hill becoming steeper and steeper as I pushed on.

I tugged at my scarves around me, trying in vain to keep the cold from getting to me. Shivering, I realized all I was accomplishing was making it near impossible to breathe. I summoned a large breath and shouted through the storm again “Twilight, are you there?” The howling wind was the only response I got.

Shaking violently now at the bitter cold, I wondered why we hadn’t gotten supplies back at Yakyakistan. I swore I could see my breath turning instantly to snow after it left my mouth. I could feel small icicles forming in the fur around my mouth, and my lips felt cold enough to fall straight off. I kept going forward, hoping I could find Twilight, or at least some shelter to wait out the storm.

In the distance I thought I saw a figure standing tall, the outline a dark blue shade, but it was too far away to really tell if it was real or something my blurry vision was making up in this cold wasteland. “Hello?” I called to the mysterious figure who seemed to be standing motionless. It looked to be pony-shaped, but it didn’t respond to my call. Soon enough, it shook its head and turned, disappearing into the white haze. “Wait!” I called, following it up the snowy mountain.

I came close to the top of the ridge I had slowly been scaling when her voice came to me. “Moondancer!” I heard Twilight call out from in front of me, a state of panic in her tone. “Moondancer, help!”

My eyes widened as I heard her cries. Leaping forward in the snow, I doubled my pace towards the ridge, the top getting closer and closer as the path became even steeper and slicker. “Hold on Twilight!” I called out, slipping and falling face-first into a snow-drift. Getting back to my hooves, I finished, “I’m coming!” I grabbed the ridge with my forehoof and pulled myself up only to realize why Twilight had been calling out for me.

In front of me was a deep chasm where the ice had split in two. It was just wide enough for a pony to fall down, and the bottom was beyond a threatening blanket of blackness. Twilight was down on a ledge, just managing to keep her body from plummeting further. Her wing was bent at a gruesome angle, probably having been broken in the fall down. Her horn looked frostbitten and more of a reverse icicle, meaning she probably had no way of producing magic.

The rest of her body was a deeper purple than normal, and it looked like she was just barely above the threshold of being a frozen pony. She wasn’t even shaking anymore, the hypothermia already taking a great hold on her. “Moon,” I barely managed to hear her say above the blistering wind, her eyelids drooping dangerously close to closing. If she fell asleep now, there was a good chance she wasn’t going to wake up. Not in this weather with no aid.

“Twilight, stay with me!” I called out to her, looking around for some way of keeping myself from falling in as well. “Don’t close your eyes now Twilight! Stay with me!” I started to panic, not finding any viable way of getting to Twilight. “I’ll get you out of there!” I threw out an empty promise.

“Moon…” Twilight said again, her breathing substantially slower than it should have been. I nervously worked up some energy and focused it to my horn, only to feel an excruciating burning pain shoot back through me. Lifting a hoof up to my horn, I could feel the ice surrounding it. Without finding a way to melt it, magic wasn’t an option. “I…” Twilight managed to say. “I don’t want… Want to die…”

I could feel her lifeforce leaving her. My heart sped up as she slowly blinked a few times. I whipped my head around, not knowing what to do. I vainly reached a hoof out to try and reach her, but I was still more than a body’s worth away from her.

“Grab my hoof, Twilight!” I pleaded, knowing full well it was an impossible task. “Grab my hoof and we’ll make it out.” I watched as Twilight closed her eyes, not opening them up again. “Twilight, open your eyes and take my hoof!” I cried, tears blurring my vision further. Her chest stopped its steady rise and fall. “Twilight, wake up and grab my hoof. Please wake up and grab my hoof.” I shouted, tears streaming down my face and freezing into my fur.

I watched her limp body roll over and fall into the abyss.

“No!” I shouted, jolting up from the laying position I was in. My fur was slick with my own sweat, and my eyes were teared up, but I was still back in Galearis’s house. I took a few short sharp breaths, the image of Twilight’s body falling still replaying in my mind.

The fire sparked up beside me as I saw Galearis’s worried face looking at mine. “Moondancer, are you alright?” she asked as she went over to her cupboards and started pulling out herbs and ingredients. “You were squirming an awful lot in your sleep,” she said, returning to the pot filled with cold hot chocolate from last night, dumping in everything she was carrying as the fire did it’s work to heat up the brew. “And it looks like you’ve been crying.”

“I…” I began, still trying to calm my breathing down, shaking from the surge of adrenaline I had gotten from the imagery. “Nightmare…” I whispered, realizing that that was all it had been. We hadn’t left Yakyakistan yet, and Twilight was still very much alive, just not with me.

