literature

EQD WTG #012: Visiting the Hengeberg

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West of Ponyville lay an area that was often forgotten, and even more often passed over by those who knew of it. Clouds gathered there regularly, and when they left, having rained their drops, more came. It was a land of rains and rocks, and, like a pillar to which all else leaned, the Hengeberg.

It rose up, sharply, and its sides were steep and littered with rocks, and stones – many stones, gathered and cut by the hooves of the earth ponies who lived in its shadow. A wandering traveller, scaling its heights, might have walked among menhirs and monoliths, hewn columns and dolmens, cairns, ancient altars and bluestones. Some stood, some lay, some were smooth, many carved – with twining, undulous patterns like rope-snakes, tongues devouring cut mouths, eyes staring blankly out, and treading upon them, the ponies dead and gone.

Such a wanderer, clad perhaps in a sacken cloak, the hood pulled over her head, might have looked into the eyes of kings and warriors, mages and mothers, healers, wise folk and vagabonds, each eye marked by loving hooves, each cutie mark painstakingly crafted, perhaps over weeks.

And our wanderer – let us say that the hooves that trod between her cloak were white – she would have seen, indeed she did see, one face repeated, on stone after stone; a face frowning and steadfast, with eyes that burned and a mouth that never moved.

Pebbles crunched beneath the traveller's hooves as she approached the summit of the Hengeberg, and saw the monument that crowned it – three menhirs, with a flat rock resting on their tips. Our traveller knew that this was the Tetralithon, a construct of great power, a home of magic that sustained the flow of mystic energies for miles around. The Tetralithon was a structure of great importance to Equestria, so it might surprise you to learn that the traveller gave it a fleeting glance and no more before turning to a small ramshackle hut, propped up by a particularly tall monolith.

The traveller walked over to the crooked door, and knocked hard.

Maud Pie opened the door and looked into the face of the white unicorn outside. “It's raining,” she observed.

“Yes … are you Maud Pie, the Seer on the Hengeberg?”

“If that's what they call me now, it's what I am,” Maud said, her eyes fogged. “I don't know who you are, but if you stay out in the rain, you'll catch a cold. I think you should come in.”

The unicorn gratefully entered the lean-to, which was surprisingly warm, and hung her sack-cloth mantle on a hook by the door. “What kind of wood did you build this out of?”

“It's Griffon rockwood,” Maud answered. “Light and natural, but very insulating. As a building material, it's almost as good as stone. Why are you here?”

“Um … yes. My name is … Eclipse Flare.” The white unicorn brushed a strand of sodden pink hair out of her violet eyes. “I'm from Canterlot, and … I need to know everything you can tell me about … Harthuf von Steinbruch.”

Maud, who had sat down at a large rock with a flat side, which worked very well as a table, looked at her visitor, hard. “That's a name that few remember,” she said, flatly. “And those who remember it don't think gladly of it.”

“It's important,” Eclipse Flare pressed. “I've come all the way from Canterlot, and there are ponies there who want to know – who need to know everything about him. Please, Miss Pie, I need you to tell me … who he was. Where his weapons are hidden. Where his children went …”

“If you want to know about Lord von Steinbruch, you've come to the right place,” Maud told her. “He was born not a mile away from the Hengeberg.” She pulled Boulder out of her pocket and placed him on the table-rock's surface. “I can show you his story in the runes, I can tell you some things that cannot be read from them. Shall I do that?”

“Yes, please.” Eclipse sat down at the table.

From under the collar of her blue shift, Maud Pie pulled a small red pouch. Inside it were a number of flat pebbles, each one with a symbol carved into one face.

“These are the runes of the Elder Futhark,” Maud explained, before Eclipse could even draw breath to ask. “Could I ask you for a spark of magic? The Tetralithon will provide the rest of the magic I need.”

Eclipse summoned a deep-blue glow around her horn and shot a delicate bolt of magic into the closest runestone. The spark immediately multiplied, jumping from stone to stone until each rune was crackling with an awaiting energy.

Maud picked up Boulder and raised him in her hooves. “Esto Metrion,” she intoned, then tossed him into the air.

Eclipse felt the power in the air as Boulder ignored the laws of physics and stayed, floating in the air. The runes, still humming with magic, rose up and floated in a strange pattern around him.

“Show us Harthuf von Steinbruch,” Maud commanded.

The runes began to move in the air, and Eclipse felt images flickering across her mind. They were telling a story, showing her all she needed to know … but she didn't know how to read them.

“The von Steinbruch family had lived around the Hengeberg for many years,” Maud began to interpret, calmly and clearly, and Eclipse felt her mind pick out the pictures more clearly, guided by the interpreter's words. “Harthuf was their youngest son. He was clever, stubborn, determined – everything that a pony needed for greatness in those days, for he lived many, many centuries ago.

“A pony like him was going to rise, and quickly, so it was no surprise when he was called to the court of the Earth Pony King. He showed that he could lead ponies and follow orders, and he became an officer in the Royal Guard. Eventually, he was made the commander of the Earth Pony Nation's forces.

“He valued peace, that much is clear: he never fought if it wasn't necessary, and he wouldn't put his soldiers through anything that he wouldn't go through himself. He led every charge that he ordered himself. It was a peaceful time, and the ponies admired him – no more. It's difficult to love a pony who shows no emotion, and who expects rigourous discipline and absolute obedience.

