A Tale of Blood and Ice.

Aidan walked back into the council chamber a bit flustered, having gotten lost a good number of times has left him slightly annoyed. “At last!” He shouted, causing everyone in the room to jump and shout at him.

“Now you look like a warrior.” Ductoris shouted, “Come and sit, we have a few things to discuss and plan.” Motioning to the seat next to him.

Aidan rushed over, pulled the seat out and sat down, making sure he didn’t

scratch the wood with his sword.

“Good now,” The Prince pointed at the map, “We’ve told you that you have to go through the mountain, but not how.”

“You said you had a passage.” Aidan interrupted.

The Prince coughed into his hand, “Yes, but the passage is dangerous at best. We don’t know how long it is... at least not initially.”

“Hold on, you’re sending me through without any information about it!?” Aidan looked shocked.

“We have information, it’s just scrambled... We know it does lead to the other side, but it’s pitch black in there; with multiple passageways intersecting. The best we could do was make a small map detailing which passage is the right one.”

“O-okay, sorry.”

“It’s okay; now we have you all set up, you can take the night to relax. In the morn’, we shall lead you to the mine, but past that you are on your own.”

“Yes sir.” Aidan replied with a sad undertone which didn’t go unnoticed.

“Don’t look so sad, you are possibly saving the empire here.” Ductoris leaned in close and whispered, “And between you and me, it holds well with the women,” Before chuckling.

Aidan shook his head while rising, “If that is all, then I bid you goodnight. I have a lot to think about.”

The Prince stopped laughing and rose, “Goodnight Aidan, sleep well.” He said with a small smile on his face which did go unnoticed by Aidan.

Back in his quarters; Aidan sat on his couch, holding a glass of elven wine. He took another sip, a quantity that was lost to him and cringed, he could almost feel his taste buds dying off with each sip.

After a couple of glasses though, he stopped cringing and started to enjoy the taste. He heard a couple of knocks on the door, sitting still to make sure it was the door, he heard them again. Placing his glass down on the ross-wood carved table, he rose with a slight wobble and made his way to the door.

Gripping the handle, he opened the door. Standing in the hallway was Pura, clothed head to toe in heavy robes. “H-hello Aidan, can I come in?”

“Of course...” He moved out of the way as Pura walked into his quarters. He eyed her with only a small bit of suspicion as he grew up outside the wall and suspicion was naturally needed to stay alive.

“Why are you wearing that robe?” He asked, moving back over to the couch and sitting down again. Pura moved in front of him; blocking out the fire, causing a faint gold outline to appear around her.

She untied the knot that held her robe together and let it fall to the ground. She stood there unrobed and utterly naked. “I thought a going away present would ease your mind.”

Aidan looked over her body, she was pale white, a clear contrast against the harsh backdrop of Prez. “I... think it would...”

Pura moved forward, swaying her hips; causing Aidans eyes to move down, “I’ll take care of you tonight.” She whispered.

Aidans eyes slowly opened, this time to no rooster call. He rolled over and felt that Pura wasn’t in the bed anymore. Sighing, he got out of bed and opened the curtain and looked out over the city. It seemed to be early morning, barely past 11 am.

Quickly, he threw on his gear and rushed out of the door, he wanted to get to the mine and onto his journey as fast as possible and sleeping in would waste valuable hours that he did not have.

He ran into the Council room gasping and wheezing for air. The Prince looked up from his lunch, “Aidan, what a surprise. I’d have thought you would want to lie in for at least a couple more hours?”

“No time,”gasp“Assignment more,”Gasp“Important.”

“Are you okay?” Asked Pura from behind, running her hand over Aidans back.

“Yeah, I’m good.” He replied, finally able to catch his breath, “and you?”

“Oh, I’m alright; sorry about this morn’.” She said, surprised at Aidans thoughtfulness.

“Ductoris, can I get this over with. I want to finish this mission as soon as possible.” Aidan demanded, moving over to the Prince.

Ductoris sighed, “Sure, I was just finishing up here anyway.” The Prince rose, “I’ll lead the way.”