“Just take a few deep breaths, Moondancer,” Galearis said, stirring the pot a bit before walking over to grab my mug. “Drink some of this too. It’ll soothe your nerves.” She filled my mug with the brew and gave it a blow to cool down before handing me the result. I took a sip, feeling the grainy herbs mixed with the sweet chocolate. I almost instantly felt my muscles relax and my heart slow it’s beat a bit.

“Thanks,” I said, taking in a deep breath and setting the mug down on the floor. Letting it out, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I looked over at my bag and felt around in it for my glasses with my horn. Feeling the general shape, I pulled them from the bag and placed them gently on my nose. “What time is it?” I asked, looking at the window to see it was still covered in snow. “Sorry if I woke you up in the middle of the night.”

“Don’t worry about it, Moon,” Galearis responded, trotting over to the door with the large kettle now clenched between her teeth. She kicked opened the door with her back hooves to let in the bright rays of light from outside, not to mention pushing all the built up snow away. “The sun’s been up for a bit now,” she said as I shielded my eyes from the blinding light. Galearis dumped the contents of the pot out the doorway before grabbing a fresh chunk of snow and throwing it into the lukewarm receptacle. “I was actually about to cook some stew for breakfast before I noticed you were struggling in your sleep.”

“Alright,” I said, still thinking back to the nightmare. It had felt so real, and I could feel the pain of all of it. It was so cold in the dream too. There’s no way I could have just imagined it. Was there? I started to second guess myself. “I think I’m just nervous about the road ahead,” I half-heartedly explained to Galearis.

I watched as Galearis rummaged through her many cupboards before producing some potatoes, what looked to be onions, a can of broth and some other various spices. Grabbing a plate and assembling all the ingredients, she replied, “Don’t be.” She scooped the plate and all its contents from the counter onto her back and expertly balanced them as she walked over to the kettle. The fresh snow had melted once more into hot water, and the steam from it was beginning to rise from the clear surface. “We’ll have you guys set up with the best equipment Yakyakistan has to offer,” she finished, sliding the plate onto the floor without spilling a single thing.

“Here,” I offered, stretching and getting up from my lumpy bedding as Galearis returned to her cupboard. “Let me help you with the soup.” I levitated the can of broth in front of me before focusing on the top seam of the lid to the sides. Conjuring up a magic can-opener, I placed it on the can and let it work away as the metal slowly cut open. With the seal broken, a strong smell of salt met my nose, and I looked inside to see the heavy yellow-orange color of a typical bone-broth mixture. Levitating it over the pot, I poured the broth in with the water before grabbing a wooden spoon from the utensil rack and stirring it in.

“Thanks for the help, Moondancer,” Galearis said, pulling out can after can after can of preserved vegetables and fruits. “Here’s what I can offer for your trip down to the trading camp.” She grabbed a few cans before walking over and placing them in my saddlebags. “Are you ok carrying this much?”

I picked up the potato before glancing over at Galearis. “Those bags have a spell created by Twilight herself.” I said, turning my attention back to the potato at hoof. “Put as much in as you want. The bag is bottomless and weightless… essentially.” I sent a few quick pulses from my horn and watched as the potato split in half, then into quarters, and finally into chunks as my magic cut cleanly through its interior like a hot knife into butter.

Dumping them into the pot I turned back to Galearis. “Are you sure it’s ok we take this stuff?” I asked, picking up the bits of onion and dicing away with it as I had the potato. Enveloping the wooden spoon in the pot as I did, I stirred it to keep the soup from settling.

“You’re doing this town a big enough favor as it is,” Galearis responded, coming over and putting the rest of the spices in the pot as I kept stirring everything up. “I can afford to give up a few cans of food for the cause. Besides, if you get the trading post open, then I won’t be having to worry about food anyways.”

“Fair enough,” I said, still stirring away. The aroma of the soup was intoxicating as it floated into my nose. I had had potato and onion soup plenty of times before, but never home-cooked like this. Back in Canterlot I only ever had instant noodles, never seeming to find the time to cook anything properly. My studies were always more important than the quality of my meals.

“Smells about ready to me,” Galearis said, taking a deep breath in and drinking in the pleasant aroma the soup had wafting off it. “Let me get some bowls and we can eat before getting back to the Monastery.” Walking over to the cupboards once again, Galearis rummaged around before pulling out two ceramic bowls. They looked homemade and very thick.

I pulled the spoon out from the broth and cast a quick charm on it to dry it off before placing it back on the utensil rack I got it from. Galearis set the bowls down before grabbing a soup ladle in her teeth to dip it in the yellowed broth. Pulling it out, she expertly guided the chunky liquid to the first bowl, letting it fall in, spilling just a few drops in the transfer. Dipping the ladle back into the soup, she repeated the process, this time keeping the floor entirely clean of the liquid.

