Shellstrings

by shortskirtsandexplosions

Into the Fractured Mountain

The three young unicorns proceeded cautiously. The corridor on the other side of the abyss turned out to be a great deal narrower than the passage that they had previously traversed. The walls were comprised of more and more of the glossy crystalline surfaces—which proved supremely annoying in the way that they reflected the manalight from the ponies' horns in every conceivable direction.

Prince Miller took the lead—at least at first. Soon, his pace proved too sluggish for Tia, and the older of the two sorceresses marched on ahead, peering into the depths of the tunnel with tense vigilance. Luna—lingering at the back of the group—glanced every which way with increasing anxiety. Every other flicker of light and odd reflection in the sharp crystals only served to startle her more and more—to the point of breathy exasperation.

After a solid five minutes of trekking, beads of sweat formed along the muzzles of the three equines. Luna was the first to feel it. She loosened the collar of her hood. Not long after, Tia mimicked her gesture, unbuttoning her leather tunic halfway.

"It's getting hotter," Tia muttered. Her nostrils flared. "I think I smell..."

"Steam?" Luna remarked.

Tia nodded. "Although I do not know where it is coming from."

Luna craned her neck to look at the stallion trotting between them. "Prince Miller?" She cleared her throat. "How fares you? I trust that it must be awfully stifling in such thick armor—"

"We appear to be descending," was all the stallion said. The lines in his gray muzzle hardened as he attempted to ascertain the source of the heat. "I trust that your sense of balance is greater than mine, apprentices. Am I mistaken?"

"You are correct, Prince," Tia said. "Also, this tunnel has veered slightly south by about ten degrees since we first entered."

"Oh?" Luna craned her neck the other way. "How can you tell?"

"Manalight feedback, sister," Tia droned. "Don't tell me you forgot your elementary studies."

Luna sighed, rolling her eyes again. "Anyways," she muttered. "What could the Chancellor be hoping to achieve by venturing so far into these... crystalline caves?"

"Crystals have been known to harness raw magic," the Prince stated. "They allow for the connection of long-distance leylines, not to mention dense mana storage. As a matter of fact, Princess Platinum used them to magnify thermal spells in a last ditch attempt to ward off the windigoes."

"Which didn't work," Tia said.

"No." The stallion exhaled. "It did not." He squinted at the reflective surfaces all around them. "Since the founding of Equestria, my subjects and I have depended on the tranquil properties of harmony—as have the rest of pony citizens."

"Then, perhaps, this venture into crystalline buffering is a throwback to arcane forms of magic," Luna thought aloud. "Maybe the Chancellor seeks to reinstate pre-harmony spells!"

"The crystals are inert on their own, sister," Tia forcefully said. "If I would venture to guess, the Chancellor has discovered an arcane form of magic already." She glanced back at the other two. "She's merely coming here to magnify and focus that which she has discovered."

"Then... just what exactly has she discovered?" Luna remarked, wincing.

"Whatever it is... it has already consumed the lives of countless innocent ponies," Prince Miller said with a frown. "I shudder to think what the mare will do with such dark talents compounded."

"Just what drove her to such madness to begin with?" Luna stammered. "This turn came about so suddenly! Why would she attack her own kind? Fellow unicorns, no less?!"

"I only wished her truer self had surfaced sooner," Miller grumbled. "If the ponies of Equestria had witnessed her horrible qualities in the beginning, then they might never have voted her into such a position of authority." He grit his teeth. "This is precisely why I believe that the rite of rule by monarchy should be reinstated." He blinked ahead at Tia. "Doesn't Madame Clover predict that such will someday be the case?"

"I don't know what you've overheard, Prince," Tia spoke, "But the only path that is paved before us is one of wisdom and intuition. Not political manifestation."

"But surely if Clover would have revealed such truth to you—"

"She would have revealed it to everypony," Tia stated firmly. "Her role in our young nation is to illuminate, not withhold."

"And if she had foreseen the Chancellor's treachery..." Miller's green eyes narrowed. "...would she have told us all the same?"

Before Tia could retort—

"Sister!" Luna pointed. "Look!"