“But there was an end to the peace. King Fever Dream came to the throne, and the Nation was in turmoil. Its King spent his days in maddened research and sickly ravings of immortality, and the Unicorn Nation was becoming aggressive, spoiling for war.

“Harthuf took over – he had no choice. Without a guiding hoof, the Nation would have fallen, and it was already on the brink. He did what he had to.

“That was the time when all the legends began. Ponies said that he could punch mountains to dust, that he could ride the hunched back of an avalanche, that the stones of the Hengeberg would arise and march on his enemies if he commanded them. Some said that these feats were down to his armour – especially to his helmet. A family heirloom, said to be swarming with magic.

“He fought, and he killed, and he paid the price, and when King Fever Dream finally met his fate, he was feared more than any other pony in Equestria. He knew that he could no longer be a leader, or walk among his own kind, so he returned to his home, to the Hengeberg, the hill in whose shadow he had grown. He climbed the slopes, until he reached the Trilithon – the three stones, one on top of the other, that spread magic around and powered the arcane network that spread from the hill. There, he leaned against one of the pillars, and was changed. He became a stone himself, and thus the Tetralithon – the Fourstone – was raised.

“Thus says the legend. Some say that he simply died on the Hengeberg, and was buried in secret by his kin. His weapons and uniform were found and destroyed by the Princesses – except for the Helmet. Treasure hunters have sought it for years, but none have found it.”

Eclipse's voice died. At some point during the telling, she had found herself speaking instead of Maud. The visions were fresh upon her eyelids, and the runes still danced in the air.

Maud nodded. “Azarath Lithia Zinthos,” she ordered, and the runestones fell to the table-rock. As Boulder, falling last, plummeted towards the face, she reached out a hoof and caught him, elegantly returning him to her pocket.

“But where is the Helmet?” Eclipse wondered, leaning forwards. “That's what I really needed to know.”

“If that was what you wanted to know, you should have asked,” Maud chided her. “I could have told you that from the start. The Helmet of Harthuf von Steinbruch is in Ponyville, in the custody of my sister Pinkie Pie. I wore it myself, not a week ago.”

Eclipse's eyes flashed with irritation. “Why didn't you tell me that right away?”

“As I just said, you didn't ask. And there is more,” Maud returned, eying the black sun that was her visitor's cutie mark. “The stones are alive tonight. Some are turning in their foundations. They can feel a more powerful magic than usual. You are no ordinary unicorn, Eclipse Flare – in fact, you are no unicorn. Your disguise is convincing, but rocks do not lie.”

The lithomancer's voice sank down, below its usual subduedness. “It has been a long time since the hooves of an Al-iqwrn last trod the Hengeberg.”

Eclipse Flare looked levelly at her, before casting the illusion aside.

She grew, until she looked down on the sitting earth pony, and her horn became long, and graceful wings bloomed and sprouted at her sides, and a necklace was about her neck, and a crown was set upony her flowing mane.

Maud blinked – slowly, without emotion. “It seems I was taken in by your disguise, after all,” she remarked.

“Quite,” Princess Luna agreed. “A white coat and a pink mane will always have ponies thinking of my sister. But, Maud Pie, I hope that you understand what this means. Equestria's enemies are gathering, slowly but steadily. My sister and I are gathering all the means of defence that we know of. We may have sore need of an artefact such as the Helmet. Will your sister give it to us?”

“Pinkie Pie is kind and generous,” Maud said, her voice a monotone. “She would never deny a friend in need, of that you may be sure.”

“Then I must go,” Luna said, summoning the cloak from the hook. “Maud Pie, I wish you a good night. May the stones always show you the truth.”

With the slam of the door in her ears, Maud reached into her pocket and pulled Boulder out. “When will they understand?” she asked him. “The Helmet isn't important – it has no power. The force, the ability to make gravel from mountains, comes from the pony wearing it. Tell me, Boulder … when will they grasp that simple fact?”

Outside, it was still raining.
Equestria Daily! Writer's Training Grounds! New entry! Blergh!

This week saw the introduction of Maud Pie, Pinkie Pie's irresistible elder sister and personality invert. Personally, I was waiting all episode for the show to make a reference to Raven from Teen Titans, and I was surprised to read the credits and the end of the episode and find that Maud wasn't voiced by Tara Strong. This pony is Raven in equine form, and this story is me fleshing that out.

I like the idea of rune-reading, and tried to enhance it. Also, I'm still building away at my version of Equestria's history, this time with one of the shadier earth ponies in history, Harthuf von Steinbruch. His name translates from the German as "Hard-hoof of Quarry", and he was in large measure inspired by the sight of Maud, in the episode, wearing a World War era German helmet. (Speaking of which, why did the British troops wear such stupid helmets during the World Wars? They looked like upside-down soup plates.) From that point, the character formed himself in my mind - a pony like Maud, strict and uncompromising as rock, given a tragic twist.

Until another day, people. May the light of Chandr'atah be upon you.

This is a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfiction. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Lauren Faust and Hasbro, and not to 4ScarfAce4, who did write it. While under the influence of Nightwish.
© 2014 - 2024 4ScarfAce4
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