Kingdom of Heaven and Earth
Chapter 5: Amidst the ruins of memories
Palace of Verselle, located in the city of Pareins, in the kingdom of Prance. A beautiful marble miracle towered above the rest of the city; it was like a pearl lying on a silky pillow. Surrounded everywhere by elegance and glamour, the palace lit up the night sky with the hundreds of magical orbs that floated around its perimeter, both adorning the building and keeping watch on the surroundings of the castle. They were a graceful sentry-system, working solely on the magic of twenty or so unicorns. And if that was not enough, the dragon of the city of Pareins kept constant watch in the sky, never descending to the ground below. Beauty and danger intermingled in the palace of Verselle, becoming an intoxicating combination that captivated everypony that visited the place.
It was this sort of palace that Princess Celestia contacted on a certain night. And it was the owner of the palace that the alicorn wanted to talk with.
“Tia, so good to see you again.” It was a lazy voice, like a cat that was stretching after a good sleep. “It’s been forever since the two of us had a talk, hasn’t it?”
“Princess Neptuna. It is good to see that you are well,” Celestia said and smiled. “It truly has been quite a while, hasn’t it? I trust that everything has gone well during these decades?”
The two Princesses were having a conversation via mirrors that were located in the personal chambers of both of them. These mirrors were magically linked to each other, allowing the owner to contact another pony as long as he or she owned such a mirror. While they had fallen to disuse nowadays due to the small amount of contact between different countries, every now and then they were utilized. Like tonight.
The Princess that Celestia had contacted was as tall as the ancient alicorn. The color of Neptuna’s coat was that of a brilliant light blue, like cerulean waves crashing against pearl-white shores. Her mane was long and well-kept, just like her tail. Their colors were gradient blue, going from dark blue to almost white, creating an image of a cross-section of an ocean. On her flank, Neptuna had a cutie mark that was a sphere of water, twisted in a way that made it look like it was on an eternal cycle of repetition. The marble-colored eyes of Neptuna were locked onto Celestia’s, and deep intelligence lied behind their vast depths.
“As well as it can go in a country like this. Sometimes I reeeally envy you for getting Equestria. I mean, look at the ponies I rule over. Such a boring bunch,” Neptuna gave an over-dramatic sigh. “On one side you’ve got the clergy and the knights, and on the other side you have the rabble that drabbles only in whatever that is “in” at the moment. What’s a Princess to do in a place like this? Even if I tried to play the whole city like a game of chess, these pieces just move on their own. Boring, I say. Boooooring.”
Celestia let out a good-hearted chuckle. She had known Neptuna for centuries, and the thought of the light-blue mare ruling her own kingdom was always amusing to Celestia. The ancient alicorn knew that Neptuna had always only one thing in her mind: Her own amusement. And being tied to the role of keeping a whole country afloat was definitely something that kept her from her vices. It had been a good experience, at least. The pony who had once been a haughty lady who never did what others asked her to do had matured quite splendidly.
“So? What is it? I don’t believe you would contact me for nothing, so what is going on?” Neptuna suddenly cut to the chase, her eyes narrowing in the process.
“I’ve contacted you about a matter of great importance. Although I found it hard to believe when I received the letter in question, it seems that the kingdom of Marecedonia still exists. Not only that, but they have learned of our existence, and are planning to declare war. If the Senate of Marecedonia comes to the decision that the conquest of Equestria is desirable, it will mean dark times for us all,” Celestia explained. “I do not think that I have to mention that the other countries, Prance amongst them, would be drawn to such a large-scale war, spanning continents. That is why I would form an alliance with the kingdoms that lie on the other side of the Equestrian Channel, and Prance is the foremost of them.”
“Hmm. Marecedonia, huh?” Neptuna didn’t sound particularly thrilled. “I thought those idiots had already vanished in the sea of time, but looks like they have developed gills surprisingly fast. And what, you want me to ally myself with you, Tia? Against Marecedonia?”
Neptuna chuckled, and it wasn’t a pleasant chuckle. Lying on her velvet pillows, the Princess resembled some sort of alluring dragon who was toying with a prey that had stumbled in her cave. The lazy eyes looked at Celestia analytically as the mind of the Princess of the Water Cycle weighed countless variables in her mind.
“You mean a bit like how Equestria rushed to help when Prance had an openly hostile situation with the griffins?” Neptuna asked sarcastically, causing Celestia to visibly flinch.
“I apologize for that time,” Celestia opened her mouth. “But the laws we set cannot be broken. And in those laws, we decided that Equestria would stay neutral as long as I ruled it. That is the reason—“
“Oh, I see, I see. Sure, of course that old crook-beak Temujin and his barbaric nomad-tribes of those kitty-eagles are equal to your old friend and the beautiful kingdom which has always been at your side in everything,” Neptuna said, and her voice was now dripping with bitterness, like a lemon. “But what about when Prance nearly descended into civil war? Where was our help then, Tia? I’m pretty suuuuure I couldn’t find it anywhere, seeing I had to threaten to stop the hydrological cycle to end the war between the middle-class and the aristocrats.”
“Neptuna, you know that Equestria cannot take part in inner conflicts of other countries either,” Celestia said. “I can understand if you hold a grudge against me, but these events you mention were times when my hooves were tied, and I could not—“
“Oh, I get it, I get it,” Neptuna laughed and took a sip from a crystal glass next to her divan. “I’m just teasing you, Tia. After all, you do know that I am a veeeeery generous pony, and could never turn down a request from a friend.”
Princess Celestia let out a breath of relief. Neptuna had never been the easiest pony to work with, but the Princess of the Sun was glad to know that their friendship still counted for something. Or, at least, Neptuna was willing to lend a hoof in a time like this. It was not always the case, and anything the fickle Princess of the Changing Water did was a small miracle on its own right.
“Then please, if everything turns out for the worst, and Marecedonia really does attack Equestria, would you be willing to send your troops to the western border? Most of our army nowadays consists of only infantry and pegasi legions, thanks to our treaty with Cloudsdale. The paladins of Prance would be a welcome addition to bolster our defenses,” Celestia presented her request. “That is, however, only if war truly does break out. In the meantime, I would like you to use your connections and merchants to spread the word into neighboring countries of Marecedonia, ones we still have a contact with, to ensure that Marecedonia would receive pressure from those surrounding nations to not go to war.”
“Consider it done, Tia,” Neptuna chuckled. “It’s been a while since our merchant-fleets have travelled across the Mareterranean Sea, but there should be no problem.”
For a moment it seemed like Neptuna had said all she had to say, but after few seconds of silence, the blue Princess raised her eyebrows. She had clearly remembered something. Turning back to the magic mirror, she addressed Celestia once more.
