//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - The Tunnels // Story: Ruins of a Forgotten Time // by Tekket //------------------------------// “Come on, you slowpokes! We’re not gonna get to the dig if you keep dragging your hooves!” Scootaloo raced ahead, her wings carrying her through the streets of the silent city, like traversing through an enormous tomb. She had to admit, after a while the cold and the quiet kind of gave her the creeps. The pegasus turned back to the rest of the excavation team that was following her, partially to make sure they were still there, and partially to make sure she hadn’t gone too far ahead and gotten lost; she didn’t know where their destination actually was. Right at the front of the group were Lyra and Trickwing, followed by Apple Bloom, a dark grey Minotaur, and two other ponies from the first exploration team whose names Scootaloo didn’t remember. “Who are you calling slowpokes? We’re going the right speed, it’s you who’ll just end up going too fast and hurting yourself, kid!” Lyra called forward, before twisting her head to hear a clang as a pickaxe fell out of her saddlebags. “Son of a… ” the teal unicorn paused to repack her bags, during which Trickwing and Apple Bloom managed to close the distance between themselves and their orange friend. “I can’t believe it! Our first day here in Seskantor and we’re already heading off to a dig site! What do you think we’ll find, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked, keeping pace with the other two by skipping. “I don’t know about you girls, but I want to find something that can help us explain how the original builders of this city got around. I mean, this city stretches for kilometers, there’s no way they could just hoof it the whole time.” Trickwing replied, taking a glance above and behind him, where a mountain could be seen off in the distance between the buildings, with more blue-grey cube buildings climbing up its surface. “Well I want to find a mummy!” Scootaloo cheered brightly, “I want to find the remains or resting place of whatever it was that built this place. Plus if it came to life and turned out to be a cursed mummy or zombie or something like that then it’d be extra cool!” “Uh, Scoots, how on earth would that be cool? Wouldn’t it jus’ be terrifying and dangerous?” “You have no sense of adventure, AB. We’re in one of the most fantastical places in the world, let your imagination run wild with the possibilities of what could lay here, just waiting to be uncovered!” “You know what Scootaloo? I think I’m gonna side with Apple Bloom on this one. Maybe hoping for something horrifying and monstrous isn’t the best use of our imaginations in a giant, deserted ghost city,” Trickwing chimed in, nudging the orange pegasus mare with a chuckle. The three shared a look before stifling a small bout of laughter, however, after taking a few seconds to recover, they looked around and saw nopony else in the streets with them. The way they had come was completely deserted and the stillness of the empty city was deafening. “Hey, where’d everypony go? I thought we still had a ways to go till we got to the dig site?” Apple Bloom wondered aloud, turning her head this way and that in order to catch a glimpse of their group, perhaps down some side alley or narrow street. Suddenly, Lyra popped her head out of a large, empty doorway in one of the buildings they had passed and called out to the three friends. “You kids coming, or what?” Without sparing another look to their surroundings, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Trickwing all rushed for the entrance and the relative safety of the rest of the group. In their haste they did not notice the twinkling of blue lights passing through the shadows of the building opposite, watching their every move. *** “Wow. That’s a big hole.” Apple Bloom gave a long whistle as she stared down into the chasm that tore deep into the earth. The expanse was inside the eerily large and empty building Lyra had disappeared into, and when she looked up, the farmer saw nothing but reflected silver-blue coming off the cone-shaped ceiling. From where she stood at the lip of the hole in the floor, she could clearly see that it gently curved upwards from its initial downward slope until it came to about the horizontal before the end of the tunnel was no longer visible beyond its own curve. While the hole wasn’t very steep, it was incredibly wide, and seemed to go down very deep into the ground. The young earth pony guessed that sixty full grown ponies hoof-in-hoof standing around the edge of the jagged chasm wouldn’t have been enough to go around the perimeter, and their group consisted of only seven individuals. Turning her attention to the other three members of the excavation group, the Minotaur and the two