Upheaval: Journeys

by Visiden Visidane


Pinkie Pie 1: Upper Great Delve

Upheaval: Journeys

Pinkie Pie 1: Upper Great Delve

It was a subdued, almost solemn Pinkie Pie who walked through the halls of the Spiral Gateway along with the latest batch of visitors to the Great Delve. It was a good attitude to take. The guards, as was typical of Barrier Lands guards, were curt and impatient, taken to prodding stragglers along with the butts of their spears. Unicorns among them cast their spells, their dogs sniffed at containers, while other studied the faces of each passer-by closely. They didn't look the sort to be amused by somepony hopping about and yelling in excitement.

Pinkie wasn't quiet because of that, though. She had been parting with friends piece by piece. First it was Twilight and Fluttershy within the Royal Palace, then Applejack just outside. She had shared the trip to the Western Barrier Land with Rarity and Rainbow, but Rainbow just parted ways with them outside the gate. She was down to Rarity, and she knew full well that they would be apart once they got inside. They weren't going to meet for quite a while. Pinkie just knew this. Loneliness and fear swirled around her like the deep waters of a great sea. For the first time since ever, Pinkie was going to face great difficulties without any of her old friends by her side.

Yet...there was something else. An irrepressible sense of wonder that did put some bounce in her hooves. This was a brand new adventure, with brand new friends! The Barrier Lands were full of mystery, a whole side of Equestria that she still knew so little about. She had a ton of questions, and she knew they would only lead to tons more.

And this was an important trip too. Enough to make her want to hold her head high and solemnly. She was on a mission as the Element of Joy. If she succeeded in this, even that grumpy Prince Terrato would nod approvingly, and offer his congratulations. That would be a sight to see.

The weight of her task dragged her down, but the wonder of it lifted her up. In the end, Pinkie just couldn't figure out the right mood for it, and ended up showing nothing.

"Nervous?" Nightcanter asked with a light nudge to Pinkie's side. "You're not getting cold feet, are you, Pinkie?"

Pinkie shook her head vigorously and grinned. "No way!" she chirped. "This will be fun, you'll see!"

Behind them, Copper Mane shook his head disapprovingly. "This will be a solemn introduction to the clans," he said. "Not a fun outing!"

"We'll make it both, True Earth Pony," Nightcanter replied with a wink.

Ahead of them, Rarity's group had just passed the last checkpoint with no trouble. The guards, however, weren't as keen to do the same for Pinkie's group.

"You are ridiculously well-armed, Miss," one unicorn guard said to Sablesteel, his horn glowing. "And your luggage is giving off dangerous vibes."

Sable had taken to walking ahead of the group, her cloak wrapped tightly around her while she pulled along a large suitcase. "My name is Sablesteel," she said. She took out a short scroll from a saddlebag, and unfurled it. Pinkie couldn't make out the writing, but the embossed silver seal of a crescent moon at the end gave her a good idea what it was. "I am an agent under Princess Luna here on official business."

"Official, huh?" the guard remarked after inspecting the scroll. "Does Her Highness want to kill a small army or something?" Sable made no reply. Pinkie was worried for a moment that she might get mad, but the guards nodded them through without further incident.

"How odd," Rarity remarked once they were walking together again. They were moving through a large tunnel; the passageway that connected the Spiral Gate to the city. A brilliant, yet soft light, like particularly strong moonlight, shone at the end of the tunnel, seemingly beckoning them. "We're all armed, but only Sablesteel was stopped."

Pinkie wondered that too. Especially since Octavia had passed with little trouble, even with her big, magical cello in tow. She looked to her own gear. Her channeling stone didn't really cause too much of a stir. She had another thing as well. A small gem given to her by Blue Moon before they left.

"That gem will access my extra-dimensional space for one time, Pinkie Pie," Blue Moon had said. "Use it to summon Frenzy Heart's sword. It might be useful for negotiating with the True Earth Ponies. They'll certainly want their artifact back. Try to gauge the situation first before bringing it out."

They hadn't noticed the gem. Pinkie had to admire the skill it must have taken Blue Moon to make this happen.

"It's to be expected to find visitors and locals alike to be armed for protection, my dear Rarity," Lion Court replied. "A few blades here or a bow there does not raise eyebrows for the Delve Guard." He looked at Sablesteel, still all smiles. "Sable is not armed just to defend herself, though. A portable lab for brewing her toxins speaks more 'mass murder' and less 'self defense'."