“Oh, and one more thing, Tia. It’s about our forces…” she slowly started speaking. “If we want to get them to the western border quickly, it is probably for the best if we transport them through the Strait of Donvanner. From there, we can perform a forced march to the border to answer the attack quickly. That, of course, would mean that our troops would have to march through Equestria. Is that okay?”
“Of course it is,” Celestia smiled. “We are in alliance, after all.”
“Good. You’re being almost as generous as I am,” Neptuna smiled. “Then, till next time, Tia. I’ll inform you once our merchant-fleets have left.”
“I’ll see you then, Tuna,” Celestia answered, causing Neptuna to grimace.
“You had to pull that nickname into this, huh…?”
The connection between the two magic mirrors was severed, leaving the royal chambers of Verselle with only one presence. Princess Neptuna rolled around in her divan, giggling to herself and watching the marble-adored ceiling fitted with pearls the size of her hooves. The blue Princess’ laugh was not the happy sort, however. It was the kind of a giggle that somepony makes when they are ready to pull a prank. Those who had known Neptuna for a while knew that the laugh in question never promised anything good.
“Did you hear that, Arlecchino, Trivelino?” Princess Neptuna asked from the empty room. “Sounds like Tia is slowly getting desperate.”
“I sure heard that! What about you, o’ brother of mine?” Arlecchino piped up and appeared in the room with a small explosion of confetti and fireworks.
“That, I heard too! Just like you, o’ sister of mine!” Trivelino parroted his sister and appeared in a similar way.
“Oh shut up, you two jesters. It was a question, not a request for your silly antics,” Neptuna groaned and threw her crystal-glass at the two, who evaded quickly. The glass shattered magnificently against the marble floor. “Do I have to be generous to you two again?”
“No, no, no! That is not needed, Princess! Isn’t that right, o’ brother of mine?” Arlecchino hurried to say. Her brother nodded furiously.
“No, no, no! There is no need, Princess! That is just right, o’ sister of mine!”
“Hmph. Well, whatever. Then, can you two jesters tell me about the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony?” Neptuna asked, sounding bizarrely both bored and interested. “From what I heard, the one who took my place is an especially annoying little filly.”
“They are headed to the Windswept Valley, Princess! Through the Everfree Forest, and into the town of Kinskyton. They’re being pretty fast! Isn’t that right, o’ brother of mine?” Arlecchino turned to look at her sibling.
“Their heading is to the Windswept Valley, Princess! Past the Everfree Forest, and to the town of Kinskyton! Fast is what they are! That is just right, o’ sister of mine!” Trivelino repeated.
Neptuna chuckled, clearly pleased from what she had heard. She turned around so that the velvet pillows were straight under her, and stretched slowly with care. The blue Princess then raised her head and gazed at the two foals, who were waiting for her next words like dogs waiting for a bone. With an unpleasant smirk, Neptuna began talking once again.
“I didn’t ask for your opinions, you idiotic jesters. But, yes… you’re surprisingly correct, this time. They are being fast,” Neptuna said. “I wonder if Tia was just being too arrogant and did not want to tell them, or did the new bearers think they would not need it… However it is, I am surprised. To go on a journey like this and to not unearth maitrī from Everfree Forest is either stupidity or pride. Well, it’s not like they could easily get to that old city anyways. The forest did a good job at burying it under the roots.”
Neptuna’s smile widened as she remembered memories from centuries ago. She remembered the certain midnight black alicorn who had proudly wielded maitrī, and all the power it bestowed upon her. It was not until the spiral of betrayal that had consumed them all that the Princess of the Moon had to give it up. After all, concepts of the world could not survive outside the boundary of the world. It was like a chess-piece. As long as it remained on the board, it had all the power that the rules granted it. However, once it was taken out of the board, it could no longer do anything. Outside the board, that chess-piece was powerless.
Just like maitrī of Princess Luna, the Element of Kindness.
“But Princess! Wouldn’t unearthing it mean…?” Trivelino gasped in horror.
“But Princess! Wouldn’t finding it mean…?” Arlecchino asked in shock.
“Of course it would. A pony with that sort of power would be able to do wonders. Perhaps not the wonders that keep the world working nowadays, after Discord destroyed the natural rules, but close to it anyways. Do you two have aaaany idea how bothersome that would be?” Princess Neptuna sighed. “But then again, what lies in kindness is a danger unlike what can be found in any other Element. We all know what happened to Lunie, after all. So finding it would also put the group under a lot of stress and possibly break them apart. Too much kindness can be fearsome indeed, to the point where even I find the thought utterly disgusting.”
Neptuna buried her head into the velvet pillows and then peeked at the two foals through a small crack. She was truly like a pampered princess lazing around in her fairytale castle, but both Trivelino and Arlecchino knew that the Neptuna was more dangerous than any princess from fairytales. She was like a snake basking on a warm stone during sunshine. If you got too close, she would coil around you and inject you with her personal venom, bringing forth a slow and painful death.
“Kindness versus kindness… now, that would be something I’d love to see. However, be that as it may, if those ponies won’t find it, then there’s no problem,” Neptuna yawned. “They will go have their little peace conference with Marecedonia, fail, and watch as the army of Alex marches to Equestria to destroy it. And while Alex and Tia are fighting on the border, I will march, unopposed, to Canterlot and take the whole of Equestria for myself. The two of them will be so tired from the war that they will have no power to oppose me.”
Princess Neptuna’s laughter echoed in the royal chambers, being both alluring and intimidating. It was laughter of a pony who knew exactly what she was doing, and loved every second of it.
“Oh my, that’s right,” Neptuna suddenly stopped laughing. “I wonder if my merchant already killed those ponies? It would have been better if he had done so outside of Equestria’s borders.”
****
“Sister… dost thou really trust Neptuna to come to our aid, if a war truly breaks out?”
Princess Luna asked this from Celestia the moment the connection between the two magic mirrors was cut. The two alicorns were in the royal chambers of Canterlot Castle, with a foreboding atmosphere hanging in the air like a heavy cloud. When she heard her younger sister’s question, Celestia sighed and simply shook her head. The look on her face was more tired than what Luna had ever seen before, something that immediately got the ruler of the night worried.
“Of course not. If Neptuna is to march into Equestria, she will most likely immediately head to Canterlot to take it over. It is in her nature, after all. In that way, she is as much of a conqueror as Alexandrus,” Celestia answered bluntly. “To her, our predicament is a perfect chance to pay back for the times we have been unable to help her. And in a sense, it is still part of her twisted generosity. She gives us what she promises, but she never tells us if that will be what truly happens. There are always layers in Neptuna’s concept of “generosity”, something none of us could ever truly understand.”
Luna could not help but to agree. She remembered that over millennia ago, Neptuna had been a very haughty pony who had taken every chance she could to make a fool out of Luna. Since the Princess of the Moon had been younger than the blue pony, Neptuna had been able to do what she wanted. For the Princess of the Water Cycle, it all might have been just a game, a show of affection on her part, but Luna never quite got over it. It was not until their greatest moment of despair that the two had gained a mutual understanding.