Ponies, she realized that she couldn’t remember their names, but watched in fascination as they drove spikes into the wall closest to the tunnel and attached climbing ropes to them, despite the fact that there were already several ropes draped over the edge in such a manner, making sure they were fastened and secured properly before going over the rest of their equipment. “So, uh, what’re we going down there for again? Isn’t there enough city up here on the surface to explore?” “Explore, yeah, there’s tons, but after a while the buildings all start to show off the same characteristics. We found this hole back when Bon Bon and myself arrived with the first exploration team, while we were looking for a good place to set up a permanent base camp,” Lyra explained. “So what’s down there that’s not up here?” Scootaloo asked, sauntering over to stand beside Apple Bloom at the edge of the hole. Lyra had a glint in her eye that made the mares slightly uncomfortable as she answered, “Down this hole is the most concrete evidence anypony’s ever found of our true origins, as well as the most evidence to support the Old Ones Theory.” Before Apple Bloom or Scootaloo could ask what exactly the Old Ones Theory was, Lyra grinned and asked, “You kids aren’t scared of the dark, or enclosed spaces, are you?” she trotted over the lip of the massive hole and quickly jumped down onto the slanted and uneven ground below. The two ponies and Minotaur gave a short look to the trio of friends (Trickwing trotted over to stand with the two mares) and followed Lyra’s example, but had their ropes attached to a long spool on their packs, and without waiting for an answer, the green Unicorn lit up her horn like a light and started leading the others into the darkness.  Giving each other a look, the two pegasi easily jumped in and glided down to where the rest of the group was gathered. Apple Bloom tried to follow suit, hopping over the edge, but she landed harder than she should have and slipped on a patch of smooth blue slate, falling onto her side and cutting her rear left leg on a large and jagged blue-ish rock. Wincing slightly, she got to her hooves gingerly and pulled her lantern out of her saddlebags, switching it on and illuminating her way, even though she could see the light given off from the rest of the excavation team’s lamps. Apple Bloom realized quickly that she would have to bandage her leg to stop it from dripping so much blood; her way down after the others was perilous enough without her adding a slipping hazard to the mix. Hissing in pain, she sat down on her haunches and pulled a length of cloth out of her saddlebags. It wasn’t a proper gauze bandage, but it would do. Tying it around her rear leg in an effort to stop the bleeding––no small feat with only her mouth and hooves––she looked back down the tunnel to see the last bit of gold light fading around a bend. However, she could still clearly see the silhouettes of her two friends in the light of the lantern Trickwing was carrying. Testing to make sure the improvised bandage wouldn’t fall off from movement, Apple Bloom rushed as fast as her pained leg would allow and caught up with her friends as they stood at the bend. “Hey, thanks for waiting fer me! I woulda lost you all if you’d gone on ahead.” “It’s no problem, AB, Scootaloo stopped me when she realized you weren’t behind us. What happened?” Trickwing stretched out a wing to pat Apple Bloom’s back as he held the lantern aloft with the other. “I just slipped and cut myself, no big deal. We’d better get goin’ quick if we’re gonna catch up with the others though, I don’t wanna get lost down in these tunnels!” Motioning for her friends to follow, the earth pony quickly took the lead and turned the corner, following Lyra’s gold light as it slowly moved away down the tunnel and doing her best not to look like she was limping. Glancing around as the unicorn turned a corner ahead, briefly taking the light with her, Apple Bloom noted the rough construction of the tunnel. Support pillars from the buildings above jutted through the earthen walls every now and then, giving off the slightest bit of blue light of their own. The earth pony shivered, then tried to pick up the pace as much as she could without causing any pain. Rounding the corner, the three ponies saw that the natural-looking tunnel broke into a large square room where the rest of the archeological party had already gathered. A large heating crystal sat in the middle of the room, giving off a soft orange glow and illuminating some of the gloom. Looking up, Apple Bloom was surprised to see the low ceiling of the place, just a few hoof-lengths taller than she was. It was rather off-putting, considering the cathedral-like buildings on the surface. Looking back down to the group, she felt Scootaloo nudge