The Mare in the Mountains
1 - Encounter in the Snow
"Ugh, remind me why we took this assignment again?"
Somewhere in the snowy northern mountain range, seven guard ponies shuffled slowly through a pass, consisting of three earth ponies, three pegasi, and one unicorn. They marched in groups of two along the mountain pass, the pair in the middle pulling with them a small carriage of boxes containing food and other supplies. The wind blew fiercely, tossing up snow, ice, and dirt in its wake.
The group leader, the only unicorn among them and signified by the blue crest atop his helmet compared to normal white, walked ahead of them all. They all wore their traditional guard uniforms in addition to a black cloak to shield the exposed parts of their bodies from the harsh winds. Each of their uniforms also donned a special purple medallion carved from a special enchantable crystal, providing them each with seven days' worth of continuous enchantment against the cold, courtesy of Captain Shining Armor.
It had been about over a week since the soldiers embarked from Canterlot, and about a couple of days since they had seen another pony. Out in the mountains, one has nothing but the sound of their own voice for company. Unless they brought others, of course.
Upon hearing the obvious complaint from one of his subordinates, the leader halted and turned to face the speaker, releasing a quiet sigh of exasperation while doing so. "Like I told you at the start of this expedition, our mission is to deliver fresh supplies to the scouts that were stationed here a year ago to survey the landscape and report suspicious activity. That, and we haven't heard back from them in weeks, so we are to to travel up there with the rations to check on them. Understand?"
"Yes sir, Captain Silver." The guard captain, Silver Shell, nodded back and faced forward once more. However, he had doubts, and he knew deep down something was wrong. While there no official report was released, he had heard from a friend that the last few convoys that were sent to deliver the rations disappeared without a trace. Something must have happened to them, and the higher-ups weren't telling them everything.
There were also the rumors. Rumors of cannibalistic ponies that scavenged the badlands for prey. Rumors of ancient, powerful beasts that lay dormant just within the borders of Equestria as an explanation for why the other sentient creatures of Equus rarely travelled in and out of Equestria. Rumors of mysterious cults that lived in the shadows of the landscape, preserving some twisted aberration of society. Many of these started out as childhood tales, meant to keep the young and curious from putting themselves into danger.
However, he was confident that, together, his small group could overcome whatever troubles lay ahead. After all, all the previous groups only had three ponies, none of who were actual guards. Silver Shell was one of the higher ranked unicorns in the army, and his magic potential and training put him almost at Shining Armor's level of skill. In addition, the six other guards he led were exceptionally trained soldiers. Sure, he was the only one of them that had ever been stationed outside of Canterlot, but training was training nonetheless. They all knew what they were doing.
Or at least, they should. Silver couldn't help but catch the nervous glancing his fellow guards were shooting at one another. It seemed he wasn't the only one having doubts about the mission. He let out a quiet sigh and turned again to face his comrades.
"If it makes any of you any more comfortable, I have been maintaining a proximity spell around us." Silver gestured with a hoof up to his horn, which was currently glowing with his signature bright gray aura. "If any creature comes within a certain range of me, I'll be alerted to its size and relative location. This way we won't get taken by surprise by any possible ambushes. Besides, there shouldn't be anypony else up here to attack us anyways; without sufficient protection from the cold, you'd be dead in a few hours tops."
This seemed to put most of the guards at ease, but worry continued to hang over them all like a shadow. Silver waved with his hoof to their entire group.
"We're also twice as large as the normal convoy, and we're all trained soldiers this time. I'd say we stand a much better chance than most ponies."
"Better, you say?"
Every guard whipped their head up and around in alarm, looking frantically for the source of the offending voice. There seemed to be nopony else around other than the rocks and snow of the mountain.
"I think your odds are just as...equal!"