The three of them walked out to the front of the palace where the Prince gained an escort; they carried onto the mine entrance.

The mine was located right at the base of Mt Snow-blown, the tallest of the chain. Around the entrance stood a small town; only there due to the unusually high levels of coal and metals located deep down.

They stood right outside the entrance, the Prince’s escort forming a semicircle around them as they talked. The wind blocking any sound from escaping around them.

Ductoris moved up to Aidans side and gripped his shoulder “Ok, here we are. It’s simple enough, you follow the signs until you reach the passage, then light your torch and follow the map till you get to the other side; got that?”

“Yeah, I’ll make it through just fine; What could go wrong, it’s just a passageway.”

Pura shook her head, “Anyway, you should get going; by our estimates, if you make good time you could make it out the other side before nightfall.”

Damn, ten hours of walking. Aidan thought to himself, “Alright, I’m ready.”

The Prince released his grip and shook Aidan’s hand, “It’s been an honor to meet you, good luck,” the Prince let his hand go and stepped back.

Pura stepped forwards, “Aidan, good luck...” She rushed in and hugged him, surprising him. She let go and stood back, a red hue on her face.

Aidan rubbed the back of his neck as he looked away, “I’m not so good with goodbyes... so I’ll just go in.” He shouted, over the sound of the rushing wind. He then turned and pressed forwards, leaving the city he grew up in, possibly forever.

After ten minutes of walking, Aidan had had enough of the gloominess of the tunnels and the constant crunching of his boots. Hoping to shorten the time, he sped up his footsteps.

He pulled out his map as he came to the end of the mine and the start of the passageway. He looked over the map and saw that it had been hastily drawn and had almost no detail on it. Sighing he put it away and trekked on forward, drawing and lighting his torch.

Movement through the passageway was made troublesome by the cramped environment, sometimes bringing Aidan to his hands and knees as he had to crawl through the small holes.

“Aidan help us, they said. It shouldn’t be too hard, they said. Bullshit.” He mumbled as he pulled out the map again as he made it to a four-way tunnel section. “It shows I have to go forwards... okay then.”

He carried on forwards at a steady pace, climbing over rocks, crawling under obstacles, and sometimes jumping over cracks in the ground. As he went deeper into the mountain, the cracks around him became deeper and more numerous, and soon he found that the floor simply gave way to a pit.

“Oh crap... um... I can’t go back; I have to go and find a way around.” Aidan backtracked a small portion of the passage and found a side tunnel leading in the same general direction and took it.

He traversed that for another twenty minutes, sure in the knowledge that he had bypassed the hole. But as his hope rose, it plummeted as he found another hole in front of him. While still large, it wasn’t as big as the other one.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, “Alright, I don’t have time to go around.” He pulled out a long portion of rope and tied it to a large boulder next to the hole and then to himself.

Lowering himself down, Aiden started to climb the wall across; but stopped as his grip failed him on some damp rock. “Damnit...” He gritted his teeth as he hung here looking down. From where he hung, it seemed like the hole stretched for infinity and made Aidan feel slightly nervous.

“Alright, lets do this.” He mumbled as he regained his grip on the rock, this time bypassing the damp patch and getting about half way before he heard an ominous sound.

Ccrrack

“Oh no...” He saw the boulder detach and fall, plummeting into the abyss. He frantically tried to untie the knot around his stomach, but with only one hand, he couldn’t in time and had the breath knocked out of him as the weight of the boulder pulled him down screaming.

Aidan woke up with a splitting headache, “Ugh... Wait, the hell...?” He picked himself up off the floor and took a look around, he was still in the passageway; the crack in the floor was in front of him. He took a look down into the abyss, “Yeah, still an abyss...”

“I could have hit my head on something... That would explain the headache and the whole not being dead.” Deciding to leave it for later, he turned around and made his way back to the main tunnel to look for an alternate route.

He backtracked for what seemed like hours before making it to what seemed like the tunnel entrance. He turned a corner , having to cover his face as a beam of light hit his eyes momentarily blinding him.

