//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17: Tundra Terror 3 
// Story: Trash of the Royal Castle 
// by Netap 
//------------------------------//

Starlight didn't know what she expected would happen when she agreed to Blueblood's offer.

From whatever position she looked at it from, the moment he asked her to become his new bodyguard after she saved his life from whatever that creature that attacked them was, was almost like a scene from a novel.

Where they later have a heartfelt talk about the shared past the two had, putting differences aside, leading to a change in how the plot of the book goes.

None of that happened to her.

There wasn't any shared past to talk about seeing as they knew each other for less than a week. Or maybe more? Starlight spent so many hours asleep and then underground she doesn't know how much time passed.

But in any case, After shaking hooves with the prince, his attitude hasn't seemed to return to his normal "Oh Woe is me, I am much more important than you since I'm the prince, Ho Ho Ho Ho Ha!" Attitude, and instead stayed as the "I'm the prince baby! And I will punch you to prove it! Let's fight!" Attitude that seemed for some reason both out of character to what she knew of the stallion, but also unquestionably a way that Blueblood would behave.

And that's what happened, nothing.

Nothing really changed other than the fact that she was now walking on her own, and the flat corridor has turned into a rising staircase.

Climbing... Yay...





How far has she climbed? 50 meters? 100? Maybe a Kilometer?
Starlight didn't know.

But in any case, with Blueblood holding the glowing gem in his magic, the two Unicorns were able to see the top of the staircase and another stone door.

The door was large, far bigger than the one at the bottom of the stairs, carved with ancient imagery of Yaks and Dragons, depicting scenes from an Ancient War.

"Shit..." She heard the prince mutter to himself as he looked at the large door, ten meters tall and each side three meters wide, it would have to be a chore to open it by himself.

But luckily for her new employer and the pony who's going to keep her out of prison, she managed to get her Magic back after firing the beam at the snow-panther-baboon-monster or whatever that creature was supposed to be.

And so with an Aquamarine glow to her horn, she grabbed the two heavy doors and opened them. Eliciting a whistle of appreciation from the prince.

And the first thing that Starlight saw when she opened the door, was the outside world.

On the other side of the door was a large open cavern, large enough to house every pony from her village and then some, larger than the cave where she kept the Cutie-Marks, it was a huge cavern that opened up to the outside world.

The floor of the cavern was green with grass and moss, surrounding a fresh mountain spring trickling into the cavern from small holes in the ceiling, likely from melting snow.
The pond in the middle of the cavern was large, larger than the one at the bottom of the mountain where she ate the fish, It was the size of a basketball field, the moss on the stones and the grass growing around it giving the place an almost magical feel when compared to the frozen plains outside the cave.

But what really caught her eye, was the large statue standing in the middle of the pond, facing away from her and looking in the direction of the entrance.

"This place is beautiful," She heard the prince whisper as he walked into the cavern, his hooves brushing on the soft grass.

Starlight quickly followed after him, intent on circling the spring and getting a look at the statue.

And so, while the prince started drinking water from the fresh mountain spring, she stared at the large stone figure.

It was of a Yak, with a large horned crown on his head, his body covered with heavy regal robes, intricately detailed, and his face was hidden beneath a large stone beard.

"Here lies the tomb of our Hero, King Tarkus IV, May his memory rest with the lives of his Comrades," She read, looking at a stone plaque beneath the statue.

And for the first time in years, Starlight was glad she learned how to read ancient Yak in school.
It was either that or Griffon Gaelic.

She learned both...





The duo decided to take a rest in the spring, They had water to drink and they had grass to eat, even if Blueblood wanted to throw up at the prospect.

"Look over there," Blueblood pointed outside of the cavern, at a mountain a few kilometers away.

Starlight looked to where the prince was pointing, seeing the mountain in question.

"What is it?" She asked, not noticing anything strange about the mountain.

"Do you see that cliff?" He asked, pointing at a flat stone cliff illuminated with an orange glow.

"Yes, It looks pretty with the setting sunlight on it, sure, but why point it out?" She asked.

"It's not the setting sunlight," He smiled as he looked at the cliff, or more specifically at the light illuminating the bottom part of the cliff, its source is hidden between a valley out of view for the two ponies.
"The sun is behind us, illuminating the entire side of the mountain in front of us, the mountain I'm pointing at is behind that other mountain, covered in its shade," Blueblood explained.

"The light on the cliff is also only illuminating the bottom half of the cliff, if it was the sun it would be illuminating the entire mountain, or at least the top that isn't shadowed by the mountain between us," He smiled when he noticed that Starlight was starting to catch on.

"So the light is coming from the bottom of the cliff?"

"Precisely, Which means that whatever is at the bottom of that cliff is generating enough light to be seen from here," He smiled.

"So there's a wildfire over there?" Blueblood shook his head.

"If there was a fire, we would be seeing much more smoke, and if it was Lava from a volcano then the light wouldn't reach that far up the cliff," Blueblood explained.

"That over there, Is civilization," He turned to smile at her, the setting sun reflected in the golden hair on his head, "And also our ticket of reaching Equestria,"

Seeing the smile on the prince's face, Starlight felt her lips curling upwards mimicking his own.

Soon, they'll be out of the snow and mountain.
Soon, they'll be home.