But that was all in the past now. Thousand years had passed, after all. Neptuna had changed, and so had Luna.
“Then why? Why hast thou asked her for help?” Luna asked, clearly confused. “If we both know that there is a good chance that Neptuna might betray us, why contact her at all?”
“Neptuna prides herself in being able to read the thoughts of other ponies from their body language and facial expression. For her there is no greater joy than to predict what her opponent is about to do, and use that information against the opponent, driving him to the corner. That is what she wants to do now, too,” Celestia explained. “There is but one way to counter this. One needs to feed her the information she wants… but one must be in control of that flow. She must have an illusion of power.”
Celestia knew that much had changed since Luna had previously seen or heard from Neptuna, and as much as she did not want her young sister to see what kind of pony the ruler of Prance had become, Celestia knew she could not hide the truth. As much as Kindness was to those who did not understand what it truly was, Generosity was also an element of many layers. But unlike Kindness, Generosity could be easily… twisted.
“I understand,” Luna answered, glancing outside at the moon. “Thou knowest how to handle her in a game of wits, sister. She hath many plans, however. Art thou prepared for them all?”
“Luna, please. It is quite alright if you are not so formal when we are alone,” Celestia gently admonished her sister and walked over to the window. ”Political games with Neptunia is like playing a game of chess, Luna. It is all about rules. She has a tactical mind, but at the time, it is over-analytical and she tends to get absorbed so heavily into the possible moves that she completely forgets to look at the big picture. You remember how she and I used to play chess in the old palace? That was one of the main reasons I won most of the games. Neptunia always got caught into the schemes she thought I was employing. In other words, she thinks too much, if that can be believed.”
“I… am sorry. It still feels quite unnatural to me, but I shall try,” Luna said with an awkward smile. “In any event, do you knowest what your next move will be, then?”
Celestia chuckled and moved her gaze from the night outside of the window. Her eyes wandered around the royal chamber and finally stopped to an old chess board that had been tucked away in one of the shelves. Without a hurry, she took the board with her magic and placed it to the small table on the center of the room, aligning the chess-pieces neatly on to the table, as if preparing a game. With a nod, she invited Luna closer to the table, to see the game of chess she had prepared.
“Do you know the term “zwischenzug”?” Celestia asked, and when her sister shook her head, she continued. “It is a chess-related term that means a tactic where you, instead of the move your opponent expects you to make, perform a move which puts an immediate threat to your opponent. Only after that threat do you proceed to perform the expected action. It is all about putting pressure on the opponent in a way she does not expect.”
Celestia eyed the pieces and started moving them around with her magic. Soon she had created a situation which mimicked something that might really happen in a game of chess. Instead of just rearranging the pieces, the Princess of the Sun actually played a small game against herself, until came a moment where she captured Black’s knight with her own bishop. Then, with a small smile on her lips, she looked over at Luna. The younger sister had never been that good with chess, but she would have answered that move with a recapture. However, instead of doing that, Celestia simply quickly slid the Black queen across the board to the other side, revealing in an instant that the White Bishop was suddenly surrounded from all sides, with but one method of escaping, one to which the White’s player would have to answer immediately.
“Simple, really. It is all about thinking outside of the box and answering with a move that forces the other to act, instead of allowing yourself to be dragged into their pace,” Celestia concluded. “You can think of the recent events in a similar way. The starting move of the opposing side was the letter that arrived here in Canterlot. I am sure that Neptuna was already aware of it, her spies are extremely competent, after all. At this point, I am sure that she expected me to immediately contact her. Instead, I decided to do something different, and sent my student and her friends to negotiate peace with Marecedonia.”
Celestia’s smile disappeared, but it was replaced with determination in her voice. It was a voice of a Princess, one who knew what she had to do in order to save her realm.
“That was something Neptuna had not anticipated, and she had to act. She could not allow a peace to be born, not when she had just acquired a chance to attack Equestria unopposed,” Celestia continued. “So, she desperately needed to intercept Twilight Sparkle and her friends. And does this remind you of anything that has happened during the past few days, sister…?”
“…The golem!” Luna’s eyes widened with shock. “But surely that must be a mistake! How can you be certain that it was golem of Prance?”
“Multiple reasons, actually. Mostly it is just deduction, however,” Celestia answered. “From what our patrols gathered, it was a lodestone golem, which is rather unusual. Especially here in Equestria, seeing that the lodestone that come into our country is purely imported. We have no magnetite mines, after all. The biggest contributor of magnetite to our country is, of course, Prance. It all comes from the other side of Equestrian Canal.”
The white alicorn’s eyes wandered on the chess pieces, like she had what they represented on the big board of schemes that had been laid out before her. Her brains were working with fervor that had not been seen since the rise of Nightmare Moon. But unlike some other ponies who would have been able to do the same, she never lost the sight of the bigger picture that was drawn before her.
“In addition, the golem was young. All the golems that have been created in Canterlot exceed it in age by far, and no license to build a new golem has been granted in twelve years. Its age also counts out the possibility of an actual rogue golem. It had too much magical power and too perfect a crystal-core for that to be the case. Had it actually been a wandering golem, the explosion it caused would have been less powerful,” Celestia explained. “Thus the only possible explanation for the golem’s appearance has to be Prance. Some unicorn there has created it just recently, and it was used to try to get rid of Twilight Sparkle and the rest.”
“It cannot be a direct order from Neptuna,” Luna said. “Do you suspect… the Merchants’ Guild?”
“That is a high possibility. The largest guild in Pareins, and one with most power. I would not be surprised at all for them to do an underhoofed deal with the Princess to take out my disciple, and to prevent the peace negotiations,” Celestia chuckled and her lips curved with a smile. “Unfortunately for them, Twilight Sparkle turned out to be a bit more than a single golem could handle. I am proud of her.”
“Sister… do you believe that Twilight Sparkle and her companions will survive in the old capital?” Luna’s voice was tinged with worry. “That place has not seen ponies since the end of Discord’s reign…”
The old capital. The so-called “Everfree City” which lied under the roots of the area now known as Everfree Forest. Once it had been a flourishing capital of Equestria, one made for two purposes. Firstly, it was to protect the ponies from the chaos that Discord had unleashed upon Equestria and to be the last bastion of harmony. Secondly, it was meant to become the greatest city in the world once Discord had been vanquished, a city that would gather creatures from around the world to work together for the utopia that had been dreamt about back then.
Of course, reality had not been so kind. During the course of the centuries, many things had happened, and eventually, the brilliant city had been turned into a graveyard of memories which lingered there solely because of grudges and hatred. The capital of Equestria was eventually found where the old city of the unicorns had been. It was renamed Canterlot, and turned into a glorious city of magic and wonder. However, those who still remembered the Everfree City, or Coltbenic as some called it, never quite found the splendor of Canterlot that thrilling.
