//------------------------------// // The Hollow Caverns // Story: Comparative Mythology // by Flashgen //------------------------------// Smolder pulled a small emerald from her pouch of gems. She clicked her claws against it, spinning it in her grip as she looked into the fire. Taking a bite of it, she chewed it over, and then sprayed a dusty, green flame out onto the fire. It made the campfire blaze, several of the weaker bits of kindling giving way and sending a spout of orange-green fire into the air. While Sandbar added an extra log to the fire, Smolder finished the emerald and stood up. Taking off into the air, she hovered over the fire, which, still burning with green dragonfire, began to billow smoke into the air. The smoke shrouded Smolder's body, but the firelight was bright enough that barely any shadows covered her. When she spoke, her voice was deep and powerful, and Ocellus could hear it echoing back from the Everfree behind her. “Dragons aren’t afraid of many creatures. We’re strong, powerful and big when we get old enough. Our scales are tough. Our bellies are filled with fire. Our wings can carry us far. Still, we aren’t always like that. When we’re young and small, drakes challenge each other to all sorts of things. Tests of endurance and strength and courage. A long time ago, older than my parents’ parents’ parents’ parents, there were a trio of drakes that were inseparable: Rockcrunch, Billow and Char. They were the first to discover the Hollow Caverns, and come back to tell the tale. They spent their days together like most drakes do: lava surfing, wrestling, rock smashing. However, one thing that they enjoyed more than anything else was gem hunting. They would delve into the caves that dotted the Dragon Lands searching for radiant rubies, succulent sapphires and dazzling diamonds. Eventually, though, all of the shallow caves emptied out, but the trio still wanted more gems. “We should have hoarded them," Billow said, wanting to have saved and savoured them, but she was always outvoted by the other two. “We should dig deeper into the earth," Rockcrunch said, certain that there was a trove of gems just a bit deeper in one of those caves, but they were too weak to break the unforgiving stone. It was Char that suggested something worthy of a dragon. "We’re strong and brave, why don’t we leave the Dragon Lands? We can go somewhere no other dragon tries to go. There must be mountains of gems out in the Bitter Wastes, waiting for us!" The other two looked to him, and then each other. It wasn’t fear on their faces, certainly, but they were unsure. To the east of the Dragon Lands was a large stretch of barren land, called the Bitter Wastes. While the Dragon Lands are inhospitable to most creatures, they do have volcanoes, lava, caves and a warmer climate, but the Bitter Wastes hold none of those things. They were simply empty, as far as the eye could see, and eerily cold. Rockcrunch and Billow knew that there were other places that might have gems nearby, but there was always a chance an older, stronger dragon would have laid claim to them. Without a fight, they conceded to Char's plan. The three of them made their way out east, soaring above the barren land. From high up, they looked for any sign of a cave or cavern, but all they saw was barren ground. After a few hours, ghe red glow of the lava flows were faint on the horizon behind them, and their wings were beginning to frost. So, they decided to set down to rest. Char was the first to land, and as he set foot on the ground, it began to crack. Spider web fractures spread out from him, and he barely lifted off in time before the earth gave way. As dust surged up from the collapsing earth, the three beat their wings to drive it back. As it cleared, they saw a pit, with the entrance to a cave at the end. Char was cautious, and let out a burst of fire to light the cave. It wasn't wide enough to fly through, but his attention was drawn to the walls. In the dragonfire's light, they were glittering with dust. He landed, finding the earth of the pit sturdy, and approached one of the walls. "Gemstones!" he proclaimed, while the others landed and came behind him. "There must be a cavern full of them somewhere below." As the three entered the cave, they walked single file, with Char ahead and Billow in the back. They could feel a chilling wind that came from deeper inside the tunnel, rushing out to the open air of the Bitter Wastes behind them. Together, they walked through the tunnel, lighting their way with dragonfire. Every so often, they would come to a fork in their path, and continue to follow the faint gem dust that lined the walls. After about an hour, they even started to see little gems forming in the walls, but they let them be, eager to find the true hoard that waited for them. At the back of the pack, Billow swore that she heard the sound of something behind her or coming from the paths that they didn’t travel. Char dismissed it as just the wind, or the distant sound of some rocks being dislodged from a cave wall by chance and time. Finally, one burst of Char’s dragonfire was returned with a dazzling array of lights from around the corner. He rushed forward, the others close at his heels, and they turned the corner to see a cave filled to the brim with gemstones. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, jades, citrine, diamonds; there was every kind of gemstone they’d ever seen in caves in the Dragon Lands, and some they had never seen before in their lives. They took to dislodging them from the walls, putting them in a pile at the center. It didn’t even occur to them that they’d have to carry the hoard out of the caves; at that moment, they were too excited to care. They even took the time to feast, eating their fill and then some. By the time they had come down from it all, nearly exhausted from the joy, they gathered up as much as they could in their arms and headed back out of the tunnel. Once more, they followed the glittering dust on the walls; it would lead them back to the surface, after all. Billow was the first one to notice something odd, and stopped the others. "The wind shifted," she said. It had come from in front of them on the way in, and was at their backs as they headed towards the surface, but within a few steps, the wind was now in front of them again. “These tunnels are obviously deep," Char said. "The wind comes from the surface, from other places where the ground might have broken." Even if they had not seen any other holes or caves on the surface while flying, the others agreed and continued on. Then they saw the gems in the wall again. "Gems grow all of the time," Char said, taking one gem from the wall and popping it into his mouth. "We just stumbled on some forming. They taste even sweeter." The others took a few, and they all continued on. Then, in a burst of dragonfire, they saw the dazzling colors come from around a corner. Confused, they all walked forward, and found nearly the same cavern they had left. Gems of all variety covered the walls, and there was even a pile of them near the center of the cavern. Char accused Billow of getting them turned around when she had brought up the changing wind, that maybe she had imagined it. After arguing, they simply ate a few of the gems from the pile and returned to the path with their hoards held closer than before. Once more they felt the wind shift, from behind to in front of them, but they said nothing. Once more they saw the small gemstones on the wall, but they said nothing. Once more they saw the dazzling display of colors from their dragonfire, but they said nothing. They turned back around. At forks in the path, they took other routes. They even tried to avoid the glittering dust, but it would always return in the walls. They tried to find another way out of the cavern, but there was only one path. They tried to dig their way up, but the rock was too tough to break. They tried to leave the gems behind, worried they had angered some creature that lived there. They always found themselves back there. After hours, Char was angry, more than worried. Coming back into the room, he smashed the gems and yelled, "Come out! Are you afraid to face our might?!" As he stomped his feet on the ground, the floor of the cave gave out. All three of them took to the air as gemstones fell into the pit that opened up below, and a great chilling gust whipped up against them. After a few moments, though, the wind settled; for the first time since entering the caves, the air was still. The pit was pitch black, even to their eyes, but Char took in a breath and blew his flames as far as he could. They didn’t illuminate a single wall, but in the distance below, he could see something shimmering back. He flew down as the others waited near the tunnel out of the cavern. He took another breath and blew. The shimmering was closer, and he could see the walls of the massive cavern above him. They reached out to walls far beyond his sight. He flew lower again, took a breath, and blew. The shimmering was brighter. It must have been even more gemstones than what rhe cavern above had held. Maybe it was where they had all come from. He took another breath and blew. The cave floor came into view, and he froze. He could make out a few things: gemstones, shattered and cracked, dragon scales, glittering in the light of his fire, and bones, stark white against it all. Suddenly, the air above and around him was sucked down, a deep chill surrounding and penetrating his body. A shuddering gasp of breath came from somewhere below, and the contents of the floor shifted. He beat his wings, fighting against the force pulling him down, and was able to make it back to the mouth of the pit. He shoved them aside, scrambling into the tunnel, and then heard them following behind. The great chilling wind returned, howlingfrom the deep. It was a roar more fearsome than any dragon had ever bellowed. The tunnel around Char shook and shuddered, rocks and gems and dust dislodged as he felt the ground under him move and writhe and breathe. The roar echoed in his ears, but he continued to keep running, and then clawing as the pathway tightened around him. He didn't know if Billow and Rockcrunch were behind him, or if the shouting was from him alone, but he kept digging. The frenzied scramble to the surface felt like an eternity, but finally the path forqard crumbled out of a wall of rock, and Char saw moonlight coming from the surface as he fell out into the pit. As soon as he could spread his wings, he was off into the air, back above the cold Bitter Wastes. Billow came out seconds later, and then Rockcrunch, both slowly lifting off the ground on damaged wings. The trio saw the faint glow of lava flows on the horizon, and headed back to the Dragon Lands, gemless and terrified. Only Char looked back behind them. He saw the earth close up around the pit, a cloud of dust rising into the air, and then blowing away to show the Bitter Wastes as nothing but empty and lifeless again. Ocellus had been looking deep into Smolder’s eyes as she spoke, though her mind wandered to the imagery. With the gentle autumn breeze blowing against her