//------------------------------// // The Introduction - I // Story: MLP ~ The Song of Seven // by ScarletSet //------------------------------// Somewhere in the Meteoran Border-sands... The Lustrian ambassadors strutted along in their long, important looking robes across the dry, sandy landscape on their way to meet with the Meteoran soldiers. Tufts of dry, brown grass poked up from the dunes and poked their legs and robes as they walked along. The stormwall raged silently and cast a grim haze over the mountain range in the distance. It saved them the trouble of looking away. Everyone knew looking at the Mercurial Mountains was bad luck. It may pull you in, and you’ll never get out, so the stories go. They had just approached the rendezvous point when their leader was nudged in the shoulder by one of her fellow ambassadors. He pointed into the sky with his horn, the way unicorns do. "Up there," he said. "They're coming, Minister." "I see them.” The minister narrowed her eyes. There were dots swooping about in the sky above them, circling like buzzards almost. Once they noticed the unicorns below, one by one they broke away from their formation and spiraled majestically through the air to meet them below. “What if they start another fight?” “They won’t,” the minister said. “They’re just grunts. Follow my lead and everything will be fine.” The unicorns formed a line and stopped to wait for their accomplices to touch down. The first pegasus sentry landed on the sand in front of them with a powerful drop from above that sent sand and grass into the air. His colleagues followed him and one after another they touched down in the same loud and bombastic manner. Once all five pegasus sentries had landed, the ambassadors were sufficiently covered in dust and sand. One blinked rapidly to get a piece out of his eye. "These pegasi, I tell you," one of them hissed. He kicked out one of his legs to shake the sand off. "Bunch of hay-munching show-offs." "Agreed," the minister shook the grit from her mane. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The other ambassadors followed. Their horns glowed, gently at first, and then brilliantly. Glowing torrents whipped the ends of their robes and blew sand into the air. There was a flash, a booming sound, and then a magical force expanded outwards, away from the ambassadors. It carried all of the dirt and grit with it; the ambassadors and their robes were clean and good as new.  The minister smiled and gave a satisfied huff at their modest display. She was the first to step forward, and the pegasus leader, their captain, followed suit. The two met and gave a brisk bow. "Captain Sundowner, I presume?" The minister asked.  "At your service, Miss Minister of Defense. Your reputation precedes you. I understand we're running a little late today." "Ah, yes." The minister's eyes gleamed and she smiled. "We had some business to take care of. So sorry we couldn't come sooner, but I believe it's about time we began. We are very near forbidden territory after all… and that stormwall gives me the creeps." "Wait!" One of the ambassadors ran up to them. "Just a moment..." He dug into a saddlebag and produced a long, collapsed pole. He unfolded it, straightened it out, and dug it into the sand. A thin, flimsy flag unfurled and sagged unceremoniously from the top of the pole. It depicted two winged unicorns circling each other, accompanied by two emblems representing the sun and moon. Both the minister and the captain groaned as the ambassador pulled out a small book, from which he read a short speech. "Herein we ask for the guidance of those who command night and day, in the presence of the Sun and Moon do we their humble servants ask for their blessings." He closed the book shut and stepped back to the pole. "Thank you, with that formality out of the way you may proceed with the parley." The pole creaked and tilted. "Finally!" said the captain. "Here is our monthly report… This should please the Priestess and her cabinet." The pegasus captain called forward one of his men, who handed him a paper package. One of the unicorn ambassadors passed a similar package to the minister. She lifted the package into the air with her magic and passed it along to the captain, who awkwardly retrieved it out of the air. He then fumbled his package to her in return. “Don’t be so nervous, captain. This is all routine,” the minister said sweetly. The captain’s brow twitched. “Of course, anything to solve the monster problem.” A particularly green ambassador nudged his friend and whispered "Meteoras has a monster problem?" "Everyone has a monster problem!” his friend hissed back. “We’re cooperating with the Pegasi because the Minister of Defense needs to gather as much information as possible. This normally does not happen, ever." The ambassador glared at his green friend. "And that's why nobody can hear of this, understand?" The two leaders opened their packages and read the enclosed documents. Their eyes kept darting back and forth between the papers and each other, as if they were waiting on each little reaction. "I see you've been having fun with dragons," the minister said. "But I guess that's fairly normal for Meteorans." Her smile widened. "And you’ve had more quakings? Sounds exciting. I must say, compared to you lot, our month was hardly as eventful... but we believe transparency is important." The way the captain enunciated his sentence made the minister frown slightly. Her ambassador companions shifted nervously.  