The wind howled and whistled at their ears, and yet the voice seemed to pierce straight through it all. It was clearly the voice of a mare, and yet there was none to be seen. Silver double checked his spell: it was working perfectly fine, finding his six fellow guards with ease, but it wasn't picking anypony else up. He gritted his teeth in frustration and crouched his body in a combat ready stance, the other six following suite. All seven guard ponies slowly backup in a circle formation, their tails to one another. "Who are you and why do you want the supplies?"
The mysterious voice let out a quiet chuckle. "I guess I just don't feel like heading all the way to the closest village to gather supplies. Besides..." The voice chortled menacingly. "... I do enjoy a good fight every now and then."
There was a crackle followed by a flash of teal light ahead on the path, drawing all the guards' attention up front. Where there was once just a snow-covered road now stood a single pony. Silver's proximity immediately began sending alerts to his mind
She wore a similar black cloak as the guards, which flapped about in the snowy winds of the mountain. However unlike theirs, hers donned a large hood over her head that obscured all but her mouth in shadow. Judging by the lilac colored horn that protruded from just below her hood, Silver surmised she was likely using some sort of spell to shield herself from detection. The bare hint of a smile stretched across what was visible of her face as she observed the guards' reactions in silence.
Having been mocked enough for one day, Silver bared his teeth and broke the quiet between them. "This is your last warning. Stand down. We don't need to fight, we could share a few of our supplies with you and leave this mountain together as friends." The mare stiffened slightly at the word 'friends'. Her eyes widened just for a moment before narrowing into a piercing gaze, her ominous smile falling into a more threatening scowl as she lowered her head.
"Oh, we'll be leaving this mountain together alright. Just not in the way that you think."
Her horn was suddenly engulfed with a blinding, teal light. Silver's eyes widened in alarm as the telltale sound of spell charging reached his ears. "Everypony, scatter!"
The seven guards quickly jumped away from each other just in time to avoid the bright beam of magic that surged from the mare's horn. It struck the side of the carriage, blowing it apart in a massive explosion that knocked them off their hooves with a powerful shockwave, showering them in snow and debris. The sound of destruction echoed all around them, bounced back and forth by the walls of the mountain pass. The boxes of supplies lay scattered across the ground mostly intact, their fall having been cushioned by the snowy environment.
Silver slowly opened his eyes, his vision spinning a bit. His head still ached and his ears ringed from the force of the blast, but he got back on his hooves in seconds. He shook his head a little to clear the stars from his sight and glanced behind him to see the rest of his team slowly picking themselves back up. He turned to face forward to see the unicorn mare patiently standing there, a smug grin plastered on her muzzle. Is this some sort of game to her?! He growled in anger and frustration before turning back to his fellow comrades. "Guards! Get her!"
One of the earth pony guards shook himself to his senses and charged at the mare with a warcry, his hooves kicking up tiny clouds of snow in his wake. The mare remained still, as if unimpressed by the show of strength, and stared back at the charging stallion. At the last second he jumped in the air, ready to tackle the unicorn and bring her down to the ground.
Right before impact, however, his sight of her was blinded by a flash of teal light, and he was met only with a face full of snow. A moment later, he heard a crackle and his shadow became briefly visible to him as that same light appeared behind him. He turned around only to witness the mare spinning gracefully in the air, the back of her hind leg speeding towards his face. The guard only had to time to blink in surprise before the blow connected successfully with his cheek, sending him flying. He let out a cry of pain as he was thrown into the side of the mountain pass, where he collapsed unconscious.
Silver did a double take. What?! She can teleport?! And on a whim too?! That's one of the higher tier spells, not even our Shining Armor can perform it without exhausting much of his magic reserves! The mare spared a glance at the fallen soldier before facing forward to glare at Silver, now wearing a horrifying grin that spoke volumes about how she would kick his ass. He felt a shiver crawl up his spine and he instinctively took a step back. Just who or what are we up against here?...
The three pegasi guards look to each other and nodded in silent agreement. They unfurled their wings and with a single flap, took to the skies and began to dive towards the hooded mare. In response, she turned her horn to the sky and began firing off multiple bursts of teal magic at an insanely high rate.