“Pi’u,” Galearis said with a smile, placing the ladle back on the rack before walking back to the bowls. “That means ‘drink up’ in Yakyakistan’s native tongue,” she explained as I enveloped one of the bowls in my magic, levitating it close to my face.

I watched my glasses steam up as the warmth of the broth tickled my nose. Blowing on the surface of the soup, I tilted the bowl just until the broth reached my lips. I took a quick sip, the contents almost burning my lips. Swallowing the salty broth, I felt the warmth reside in my stomach, completely waking me up from the drowsy state I had been in since I had woken up.

After cooling the soup down with my horn, I took another hearty gulp, grabbing some chunks of potato and onions with it. I licked my lips in satisfaction, watching as some other multicoloured bits strewn about the surface floated about the bowl. Closing my eyes, I felt the warmth of the soup radiate along my stomach. “The soup is delicious, Galearis.”

I watched as she grabbed the edge of her bowl in her mouth, lifting it up to horizontal before using a wing to prop it against her lower lip. She took a swig of the soup before setting her bowl back down on the ground. Wiping her chin with a hoof to clean off the stray soup streaks, she turned back to me.

“Thanks,” she replied, covering her mouth before producing a small burp. “As soon as you’ve had your fill, we can head out.”

“Ok,” I said, taking another hearty gulp of the delicious broth. I realized that the sooner I met back up with Twilight, the more progress we could make, and the quicker I could get home. “I think I might make this a meal to go actually,” I said, finishing off what was in my bowl before wiping my mouth clean and levitating the container to the counter her drawers were under.

Trotting over to my bag, I opened it up and rummaged around inside for my thermos, which was probably filled at this point with cold coffee. Finding it, I pulled it out and walked over to the door. Pushing it slightly ajar, I felt the intense cold of Yakyakistan course over me, the wind just as powerful as it was last night. Quickly unscrewing the cap of my thermos, I threw the brown liquid out the door before hastily retreating back to the warmth of Galearis’ house.

Galearis meanwhile was starting to finish off her soup, slowly going through the process of lifting the bowl up and balancing it in a wing. As she did this, I levitated my thermos over the pot of soup, simultaneously grabbing an indeterminate volume of the broth in a magical aura. Opening the lid, I put the soup in the thermos before releasing it from my magical grasp, placing the lid back on. The thermos was filled almost to the brim, and I was glad I hadn’t grabbed more soup, or I might have accidentally had a mess on my hooves.

I levitated the thermos into my bag before grabbing my sweater from below it, the fabric warm from the fire it was lying beside. Stepping into my sweater, I pushed the turtleneck up to my chin, letting the warmth soak into my fur. Taking a deep breath, I closed the flap on my bag, feeling like the few scarves I had in them wouldn’t do much in the harsh winds that were raging outside. I looked back to see Galearis had finished her bowl of soup and had placed both bowls by the fire.

“Let me grab my coat off the hook,and I’ll guide you back if you don’t remember where to go,” Galearis said, trotting over to her coat and swinging it off the hook and onto her back. Sliding the sleeves in place, she pulled the coat tightly around her before turning around to douse the fire that was still crackling on.

Taking the pot off the fire itself, Galearis reached behind the fireplace and pulled with all her might on something I couldn’t quite see. With a few more tugs, she produced a heavy iron cover for the fireplace. Grabbing my bags from the side of the fireplace, I placed them on my back before turning to Galearis, enveloping the cover in my magical aura. I lifted as hard as I was willing to before a long trek, getting the iron cover a few inches off the ground. Galearis let go as she realized what I was doing.

After a few seconds of concentration, the cover was in place. Turning a knob on the front of it, I locked it in place as the light was completely covered up. At that moment, Galearis opened the door to let the sun outside light the way out. Shivering as the cold wind brushed against me once again, I turned and walked outside to the cloudless day.

The sun was high in the sky, and the reflection off all the snow was nearly blinding. I covered my eyes to let them readjust to the vastly brighter environment. “Watch to make sure you don’t slip down the steps,” Galearis warned me as she pushed her door closed, rummaging through her pocket once more for her house key.

Looking down at the staircase, I noticed just how much snow had really fallen the previous night. The entire staircase looked to be buried under as much snow as I had seen when we entered last night. Not wanting to have to expend as much energy, I dealt with the snow a little differently than I had the night before. Focusing energy into my horn, I sent out a constant beam of light into the snow in front of me, slowly eating away at the cold substance. I stood there letting the beam do it’s job. It took much longer than the show I produced last night, but it took much less energy to produce.

