The darkness was unsettling. Celestia and Luna both had good spells to counteract the darkness, but in the dark, cramped tunnels, the light could only shine so far.
The mining tunnel Fillius had requested to explore wasn’t too far from Blazing Star Palace, about a three day trip north. It had somehow gotten colder, and the weather had gotten more ferocious. Apparently almost nothing happened north of the palace, so by the time they had found the entrance to the mineshaft, the storms and the decreasing quality of the roads had made what Celestia was sure a cruel deathtrap set up as a joke by whoever ordered their expedition.
Fillius had ordered the expedition.
He didn’t seem the least bit bothered by all of the trouble either, at one point when Celestia commented about how she was sure they were going to die horrible deaths tumbling down the cliff sides, Fillius smiled and recounted a story about one of the times he had been in a much worse situation, for a much less valuable item.
“What is it we’re after anyway?” Celestia asked.
“Yeah, come to think of it, why are we going to all this trouble?” Luna chimed in, with a hint of surprise in her voice. Surprise at the thought that she hadn’t wondered what they were after in the first place.
“Well,” Fillius responded. “I’m afraid that I can’t tell you that right now. As much as I’d love to, it’s a bit of a secret right now.”
“So… are you the only one here who knows what we’re trying to find?” Luna asked, looking at the other soldiers in the expedition.
“Yup, the only one. In fact, I’m fairly certain I’m the only one in the entire world who has a good understanding of what we’re after.” Fillius said.
Luna’s curiosity was piqued. “And why is that?”
“Well, I’m afraid I can’t tell you that either right now.” Fillius chuckled to himself a little when he saw Luna’s exasperated reaction. “Trust me, if you think that you have it bad, you try explaining to the council why you need to head into a troubled country after sending expensive supplies to its’ leader, so that you can find an artifact who’s value nopony but you understands.”
“And how did you convince them?” Celestia asked.
“I had to pull a lot of strings.” Fillius shuddered.
“Well let’s hope it’s worth it.” Luna said.
“Oh it will be. It will be.” Fillius said with a determined voice Celestia had never heard from him before.
They had been wandering through the caves for almost two days. Or maybe it was three? Celestia couldn’t be sure, there was no sun and no moon to tell her at the moment. Daytime was when she and the other unicorns in the party decided in the tunnels. The darkness was making it hard for everyone to sleep though. Having no real sunlight and then switching to the blackness of a moonless night was making it difficult for anyone to sleep well. Too unnerving. She and Luna had been getting by practicing new spells on each other, spells that were meant to make somepony drowsy, or downright pass out. Everypony else had their own methods, some of the other unicorns had taken the sisters’ idea, and were helping other ponies sleep. But Fillius decided that he would work, work until he passed out. He spent hours pouring over his map, checking to make sure they were going the right way, and wouldn’t get lost trying to get back out. His hard work seemed to be paying off, he was able to confidently lead everyone through the tunnels, and that courage helped everypony else too, allowing everyone to avoid the natural claustrophobia that came with being so deep in the earth.
“Hmm, well this is no good. No good at all.” Fillius said with a very concerned tone as they found themselves at a fork branching off into three separate, smaller tunnels.
“What’s the matter, Captain?” One of the ponies asked.
“Well, the map says that we should be at the end. But, as you can all see, we’re obviously not.” Fillius seemed agitated. “This isn’t right. Not right at all.”
“Maybe we went down the wrong mine to begin with?” Luna speculated.
“No!” Fillius shouted, surprising everyone with his anger. “I- I mean, no. My source for this map is very reliable.”
“Uh, sorry. Fillius.” Luna said sheepishly.
“It’s ok.” Fillius said as he drifted off into thought.
He stood there for almost an hour. Just staring and thinking, sometimes muttering to himself. Celestia was starting to become worried for his sanity.
“Luna.” Fillius said, suddenly jerking out of his self-imposed stupor. “Shine your light brighter and down this tunnel.” He gestured at the one in the middle.
Luna brightened the light at the end of her horn, focusing it down the middle tunnel.
“No… It can’t be…” Fillius sounded shocked. “Fiona! Come look at this and tell me if it is what I think it is!”
One of the pegasi from the back trotted forward to look at the same wall Fillius was looking at. She stared intently for a moment at the wall and then raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“Well, is it?” Fillius asked hurredly.
“I do believe it is, Captain.”
Luna was excited at the sudden turn of events. “And what is it?” She asked.
“Ancient Zebra symbols.” Fiona said.
They followed down the middle tunnel for another twenty minutes. A few twists and a few turns, but nothing really special. Except, of course, the ancient Zebra language written all along the wall deep in an old cavern that was even deeper in Griffon territory. Then, they came across a cavern. It was extremely large, especially for being in a mountain. The search party came out overlooking the cavern, near the roof. They were close to the ceiling, giving them a clear view below. At the bottom near the center, was a small hut, built in traditional Zebra fashion. Which was a small dome-shaped domicile that appeared to be made out of mud. Where the mud came from was a mystery to Celestia considering that there was no water and not a whole lot of dirt to be found anywhere.