"Such a high-handed tone," Rarity said. "As if you're any less of a killer yourself, Lion Court."

Lion Court shrugged, as if he was taking a compliment with false humility. "I do my part. Every Thorn has some skill for taking a life when the situation calls for it. I merely state that Sable happens to specialize in it more than any of us."

"You're just envious," Sable muttered as she walked past Lion Court. Pinkie and her other escorts had to quicken their pace to keep up. "I dispatch in minutes what takes you hours."

"An epicurean savors his meals, my dear Sable," Lion Court replied. "It is boorish to gobble."

Sable didn't bother replying. Pinkie thought of interfering. Weren't the Thorns supposed to be friends? That didn't sound like friendly banter at all. Lion Court should apologize, but Pinkie getting involved would probably just worsen everypony's mood.

Before Pinkie could agonize over the matter, however, the light from the city filled her peripherals, dragging her attention to the sight before her. Her jaw dropped almost instantly as the tunnel gave way to their destination.

"Welcome to the Great Delve," Nightcanter said with a grin.

A massive cavern stretched out before them, so vast as to make it difficult to see the other side. Pinkie couldn't help but immediately follow where the strange, soft light came from. Far below them, at the center of the cavern, suspended by a tall, tapering spire, was a brilliant orb of light, like a miniature sun that shone solely for the city.

They stood on a wide ledge, close to the top of this great vault within the mountain. From this ledge stretched forth a bridge of stone and metal, as wide as any road Pinkie had seen in the Heartland, which connected to a pillar of rock.

Pinkie couldn't see much of what lay below the from this vantage point. Her legs wobbled as her mind reeled from the effort of taking it in. They were so high up that all she could make of the city below were many smaller lights and the distinct shapes of various buildings. She should be underground, but she still felt like she was flying in the sky. The pillar their ledge led to was several times the thickness of any castle tower. A wide road spiraled by its sides upon which many ponies and even carriages travelled on. Multiple bridges stretched out from this central pillar, each one connecting to a different level of the city. Pinkie now understood why this entrance was called Spiral Gate.

"Oh my stars!" Rarity said breathlessly. She had also frozen in her tracks just a few feet behind Pinkie's group. "Magnificent..."

Octavia stayed silent, but she was just as wide-eyed and awestruck. "Beautiful..." she whispered.

They walked on, reaching the pillar and joining the quick-flowing river of ponies that was the road. The incline was slightly steep, not enough to be particularly dangerous, but Pinkie suspected that if one rolled a ball on this road, it would keep going for a long, long time.

"This is the Spiral Way," Nightcanter said. She trotted close to Pinkie, her chest just a bit more puffed up than usual "The ever-bustling central highway of the Delve. We can get to any district of the Upper Delve from here."

"Don't cause a scene, Pinkie Pie," Sablesteel said. "Anywhere else, the Delve Guard will give you a warning first for lollygagging or causing a disruption. On Spiral Way, they'll haul you off for a few lashes."

"Actually, they've eased the punishment for that to moderate fines," Nightcanter said.

"Of course," Sablesteel remarked. "Leave it to the delvites to find new ways to be softer."

"I'm not going to cause a scene," Pinkie Pie said with a pout, eager to ease the tension. "You're always expecting the worst from me, Sable." She was happy to look around, though. Large numbers of ponies walked with them on this road, many pulled carts of all sorts of goods behind them from food to pottery, to even jewelry and weapons. There were lots of little outposts attached to the pillar, where the Delve Guard most likely kept watch. There were also patrols of armed guards, very distinct with their very shiny breastplates and bright blue outfits beneath.

"I've noticed that even all the pegasi are walking this highway, Lion Court," Rarity said. "But I can see them flying around those huge stalactites at the distance."

"The Guard insists that all travelers on the Spiral Way be on the ground," Lion Court replied. "It makes their job a great deal easier if they can put more focus on the ground. Pegasi are allowed flight only among the Stonetooth Aeries, which you just observed."

"How restrictive," Rarity said. "Necessary, I suppose."

"The pegasi can leave the Delve anytime if they don't like it," Copper Mane said. "They are guests here, not prisoners. They have been for more than a thousand years."

"I was merely observing, Mister Copper Mane," Rarity replied, her voice steely. "No wonder they've stayed for so long, though. You are so charmingly hospitable."