The minister was the first to close her package and stash it away. Once the captain did the same, the minister nodded to the ambassador with the pole. He took out a small whistle-flute thing and blew hard. "Parley concluded!" he called. Everyone present let out a sigh. “We can finally go home!” a soldier said. “Why do these unicorns need our help in the first place again?” “The stars are too dim for them to read, or some rot like that,” another soldier said with a shrug. “You know, unicorn reasons.” His comrades laughed and the ambassadors glared at them. The minister had hardly noticed. The minister pulled at her cheeks. "If I had to smile like that any longer it would have killed me." "A pleasure to deal with you unicorns, as usual," Captain Sundowner said. "Even though it saps our border forces of valuable horsepower in these dark times." "We all make sacrifices here, Captain. Whatever it takes for peace, after all," the minister said. "Even this small contribution puts us miles ahead on the road to a solution. I’m sure even your Captain Maelstrom would appreciate a Cabalos free of monsters and dragons. Speaking of which..." The minister glanced about the party of pegasus. "Wherever is he? I assumed he would meet us this time." "With all due respect, Miss," the captain said. "Something came up in your absence." "I see… It looks like we both had unexpected business prior that we can't share," she said with another smile. The captain frowned at her. "But I suppose that's just how the ball rolls. The Holy Priestess of Lusters respects your privacy, as do I. She will be very pleased to see that our professional relationship remains... steady. Rest assured the Holy Priestess will be doing her best to ensure that Meteoras is very high on our list of priorities presently.” "High Command will be glad to hear it," the captain said flatly. "Especially after a thousand years of... mistakes... gryphons... and Runewalls. Awful funny that a few monster sightings in Lustre is all it takes to get the Holy Priestess reaching out to us, and not the other way around." "I beg your pardon?" "Miss, with all due respect," The captain shook out his mane and  brought a hoof hard down into the sand. "We appreciate the cooperation, but it will take a lot more than a smile and a few happy thoughts to build back the bridges the unicorns have burned." The minister blinked a few times. Her fellow ambassadors became either very frightened or very angry. "Um, Captain?" an unsure pegasus whispered. "The parley's over!" The captain said. "I can say what I want." The unicorn minister of Defense lowered her brow and frowned at the captain as he marched towards her. "The unicorns hog all of the magic, history, and resources they can manage; they treat dragons, gryphons, and monsters like someone else's problem... but once their pretty little country is in trouble? Suddenly it's everybody's problem! ‘Now it's time to put aside our differences and put our heads together…’ says you!" The captain angrily pushed his face towards the minister's. His helmet threatened to butt into her horn. Her expression was unmoving as he continued. “It's our men who tango with the roughest while you lot stay in your castles and your schools and while the days away to learn about 'magic'... makes my blood boil if I'm being honest. And sending their highest-ranking officer to these meetings isn't a stunt I appreciate!" "Hey, it’s not like any of this is easy for us! Lustre has all sorts of problems!" an ambassador called back. His friends gave him a look. "...That came out wrong... But still! Just because we don't pick fights with other nations or catch hooves with monsters for fun doesn't mean it's all sunshine and roses for us." "Such as?" A pegasus cadet challenged. "We've got two barbaric bordering nations who don't care anything about proper study of history or of magic! Time spent on your kind is time that could be spent studying wasted." the ambassador said. "That's a threat almost as bad as any dragon or monster!" "Barbaric?!" the cadet balked. "You look at the airship, the skyboats, the fluffing steam engine -- all Meteoran inventions -- and you call us barbaric?" "Oh don't get me wrong, you Meteoran muscle heads build all kinds of things to further your own goals and your battles with other creatures. The Sylvain do too, credit where it’s due… when they’re not fighting amongst themselves." "It’s all the same with you people! I don't see what makes you unicorns think you're so much better than the rest of us!" another cadet said. "Well, that’s because it may be true! We do uphold the six Alicorn's teachings to the fullest of our abilities after all, whereas other nations have all but cast them aside." "Last I checked," the captain broke away from his staring contest with the minister. "Meteoras has gotten along just fine without any Alicorns to give us orders. Maybe it's all this worship of mythical horses that holds the nations back!" "How dare you!" an ambassador said. "I hope your High Command knows just how well you actually treat foreign diplomats." The minister narrowed her eyes. "The Holy Priestess will know soon enough at any rate. We will be sure to mention this particular exchange when we get back…. and unless there’s something else you’d like me to tell her, we’d best be on our way." The captain looked like he was about to shout again, but he reeled himself in and nodded. "That's good, fine by me," he waved a hoof and called one of his cadets over. They produced a small, colorful device from one of their bags and a series of wide, thick cards. The cards were tossed unto the sand at the minister's feet. She squinted at them, and then lifted them into the air with her magic. Her ambassadors crowded at her shoulders to see what was the matter. These weren't cards, they were pictures; pictographs. Details were hard to make out because they were taken from so far away. They depicted six unicorns hoofing along not through the mountainous border region, but through the Badlands proper, right at the edge of the stormwall. They all wore important-looking robes, except for the sixth. One picture showed all six unicorns speaking to each other, another showed the sixth alone with a unicorn who looked very much like the minister. The sixth unicorn had a dark gray coat and a silver mane. He was nowhere to be seen in the current party. "Will the Holy Priestess know about this?" the captain asked.  