Fillius was very excited. “Alright everyone, I think we’ve found what we’re looking for. Go down the steps to the right one at a time and be careful. I don’t want anyone dying because they slipped and fell.”
The hut was just big enough to let all eight ponies in. None of them except Fillius seemed particularly comfortable with what they saw.
Inside, two magically lit torches lit up the room. In the center was a rather disturbing statue. The thing looked to be made of several different creatures, only a few of which Celestia could name off the top of her head, and it had a wicked grin on its face. All around the room on the walls were various symbols, with the statue in the room they suddenly came off as very menacing.
Everypony was staring at the statue. Everypony except Fillius, who was staring at what was on the statue. It was a large necklace with a huge purple gem in the middle. The gold chain that hung around the neck of the eerie statue was probably worth enough to feed her for the rest of Celestia’s life. She shuddered at the thought of how much the gem was most likely worth.
“Priceless.” Fillius said through a rather large grin, as if reading Celestia’s thoughts. “I don’t know how this ended up here, or why it’s surrounded by Zebra writings that haven’t been used since before history was recorded, but THIS, is what we’re here for.”
“What’s the statue of?” One of the other ponies asked.
“No idea.” Said Fillius, who at the moment obviously could not care less about the statue. “Probably an ancient deity the Zebras used to worship, but I don’t know. Why don’t you get that wonderful item off of his neck though, and ‘relieve’ him of his burden, Celestia.” He said excitedly.
Celestia began to slowly lift off the necklace from around the thing’s neck with her magic. While she was excited that they had found what they had come for, she was nervous at Fillius’ reaction. She had never seen him act this way before, the kind of greed and devious excitement she saw in his eyes worried her.
But she had a job to do, so she lifted the necklace off. As soon as the chain slipped off the statue’s head though, the symbols flashed. They flashed brightly, but only for a moment, before dying back down again and fading back in to the walls they were etched in. Everypony looked around nervously, which seemed to annoy Fillius greatly.
“Oh come on everypony, no need to worry. If that spell were going to kill us it would have already. I’ve dealt with much worse than glowing symbols before, if you all calm down we can leave faster. We have what we’re here for.”
They all looked down at the floor timidly, then filed out of the hut. Nopony wanted to be seen as a paranoid chicken, or a coward. Just to make a point to Fillius, Celestia made sure she was the last one out of the hut, hoping to show everypony that she didn’t mind staying longer with the statue. As she walked out though, she could have sworn she heard a crack, a very small crack, come from the statue. She dismissed the noise though. After all, she was not a coward.
Sunlight greeted the weary ponies. For the first time since they had entered Griffallion, Celestia had seen the sun. No clouds, no obstructing peaks, just pure blue skies and bright, albeit still cold, sunlight.
“We must have ridden out one doozy of a storm in that mine.” Fillius said.
Celestia was glad. Both for riding out the storm, but also because it seemed that the closer they got to the outside, the more Fillius was starting to become his old self again. It helped put her at ease.
“I like it!” Exclaimed Luna. “The snow looks beautiful when the sun is completely out like this!”
“Indeed it does.” Fillius remarked. “Well everypony, what say we get a move on and get back to home, eh? Looks like smooth sailing from here!”
That was when Fiona pointed out the figures watching them from the rocky ledges above them.
They landed fast, bringing a gust of wind beneath them, and clearer focus on their features as they dropped in, surrounding the search party. There was about twenty of them, Griffons, and all of them looked angry. There were eight ponies, and they all looked nervous.
“Well, well, well, look at what we have here.” Said what Celestia figured was the leader of the pack. He laughed and stepped closer, getting in Fillius’ face. “Ponies, in our kingdom.” He said with disgust.
“Yes, as a matter of fact we are ponies.” Fillius remarked, “Though if you want to get technical about things you might say four unicorns, one pegasus, and three earth ponies. In your kingdom.”
“Don’t talk smart to me, pony.” The griffon snarled in Fillius’ face.
“I might take that order a little more seriously if I knew who it was coming from.”
The Griffon laughed. “You stupid Equestrians! Always cracking wise to your superiors! I am Leon Sharp-Claw, and I would suggest that you take what I say very seriously if you want to live past the next few minutes.”
“We’ll certainly try, but it would help if you did something other than make vague threats to my soldiers and I.” Fillius said, still keeping a calm demeanor.
“Soldiers!” Sharp-Claw laughed, “You call these soldiers? You do like to make jokes, don’t you?”
“Keep up that attitude,” Fillius said, “And they might just go ahead and prove it to you.”
Sharp-Claw wasted no time in grabbing Fillius by the neck and slamming him hard against the ground, drawing a little bit of blood at the tips of his claws. The other ponies moved in to help, but stepped back once they realized again that they were still out-numbered.
“You filthy sack of rotten goat cheese!” He yelled. “You will give me, and the warriors of our great leader Talon’s army the respect we deserve!”