They had only travelled a short while when they came upon their first extension road. A bridge of metal and stone, suspended by wires attached to the cavern's ceiling, connected Spiral Way to a gigantic stalactite, the foremost among many. A portion of the stalactite had been drilled through and hollowed out, allowing it to be occupied as a building. From this stalactite sprung a veritable web of smaller suspension bridges that connected all the stalactites in a complex network of hanging roads.

Pinkie didn't know much about stones and stonework, at least not as much as her sisters, but even she could tell that these stalactites were not natural. They were too big and ridiculously uniform in their shapes.

"The Aeries have expanded a lot since I last visited," Sablesteel remarked.

"Most of it was from Mayor Coal Dust's building projects a couple of centuries back," Nightcanter said. "A real pegasus sympathizer, that one."

Sablesteel snorted. "That couldn't have gone easily with the other delvites."

Nightcanter shrugged. "The unicorns didn't mind too much, I've read," she said. "Not much rumblings from the earth ponies either. A lot of rumors that his pegasus wife put him up to it."

"There were plenty of objections!" Copper Mane said. "We True Earth Ponies rejected the idea. Those new stalactites wouldn't have been built too if Clan Corundum's shapers weren't so soft."

"A lot of Clan Quartz builders helped too, Copper Mane," Nightcanter said with a smirk. "Don't leave your clan out of the credit."

Copper Mane replied with sullen silence. He stared at the stalactites as if they were monuments of shame. "As if this city hadn't been enough of a roost as it was," he muttered.

The mention of Clan Corundum caught Pinkie's attention. This wasn't the original Clan Corundum from which Rock Maven and Smart Cookie's clans came from. She read enough of Lexarius's notes to know that this referred to the remains of Smart Cookie's clan after they begged Rock Maven to be taken back among the earth pony clans. Looks like they were a bit more helpful than the other True Earth Pony clans. She glanced worriedly at Copper Mane. He was Clan Quartz. She would have to start there. Hopefully, Corundum would be receptive to her as well.

They continued to descend the Spiral Way. Pinkie gasped and could barely avoid pointing when some wolven walked past them, followed by a big, dark green snake-creature carrying some crates. None of her companions and the pony travelers, save for Rarity, seemed to react.

They reached their second connecting bridge. The Delve's silvery light caught on tall, tapering spires, glittering blue-green and white. This district was easily the brightest section of all the Delve. If that light at the center was a small sun, these buildings were the moon. The bridge connected to a shining tower of translucent, gem-like material. From there, the hazy silhouettes of ponies descended spiralling stairs into the main district. This time, Rarity's group stopped.

"Well, Pinkie Pie," Rarity said, her eyes slightly misty and her voice soft. "Looks like this is where we part. This bridge goes to the Gemstone Quarter, where I have business to attend to."

"Oh, Rarity!" Pinkie exclaimed. She threw her hooves around her friend and hugged tightly for a few moments. This was it, the moment she had been thinking about since they departed Canterlot. The moment where she would begin her grand adventure without her old friends.

"Come now, Pinkie," Rarity said while patting Pinkie on the back soothingly. "We're still in the same city. When we've finished the brunt of our tasks, we can meet up and compare notes. I'm sure of it."

Pinkie brushed a tear away with her foreleg once they separated. "Sure, Rarity," she said. She stifled a sob. At least, she tried to. "That would be great!"

"You take care, Pinkie," Rarity said. She looked to Sablesteel and Nightcanter. "Please watch over her. She can be a hoof-ful sometimes, but she's more than worth it." She looked to Copper Mane. "I trust that you will look after her too, Mister Copper Mane."

"I'm not your slave, unicorn," Copper Mane replied. When glares all around descended on him, he pursed his lips defiantly for a while before adding "I will do my best. She is important after all."

"My dear Sable, do take care of yourself," Lion Court said. "You represent so many things now, after all: from your grandfather's legacy, to the Thorns, to your new...employer."

"I don't need you reminding me, Lion," Sablesteel snapped. "The list grows longer, but they all get my full devotion."

"Of course," Lion Court said with a smile and a slight bow. "I meant no disrespect."

Octavia merely bowed slightly to Sablesteel, and gave Pinkie a brief, impassive look before moving on.

With that, the two groups parts ways. Pinkie stood there waving for a while until Nightcanter cleared her throat. Sablesteel was already about to move ahead.

"So what's Deepstone Quarter like?" Pinkie Pie asked as she bounced to get back in pace with the others. The question was supposed to be meant for Copper Mane, but she didn't focus on anypony when she asked it.