Aidan stumbled forwards, unaware of what was in front of him, almost tripping over rocks and roots before his vision returned. As he passed the threshold of the tunnel, warm air blasted him in the face.

The light died down to a manageable level, where he could see. Aidan gasped; in front of him, stretching out past the horizon, was an endless sea of savanna.

He could do nothing but stand there, his mouth gaping open. The sight of a vast wilderness suddenly appearing where he thought his snow-fallen city, High Prez once stood, brought his brain to a near complete stop.

He stayed like that for another five minutes before he shook himself out of it and took an actual look around, “Hmm.” Aidan mumbled while talking his pack off, crouching down and taking a look inside, “Seems I need some water... Must have burst from the fall...”

He rose back up, looked for a good footing, and moved forwards towards the start of the grassland.

Aidan pushed through the thick brush, having given up any hope of finding a water source long ago. It had been several hours since he left the damp tunnel entrance and he has been regretting every second of it. Almost as soon as he started walking, the heat, his clothes and his body had not agreed, causing him to remove the top part of his ensemble; leaving his undershirt and shield clinging tightly to his back.

Aidan looked up to check how long he had left to trek about, he fell over at the sight of only one sun in the sky. “I must be dehydrated or something...” He wiped some sweat off his face, “Only one...” he muttered, shaking his head.

Pushing himself up, he checked to make sure he hadn’t lost anything, “...Good, still have the rations... I guess I can eat them now.” He unpackaged the rations that Ductoris’s chefs had prepared for him, A bowl of sun roasted rock-shaw and pea soup. Thankfully, it was still sealed at the top.

He found a patch of shade under a white, cracked and withering tree and sat down with his back against the trunk. Popping off the lid, he inhaled the sweet smell, his stomach pleading for the food.

Before he knew it, Aidan had inhaled the food and not a drop sat that the bottom of the bowl, “I’ll have to thank the chefs when I get back.” He thought while getting back up.

Putting the bowl away back into his pack, he strapped it to himself and gazed around at his surroundings. “Nothing in any direction...” Aidan stopped when he saw what looked to be smoke rising in the distance, “Smoke... hopefully it won’t be faeries...”

Aidan trekked through the grass and bushes until he saw that the smoke rising was almost a few minutes away. He cleared the last few bushes and stopped, he gazed upon a small shack standing a few meters away from him.

Thinking for a few moments, mainly to calm himself down from the long walk, Aidan walked forward towards the front of the house and stopped in front of the door. He raised his hand and knocked slowly, making sure anyone in the house could hear him.

A couple of small bumps and crashes were heard inside the house. Aidan stood there, impatiently tapping the stone path with his boot. “One second...” A woman’s voice shouted from inside.

Aidan knocked on the door one more time out of frustration. A few seconds passed and the sound of locks being undone were heard, before the door swung open.

In the doorway stood a waist high, cream colored... pony? “Woah,” Aidan shouted before jumping away, landing on his back, “I need water...”

“Eep!” The pony slammed the door and locked the bolts. Her breathing ragged and shallow, “Don’t eat me, I’m not tasty!”

Aidan got off the floor and shook his head, “The hell did I just see... wait, did that thing talk?” He waltzed over to the door and banged his hand against the wood, “Open up! Please, I need water... I promise not to eat you.”

“No! You’re lying to get in here!” She shouted back, “I’m not fooling for it!” The pony turned around and lifted up the letter flap, spying out to make sure the horrible creature was leaving. Unfortunately for her, the thing was still outside her door.

“Look, I don’t know what you are, but I’ve been walking for hours and I’m not feeling so good...” The strange creature replied, this time with less anger. The pony took a step back, unsure of what she should do. On one hoof, she had something scary which sounded angry just outside her door, on the other she had something scary which needed help. “What kind of pony would I be if I left some creature to die.” She thought to herself before taking a deep breath, “Whatever you are, you can have some water, but you have to move back from the door, and leave everything outside.”