An ambassador turned absolutely livid. "You can't do this. This is a breach of trust! I call espionage; highest-degree espionage!" "It's hardly espionage," the cadet held out the small device. It had a green body covered in flowery swirls colored pink, and a logo etched onto the side that read 'Shutterfly.' "It's called a disposable pictogram. Foals can buy these at the store for twenty bits. Maybe it is just another barbaric invention of ours, but it helped us catch you red-hooved. Maybe if the unicorns in Lustre were more like us they'd be less likely to commit crimes in broad daylight, like dropping a spy into the Badlands. Can’t be any better than snapping a few pictos." "This doesn't prove anything," the minister said quietly. "It proves that you’ve gallivanted through forbidden territory without contacting us, which last I checked was not part of our initial agreement." The captain glared at the minister. "Which is a breach of the ancient treaties if I ever saw one." "You don't know anything," the minister said. "Where exactly was this taken? Can you prove these aren't from the start of our journey? Who's to say he isn't already home? What if he was part of our entire mission and we simply lost him on the way?" "You don't seem to miss him very much if that’s true." "Forgive me for not wailing and beating my breast, Soldier, but we have a job to do. Either way, this doesn't concern you." "That's funny, I think it does. After all, what could drive Lustre, the most upright do-good nation in all of Cabalos to breach an ancient treaty? What else are they willing to do? Should the other nations be worried? Should they know about whatever this is?" He gestured at the pictos. "Worried about us?" The minister put a hoof to her heart and frowned. "Look around you, pegasus! You’ve said it yourself: the land's magical beasts are restless; Ursa Majors are congregating in Lustre, Direwolves and spirits dominate Sylvain, and sea monsters haunt Meteoras -- which you people should know best of all, not to mention the incessant earthquakes we’ve been having.  “The stars themselves give no answer, for once in over two thousands years they are almost unreadable to us. A great cosmic phenomenon has very well made Cabalos its home, the likes of which we've never seen since the Alicorns walked amongst us. The old magical creatures are anxious and afraid, and you're worried about a silly treaty?!" "The six Alicorns you respect so much crafted the treaties, so they say,” The captain said. “I thought the Kingdom of Lustre was supposed to be holy." "We are holy," the minister said with a frown. "We follow the teaching of the Sisters after all. The only ones that mattered. They wouldn’t have agonized over a trifle as this." "Now even your founders are better than ours for some reason?" A cadet asked. The minister closed her eyes. "The Sisters cared not for treaties or national pride, they cared for balance… nothing like your own Brothers, who cared only for absolutes and keeping score, especially when it benefited them the most! Thus the gryphons, thus the storms… Why, if it weren't for the dragons and those blasted mountchasers, the Meteoran Empire may have subjugated all of Cabalos by now." "You are speaking to people who follow the Brothers," the captain said. "I personally couldn’t care less, but if I were you Minister, out here in the middle of nowhere, mocking the beliefs of the nation you’re supposed to be cooperating with... I'd be more than a little afraid." "Is that a threat, Captain?" "Was it, Minister?" The minister held her heart and laughed again. It was a cold, hollow laugh. Her eyes were bright and angry. The markings on her horn lit up and her eyes began to match their glow. "You do not threaten the Mirror Shield of Lustre, the Holy Priestess’ right hoof mare, THE Minister of Defense, lowly pegasus!" The sand rippled in waves around her hooves. "I'd like to see you try and stop me, unicorn!" The captain pawed the ground and lowered his head to charge. Ambassadors rushed to the minister's side, and the captain's cadets and underlings did the same for him. The two groups tensed their legs and counted at the sand, ready to charge, ready to fight. And then someone cried out. "Wait!" the unicorn ambassador with the flag cried out. "Wait." He stuck the flagpole between the two leaders. The flag created a curtain of a barrier between the two groups. "Wait." He said again. The two leaders glared at him, but he didn't back down. The ambassador pointed again and again at the flag depicting the two winged, horned horses circling one another. "Our Alicorns..." he pointed to the soldiers. "And your Alicorns would never want any of us to fight." The wind hissed. The grass billowed gently. The fire left the eyes of both the leaders, and slowly, cautiously, they drew back and turned away from each other. The Pictograph and pictures now lay trampled in the sand. "Whether any of us like it or not, these meetings will continue," the minister said. "We still expect to meet with another party next month, without incident. It doesn't matter what any of us think, Captain, only what we know. And neither of us know anything about the monsters or the quakings, which is why we must continue cooperating for now. If you'll excuse us then..." And one by the one the ambassadors turned around and left. The pole-carrying unicorn solemnly packed away his banner and followed suit. The pegasi watched them go and deflated a little. "H-hold on, just a moment!" The captain cried out. He ran up to the minister. "Lay one hoof on me pegasus, and I plant you on the beach... on the other side of the bay." The minister looked completely unamused. "Please, this is important. Our temper-- my temper got the better of me back there. I actually really need your help." "Really now?" The minister stopped walking to listen. "See, the pictures are proof that you've been in the Badlands. I'll promise I won't report it to my superiors. I'll even burn the pictures and destroy the film... if you answer my question." "Go on." "Captain Maelstrom isn't busy... he's missing." A hush fell over the ambassadors, and the minister raised an eyebrow. "His platoon has been splintered all across the southern shores. They fell victim to some sort of thunderstorm a few days ago." "Hey!" An ambassador said. "We saw a thunderstorm rolling over the mountains too! It was about--" "Shh!" he was hushed by one of his companions, and the captain continued. "That's the official story, but all of the troops we've recovered thus far have been raving on and on about..." "Dragons," the minister finished. The captain swallowed and nodded. "Your men got impatient waiting for us so they picked a fight with our mortal foes, suffered the consequences, and now you want my help?" "All I need to know is if you've