//------------------------------//
// Chapter Seven: Descent 
// Story: Cube Land 
// by Divide 
//------------------------------//

Cube Land

Chapter Seven: Descent





Day 95, late Night


Thankfully, the ponies followed me this time. I noticed that they frequently look towards Dawn for confirmation on most decisions, which leads me to believe that she is their pack leader, or perhaps the eldest. She has definitely shown a level of desire to understand me and my home far greater than the others.

We stopped at a small pond surrounded by sugarcane and sporting a few lily-pads on the way to the Mine. After I drank from the clear water, the ponies did as well. The white one washed her legs while the pink one bounded from lily-pad to lily-pad, somehow not drenching herself in the process. The blue one actually drenched herself, diving into the pond and swimming for a short while before emerging in a spray of mist. She shook herself like a wolf before taking to the air once more.

Though the Mine was several hundred blocks away from the obsidian, we arrived there in what felt like no time at all, even with the brief water break. The Sun was nearing its zenith, roughly the same position it was in when I descended into the Pit yesterday, giving us plenty of time to delve before Night fell.

... Was it really only yesterday that they appeared? It's hard to believe how much has occurred in a little over a Day and a half. Time does not feel the same as it used to.

Before entering, I looked behind me to make sure that all of the ponies were following me. They were, save for the blue winged pony, who was still hovering in mid-air, wings flapping constantly and rhythmically to keep her adrift. She had been airborne for almost the entirety of the trip, save for when she demonstrated with the others near the obsidian and when she swam. I do not know how she manages the feat; chickens and bats are the only flying creatures I know of, and they cannot do so for extended periods of time. If I didn't see her doing it, I would presume something her size would not be able to fly at all, let alone fly for extended periods. I wonder how much she weighs, or if mass has anything to do with it. Maybe she has the power of the horn that Dawn and the white one possess, but it is concentrated in her wings instead.

I made the motion of descending into the Mine, and received some wary glances. The blue pony shot straight up into the air and continued to ascend until she was just a speck in the sky. Just as I thought she might not come back down, her speck started to grow in size, and I could hear a rumbling like there was a thunderstorm nearby. The rumble grew in force until it was similar to a long and drawn-out Creeper explosion. As she came speeding towards the ground, I noticed a most peculiar phenomenon: she left a streak of colour behind her, the same ones as her mane, which appears to contain them all. It faded a few seconds after.

I am not sure whether it was caused by her or the water dripping from her body, but it was remarkable either way. I know there is a word for the collection of colours... I will ponder it for a while.

...

I thought of the word. Spectrum. The blue one's mane encompasses a spectrum of colours. She left behind a spectrum of colour while racing across the sky. Hmm. I think I have inadvertently thought of a name for the blue pony. I will call her Spectrum. Racer would almost certainly fit as well, but I like the sound of Spectrum better.

After Spectrum landed following her final aerial display, I descended cautiously into the mine. I was glad that I had taken the time to carve out stairs into the stone at the entrance, and I'm sure the ponies were too. They have trouble with one block heights. The stairs were spaced well enough for me to walk or run up and down with ease, but they were still slightly problematic for the ponies, as their legs are not nearly as long as mine. They cannot jump very well either, with the exception of the pink one. They are not built for the dimensions of this world.

The ponies peered down into the Mine from the entrance. After some hesitation, they began to cautiously brave my staircase one at a time.  Dawn came first, followed by the pink one, Apple, and Spectrum. The yellow one descended after she and the white one shared a look and a few words, but the white one did not follow. She attempted to make the first step, but her hoof hovered above the stair for a few seconds before drawing back. Perhaps those two are more closely related than the others: their manes are more intricately styled and they seem to be less world-weary than the others.

Apple stomped her hoof and made a displeased sound, but the white one shook her head and firmly planted her feet. If her glare was anything to go by, she seemed to despise stone and the underground as much as dirt and mud.

