//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 – Against All Odds // Story: Beneath the Surface // by Racingwolf //------------------------------// Beneath the Surface Chapter 7 – Against All Odds Twilight was almost out of breath when she finally reached the large cavern. She could feel that the source of the powerful magic throughout the caves was here, drawing her to the artifact. There had been a set of heavy metal doors blocking entry, but, she was able to summon just enough magic to crack them open a bit for a few seconds, just enough to allow her to slip through. She was sure the unicorns following her would have reached the doors seconds after they had closed, but strangely, they did not open again. Perhaps, she thought, pausing to try to recover from the chase, there was a spell only a few of them who were authorized could use. Yet that didn’t make much sense; how had she gotten in, if that were the case? They weren’t teleporting into the cavern, either, which also struck her as odd. Once she had rested for a few moments, she walked forward, taking in the sights of the cavern around her, which seemed deserted. It was large, with a very high ceiling, several odd-shaped pillars of rock reaching from the floor and up into the darkness beyond the reach of the room’s many lights. Like many of the other places she had seen, this room was decorated in the glowing crystal orbs, but they weren’t the only source of light. There were other crystals, some of them bigger than Twilight herself, lining the walls, floors, and occasionally growing on the pillars themselves. These too gave off a glow, and she wondered if the crystals she had seen in the tunnels and city were made from ones like these. To her left, quite a distance away where there was less light, she could see that the cave wall had a few big ‘windows’ into other caverns, though the lighting in them was dim. The furthest window didn’t seem to have the same sort of light sources the others did. Instead it was dotted with what looked like thousands of tiny lights that gave off a green tint, and outlined the shape of a massive column. It looked like some sort of bizarre star formation in a night sky. Twilight couldn’t really tell how far away it was; her sense of scale was too distorted in the cave. Despite her worries that something could be lurking in those connected caverns, Twilight turned away from them, walking toward the center of the cavern where she could feel the increasingly overwhelming energy of the artifact’s dark magic. In the uneven ground of the cave, she was forced to walk up a steep slope littered with stalagmites, too tired to use her wings yet. Once she reached the top of the slope, the artifact was suddenly in plain sight. It was resting on a sort of pedestal made of a large stalagmite that had been broken off near the base. Behind it loomed a steep wall of rock that looked like it had frozen in the process of melting. She looked upward, seeing a space at the top where a pony might easily stand, but nopony was there. She turned her attention back to the artifact itself. It looked almost exactly like the image Luna had shown to her in her dream. Four crystals forming the shape of a diamond, and two more crystals in the center, twisted unnaturally. The magic energy radiating from it was almost unbearable, but Twilight couldn’t look away. She’d found it. Now she had to destroy it. Twilight knew that she likely wouldn’t have much time before the unicorns that had chased her found their way in. Though she was so close to the artifact itself, her magic didn’t feel any more diminished than it had in any other part of the cave; this was what the ponies were using to power that spell, and if she could stop it… With more effort than she’d hoped it would take, Twilight lit her horn, trying to put enough magic into a spell that would at least give her an idea of what sort of things the artifact could resist or not. Her energy draining, she focused only on the spell, and on the cursed crystal object a few steps away from her. Then, when she had summoned as much magic as she could without letting it die out, she fired her spell straight at the artifact. The bright bolt of magic headed straight for it, but right before it struck the two twisted crystals in the center, the magic suddenly diverted. Instead it shot upwards parallel to the wall of rock behind the artifact until it moved in an arc over the top of the wall and into the dark space above it. Though it vanished from view, Twilight could still see the glow of her spell, as if it had stopped somewhere above the wall and was being held there. “I heard you coming,” a voice said. Twilight froze, hoping she could summon enough magical energy for another spell, but not wanting to risk trying anything else before she knew who had spoken. From out of the darkness at the top of the rock wall, a pale stallion appeared to stand at the edge overlooking the artifact. His coat was dull-looking, and even the black patches looked faded. He was tall and thin, and though it was hard to see in the dim light of the cavern, he looked much older than the other unicorns she’d seen. And he showed no worry or fear at finding her so close to the artifact they