seen him, or any of them!" the captain pleaded. "Our intel believes that at least one of the pegasus soldiers found their way into the Badlands to escape, and they've been declared MIA. We need to know if they're still alive. We can’t fly over the stormwall, and we're forbidden any farther than this point. So please--" The minister spoke quickly and abruptly. "We saw no pegasi. My apologies." Her voice was stiff and unemotive. She didn't show the slightest sliver of sympathy. "However, we will keep a sharp eye out on our return trip, and if we find anything, you may rest assured that word will find its way to you and your superiors before the next meeting." "Oh, Brothers bless it..." "But I'll be blunt, pegasus. There is no known way of crossing the stormwall, and no tribe of pony will not last long in the Badlands without food or water. Either the climate will get to them, or the wildlife will. We'll do our best, but their chances are going to be slim." The captain bristled. The question of their own sixth agent died on his tongue. He sighed and nodded. "Of course. Thank you." "Thank me not. It's unbecoming. You're a pegasus, and I'm a unicorn, after all." With that the minister gave a shrug and kept walking. Her ambassadors followed, and the captain was left alone. He and his men gathered the evidence and reluctantly took off and sped back to Meteoras shortly after. “I thought dealing with no-name soldiers was supposed to be easy,” an ambassador said. “Plausible deniability and all that, right? But these guys are always so tough to deal with. Honestly, if this is what the grunts are like, I’d hate to see what a high-ranking pegasus does.” "You don't think there really is a lost pegasus soldier in the Badlands, do you?" another one asked. “It didn’t seem like something they would lie about. But if there is... they're probably not long for the world," the minister said with a shrug. "You don't think the cartographer's mission could be compromised, do you?" "No more than it already has been... frankly, meeting some pegasi would be the least of his worries. The Badlands are a strange place, he'd do well to finish his work quickly and get home. No pony should be there any longer than they have to be." The pole-bearing unicorn looked up at the mountains and wondered to himself. "At least the cartographer had food," he said. "But a pegasus would be all on their own... in the most remote, desolate region of all Cabalos. They could have been lost for days. What's that do to a pony? I hope the Brothers are watching over them. I can only fathom what sort of trials they must be going through... what torments they face.” Somewhere beyond the stormwall... Our wings carry the way ahead Hurrah, Hurrah! Our souls alight and hooves atread Hurrah, Hurrah! The end's in sight and off we go (Even though I'm really, really far from home...) But we'll all be brave as the Brothers lead the way Through the fire and thunder, bold and unafraid! It's fun to sing when you're hundreds of feet off the ground. The wind's in your ears, your wings are flapping, you're all alone, and you can barely hear yourself when you sing loud and proud at the top of your lungs. Lightning Bug just wished the song made her feel a little more bold and unafraid like it was supposed to. She learned it back in Meteoras when she was in boot camp. She sang as much as she could remember and filled in the parts that she couldn't; it made the song feel more like it was meant for her. Her mom would change the words to songs she sang to her when she was a filly too, that's where she picked up the habit from. It made her feel special whenever her mom did it. It was about the only thing keeping her sane.  This was her third day over the border, but no matter how far she flew she just never seemed to find the sea. All she ever saw was the dusty wastes and that giant, towering mountain, and around that the massive stormwall that encompassed the region, blocking her escape. If she could just find where she first woke up, right near the Meteoran border, she’d at least have a chance of being spotted by another pegasus. Well, maybe if she didn’t jump at every bird she saw, her path might be a little straighter. Maybe if she didn’t freak out whenever she thought she saw a dragon, only for it to be an animal, she’d have an easier time concentrating. But no matter how far she flew, she just saw dirt and trees that led up to the stormwall. She wanted to see the beach, water and boats where she could find her hometown, where she’d find her mom. She missed her mom. Her dad too, but mostly her mom. She hadn't seen either of them in almost three months. Three months and three days, that is. She was supposed to be on her way back to the capital of Stratopolis by now. Had word about her squad reached her parents yet? Her dad would be home from his business trips around this time of year. What were her mom and dad thinking right about now? She pictured her mom watching the sunset over the bay, the way she would when dad was away, only this time the two of them watched and waited for their daughter, who may very well have been eaten by dragons for all they knew, and she had no way of telling them she was alright.  Alright for now at least. She sniffled and had to blink a tear away. Oops, she let herself get sad again. Time to sing some more. Heavy wings and weary hooves They will not weigh us down Heavy hearts and weary souls We will never be weighed -- DAAH! Lightning yelped and ducked her head. A small bird aimlessly darted over her. She didn't think she'd find one at such a high altitude. Where was it going?  A large shadow blocked out the sun, and Lightning instinctively swooped out of the way. She watched as a massive, winged creature reached out with long, ugly talons and snatched the bird out of the air and took it down to the mountains below. A mountchaser; a pegasus' worst enemy; scaly things with strong wings and a taste for ponies. They were known for travelling in flocks and swarming anything they could find, but this one seemed to be alone. She gulped. Dragons were bad enough, but she wasn't sure what she'd do if she had to deal with a whole flock of those things on her own.  