GOLEM

by Mokoma


Chapter 2 - The Echo

The general idea of a cave was usually one of claustrophobia, dread, and isolation. Indeed, they would enter darkness.

Yet, the solace came in the fact that Seefar had brought tools for this job. On their way, he had dropped glowsticks; green chemlights that dotted their way to make sure they knew how to return. Apart from that however, he had given the ponies special lamps, which could be mounted to the collars of their coats. Now, they had a source of non-magical light, for not even magical items seemed to work.

They would venture deeper into the caves, passing through the tricky terrain, and blessing Celestia that at no point was the cave narrow; it was fairly wide and easy to pass all over. They would trek on - before reaching that which completely stunned them.

"Is that...?" Twilight softly gasped.

Before them was a massive pair of golden gates, adorned and lined with pink gem-like stones. These gates were easily five meters tall, and three wide. There were many ornamental engravings - with such high fidelity and intricacy that it could take hours to deconstruct all the finer details; but to understand what was seen in these depictions was...difficult.

Seefar and Spike both gasped, approaching the gates eagerly, despite the protests from the ponies. Yet, it was clear that there was no real danger to speak of, yet - approaching and touching the door led to no consequences, and no traps awaited them.

Seefar placed his hoof against the gates, caressing it and leaning in to take a close look. "This...This is real gold! Or...I think it is? It feels and looks a lot more...reinforced, stronger? A bit more pale and silverish?"

"Then it's not gold." Moondancer suggested. "Gold is fairly malleable and has a slightly more rich hue."

"No, it is real gold." Of all ponies, Fluttershy suddenly spoke up, hanging behind the other ponies by about a solid three meters.

"Huh? How do you know?" Sunburst turned his head to the yellow pegasus.

"Alloying." Fluttershy simply said. "Alloyed with high quality platinum, this can increase the hardness of the resulting metal. This mixture was made with a 70/30 gold-to-platinum mix."

"...You can tell just from looking from this distance?" Twilight asked Fluttershy. She didn't want to comment on her friend's intelligence - but she did want to find an inoffensive way to say that she was fairly surprised at her knowledge on the topic. Fluttershy's specialty was ecology and fauna - however did this topic come to her?

Yet, the pegasus did not respond.

"These pink diamonds are real, too!" Spike said, unable to hold himself from giving a lick to one of the long lines of pink gems that decorated the yellowish door.

"How would we get inside?" Starlight asked softly. "I don't see a mechanism or anything of the like..."

"Well it's not trapped. Come closer and take a look?" Seefar asked, turning back to the ponies and waving a hoof over. They acquiesced, and the others would begin to walk towards the door - all except Fluttershy, who seemingly stopped at the exact range of 10 meters and 1 centimeter before the gates - not a millimeter more or less.

"Fluttershy? Are you coming?" Twilight tilted her head, looking at her friend with concern; concern that was pressuring her ever since they embarked on this trip.

With a sigh, the yellow pegasus complied. Her hoof stepped forward.

Both Seefar and Spike yelped as the sound of moving mechanisms rang and vibrated through the golden doors. All creatures began taking step backs, allowing the gates to unravel and open before them.

Hidden behind the gates was that which they couldn't have ever imagined. That which amazed them to their core.

Past the doors was, at first, what appeared to be a balcony they could step onto. This balcony had a design the likes of which none of the scholars had ever seen before. Just like the doors - it was made of the gold-platinum and pink gems, all adorning it.

Yet, it was once they stepped onto the balcony - they saw the sights they couldn't ever dream of.

In this cave, which seemed to span in sheer kilometers of open space...was an entire city. Block-like buildings made of pink-and-gold, both metallic and ceramic in composition, dotted the interior of the cave. No building appeared to be taller than two stories - and while their design looked humble and simplistic, there was a sleek sense of advancement in their construction.

There were streets made of a seamless, glossy, glass-like material that seemed both durable and smooth, completely scratch-proof; albeit not very comfortable for hooves.