“You know Moon,” I heard Galearis call out from behind me. I stopped what I was doing and went to turn around as I heard a whooshing sound fly by me. A purple and gold blur passed me by, sliding down the staircase until it skidded into a pile of snow at the bottom. I realized the blur had been Galearis faux-skiing down the ramp-like surface the stairs had made. She stood up from the drift and shook off all the snow that stuck to her before turning back to me. “It’s faster that way!” she called out from the bottom, laughing to herself. I stopped heating the minute spot I had been focusing on and looked over to see Galearis’s tracks on the stairs, or rather the long lines she had made during her haphazard descent.

I took a gulp before taking a few steps back. It wasn’t too far down, but I was never known for my balance. Looking behind me, I saw the 2 story drop and shivered. Whether it was from the cold or my slight bout of vertigo I wasn’t sure. “Go ahead Ms. Dancer,” Galearis cheered on from the bottom of the steps. “If you fall, all you’re going to hit is snow. Besides, I’ll catch you when you get here!” Knowing the worst I could face was a slightly colder walk, I took a deep breath in, letting it out and watching the mist from it swirl around me before being blown away by the wind.

Letting it out, I took a few quick steps forward before leaping on the snow pile,my momentum flinging me down the slope. “Augh!” I shouted, barely able to keep my balance as I skidded further and further down the slope, the wind blowing my mane about above me. Luckily I was still wearing my old hair tie which kept my mane out of my eyes. I slipped and readjusted myself a dozen times, Galearis’s figure growing and growing as I slid closer and closer to her. “Look out!” I shouted, realizing the bottom was coming faster than I had expected.

“I gotcha!” Galearis responded, catching me at the end of the ramp and whipping me around in a circle. Galearis fell over in the midst of all of it, and we both sat in the snow, dazed by the small crash. Noticing my glasses already had snow on them, I took them off and wiped them on a dry part of my sweater before readjusting them on my face. “Fun isn’t it?” Galearis said, getting up and brushing herself down once again.

“I don’t know if ‘fun’ is the word I’d use exactly,” I said, shaking half from the snow and half from the massive adrenaline high I had just experienced.

“Well, you look like you enjoyed yourself at the very least,” Galearis replied, beginning to trot back towards the Yakyakistan Monastery. “C’mon, let’s go get you supplied and ready for your trip down to Bullheart’s Bluff.”

I nodded and followed behind her, noticing that the streets were once again barren of any yaks or ponies alike. “Is the place normally this devoid of yaks like it is now?” I asked as we trudged through the snowy street. “We thought it was a bit odd that nopony was around.”

“No,” Galearis started, taking a closer look at her surroundings. “It’s true that there usually aren’t yaks on the streets during the winter seasons, it is odd that none of them are outside helping to clear everything out.” She paused a moment, gathering her surroundings before taking a sharp right. “After a nasty storm like last night, the yaks usually send at least a few workers to go help clear the snow enough to make it easier to walk in.”

Almost as if to set an example, Galearis stepped forward and fell up to her stomach into the snow. I couldn’t help but chuckle before helping her out of her predicament. “What makes you think they didn’t send anyone out here this time?”

“I fear it may have to do with you showing up,” Galearis grimly said, the square we had seen from our initial arrival coming into view. Like everything else, almost a foot of snow was accumulated in the entirety of it. Even the statue was nearly buried in the white powder.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked as we reached the bottom of the steps.

“You saw how well our leaders have been getting along…” She trailed off, leaving me to figure out what she was implying. I caught the gist when I noticed that we were not alone outside. Looking up at the entrance of the Monastery, I saw Twilight, with naught but a scarf standing outside, her bags on her back, and her expression stone-faced. She was waiting for us to arrive.

“Twilight, why are you out here?” Galearis asked, shuffling up the steps a little faster than me. “And why haven’t you gotten any supplies? Come on, I’ll get you to–”

“We’re not getting any,” Twilight cut off Galearis solemnly. “We’re on our own for this trip.”

Travelers in the Snow

“They can’t possibly think that you’re the reason for the Yeti attacks,” Galearis said, shuffling through her cupboards and grabbing can after can of condensed soups and dried fruits and vegetables. “Those have been going on for months now, way before you two even showed up.”

“I don’t think Rutherford or Rosensarch blame the attacks on us directly,” Twilight responded, warming herself by the relit fire Galearis had started when we got back to her house. “All I said is that both are refusing to help us. I think I may have mucked up the relations a bit when I mentioned that both needed to see the other side’s point of view.”

“So they kicked you out of the Monastery?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as Twilight sparked up the fire with her magic.

“Not exactly,” Twilight said, rubbing a hoof against her neck. “Prince Rutherford threatened war with Canterlot because he swore that the Yetis were a sneak attack from the Princesses to begin with. Elder Rosensarch argued that the Yeti attacks were all a big hoax to keep the public of Yakyakistan in fear of their new government.”