Lightning stayed airborne and cautiously watched the shadow disappear into the massive mountain range below, the Mercurial Mountains; the crown of the Badlands. In a confusing country that crawled with dangerous creatures, the mountains were said to be the worst of all. The tallest peak hovered menacingly in the background. Even she couldn’t fly high enough to reach the top. It just sort of sat there, in the distance, never moving. She shuddered as she imagined what manner of monster or beast might be making their home down below at the mountain’s base. It was a good thing she could fly.  When she was sure it was safe, Lightning flew on ahead, but kept her altitude. Maybe if she kept lower to the ground it'd be easier to run and hide in some trees if some flying monster found her. The stormwall wasn’t too far away from where she flew. Against her better judgment, she flew straight for the gray haze. The hazy wall of cloud and mist stretched for miles on either side. As far as she could tell, it climbed indefinitely into the stratosphere. The ground beneath it was covered in wispy marks made by the wind as it pushed away the dirt and dust. Lightning Bug swallowed and flexed her wings. She would try one more time today. Lightning began her approach. Already she could feel the resistance on her feathers. As she drew closer to the stormwall, the air around her became so hazy she could barely see her own hooves in front of her eyes. She squinted and grit her teeth as she flapped her wings. The wind pushed her back, and she flapped harder still. Finally, the wall had enough of her feeble efforts and flung her away. The world and the ground spun around her as she tumbled through the air. She spun around and around before she corrected her trajectory and flew upright in place again. Lightning Bug checked her surroundings. She was further from the wall than when she started. It had managed to fling her nearly a mile away. She sniffled and flew away, back to the south. Once she finally found a hill with the elevation she preferred, Lightning Bug touched down for a rest. Her hooves touched the dusty hill and she pulled off her helmet and dropped it as she sat down. The wind gently pulled at her mane and dried the sweat on her brow. She studied the stormwall in the distance, and part of her wondered if she would ever see the shores of Meteoras again. Lightning reached beneath one of her wings and pulled free the small radio that all Meteoran soldiers carried. Even if it were durable and insulated against the elements, it was still a wonder to her how it survived so long. She turned it on and listened to the whining buzz that poured from the speaker. She turned the knob and the buzzing changed its pitch, and she listened for any semblance of a voice coming from the other end, but she heard nothing. She clicked the button to silence the static and leaned in close. "This is Private Lightning Bug, can anyone hear me?" She unclicked the button and buzzing answered her. "This is Private Lightning Bug. Unfamiliar territory. Any available Meteoran forces, please respond." She had no clue if she was even using the proper syntax, but at this point she didn't care. When she unclicked the button again she still heard only buzzing. Maybe it was broken after all, she thought. Maybe it got fried during the thunderstorm and she just couldn't tell. Or maybe there was no pegasus to answer her, and for miles and miles around, she was truly alone. "Captain? Anyone? ...I just want to go home." Only static answered her once more, and so she turned it off and put the radio away. She wanted to just lie down and wait for something, anything to find her. But no, she told herself. She remembered the words all Meteoran captains tell their troops. 'It's only over when you can't fly no more!' Well her wings weren't broken, and neither were her legs, so she was going to keep trying until she found a way home. Or until she collapsed from exhaustion and spent another day sucking the moisture from clouds to build her strength back up. With no other options, the lost pegasus decided to take her chances to the south. Maybe the stormwall would be weaker around Sylvain. Maybe she could break through and find a galloway who could point her to Meteoras. The galloway and pegasi traded all the time, she was sure they'd be happy to help her. To get that far, she'd need to cut through the mountains, which she wasn't looking forward to. That place gave her the creeps. They were pretty enough at night, with the starlight bouncing off of them and making them glow, but during the day they just looked like massive teeth to a mouth that spewed mountchasers and monsters to chase her. This time a mountchaser wouldn't just miss her, this time she would fly lower to the ground... but what if some beast spotted her and snatched her out of the sky? She decided to fly in the cover of the giant trees that blanketed the edges of the mountains.  It would be easier to run and hide in the branches if some flying monster found her.  The trees grew awfully tall where she flew. She couldn't have been more than a hundred feet in the air and yet their dry empty branches nearly scratched her belly as she flew past them. She wasn't sure if the trees over in Sylvain ever grew this big. She'd have to fly carefully.  Did monsters make their homes in these things? Her heart pounded at the thought. She was a fast flyer, but was she fast enough to escape what lived out here? She could barely escape the dragons... Singing at a time like this probably wasn't the wisest thing to do if she wanted to stay inconspicuous, so she told herself she'd sing quietly this time. She needed something to take her mind off things. Heavy wings and weary hooves They will not weigh us down! Heavy hearts and weary souls We will never be weighed down! Lightning stopped to check for any oncoming birds before she continued. We'll march or trudge thru any land As the Marshall and the Judge command (And uh, something something)... The Brothers lead the way! Meteoran Soldiers, Bold and Unafraid! "Hey! Hey up there! You’re not supposed to be here!"  