It was not dark at all - for an, beach ball-sized, amber orb sat high in the center of the cave roof. It provided warmth and light - enough to have almost made it appear as if there was real sunlight in this entire system. This was what allowed the ponies to see just what was beneath them...

And this is what allowed them to notice the elephant in the room.

It was all empty. Not a single soul ventured the streets.

"W-What? I don't understand, how is this possible...?" Sunburst whispered.

"Sweet Celestia, t-there's no way this is real." Moondancer gasped with her agape mouth.

"Yoooo..." Spike blinked.

"This is incredible..." Whispered Seefar as he turned off his lamp, no longer needing it with the large light source.

"Are we dreaming?" Starlight proposed.

"...Perhaps you are." Fluttershy sighed.

Twilight was, too, engrossed in amazement. Yet, there was no time to waste. She saw that a platform floated adjacent to the balcony, and it didn't take her long to understand it was a form of elevator.

Yet, if magic didn't work here at all...How could this device function?

"We need to begin investigating. Let's go everypony."

***

Underground cities were perhaps a somewhat tricky phenomena. Although not unheard of, they were quite difficult to sustain or run. Anything from agricultural failure due to lacking sunlight, to psychological and health-related issues for the same reason.

Yet, as they walked down these empty streets, they saw no sign of strife or conflict - no destruction nor desolation. They walked among the rows of golden-and-pink two-storey buildings, the gardens lush and full of vegetation and unseen-before flowers. They had walked in awe, their surroundings causing silence; for everycreature was too busy gawking at what they saw.

Fluttershy was silent too - but she didn't stare in amazement; rather, a silent sadness.

"This is amazing!" Moondancer exclaimed to break the silence. "Look closer at this gold! There's engravings in them! Really tiny ones! S-Seefar, pass my camera please! Celestia, there's no magic spell I know of that could get such fine detail made!"

"What could these flowers even be...?" Whispered Spike, going garden-to-garden and gently giving it all a sniff. "I can't figure out how long it's been since they were taken care of...How are they alive?"

"This architectural style..." Seefar commented. "I know you called me here as a geology-geography expert, but I really gotta give my two bits. This feels a little bit like ancient Canterlot. Almost as if ancient Canterlot was inspired by this style - not vice versa."

"Gotta agree..." Starlight said. "The arches and columns fit, it really feels like a coastal city of that time period. But the only difference is the material. Ancient Canterlot loved its marble. How in Equestria do you make whole buildings with gold-platinum...? Do you think they found a way to...synthesize it?"

Starlight smiled softly at Sunburst. "Synthesizing gold? Magic isn't really the best choice for that. Otherwise Equestria wouldn't have an economy. Maybe some machine could've done that, but...that's just science fiction."

"Heh..." He chuckled softly, and stopped walking for a moment. "...What is that thing...?" Sunburst asked, hoof pointed at the large glowing orb in the sky. He decided to address the elephant in the room, for now he had the hypothesis that this was the source of some power that gave this place its splendor.

Starlight stopped beside Sunburst and craned her head up. "It looks like...well, a small sun the size of a beach ball. Not much else I can say without making wild guesses." Starlight softly commented.

"Impossible..." Moondancer commented, glancing at it once - but instead focusing more on the buildings around her as she spoke and walked. "How can you make a "small sun"?"

"Nuclear fusion." Spoke a voice. At first it was believed to be Twilight's - but a few seconds identified that this was said by none other than Fluttershy.

"New clear fusion...?" Spike tilted his head - interrupted from smelling the local flowers.

"N-u-c-l-e-a-r." Fluttershy patiently spelled. "Atomic. It is in-fact the same power that's utilized by the sun. However, there are types of fusion that can be harnessed and miniaturized."

"Nuclear and atomic..." Twilight blinked. "These aren't common words, b-but I've read theories. Something about sunlight and certain metals found in nature..."