"A proper place for an earth pony," Copper Mane said. His mood was already brightening. "Teeming with ley energy, close to our element, and far from large numbers of unicorns and pegasi. I already sent a letter ahead. They are expecting us."

"Not really a place for me, Pinkie," Nightcanter said. "I know the Underbelly quite well, which is pretty close to Deepstone Quarter, but not the place itself."

"It's dark, cramped, and gloomy," Sablesteel replied. "Even other earth ponies aren't that fond of it. The True Earth Ponies only like it because eveypony else hates it."

"You've been to Deepstone Quarter?" Copper Mane asked pointedly. "For what? Every pegasus I've seen trying to enter always turned into a nervous wreck!"

Sablesteel actually flashed a brief smile. Pinkie couldn't help but lean in a bit to hear her. "Assassination," she said. "Some Clan Basalt elder had been overreaching so Black Rose sent me. I simply needed a few lessons from Frenzy Heart."

Copper Mane spent the rest of their walking making sure Pinkie and Nightcanter were between him and Sablesteel. They passed one more bridge, the Mineral District, as Nightcanter pointed out. It stretched to the opposite direction of Gemstone Quarter, towards an elevated plateu at a distance. The buildings there resembled more familiar structures; the compact, squat structures of earth pony dwellings. Plumes of smoke also rose from many chimneys and forges. Pinkie remembered Blinkie's letter. Her youngest sister would probably be apprenticing over there.

Now that they were closer to ground level, Pinkie could now see the veritable forest of huge mushrooms that covered the southwestern section of the Great Delve. Thousands of tiny blue lights glittered from within their stalks. There was also no missing the huge river that bisected the city, flowing from the north side and feeding into a lake at the center. It was at the center of that lake, on a small island that looked like a stalagmite with its point chopped off, where the bright light of the Great Delve stood suspended. There were other fort-like buildings on the island too. Pinkie guessed that they must be pretty important.

The walked on, reaching ground level at last. There, they encountered multiple roads extending from Spiral Way, including one that led to that mushroom forest. The ground section proved more familiar to Pinkie. She was surrounded by typical earth pony dwellings. It was nice to see that a lot of them resembled one she would find in Ponyville. Well, there was no house designed to look like cake, but this was nice too. The silent, business-like demeanor of the ponies climbing up and down the Spiral Way melted into a more jovial mood down here. A large market surrounded the Spiral Way, with vendors of all sorts showing off their wares to the ponies arriving from other districts. Pinkie's mouth watered at the sight of various treats. They had pastries here, and fresh fruit, and was that a stand of different mushrooms?

"Hungry?" Nightcanter asked with a smile. "I'm sure we can afford a quick stop and a meal."

"We should really just move on as quickly as possible," Copper Mane said. "There's plenty of food in—"

"Pinkie Pie?" Nightcanter asked again.

"I'd love to!" Pinkie sang out. Before anypony else could say anything, she was already weaving through the crowd to get to her first stand.

"Hey, chosen!" somepony called out. Pinkie turned to look on instinct. One of the vendors, a blue green earth pony stallion, looked at her with an inviting grin, gesturing for her to come closer. "You just arrived in the Delve?" he called out. "You've got to try my yam fritters!"

Pinkie checked her money pouch. The small sack was bulging with coin. She still had her legionnaire salary. The royalty also gave her quite a sum to help her in her journey. "I'll try it!" she said. A minute later, she had a nice, freshly cooked yam fritter on stick to munch on; crispy and golden on the outside with bits of caramelized sugar, chewy and mildly sweet on the inside. It tasted better with the knowledge that ponies from the Delve were surprisingly welcoming of "chosen". Pinkie had been mildly worried that her cutie mark would upset some ponies here.

"Chosen!" a mare called out. "Wash that down with a coconut drink over here!"

A stallion joined in. "Chosen, try something savory this time! Buttered corn on a stick or cup over here!"

Pinkie's gaze flitted from one stand to another. Her legs followed suit, as did her her money pouch. It took only a couple of minutes until she had a paper bag full of various goods tucked in her foreleg as she moved along.

"Woah, slow down there, Pinkie!" Nightcanter said. She came out of the crowd, seemingly out of thin air, and draped a foreleg across Pinkie's shoulders. "I said a quick stop and a meal, not gather supplies for a campaign. Don't let the friendly faces fool you. As soon as they saw you were chosen, they knew they could unload their goods on you." She peeked into the paper bag. "What have you in there? Are you seriously eating all of these?"