It took Dawn, Apple, Spectrum, and the pink one to finally coax her into the Mine. And by coax, I mean they had to forcibly drag her down the stairs to the first flat area, flailing and screeching. The look on their faces seemed to indicate that they were used to this sort of behaviour. I hoped she would not panic when we went deeper, as we were only fifteen blocks down, and we would be going far deeper.

When the white one stopped panicking and was merely shaking in nervousness, I withdrew a torch and my diamond pickaxe, feeling them expand to fit my hands. There were torches placed on the walls throughout every tunnel and cavern that I had ever explored, but the simple comfort of holding one gave me more peace of mind than a dozen placed ones.

I glanced at the ponies, who were discussing something between themselves. I waited until they were finished, then motioned for them to stay close.





Twilight Sparkle was equal parts excited and terrified.

The surface of the cube land contained a plethora of fascinating mysteries, but there were enough similarities to the surface of Equestria that comparisons could be readily made between the two. There were trees, grass, flowers, dirt, water, and the properties of each were generally consistent across worlds. Delving into the underground, however, made her feel like she was entering something entirely separate. The jutting angles of the perfectly square stone felt unnatural and oppressive, and the darkness was almost tangible.

If giant spiders and walking snake-leaf-things roamed the surface, what awaits us where the sun doesn't shine?

Despite the abundance of flickering torches placed at regular intervals, the cave did not feel welcoming in the slightest, and nopony was particularly pleased to be inside of it, especially Rarity. She was a step away from hyperventilating while the biped, on the other hoof, appeared almost comfortable. The carved staircase and smoothed walls indicated that he was quite familiar with this particular cave system, and the equipment he carried showed that he came well prepared.

There were two separate staircases leading to parts unknown, one on either side of the roughly rectangular landing. Twilight watched the biped pull out a torch and his blue-green pick, both expanding to nearly ten times their shrunken size.

Evidently, Twilight still had a lot to learn regarding the laws regarding manipulation of objects, as the biped had the ability to shrink or expand objects seemingly on command, and with great finesse.

"I always wanted to go mining!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "Rock farming was boring, but this is rock mining! I bet there's all sorts of cool stuff just waiting to be found underneath the surface, and Mister Not-A-Pony needs our help to get to it!"

"You think this is a mining expedition?" Twilight asked. She eyed the biped's digging equipment.

"What else could we be doing down here with a pickaxe and shovel? We're definitely not farming. You need a hoe for that!"

"Uh... right." 

"So I guess we're going deeper, huh?" Rainbow Dash chipped in. "I mean, I'm all for exploring and stuff, but why does it have to be underground? Couldn't we explore a mountain or something? It's cramped down here."

"I'm sure there's a good reason for it," Twilight replied. "I don't think the biped would have brought us here without knowing what he's looking for."

"Ah hope you're right, Twilight. Ah don't like the feel of this cave." Applejack motioned towards a shaking Rarity. "And Ah doubt miss prim and proper is happy about it neither. Maybe we should leave her and 'Shy behind. This don't seem like the place for them."

"Oh now you think so?" Rarity jeered. "I took one look and said, 'No, this dirty underground cave looks and feels remarkably similar to the mine where I was captured and held captive', but now that you think we should stay behind, suddenly it's okay? I guess now that I have your permission, I'll go wait outside—"

"Nopony's staying behind," interrupted Fluttershy, of all ponies. "Splitting up is a bad idea. Either we all go, or none of us go."

There was a moment of silence before all eyes turned to Rarity. She was in the middle of taking the first step back up to the surface. She sighed and closed her eyes briefly.

"... Fine," she relented, shaking her hooves to steel herself. "Let's get this over with."

Twilight looked at the biped, who raised a rectangular eyebrow. He motioned for them to follow, and went towards the staircase on the right.