back, she could almost feel the non-existent walls about her closing in as she listened. When Smolder stopped, the sensation began to fade. Still holding onto Yona, she began to fidget in her seat, fluttering her wings for a quick moment. Above the campfire, the smoke finally clearing, Smolder relaxed and flew back over to the log to take her seat. She shot Gallus a glance as she did, and Ocellus could see that he was taking quick breaths in despite his attempts to seem calm. After a few moments of silence, he turned towards her, waving a claw in her direction. “That was uhh… pretty good, yeah. So dragons are scared of some big creature hiding under the ground?” he asked. Smolder sighed as she leaned back, looking into the fire. The dragonfire in the campfire had faded, leaving only the normal hues of orange and yellow in the flame. “Nah, it’s just some story to try and explain a place near where we live.” She took a clawful of gems from a bag, stuffing them into her mouth. “What do you mean?” Ocellus asked, her wings finally calming on her back. Smolder seemed ready to talk with a mouthful of gem shards, but took a few moments to finish chewing and then swallow. “I mean the Bitter Wastes are real. They’re just this oddly cold place close to the Dragon Lands. It feels weird, you know? No dragon would want to say that they’re afraid of a big stretch of open land where it’s always cold, but they’re fine saying they get creeped out by something under it that makes it that way.” “I guess that makes sense,” Gallus said, his own wings flexing. Ocellus noticed his breathing had finally calmed down. “Dragons are kind of tough. It would be weird to be… afraid of a place just because.” Smolder nodded. “Exactly. That or it’s just a story some drakes made up ages ago to show how tough they were to go to some place where the worst thing that could happen is you get some frost on your wings.” She blew smoke out of her nose as she chuckled. “So have you gone there?!” Silverstream asked excitedly. Smolder stopped laughing, the sudden halt forcing the smoke into her mouth, which came out in a series of rough coughs. “I mean… no, I never had a reason to!” she said, crossing her arms and kicking a bit of dirt towards the fire. A series of giggles and laughs came from everyone else, though they all died down quickly. Gallus put an arm around Smolder’s shoulder, pulling her close. “Eh, it’s alright, Smolder. I wouldn’t go into The Bone Forest either. Place is just too creepy.” Smolder rolled her eyes, and the two started shoving each other playfully. Ocellus laughed for a moment at the sight, but then reached down to pick up one of her books. Flipping through the pages of Ghosts, Goblins and Ghoulish Figures, she let her mind wander a bit over the stories that her friends had already told. They had to come from somewhere, and she wished that she had a book on other creatures’ stories like this pony one to research further. Gallus and Smolder's were both sort of about places, though Ocellus noticed they also had some other things in common. The biggest one was that both the dragons and griffon were left unable to fly, at least for part of the story. There was also something moving around them, even if it was only mentioned in passing during Smolder’s story. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but she thought back to the story about the Shadow Walkers as well. That was already fairly similar to Gallus’ story, with a pony wandering into a forest late into the night, being chased by creatures and then barely managing to escape. It was about an earth pony, though, so there wasn’t anything that would tie it back to a fear of losing the chance to fly away from danger. The pony did find themselves seemingly lost, as if circling in the same place, and that was close to Smolder’s. The chances of a pony and griffon story being similar was understandable with how close the two races were to each other, but how could dragon stories be that close? “Yona not like these stories.” The words pulled Ocellus out of her thoughts, and she placed the book down on her lap before looking over at Yona. She seemed more composed than she was originally, but Ocellus noticed the telltale signs of mild fear and discomfort: teeth biting into her lower lip, dilated pupils, and the gentle but awkward tapping of her front hooves together. Ocellus put on a smile and placed a hoof on Yona’s shoulder once again. “If you want to go back to school, we can.” Yona swallowed and shook her head. “No, Yona not want to leave friends out here next to spooky forest alone.” Silverstream talked between shoveling candies into her beak, “We’ll be fine— Professor Fluttershy— only talked about— creepy monsters coming out from— the Everfree like— four times at most!” Ocellus was worried that Silverstream’s slip would have set Yona off, but the yak was surprisingly resilient. She did catch Sandbar’s hoof tapping Silverstream's back out of the corner of her eye though, before his voice cut the silence. “We can take a break from the stories if you want, Yona.” Yona shook her head again. “No, Yona want to share.” Gallus and Smolder’s play shoving and gentle ribbing of each other that had been going on in the background died out, and Ocellus gave Yona another reassuring pat on the shoulder. “I’m sure we’d all love to hear it, if you want to share.” “Yeah, totally!” Sandbar echoed, preparing a few more marshmallows on the end of a stick. There were similar approvals from Gallus, Smolder and Silverstream as well. Yona smiled, and stood up from the log before walking closer to the fire.