"I got some of those for you, Sable, and Copper Mane," Pinkie replied. She was wondering why every vendor was eager to grab her attention. She had also noticed that she wasn't the lone "chosen" here. The Great Delve must be getting a lot of visitors from the Heartland. She supposed she had spent enough money. She focused on one last stop: the mushroom stand.

"Oh, you've got your eye on Loamy Legs's stand," Nightcanter remarked. She trotted next to Pinkie as they approached the stand. "Loamy!" She held out a foreleg as if to embrace the grizzled, dark green stallion.

"Huh?" the stallion asked. He scratched his short, brown mane for a while before his eyes widened. "Nightcanter? By our Prince, you've been gone for a while! Haven't seen you around since Morning Trot got married!"

"Duty calls," Nightcanter replied. "This is Pinkie Pie, Loamy, This'll be her first time with the Delve's specialty mushrooms."

Loamy Legs eyed Pinkie for a moment. "Befriending the chosen now, are we?" he said with a grin. "Figures you'll be the first to have a go at them. First three pounds are on me, Pinkie Pie."

The wide array of mushrooms made even Pinkie hesitate. There was no way she was getting some of each without getting crushed by the weight. She eventually decided on some of the thin bundles of white stalks, the thick chewy ones that looked like ears, and a large, yellowish block that looked a lot like a loaf of bread.

At the last one, Nightcanter clicked a tongue and whistled. "Rafrak's Gift...bold choice there, Pinkie!" She tossed a few bits towards Loamy Legs and gestured towards where the others were waiting.

"Huh?" Pinkie replied. "How come?"

"Rafrak the Exile perfected that breed," Nightcanter said. "He swore that it tastes exactly like pony."

With a shrug, Pinkie took a bite. "Wow," she said. "We taste pretty good. Maybe even better with some melted butter and some salt."

Copper Mane sat by some benches a good distance from the bustling marketplace. His gloomy face brightened a bit when Pinkie offered some of the snacks.

"Where's Sablesteel, Copper Mane?" Nightcanter asked.

Copper Mane pointed to a tall, pointed pillar some distance away from them. For a moment, Pinkie thought it was a small stalagmite, but a second look showed its smoothened sides and four cornered base. This was a tall pyramid like structure. It didn't seem to serve any practical function. It certainly wasn't supporting anything. There were, however, several ponies around it with their heads raised solemnly and one of their forelegs to their chests. Sablesteel stood a few feet away, looking at the whole scene.

"The Lovers Protection Stone?" Nightcanter thought aloud. Her lips curved into an amused smile. "I didn't expect that from Miss Hardened Assassin."

Neither did Pinkie, which was why she was trotting alongside Nightcanter as they approached Sable.

Sable stared at the ponies with the same harsh glare that Pinkie had long since pegged as her neutral face. When Nightcanter and Pinkie approached, she turned towards them and nodded towards the stone.

"That's the Lunar Vengeance Stone," Sablesteel said quietly. "It used to be in the Mineral District. Why was it moved here?"

Nightcanter stared at Sablesteel in bewilderment. "Lunar Vengeance Stone? That's a weird name to remember it by. To answer your question, the original Lovers Protection Stone is still in Mineral District. This is a replica, built so ponies wouldn't have to keep travelling to Mineral District."

"Lovers Protection..." Sablesteel's eyebrows rose. "So that explains the strange invocation. That mare was saying 'May the moon's light protect our newly forged marriage'."

Nightcanter nodded. "Sounds about right. Just a typical mare in love going through a traditional gesture. Now that news of Princess Luna's activities have reached here, we can expect more supplicants."

"Wow," Pinkie said. "So Princess Luna is actually popular here? And that sounds like a sweet little tradition!"

Sablesteel's shoulders shook. For a second, Pinkie raised her forelegs in a calming gesture. She was about to offer a snack too when a brief laugh escaped Sable. "Is that what they think that stone is for?" she asked. "Times really have changed!" She walked back with them to the benches, and accepted a sweet bean stuffed bun from Pinkie.

"So what was that stone for?" Nightcanter asked. She wasn't smiling this time.

"Don't let me ruin your tradition," Sablesteel replied. "I'm sure the moon princess appreciates knowing that you delvites see her as a protector of love. Besides, this was a tale told to me by my grandfather, who was told of it by the other Blackmoon Blades. It's no more factual than your loving tradition."

