//------------------------------//
// Two unicorns, one cave 
// Story: Dark Sun Celestia 
// by sakurabaz00x 
//------------------------------//

Two unicorns were out on the fields today. The one at the front, the white one with the purple hair, was using her horn to look for gems. Something she enjoyed doing, though not usually with the company of her friends. The one behind, the purple pony, the one levitating a book in front of her to read, was keeping pace with her friend, though oblivious to the one in front. This one was a bit of a bookworm, once she got to a new bok she could not stop reading it until she finished it, or collapsed from exhaustion. One of the two, or both even. They continued walking this way, through the fields of grass until they finally reached a rocky, mountainous surface. Rarity's horn vibrated indicating that they were close to their destination, or at least one of their goals. Rarity squeals with excitement.

"Ah, we must be close now. Unless this is one of those Diamond Dogs again." She takes a moment to survey her surroundings. Satisified that they are alone she continues to move, her friend, Twilight, mumbling along, transfixed on the words of the book. 

Their walk leads them to an entrance to a cave. It is unfamiliar to them. They were east of Ponyville, a far off east. Worse yet, no one even knew they were here. Twilight had insisted on the mission being secret. The power of Zebranium was an important part of her plan to maintain the Sun, and who knows what other ponies, ponies with nefarious intentions, could do with it. 

Rarity steps forward, using her horn to light the entrance to the cave. She approaches it tentatively. Shining a light all around she makes a startling discovery.

"Twilight!" she says walking back to her friend. "Someone's been in here."

A moment passes by before this registers in Twilight's head, making her pull away from her book. "Sorry Rarity. I wasn't paying attention. What did you say?"

Rarity frowns at being ignored and sighs before telling Twilight again. "Someone's been in here. There's footprints all over the entrance."

Twilight takes another moment to take that all in again before laughing at her friend's joke. "Haha." she laughs for a while before noticing her friend's disapproving glare. "Rarity no one even knows this place exists. We're officially in no pony's land. That can't be true." Twilight realises the error of her mistake when she sees Rarity give an audible humph. She walks past Rarity to the entrance of the cave.  "Ok I'm sorry Rare. I have a hard time believing that..." her words are lost as she stares at the clear footprint near the mouth of the cave. "What... the..."

Rarity smiles at her friend's apparent loss for words and walks right next to her. "I told you so. You say no one's been here. But these footprints here. they indicate someone has been here before."

Twilight mulls things over before deciding magic could solve this mystery. "I'll... use a life detecting spell to see ahead." Twilight focuses all her magic to her horn in order to detect the soul, not unlike how Rarity finds gems. The more souls there are nearby the more energy it takes, and for Twilight, right now, a lot of energy was being used to perform the spell. That meant one thing. There was someone here in the cave. And there were a lot of them. A minute passes by before Rarity tries to touch Twilight, not knowing if the strain was killing her friend. "Twilight?"

"Stand Back Rarity!" she manages to say before her horn experiences a magic overload. Rarity is blown away by the power of it, hitting a wall behind her. She opens her eyes to find Twilight shivering and in obvious shock."Twilight. What happened?"

Twilight looks at her friend and stands up. "There's ponies here. And not just one person. There's about a hundred of them. And they're doing something. They're mining the gems." 

"That's... that's bad right? We've got to tell someone. The princess." she gets to her feet and grabs Twilight's hooves. 

"Come on."

"They're coming for us." Twilight says letting herself be pulled up by her friend. They start galloping away when they notice a group of ponies wearing white masks, forming a wall. They get closer and the two unicorns turn left only to find another wall of ponies, this time wearing black masks. They try to run the opposite way but yet another wall of ponies approaches them wearing red masks. They turned to go back to the cave but there, at the mouth of the cave, was a fearsome pony wearing a different mask, one that covered his mouth but not his eyes. 

And now the two unicorn had realised their mistake. Now they looked at each other with fearful eyes. And they put their arms around each other. 

"I'm so sorry for bringing you here Rarity."

"Oh Don't be. It's not your fault."

The apparent ringleader of the ponies completed the circle formed around the two unicorns. He starts to talk and his voice is not normal. Gravelly, robotic, like a different being was uttering those words, not someone normal.

"Hello Twilight, student of Celestia. What brings you to our humble abode?"

Twilight stares at the stallion talking before opening her mouth. No words come out.

He laughs and the laugh is guttural, a primal noise, unnatural, alien. "What is the matter? Cat got your tongue?" He starts laughing again, and the other ponies join in. "Well what about your lovely friend? Introduce yourself to us."

Rarity looks around before saying . "I am Rarity. We were...just looking for gems when we happened to pass by this cave. We meant no harm and wish to leave now."

The stallion laughed at this and approached them getting closer and closer. "You mean no harm. But there is always harm to go around. You wanted something in the cave. Yes? You wanted this." He puts his hand inside his coat pocket and takes out a large sample of Zebranium. "You wanted this right? What a coincidence. The day I start my plan is the day Celestia sends her student to stop me." He throws the rock on the ground. "How then are you gonna stop me? 

You're not even a fully-grown mare yet. You can't stop me." He gets right up Twilight's face. "Tell me. Is Celestia still trying to be a merciful Princess? She hasn't tried seducing you yet?"

"Seducing me?"

"Ah... maybe she didn't send you after all." He turns his back on them and starts going back to the cave. "This is no place to have a nice, proper talk. We'll talk inside my chambers."

The ponies around them picked the two up, the two unwilling, but helpless to act, Twilight being unwilling to teleport knowing that Rarity didn't know how. Together they were going to face their fears. Inside the cave.

Two unicorns. One cave.