relied on for so much of their magic. “I wasn’t going to let you damage the artifact,” the older unicorn said, “but I wanted to see what you could do. See what your alicorn powers really were, even despite our spells that would prevent any ordinary unicorn from using magic.” The sound of faint hoofbeats coming from behind made Twilight whirl around. She saw the unicorns that had chased her to the cavern, each of them calmly approaching her. She realized that the only reason she had been able to slip past the door, and they hadn’t, was that this unicorn – possibly with help – had allowed it to happen. To give him a chance to see what she could do even under their magic blocking spells. “We thought Celestia was our only real choice,” the old unicorn at the top of the wall continued. “But then you showed up. And you have shown promise. Perhaps this all works out well in the end.” Twilight forced herself to look away from the unicorns that had formed a half ring, encircling her against the rock wall. She hoped that if she kept talking, she could at least buy some time, and think of anything that might somehow help her. “I could have destroyed it,” she said, “if my magic wasn’t diverted-” The old unicorn chuckled, looking down at her with a grin. “It wouldn’t be so easy. But then again, with new alicorns…you could be full of surprises. Better to keep it safe.” His gaze flicked from her to the surrounding group of unicorns. “Disable her magic and bring her to Scarlet Rose.” Though the unicorns that had been chasing her must have spent a great amount of magical energy already, several of them immediately fired beams of light from their horns, the rest charging toward her. Twilight launched herself into the air, forcing her tired wings to move. She swerved out of the way of a few more spells, avoiding them far too narrowly for comfort. She soared toward the cave ceiling, hoping that at least the distance would make it harder for the unicorns on the ground to strike her, but the blasts of light were not missing her by much. She could avoid their spells for a time by weaving around the stalactites on the ceiling, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long. From her vantage point, she could see even more unicorns appearing from the darkness of the cave. Twilight was so focused on dodging bursts of magic and trying to swerve behind stalactites and other formations whenever possible, that she almost didn’t notice the strange, round magical shields clinging to the ceiling and floor where the unicorns’ spells had hit. They looked a lot like a small version of the spells Shining Armor and Cadance had used to protect both Canterlot and the Crystal Empire, and these were certainly big enough to entrap a pony. The words of the old unicorn ran through her mind: ‘Disable her magic.’ The unicorns were firing those shield spells at her, and that could only be because the spells blocked the magic from anypony trapped inside it from reaching the outside. Anypony…or anything. She risked a glance down below, seeing the tiny glow of the artifact resting on its makeshift pedestal. She thought back to when she’d tried to fire a spell at it, only to have the spell be diverted toward something else. She figured that if the unicorns wanted to keep the artifact safe, even their own spells would be stopped from accidentally hitting it, and she suddenly had an idea. Swerving back toward where the majority of the unicorns were gathered, she focused on the tall wall of rock, and the older unicorn standing on its top. Behind him was a faint glow, and as Twilight frantically beat her wings to get closer, she realized that the glow was coming from the remains of her own spell, the weak, fading magic circling around a small statue of a rearing pony. Whatever it was, Twilight knew that the statue had some sort of spell on it that made it act like a lightning rod for any magic that got too close to the artifact. Her one hope was to be able to grab it. As she swerved down from the ceiling, the unicorn standing on the ledge turned his head sharply toward her. His face twisted in fury as he lit his horn. But instead of dodging, Twilight dived down faster, his spell shooting past the end of her tail. She reached her hooves out to the magic-absorbing statue, swiping it from the ledge as the tall unicorn lunged at her. Angling her wings, she quickly changed direction and flew straight down toward the artifact, seeing several of the unicorns waiting below ready to cast more magic. “Stop!” the old unicorn at the top of the wall called to them, but it was too late. Just as Twilight reached the pedestal bearing the artifact, several beams of light were a mere instant away. Before they reached Twilight, they diverted away from the artifact and around the statue, which Twilight dropped right at the ground in front of the pedestal. Twilight leaped back as several layers of magical shields materialized around the statue, trapping the artifact next to it within them as well. And at once, most of the oppressive magic in the air lifted. Twilight felt as if an enormous weight had been taken off her shoulders. Power suddenly coursed through her, her horn lighting with no effort at all. Though she was still physically