“Sounds like a pretty big fight,” I commented, going over and starting to pack the cans into my saddle bags as Galearis began rummaging through her closet for supplies.

“It was,” Twilight responded. “In short, I think that the yaks have finally split in two. I think we found the friendship problem we came here to find Moonie.”

“Then what are you going to do about it?” Galearis asked, pulling a few heavy coats from her closet, worn down, but still warmer-looking than the few scarves I had at my disposal.

“The yaks may not be helping us, but I still think we should get to the bottom of these Yeti attacks,” Twilight responded, taking the map she had shown off the night before, studying it intensely for a few seconds and tapping a hoof to her chin in thought. She must have been trying to plan a route before we left. “If we find out what is actually going on, we might understand a little more about the precarious situation that’s going on with your heads of power.”

“Do you think something is actually attacking traders, or do you think there’s something else is going on?” I asked as I ran through a mental checklist of the items we were putting in the bags.

“I’m not sure who's doing it is, but if we stop the attacks now and make sure that trade resumes here, then at least we’ve got leverage to help us resolve the problems plaguing the leader and his father here,” Twilight curtly responded, furling the map back up and placing it in her bag. She trotted over to the counter where Galearis and I were finishing up packing. “Thank you for the help and sacrifice Galearis,” she said as Galearis nodded. “What are we looking at for supplies?”

“We’ve got enough food for at least a week for the two of us, maybe more if we really ration it out.” I responded, packing the last can of carrots into my saddlebags, the weight actually noticeable even under the charm.

“I want to come with you two, Galearis suddenly sputtered, shuffling her hooves a bit after saying the line.

“Then that reduces our food to probably a few days,” Twilight unquestionably commented, tapping a hoof to her chin. “Bullheart’s Bluff is only a half day trip, so we should have enough supplies to get down there and investigate should the weather hold out on us like now.”

“Thank you,” Galearis said while giving me a hug. I stood in surprise for a moment before hugging her back. “Our leaders have been destroying the peace of mind around here for months, so I’m glad I can be a part of the solution.”

“How well do you know the area around here?” Twilight asked Galearis as she put on one of the tattered coats that had been taken out earlier.

“I’ve been down to the trading camp plenty of times, so I know mostly where I’m going,” Galearis responded as Twilight put the hood of the coat over her to make sure her horn would fit underneath it. It was a tight fit, but she made it work. “But this would be the first time I’ve ever made the trek without another Yak to help guide me.”

“That should be fine as long as you know how to read a map,” I said, Galearis nodding to tell me she could. I opened one of my bags and produced a compass. “Take this then, and you can be our guide through the snow. We were in need of one of those to begin with.”

“Alright,” Galearis replied. “Do we have everything we need to start? No sense in leaving anything here, since I’m the only one who lives here.”

“We should be good to go,” I commented, slipping into the other coat. It was a bit big for me, and it felt like a giant cloak, but importantly, it was much warmer than my many scarves. I was starting to feel a little too warm standing near the blazing fire. “We’ve got food, we can make water from the snow around us, and we’ve got warm clothing.”

“Let’s head out then,” Twilight said, opening the door and covering the fire with a magical shield, dousing it within seconds. Trotting over to the door, I looked back to see Galearis rummaging through her pockets for her house key.

We both stepped outside on the hard stone of the staircase which was once again snow-free. When we were heading back to Galearis’s house, I couldn’t help but show off the new spell I tried the night before. While expending a lot of energy once again, I wasn’t tired out this time. Galearis’s soup had kept me awake.

“Remind me when we get back to Canterlot,” Twilight began, turning to me with a smile, “you have to show me how you do that spell.”

“You might have to wait until we have our next scheduled snowstorm,” I said as Galearis shut her door and awkwardly placed the key in the lock, turning her head to seal the door shut.

“I’ve got connections back in Ponyville,” she alluded with a wink before Galearis trotted up behind us.

“We’re all ready to go right?” Galearis asked as Twilight looked back to her, giving a quick nod of approval. Twilight looked back at her bags, igniting her magic to lift a flap off one of the saddlebags, producing the folded map from earlier before levitating it over to Galearis.

“As long as you’re ready, Galearis,” Twilight answered with a smile. “You’re going to be leading us most of the way anyways.”

“Right,” she responded. “Then I suppose the first step is to get out of town, no?” I gave a chuckle and a nod as Twilight suddenly gave off a loud pop next to me, vanishing on the spot. Looking down at the bottom of the stairs, I watched as she phased into existence with another pop, leaving a sizeable dent in the snow below her.

Twilight had always been keen on teleportation, and I kept telling myself I’d ask her to show me how she so effortlessly pulls it off every time. Maybe she’d teach me once I showed her my technique on clearing out snow.

