Violet pushed aside the undergrowth with her magic for the hundredth time and heaved a sigh of relief at seeing what appeared to be an animal trail that was going roughly in the direction that she desired. She had drastically underestimated the density of groundcover in this type of forest and her hike up the low mountain to her goal was proving to be quite arduous. She paused long enough to drink a gulp of water from the flask that she kept in her saddlebag before proceeding. After following the relatively easy path for a while, she came upon a small creek. It was narrow enough for her to step over but it was probably a vital water source for the local fauna. The trail continued on the other side before turning downhill. It was time to part ways. The mare took a bearing with her GPS and headed into the bushes once more.

About a half-hour later, she noticed moss-covered rocks were getting more prevalent and larger. They had the effect of thinning out the vegetation but making moving forward gradually more difficult the further up she went. Only her field experience let her negotiate some of them even as she grumbled, “I’m a pony, not a mountain goat.”

As Violet wound her way higher, the moss thinned out and vanished, leaving her surrounded by bare rock. Eventually, the unicorn was confronted by an impassable jumble of gigantic boulders. As the mare assessed her options, she realized that she could smell smoke. Violet had noticed some barbecues the previous day but she should not be able to smell any up here. The orientation material told her colonists did not practice slash and burn farming. The forest hundreds of feet below saw regular rainfall and was in little danger of burning, so the mare was not greatly concerned about the fire but you couldn’t take it for granted.

“Time to cheat a little,” Violet murmured, lighting up her horn.

The unicorn was skilled in several disciplines other than the basics. In this case, she was particularly adept at self-levitation. The mare rapidly rose above the immediate obstacles only to see even more, so she kept going further up. Spotting the tower that was her goal, she realized that she was very near the top now and the smoke smell was getting stronger. Suddenly, Violet sensed that she was not alone up here. Cresting the last pile of boulders, her eyes confirmed that feeling. A tiger-patterned chakat with short brown hair was relaxing alongside a campfire over which was hanging a small cooking pot. Violet immediately noticed that the chakat had been looking in her direction before she had been visible. Somehow, despite her silent approach due to levitating, her arrival had been anticipated. Judging by the soft smile on the stranger’s face, the mare’s presence was not undesired.

Violet returned the smile as she came in for a landing. “Hello. I wasn’t expecting to find anyone up here, let alone a chakat. I’m told that there are only two of you in the colony.”

The chakat nodded. “That’s right. I come up here regularly though and I don’t usually meet anyone.”

“You seemed to know that I was coming.”

“Yes, I did. Chakats are empaths and I sensed your emotions a couple of minutes ago.”

Violet raised an eyebrow. “From way down there?” she said with an inclination of her head in the direction from which she had come.

The chakat chuckled. “Well, without any other being around for kilometers, it’s not hard to spot the one shining beacon in the psionic landscape.”

The mare grinned wryly. “I suppose not. My name is Violet Woods, by the way.”

“Mine is Tigerbright. I’m making tea; care for a cuppa?”

“Sure, if it isn’t any trouble. Hey, aren’t you the one who works in the Chakonan government office?”

“Yep, that’s me.”

“This isn’t the kind of place I’d expect to find an office worker.”

Tigerbright snorted in amusement. “That’s precisely why I’m here. I like my job but I really need to get away from the office and crowds by the end of the workweek. I’ve always liked hiking and camping so I regularly come up here for the exercise and the view. How about you? Normally, only pegasi come up here to service the communications tower once in a while.”

“I’m a geologist, so I’m used to hiking to places. There’s only so much that you can determine remotely. It takes hooves on the ground to check out the promising sites. Anyway, I wanted to come up here for a couple of reasons including getting a good look at the lay of the land.” Violet stepped over to near the edge of the cliff to take in the view of the vista below. From here, she could see the entire settlement from the original structures near the beach to the new developments. She could even identify her apartment complex. But it wasn’t the artificial features that drew her eye, no matter how pleasingly they had been designed and landscaped. The lush forest that surrounded the colony, the golden beaches, and the turquoise waters were breathtaking. “This is absolutely gorgeous,” the mare said with a broad smile.

“It sure is,” agreed Tigerbright. “The tea’s ready. Got a cup?”

Violet turned away from the view and hauled out her flask, unscrewing the top. It doubled as a cup in situations like these although she had not anticipated needing it on this occasion. The chakat filled the cup before doing the same with hir own. They both took a moment to sip a bit of the very hot brew before Tigerbright spoke up again.

“So, you mentioned that you had a couple of reasons to come up here. May I ask what else besides the view?”