The pegasi spun and swerved frantically through the air to dodge the attacks, most of which passed harmlessly through the clouds. One unfortunate pegasus took a blast right to the chest, eliciting a cry of pain as he was sent crashing down to the ground where he laid out of commision.
With the mare distracted, Silver and the two remaining earth pony guards took the opportunity to gain some ground. It took her but a few seconds for her to notice the movement in her periphery, and she released a small shockwave through the air to throw off the coordination between the pegasi, causing them to ram into each other and tumble to the ground, stunned.
Silver halted his charge and acted on instinct, flaring his horn and wrapping the two falling pegasi in a telekinetic blanket. He carefully lowered them to the ground and set them down onto a soft, snowy spot on the path. With fury in his eyes, Silver turned his horn towards unicorn mare and fired a couple of his own attacks in the form of thin, bright, silver beams of energy, both of which she deftly evaded with a duck followed by a graceful backflip.
Meanwhile, the two earth pony guards continued galloping towards the unicorn mare. With her attention now solely focused on her new attackers, the mare reached out and wrapped a nearby boulder in her teal magic aura. With a flick of her head, she sent the boulder flying towards the two guards. The first guard jumped out of the way just in time, but the second was not as agile, taking the full force of the projectile to the side of his body. The force alone knocked him out immediately, throwing him back with such force that his body slid several body lengths through the snow before bumping into the side of the pass. His armor was perhaps the only thing that kept the blow from being fatal.
Silver quickly rushed over to the fallen earth pony to check his pulse, which to his relief was still present. The last standing earth pony guard stared at his unconscious partner in shock. With a shout of anger, he quickly covered the remaining distance between him and the mysterious pony. With a grunt, he planted his front hooves in front of her and spun about, preparing to deliver a devastating buck to her face.
As soon as he had his hind legs poised in the air, the mare's horn flared once more. A translucent, dome of teal light materialized around the mare just in time to take the force of the stallion's kick. The sound of the impact resounded throughout the pass, releasing a weak shockwave that loosened bits of rock and snow from the sides of the pass, and jolting the two pegasi guards back to their senses.
The pair of them took one look at the scene in front of them before taking to the air, gaining altitude and preparing to deliver a strong aerial strike.
The mare gave a moment to peer at the small cracks that had formed on the spot of impact, and gave a slight hmph as if criticizing the stallion's strength. "Not bad, not bad at all. Seems I still need to work on a few things. Nevertheless..."
The mare suddenly flared her horn; her shield spell lost its shape as it started to morph into something else. Before the guard in front of her could react, the glowing dome of energy wrapped itself around the stallion's hind legs like a tight lasso. With a confused shout, he was lifted him up into the air by his legs, where he flailed about uselessly to grab onto something. He struggled to escape the grip of his captor, but it was no use; the mare floated his out just far enough that his desperate swings couldn't reach her face.
She held him there for a few seconds while blocking a few of Silver's bolts of gray magic with a few bursts of her own. Silver stomped on the ground in annoyance, unable to get a clearer shot as she levitated the guard in front of her like a living shield. "You coward! Let him go!"
"'Coward?!'" The mare cackled at the insult, and raised the guard she held captive up to both their eye levels, sparing a quick glance at his wide, frightened eyes. "You speak of cowardice to me? Have you forgotten who outnumbers who here?"
With loud 'poof', the two pegasi guards reemerged in her view from the clouds, parting the endless blanket of gray for but a brief second. The pair of them streaked through the cloudline, aiming for a head-on collision with the offending mare. Her grin grew even wider as she watched them fly closer and closer. Then, with a quick jerk of her head, she released the guard from her magical grip and hurled him towards his fellow soldiers. Their eyes grew wide in panic and, before either of them could change their trajectory, they slammed together with a painful CRUNCH.