Sharp-Claw then noticed the gold chain sticking partially out of Fillius’ now opened carrying sack.
“What’s this?” He said, lifting up the rest of the necklace out of the bag. “The fruits of your labor? Stealing valuables from our country!”
“We have… permission.” Fillius choked out.
Sharp-Claw hissed. “From who, Sharp-Eye? That worthless being who calls himself a king has no authority to let foreigners take what is rightfully the Griffon’s! All he does is sit in his palace and gorge himself on food that should be given to his subjects! …I assume that his latest feast, his tribute to corruption and decadence was provided by you? You consider it a trade, don’t you?”
Fillius glared at Sharp-Claw.
“Well,” Sharp-Claw went on, “It’s not a trade, or at least not a fair one. But I’ll tell you what is, we take this shining treasure, and we’ll use it to benefit the natural inhabitants of Griffallion, and in return, you and your ‘soldiers’ can live. We’ll be taking this now.” Sharp-Eye clutched the necklace tighter.
Fillius’ voice broke through Sharp-Claw’s choking grip, the same look that he’d had in the hut returning again. “Over… my… dead… body…”
Sharp-Claw grinned and began to squeeze Fillius’ throat tighter. “I’d be more than happy to help with that.”
A gust of wind and the body of a flying pegesus pony slammed into Sharp-Eye, causing him to lose his grip on both Fillius’ throat and the necklace. Fiona’s victory was shortlived, however. It didn’t take more than a second for Sharp-Claw’s talons to find their way into Fiona’s side and neck. It took another second and part of Fiona’s side, as well as her entire throat, was torn out. Sharp-Claw had simply grabbed on to her and let Fiona’s momentum do the rest, killing her as she tumbled lifelessly off the cliff.
In the distraction, Fillius managed to grab the necklace and scramble to get upright on his hooves. He made a run to where the rest of his search party was gathered, confused by the sudden attack.
Wings and claws began to cloud out Celestia’s immediate view of the sky, as they swooped in ever closer to the group of petrified ponies backing against the rocks behind them.
A bolt of bright light, followed by a miniature explosion in the chest of the Griffon who was struck by it, brought Celestia back to focus. Luna had fired it into the crowd of approaching Griffons, helping to disperse and delay their attack. Celestia followed suit, casting her own large fireball into the sky above her. The Griffons spread out above them, attempting to swoop in from different angles.
This was their opening, their chance to make it to the bridge twenty feet away and ultimately make a run for it away from the attacking Griffons completely.
“GO!” Celestia shouted, motioning at the bridge.
Luna, Fillius, and the other ponies didn’t need to hear her twice, they bolted for the bridge. One of the other unicorns took point and began casting lightning bolts in random directions in front of him to help keep their path clear. Celestia took up the rear, turning the end of her horn into a giant flame thrower that spit hot, whispy fire twenty feet out.
It seemed to be working. The Griffons had the advantage in the air, and they were determined to use it. But Celestia and the other unicorns firing off spells were making it too hard for them to get close. Celestia noticed about half a mile away, that there was a small mountain pass through which they had come to get to the tunnel in the first place. If they could make it to there, then the Griffons wouldn’t be able to fly after them anymore, and the ponies would have the advantage, being able to run faster on hoof. The ponies picked up the pace. Unfortunately for one of the earth ponies, he lost his grip on the ground beneath him on some ice hidden under the fresh snowfall. He tumbled off, screaming as he fell the thousands of feet to the bottom. Celestia thought she could hear some of his bones cracking on the way down, but she pushed the thought out of her head, she needed to concentrate on staying alive.
The pass was coming up. Safety wasn’t too far away. Everypony else made it through, continuing their mad dash for survival. Celestia almost had made it through, when Sharp-Claw landed in front of her only eight feet away. She ducked out of instinct, much to the surprise of Sharp-Claw, managing to slide on the snow and beneath him until Celestia regained herself a few feet away. Celestia hadn’t slidden far enough though, and as she looked up, getting her orientation back, Sharp-Claw was advancing on her. She backed up, but Sharp-Claw was gaining ground.
“You stupid filly!” He screamed at Celestia, “You’ll pay for this! And when Griffallion recognizes it’s true leader, our strength will know no match! We will reclaim what is rightfully ours in Equestria! And we will take more! Compensating for the injustice we suffered at the hooves of your kind! You should be grateful!” Sharp-Claw raised his claws, he was within striking distance. “You should be grateful you won’t be around to see the fall of your republic! Today! Equestria’s downfall begins with you-“
Sharp-Claw was struck in the eye with a small, but powerful, and precise, bolt of lightning. He screamed in agony, backing way and swinging wildly with one arm while clutching his face with the other.
“Don’t you DARE, threaten my sister!” Luna screamed, almost frantically. “Come on! Let’s go Celestia!”
Celestia ran faster than she thought was possible. She and the other ponies ran, and ran, and ran. They ran until they started to cough up blood, stopping not because they felt safe, but because they realized that if the Griffons didn’t kill them, their running would.