“I wanted to get a look at the mana flow of the area.”

Tigerbright’s eyebrow rose. “What’s that?”

Violet took another sip of her tea before setting the cup on the ground. “Perhaps it would be easier to show you. Give me a moment.” She shut her eyes and her horn began to glow. For several seconds, nothing appeared to happen, then sparkling streams of silvery light appeared from nowhere. Everywhere the chakat looked, even down to the township below, ropes and strings were crossing the landscape, occasionally joining or diverging.

“There! Those are what you might call ley lines. They show the natural flow of mana, the power behind magic. They’re very strong and dense around here.”

“Won’t seeing all that… mana… disturb the people down there?”

“The spell didn’t make it visible – it affected your perception so that you can see it. The spell will fade in a few minutes.”

Tigerbright pointed to the nearby tower. “There seems to be a lot there.”

The unicorn nodded. “It makes sense that they’ve built a magitek device at the conflux of the mana streams.”

“I’ll take your word for that. So – did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yes and no. I kind of expected this result. If I had been the one choosing the site of a colony, I’d want to put it where the mana supply is ample. While we, like all life, can generate mana too, we can suffer from magic exhaustion if we drew on nothing but our reserves all the time. Anyway, it’s a possible clue to the mystery I intend to solve.”

“Mystery? Is this something the Chakonan government should know about?”

Violet laughed. “No, nothing so dramatic. In deciding to make this my new home, I found myself wondering why House Path chose this island in particular.”

“Well, it was uninhabited and unclaimed so far,” Tigerbright pointed out.

“Yes, but so are a great number of others, many of which are located nearer to existing settlements and their resources.”

“Maybe they wanted the privacy?”

Violet shook her head. “Equestria and House Path, in particular, have a policy of bringing races and cultures together in Harmony. Isolation runs counter to that goal.”

“The colony was originally a base for the Equestrian military. Perhaps those in command wanted to maintain a safety margin from other settlements?”

“Sensible but there are still plenty of suitable sites that could have been used which were also a reasonably safe distance from civilians.”

Tigerbright shrugged. “Beats me then. Have you any ideas?”

“Yeah. I’ve seldom seen such a dense mana flux. Either something is causing it or using it, but I don’t know which yet. It does seem likely that it would draw the interest of House Path though, especially considering that Twilight Sparkle, the foremost mage in Equestria, is one of the founders.”

“Sounds like you have quite a mystery on your hooves if she hasn’t figured it out.”

Violet grinned. “Yep. Unlike her though, I will be trekking all over this island doing my job, and I will have the time and opportunity to poke my muzzle into many places she hasn’t. After all, Princess Twilight Sparkle is way too busy with more important tasks to investigate a second-string mystery.”

“I wish you good luck with your sleuthing.” Tigerbright finished the last of hir tea and put the mug away in hir pack. Shi then got up onto hir paws, picked up the pot, and poured the remaining water onto the fire. Shi scraped dirt on top of the steaming remains to ensure that it was thoroughly extinguished. “Well, I’m going to start heading back down now. Care to join me? We can chat along the way.”

“Sure! I’d like that. Just give me a moment to have another look at the view.”

“You probably didn’t notice because you were facing the wrong way when you floated up here, but you can just see the spaceport on the other side of the ridge from the top of that boulder.” The chakat pointed it out.

Violet used her magic to scale the huge rock and spotted the clearing in the forest where the spaceport was located. Aside from the road from there to the township, the remainder of the area appeared to be virgin forest still. The unicorn turned around to look once more at her new home and she smiled. “You made a good choice, Violet Woods,” she murmured to herself.

“Did you say something?” Tigerbright asked from below.

The unicorn levitated herself down again, saying, “I’m just thinking that I’ll have to come up here again soon. It’s too beautiful to take it all in at one time.”

The chakat chuckled. “Can’t say I blame you. I haven’t tired of this view yet despite the number of times I’ve been here.”

“So – do you know a better route than the one that I took?”

“I should hope so! I haven’t just hiked up here without doing plenty of exploring at the same time. Not only have I discovered some quicker routes, but I’ve also found some gorgeous scenery along the way. I’m thinking of commissioning a proper hiking trail so that everyone can visit Tower Peak safely and easily. Anyway, follow me.”

The chakat set off and Violet fell in behind hir. It seemed that this little expedition was going to pay greater dividends than the mare could have hoped for. She might learn a lot from one of the locals, and a chakat at that!

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Author's Note

Next chapter – The Chat.

Art by Foxenawolf.