her in the side and point forward, where two ponies that hadn’t been with them on their march through the silent city stood and conversed with Lyra in hushed tones. Occasionally one of the two mystery ponies would glance over at the three friends, but a moment later the teal unicorn turned back to address the assembled explorers. “Alright everypony! Groups of no less than three, Blue Briar and Frost Feather say that the ground and ceiling have been getting more unstable! I want everyone out to meet back here at the slightest hint of danger, got it? Explored routes have been marked with red chalk on the walls, so if you get lost or separated, just look for red markings on the walls, kapish? I don’t want any accidents today.” Nodding to each member of the group as they started dividing up, the older unicorn trotted over to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Trickwing, pulling a lantern out of her saddlebags with her magic as she did so. “You three alright? You’ll be coming with me, where I can keep an eye on you.” Raising a hoof to stave off the outburst that had started in Scootaloo’s throat, Lyra gave the young pegasus a pointed look before continuing. “Look, I know you kids are eager to explore, but there’s some places that have been marked off, and for good reason. There’s been a whole lot more exploring that’s been done since I left, but I still know my way around these tunnels better than most. That, and the fact that I don’t want your families wringing my neck if I lose anypony means that you’ll be sticking with me, at least for the first few days until we get you accustomed to wandering endless, dark tunnels.” She gave a smirk and a flick of her head, motioning for the group to follow her to the far wall. Noticing they were the only ones left in the staging area besides the two unknown ponies from earlier, Apple Bloom gave the two a look over as they passed. The ponies, a light blue unicorn stallion and a snow-white pegasus mare, barely looked up as the group passed, huddled around the large heating crystal as they were, each clutching a dark cloak around themselves tightly. Apple Bloom could have been mistaken but she swore the two had a haunted look in their eyes, and while they didn’t make eye contact, their eyes seemed to gloss over the younger ponies while the talked in hushed whispers and staring into the crystal. Speeding up so that she was next to Lyra, the earth pony asked the older unicorn, “Hey, who are those two? And why do they look like they just went through Tartarus and back?” Scootaloo and Trickwing leaned in, eager to hear some gossip and deepen the mystery of the lost city, while Lyra sighed and dipped her head before looking back up and motioning for the group to the far wall of the chamber. The wall in question was the color of sandstone, a far cry from the steel grey and azure blue of the rest of the city, and was covered in geometric carvings that split to reveal three squat tunnels leading into darkness. “Come on, I’ll tell you on the way. It’s… not something we should talk about around them.” The three friends gave each other questioning looks, but complied and quieted down until they had walked some distance into the tunnel and had lit their own lamps, now well out of earshot of the two ponies. “Is everything okay? Because those two don’t seem okay. You said there was nothing dangerous here, but they look half scared out of their minds.” Scootaloo whispered. In the large empty hall, the only sounds that could be heard were their hoofsteps echoing loudly on the floor, the slight pop the lanterns occasionally made, and the sighing of one very unsure unicorn. “Okay, we may have downplayed the danger of exploring this place a small bit,” Lyra said with a forced smile. Seeing the looks that the other three gave her she hung her head in frustration. “Oh, come on you guys, I only found out today when we landed, alright? There was no way to get a message back from here to Equestria without using another airship, and hiring a crew just to deliver mail back and forth while we were away for two weeks would have been a pointless waste of bits.” “What do you mean you ‘only found out today’? What exactly did you find out?” Trickwing asked, his brow raised in suspicion. “Well… when we got back here, the first thing Magma Burn told me was that this place didn’t seem to be as dead as we’d originally thought.” Noting the look of alarm on the youngsters’ faces, Lyra quickly brought a hoof up to calm them down. “N-not like, anything dangerous lives here! It’s just, you know how cold and quiet and still it is outside in the city? Well the city seems to have a mind of its own. Occasionally there’ll be earthquakes, or a wall might collapse with no notice, or a building might rearrange itself-” “Wait, what?”  