"Equestria hasn't gone to develop its society with that kind of technology. With magic, it may as well not be necessary." Fluttershy expressed. "After all, Equestria's already, more or less, a Utopia. Why fix something if it's not broken...?"

Twilight was unable to help looking at Fluttershy...Luckily for the alicorn, the pegasus already lagged behind in the group. Twilight reduced her speed, letting the others go forward first...Before stopping and placing a hoof on the pegasus.

"...Hm?" Fluttershy turned to her. Twilight's concerns were caused just by this - although Fluttershy was becoming more and more confident over the course of their friendship, even this was...out of character. She wasn't really acting like herself. The real Fluttershy she knew acted much differently when faced with stress and anxiety.

"Fluttershy, I don't understand." Twilight whispered. "How do you know all this? Nuclear fusion, all the other things you've said...A-Are you making things up or...d-do you actually know something about all this?"

The pegasus looked back at the alicorn. A smile of adoration came, and then gave a cheeky wink. "You'll figure it out soon..." She said, before sighing and looking aside. "Whether or not you'll remember it, though, is a differen--"

Fluttershy's eyes would trail back to the others...before she stopped speaking. Her eyes widened in shock, and her hoof reached out.

"Wait! No, stop!"

She would see two of the unicorns attempt to enter one of the buildings...

"Wait!" Fluttershy cried out as Moondancer and Sunburst's curiosity had them attempt to place their hooves against the door. She attempted to run for them - and in that moment, Twilight was shocked...Fluttershy's wings produced such unbelievable force, that a strong gust of wind nearly pushed the alicorn back. Since when could Fluttershy do this? Rainbow Dash didn't have this much wingpower.

Still, it wasn't fast enough. The door glowed - and a laser that emitted from the top of the door frame made quick work scanning them.

A terrible roar screeched through the inner portion of the city.

"What's happening!?" Starlight yelped, having run over to Sunburst to make sure she was okay.

"O-Oh no...E-Everypony, get behind me!" Fluttershy shouted, immediately moving to stand in the middle of the street.

The roar came closer, closer, and closer...And with an explosion of dust and smoke, the source of the sound turned the corner of the street.

Before them stood a tall and mechanical beast. Easily the size of one of these two-storey buildings, it appeared to be bipedal, but not fully upright, looking something close to a bird in its stance. It too was made of gold-platinum and pink diamonds, but its design had more triangular shapes. Its head was almost featureless - except for the fact it had a single, brightly glowing amber orb in its face, like one eye.

It wielded a massive, ornate blade in one of its limbs, and the minor shaking and distortion around it indicated that the blade vibrated at high speeds. The other limb contained an arm-like appendage, and held within two pairs of ice-like, sharp claws.

The ponies attempted to run at the sight - but they couldn't. A force compelled them to stop right there. No matter how much they tried, they were paralyzed.

"What is that!?" Spike screamed, trying his best to move - to no avail, unable to move anything but his mouth and eyes.

"Some kind of robot!?" Seefar yelped.

"I-I can't move!"  Moondancer screamed.

"I can't either! What's going on!?" Twilight shouted.

"...It's a mixture of pheromones, gasses, and magnetic waves designed to paralyze the body." Suddenly spoke Fluttershy, who was not affected...Standing in the middle of the street and breathing heavily. "It's a potent mix, but completely unable to be sensed. They're being radiated right from its head - where it has its emission system."

"Fluttershy!? What are you saying!?" Starlight screamed in panic and confusion, unsure if the pegasus had gone mad or something.

"...What are you saying?" Whispered Twilight Sparkle - for she did not doubt her friend's knowledge. All she wanted to know was...why, and how she knew all of it.

And yet, it's not like it would matter. The alicorn shifted her head to the threat, to see movement from the massive robotic beast - as it raised its main weapon - the gigantic sword it wielded.

"No!" Twilight cried out, and the others screamed - for the massive blade of the ancient automation descended upon the ponies.

A loud, crushing clang resonated through the cave's entirety.