Silver watched as they tumbled unconscious down to the ground, landing somewhere off in the distance in a cloud of snow. Just like that, he was alone with the unknown mare. It was as if the entire time she had been saving him for last. She brushed off her chest with a hoof and chuckled.
"Hehe, now this should be quite a fair fight, won't you agree?"
Silver scowled back, an angry fire burning in his eyes. "Wretch!" He pointed his horn straight at the mare and channeled his magic into a deadly explosive spell, releasing it with a cry of fury. The deadly ball of silver light sped towards his opponent, leaving behind a trail of sparks as it whisked towards its target.
The hooded unicorn stood still, watching patiently as the the spell quickly covered the distance between them. At the last second before impact, her horn flashed and she was engulfed in a burst of bright, teal light, before disappearing with it. The projectile struck the snow behind where she once stood, throwing up snow and dirt in a powerful explosion. Silver narrowed his gaze and planted his hooves down, standing his ground as his eyes and ears searched for a sign of his opponent.
Suddenly, his ears perked at the sound of a teleportation spell manifesting directly behind him. He ducked instinctively, feeling the heat from the teal laser of magic as it zoomed through where his head had once been. Hearing the mare continue to charge her magic, he quickly pushed off on all fours and rolled to put as much distance between the two of the, all while dodging several rapid-fire bursts of magic scorching the snow behind him.
As soon as he heard the unicorn halt her magic assault, Silver quickly rolled back onto all fours. He lit his horn and wrapped as much snow around him as he could in his magic and lifted it above him.
His horn flashed a second time, and all snow coalesced to form hundreds of miniature daggers of ice. He panted a little from the amount of energy spell took out of him, but shook his exhaustion off as he glared at the hooded mare, who simply stared at the floating projectiles in interest. "You want to see what I have? Then take this!"
One sweep of his head and Silver sent all the icicles hurling towards his opponent. The mare lit her horn as well, this time emanating a subtle, but powerful, red aura that distorted the air around it. The snow around her receded, and as Silver's mini ice flurry approached her, every bit of ice immediately melted into water upon contact with the mare's heat spell.
However the heat did nothing to the water which, to Silver's satisfaction, poured right on top of her, drenching her cloak and everything. She took a step back in annoyance, flicking her front hooves a few times to remove the drops of water from her coat. Silver stepped forward, a faint smile present on his face. "How was that for you?"
"Hmmm, quite impressive. Definitely better than the unicorns I faced in the previous groups." Silver opened his mouth to speak up but was cut off. "However, while this has been fun, I think it's time to end our little game."
What, was she holding back?! Silver took a few steps back as the unicorn reached up and unfastened her now wet cloak from around her neck. With a sweep of her hoof, she tossed the cloak up into the air, letting the wind carry it away out of sight.
The unicorn that stood before him had a coat of lilac fur, and a mane of purple with a cyan streak running down the middle. Her mane parted ways just above her horn, trailing slightly down on either side of it and stopping right before her eyes, which were a light purple shade. The back of her mane and tail were both curled slightly down, with the same streak of cyan blue running through the centers. On her flanks rested a dark gray cutie mark with two thick lines running parallel, horizontally. A mark of equality.
With her menacing grin back on her face, the mare lit her horn and her body was wrapped in her own signature teal aura. Slowly but surely, she began to lift off the ground, supporting her weight with a blanket of her own telekinetic magic. Silver backed up in alarm. Teleportation was one thing, but self-levitation was one of the most advanced magic techniques to be developed. Virtually all unicorns know the basic telekinesis spell, which requires using one's body as a reference to move other objects relative to their position. Self-levitation had no stable reference point, making it one of the hardest skills for even a magically-talented unicorn to learn.
And she's doing it so smoothly... Silver backed up in anticipation, his horn practically emitting sparks from the amount of magic he had built up. The mare continued to watch the light show, not letting show any hint of reaction. Her mane flowed in her levitation magic, reminding him of the way Princess Celestia's mane moved in the absence of wind. She looked down at him from where she hovered, her muzzle stretched in a wide, triumphant grin.