Apple Bloom had brought the party to a halt as she tilted her head and fixed the sea-green unicorn with a strong stare. “What’dya mean buildings rearranging themselves? That sounds a lot more alive than unstable ground!” “Ehh, that might not have been the best example. But hey, that’s what Magma told me. All I know is that it’s not safe to go exploring Seskantor on your own, because some ponies have gone missing when they wandered off on their own.” “W-what if we go missing? Oh Celestia, this place is huge! If we get lost, we’d never get out!” Trickwing backed up a few steps, eyes wide, before his rump ran into the wall behind him. Giving a small squeak and jumping into the air, he blushed very suddenly and had to muster his best glare as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom started giggling uncontrollably. “Oh please, Tricky, I’m a bit nervous, but you’re overreacting! I trust Lyra, and as long as we stick with her, we’ll be fine.” Scootaloo waved a hoof dismissively and looked from her friend to their mentor. Apple Bloom on the other hoof, still had a small lingering feeling of doubt from what Lyra had just said. Any further conversation was cut short as Lyra raised the lamp to better inspect the wall, where a red arrow pointing back the way they had come had been scratched onto the dark stone wall. Lifting her lantern further, a small smirk graced her lips before she turned back to her three charges. “Well, you guys did say you came here looking for adventure and discoveries… so feast your eyes on this!” *** “Sweet Celestia… what is it?” “That there, Apple Bloom, is one of the ‘dig’ portions of this dig site. Yo, Bonnie, what’s up?” Lyra gave a snort and a giggle before she trotted over to the edge of the hole in the middle of the tunnel, where a rope ladder led down into another chamber, however this one was much larger than the one with the heating crystal, and already held an unexpected surprise. “Lyra, get down here already! I’ve been waiting an alicorn’s age for you to arrive!” Peering over the edge, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Trickwing saw the face of a rather grumpy-looking Bon Bon, along with a navy-blue gryphon with a hardhat and an earth pony wearing a yellow poncho that hid most of their features. Glancing back at the thing that had given them pause a few moments ago, Scootaloo scratched her head with a hoof and stared, trying to discern what it was. The large hole in the floor was perfectly circular and what seemed to be a massive stone statue stood in its center. The base was on the floor of the room below them where Bon Bon and the two others were excavating something with picks and chisels, and the head of the statue soared up through the hole and just under the ceiling of the tunnel the four of them currently stood in. How they had missed it while walking through the tunnel, Scootaloo had no idea. It was as if it had suddenly sprung from existence, seeing as she couldn’t remember it being there seconds ago. Fluttering her wings, she took another look at the hole before launching herself into the air, avoiding the crumbling statue in front of her and gliding down to the floor below in a slow spiral. Behind her, Apple Bloom was still studying the stone figure, and Trickwing jumped and regained his senses, jumping down after Scootaloo a moment later. Lyra, strangely, had already managed to rappel down one side of the rope ladder like a fire pole. “What’d y’all think it is?” Apple Bloom wondered aloud, tilting her head this way and that to try and make sense of the statue. After much squinting and carefully walking around the edge of the hole, she decided it looked a bit like a Pegasus, albeit one standing on very long hind legs and a somewhat disfigured face. The statue wasn’t broken in any way that she could discern, but the facial structure looked a bit flat and grim. On the statue’s back were a pair of large wings that spread out slightly and then drooped almost to the base on the floor below. “Come on, Apple Bloom! There’s more to look at down here!”  Peering over the edge once more, the earth pony saw Scootaloo and Trickwing, both with wonder on their faces, waving to her from down below with their wings. “Alright, alright, ah’m coming, just wait a darned second.” As she carefully climbed down the rope ladder into the brighter space created by more lanterns, Apple Bloom got a good look at what Bon Bon and her two companions were chipping away at with pickaxes and chisels. The base of the statue was very wide and circular, made from the same rust-colored stone as the tunnels and the statue itself, and was covered in geometric symbols, some partially obscured, either by rocks that had piled up over the centuries, or from being scratched and faded by time. Out of what she could clearly see