“I have faith in my student, Luna,” Celestia answered with a smile. “Twilight Sparkle is one of the bravest, most intelligent ponies I have seen, and even without her magical powers, she is sure to lead her friends out of the city’s ruins.”
Celestia chuckled and looked outside, where the moon hang in the air, illuminating the starry sky.
“Besides, the aforementioned friends are there to help her. I know that they will succeed.”
****
“Woah nelly. Just look at all this space! Why, we could stack five farmhouses on top of each other, and Ah dunno if they’d still reach the ceilin’!”
Applejack’s comment was not an exaggeration. The colossal hall the group had arrived was enough to dwarf any place the ponies had seen before. Huge stone pillars, big enough to make the ponies feel like insects, jutted out of the floor of the circular chamber, reaching all the way to the ceiling. Roots had wrapped around those said pillars, creating an image of trees that grew upside-down. Spherical crystals were fitted around the perimeter, and they reflected the light from the torches, lighting up the whole area.
As the ponies continued to look around, they started to realize that the huge hall was actually the center of a city. The circular shape it had taken was because of the rows and rows of ruined buildings that dotted the space near the walls of the chamber. The buildings were fitted on top of each other, with a road running on each level, connecting the “floors” together with occasional ramp or a spiraling staircase. Applejack, still quite stunned by the architecture of the place, had to twist her neck backwards if she even wanted to see all the way to the ceiling. She saw how the buildings spread from the walls towards the center of the cavern high above, and wondered how it was even possible to live in such houses.
Ah would just fall straight to the ground if Ah tried to live ‘ere, the orange pony thought. Not that Ah’d want to live here anyhow. Mighty creepy place, if ya ask me.
Terraces and balconies jutted out of the sharp and long shapes of the buildings that were attached to the roof, and from afar, they looked almost like sleek stalactites. This was especially quickly noticed by Rarity, who, at first, thought the roads and streets running amongst the buildings up above where the web of colossal spiders.
“Aaah! Spike! Spike, where are you!?” The white unicorn shouted and backed away from the sight. “If you happen to see anything with eight eyes, I demand you to roast it with your breath before it can get close to us!”
“Relax, Rarity,” Spike said and grinned. “They’re just part of the decoration here. Just look. Those ‘webs’ are just old streets stretched between the buildings.”
While the others had found it quite jarring how Rarity’s yell had echoed in the huge space, the young dragon did not seem to mind. After all, Rarity was quickly firmly attached to his side now, which was the reason for the wide smile on Spike’s face.
The group, consisting of six ponies and one baby dragon, was right on a road that had started from one of the tunnels they had been walking in. The road had been raised into mid-air by another set of pillars, and these sorts of high-roads were everywhere, all leading to the same place. It was to the large temple-looking structure in the middle of the large cavern, rising like a goddess from the dead-center of the hall. While it was not wide, it was definitely tall, towering above the city that the ponies could see far below the high-roads. It seemed as if the whole city, which spanned all free surface-space of the cavern, had been centered around that one structure in the middle.
“Oh, my. This looks like a… hallowed place,” Fluttershy said as the group walked forward. “Just how far below the Everfree Forest are we…?”
“According to the map we’re just-enough-to-fit-a-huge-city-under-a-forest amount of meters below the surface,” Spike commented and closed the map with a frown. “This thing doesn’t really help here at all. It’s like it assumes we should know this place like the back of our claw.”
“Maybe it does,” Twilight suggested. “If this truly is the former city that surrounded the old palace, this might have been a thriving place which everypony knew. That map is meant for strange and foreign lands, not something you would be living in.”
“It is still quite astonishing to think that there would be a whole city like this just under the Everfree Forest,” Rarity said. “Judging from the shape of the city, the forest must be growing straight from the top of the buildings.”
During the two days the ponies had spent in the tunnels, this was the first time they had encountered this sort of concentration of buildings. There had been an occasional ruined house or a guard tower buried into the earth along the way, but nothing like this. The ponies had actually thought about already stopping for the night, but through pure chance, Rainbow Dash had peeked into the next tunnel, and found the huge cavern. All the tiredness had disappeared in that instant, and the group had hurried to investigate this new area.
“Wow, just look at that! That temple is straight outta creepytown,” Dash said as the group finally started to get to the center of the cavern. “All those heads and weapons and monsters…”
The architecture of the temple continued the rather foreign style of what the city itself represented. Walls that must have been originally red were now almost devoid of any other color than grey, and only haunting shadows of once great carvings that adored the temple’s walls could be seen. Detailed flower-like patterns covered the surface of the platform where the temple stood, and some of the small artificial paths of water were still functioning, running in a complex pattern around the temple’s outer perimeter before branching to the edges of the platform and becoming narrow waterfalls that disappeared into the city below.
The temple itself seemed to not have any straight lines in it, being instead a vaguely round-shaped bulge on the end of the tall tower that stretched towards the ceiling from the center of the city. Even the tower was more like a pedestal or a stalk of a flower, and when it was combined with the strange shape of the temple, it truly created an image of a large plant. The temple’s curving shape rose ever upwards, the walls seamlessly becoming a roof that ended with a curve towards the back of the cavern.
Many pictures and statues surrounded the temple, or were directly part of the walls. There were statues of ponies and other creatures, all holding weapons or looking like they were about to fight something that came from the skies. The eerie shapes of living beings were accompanied by lines that circled around them, becoming a web of patterns that intersected each other.
Twilight felt a tinge of sadness when she saw the ruin that the temple had become. She could imagine it being a shining beacon of wonder and splendor in the past, but now, in her eyes it seemed like nothing more than a forgotten ghost.
Perhaps, Twilight thought. Perhaps this place was once as wonderful as Canterlot. But now… It is only full of sorrow.
“Ah think this is where the road ends,” Applejack said while looking around. “There ain’t nothing but that weird tube that leads forward from the temple, and there ain’t no way we’re walkin’ on that thing.”
“That place doesn’t look inviting either, you know?” Rainbow Dash commented and nodded towards the temple. “Just looking it at it makes my stomach feel like jelly.”
“What are you talking about, silly?” Pinkie Pie suggested. “If it gets scary, we just need to giggle, remember? Though, then again, giggling must echo pretty well in here, so it might turn back into being scary. Hmh. This might be bad, guys.“
“Don’t worry, Pinkie, I think we can do it,” Twilight said with a smile. “Since it doesn’t look like we’re making much progress here, we might check if there’s a way to access that leaf-looking tube from inside the temple.”
