• Published 29th Dec 2012
  • 12,586 Views, 1,189 Comments

Mother of Invention - zaponator



Awake and alone, Applejack will find a way to survive.

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Subterranean Homesick Blues

The cave seemed to swallow the light of Applejack's torch as she took a few tentative steps inside. Her resolve was bolstered by the flickering brightness she held in her mouth, casting a warm light on the interior of the cold cave. The flame hovered to her left, dancing just on the edge of her vision. She smiled slightly around the thick branch in an attempt to instill a little more confidence, and set off deeper into the cave.

The darkness evaporated around her; her pace slowed slightly as she delved ever deeper into the earth. The walls felt closer than they had at the entrance of the gloomy passage, and the noonday sun outside, its golden rays shining straight down, failed to illuminate more than a few feet of the mountain’s interior. Applejack was not a claustrophobic pony, nor was she afraid of the dark, but when she turned around after a couple minutes of walking, only to see the light of the sun as a single point with the inky blackness all around it, she couldn't shake a disconcerting feeling. She resolved that it felt too much like she was walking into a tomb.

The smooth grey stone of the cave continued in unbroken, unchanging monotony as Applejack walked. The unvarying texture of the cave only served to unsettle Applejack even further. Her hooves found not a single bump or loose pebble, her eyes could see no crack or blemish on the walls and ceiling. It was amazing, it was perfect, and it was terrifying.

It wasn't natural.

Applejack gulped, and adjusted her hat with a forehoof, the feel of the old Stetson and the action itself providing a modicum of comfort. Her path continued in mind-numbing sameness for another few minutes, though they felt like hours of slowly shuffling through the suffocating blackness. Finally, something appeared on the edge of the torchlight ahead of Applejack. She quickened her pace, and reached it in a few steps.

The tunnel's straight stretch ended abruptly with a 90 degree left turn. By now, Applejack felt like she was miles beneath the mountain. It came as a small surprise, then, when she could still see the dot of light that was the cave entrance in the distance behind her.

She shook her head, careful not to disturb the torch. Her perception of time, and even distance, was even more muddled than she had thought by the darkness and monotony of the tunnel.

In any case, now she was finally getting somewhere. She stepped around the corner and continued on, only to find another sharp left turn just after the first one.

"What in the hay?" Applejack mumbled around the torch. The tunnel apparently did a complete 180 degree turn back towards the surface, but she was positive that there was only the one opening. Slowly, carefully, she inched around the corner, not really knowing what to expect.

She stopped in her tracks just as she rounded the corner. Directly in front of her, the tunnel suddenly sloped downwards. It continued just as straight, but at a constant downward slope looking like some sort of ramp straight to Tartarus.

Applejack shivered at that unpleasant comparison. She thought of what might lie in wait down there, deep within the planet. That line of thinking was quickly banished. She had slept in that very cave for the past three days without any incident.

She was positive that nothing lived in there. At least, she was fairly sure. Well, she felt that she could probably make a safe assumption that nothing was there.

Applejack's eyes shifted subconsciously to the knife strapped to her left foreleg.

There would be no easy turning back after this point. From where she stood, she was just a scant few steps from catching sight of the glorious sun shining through the distant cave entrance. If she chose to continue she would be well and truly stuck in. She began to seriously reconsider the whole venture.

No. She wasn't about to give up that easily. Applejack's features set into a determined scowl. She'd come this far, and she wasn't going to turn around at the prospect of a little underground exploration. Even if it was surprisingly deep… and dark… and quite possibly the lair of some horrible monster that stalked in the darkness waiting for pony blood.

She had to know, though. There was no way she could spend another night in the cave without knowing exactly what lay within it, especially now that she realized just how extensive and deep it was.

Suppressing all her fears, both rational and irrational, Applejack set off down the slope, and into the cold embrace of the mountain's roots.

She had expected spiders. In truth, as Applejack continued her descent, the tunnel failed to meet any of her preconceived expectations for a mysterious cave. There was no dripping water providing an ominous background cadence, only complete silence apart from her echoing steps on the cold stone floor. There were no cobwebs with glowing red eyes attached to long spindly limbs watching her progress, only smooth and even walls and ceilings, immaculate but for the small layer of dust beneath her hooves. There wasn't even an ominous wind that rustled her loose-hanging mane and brought with it sounds and whispers of doom and death, as any small breeze that made it through the jungle outside was stopped by the 180 degree turn that Applejack had just passed.

Applejack almost let out a sigh at the mundanity of it all, before skidding to a stop, blinking in realization. She was feeling disappointed because the cave was not, in fact, horrible and foreboding. Applejack shook her head in an attempt to dislodge some of the crazy. She mentally berated herself, and tried instead to simply appreciate the peace that was offered her.