however, was a simplistic drawing of the statue, a bipedal figure with large wings, as well as similar other figures with different defining characteristics. Some pictures looked like the things had claws, while others had fur or spines or hoof-like limbs, and all the pictures faced the same way. In between all the little drawings scratched into the base was the same symbol, like a cross between an “x” and a “w”, and there were numerous other varied symbols written in below each picture. “What does it mean?” Apple Bloom heard Trickwing ask, while out of the corner of her eye she saw Scootaloo flitter over to a pile of rubble farther in the room and begin rummaging around in it. “Nopony knows. There’s nothing like it in any recorded language or alphabet. These symbols seem to predate all modern civilisations, which would make sense, considering the estimated age of the city. The most exciting discovery is in this next chamber though, let me show you guys!” Lyra waved her hoof happily to the young ponies and patted Bon Bon gently on the shoulder. “I’ll let you guys keep at it, we’ll be just ahead, alright Bonnie?” Giving just a grunt of acknowledgment as she held a hammer in her mouth, Bon Bon continued to chip away at the surrounding rock with the griffon and the other pony, while Apple Bloom stole a glance at their work as she followed the others further into the cavernous room. The symbols that the ponies were currently clearing away were yet another of the winged bipeds, but it seemed to be drawn within a tall rectangle. Tearing her eyes away from the archeological discovery being made right in front of her, Apple Bloom put a bit of extra strain on her injured leg as she rushed to catch up with her group, wincing in pain a bit. Unbeknownst to her, however, the makeshift bandage around her rear leg began growing darker with fresh blood, carrying its scent down the tunnels. *** Leaving the large cavern with the statue behind, the ponies began moving slower, as the tunnel at the end of the room began to slope down, and the smooth rock floor was covered in small pebbles that made the explorers slip and skid downward every so often, and the friends had to hold onto each other to safely navigate the treacherous slide. “So, uh, what’s down this way, Lyra?” Scootaloo asked, as she flared out her wings to help keep her balance. “You uh, didn’t actually say what was down this way.” “Ok, well, I never got to explore this much when we first came here, but Magma Burn told me that while exploring this place last week, they’d come across what looked like some sort of ancient laboratory!” “A lab?” Apple Bloom perked up at the mention of science. “Ah know Sweetie Belle’s more the one for mechanics and all, but I’ve loved potions and chemistry ever since we were fillies learning from Twilight! What kind of lab izzit?” The teal unicorn was about to reply before she frowned a bit, slipping on the rocks underhoof and sliding a fair bit forward down the tunnel. “Blasted gravel! Now I know why they haven’t come down here much, it’s impossible to keep your footing.” Shaking her head, the unicorn smiled as she stepped forward onto level ground. “But it looks like the tunnel finally levels out here. You can all move a bit faster if you’d like! We’ve reached the bottom!” Waving back happily, she waited till the three younger ponies rejoined her before channelling more magic into her horn and spreading glowing golden light across the underground room. “Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome to the underground Life Labs!” With the brighter light, the four ponies could clearly see their surroundings for once, with the floor beneath them no longer a natural cave tunnel, but a smooth grey floor, while a similar ceiling rose above them, with dark glass orbs set in evenly spaced intervals. Along the ground stood sturdy, white tables and cabinets; large boxes as tall as ponies with rusted steel countertops adorning them, and black handles at head height on visible doors. Atop the counters, barely visible, were piles of ancient dust, broken exotic tools, as well as what looked like several microscopes and blackened metal boxes. In the center of the room stood a large glass cylinder that reached up to the ceiling, a shrivelled and withered corpse floating serenely inside, while pipes and rusted cords completely covered the body’s head and neck and rose to the top of the tank. Taking a step back in horror, Apple Bloom gasped, transfixed by the sight in the center of the room, while Lyra patted her shoulder softly, bringing her out of the moment of shock. “Woah… when Magma Burn told me they’d found a body in the lab, I never imagined she meant this. But uh, don’t worry Apple Bloom, it’s been long dead. More importantly, wow, this place is big. These tables are huge!” Walking