While it was true that the ponies had been mostly walking forward during their time in the underground city, it was not because they were lost. The compass had started working after they had gotten away from the golem’s remains, and using it as a guide, the group had started to make their way through the end of the web of tunnels. Since there was plenty of air to breath underground, Twilight had assumed that there had to be multiple exits in the place, and if they could find one that took them outside the Everfree Forest, they would not have lost much time while wandering in the ancient city. It was a small gamble, since there was no guarantee that there would be an exit like that, but Twilight trusted that the builders of the city would have logically made an exit in the direction of the west. That was the way to the other lands beyond Equestria, after all.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash opened the door leading to the temple together, since the artistically shaped plate was much heavier than it looked. The moment the door was opened, some small animal inside the temple squeaked and ran into safety, outside of the veil of light the torches created. Steeling herself, Twilight took the lead and led her friends inside the building to see if they could find a way to continue their journey there.
Before anypony could see in the darkness, there was a flash of bright, colorful light that forced them to shut their eyes immediately. Colors that switched around in every possible spectrum shone in the room, before dying out with as much brilliance as they had appeared with. As the ponies opened their eyes, they saw that what had been previously a dark and foreboding room was now filled with soft, pink light. It came from numerous glyphs that covered the walls in a geometrical pattern, illuminating the interior of the temple completely.
Twilight felt how the light that enveloped them started to drive away their fatigue. The light itself felt very natural, like a parent’s embrace, driving away all the fears and worries that had gathered inside one’s mind. And as the purple unicorn looked around, she saw that her friends wore content expressions just like hers. They must have felt the embrace of the light, too.
The interior of the temple itself was circular in shape, despite the odd way it looked from outside. As Twilight Sparkle gazed around the temple, she started to realize just how many details had been put into how the temple looked. The floor was fitted with large, petal-shaped plates that were all pointing towards the center, going in a circle where all of them aligned so that they were under the plate that came next. In the center was an elaborate picture that seemed depict a very complex glyph of some sort.
Six shrines emerged from the walls in perfect harmony, each presenting a different-colored crystal that was wrapped in wings that looked like they were made from pink-colored marble. The feathers of these wings were sleek and sharp, nothing like the ones found on pegasi or birds. These shrines seemed to guard the way to the other end of the room, where two huge wings, somewhat similar to the smaller ones, had spread over a large altar made out of intertwining pedestals, once again bringing up the flower motif of the place.
And above it all, a huge egg-like crystal emerged from the dome-shaped ceiling, being half-buried into the building. It hung above the ponies, reflecting the light from the torches and from the glyphs, creating an interesting pattern of switching colors.
“…So. Awesome,” Rainbow Dash whispered with excitement.
As the group walked deeper into the temple, marveling at its strange design, Twilight’s eyes were immediately drawn to the strange picture at the center of the floor. Her years of studying magic helped her to recognize the pattern as what it was: A magic circle. Though it might have been a style of magic circle she had never seen before, she could still understand parts of it here and there. That was why she walked straight to the center of the room to study the picture.
“What is that, darling?” Rarity asked as she walked over to Twilight. “Is it the map of this city?”
“No, no. It is… I think this thing here is a magic circle. Just look,” Twilight nodded towards the thing carved to the floor. “See here? This is definitely an outer circle that has been traced sunward, working as a boundary to the rest of the circle. No, wait, the way it’s drawn, it actually resembles… pradakshina? Or maybe not. This is definitely strange…”
“Twilight Sparkle, I have absolutely no idea what you are rambling about,” Rarity sighed. “To me, it looks far more like a map. Just look. The circle is the perimeter of the city, while these drawings on the edges resemble the tunnel. What is in the middle here is the cavern we are in, and in the center… this temple. See?”
“No, it isn’t that. See these six corners that form the hexagon that represents repetition? Each of them is clad within another hexagon, creating a boundary for these glyphs that lie inside. So it is six fields of repetition inside a field of repetition. Is this… meant to represent infinity? What is repeated already is being repeated endlessly?” Twilight Sparkle sighed and rubbed her forehead. “What about these glyphs? I don’t recognize any of them. But the glyphs themselves are connected in a hexagram, becoming a symbol of moksha, I guess? I never studied foreign unicorn magic that much. And that moksha means liberation from the repetitive cycle? So this magic circle is meant to both bring forth repetition but to also release from it? And what about this smaller hexagram inside of the larger one…? I cannot make out the letters, but it is almost like it reads… the source of dharmas? But what does that mean?”
Twilight’s head was swimming in the information contained in the relatively small magic circle. She had never seen anything like it before. When unicorns used magic circles, they usually wanted to create a field of magic, or a spell that would be continuous. It was like creating a formula for the spell that would feed on passive magic in the air by itself, and thus keeping itself operational. The more power it was required, the larger and more complex the magic circle had to be. She had practiced with several, but had never done anything bigger than a circle which shone with bright light every time she stepped on it.
“Now you are making it to be something a bit more than it is,” Rarity said. “The more I look at it, the more it looks nothing more than the map of the city. See? This line here is the bridge we used to cross over to the center, which is this hexagon-shaped pattern here in the center. This glyph inside it represents the temple we are in right now. The rest of all of this is just complex web of streets and buildings that spread out beneath us, at the bottom of the cavern.”
Twilight frowned and looked at her friend, who seemed very sure of her opinion. However, the student of magic in Twilight Sparkle was sure that what she saw was a magic circle, and not a map of an ancient city. After being so thorough in her analysis, it would have been rather embarrassing for her to back down now.
“No, I think it’s a magic circle. All the details in this point to that,” Twilight insisted.
“Darling, just look at it. Something this old could in no way be a working magic circle. It has to be a map,” Rarity answered.
However, at that point, Applejack decided she had had enough of their argument and stepped between the two. The long time everypony had spent underground had made them all a bit tired, which made it easy for sparks to fly between clashing opinions.
“Now simmer down, Sallies,” Applejack said. “If ya ask me, it looks like both. In the end, what does it matter?”
A few seconds after Applejack had finished, Twilight suddenly understood something. With renewed energy, she returned to staring at the picture on the floor, her eyes darting up and down on the detailed carvings and lines. Finally, they stopped onto the glyph that was at the center, and she raised her head with a triumphant look on her face.
“I got it!”
“Got what, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, looking rather confused with Rarity.
“This thing! This picture! I know what it is! Because you said it!” Twilight rejoiced. “We were actually both right! This thing here… it is a magic circle and a map of the city. In other words, it is a small-scale replica of a much bigger magic circle. This city!”
In the face of this realization, the ponies found themselves suddenly in awe. Rainbow Dash, who had been darting around and looking at the shrines inside the temple, was drawn to look at the miniature scale magic circle that supposedly showed just what the city under Everfree Forest really was. Spike followed the blue-feathered pegasus, equally interested in the picture. A magic circle of such scale would have held untold powers, and the spell it was made for would have been simply massive. Even Twilight, though she was an accomplished studier of magic, could have never even dreamt of creating something so colossal.