Of course, that didn't make the walk any less boring. In the cold, dark recesses of the earth, surrounded by unchangingly smooth stone, Applejack's mind found time to wander.

Her thoughts turned to her continued survival on the island. In truth, she realized, she had been moving a bit too fast lately. Applejack had spent the past couple days doing nothing but reacting. Now she was finally taking the initiative, but she wasn't sure if she was going in the right direction. Perhaps spelunking wasn't the best use of her time. She could be out there, working on a more permanent shelter. Not that she had any intention of staying on the island permanently, but she could only live in a small cave for so long.

Unfortunately, her curiosity had gotten the better of her, and now she was deep underground, following a mysterious tunnel that seemed to slope down into the earth forever.

Again, a wall appeared before Applejack, and again the tunnel turned left, snapping her out of her thoughts. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been walking at that point, but it felt like ages. Applejack perked up as she thought she might finally be getting somewhere, but was disappointed to find that the tunnel once again turned completely around. The floor evened out for the 180 degree turn, but sloped downwards again at the same angle immediately after.

Applejack's mind returned to idle thought as she continued her trek.

Sure, going cave diving might seem like a waste of time, but when she really thought about it, it was practically necessary. She was fully aware that she would need to arrange for better sleeping quarters, but at the moment the cave was all she had. Sleeping another night in that cave, after finding a pretty clear indication she wasn't alone on the island, and without knowing what could possibly lie within, was simply not an option.

She had to do this. She had to know more. She had to keep her hooves moving, and keep finding answers. As long as she kept at it, she wouldn’t have to think about Granny Smith cradling Apple Bloom's sobbing form. Big Macintosh standing next to them, silent tears rolling down his face as all three gazed upon a simple, granite headstone. Hung from one corner of the stone is a weathered, brown stetson—

Applejack nearly stumbled before catching herself. She shook her head slightly, readjusting her hat with a forehoof, half to assure herself that it was still there. The vivid imagery played over in her mind, reminding her exactly why she fought for survival. She would not let her family suffer that fate. Whatever happened, she would get home again. Not for her own sake, but for theirs.

The thought stirred a fire inside Applejack. She felt the will to go on bubble up from deep within her, spreading outwards until her whole body was surging with warmth. She relished in the phantom feeling, momentarily provided a merciful distraction from her tedious task.

As quickly as it came, the moment was gone, and Applejack was once more trudging through a silent cave in the dark. Her torch still shone with plenty of brightness, but the sloped tunnel extended far beyond her pool of light in both directions, giving off the illusion of an endless abyss.

A worrying thought struck Applejack. She wondered just how long she had been walking for. Her perception of time was so muddled that it could have been anywhere from minutes to hours. She had seen some amazing things done with magic in her time, things she'd thought impossible. Suddenly, an endless tunnel didn't seem so unlikely.

Applejack picked up her pace slightly, her breathing coming in little gasps. She trotted down into the darkness, squinting ahead for anything, any sign that she was actually moving.

Finally, a wall appeared ahead. Applejack's sigh of relief caught in her throat as she realized that the tunnel turned left yet again. Hopeful that this time would be different, she rounded the corner. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, she was greeted by an immediate second left turn.

She stopped, almost considering turning back right there as she bit back a scream of frustration. After taking a few minutes to calm down, Applejack glanced at her torch. It was about a quarter of the way gone now. She would have to turn back once it was halfway gone, unless she felt like navigating in the pitch black.

Resigning to at least go as far as possible with the torchlight she had left, Applejack set off down the new sloping path, indistinguishable from the last two. She almost sighed at the sameness of it all, but simply couldn't be bothered to by that point. She was tired, exhausted really. Not that the physical strain was any great problem, though her recent injuries, not to mention lack of food, had hurt her stamina a bit. More so, it was a sheer mental tiredness that managed to permeate down to her muscles. She wanted nothing more than to give up, turn around, head up to the surface, and lazily munch on coconuts until she fell asleep.

Were it so easy.

The clip clop of her hooves against the hard stone of the mountain's foundation echoed through the space of the tunnel, becoming grating as the time wore on. The incessant noise battered at her already fraying nerves, nearly causing her to grind her teeth in frustration if it wasn't for the torch held between them.

Applejack's ears folded back against her skull, but failed to drown out the irritating noise. The sound seemed only to increase in volume until it filled her mind completely. Her head began to ache with the unending auditory assault. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and simply stopped moving.