exhausted, her magic was back, as strong as ever. “What did you do?” one of the unicorns shouted, as he along with many others fired more spells at her. Twilight quickly summoned a shield of her own to block them, realizing how much weaker they seemed in comparison to just before. With the artifact’s power blocked, their magic was diminished, no more powerful than that of regular unicorns. Twilight turned back to the artifact itself, and stifled a cry of alarm as she realized that the innermost shield around it was slowly starting to dissolve. She froze, thinking of what needed to be done, what Luna and Celestia and all of Canterlot were counting on her to do. Yet she had no idea how to destroy the artifact, and she didn’t have long before its magic ate through the magical shields and then the spells that had blocked her power would be brought back to their full strength. She couldn’t destroy it, not while having to fight off so many enemies, but she could have time to find her friends and get them out of danger. Still keeping the unicorns’ spells at bay, Twilight lit her horn again to teleport herself back on the other side of the door she’d come from. However, she found herself unable to, and it wasn’t because her magic was weak. She realized that even without the artifact’s power, there were unicorns here who had made strong enough spells to block any sort of teleportation in this cavern. Deciding she’d try it again once on the other side of the door, Twilight galloped forward, pushing past a unicorn who was rushing toward the artifact to try to bring down the shields. ‘Even if they can get the shields down, it may take them a while,’ she thought. ‘Just keep going.’ Using her exhausted wings yet again, she took to the air and sped toward the doors, flinging them open with her magic. Once in the long, rocky hallway, she tried another teleportation spell, and found that again it failed. But they couldn’t have it blocked everywhere. She wasn’t sure how well she could teleport in a place so unfamiliar, but she had to try when she got the chance. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had been captured in the stone building city; the cave unicorns were probably keeping them close to that area, and possibly the others too. She left the hallway, and seeing the lights of the stone city up ahead, she again tried a teleportation spell. This time she materialized at the entrance to the tunnel she had run into after Fluttershy had been struck down. There were two unicorns down below, looking right at her. She immediately got the feeling that these guys were bad news. Twilight noted the red-orange streaks in the mare’s mane and tail, and guessed that she was Scarlet Rose. She didn’t know who the large stallion beside her was, but she had a feeling that they were plenty competent with magic with or without the artifact’s power. Twilight quickly teleported herself to the other side of the cavern as soon as she saw their horns light up. To her dismay, the two unicorns appeared a short distance away from her immediately afterward. Twilight fired a spell to stun them, but the stallion effortlessly blocked it. “Princess…” the mare – Scarlet – said menacingly. Twilight readied her magic, waiting to teleport away at the first sign of hostility. She didn’t have the time or energy to fight two powerful unicorns on her own, and her main concern was getting her friends out before the artifact’s power returned. They were all in over their heads. “Looks like we found the real one this time,” the stallion said, a dangerous glint in his red eyes. “The real one?” Twilight repeated cautiously. Did they have Thorax too? Twin spells shot toward her from the unicorns’ horns, and Twilight teleported herself back on the other side of the cavern, trying to get her bearings. Glimpsing a tunnel to her right, she darted into it, only to find herself face to face with a group of shocked-looking unicorns. She teleported back over to the opposite side of the city cavern, relieved to find that Scarlet and the other unicorn were no longer standing there. She saw a bright tunnel leading to a bigger room and focused, teleporting herself into it. There were cells along the walls. “Fluttershy? Pinkie?” she cried. “Twilight, is that you?” called a voice from around a corner. Applejack. “She was talking to me, silly!” Pinkie said in reply, but Twilight wasn’t paying attention to their words as she rounded the corner and found five of her friends waiting in a dimly lit cell. “Hi, Twilight!” Pinkie called, waving. “Welcome to the party! I mean, it’s a pretty lame party being in a dungeon at all, but I’m sure you can fix that, and well, at least we’re here together.” “Oh, Twilight, I was so worried,” Rarity said in relief. “My magic’s come back, but whatever spell was put on these bars has proven to be…erm, tricky.” “You can say that again,” Rainbow said as she rubbed her head, parts of her mane singed. “Did you destroy the artifact?” Fluttershy asked from where she was huddled near the wall. “Not exactly, but-” Twilight began, but a bolt of magical energy struck the wall near the cell, cutting her off. She whirled around to see Scarlet and the big stallion standing in the room several paces from