Lightning had a start and looked down at the ground. "Huh? ...OOF!" And she struck a tree. She nearly had knocked her helmet off, and the dry, dusty bark-smell filled her nose. "Ow..." She carefully pulled herself free from the branches and flapped in place as she took a twig out of her mane. "Excuse me!" Somebody below was trying to get her attention. Another pony? All the way out here? Lightning looked down at a nearby cliff. Resting right under a tree was a skinny, charcoal-colored pony with a silver mane. A pair of red-rimmed glasses rested on his snout, and a long, spiraling horn sprouted from his forehead. She couldn’t see his brand from where she was. He couldn’t have been much older than herself. He was glaring up at her. "What's a unicorn doing all the way out here?" she asked herself.  He stood in front of some kind of trail up the mountains. A rather large saddlebag rested on his back, and on the ground next to him there was a large piece of paper. He tapped the ground impatiently and pointed up at her with one of his gray hooves. "Could you please keep it down up there?" He gestured at his paper. "Some of us are trying to work!" "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Lightning called back. "I didn't think anyone else was out here." "Well, that much was clear!"  "Right. I'll be quiet from now on..." "Thank you." The unicorn's horn flashed briefly as he levitated a quill up from the paper. He turned away from her and started scribbling something down. He offered a few disdainful glances at the towering mountain in the distance as he wrote, or drew, whatever it was. Lightning tilted her head. It was a little hard to make out at this angle, but it looked like a sort of map. Maybe this unicorn knew a way out of here. "Um... excuse me?" she called.  The unicorn groaned. "Is this what you pegasi call quiet?" "You wouldn't happen to know a way out of here would you?" she asked. "I'm a little lost..." The unicorn raised an eyebrow and snorted. "A Meteoran soldier, lost? Perish the thought." "What was that?" "Nothing. Listen, have you seen the stormwall?" "Er." "The massive, towering barricade of dust, wind and clouds that surrounds this region in all directions?" "Y-Yeah, I've seen it." "Well, have you ever tried flying past it?" "I did! I just keep getting blown away..." "Then what makes you think I had any luck getting out?" "...Oh." The unicorn must have thought the conversation was over because he went right back to scribbling on his map, or whatever it was. Lightning did not fly away. At first she watched him work, but then she had the idea to unclip her radio and check for a signal again. The loud buzzing noise caught the unicorn's attention immediately. "Now what are you doing?" he snapped. "I was just trying to radio my friends," she said. "But I can't get a signal." The unicorn's eyes drifted down to the clunky, metal box in her hooves. "Ah. Of course the pegasi resort to such things. I forgot," he dipped his quill in some ink and kept scribbling. "Do you know a spot where I could get some reception?" she asked. For some reason that made the unicorn jump and cover up whatever he was drawing. He shot her a sharp, discerning look. If she weren't already airborne, her wings would have clamped to her sides, the way they did whenever some pony stared at her for too long. "...I suppose I do in theory," he got to his hooves. "I know of only two good spots -- how you make your way over is your own business. Listen closely because I'm only going to say this once." The unicorn stood up and pointed behind him. "That way is south and it will take you to the Sylvain savannah, a good a spot as any for a radio I’d imagine. There are direwolves that way so I'd be careful." He pointed east. "Thataways is closer to the Meteoran sea, which is where I'd assume you'd get the best signal. You'll know you're close when you find a white stretch of sand beside the stormwall. East-northeast should be a straight shot to the Meteoran Empire, but there is also a nest of Mountchasers that way so I suggest you had best avoid it. And unless there was something else I'd like to return to my work." Lightning raised a hoof and paused. He spoke so quickly she was having trouble processing it all. He said Meteoras was where she needed to go, so she should fly northeast. Right?  "Um, no that was it." She said. "That was very helpful, thank you!" The unicorn said nothing. He gave a shrug, sat down and started scribbling at his papers again. It was rather odd, she thought. He looked like a scholar, the sort who attended the colleges in Lustre. Weren’t there better places to lug around his homework?  Lightning forgot about the unicorn for a moment and sighed happily. Finally, a way out of here! All she needed to do was get close enough for a signal, call for help and she was homeward free. She was about to take off when a thought occurred to her. He said there was a nest of mountchasers northeast, didn't he? Or did he say direwolves? Wolves would be no problem for her, unless they knew how to fly too somehow. Why would he warn her in the first place? She was completely confused. "Um, actually...!" She called back. "Excuse me I--" And then she stopped. The unicorn had shot an absolutely chilling glare in her direction. It was an expression she was very familiar with, whether it was a shift supervisor, a general, or just another pony. It was the wordless command to stop being such a nuisance and carry on.  "Um. Nevermind! Hehe, sorry about that!" The unicorn rolled his eyes and went back to what he was doing. Lightning swallowed. She was fine, she knew what she heard, there was no time to waste. She checked the direction of the sun and she flew away as fast as she could. Soon the unicorn and his paperwork were mere specks on the ground below. After a few hours, Lightning could make out something on the horizon. The mountain range was coming to an end, and in its place stretched out a massive swath of white sand, just like he had said! Even here rested the stormwall, but beyond that had to be the Meteoran sea. She laughed and cheered and sang to herself even louder as she flapped harder and harder. Lightning completely forgot about everything around her, the only thing she could see was the white sand up ahead. Even the mighty mountain behind her began to shrink as she flew closer and closer to freedom. "Oh right, I should check for a signal asap!" she yanked