Applejack stood there, surrounded by glowing orange light and inky black darkness, breathing heavily around the torch in her mouth. The horrid sound faded from her mind as she worked to slow her laboured breathing. She hadn't even realized she was panting for breath until she had stopped moving.

After finally calming down, Applejack perked her ears back up and listened. The silence that greeted her was wholly welcome, if slightly unnerving. She tentatively tapped a hoof on the stone floor, generating naught but a light sound. Applejack blinked. She rapped her hoof on the ground a little harder, but was once again underwhelmed by the sound produced, though this time there was at least a small echo.

That was unexpected. Applejack began to wonder if she had simply imagined it, but quickly pushed that line of thought aside. That was a… troubling idea, to say the least, and not something she wanted to deal with at the moment. She was just letting the cave get to her, nothing more.

Resolving to get the rest of her trip over with sooner rather than later, Applejack once again continued down the tunnel. Her mind was free of deep and troubling thoughts, and her hearing was unbothered by the light click-clack of her hooves on hard stone. She simply walked, letting her mind float in blank numbness, while still keeping enough presence of mind to watch for changes in scenery.

With her head tilted down, the first thing she spotted was the floor evening out ahead of her. Without even bothering to look up, Applejack stepped onto the flatter floor, and turned 90 degrees to the left. Her face meeting the wall with a painful smack came as quite a surprise.

Applejack yelped and fell back onto her haunches, dropping the torch to the floor with an echoing clatter of wood on stone, and rubbing her muzzle with a forehoof. Shaking her head in confusion, Applejack finally looked up to see that the path did not actually turn left this time. Her heart beat faster as she saw that the tunnel ahead evened out, and continued on in a straight line until the light of the torch failed to illuminate any further. If she was seeing things correctly, it even seemed to get ever so slightly wider, and the ceiling seemed to be ever so slightly higher. She couldn't be sure, and if it was any bigger, the change was extremely slight.

For a few moments, Applejack simply sat there, gaping down the suddenly arrow-straight tunnel. After finally snapping back to her senses, Applejack leaned down and picked the torch back up from where it had fallen. Then, grinning widely around the wooden light source in her mouth, and with a reinvigorated feeling coursing through her, she set off down the tunnel.

Applejack glanced about nervously as she trotted down the straight path before her. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was close to something. What exactly that was she had no idea, but the feeling made her want to turn around and flee, and at the same time drew towards whatever lay ahead. Though it was mostly curiosity that drew her to continue onward.

In any case, the compulsion to continue overpowered the fear she felt at what she might find. Her mind didn't wander as she walked this time. The change in scenery had served to wake her up, so to speak. Applejack watched the shadows ahead of her attentively, occasionally glancing into the blackness behind her as well. She kept her ears perked, listening for even the slightest sound outside of her own quietly echoing hoofsteps.

The time passed quickly, and Applejack's torch continued to deteriorate. There was no doubt about the widening of the tunnel by that point, the change had been so subtle that she almost hadn't noticed it, but the tunnel had, in fact, been growing steadily more spacious. It was now nearly twice as wide and tall as it used to be.

Applejack's torch was steadily nearing the halfway point, at which time she would have to turn back. She only hoped that she would find something, anything, before that happened, as she certainly didn't want to make a return trip if at all possible.

Eventually, her persistence was rewarded. One moment she was simply walking along, nothing ahead or behind her but blackness. The next, a solid wall loomed in front of her. The perfectly smooth mass of stone seemed to materialize suddenly at the very edge of her torchlight, causing Applejack to skid to a halt with a surprised gasp.

The orange aura of Applejack's improvised light source extended only a few feet ahead of her. This meant that she had nearly reached the dead end before spotting it. Even from where she stood, she could only make out the fact that the tunnel ended ahead. Any detail was lost to her in the flickering darkness shrouding the obstruction from view.

By this point the tunnel was wide enough that Applejack couldn't quite see the walls on either side of her. She wasn't sure if the tunnel simply ended, or if it turned once again. Applejack tentatively inched forward, intent on finding out.

She took a few steps to the left, seeing nothing but solid, grey stone. She moved to the right, and was met with more of the same. Growling in frustration, Applejack stepped up to the wall that had halted her forward motion in the first place.

It was perfectly smooth, extending across the whole tunnel, and intersecting with the walls on both sides with laser precision. In fact, the way that the tunnel simply stopped in a wall, without curving inwards in the slightest, was more than a little unnerving.

Applejack looked over the wall carefully, pacing back and forth in front of it for nearly a full minute before the steadily dimming torchlight caught something. Blinking, Applejack moved in closer to the wall, bringing her face mere inches from the cold stone. She could just barely make out black lines on its surface, camouflaged by the darkness of the place. Now that she had spotted them, she was able to see them far more clearly when she stepped back to view the whole wall.