She smiled to herself, she was helping what could possibly be a new friend. The small nagging part of her that said it would hurt her was being pushed to the back as she moved forwards and pushed the locks across with her muzzle. She took one more deep breath and looked outside, through the flap again. The creature had moved back and was now taking it’s saddlebag off.

She felt safe enough about opening the door and gripped the handle in her mouth, pulling down and back.

Aidan stood there, his sword and shield at his feet just in case anything happened. The door in front of him opened slowly and the creature stuck it’s head out, looking right at him. He motioned around himself, “Alright, I’ve taken off my stuff. Can I have some water, please.”

The thing slowly nodded, “This way...” She said before moving out of the house and trotting around the side. Aidan was apprehensive about leaving his gear on the ground, but a quick look about put him at ease, no other houses were even close to this one.

Aidan followed it around the side of the house. Now that he had clear line of sight, he took the chance to examine the creature. It was clearly pony shaped, though the strange cream coloring and light blue two-tone mane were a definite giveaway, ”Maybe the elves have been experimenting with their chemicals again...” Aidan shook his head and sighed, ”I’m obviously dehydrated, once I have some water and a rest It’ll clear up and I can figure out how to get home, war be damned.”

The other thing that stood out about the... pony, was the mark on it’s flank, ” Maybe a stamp?”

The two walked around to the back of the house and into the back garden, “Wait here, I’ll get some...” The pony asked before trailing off. She turned and rushed inside, closing the door behind her.
Aidan sighed, ”I don’t know where I am... taking orders from a pony... What happened back at the tunnel...” He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn’t hear the pony come back into the garden, balancing a glass of water on it’s back.

“Here, you look like you need it...” The pony said, waiting for Aidan to take the glass. He nervously gripped the glass and raised it.

“I guess I don’t know what to expect anymore.” He sighed, causing the pony in front of him to raise her brow.

“So... you’re not going to hurt me?” She asked, hoping her question wouldn’t be taken badly by her new guest.

“Hurt you?” He said, looking down into her eyes, “Of course not. Thank you.” He added.

“She looked away, a blush of embarrassment forming on her cheeks. She had the idea of leaving the creature to finish it’s drink in peace before her curious side emerged, “What are you?”

“Me?” He asked, jumping slightly at the sudden question. “I’m human, and you?”

“Human... human... Can’t say I’ve heard of that.” She mumbled, “Oh, I’m an earth pony.” She replied smiling, “My name is isabelle, what’s yours?” she asked with a slight tilt of her head.

“Aidan... Aidan Ó Birn.” He replied with a smile.

“Aidan... That’s a nice name, definitely not scary at all...” She mumbled, “Would you like to come inside? It gets quite cold at night.” The pony asked, looking up hopefully.

It had been quite a while since she’s been able to entertain anypony and since she wasn’t about to be eaten anytime soon,m this was the perfect opportunity.

“Alright, Let me get my stuff.” Aidan said turning towards the side of the house.

After Aidan had gathered up his bags, he returned to the back of the house to see Isabelle waiting for him on the step leading inside, “What took you so long?” She asked with a slight smile.

“Sorry...?”

“Don’t worry, we have lots of time, come on.” Isabelle turned and trotted in, Aidan following.

As he passed through the door, he saw that the home was furnished quite like a normal human home, grey carpet on the floor, settees facing the fireplace, kitchen looked normal, except a big grey box in the corner of the room.

“You can sit over there,” Isabelle motioned towards one of the settees, “I’ll be over in a minute.”

“Ok.” Aidan walked over to the settee and sat down, noticing the softness far surpassed anything from High Prez, even the royalty of Creywick would have a hard job to beat this.

Isabelle wandered into the room and noticed Aidan examining the settee, “Are you alright?” She asked, concerned.

“Hmm,” Aidan looked over, “Oh... yeah I’m fine.” He replied with a small laugh, “Where did you get this? It’s so comfortable.”

Isabelle moved over next to him, jumping up and laying down. “I bought it where everypony gets their furniture...” She looked at Aidan funny and continued, “You’re not from around here are you?”