“That’s cool!” Dash commented. “So, what’s it gonna do? Summon something wicked to protect the city?”
“I’m… not sure. As far as I can tell, it’s meant to protect the city and create some sort of field within, but I can’t understand any of the details”, Twilight admitted. “This level of magic is far beyond mine. If I had to guess, only Princess Celestia or Princess Luna could create something like this.”
“Truly a work of art,” Rarity said. “Both in purpose and in design, it is beautiful. I wonder how this city must have looked like before the forest swallowed it all.”
“Well Ah’ll be. A city that’s a magic circle? That’s goes a teensy bit over mah head, Ah’m afraid,” Applejack said and grinned sheepishly. “But still, if it’s a city-plan, Ah guess this thing here shows where the exit is?”
“Yes, it should be able to do that. Let’s see now…” Twilight leaned over the picture once more to study it some more.
However, before she could find an exit in it, she was interrupted by Pinkie Pie who bounced right next to her and stuck her head next to Twilight’s.
“Hey, this thing looks cool and all,” Pinkie started. “But has anypony seen Fluttershy?”
Everypony raised their heads and started looking around the temple, trying to find the yellow pegasus. They had been so wrapped up in the discussion about the magic circle that they had completely failed to notice how Fluttershy had slowly walked over to the altar at the other end of the temple, as if drawn to it by some unknown force. And maybe she had been. Fluttershy herself did not know what it was in the altar that interested her so much, but the closer she got, the more clearly she understood that there was something inside the altar.
Whispering to her. Calling to her. Reaching out to her.
Begging her.
The beating in the little pony’s heart resonated from the altar, and the two sounds created a strange rhythm inside of Fluttershy’s head. It was a hypnotic sound, growing louder and louder the closer to the altar she got. That rhythm melted into the strange colors and lights that seemed to emanate from the altar, and the swirl filled the pegasus’ vision. Even though the only thing Fluttershy did was to look at the altar, the corners of her eyes started to display a kaleidoscope-like image that grew stronger with the rhythm of her heart.
Finally, Fluttershy found herself standing in front of the altar, unable to see anything but the pedestal that bathed in wondrous colors. The rhythm from within her drowned the voices of her friends, who had finally spotted her. And even if she had heard them, her interest would have lied only in one thing. A single thing that had been placed on the altar, as if waiting for Fluttershy to come and pick it up. It was this object that whispered to her in her mind.
It was the crystallized lotus flower with seven petals that called out to Fluttershy.
Slowly, as if in a dream, Fluttershy reached out to the crystal, her mind completely occupied by the whispers she heard emanating from it. It was something that felt both alien and familiar, something like a memory you had just forgotten. In a trance, the yellow pegasus extended her hoof and touched the surface of the crystal, marveling how it felt as soft as a real lotus flower.
And the moment Fluttershy touched the crystallized flower, a flash of bright light and brilliant images shot out of it, filling the room.
The whirlwind of places and times, memories stored within a single crystal, was too much for the ponies to comprehend in the small amount of time they raged around the room. Emotions, instincts, desires, and thoughts were compressed in images that shot from one wall of the room to another, becoming a tapestry of eons that was laid before the group. It lasted only for few seconds, maybe not even that long, but in that time, they had seen events that reached back to the beginning of the city they were in. However, due to the experience being nothing but a short flash of knowledge, they had no way of understanding the memories they were shown.
Thus, as the images shown by the crystal died down, the ponies were left only with feeling of exhaustion, wonder, and a strange voice that resonated within the temple.
“Wh-what is this?” Twilight asked, looking around frantically. “Where is that song coming from?”
“Is somepony there? Hey! Answer me!” Rainbow Dash took flight and spun around, trying to see the source of the voice.
However, nopony would answer them. Instead they heard a song that seemed to be part of the temple itself. It was sung in a language none of them could understand, by a voice that must have belonged to a stallion of considerable age. It was a deep bass, so low that the group felt the lowest notes echo inside them. In their ears, the song sounded almost like a prayer to something unknown and ancient, lost from this world long ago.
“Ah don’t think the singer is with us anymore,” Applejack commented, looking concerned. “This sounds… like a hallowed memory, or something.”
“Fluttershy? What happened?” Spike asked with worried expression as he hurried to the pegasus’ side with Rarity.
“Are you alright, darling? Did you get hurt?” Rarity said as she started helping Fluttershy up from the floor.
The pegasus with a pink mane rose from the floor slowly, looking like she was drained of all her strength. But when she raised her head, there was light in her eyes that they had not seen since they had fallen into the tunnels. She looked rejuvenated, full of fresh energy and inspiration. A small smile floated on Fluttershy’s lips as she looked at her friends, holding the crystallized lotus flower between her teeth.
“I… I feel great. Absolutely great ,” Fluttershy said with brilliant expression. “Well, you see, I thought I felt a bit weird, but now… this is like… like… I’ve been pumped full of sunshine and wind.”
“Oooookay?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “Well, if you’re feeling good, that’s great. But really, what is that thing you’re holding in your mou—“
Before Spike could even finish his sentence, the strange events continued. The song that had stayed in the background faded away surprisingly fast, and was replaced by whirl of machinery. There was a crunching sound as stone was dragged against stone and the whole temple shook as something happened within its depths. The ponies, panicking because of this new turn of events, gathered at the center of the temple, trying to decide whether or not they should run outside. The rumbling grew louder and louder, and some long forgotten parts of the temple came back to life, powered by unknown source.
While the group was trying to decide what to do, the temple decided for them. The dragging sound of stone proved to be coming from the petal-like plates that covered the floor of the temple. They retracted with surprising speed, and before the ponies could realize what was happening, they were staring at an empty hole beneath their hooves. Even the magic circle in the center was drawn away by hidden machinery, revealing a tunnel of some sort beneath the temple.
“W-wait. Is this the tube we saw outside!?” Twilight asked in panic, just before the group was whisked away into the tunnel by a strong current of air.
What followed was a ride of chaos and panic. The ponies were sucked into the tube that had been connected to the temple, and that proved to be hollow from the inside. The surface of the tube was smooth and easy to slide on, and with the air pushing them from behind, the ponies found themselves sliding forward with amazing speed. Even the amusement parks of Canterlot had not prepared anypony for the ride they got, as their speed got so high even their screams were caught by the wind and left behind.
The longer the ride continued, the more the panic started to settle. The screams started to disappear since the ponies got a hold of themselves, not to mention their voices were starting to get hoarse. After the initial scare, the group started to realize that what they were in must have been meant as a mode of transportation. It was too well-designed to be just any tube, and it was made big enough for multiple ponies to ride inside it at the same time.
“Where d’ya reckon this thing is takin’ us!?” Applejack shouted over the raging wind.