The three stopped in their tracks. Suddenly, the floor beneath them had narrowed, exposing gaping fissures in the lower walls. As the corridor proceeded, an enormous gaping hollow was exposed in the heart of the mountain. Gradually, the tunnel morphed into a bridge as the ceiling and walls gave way. An enormous basin stretched below the group—and beneath that the three observed large chasms illuminated with ever-boiling firelight. The crystalline surfaces of the cavern now reflected a flickering crimson aura permeating throughout.

"Prancing parasprites..." Luna gasped. "Could... could the Hills That Canter a Lot actually be one of those fire mountains from the dragon lands that Clover speaks of so often?"

"You mean a volcano?" Tia shook her head. "No, sister. If that was the case, the focus prisms in our Master's laboratory would pick up seismic activities from this part of Equestria." She took a deep breath, peering down at the source of the flickering redness. "This light is of a far more permanent essence. Something absolute... magical..."

"Starswirl's prison," Prince Miller remarked.

The two mares glanced at him.

He looked back. "The prison that Starswirl the Bearded conjured." He squinted. "He built it far below the continental shelf, did he not?"

"You mean Tartarus?" Luna breathed.

"First off... Tartarus is what Starswirl named the prison," Tia corrected. "And he did not conjure it. Tartarus was something he discovered... and then harnessed for its magical properties in holding chaotic abominations at bay."

"Nevertheless..." Miller pointed at the red chasms gaping far below their narrow platform. "...this meets every description that I've read of the underground purgatory. Could it be that it stretches into the Hills that Canter a Lot?"

"But... that would make it far larger than even our Master has recorded!" Luna exclaimed. She gaped at her older sister. "Tia, what could possibly have exposed the hollow of the mountain to Tartarus below?"

"Only something very... very powerful, dear sister," Tia said with a tight frown. "And I do not cherish the thought of what that power could do with the aid of these crystals."

"What of the chaos lords?" Prince Miller asked. "The sirens... the centaurs... and the other monstrosities that Masters Starswirl and Clover banished to these depths? With these fissures—could they not feasibly escape?"

"Not if they're fresh enough," Tia remarked. "There may still be time to avert disaster... so long as we put an end to that which has exposed the fire plains of this prison." The unicorn gazed forlornly ahead. A cylindrical chunk of rock shot up out of the belly of the cavern—making contact with the far end of the bridge. "We must make haste. I suspect our target lies ahead."

"How do you know that, sister?" Luna asked.

"The only reason this path still stands in one piece is because we were meant to follow it." Tia trotted boldly forward. "We now know with absolute certainty that this is a trap. But with traps come opportunities all the same." Her horn glowed hotter. "Prince Miller, ready your reflexes. Luna? Clear your mind."

"Y-yes, sister..." Luna bit her lip as her horn pulsed with equal intensity.

The group pressed on, slowly approaching the stone platform and the narrow entrance to it ahead. The air around them danced vaporously. On top of that, an ear-splitting noise increased in volume.

Prince Miller was the first to wince. "Do you both hear that?"

"Sounds..." Luna grimaced. "...like cricket song. Only louder... thousands of them..."

"But how?" Miller remarked. "And why this deep into a mountain?"

Tia said nothing. With a hard gaze, she entered the platform first...

Comments

[Chaotic Note]

God this does not feel like 1.5k words. The way you weave the words makes me want to slow down and absorb every single one of it, taking in the imagery. Wish I could write like this.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

So, the entrance to Tartarus was built into the mountain? Makes sense, actually.

Also, you keep mentioning a chancellor... Chancellor Puddingpop? Or a descendant of such?

~Skeeter The Lurker

[QueenMoriarty]

How fairs you?

fares

[mastermenthe]

7338473

The way you weave the words makes me want to slow down and absorb every single one of it, taking in the imagery.

Very yes!

[Razzy]

Hmm, a cricket like sound...

[Aurum]

From the two chapters I've read so far, I have to say I really, really like the way you drive the story forward using dialogue and interaction. It feels very engaging.

[nekomyah]

locusts!

[Scorch215]

While I understand the importance of back story to set up things for the main story I have to ask, when does the story the description mentioned start?

So far I have read two separate chapters that amount to a prolouge to the story I thought I'd be reading based on the description but so far this is a totally different story then what I came here for.

Like I said I get that this stuff is important and will most likely have bearing on the story later on. But I have to ask why isn't this all a single prolouge chapter rather then (so far) two chapters?