“You go first this time,” Galearis said from behind me with a slight nudge. The map was probably packed away in one of her pockets, as she was no longer holding it in her mouth. “It’s your turn to catch me at the bottom of the slide,” she said with a wink.

I hesitated a second, not sure what to make of the remark, but figuring it was all in good fun, I took a gulp as I stepped out over the edge. Somehow, the stairs seemed much further up than the last time I had slid down them. Twilight raised her eyebrows, probably confused as to why I wasn’t moving already.

“Threetwoone go!” Galearis shouted all of a sudden, giving me a hard push and launching me down the steep slope of the stone staircase in front of me. I reflexively shouted out as I scrambled all four of my limbs in an attempt to keep myself upright. I felt my body twist and turn as my appendages all flailed in different directions. Before I could take hold of my situation I was facing Galearis, sliding backwards towards the same snow-drift she had crashed in earlier.

Instinctively, I flashed energy to my horn, pulling out the same teleportation spell Twilight had. A pop rang throughout my ears as the world went black around me, the sound of rushing wind blowing past my ears as I felt myself tumble through a void. A wave of nausea bowled over me, and I blinked, struggling to find which way was down.

Then as quickly as it had gone away, the world came back, only now I was upside down, with Twilight a few meters directly above me. My momentum had stayed though, as I tumbled past Twilight and landed headfirst with a slam into the thick snowdrift that made up the street behind her. My heart was pounding, and all I could see around me was a small cave I had made in the snow around me upon my less-than-graceful landing.

I heard Twilight laughing and the sound of hoofsteps crunching as I felt a magical aura surround me. The aura lifted me out of the snowdrift, and gently back to my hooves. My glasses still had a layer of half melted snow, so I could only assume the purple face in front of me belonged to Twilight, and not Galearis. Feeling my glasses being lifted off my face I started to protest, “Hey, I need those.”

“I’m just cleaning them off for you,” Twilight said, still chuckling at the incident. I could feel my cheeks glowing with embarrassment as Twilight gently replaced them on my face. “You know, when teleporting while moving like that you have to add opposing momentum so that you won’t fly out the end like that,” Twilight commented with a smile before turning to face Galearis. “Also, using the correct exit helps,” she commented over her shoulder.

“I knew that!” I lied through my teeth, not wanting to let her know that teleportation spell had been used out of pure panic. “I must have miscalculated is all,” I said instinctively pushing my glasses up on my face. I could feel a warmth radiating from them. Twilight must have put the repulsion spell on them while she was drying them off.

I walked over to the bottom of the steps with Twilight to look up at our map-reader to see if she was coming down. “You made a promise, Moondancer!” Galearis called from the top of the frost-ridden steps.

“Not willingly,” I mumbled under my breath as Twilight giggled next to me, having heard what I said. “Come down when you’re ready, I suppose,” I called up to Galearis, a hoof outstretched to show I was prepared to stop her. Knowing her weight was close to mine though did not fill me with confidence, because as Apple Newton wrote in his discoveries, an object in motion will remain in motion regardless–

“Geronimo!” I heard Galearis call out, breaking my inner thoughts on why this was a terrible idea that would only wind up with both of us in the snow. I watched as she raced down the slope, her form becoming bigger and blurrier as she came closer to me. I saw her impossibly striking a beautiful pose and smiling daintily, juxtaposing the alarming speed she was coming at me. I couldn’t help but stare in awe, mouth slightly agape at this enigma of a friend I had made.

“Moondancer!” she yelled, her smile wavering as she saw I was standing motionless. I reached out my hoof and grabbed her’s last minute, not realizing I was standing directly in her skiing path. I felt her grab my hoof and drag me down into the snow as we both careened to the middle of the street, spinning around and around until we skidded to a halt in the snow pile.

Once again, my head was spinning, but at least I could see what was happening due to Twilight’s charm on my glasses. The sound of Twilight’s hooves clapping together reached my ears and I shook my head to clear the dizziness I had suffered from the botched landing. “Bravo!” Twilight shouted as we both stood up. I looked over to see Galearis bow over and over, stopping to throw out fake kisses as Twilight cheered on. “Encore! What a sight to behold!”

“You’re too kind truly,” Galearis said, wiping a fake tear from her eye and waving to Twilight as if a huge crowd was surrounding her. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the silly display the two ponies were making.

“You, know, you’re a special kinda crazy,” I said playfully to Galearis, trotting over with her to where Twilight was now standing with a huge smile plastered across her face.

“You’re talking to a pony who chooses to live the yak lifestyle,” she responded with an over exaggerated smile. “You have to be a little nuts to willingly do that.”

“Touché,” I said, scrunching my lips together as Twilight finally joined up with us.