"I want to know too!" Pinkie chimed in. Some crumbs flew out of her mouth as she spoke. Well...she sort of wanted to know. Part of her just wanted to see that stone as a symbol of loving couples, but this was a chance to hear Sablesteel being talkative.

"We should really—" Copper Mane stopped after a hard nudge from Nightcanter.

"A long time ago..." Sablesteel began. She stopped and pushed Pinkie's leaning head back. "I'll raise my voice if you can't hear me properly, Pinkie Pie, so give me some space! As I said...a long time ago, early into the Division and at the height of the Blackmoon Blades' power, there was a troubled couple; an old and rich merchant and some young strumpet he married. They were undergoing a separation and a judge was deciding how their estate was to be split. But the judge was corrupt and in the mare's pocket. He was sure to award her with nearly everything the merchant owned. The mare knew this, and openly flaunted it with lavish spendings and even whoring with stallions."

Pinkie didn't like the story already. That didn't sound like a love story at all. Still, she continued to watch silently, if only to hear Sable keep talking about something other than missions and her being a pink imbecile.

"The merchant was desperate," Sable went on. "He wandered the city drunk and in a daze knowing he was about to spend the rest of his life poor and miserable. He stumbled upon the Vengeance Stone. At the time, it as just a scuplture done by Silver Star, an artist known for making several paintings and statues of Princess Luna for the Blackmoon Blades and the Night Parade. He prostrated himself before the stone, convinced that the Blades observed all of Silver Star's works. He argued that he had his wedding ceremony at night, which meant that the oaths were sworn before the moon princess, and that he did everything he could to stay true to those oaths, but his wife had planned his predicament from the start. A commotion had begun before the guards hauled him off."

"What happened after that?" Pinkie asked.

Sablesteel snorted. "After a few days, the mare hung hind fetlocks first from that scuplture, throat cut open and drained of blood. Her ears were missing, of course, and the symbol of the moon was carved on her belly. The Delve Guard started an investigation, but no ponies were identified or caught. Afterwards, every marriage done under that judge's jurisdiction had a night wedding with the couple presenting themselves to the sculpture. The judge was eventually investigated, convicted, and executed." Sablesteel let herself smile. "And now ponies look to that stone asking for moonlight to protect their love."

"And here I thought it was the Moonlight Rondo that started that tradition," Nightcanter said wistfully. "I suppose 'may the moon's light protect our newly forged marriage' sounds much more romantic than 'may fanatical assassins murder my spouse if they cheat on me.'"

"All Equestria got from the Rondo was 'Luna's Piss', the Moaning Top incident, and the spread of a variety of sex-related diseases," Sable said. She looked to Copper Mane. "We've ignored the True Earth Pony for too long, let's continue on to his clan home."

They finished up and let Nightcanter take the lead. As they moved farther away from the Spiral Way, the bright light from the miniature sun grew dimmer. Nightcanter led them through smaller side paths where the rooves of buildings and houses began to intersect and block out the light. As they moved on, the pretty earth pony dwellings became more and more ramshackle. The smell of freshly cooked snacks and perfumes gave way to the stink of open gutters and moldering trash bins. The floor wasn't as smooth or as even here. Pinkie nearly tripped a couple of times. She shivered when an errant step left her foreleg fetlock deep in a puddle of foul-smelling water. It was amazing how well, the prettier buildings near Spiral Way hid these ones from view.

"Keep your money pouch secure and hidden, Pinkie Pie," Sablesteel said. "We can take care of a bunch of Underbelly thugs easily, but I don't want to show off what we can do until we need to."

"Okay," Pinkie replied. Witha a good bit of her enthusiasm missing.

Eventually, Nightcanter led them to a large circular hole with the metal rungs of a ladder running down one side. Pinkie wrinkled her nose as she looked down. Faint blue lights marked a floor below, but it was a good distance of ladder down. A mild hint of sewage wafted from the place.

"Is that where we have to go?" Pinkie asked. "Does everypony going down have to take this stinky tunnel?"

"What's the matter, Pinkie?" Nightcanter asked. "You didn't think the Great Delve was all grand vistas and prosperous districts, did you? This is one of the many entrances to the Underbelly. The safest."

Pinkie shook her head. She supposed not. "Well," she said after Nightcanter started climbing down. She grasped the cold, metal rungs. "Here goes."