her. Lighting her horn, she tried to teleport both herself and her friends away, but whatever spell was put on the dungeon cell warped Twilight’s magic as it moved through the bars, and her friends were instead only teleported to the next cell over. “Uh, forgive me if you have some sort of plan,” Pinkie began, “but, um, how was that helpful?” Twilight found herself half the room away, thankfully having missed any spells that had hit the ground where she had been standing a moment before. She gasped for breath, her heart pounding. Both of the pale unicorns were gazing right at her. Twilight realized that there was no way to safely get back to her friends and break through the spell on the cell bars while these two were after her. She would have to find a way to lose Scarlet and her comrade, and then come back for the others. Then find wherever Thorax, Spike, and Starlight were. And somehow get everypony out before they ran out of time. As the horn of the large stallion lit up, Twilight teleported to the entrance of a tunnel leading away from both the dungeon area and the city. Then she opened her wings and darted down it, knowing that the two would be right behind her. She saw a side tunnel up ahead and teleported herself just inside it before resuming her flight. Her knowledge that time was not on her side – maybe even less so than she realized if the guards in the artifact cavern found a way to bring the shields down faster – made her anxiety grow and she willed herself to move faster. She had to get to the dark, unmarked tunnels. It would be much harder for two unicorns to follow her there. They wouldn’t be as familiar with those places, and that, along with the darkness would make it impossible to teleport long distances without risking teleporting themselves halfway into a wall. The moment she saw a dark tunnel entrance, partially boarded up with rotting wood, Twilight teleported herself to the other side and carried on into the darkness. A shout and the sound of a spell breaking apart the damaged wood a moment later prompted her to fly even faster. Lighting the way with her horn, she turned into one side tunnel and then into the first offshoot that one provided. She made note of every turn she made, making a mental map of her path. As soon as she lost her pursuers, she would free her friends and look for the others. -ooo- Starlight raced alone through a bright tunnel, ignoring the sweltering heat and her increasing thirst. Mere minutes ago, things had seemed hopeless; she had lost Spike, Thorax had disguised himself as Twilight to lead the cave unicorns away, and she hadn’t run into any of her other companions. She had just arrived back at the cavern with the glowing moss, frustrated that she’d only managed to walk in a big circle, when suddenly the oppressive magic blocking her own had been lifted. All at once, her power had flowed back, and magic came to her as easily as it had before they’d left that morning. Without fear, she had raced down the tunnel she, Spike and Thorax had used to first get to the mossy cavern, and quickly found herself in the brightly lit areas. Now, Starlight had no fear of the crystal orbs that lined the walls. She had run through several of the crystal-lined tunnels already, facing no opposition. If the crystals were even still sending images to each other, she didn’t fear what a few guards could do if they happened upon her. Not with her magic back and theirs weakened. If the spell that had been cast over the caves to block magic was down, that had to mean that Twilight had found and destroyed the artifact. Now they needed to regroup and leave. Starlight slowed when she heard voices coming toward her, voices that certainly didn’t belong to any of her friends. She almost lit her horn in preparation, but spotted a small cluster of rocks that looked to have fallen from the wall quite a long time ago. There was just enough of a gap between the rocks at the base that she decided to crawl into it and hide, waiting to see who was coming. A small group of unicorns emerged from a larger tunnel. They seemed anxious and stressed. “I told you,” a mare said to the stallion next to her. “They didn’t mess with our artifact. They were just a distraction.” “Well forgive me for not counting on them having a shapeshifting bug pony,” the stallion growled back. “Anyway, it can’t heal itself by changing form, or it would have done that already. It – and the dragon – they’re not a threat anymore. Somepony said that-” Starlight’s eyes widened at their words, but when the stallion broke off and turned his attention to a small tunnel off to the side, she soon realized why. Twilight herself had appeared, coming to a halt when she noticed the small group of unicorns. Both Twilight and the unicorns in the group lit their horns, but before any of them could strike, Starlight fired a quick spell at each of the unicorns and they dropped to the ground, stunned. “Uh-uh. Not today,” Starlight said as she stepped out of her hiding place. “Starlight!” Twilight said with a grin, looking immensely relieved to see her. “You’re alright!” “Yeah, more or less,” Starlight replied. “I don’t know where Spike and Thorax are, but everpony else is in some sort of dungeon that’s