Everypony followed him down single-file; there was not enough room otherwise. As the staircase slowly leveled out into a narrow tunnel, the biped's head was nearly scraping against the ceiling, and it became barely wide enough for them to walk side-by-side. The light was dim enough that Twilight had to look down to make sure she didn't trip and fall, as the steps leading down to a new elevation were becoming infrequent and random. When the biped stopped abruptly and stuck his arms out to the sides, Twilight nearly stabbed him in the leg with her horn.

"Everypony, stop!"

Applejack, who was walking on the left side and was flash-blind from the torch, didn't hear in time and bumped into the biped with enough force to make him stagger forward. As he fell, he swung his pickaxe with a speed disproportionate to his size, embedding it in the centre of a stone block with a single blow and causing cracks to cover the surface. He hung forward precariously, only one foot touching the floor and his iron grasp on the handle the only thing keeping him from falling.

"Sorry! Ah couldn't see!"

"What's going on?" asked somepony behind her. "Where'd the light go?!"

After hanging for only a moment, the biped managed to regain his balance and footing. Twilight watched with amazement as he tore the pick head out of the stone block: the cracks filled themselves in almost instantly, leaving it as smooth as it had been beforehand. There wasn't a mark or a scratch on it to show that it had ever been damaged.

Can everything repair itself like that? Twilight wondered. Will it function the same way in Equestria?

Her thoughts regarding the potential possibilities were filed away when the biped stuck the torch he had been carrying into a stone block. The amount of visible light increased drastically and immediately, enough so for Twilight to see precisely what had made him stop so suddenly. The tunnel stopped at the sheer edge of some sort of fissure. If he didn't stop them, they very easily could've waltzed right off the edge and into the abyss. There was what looked to be a single-block thick shelf that ran to the left of the edge, leading into the darkness. Twilight noticed at least one block-wide gap along it, with no way around. The biped carefully dropped down onto the slightly jutting ledge, glanced down, then pulled out another torch.

Twilight tried to see the bottom of the fissure, and felt queasy when she realized that she couldn't.

Just as Twilight was about to bravely step down and see if the gap was small enough to jump, something whizzed by her head and embedded itself into the stone above her. It had been close enough that she felt a gust of air on the top of her head.

"What the hay was that?!" exclaimed Twilight as she backpedaled until she hit the wall, hooves skittering on the slightly slippery stone. While most of her was panicking, the logical part took note of how quickly the biped reacted. He immediately dropped the torch, tossed the pickaxe from his right hand to his left, pulled out his sword, leaped over the gap, and sprinted into the darkness. The echoes of his steps were quickly drowned out by a series of bone-chilling rattles and the twang of bowstrings. Twilight looked up to see an arrow buried deep into the rock.

"What's happening up there?!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Where'd the big guy go?!"

"Something—Something shot an arrow at us! The biped went in the direction it came from!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go help him!"

"Wait!" cried Twilight. "It's a really narrow path, and there's at least a one block gap! I don't know if we can get across!"

Rainbow Dash snorted and unfurled her wings. "Nothing's allowed to use us for target practice! Let's see 'em try to hit this!" She flew over them, veering immediately to the left and towards the sound of the struggle.

Applejack jumped down onto the shelf. She narrowed her eyes at the gap in front of her, then turned back to Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity. "You girls stay here. Ah'll bring both of 'em back." Before Twilight could respond, Applejack took several steps backwards to get a running start, then galloped as fast as she could, bounding over the gap and clearing it with a small amount of room to spare.

Twilight's mouth stayed open for a few seconds before she closed it.

"I hope they're going to be okay," said Fluttershy.

"The three of them should be able to handle it... whatever it is," replied Rarity. She sighed. "This is a very good reason as to why I did not want to go down here in the first place."

As the fight echoed around the cave, Twilight had the sneaking suspicion that something else was amiss. She looked at Fluttershy and Rarity for a few moments before realizing that they were missing somepony.

"Where's Pinkie Pie?!"