out her radio and turned it on. "Hello? This is Private Lightning Bug, I'm right behind the storm wall. My coordinates are... um..." And then she heard a screech, and a shadow fell over her. Her blood chilled. Dragons? She looked over her shoulder just in time to see the beaked, toothy maw of a mountchaser just miss her nose. It hung in the air above her for an instant -- its bulging eyes stared at her hungrily. Lightning screamed. She stowed the radio away and flew for the ground. She heard the mountchaser's wings flap furiously after her. It screeched again. She must have flown too far east, just like the unicorn said. Why couldn’t she be a better listener? The silver mountains grew closer and closer as she dived. The tallest peak appeared, not too far away. She must have gotten nowhere fast with this thing on her tail. Lightning made out the trees and rocks poking up the sides of the giant cliff sides. She spotted a small cranny in the rocks. She flew into the trees, weaved up and down and around some branches, and made a beeline for the crevice. When she looked over her shoulder she didn't see any mountchasers. She laughed, but she knew she wasn't safe till she actually stopped flying and had lain low for a bit. And after that she'd fly east. The crevice was cool and damp. It was in a shallow enough spot that the sun didn't hit it for most of the day. Lightning set her hooves on the entrance and wiggled her way inside. She leaned back against the stone wall and felt her hard armor tap against it. A minute, and then two, and then three passed, and no sign of the mountchaser. She let out a sigh of relief. Lightning took off her helmet and shook her mane out. She had just pulled out her radio when a rock tapped her hoof. She heard shuffling deeper in the crevice. She slowly turned her head around.  First she saw the light reflecting off of a dozen, bulging, hungry eyes. Then she saw hundreds of gleaming, needle-like teeth smiling at her. "Oh right, the nest." The crevice hummed with the sounds of flapping wings, scraping claws, and hungry shrieks. Lightning stuck her helmet back on, too scared to scream, and dashed out the crevice. She didn't even start flapping until she was airborne for at least a moment, and she almost dropped her radio. The entire swarm of winged, scaly, toothed things followed her out. Birds and other normal animals fled in their wake. Lightning’s wings finally pounded the air. She couldn't go fast enough. The mountchasers were right behind her, and they wanted fresh pony. She could hear their ugly teeth clacking behind her. She felt a surge run up her coat. She heard crackling every time her wings flapped. “No, not here, not now!” She looked around for some place to hide, and spotted a series of jagged rocks far below. Lightning flew into the rocks. She swerved wildly so she wouldn't splat against the sides. She glanced behind her. Some mountchasers smacked into the rocks, but a lot still made their way around the rocks and towards her. "By the Brothers, help!" she wailed. "Somebody help!" She turned back just in time to meet headfirst with one of the massive rocks. She struck the rock and bounced off. It hurt like crazy, but her wings were fine and she still flew. She hit another. And another. Her swift flight through the stones had been derailed completely. She struck rock after rock, sometimes grazing, sometimes completely. She was like a pegasus ping-pong ball.  And then she saw it. A dead end up ahead. A cliff face. It was coming up so quick there was barely any time for her to pull up. Lightning looked over her shoulder. The mountchasers were still after her. They dove down low and to overtake her. They opened their beaks and prepared to chomp. Lightning covered her head and screamed. And then something pulled her aside. Lightning yelped as some invisible force halted her flight completely and yanked her between the rocks, just as the mountchasers would have sunk their teeth into her. She landed onto some sort of shelf. She watched as the ugly flying monsters sped by, completely unaware. She looked up just as the unicorn's horn stopped glowing. He studied the shapes outside and didn't look at her until they had all sped by. One by one, they heard squawk after irritated squawk as they splatted against the cliff outside. "To your credit," he said. "You did go east. Somewhat. Honestly though, this is what passes for a soldier where you come from?" She could clearly see his Brand now. It was an askew compass, with a bright red needle. Lightning shakily got to her feet. "Um... thank you. So much. How did you know I was here?" The unicorn's brow was set in a hard line. "I heard you screaming," he said. "One could have heard it from miles away, in fact." "...Oh." The unicorn nodded in a direction. "This way," he said. "Let’s move out of their territory." He trotted away, and Lightning shakily followed him. It felt good to give her wings a rest. They sagged on her shoulders as Lightning followed the unicorn up a rocky trail. He hadn't said much since he found her. He just soundlessly wove up and around the stones with barely a tumble. She had to keep her eyes on the ground the whole time to make sure she didn't trip. She never was as good on her hooves as she was in the air. "We're going... south, now?" she asked. "You know your directions! That's good," The unicorn's tone certainly didn't make it sound good. "Yes, I'm taking you to a spot where you can continue east, which should entail a mountchaser-free exit from my workspace." "Oh, okay," Lightning studied the rocks. It was almost like a forest of stone. They provided a lot of shade from the sun. The mountain peaks had basically disappeared, and only that one, tallest mountain was still visible. The shade was nice for keeping the heat off her armor. Did he really think this entire mountainside was his workspace? Unicorns were kind of strange. Then again, she never really met any before. He probably thought she was kind of strange. Scratch that, he definitely thought she was kind of strange -- he wasn't being very subtle about it. That was no reason not be friendly of course. "I'm glad you at least know your way around here. I kept getting lost." The unicorn gave her a pensive look over his