"It's over now! I have the high ground!"
Silver snarled and crouched low, stomping the snow with a hoof. "You underestimate my power!" He squeezed his eyes shut and focussed more magic into his horn. The light from it was almost blinding, and yet his opponent continued to stare him down with the most apathetic expression in existence.
A small circle of gray runes formed in the snow around Silver, slowly spinning round him. A dozen or so glowing, silver shards of magic materialized in the air around him, all pointing towards his enemy. She raised an eyebrow.
"Don't try it. "
Silver let loose a guttural scream and charged straight for floating mare, his magic shards trailing behind him. With a wave of his horn, he sent two of his constructs speeding towards her at an impossible speed. The mare's smirk fell and she swiftly lifted herself just in time for avoid becoming a pony shish kabob.
Suddenly, Silver detected movement on his right and, with a flick of his eyes, noticed a giant boulder tumbling towards him, its form wrapped in a familiar teal aura. Silver halted his charge and faced the incoming rock. Right before collision, he brought all ten of his remaining shards down upon the it with a downwards swipe. Upon impact, the boulder was destroyed in a shower of stone debris, sending bits of rock flying around their landscape.
The light from her horn brightened and the gentle snowfall around her began spinning rapidly. Within seconds, the particles had collected together to form a beautiful, crystalline blade of ice. She gripped its hilt in her magic and swung it around a little, giving it a good once over. She chuckled to herself quietly before turning her attention back to the last stallion. Without warning, she dive-bombed straight for him, her body accelerating from her magic.
Silver growled and flung shard after shard at the rapidly approaching unicorn, who either deftly evaded or blocked them with a swing of her blade. It was as if he were throwing pebbles at a waterfall; she didn't even need to slow down as she swatted away every single attack he threw at her with ease. He put aside his two remaining shards and resorted to straightforward magic blasts. Channeling as much magic from his reserves into his horn, Silver unleashed a wide variety of attacks at the rapidly approaching unicorn.
The mare twirled over his piercing beam of silver magic, summoning a brief bubble shield to deflect several small magic blasts that followed. Nothing seemed to work; the mare flashed the guard a massive shit-eating grin as she continued to force her way through every single attack he flung at her. Silver gritted his teeth and slowly began to back up until his flank was at the mountain wall. The mare flashed a wicked grin and continued her dive towards him. "What's wrong? Giving up so soon?"
"Never." Silver watched as the mare got closer and closer, an expression of trepidation covering his face. "Just waiting for you..."
"For me to end you perhaps?" Silver could already see the whites of her eyes.
"No... for you to get close enough!!" A look of anger and determination flooded out the fear from his eyes. Silver let loose a powerful roar as he heaved his head as high as he could, bringing forth the two remaining magic shards he had conjured and concealed under the snow earlier. With as much strength as he could muster, he hurled them straight for the mare's underside as she passed over their former hiding spot. The projectiles collided with the mare head-on, releasing an explosion of snow that blinded Silver's vision. Quickly shaking his head, he cast a weak wind spell, clearing up much of the air around him. In front of him lay a single, lavender-coated body, as still as the mountain itself.
Finally... Silver stood there for a few seconds, panting from the energy expended during the battle. He had never encountered a unicorn with such high magic potential before, and the fight had taken a lot out of him. Nevertheless, all those years of training and magic study had been worth it. He took a few deep breaths before slowly walking over to the mare's unconscious form. "That'll teach you to mess with the Royal Guard of the Sun."
"If you were trying to teach me something..."
