Outcasts of Equestria

by Old Ben Kenobi

Chapter 5-The Canterlot Caves

The Royal Guards marched the prisoners down the hall, led by Blueblood. When they finally stopped, they were in a new room, with a sign : Canterlot Public Library

The room was filled with bookshelves. There was an hourglass in the centre, and a huge, sunny window with a view of the entire City of Canterlot.

At this, Twilight's eyes widened.

"Spike," she whispered, "This was the last room we were in before we moved to Ponyville. It seems so long ago!"

"Oh, yeah," said Spike, "Never did manage to give that present to Moondancer," he added, with a hint of regret.

Blueblood trotted up to the huge hourglass, and gave an order to his troops.

"Guards, open it!" He shouted.

The guards nodded, then their horns all glowed blue. The hourglass was surrounded by a blue aura, which caused it to levitate away, revealing a huge hole in the floor.

"This is where my worst prisoners will go," he laughed, "There will be no way for anyone to find you here, as I will close off these caves forever."

"Our families will hear 'bout this," shouted Applejack, "They'll come looking!"

"No they won't," Blueblood smirked, "Because the last time these caves were discovered, Princess Celestia removed all information of the caves or how to access them, to stop invaders like the Changeling Queen from using them again. There is no way your family could find you, even if they tried!"

At this, Rarity finally lost her patience.

"Sweetie Belle will be worried sick!" She snarled at him, "I cannot believe I could have had anything to do with you!"

At this, Blueblood smiled. He walked up to her and held her head in his hoof.

"My dear Rarity," he said, "Had you stayed with me, you could have been so much more. You could have ruled with me, as a Princess, and Sweetie Belle would have been next in line for the throne!"

"You are insane if you think she would want anything to do with you!" Retorted Rarity,

"So be it," said Blueblood. He turned to the group of unicorns.

"Guards," he barked, "Lower the prisoners into the minecart."

The ponies, the dragon and the draconequus were levitaed down the hole, each into individual carts.

"Don't forget to write!" Blueblood remarked snidely, and the prisoners felt their carts being pushed forwards, and they fell downwards into the dark abyss.

Fluttershy felt like she was going to be sick. She had never liked it when she had been in the Junior Flight Camp and she had seen the others fly at speeds she could not dream of ever doing. They had made her feel slightly dizzy. She had gotten over that now, but she had never travelled so fast before in her life. She opened her eyes to see huge, dark caverns of crystal and stalagtites rush past her vision. She covered her eyes and hugged the floor of the cart, hoping it would be over soon.

The minecarts finally ground to a halt. Everyone rose slowly out of their individual metal caskets and converged together on the stony floor. The cavern they were in was huge; crystals and rock stretched on for as far as the eye could see. The only light source was the soft glow from Twilight's horn which illuminated the cave.

"Is everypony okay?"She asked.

There was a collective 'yes' from everyone in the group, except Fluttershy, who was still laying flat on her minecart.

Rainbow Dash flew up to Fluttershy and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Uh, Fluttershy?" said Dash, "I think you can get out now,"

Fluttershy crawled out of the cart and slowly joined the rest of the group.

"Hey, Twilight," said Dash, "How is it that we can move again?"

"If we are far enough from the unicorns who cast the spell, " explained Twilight, "It automatically wears off,"

"What should we do, Twilight?" Asked Applejack, "There must be someway of getting out of this darn cave system."

"I don't know," said Twilight. "I was thinking that we could try and follow the minecart track, but Blueblood is likely to expect us to do that, so he has likely blocked it up."

"If I may, Princess," interrupted Discord, "I was under the impression that you have been in these caves before. Surely you have some idea of how we can get out?"

"Well," said Twilight, "After I got out, I did do some research on these caves before Celestia removed the information, and I think if we we head west, there might be a way out."

"But how will we know which way is north?" Asked Pinkie Pie, "Everywhere looks the same in this place."

"Don't worry, everpony," said Twilight, "I have a spell which will point us north. Just give me a few seconds of concentration..."

Twilight closed her eyes, and her horn stared to glow. Suddenly, she was lifted a few centimetres off the ground, and she slowly started turning, like a magnetised needle on a piece of paper in a water dish.

When she had turned about 90 degrees, her horn stopped glowing, and she landed on the floor.

"According to my spell," she said, "North is this way. Therefore, if we head in that direction," she turned to her left, "We should be able to find the exit."

"Well, what're we waiting for?" said Rainbow Dash, "Let's get out of here!". She flew forwards, only to feel herself being pulled back by her tail.

"Hold yer horses, girl," came Applejack, who was holding onto Rainbow's tail with her mouth, "We should wait for Twilight to come up with a plan. These caves are likely to be dangerous, after all."

"Applejack's right," said Twilight, "We'll need to tread carefully; the mining has made the rocks and crystals in these caverns very unstable, and they could fall in at any moment if they are disturbed."

Twilight cantered forwards, and the others ran behind.