CHAPTER I -- GENESIS
‘Tis time.’
The bitter chill of the wind bit at the mare’s nose as soon as she set hoof into the swirl of white at the edge of the doorway. It was a hesitant step, and she shook slightly as her hoof sank into the snow, chilling her leg up to the pastern. Her pale blue gaze drifted over the landscape from beneath the hood of a deep emerald cloak. The white was consuming all again, and in the haze of twilight she could see that yet more snow would cover the ground overnight. How much would cover in a day, a week, a month?
A sigh escaped the grey mare’s nostrils, sending a visible puff into the air before her. Dipping her head, she stepped out into the darkness and closed the door with a tiny click behind her. She glanced around quickly before continuing on, thankful her soft hoofbeats were muffled by the snow that blanketed the cobbled street.
As she made her way around a corner and through the dimly lit alleyway, the mare ran the King’s instruction through her head again.
'Take it. Take it far from here to the fair Princess Celestia. My best courtier and ambassador shall escort thee. Leave not a trace. Take it far away.’
Another turn brought the mare closer to her destination: a rather shabby-looking door on the edge of the line of stone houses. Her pace quickened as the distance between her and the door quartered, halved...
A sudden noise brought her whirling mid-step toward it. She braced, horn glistening in the light, gingerly favoring a bulge beneath her cloak as she faced the source of the sound.
Out of the shadows of the alley stepped a fine unicorn stallion, cloaked in a similar garment to the one she wore, trimmed in intricate gold swirls. He lifted his bronze head, seeming to tower over her for a second as his silver mane fell lightly into his face.
“Be still, Clocha Sneachta,” he rumbled softly. “’Tis I.”
“Sir Caor Thine,” she breathed. “Ye gave me a fright.”
The stallion stepped past her with a dip of his head, glancing back once. “We must be off. I shall guide the way.” With that he continued on through the growing darkness, his heavy footfalls a muffled crunch in the ever-deepening snow.
The mare lowered her head and shivered slightly, taking care to step into the hoofprints left in his wake; there would be only one set leading out of the city this night, and nothing to speak of any incident having gone on. She whispered, “Sir Thunderbuck...”
The stallion said nothing at first, flicking his ear back at her as the pair continued on. “Quiet, my Lady... We must leave Rathrua before we speak more, lest we be... overheard.”
With a nod the mare fell silent once more, letting the growing rush of the wind fill her ears and lungs. The unicorn pair slipped out of the close warmth of the city and into the night as the washed away in the traces of their passing as quickly as their walk was slow. There was a stir at the mare’s side, and she turned her head slightly to glance at the bulge once more.
She quickened her step to catch up to the stallion before her, and with a nervous flick of her tail she spoke. “Sir, it wakes. We must do something, we cannot allow it to remain swaddled all night...”
Thunderbuck glanced at her once more, then to the bulge. “Equestria.”
“Pray tell--”
“We must leave for Equestria, Lady Frostfall. We cannot wait throughout the night.”
The mare hesitated. “How far--”
A strong breath escaped the stallion’s flared nostrils as his gaze left the mare once more. “A fortnight by hoof, without pasture.”
“A fortnight? Nay, we cannot go so very long-- It must eat, and we must rest.”
“Hist, there shall be time for rest when we hath reached the pass. Wolves lurk here, and terrible beasts that would--“
Frostfall snorted, lifting her head. “Mare’s tales. Terrible beasts? What be thy terrible beasts, Sir? Anything worse than Windigos? In such weather we need fear only those spectres, not ones ye heard as a co--”
Thunderbuck stepped in front of the grey mare, giving an angry snort. “These be more than mere tales, filly. Thou wouldst be wise to remember such, as we step into the unknown Southernlands.”
She stuck out her chin with a frown, but before she could retort a quick nudge from the bulge beneath her cloak snapped her to the reality of the situation. “Very well, Sir...” She stepped forward past him, into the white. “As thou hath said we hath a fortnight’s walk ahead... tales aside.”
As the stars slipped in and out of the clouds, awakening with night’s fall, the pair walked. The bitter cold fingered through their thick coats, rustling their manes and tails, and Thunderbuck’s hint of a beard. They walked silently, Frostfall before him, their precious cargo still tucked neatly and warm at her side. Shadows flitted in the distance, marred by the white and the settling fog of night. Thunderbuck caught sight of them first, and the hiss sent Frostfall’s way made her stop. He tensed, and her muscles quivered as the pair froze. Thunderbuck lifted his head, drinking in the wind.
“What is it, Sir?”
He let out his breath in a rumble of an exhale before speaking, his gaze never moving from the shadows that danced in the distance. “Wolves. If we be lucky, they shalt not trouble us this night.”
“Not trouble us?” Frostfall said, turning back toward him with a shake of her delicate head, careful to tread only in her own hoofsteps. “But Sir, if we art surrounded or chased, I canst not defend. And ye-- well, not to say anything against thy own strength or ability, but thou canst not defend the both of us from wolves, who wilt no doubt beset us.”
Thunderbuck set his jaw in what Frostfall took as stalwart determination. “I be well-learned in all manner of beast, my Lady. Hist, no wolves wilt have us downed before we reach Equestria.”
