//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Operation Infiltration // Story: Beneath the Surface // by Racingwolf //------------------------------// Beneath the Surface Chapter 2 - Operation Infiltration “I can’t believe anypony would ask something like that of Celestia,” Cadance said. “Let alone attack after she refused.” Twilight, Spike, and all six of her friends from Ponyville had gathered in the throne room early that morning. Cadance, Shining Armor, Sunburst and a number of guards had listened as Twilight retold what Luna had revealed to her in the dream. “And that’s…everything that Luna told me,” Twilight replied. “She said Celestia was the only one who remembered these ponies. I don’t know how we’re going to find their artifact when we know so little about them!” “I just don’t understand why this is happening now,” Starlight said. “If this happened around twenty years ago, why did they only just now think to try to force Celestia to comply? And if they had so much magic, why did they make it so obvious that they were trying to get to Celestia instead of trying to set a trap or surprise them?” Spike raised his eyebrow at Starlight. “I’m just trying to figure out their logic here,” she said sheepishly. “Twilight did say that Celestia recognized who they were,” Fluttershy pointed out. “Maybe they needed stronger magic so they could be sure?” Rainbow Dash suggested from where she hovered near Starlight. “I mean, if this artifact they have is making their magic so strong, maybe it took a while before they were strong enough to pose a threat?” “I’m not sure that’s how the artifact works,” Twilight replied, pacing back and forth. “But I guess it could be. Maybe the effect of its power on their magic was a slow process. I’m not sure. But Starlight, I wondered the same thing. Why would they wait until now? Even Luna had no idea.” “Well, I guess that part doesn’t matter at the moment,” said Applejack. “They’re here now and we gotta stop ‘em.” “I suppose that is true,” Rarity added. She turned to Twilight. “Luna didn’t say anything about where in these caves we might find their artifact?” “No,” Twilight sighed. “Just that we’d feel its dark magic when we were getting close.” “Well, I wouldn’t worry. We’ve done much more difficult things before,” Rainbow said. “I don’t know, these mines and caves seem like they could be huge,” Fluttershy said softly. “I’m not sure this is much to go on.” “And that’s my problem,” Twilight replied, continuing her anxious pacing. “We barely know anything about these ponies, and we’re supposed to walk right into their lair and destroy the one thing they have that might allow them to overthrow Celestia. The one thing that would give them enough power to bring back this ‘second artifact’ so they could force her to…to…” “Twilight, take a deep breath,” Cadance said. “No one’s going to let them force Princess Celestia to risk her own life.” “Yeah,” Pinkie Pie added cheerfully. “Celestia trusts us to fix this mess, and it’s not without good reason. We’ll get through this just like we’ve gotten through everything else.” Twilight smiled at them, but the smile quickly faded. “Well, I was thinking…when we find their artifact, how are we going to destroy it? Luna said that it would be heavily guarded. And also that ‘Scarlet Rose,’ who is apparently the leader of these strange unicorns, is back in the caves too, maybe guarding it herself.” “I suppose there’s not much we can do about that until we find out more for ourselves,” Rarity sighed. “If Luna and Celestia don’t know much about these ponies or their artifact, I’m not certain anypony else would.” “That’s another thing I find weird,” Starlight pointed out. “How nopony has heard of these unicorns. If they mined magical gems, surely somepony would have one or remember where it came from.” “I wish we had more time,” Twilight said, her ears drooping. “There might be a mention in a book or, or something-” “Not here in the Crystal Empire,” Spike responded. “These ponies disappeared years before the Empire returned.” Twilight sped up her pacing. “Yes, but maybe in Canterlot – if it weren’t being attacked – or Manehattan, Las Pegasus, or…argh, there’s no time for that.” Twilight brought her hoof to her face. “Look, even if there was, it would have been written before these ponies were cursed, right?” Starlight replied. “So, a book on this might not be much help even if it did exist.” “But what if there were a map of their mines and the caves or something?” Twilight asked. She gritted her teeth in frustration. “Their history can’t have just vanished!” “Well, it’s not like it’s the first time it’s happened,” Spike