close to here. We don’t have much time. We need to get them out quickly, and-” “Wait a minute,” Starlight interrupted, noticing the worry that had taken over the relief on Twilight’s face. “Didn’t you destroy their artifact?” “No,” Twilight replied, looking at the ground instead of Starlight. “I…I didn’t know how, and I was getting overwhelmed by the ponies guarding it. I tried to, but…all I could do was temporarily block its magic, and I don’t know long that will-” “Twilight,” Starlight said as she put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, causing the alicorn to stop her musings and look at her, “it’s okay. We’ll rethink this and see what to do. Right now, we just need to find everypony and get to safety.” When she saw Twilight relax a bit, she said, “Do you know where this dungeon is?” Twilight nodded. “But I don’t know where Spike and Thorax went.” “I think they’re being held down there,” Starlight said, walking over to the group of unresponsive unicorns and peering into the tunnel they’d come from. Now that she had a good look, she could see some openings in the tunnel’s walls that showed glimpses of the city. “If the dungeon you saw is near here, we can split up. I’ll find Thorax and Spike, you find the others.” “You’re sure they’re down there?” Twilight asked, giving the tunnel a worried glance. “I’m pretty sure,” Starlight said. “Okay…” Twilight answered shakily. “You find your group, and start teleporting back to the Crystal Empire,” Starlight said. “I’ll do the same.” “If you don’t make it out…” Twilight began, “…I’ll come back for you, Thorax, and Spike.” “You won’t need to worry about that,” Starlight responded, hoping she sounded confident enough to mask her own growing worry. “Now, if you said there’s not much time, we should go.” “Yeah,” Twilight said, turning toward the tunnel that led – according to what Starlight had seen in the windows of the large path – to the city. “Be careful,” the alicorn added before she took off in that direction, and Starlight began running down the large tunnel, where in the distance she could see what looked like a massive set of doors. -ooo- The moment Twilight reentered the dungeon, several guards were waiting for her. Without access to the power from their artifact, their spells were weak enough to glance harmlessly off the shield that Twilight surrounded herself with. She stunned a couple with her magic, but a few others escaped and ran into the city cavern. No time to chase them. Twilight ran up to the cell where her friends were, immediately taking note of the lightning-like bolts of magic that flickered over the bars. Rainbow Dash flew as close to the bars as she dared. “Twilight, what’s going on? You said you weren’t able to-” Twilight shook her head. “I’ll explain everything later. But we need to leave now.” Running a list of counter-spells through her head, Twilight tried each one in succession on the bars, none of them having much effect. She quickly opted to use her magic to bend the bars enough for a pony to step through, and managed to move her friends through it one by one using a weak magical shield. Luckily these spells didn’t get distorted by the magic on the bars. Just as Pinkie, the last pony to walk through the mangled bars, stepped through, a flash of light from behind made Twilight turn around. There, standing in the center of the room, were the two unicorns that Twilight knew were capable of putting up a dangerous fight without the use of their artifact. For a brief moment, Twilight locked eyes with the unicorn who had red streaks in her black mane. Scarlet had a furious look on her face, staring at Twilight like she was prey. Before the pale unicorns could react, Twilight summoned all the magical energy she could, and she and her five friends vanished from the room. -ooo- Starlight reached the set of metal doors at the end of the tunnel, flinging them wide open with her magic. As she looked around the vast cavern, the first thing she noticed was a group of odd-looking stone shelves in the center, positioned around a very large crystal ball. She teleported herself over to it, glancing around at the items on the shelves before she got a better look around. A little ways beyond the crystal and shelves, away from the main source of light, Spike was kneeling down next to a still dark form. Fear flooded through her as Starlight teleported herself right beside them. Spike jumped with a cry of shock, extending his arms as if to protect Thorax from harm. When he noticed it was Starlight, he lowered his arms, but didn’t look much less terrified. “Starlight, we need your help!” “Don’t worry,” Starlight said, “we’re getting out of here.” She looked at Thorax, who was not quite unconscious but was lying on the ground, clearly in pain and unable to move. A short, broken chain was attached to one of his hind legs. He was breathing shallowly, his eyes closed. It was obvious he needed help, and quickly. Starlight heard shouts coming from the doors she’d left open when she’d arrived. Apparently she’d been followed, but at the moment, she hardly cared. Not even looking in the direction of their enemies, she lit her horn, focusing on Spike, Thorax, and herself as she teleported the three of them away.