“This might be a fun trip after all if you two are going to keep entertaining me like that,” Twilight told the both of us with a smirk. “Just don’t get yourselves hurt once we get outside the city and we should be good.”

“You can count on me, ma’am,” Galearis said with a salute as I rolled my eyes at her. Getting back to a more serious tone, Galearis pulled out the map and showed us a marked path Twilight had hastily written in by hoof. “Once we get out of the front gates, we’re going to want to head left and along this mountain path. It’s a very short path that can only be accessed on better days, like this one.” She gestured to the mostly clear skies to prove her point. “That path will lead us to the trail we normally use that goes around the other side of the mountain, and all we need to do is follow that to Bullheart’s Bluff.”

“Sounds like as good a plan as any,” I said as we approached the main square to see the Busdarna statue. Walking towards the main gate, Galearis lagged slightly behind, her gaze fixated on that of the statue itself, looking rather odd covered in so much snow. A few more steps towards the door and Galearis stopped walking entirely. “Something up, Gale?” I asked as she glanced quickly to me, her eyes avoiding mine.

“No,” she said, seeming lost in thought. “You two go ahead and get the gates open. I need to go do something really quickly.” Galearis then trotted over towards the Busdarna statue before stopping directly in front of it, looking up at the impressive statue before her.

I looked to Twilight, who motioned for us to head to the gate. I followed her, glancing back to see that Galearis was now kneeling before the statue, face close to the snowy ground and eyes closed. “She’s praying for us,” I mumbled out loud, thinking back on the story of her old colleagues. This was probably the first time she had been outside the village since then.

“Hello?” Twilight shouted from beside me. Her gaze was fixed on the guards post on this side of the wall. “We need to leave the city,” she shouted up at the post, as I saw nopony show up. “Is there anyone up there who can let us out?”

With no response, I looked back to see if Galearis had finished up. I watched as she bowed her head lower, giving the snow a light kiss as she got up from her kneeling position, turning and trotting towards us, her eyes a little red as if she had been fighting back tears. The happy pony I had just seen when we left her house was nowhere to be found. As she trotted closer to us, I started to ask, “Galearis are you–”

“I’m fine,” she responded with a sniffle. “Facing your fears can be a challenging thing.” I simply nodded as the pony closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, letting it slowly out to let the cheerful demeanor I had seen earlier return. “Halvard,” she shouted up to the sentry’s post that was currently empty. A few seconds later, the same yak that we had met coming into Yakyakistan emerged from the dark wall. “Open the gates. Our guests and I are leaving for a bit.”

“Ponies finally realize they not welcome,” the yak named Halvard bellowed, laughing as he finished. His spear was shaking as were the curls around his face as his chuckles echoed against the empty square.

“Halvard!” Galearis shouted, anger seeping into her voice. “That will be enough of that kind of talk! Open the gates. Please.”

The yak still laughed as he disappeared back into depths of the wall, the sound of gears grinding together as the massive wooden doors creaked and moaned. After a few seconds of these unpleasant sounds, the wooden doors lurched towards us, groaning under the weight of all the snow pushing against them.

We stood our ground as the gears crunched against each other until the doors were completely parted. With a gap just enough to accommodate us, we took our first steps outside the city. A harsh wind blew across the threshold of the city, whipping about us in a fury of cold and noise. It felt as if the wild itself was rebelling against our journey into the mountains. As the wind pushed against us, I felt glad to be wearing a coat and not just a few scarves.

Looking over, I saw Twilight nod to the both of us in a gesture that we needed to move out. I saw she had a scarf of her own wrapped up around her nose and mouth, keeping the cold out. Letting Galearis step in front of me, I followed behind her as we heard the doors groan into action once more. The gates lurched back towards their closed position, pushing the amassed snow back into place.

Galearis glanced back and silently pointed a hoof towards the right of the town, towards a rather large peak in the distance. In between us and the peak was a massive wintry plain, covered in snow and surrounded by a thick forest of deciduous trees. Galearis trotted over to me, pulling out the map and unraveling it as best as she could. Taking it in my magic, I held it steady for her in front of us as Twilight leaned in to see what we were looking at.

“This area is normally a small lake,” she half-shouted to keep her voice audible over the blistering wind. “It should be completely frozen over and traversable by hoof now. If we travel directly across, then we should cut our time by at least an hour. Just be sure to be careful where you’re stepping. We don’t need to be bringing anypony back to their families as an icicle.”

Twilight and I both nodded in agreement as I pulled out two scarves from my saddlebags. Giving one to Galearis as she folded the map back up, I said, “I can’t imagine flying is very practical in these clothes, is it?”