Silver's hairs stood on end as the mare's voice rang out from behind him, followed by a flash of her familiar teal light and the unmistakable sound of a teleport. He whipped around in surprise and was able to catch a glimpse of the mare's front leg racing towards his face before the blow landed. The force of impact threw him off his hooves and he slid back through the snow for a few seconds. Blistering pain coursed through his every nerve and sparks of gray mana poured freely out of the few cracks in his now damaged horn. They would heal in a day or two, but for now, the pain was too strong; Silver couldn't keep his focus long enough to cast another spell. He was down.
"...all I learned was that you're all a bunch of gullible FOOLS!"
It took all of his remaining strength just to lift his gaze to her. "But... how? I didn't see you teleport out of the way!"
The mare cracked a vicious smile at him as he she stared down at his crippled form. "Such foolishness, I was behind you almost the entire time! As soon as I drew your attention to the boulder, I teleported behind you and cast a low-level perception field around me, then cast an illusion spell so you would think I was still in the air!"
The crystalline sword floating next to her broke apart into pieces of snow that blew away with the wind. She closed her eyes and her horn flashed with blinding intensity. All six other guards in Silver's convoy appeared behind him in a burst of teal magic. They hovered for a second before crashing down together in the snow, eliciting a chorus of weak groans and whimpers.
The mare slowly started to approach them, her frighteningly gentle smile on her muzzle. All seven guards weakly backpedalled as far as they could, trying to put as much distance as possible between them, until they each hit the side of the mountain pass. There was no way out.
Fright filled their very being, having never been put in this sort of situation before. It took every ounce of courage left in Silver's body for him to find his voice. "Wh- what do you want with us?"
"Want from you?" The mare chuckled quietly to herself before shaking her head. "No no no no, you have it all wrong; I only want to help you."
Teal magic began to swirl around her horn, its aura growing brighter and brighter by the second. Every guard's eyes widened in panic as they tried desperately to gallop away, but it was no use; their bodies were drained of virtually any strength from the previous fight. All they could was watch in anticipation. Silver shouted back to her, traces of fear hiding within his voice. "What could you possibly have to offer to us?! We'll never betray Equestria!"
"Hmmm, well all I want..." The glow around the mare's horn had reached the peak of intensity, to the point where the guards had to squint their eyes just to return her gaze. Her eyes fell briefly upon one of the guards' exposed cutie marks. "... is to show you..." The light around her horn shot forward and engulfed the seven guards. Screams of pain and agony echoed throughout the mountain, too far for any other pony to hear.
"... a better way."
"Princess Celestia!"
An Earth pony guard burst into the Canterlot throne room, completely out of breath and eyes wide in alarm. A white-coated alicorn sat upon the single throne at the other end of the room. She looked up in surprise, putting down the stack of papers held within the golden aura of her magic. "Hello Steel Drop, what might be the reason for this interruption?"
The guard's pupils shrank in realization and he quickly dropped into a hasty bow. "I- forgive me, princess."
Celestia quietly nodded, and the guard got back to his hooves. "So, I take it that there has been an update in status regarding the missing guards from the supply convoy?"
"Yes, there has, but... I don't know what to make of it..."
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Show me."
The guard turned around and, as if on cue, the main doors parted to reveal a single form standing behind. The princess's eyes widened in shock as she took in the newcomer's appearance. "Get him to a medical room, now!"
"Yes, princess!" The two guards in the room began to escort the new arrival down one of the hallways to the side, using their weight to support him. Celestia turned back to the first guard.
"Go alert the hospital staff. Have them notify me if his condition changes in ANY way. I need to write a letter." The guard nodded and turned around, galloping back out through where he came entered.
Celestia wrapped a quill and a small scroll of paper in her magic and lifted it up to near eye level. I was hoping it wouldn't go this way... but it seems some things just don't go our way...
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before setting the quill to the paper.
To my most faithful student...
Author's Note
Hope ya enjoyed this first chapter!^^ This should be a longer series, and I could use every bit of feedback that I can get so I'd appreciate if yall could point out areas that I need to work on, areas I did well in, and suggestions of course are also very appreciated! Thanks for reading!!!!