“I have no idea!” Twilight answered. “We’ll just have to hold on and hope for the best!”
“Don’t worry, girls! Fluttershy and I are ready to catch you if there’s a big drop at the end!” Rainbow Dash assured from behind the two, and nudged the yellow pegasus who was next to her. “Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”
“Err, hm, sure, I mean, yeah, of course,” Fluttershy squeaked. “As long as I get to close my eyes until this is all over.”
Dash’s groan was never heard, as it was hidden by the roaring air that pushed the ponies forward.
After ten or so minutes, the ponies started to realize that they had probably travelled more than during their walk earlier to the temple. The tube was long and their speed was high, making it clear that they were advancing rapidly inside the underground city. Not only that, but at points the tube seemed to be heading slightly upwards, as if it had been a calculated move by the builders. With the wind blowing from their back, the ponies kept their speed up even when they were going uphill.
“Rarity? Can you remember the shape of the map? Was this tube shown in it?” Spike shouted while sliding closer to the white unicorn.
“I am not completely sure,” Rarity answered. “I think there was something about it, but concentrating right now is a bit difficult.”
The twisting and turning tube took the ponies further and further, changing slowly from a chaotic mess into a shortcut that would hopefully bring them closer to the exit. The more minutes the group spent in the tube, the more familiar they got with how to control their movement on the slippery surface, and pretty soon all of the ponies were nearly skating inside the pipe. They learned how they had to switch their center of mass to make the curves and turns smoothly, and how they had to lean forward to pass the ever-increasing amount of small bumps that took them higher and higher, closer to the ground-level.
However, it was not until nearly twenty minutes of riding inside the tube that the group started seeing bluish light at the other end. It first started as a faint shimmer in the distance, which soon turned into a bright source of hope for the ponies. Their spirits were renewed when they saw that the end was in sight, and together they prepared for making an exit from the tube. Twilight, who was at the head of the group, focused her gaze to see what waited at the end, but the light made it hard to see.
It was for that reason why the ponies did not slow their sliding in time, despite the fact that what followed the end of the tube was a big drop into the room waiting for them.
The ride ended in seven loud thumps as the group fell straight into the green mass that covered the floor of the large room. Luckily the mass was soft enough to break the fall without hurting any of the ponies, and the only thing they had to worry about was the woozy feeling that came after the sudden stop. The ponies found themselves lying on their backs on the spongy surface, wondering just what had happened. Applejack and Twilight Sparkle were the first ones to actually recover from the dizzying experience.
“Wooohooo! Let’s do that again!” Pinkie Pie happily shouted and kicked her hooves towards the ceiling. “I wanna be the first one to go next!”
“Urgh. I think that’s enough of ancient amusement park rides for me today,” Twilight commented while trying to get her bearings. “Where are we anyway? We came a long, long way, after all.”
“Ah dunno. Looks like we got mighty lucky, though,” Applejack answered as she glanced around. “With all these vines and flowers breakin’ our fall, we got out without a scratch.”
“Flowers? What flowers?” Twilight asked with interest and walked over to her friend.
Applejack pointed at the bunch of pony-sized flowers that were growing out of the green mass, which had proven to be a massive pile of soft, spongy vines. These flowers were like small tails of peacocks, with bluish color that gave the room its light source. The flowers were everywhere, sprouting from the vines like scales of a dragon. It was only because she had sunk in a bit deeper than the others that Twilight had not seen them before. Now that she saw them, she smiled with relief, having clearly recognized the flower.
“Ah, I see. These are flowers of umdhlebi, a carnivorous tree from far away land. How rare to see them in Equestria! The purpose of these flowers is to capture the prey and slowly drain it dry,” she said, clearly intrigued by this sudden encounter. Applejack, however, seemed a bit nervous.
“Err, Twi? Carnivorous tree?”
“Oh, don’t worry. Umdhlebi may be carnivorous, but they cannot eat anything as big as a pony. They mostly eat small insects and such,” Twilight explained matter-of-factly. “It would take almost thousand years for umdhlebi to grow so big it could eat a pony.”
“Umm, darling, these flowers look quite big enough to capture a pony, don’t you think?” Rarity asked as she and the others walked over. “Are you sure there is nothing to worry about?”
“Of course there isn’t!” Twilight giggled. “Umdhlebi tend to hibernate for decades, only to wake up for few months when they open their flowers. There is no way we would have such a bad luck as to stumble upon an umdhlebi that was awake.”
“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash pointed at the flowers. “These things seem pretty open to me.”
“Well, since the umdhlebi plant itself isn’t awake, we have nothing to worry about,” Twilight said. “If the trunk had risen and the plant was conscious, then we would have a problem in our hooves.”
As to answer the purple unicorn’s words, there was a groaning roar as something colossal moved in the middle of the pile of vines. The sound was like dozen trees had fallen at the same time. And during that groan, a bulky shape started rising from the center of the room. Brown and black bark stretched towards the sky as a vaguely humanoid-shaped trunk straightened itself. The vines came alive and the flowers opened even further, mimicking snakes that were sniffing the air. The whole room was suddenly full of life, indicating that the noise the ponies had made had finally woken up the slumbering beast.
“Twi?” Applejack asked as they stared in horror at the sight before them. “Don’t speak ‘nother sentence.”
What stood before them was a very definition of a monster. With a torso-like trunk that reached towards the ceiling and vines that sprouted both from beneath the roots and from the top of its “head”, the umdhlebi was truly a fearsome sight. Wriggling masses of appendages that hungered for food and glowing sap that oozed from within the cracked bark created an image that made even Rainbow Dash think twice before attacking.
“Everypony run!”
The group didn’t need Spike’s command to sprint into action. They knew that fighting such an enemy would have been futile, even if they had had the energy to do it. So, instead, they rushed towards the exit that lied at the other end of the room. They didn’t care where the tunnel led, as long as it led away from the plant-monster that was starting to understand the presence of a fresh meal. Spike hopped onto Twilight’s back, and together the seven friends galloped into the darkness of the tunnel, with only one torch to guide them. This torch was grasped tightly by Spike, who stayed in the lead with Twilight’s help.
When umdhlebi understood its prey was escaping, the monster let out a screech that no living creature could have produced. It made the ponies understand that what was after them was not an animal with a will, but a plant with the simple desire to eat them. This hurried them even further, and soon the group was sprinting as fast as they could, despite the fact that they had been walking most of the day, already. It was the primal instinct of wanting to stay alive that led them.
“I think we found out the reason why that city was so quickly overrun by a forest!” Twilight shouted while they were running. “It would also explain why the whole Everfree Forest seems so hostile towards ponies!”
“W-wait! Are you trying to say that the whole forest is just the extension of this ancient umdhlebi!?” Rarity could hardly believe the idea. “But… but that would mean that what we saw was just a small piece of it!”