into the room, Lyra smiled wide with amazement as she tried to look up onto the tables to get a closer look at some of the old and unrecognizable scientific equipment, while Scootaloo and Trickwing fluttered up to land on the nearest of the dusty old surfaces, heads twisting this way and that as they both looked out into the dimly-lit room and the maze of tall tables and benches that sat in orderly rows and columns around it. Walking slowly down the center of the aisles created by tables and cabinets, Apple Bloom approached the ancient preserved body floating in the huge tube in the center of the room, lifting her lantern with one hoof as she sat down on her haunches, trying to get a better look at whatever it was. Semi-transparent, shrivelled skin was pulled over bony knobs and joints, while atrophied muscles barely showed through on gangly limbs that stuck out at weird angles. The head, upon closer inspection, seemed to be covered by some sort of half-helmet, with cables, chains, ropes, and tubes suspended all around it, like a snake’s nest of nooses all trying to strangle the dead thing. From the thing’s bony back sprouted two long, thin appendages, that trailed down near the thing’s curled up feet, looking like wings that were completely plucked of feathers. After studying it for a few moments, it was apparent that the dead thing floating inside the giant glass cylinder was one of the things depicted by the statue in the previous room, and in her time looking at it, the earth pony hadn’t noticed as the two pegasi swooped down to land just behind her, also slightly horrified and intrigued by the corpse floating suspended in front of them. “So uh,” Trickwing started, earning a jump from Apple Bloom as she turned around fast enough that she nearly fell over onto her injured leg. “What do you think it is? Where these creatures the ones that built Seskantor? Or was this something that was sick?” “Well, Lyra called this the ‘Life Labs’, what do you suppose it means? Did they create life here? Or was it like a disease research center?” Scootaloo shot back, “You know, like ‘preserving life lab’ or something like that.” “Well ah mean, ah don’t know, but Lyra said Magma Burn told her. Lyra, did Magma Burn tell you if they found out what this place was for? Lyra?” Turning back around and looking around the corner of the nearest table, Apple Bloom realized that the room had gotten slightly darker, a factor of Lyra’s light spell no longer being present, and the older unicorn didn’t call back. “Where’d she go?!” Scootaloo’s eyes went wide as she took to the air, hovering above the tables as she avoided piping going into the ceiling while she looked for any trace of the older mare. “This isn’t funny, Lyra! Ok, yeah, this place is definitely spooky, but we really don’t need you pulling pranks right now to give us a little scare!” As the three stopped and strained, listening for any sound among the lifeless lab equipment or from within the gloom beyond, there was nothing but deathly silence, and the hammering of their own hearts as the three began to huddle closer together. “She-she’s gone! But where could she have gone? It’s not like her to get so caught up with the archaeology that she just forgets about us!” Scootaloo wailed quietly, suddenly very aware of just how loud and alone her voice sounded in the darkness of the lab. “L-Lyra told us just earlier that this place isn’t as dead as it seems, right? With rooms rearranging and ponies getting lost and all? Maybe that happened to her! We’ve got to find her!” Trickwing pointed out, now huddled against the other two in the center of the room. “We should head back and tell Bon Bon! She’ll know what to do. But Ah think we should stick real close-like to each other from now on. Lyra was only out of sight behind these tables for a few seconds, and she disappeared. I don’t wanna lose you two or get caught by whatever happened to Lyra, so ah’m not gonna let you two outta my sight until we-” Apple Bloom was making sense, and the other two were huddling close to her as she spoke, nodding along, until she was interrupted by a very peculiar sound. A ticking and clicking sound filled the room, quiet, and yet echoing. While the echo made it hard to distinguish exactly where it came from, the three ponies turned their heads to the back of the room, which was still shrouded in darkness and which none of them had explored yet, while the sound seemed to get a faint bit clearer. Getting slowly louder as it seemed to be coming towards them, the three ponies stood up and backed away a few paces, before the sound stopped entirely, as suddenly as it had begun. Steeling herself, Apple Bloom took a brave step forward and lifted her lantern into the darkness, peering to see what lay beyond the glass tank. “Lyra? Is that you?”