Galearis shook her head, adjusting the scarf I gave her around her neck, pushing it up to cover her nose as well. That meant that an aerial check wasn’t going to happen any time soon, or probably throughout the entire journey. I gave a frown as I joined the other two, pulling my scarf up to cover my nose. The material was itchy and uncomfortable, but much warmer than going without it.

Blinking a few times as the wind stung my eyes, I readjusted my glasses with my horn, noticing the cold was really getting to me. Even with the coat covering my head, I could feel my horn freezing up. Making sure to keep some focus into it, I kept a warm current of energy running through my horn. If I needed to cast any spell, the warmth would make it easier to do.

Galearis trudged ahead ready to guide us towards our goal, stepping methodically and carefully, making sure the snowy ice trap that was the lake below could support her. Every so often she would pause and lift a hoof to tell us to stand still as she gently stepped around, presumably looking for weak spots in the ice.

I heard the ice groan underneath us as we came upon the middle of the clearing. Galearis rapidly threw up her hoof while the sounds continued across the surface of the lake. I bit my lip and listened to the reverberations, feeling like I was standing on the edge of a mountain that was about to crumple. If the ice broke now, there was little hope of us getting to the other side without falling in. The sounds settled and disappeared as I released the breath I had been holding in the whole time.

Galearis lowered her hoof, moving left and right ever so slightly to test the surface once more. I waited while she did the slow test and realized it was a good opportunity to test out a “half-levitation” spell I had been experimenting with back in Canterlot. It wasn’t true levitation, but it made things much lighter, and I’ve never tried using it on a pony before.

Closing my eyes, I let energy amass in my horn. I whispered the archaic words underneath my breath to begin the spell. Focusing the beam of energy slowly oozing from my horn around my body I let it absolve me and finished my silent chant as I felt the spell seep into my fur itself. Opening them again, I felt like a much lighter pony, almost like I was being lifted by clouds.

Noticing that Galearis and Twilight had moved on from the small scare, I began trotting towards them, feeling like I was walking on the moon. I couldn’t help but crack a smile at the alien feeling it was sending through me. I didn’t feel like the same slightly-out-of-shape nerd from Canterlot that I normally did. Noticing how easy it was to walk with such reduced weight, I caught up to Twilight and Galearis fairly quickly.

Just as I met with my two colleagues, an unnatural chill ran down my spine. Despite my surroundings I knew that it couldn’t have been the wind’s doing. My coat did nothing to stop this chill as it slowly crawled along my back and to my tail. I paused a second as my mind went into a daze, a nauseating feeling suddenly overcoming me.

“Moonie,” Twilight called back, snapping me out of my trance. “Are you ok back there?” I looked forward to see that Galearis was waving me on near the edge of the lake, almost half the size that she had been before I spaced out. “We need to get to Galearis before this lake gives out. Who’ll know what the midday sun will do to melt it.”

I merely nodded, blinking a couple of times to get my head grounded again. The strange feeling had subsided a bit, but the lingering feeling of dread still sat in my gut. “It was just a stupid dream,” I said to myself, feeling like the image of Twilight falling into that pit had something to do with this negative feeling. Pushing the notion to the back of my mind, I called out to Twilight, “Hold up, I was just trying out a new spell.”

Trotting at a decent speed, I caught up with Twilight and apologized for falling behind. “Sorry, I had a bit of a rough night last night, and I think the cold weather is getting to me.”

“Sounds like a typical reaction to someone trying to travel in an extreme environment to me,” Twilight responded, pulling her scarf down to flash me a smile. We caught up with Galearis at the edge of the lake and she pulled out the map once more. “We’re just headed through the woods, aren’t we?” she asked Galearis as we gathered around the shivering pegasus.

“Yes, and we still will,” Galearis said, glancing over to Twilight before looking up at the sky and pointing a hoof to the distant south of Yakyakistan’s front gates. “But I’m not sure how much I trust that cloud cover coming in.”

Squinting in the bright wilderness, I saw the clouds she was talking about. “They look pretty far off to me,” I said guessing we still had hours to go before we even needed to worry about them. Looking down at the map, I saw that after the forest we were going to have to cross a rather narrow path on the side of a cliff. After that we would be at Bullheart’s Bluff. “Why don’t we get through the trees here and see where the clouds get to then.”

Galearis nodded in agreement saying, “I think if we travel quickly, we might be able to beat the snow and be at our goal by the end of the night.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Twilight said as Galearis folded up the map and shoved it unceremoniously into her pocket, rubbing her left leg with a hoof. I could see the frayed nerves in her somber expression, and whether she was shivering from the cold or from the near miss we had just gone through was impossible to tell. Luckily we’d have tree cover for the next stretch, so wind probably wouldn’t be too much of an issue. “ So you said you had a new spell,” Twilight commented, turning to me as we headed into the woods. “Care to show me?”

The Path Less Traveled