shoulder. "I... have a gist of things, as I've said. And yes, you already told me you got lost." "Oh, right." Things were quiet for a while longer. They climbed up to a region where she could make out the rest of the silver mountain range, which went on for miles in every direction, she could barely tell where the wastes began. "Um, I appreciate the help. They almost had me." "Mn," the unicorn didn't even look at her. "I mean it!" Lightning flapped into the air and landed in front of him. "I never would have gotten away from those things without your help." She held her hoof out to shake. "I'm Lightning," she said. The unicorn looked down at the hoof, and then back at her. "I didn't ask." "Well, actually I'm Private Lightning, not that it matters that much out here. My real name is-- well..." The unicorn let out a groan and kept walking. He brushed past her. Lightning watched him go for a moment and didn’t say anything. "My friends just call me Lightning Bug," Lightning followed after. "You can call me that if you want. Or just Lightning is fine." The unicorn still said nothing. She waited until they had walked a bit longer before she tried asking another question. “So, what’s your name? I didn’t ask earlier.” “We’re here.” “Whirr Hear? That’s a neat name.” The unicorn turned around. Lightning screeched to a halt. If she went any faster, she may have hit her head right into his horn. He gestured around him. “We are here,” he enunciated. Lightning looked around. To the side there was a winding trail down to the dusty wastes below, in front of them was a trail up the massive, towering mountain from earlier, and there were a few dry bushes and trees scattered about. The trees grew closer and closer together the higher it was up the second trail. The giant mountain’s base was blanketed with the greenish-brown foliage. “This should be easy enough to navigate,” he said. “So which way do we go?” Lightning asked. The unicorn frowned. “You are taking this trail south from the mountains and then will head due east as fast as you can. Where I go is none of your concern.” “Oh… okay.” Lightning shifted her hoof nervously. “I just kind of thought… You seem to know what you’re doing. I thought we’d go together or something.” “Why.” The unicorn said it so firmly it almost didn’t sound like a question. “Why? I mean… I was…” “You are a pegasus, and I am a unicorn,” he said plainly. “We do not go places together. We are from different nations, and we’re presently where nobody is supposed to be, per the ancient treaties. If there was any time to mind our own business this is it, yes?” “Yeah, but--” “Good, now if you’ll excuse me…” And the unicorn walked away again. Lightning watched him start up the trail for the tallest mountain when a thought occurred to her. “Wait, if nobody’s supposed to be here…” Lightning began. The unicorn stopped in his tracks. “...Then what are you doing?” It had to do with those papers he was carrying around. That’s what made sense to her, anyway. “What am I doing here?” The unicorn looked over his shoulder at her and glared. “You are a Meteroan Soldier,” he took a step forward. Lightning took a step back. “You should not be here.” The unicorn lowered his brow and kept walking, and Lightning kept backing away. “Do you have any idea what would happen if the other nations knew the Meteoras military had even the slightest presence in neutral territory? The very fact that a pegasus soldier is anywhere near here does not bode well. So if I were you, I’d hurry home as fast as pony-ly possible, tell your superiors that their little plan didn’t work, whatever that may be -- and hope that this doesn’t spark an international incident.” Lightning shrank back with wide eyes as the unicorn glared down at her. “Are we clear?” “Yes sir.” She said meekly. “Good.” He stepped back and collected himself. It appeared he only just realized he had Lightning backed into a tree. While Lightning awkwardly straightened her wings, the unicorn averted his eyes and adjusted his glasses. “Good then. With that out of the way, I am off. Have a nice day. Or something.” And he was off again. Lighting didn’t move from the tree until the unicorn had gone a fair distance. With her head and wings low, she carefully got back on her hooves and started down the trail. “He didn’t have to be so mean about it,” Lightning told herself. She had gotten airborne and followed the new trail south, just like the unicorn told her. The mountain was so big that there was no way she was going to lose sight of it anytime soon. “I’m not a spy! I didn’t want to get caught out in the middle of nowhere in the first place. It’s not like I would have seen anything important, nobody lives out here!” She rested her wings on an updraft and crossed her forelegs to think. “Unless he wanted to keep me away from something… But what could the unicorns want with a place like this?” The lonely private blinked a few times as the cogs turned in her head. She let out a resigned sigh. “He wouldn’t have told me if I asked. He didn’t even tell me his name. Figures. Even out in the middle of nowhere nobody wants to be my friend. What do I keep doing wrong? Is it the way I talk? Was it because of my tribe? Who cares if he’s a unicorn and I’m a pegasus? The other nations are so far away, nobody would ever know if we were friends, right? It shouldn’t matter… I thought so anyway.” Before she could self-pity any longer, Lightning realized that the draft had carried her closer to the mountain instead of to the east like she wanted. She broke away and kept flying. She scanned the horizon for a glimpse of the white sands she saw earlier, but they were nowhere to be found. She checked to see if the stormwall had somehow grown closer and was blowing her away, but no, it was still several miles from where she flew. When she looked back, the mountain was no farther away. If anything it was closer. “...That’s odd…” She flapped her wings again, harder, but it seemed the draft from earlier had grabbed her again. She was about ready to panic when she heard the rustle of hundreds of leathery wings behind her. Lightning turned around just in time to face the oncoming swarm of mountchasers that had risen from the rocks below, teeth glistening in the sun.