“Didn’t ya see it?” Applejack asked. “That thing was connected everywhere with them vines. Ah think they go through the cracks in the floor and ceiling, makin’ it much bigger than that!”
“I think so, too!” Twilight agreed. “That umdhlebi must have been nearly thousand years old to have such big flowers! That would make it easily the size of Everfree Forest. I don’t think anypony has ever recorded an umdhlebi that big in any book! And to think that one was just next to our hometown!”
“Umm, girls, could we, I mean, I think… we should run!” Fluttershy said forcefully, in one of her rare moods. “That is, uhh, if it isn’t too much trouble… I actually think it is more trouble if we, you know, get caught by that thing.”
The talk was interrupted when crashing sounds invaded the tunnel. Spike glanced back and gasped at what he saw. The vines that had been simply wriggling till then had now come fully alive, and they were chasing after the ponies like tentacles of an octopus. They trashed around and kept tearing the stone from the walls in their attempts to get their prey. Dozens upon dozens of vines, filled with carnivorous flowers that hungered for the first meal the umdhlebi had had in a long time.
It was a race against death. The ponies trusted their only light source, the single torch that Spike held like a beacon ahead of them. They knew that the torch was their only hope of survival, their only method to see in the darkness ahead and keep ahead of the tentacles that came after them. The vines were moving with surprising speed and agility, gaining the group slowly. And if that had not been enough, new appendages of umdhlebi appeared from cracks in the walls, breaking through the soil to capture their prey. Hungering for pony-flesh, the vines flew after the group while their source roared in its unnatural way.
Hooves hit the stone floor and sweat flowed like a river from everypony’s face. Adrenaline rushed into the veins of the ponies, driving them forward even though they had been wandering in the tunnels for multiple days. Even the thought about how their strength had been sapped was erased by the sheer desire to stay alive, and to see the light of the day once more. No matter how close the sounds of trashing vines got, the group still braved forward, exerting all the power they had in their muscles. Simple willpower was enough to fuel the ponies, even though their bodies were probably screaming for rest. But still, the hooves struck against the cold surface of the tunnel. There was no stopping and no rest. They could not afford a single mistake. Their survival depended on it.
And that willpower eventually brought forth a miracle that nopony could have believed possible.
“Is that…?” Spike muttered as he saw something glimmer in the distance. Then hope lit his face into brilliant expression. “There’s light! Moonlight! Straight ahead!”
The unspoken wish of everypony came true. In their escape from the clutches of the umdhlebi, they had finally found the exit of the underground ruins. This newfound hope strengthened the group’s gallop, driving them forward with even greater speed. And the faster they ran, the more clearly they started to see what Spike was talking about: A silver, natural shine that came closer and closer, telling of outside air and vast sky that offered safety. It was their salvation. It was the surface world.
While they got closer, Twilight Sparkle started to realize that even though they had found the exit, it might not be enough. The end of the tunnel was getting closer, but so was the monster that chased after them. The purple unicorn had no idea if the umdhlebi could extend its tentacles outside of the caves, but that risk existed. They would need a way to ensure that once they got out, they were also safe from the monster.
Multiple plans swirled in Twilight’s head, causing her brain and body to separate their workloads. While her brains were trying to think of a way to survival, Twilight’s body kept up her speed to lead the ponies into the light that shone at the end of the tunnel. The purple unicorn knew that no matter what, they would reach the exit. But, if only she knew how to stop the monster that chased them. If only they had a way. If only…
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight suddenly yelled in triumph. “When we get to the exit, fly up in full speed and ram through the ground with your armor! Make the whole roof of the tunnel collapse on the umdhlebi’s vines!”
“Roger that, Captain!” Dash answered and took flight.
What followed happened almost like a dream. Twilight felt that her movements were slow, but still the tunnel kept whizzing past her. The exit from the underground ruins was right in front of them, the testimony of their strength and will to survive. She felt how her mouth moved and how her vocal chords produced a sound that ordered Rainbow Dash to crash into the ceiling. There was a loud sound as the wings of the blue pegasus exploded into action, and carried her forward with magnificent speed. The moment she hit the soil above them, Twilight jumped through the exit and into the night air that lay beyond.
Rainbow Dash pierced through the earth, her teeth gritted together in determination. Sweat covered her brow and the armor around her felt like it was starting to boil. She, however, paid no mind to the strange sensation, and put all her force into punching through the ground. It was their only chance, after all. If she did not manage to bring down the tunnel, the monster could still very well get them. With this in mind, Dash let out a yell deep from her lungs and hit the soil with her wings, trusting her armor to get her forward.
However, instead of moving forward, she felt how her speed dropped dramatically.
W-wait, what’s happening!? Why am I stopping!? The armor should protect me, right? Why isn’t it piercing the ground, then!? Rainbow Dash hastily thought in her mind. Her eyes shot left and right, but they saw nothing but all-covering soil. This isn’t funny! Why aren’t I moving!? If I don’t do this, the monster doesn’t stop, and I’ll… I’ll…!
The low, dimming hum of the armor’s power was the last straw. Rainbow Dash realized that not only would she danger her friends, but she would also trap herself inside the ground if the armor did not help her. What had started as a heroic moment, full of determination, soon turned into nightmarish minutes of panic, as the thought of being buried alive invaded Dash’s head.
While her mouth opened into desperate screams, no sound could be heard as earth surrounded from all the sides. Rainbow Dash wildly lunged forward with her legs and wings, trying her best to get forward. Dots appeared in her vision, signaling the lack of oxygen in the tunnel she had created, which elevated her levels of panic even more. Letting out one roar of desperation, filled with the desire to see her friends once more, and the fear of death, Rainbow Dash pushed forward. She prayed that something, anything, would let her live.
And in one form, her prayers were answered. Adrenaline in her veins powered her desperate charge, and finally she emerged from the other side, having created enough wind with her last bits of wing-power. The earth around her started quaking and disappearing from her sight, while she herself rose upwards. With her own yell still resonating in her ears, Rainbow Dash emerged through the ground, into the night air. Even if her body was nearly giving up, she used every last bit of energy and strength she had to run forward, so that she would not be dragged back down by the collapsing tunnel.
Rainbow Dash was ready to break her own body if it meant she would avoid being buried inside the confining earth once more.
As she glanced over her shoulder, Dash saw that, even though it had been moment that would haunt her dreams for weeks to come, it had not been for naught. Her friends had made it, and the group nearly flew out of the collapsing tunnel, hitting the ground beyond the exit and rolling out of the way. Applejack even crashed straight into Rainbow Dash, letting out a sigh of relief as she felt something familiar against her back. And behind them, the whole tunnel started collapsing, burying the chasing tentacles under tons and tons of earth.
What followed was silence, broken only by the distant sound of umdhlebi’s disappointed roar.