said. “I mean, look where we are.” He glanced around the crystal throne room. “Yes,” Twilight replied, “but Luna said that this happened around twenty years ago, not a thousand years!” “Erm, Twilight,” Sunburst said, speaking up for the first time since Twilight had told them about Luna’s visit to her dreams. “You told us that Luna showed you what the artifact that these strangers had looked like, and that they wore amulets around their necks. Perhaps if you could show me, I’ll see if I recognize them from anywhere?” Twilight looked at him with sudden relief. “Yeah, I can do that,” she replied, feeling a bit calmer. Sunburst’s knowledge of magic was greater than anypony else’s in the empire. “I’ll just need to get some paper and-” “No need,” Shining Armor said, levitating a stack of paper and some pencils that had been sitting beside the throne. “I thought you might be wanting somewhere to write things down after hearing something so important.” “Thanks,” Twilight replied, taking a few pieces of paper and a pencil with her own magic and bringing it to the floor in front of her. After several minutes of moving the pencil around with her magic, Twilight was satisfied enough that the drawings depicted what she’d seen and turned them over to Sunburst. The others in the room gathered around as Sunburst adjusted his glasses and peered closer. Twilight’s drawing depicted an artifact made of four crystals fused together, forming a diamond shape, and two more crystals twisting together in the center. “It might not be completely accurate,” Twilight said nervously. “Luna created this image going by Celestia’s description, but it looks somewhat like that. Have you ever seen anything like it?” To her disappointment, Sunburst shook his head. “No,” he replied. “I’ve read up on a lot of artifacts, but I haven’t heard of anything like this one.” “Well, it was worth a shot,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “How about the amulets?” Twilight asked as Sunburst shuffled the papers so he could see the drawing of the tear-drop-shaped amulets. “Every one of those strange unicorns in the dream was wearing one.” Sunburst studied the drawing for a few moments. “It…could be made of any number of magical gems,” he replied. “Did Luna show you one of these in detail?” “Not really,” Twilight sighed. “They were a clear light blue, though. And they had what looked like white or yellow streaks running through them.” Sunburst’s eyes lit up. “I might know what they are,” he said, and the others looked to him with excitement. “There’s a type of rare gemstone called ice topaz. It has fairly limited magical qualities that can be activated by a talented spellcaster. However, the only thing I’ve ever heard of these gems being able to do is to make a pony able to withstand extreme environments, like deserts or frozen mountainsides.” “Why would they need that to attack Canterlot?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Maybe their caves are so cold, the rest of Equestria seems boiling hot in comparison,” Pinkie suggested. “Well in that case, we’d need to bring protective clothing ourselves,” Rarity added. She sighed. “Too bad I left my winter wardrobe back in Ponyville.” “I don’t think we’ll need that,” Twilight said, trying to sound confident. “If regular unicorns could mine for gems all those years ago, the caves can’t be such a hostile place. And if for some reason that’s changed, I know a few spells that will keep us safe at least for the time we’ll be there.” There was silence for a few moments as Twilight’s friends glanced to one another, each with their own thoughts about the upcoming task. “Well,” one of the pegasus guards present in the throne room said, “we have our full trust in you. With Spike the Brave and Glorious at your side, I am sure you will be able to find and destroy this artifact before Luna raises the moon tonight.” Other guards voiced their agreement. “Y-yeah, of course,” Spike replied. He looked to Twilight, who still seemed worried, and started to feel more uncertain himself. -ooo- After Twilight and her friends had prepared as quickly as they could, it was decided that Twilight and Starlight would teleport the group to the location of the cave. Teleporting multiple ponies at once over a long distance used up a lot of magical energy, so they had chosen to make the trip in several shorter “jumps.” Their group was divided into two; Starlight would teleport Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy, while Twilight would take Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Spike. The first series of teleports went without a hitch; they moved from the Crystal Empire and south toward Canterlot, Rainbow Dash flying overhead to check their position each time they stopped. During the last teleport, however, something went wrong. Twilight had planned her destination to be further south, but a mere fraction of a second after she and her group vanished from the last point, Twilight felt as if she’d suddenly hit an invisible wall, and then she and the others were suddenly heaped together in an awkward pile quite a ways away from where Twilight had planned to end up. Several trees and bushes surrounded them. Starlight’s group was nowhere in sight. “Uh…what just happened?” Applejack asked as she attempted to untangle herself from everypony else. “I’m…not sure,” Twilight said, rubbing her head. “I guess we just-” “Twi?” a voice called from above, and the four looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying overhead. “Something, uh…went wrong with Starlight’s teleportation spell. We ended up back there a ways.” She pointed with her hoof. “Go bring them here!” Pinkie Pie cried. “Or maybe have Starlight try to teleport again. That was kinda fun.” “Uh, I’ll just bring them over,” Rainbow replied. “They’re not far.” A few minutes later, Starlight and the others with her trudged through the bushes to meet Twilight’s group. “I know exactly what this is,” Starlight growled. “Chrysalis had a throne made up of some sort of magic-absorbing stone. And when Discord tried to teleport us, this same thing happened. Couldn’t get close using magic.” Though Twilight had been relieved to see the others, her expression immediately changed to one of worry, and her friends looked more nervous. No one had planned on not being able to use magic. “Let me see,” Twilight said. She walked a few paces forward and lit her horn. Several of the leaves littering the ground around the trees glowed and lifted into the air, but after a few seconds, the glow faded and they floated back to the ground. Rarity closed her eyes and focused, but nothing about her horn changed. “I can’t use my magic at all!” Starlight narrowed her eyes, and a few tiny sparks came from her horn. She sighed. “Figures,” she said. “They’re definitely blocking magic somehow. Twilight’s must work a bit better because she’s an alicorn, but it’s still not much.” "Well,” Applejack said, “if they want Celestia to power that second artifact they can’t reach, there's gotta be some way other magic can work down there.” "Yes, but probably not unless they want it to," Fluttershy said nervously. “Well, let’s try to get closer and see what we can find out,” Rainbow said. They carefully walked through the bushes, not sure exactly how far they were from the cave. Luckily, up ahead, the trees began thinning out and soon they could see ahead into a wide field with what looked like a recently opened pit in the center. It was surrounded by eerie-looking unicorns, each of them wearing the amulet that Twilight had described. Concealed among some bushes, Twilight and the others could see the unicorns from a distance, not close enough to be seen or heard. However, they knew if they left their hiding place, they would be seen immediately; there was no cover in the field. At least a dozen unicorns stood or paced near the cave entrance. All of them sported ghostly pale coats with black markings, though there were subtle differences in color between each one. One of the unicorns, a stallion, lit his melted-looking horn and used his magic to move a large boulder out of the pit and flung it a good distance away. “Well, their magic works,” Rainbow grumbled. “Well, whatever they’re using to block magic, it can’t be the same stuff Chrysalis used, because they aren’t changelings,” Starlight stated. “It’s probably some powered-up spell they’re using with the help of that cursed artifact.” Twilight looked worriedly at the odd unicorns, so many of them guarding a cave entrance quite smaller than she’d imagined. “Without any magic, I don’t see how we're going to get in undetected. But maybe, if there were another entrance...” “We could always make one!” Pinkie suggested. “Come on, everypony! Let's get some shovels and start digging!” “Without magic?” Rainbow retorted. “That would take forever! And how would we do something like that without them noticing?” “Well, we have to find some way in. Celestia and Luna are counting on us,” Twilight said, deep in thought. “Maybe we could distract them?” Rainbow suggested. “All of them?” Applejack replied. “That doesn’t sound very likely,” Rarity admitted. “The cave’s connected to some mines, right?” Applejack said. “Well, then there must be other entrances. We’ve just gotta find ‘em.” “Wouldn’t they guard those too?” Fluttershy asked. “Not if they were secret entrances,” Pinkie said. “They’d be protected by spells or who knows what else,” Fluttershy replied, shaking. “We’ve got to try!” Applejack protested. Rarity looked to the earth pony with worry. “It could take forever to find any hidden entrances!” “Isn’t that better than doing nothing?” “Hey, uh, let’s just think for a moment, okay?” Starlight asked, clearly nervous as she watched the others. “I’m sure we can come up with a plan.” “Luna didn’t know anything about magic being blocked, though,” Rainbow said. Spike glanced from one mare to another, each of them sounding increasingly worried as they talked back and forth. He fidgeted with his claws nervously. “Um, guys?” he asked, but the ponies continued with their frantic debate. “Guys?” When still no one turned his way, he blew a small plume of fire into the air, careful not to make it too big or bright so it wouldn’t be seen above the foliage. “Guys?” One by one, the ponies turned to him, still looking troubled. Now that he had their attention, Spike was glad he didn’t have to raise his voice and risk somehow being overheard by the unicorns in the distance. “Uh, this could be a shot in the dark, but…maybe we could see if changeling magic works?” -ooo- “Thorax, we think we might be able to use your help to get into the cave and help us find the artifact powering these unicorns’ magic,” Twilight said. She and Spike had teleported back to the Crystal Empire and met with Thorax in the castle. They were currently standing in one of the hallways where they had run into him. Thorax hadn’t been surprised by what the two had told him. In fact, it had been clear that he had already been worried about it. “Cadance and Shining Armor told us what was happening in Canterlot,” he explained. “I’m sure word has spread through the whole empire now. How can I help?” “The ponies that attacked Canterlot have some sort of spell or something blocking magic around their caves, and it’s probably being used throughout the whole cave system,” Twilight told him. “But their own magic works, though,” Spike added. “So, it can’t be preventing every kind of magic, and I thought maybe it wouldn’t work on changelings.” “We’re not completely sure about this,” Twilight continued, “but if you can use your changeling magic, it might make all the difference. If you’re able to transform into one of those unicorns and find a path through their cave to another entrance that’s less guarded, we could sneak in without attracting attention.” “Of course, I’ll try,” Thorax said. “After you helped me so much, it’s the least I could do.” “Thank you,” Twilight replied. “I really appreciate it. We kinda ran into more trouble than we bargained for.” “Well, if it will help protect Canterlot, I’ll do whatever I can.” Thorax said, giving Twilight a smile. “I know you can help us, magic or not,” Spike said, resting his claws on Thorax’s shoulder. “But let’s hope these cave ponies haven’t thought of changelings.” Twilight smiled back at them. “I already told Cadance and Shining Armor that I was looking for you, so we can teleport whenever you’re ready.” “I can leave right now,” Thorax said. “Yeah,” Spike added, “what are we waiting for?” “Then let’s go,” Twilight said with another smile, her horn taking on its glow. Now that Twilight had taken the teleportation path to the cave entrance twice, it was mere moments before the three of them were standing in the grove of trees where the others had been waiting. Thorax took a moment to take in his surroundings as the group of mares gathered around and looked to him, Twilight, and Spike expectantly. Starlight sent a few tiny sparks out of the tip of her horn. “As you can see, Twilight, Rarity, and I are kind of out of luck.” Thorax seemed suddenly nervous as he looked from one pony to another, but he focused his own magic, and in a flash of teal light, an exact copy of Starlight was standing in front of the group. “It worked!” Pinkie Pie squealed. Twilight grinned, looking far more hopeful about the situation than she had since she’d first told the others about Luna’s visit to her dream. “This changes everything.” “See? Good thing they didn’t think of changeling magic, huh?” Spike said. “All right, let’s find a way in and do this!” Rainbow added. “Thanks a lot, Thorax,” Spike said, turning to the changeling. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.” He was relieved that Thorax hadn’t been all the way over at the Changeling Kingdom. It would likely have taken a big toll on Twilight’s magical energy if she’d had to teleport all the way there. Though the changelings were peaceful now, and ponies were working with them to learn friendship and share love with each other, Thorax had chosen to go back to the Crystal Empire after Chrysalis was overthrown. One of his reasons for doing so was that he wanted to learn more about friendship so he could better help the other changelings when he was ready. The changeling hive had been a bad experience for him from the beginning and he was not ready to even visit for long. Most importantly, he had wanted to stay among his first ever friends. Thorax changed back to his normal form as Twilight led him over to the group of bushes at the edge of the clearing, from where they could view the cave entrance – and their enemies – from a distance. Several of the unicorns were levitating rocks away from the hole in the ground, likely trying to widen it. Their magic tossed even boulders a great distance with little effort. One of them was even using magic to crush the boulders into pieces. Thorax’s eyes widened and he backed further into the bushes. “So I…just go in there, and try to find another entrance?” “Yes, that’s it,” Starlight said. Twilight noticed that Thorax was shaking. “Look,” she said, “I want to make sure you’re okay with going through with this. It would help, but if you don’t want to, we can find another way.” “No, no! I can do it,” Thorax quickly corrected. “After everything everypony has done for me, I really do want to help.” Starlight, remembering the panic Thorax had had in the changeling hive, said, “Look, you’ve got this. We’ve faced worse than this before.” She tried to look confident in spite of the worry she felt deep down, and gave the others a smile. “Exactly,” Spike added. Thorax walked back up to where he could peer through the bush again, several of the others gathering on either side of him. They watched as about half of the odd unicorns continued to levitate rocks away from the cave opening, while others sat watching like guards. “All right, these ponies probably all know and recognize each other,” began Twilight, “so I guess we just wait for some of them to go back inside and Thorax will take the place of one of them and act like he teleported outside to-” “Well, there goes one right now,” Spike pointed out. Sure enough, one of the stallions, his sickly pale coat tinted blue, threw a boulder aside with his magic and stomped back toward the cave opening. A mare saw him and called out. “Hey, where are you going?” The stallion narrowed his red eyes. “Comet said that he wanted help with the amulets. They’ve got Jade and the others working on them, but they could always-” “Fine, fine,” the mare said with a shrug. “Better you than me.” The stallion marched toward the cave opening and disappeared into the gloom. Most of the other pale unicorns paid him no attention. “Perfect,” Rainbow Dash muttered with a grin before turning to Thorax. “Think you can copy his voice, in case they ask you anything?” “Oh, uh, sure,” Thorax replied. “I can copy any voice.” They waited for a while, until they were relatively sure that nopony would question why the stallion was suddenly outside again. Thorax couldn’t do a teleportation spell himself, but if these ponies could show up at Canterlot so unexpectedly, they were likely capable of it and would assume the stallion that Thorax was impersonating was too. When they were sure they were ready, Thorax transformed himself into an exact replica of the stallion, complete with a false image of a teardrop-shaped amulet. “Oh, perfect,” Rarity said. “Now, go out there and do your thing.” Thorax crept around the bushes until he was sure he was far enough away from the rest of his group, then he emerged into the field surrounding the cave entrance. He walked toward the group of pale unicorns, trying to act calm and sure of himself, but he was sure he looked nervous. The other unicorns, however, didn’t pay him any attention until he reached the mare that had talked to the bluish stallion earlier. “I thought you were going to meet Comet,” she said, unimpressed. Thorax had no clue who Comet was, but he tried not to show any uncertainty. “Oh…yes, I-I came out here to check something. I’m going back there now.” The other unicorn looked at him strangely, and for a moment he thought that she would uncover his secret and realize that he was an imposter, but she merely gave him a bored look and turned away from him. “Whatever. Just don’t slack off.” Feeling relieved, Thorax walked forward. He was not interrupted again as he made his way to the cave entrance, ducking to avoid a rock levitated by another unicorn, and crept down into the tunnel. The first thing he noticed was that the cave did not feel cold; in fact, it was uncomfortably hot. As he pressed further into the darkness, lights appeared ahead, standing out like beacons in the gloom down below. As he approached, he noticed that they were round, pearly white crystals that glowed with their own light. They were spaced evenly throughout the tunnel as far as he could see. When he walked in front of the closest one, he was startled as an image of himself – or rather, of his pale unicorn form – flashed across its surface briefly. He noticed flashes on the other orbs of light that shone from the darkness ahead, but they were so brief that he almost wasn’t sure he hadn’t imagined them. He stopped walking and froze. He waited, but nothing else happened, and the glowing orb on the wall above him remained as white and murky as it had first appeared, giving off its dim glow. Keeping his eye on it, he slowly crept forward, unsure of what was going to happen. He didn’t notice the other unicorn emerging from a side tunnel until he walked right into him. The unicorn, another stallion, gave a cry of surprise and backed up, shaking his inky black mane. “S-sorry!” Thorax stammered, backing up toward the crystal again. To his surprise, the unicorn gave him a smile. “No problem,” he replied, walking past Thorax and toward the surface. As he did so, Thorax noticed the other unicorn’s image flash in the crystal orbs. The cave unicorn gave no reaction. Thorax felt a bit safer as he continued on, noticing more side tunnels the deeper he got. Some of them were lit with crystal orbs, like the main tunnel was, but others were dark, some of their entrances half-blocked with rock. After several more minutes, he emerged into a fairly large cavern with tunnels branching in several directions. There were even some higher in the wall, and steps had been carved into the stone to allow unicorns access to those tunnels. He could hear voices coming from a few of them, and he moved toward the wall, suddenly afraid of what would happen if he ran into the unicorn he was impersonating. He looked at each of the tunnels, none of them indicating where they led to. He noticed that one had more light shining from it than the others, and he crept closer. It was immediately clear why; the bright tunnel was much shorter than the others, and from what he could see, it led to a massive cavern. He could see the tops of tall stone buildings, each one shining with light far brighter than anything else in the cave he’d seen so far. He heard hoofbeats, and the head and shoulders of a unicorn came into view at the other end as she climbed some steps up into the tunnel from the big cavern’s side. Thorax pulled his head back and looked around. There was no point in exploring the brightly lit tunnels; if there was an exit at the end of them, it would be guarded. He moved toward one of the dark tunnels, noticing once again that the crystal balls on the walls picked up his image and sent it along a line of them in sequence. Sending the image off to somewhere, or somepony else. Thorax ducked into the dark tunnel as the mare emerged from the tunnel, not even glancing his way before heading off down one of the other brightly lit passages. He breathed a sigh of relief and began making his way through the blackness. Once he’d turned a corner and was sure any light he created wouldn’t be seen by anypony in the other cavern, he lit his horn, which still shone the color of his changeling magic. He noticed immediately that it looked like the tunnel was abandoned; hoofprints stopped appearing when he went further in. He soon realized why. Up ahead, the tunnel was blocked in a cave-in that must have happened a while ago; the rocks were coated in dust. Dejected, he backtracked until he was back in the larger cavern, and chose another tunnel. For what seemed like ages, he searched dark passages, trying to stay out of sight of the crystal orbs in case his behavior would be seen as suspicious. He was quickly realizing that the place was one gigantic maze, though at least, unlike the changeling hive, the tunnels remained consistent. To avoid getting lost, he kept track of details in each tunnel, and didn’t venture into the many side-tunnels unless he felt cooler air coming from them. He saw several strange things in his wanderings. He came across carvings in the cave walls, broken crystal orbs, and strange spider-like creatures that skittered into the darkness when his light came near. Strangest of all were the times he came across underground plants, growing completely without sunlight and bearing strange fruit on their branches. Having never seen or heard of anything like them, he kept his distance. He came across tunnels flooded with water or mud, mineshafts that dropped into impenetrable darkness, and a few more cave-ins. He was growing increasingly worried, even though he’d scattered small stones in places to show himself where he’d been, when he finally had a stroke of luck. One of the unused tunnels he wandered through suddenly blasted him with cool air, and he noticed a side tunnel that was leading upward. He placed some pebbles in front of it before climbing in, feeling more cool air brush against his short unicorn coat. The tunnel was much narrower than most of the others, enough to make his anxiety intensify, but he pressed onward, following the scent of fresh air. And then he saw light that wasn’t coming from his horn. Up ahead, what remained of a thick wooden door blocked an exit, and light shone through from gaps in the worn-down structure. Sunlight. Thorax went up to push the door open, and a feeling like a shock went up his leg, making him stumble back. He could see a faint shimmer over the door. An old spell. He backed up, realizing that whatever protection spell was on the door had to have weakened over time. The glow in his horn intensified as he prepared to fire a beam of energy. He’d never really practiced this except when forced; he was no fighter, but when he fired the magic at the door, half of it broke off and crumpled to the ground, the last remnants of the spell on it vanishing. Thorax crept out of the tunnel, relieved to be out in open air again. From what he could tell, he hadn’t been in the cave longer than a few hours. Looking around, he saw trees and thick underbrush, and there weren’t any signs of a pony being there recently. Happy and relieved that he’d found what his friends were looking for, he headed into the tunnel to follow his path back to the main cave entrance and find the others. -ooo- Without incident, Thorax made it back to the area he remembered, the brightly lit cavern with the tunnel leading to the stone buildings, and the other tunnel leading to the path he’d followed when he’d first come in. A few unicorns were talking nearby, but they didn’t seem to notice him. Relieved, he made his way toward the tunnel that would lead him out of the cave, but stopped when he heard a shout. “Mist Morning!” an accusing voice called. Thorax turned to see another unicorn stallion staring at him with angry red eyes. The unicorn made his way over, the sound of his black stained hooves echoing around the cavern. “Where have you been?” the stranger growled. “I thought you went to help Golden Comet’s team work with the amulets. What are you doing here?” “I…I…” Thorax began, barely remembering to speak in the voice of the unicorn he was impersonating. “I thought that…the others up there could use my help.” The unicorn didn’t reply to his statement, and instead gave him an odd look. “Well, you’re sure acting strange today. If you’re worried about Canterlot, stop being worried and do something useful. Scarlet is stressed out enough as it is.” “Yes, I will,” Thorax replied. “I just need to go up to the surface for a bit.” “Look, do you think this is a game?” the unicorn hissed. “I don’t know if you’ve forgotten, but we’re working with a very limited window of opportunity here. If we don’t take Canterlot soon, there goes our chance. Comet said you volunteered to help him, so get back there and go to work!” “Y-yeah, of course,” Thorax replied timidly. He stepped away from the exit tunnel and walked toward the one leading to the massive cavern with the buildings, figuring that that one was more likely than any other to lead to this ‘Comet’ unicorn. “It’s that way,” the other unicorn grumbled, angling his head toward one of the other brightly lit tunnels. “Look, I know what’s going on, but seriously, get a hold of yourself!” “Right, sorry!” Thorax cried, darting into the tunnel that the unicorn had indicated. He didn’t hear a response. He went as far into the tunnel as he dared before slipping into a dark side tunnel and crouching down out of sight, not sure how long he should wait before checking if the other unicorn had left. At least, he thought, it seemed like it hadn’t even crossed the unicorn’s mind that he was some sort of imposter. He had just been angry with Thorax, not suspicious. Urgency made him decide to leave earlier than he thought was otherwise safe, but when he emerged into the cavern with the connecting tunnels, the other unicorn was gone. He walked to the exit tunnel, forcing himself to move slowly rather than run in order to avoid any attention. As he made his way through the tunnel and toward the light of the sun, he saw his image reflected in the crystal orbs again. At least, he realized, if anypony was monitoring them, it must mean that the real ‘Mist Morning’ was somewhere away from any of those orbs. When he emerged into the sunlight, the mare who’d spoken to him before gave him an amused look. “Not talented enough for Comet, huh? I’m surprised he didn’t have any grunt work for you.” “I just need a break,” Thorax said in response. “I’ll just, um…” He thought back to what Twilight had said about teleportation. “I’ll teleport back to the tunnel in a bit.” “Hm…” The mare looked to him with something close to irritation, then her gaze softened. “Okay, fine, I won’t tell. Make it quick.” With that, Thorax hurried off toward the bushes and trees in the distance. -ooo- Spike sat with his back against a tree, anxiously watching the others. Twilight was pacing back and forth, Fluttershy was fearfully crouching down in some bushes, and the others were talking quietly together. Spike was growing more worried about Thorax. He hoped his friend hadn’t run into any danger. A figure stepped through the bushes, its pale body and melted-looking horn giving Spike a shock as he let out a small cry of alarm. The ponies in the clearing all turned toward the newcomer. “It’s me!” Thorax said, speaking in his own voice. In a flash of teal, his normal changeling form stood before them. “Sorry about that.” “No worries,” Pinkie Pie told him. “It was only terrifying.” “What did you find?” Fluttershy asked anxiously. “Well, I did find another entrance,” Thorax replied. “But I’m not sure where it is in relation to here.” “I can help with that,” Twilight told him. “Just describe the area to me and we’ll find it.” The six other ponies and the dragon all looked to him confidently. “All right,” Thorax said. “I’ll tell you everything I remember.” -ooo- It didn’t take long for Twilight to find the area that Thorax had told them about, and, not long after that, they found the cave entrance with the remains of its broken door. “It’s like a maze down there,” Thorax warned the others, “but I can lead you to the main tunnels from here.” He paused, thinking about the glowing orbs he’d seen in the tunnels. “They have magic crystals though, and I think they use them to monitor all the main tunnels. And…if they saw you…” “Ugh, well that’s just great,” Rainbow muttered. “How are we supposed to get around that without magic?” “Well, there are lots of empty tunnels,” Thorax replied. “Some of them connect the main paths to each other. We can try to avoid the crystals until we know where the artifact is.” “That sounds…pretty dangerous,” Fluttershy said with a shudder. “Well, if there are so many tunnels, they can’t possibly monitor them all at once,” Rarity pointed out. “Especially if so many of these ruffians are at Canterlot.” “That is true,” Applejack agreed. “Guess we’ll just have to be careful.” “There’s something else, too,” Thorax said. “One of the unicorns told me that they had a ‘window of opportunity’ to take over Canterlot. I couldn’t ask what he meant without giving myself away, but…” “Well, we can’t just wait!” Rainbow cried. “What if they break through Celestia and Luna’s protection spells by then?” “You’re right,” Twilight agreed. “Did he say anything else?” “Something about a unicorn named Comet, and working with amulets,” Thorax replied. “It seemed really important. Though I’m not sure why they need them when a cursed artifact is giving them power.” “The amulets…could be connecting them to it, in a way,” Starlight mused. She turned to Thorax. “Did you see their leader anywhere? Or hear about her?” Thorax shook his head. “No. I tried to stay out of sight. And the only thing I heard was that she was stressed.” Twilight turned to the cave entrance, watching as Applejack kicked in the remains of the door once blocking it. “Well, we need to go in there, find that artifact, and destroy it.” She turned to Starlight. “As soon as we do, and we can use magic again, we teleport everyone out, back along the same path to the Crystal Empire. They’ll for sure notice something wrong once their power stops working like it did.” “Right,” Rainbow Dash said, clapping her hooves together. “Let’s do this.” “Thorax, if you’re transformed into one of those unicorns, that might help us get out of some tough situations,” Twilight said, and Thorax obliged by turning himself back into Mist Morning. All nine of them then walked up to the cave opening, feeling its musty, hot air wafting toward them. Spike turned to Thorax, giving him a smile. “Lead the way.” One by one, they descended into the darkness.