What she saw when she did nearly made her drop the torch again.

Applejack's mouth began to gape, but she caught herself in time, and clamped her teeth down on the torch before it fell. She stared with wide, unblinking eyes at what she was seeing. Applejack honestly had no idea what to make of it, but she did her best to rationalize it.

Painted on the wall in the deepest black, there appeared to be an outline of a pony's head, complete with a unicorn horn, framed by a large pair of pegasus wings that flared out to the sides. The image was completed by a large, triangular outline that surrounded the whole thing, with the words "NEC DI NEC DOMINI" running along the bottom.

Before Applejack could puzzle out what she was looking at, she realized that she needed to head back extremely soon, or risk being stuck in pitch black when the torch ran out. Pushing down any thoughts on the strange symbol, and any panic that they generated, Applejack examined it as closely as she could, committing every detail of it to memory.

As soon as she was sure had an accurate mental picture, Applejack turned tail and swiftly trotted away from the tunnel's abrupt end, back towards the surface. She knew she would have to face the implications of what she'd found sooner or later, but for the walk back she was able to lose herself in the exertion. It was a long walk, in ever-increasing darkness, almost completely uphill the whole way.

She found no trouble simply zoning out.

Far too soon, Applejack found herself turning the last corner and staring down a straight and level tunnel with a speck of orange light at the end. She hadn't realized it until then, but she was panting for breath at that point. The long trek into the depths of the island had taken its toll on her.

Upon exiting the cave, Applejack noted that the sun was well into evening now. She must have spent a good few hours in the cave, and the normally bright rays of Celestia's charge cast a darker shade of orange over the jungle as Applejack emerged into the damp, warm air of the outside world.

She had never been so happy to see a sunset before.

Her fire was still crackling away, though it was but a tiny thing compared to what it had been. Applejack tossed another stick on to ensure its life for a little longer, before heading toward the jungle. Moving quickly to take advantage of the scant daylight she had left, Applejack stumbled down from the cave exit, and into the jungle. She first made her way over to the river, where she refilled her canteen, drank the nearly half of it, and refilled it again. That done, she went over to the nearest coconut tree, making absolutely sure to be far more careful than last time. Now that she had a pair of saddlebags, Applejack was able to collect several coconuts at once, managing to pack four in total.

She barely noticed the trip back to the cave. The tiredness was really starting to take hold, seeping into her whole being and making her movements sluggish. Applejack finally arrived back at the cave, and simply tossed the food-filled saddlebags to the floor. Opening a coconut did not seem like an ordeal she could deal with at the moment. Sleep now. Food tomorrow.

With that thought, Applejack flopped unceremoniously onto the cave floor. She suddenly brightened up, as she remembered the other contents of the saddlebags. Dragging herself once more to her hooves, Applejack went over to the bags and withdrew the thick, pink blanket. She obviously wasn't in need of any warmth in the jungle heat, but she was able to use the blanket to soften her sleeping area somewhat. After laying it down on the floor, Applejack removed her hat, carefully placed it off to the side, and curled up on the considerably more comfortable blanket with a sigh of contentment. She couldn't even be bothered to remove the knife strapped to her left foreleg, opting instead to simply sleep with it on.

As she lay there, drifting closer and closer to sleep, Applejack's mind finally saw fit to catch up with what she had found in the cave.

That symbol had been put there by somepony. Until then, there had always been some doubt as to whether or not anypony else had ever been on the island. There had always been the chance that the cave was simply a strangely formed natural occurrence. Now, all doubt had been removed. That tunnel was made by ponies, and they had left their mark. Applejack still had no idea as to what purpose it served, but she decided then and there that she would rather find a new shelter as soon as possible.

Applejack let out a huge yawn, and felt herself slipping into dreamland. Before losing consciousness for the night, Applejack had time for one more line of thought, though she would've been happier without it.

Somepony had made that tunnel, and those same ponies had painted some kind of logo down there. She had no clue what the strange words had said, but the symbol made her feel uneasy for some reason. She couldn’t really explain it, but it just felt... unfriendly to her.

Applejack hadn't seen a single sign of the ponies that made it since arriving, but for some reason, she had no desire whatsoever to meet them.

There were really only two options. Either the ponies were still on the island, out there somewhere, possibly watching her. Or, something had happened to them, something that could very well involve a shrieking creature, and they were all… gone.

Both options were equally terrifying.

Author's Note:

Edited by the wonderful and amazing Pilate, who is also awesome. :heart:
Totally not paid to say that... :twilightsheepish: