//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16 
// Story: Northen Stars 
// by Flower03 
//------------------------------//

Several hours had elapsed since they had left the village, so much so that the sun was almost at its peak. On the other hoof, because they were in the dense interior of trees, it seemed that it was almost dusk.

Not a word had been said among the group as they went deeper and deeper into the thick trees. The pony who led the march did only that one job, as he walked in front of them on a path that no one but himself knew where it led.

Twilight had tried to talk to him, but all she got were grunts of affirmation or denial depending on the type of questions she asked. It was pretty clear to her that he didn't like the invasion of his privacy, but somehow she could understand it. Most likely, even he would not have wanted to remember the route to the place from which he had once escaped. She wouldn't have wanted it either.

Still, the awkward silence was something she'd almost grown accustomed to. Almost, because even she didn't want Sombra to keep quiet most of the way. Perhaps from time to time one of us would have the mouth to say something, but even so the atmosphere that had prevailed ended up prevailing in the end.

Twilight let out a weary sigh that she didn't bother to hold. She just thought that if she was like this at the time, she didn't want to imagine when that situation suddenly got worse. Because in recent times, luck was the least of them.

"Do you think this might be the right direction?" Twilight still didn't understand why she was whispering, but perhaps she guessed that the strange stillness in the forest was a big factor.

"If you mean the real purpose for which we are currently here, you must know that it is not certain. I have not yet mentioned how that place can be found," Sombra replied without taking his eyes off the road. "It would be a different story if you hadn't agreed to do what those ponies wanted."

Twilight snorted and frowned at his words.

"I couldn't just let them go through the uncertainty of what had happened to their foals. If there's the slightest hope that they might be okay, the pony in front of us shows us," she replied as she took a brief look at the stallion. "And if you think about it, now that you've told me about that place, we can also find out why this is related to what's going on here."

All Sombra did was frown after she expressed her reason, but she knew that even if he didn't admit it, he shouldn't and couldn't let it go. To a greater or lesser degree, it also affected him. Twilight, on the other hoof, was aware that this was her current priority.

The atmosphere of the group resumed its characteristic silence, which made everypony again adopt a sense of alertness towards their surroundings. Somehow, Twilight still couldn't explain why she was getting more and more nervous when there didn't even seem to be any kind of threat nearby. She could only speculate one possible reason.

She sensed that it was all related to the strange supernatural aspect of the place. After all, the fact that she herself had magic within her, different but at the same time more powerful magic than everypony else's, made her more susceptible to the ability to sense the magic around her.

She didn't yet know how that affected the stallion next to her, but when she saw out of the corner of her eye the tense expression in his gaze, she guessed that she wasn't the only one with that ability.

After all, they already knew that this place contained a strange and peculiar power.

Only when the pony in front of them stopped, did Twilight take a moment to push certain thoughts out of her mind as she walked toward him. He didn't say anything, he didn't even move. He was only looking at a fixed point beyond the trees.

"Is there anything there?"

The pony turned in her direction at her question, giving a simple nod as he turned on the magic of his horn. He wrapped what Twilight could see were the tendrils full of leaves of some plant, apparently covering something in a good way. They both watched expectantly as a simple, dark hole opened before their eyes, big enough for even Sombra to fit.

The vines obscured in plain sight the entrance to a space that would otherwise have gone unnoticed unless, of course, they knew where to look.

"I guess it's over there." Twilight turned to the stallion that had led them, however he had already turned in the same direction they had come, only letting out a growl of nod when he gave them one last look.

He continued on his way, leaving them both uncertain of a possible rescue and a mystery that cried out to be solved. Twilight watched him leave until he disappeared behind the big trees. Without wasting any time she turned her gaze back to the hole.

Somehow he had told them what they needed to know, though that didn't turn out to be much for real help. The only thing he had made clear was that this was the place he managed to get out that time, the same place that Twilight was taking several glances at as she decided what she was going to do next.

"Are you going to just walk in, or are you just going to keep looking at it?"

Twilight snorted as she turned her head at the sound of Sombra's voice, a faint annoyance on his face. She rolled her eyes in the process and turned on her hooves only to never have to hear his claims again.

After only walking a few feet inside, Twilight was forced to turn on the light on her horn when the light outside eventually dimmed in the presence of Sombra behind her. Her face was frowned with slight concern as the external sounds grew more and more attenuated as they went deeper into the darkness.

Contrary to the feeling she imagined she had at the possibility of a heavy silence, Twilight didn't really think that the rumbling sound of their hooves in the cramped place was anything more distressing than the very calm she would have preferred to feel. The darkness in front of them seemed to dim only when her light illuminated the path.

"I hope this works..." Twilight whispered as she concentrated on letting some of the magic she still had flow into her horn.

"If it doesn't work, we know whose fault it is," Sombra grumbled with a roll of his eyes, partly because of the annoyance of ducking his head.

Maybe his sides didn't quite hit the walls, but he was still too tall for such a tiny place. And that was definitely a bummer.

Twilight didn't look away, but she still let out a snort of disgust at his words, as she shrugged her shoulders in the act.

"Nopony forced you to come," she said in a nonchalant tone, turning her head slightly to look at him. "You're free to go back to the village if you want, but I know that like me, you won't pass up the opportunity to get answers."

Sombra didn't answer anything else after that and just frowned suspiciously at her comment. He really wasn't amused that she had such an ability to understand what he was thinking. But then Twilight could almost swear she could almost swear she could hear him grumbling under his breath as they made their way down the narrow tunnel.

A new heavy silence settled once again between them, the atmosphere became slightly tense. Twilight pricked up her ears as she quickened her pace a bit more, meanwhile wondering how much more time they needed to follow that course.

But neither of them felt the need to pursue these issues for a while longer. The tunnel in front of them became steeper and steeper, descending on a slope that became steeper with each step of the two. Suddenly, it just stopped.

They both frowned after that, but didn't think much of it as they resumed their journey. That was only until Twilight began to notice the faint clarity opening up beyond them, so faintly that at first she thought it was just a product of perceiving her own light. That was enough to get her excited.

"The tunnel opens in that direction," she pointed to the stallion behind her, still looking straight ahead. "Which means we're close!"

Without even waiting for Sombra to have a chance to say anything, Twilight stepped forward quickly as she made her hooves move toward that ever-increasing point of luminosity. But she wasn't prepared for the next thing she was going to find.

"What the...!" Twilight didn't have time to finish her sentence, and only had time to spread her wings quickly when her hooves stopped feeling the hard ground beneath her.

After settling down, she looked down, seeing with surprise the rather high precipice that opened up below her. She didn't realize that she had been running in a straight line towards this, but at that moment she only took another look. Twilight stifled a shiver as her gaze fell into its depths, but the darkness of the cavern fell a bit further as she turn off her horn.

Twilight turned when she heard the sound of hooves behind her, to which she let out a warning phrase as Sombra appeared in her vision field.

"You'd better not go any further." She rested her hooves back on the more stable ground and stopped in front of him after rearranging her wings. Once more she looked across the ravine. "That's a pretty big drop."

At this Sombra frowned and walked to get a bit closer. This was something he needed to see with his own eyes. After arriving, he simply stretched his head and raised an eyebrow in spite, not caring too much about what he now saw.

"Looks like it ends here." Sombra shrugged and stepped back again.

"I don't really think so," Twilight replied. "That pony must have climbed up somewhere..." she said quickly.

But she didn't need to ramble for long before the solution opened up on a stone path right next to her, hidden by darkness. Twilight frowned. The fact that anypony had been able to detect it was truly astounding.

"We don't have all day," Sombra grumbled as he saw the alicorn in her quiet observation. He moved quickly and pushed her away with a hoof, causing Twilight to let out a small snort of surprise.

On their way they were very careful in every place where their hooves trod. The narrowness of the trail and the slight grip it offered them was enough to lessen their sense of security. Even more so when they noticed how little by little it leaned into a downhill path.

Perhaps it was because they were both so focused on what was in front of them that the silence that had formed was no longer so annoying. Or maybe it was because other sounds started to make themselves present. But after a while, he just couldn't take it anymore.

"Could you stop doing that? I can't concentrate on the fucking environment."

Immediately, Twilight stopped her humming and frowned at her "companion's" unfriendly complaint.

They both stopped their walk and conversation when the light of Twilight's horn illuminated the new obstacle in front of them. The road continued as before, only now it was divided into three more. Sombra stepped forward as he stared at it.

"What was missing," he snorted. "And now for where?"

"Just go straight all the time," Twilight murmured, her gaze wandering back to Sombra. "That was all that pony said."

She stepped ahead of him once more and let the last words of her sentence float in the air as she began to drift into the darkness. It didn't matter to her anymore that the journey resumed its silence, as long as her concentration returned again.

But the sounds weren't the only thing that could break it.

"Uhm... Sombra... Twilight paused as she began to wrinkle her nose at a strange stimulus.

"What?" He didn't even bother to put the question into it.

Twilight didn't notice or perhaps chose to ignore it.

"There's something... A strange smell," she said after resuming her walk once.

The stallion made the same gesture.

"I don't smell anything, are you sure the magic of this place isn't starting to affect you?" He ended with a mockery.

"Very funny," Twilight replied without changing her expression. "I'm really serious."

"I'm serious, too, princess." His tone became deep, and he took on his seriousness once more. "If I'd detected something odd a long time ago, I would have gone in a different direction. This system is old, maybe that's all the reason why."

Twilight hung her head, not quite convinced of that. But what could she say now about the fact that she didn't feel it again? She shook her head a bit to clear the ideas from her mind without letting go of her concern.

And yet a new event would succeed in completely preventing her idea.

"But, now I think that so that you can't feel it..."

Feeling a slight movement of the air around her was what stopped her from continuing.

A small disturbance that would have gone unnoticed if it weren't for the fact that they both had the same sense of displacement. A second later Twilight smelled the same smell again, only this time it was much stronger. And it wasn't pleasant at all.

"Oh by Celest-!"

Even before she could hold her nose, Twilight felt herself being pulled roughly by a hoof that wrapped around her body while another covered her muzzle. She could immediately feel the stallion lure her to his.

Twilight didn't have time to turn to complain to him when Sombra whispered in her ear.

"Turn off your horn, slowly."

Without making a single sound, partly because of the limb that covered her mouth, Twilight did as he said and slowly stopped the flow of magic. Darkness fell once more as her eyes tried to adjust to the new change, only to open wider after the sheer size of the place. But it was what she found there that really added to her confusion.

Even in the dim light, Twilight began to notice the strange, tall dark mounds that were scattered widely throughout the place, as if it was small lofty mountains. But at the same time, she was somehow able to detect movement in the one closest to them. Yes, she was sure that thing went up and down slowly... Or rather, it was breathing.

Twilight choked out a gasp when she realized what it meant, but she didn't really want to get close to check it out. Not that he was going to leave her, either.

"You noticed, didn't you?" Sombra whispered again, and she could only nod without turning around.

Twilight closed her eyes in a vague attempt to focus on something else, something that would make her forget whatever it was that was in front of them. The pulse she could feel in her ears, and her own heartbeat along with those of the stallion behind her seemed to be a good source of distraction.

"I'm going to let you go slowly and I'm seriously asking you to please not open your mouth until we get out of here, did you understand?"

Still, Twilight couldn't help but utter a quiet snort at the tone used, but in the end she nodded quickly as she opened her eyes again. The stallion let go of her and she prepared to walk away, again holding her nose.

They both traversed the wide space covered with these things, trying not to make a sound in their quest to get away to the road beyond. But due to the darkness of the place, Twilight's eyes could barely be placed to keep from stumbling. She had no choice but to be guided by Sombra, which forced her at all times to stay behind him.

On the other hoof, it was not a problem at all for him. The little light that filtered in from who knows where in that place was enough for his developed vision to function; something it didn't quite do on the mare next to him. He almost felt sorry for the alicorn.

It was only when they were at a fairly safe distance from those things, while losing sight of them in the process, that Twilight stood in front of him and allowed herself to speak again, still without removing the hoof from her snout.

"I think you know you don't need me to ask what that was," she said as her gaze reflected a clear sign of asking for explanations.

"Another creature, nothing more." This time he was direct and didn't need to mince words. He glanced behind him again and did the same action as the mare with his hoof in a grimace of disgust. "Don't question anything more for now, if by any chance I'm right, I sense we're going in the right direction."

Again he preferred to leave her on tenterhooks, and again Twilight frowned a bit and gave a simple nod in response, forced to hide her curious side for another time. With no other choice, she had to rely on him once more.

"I guess I was right after all," Twilight said with a slight arched eyebrow. "You can feel it too."

In that darkness, all Twilight could see was the faint glow of that pair of crimson eyes. It was thanks to that that she was able to notice that the expression on his face had changed slightly.

"But it doesn't affect us in the same way," Sombra replied as he resumed his path, then looked at her again. "It's best that you don't turn your magic back on, they can feel its presence too."

She nodded and turned her head forward. She made a great effort just to get a glimpse of something in the dark. As for the fact that it didn't have the same effect for both of them, Twilight couldn't deny that he was right, and that was something that had intrigued her before.

That was one more of the mysteries that kept coming to her, another that she would have to leave in the back of her mind for the moment. For now, she needed to focus on the current one.

But it was still a long way from them reaching their true goal.


***


"Come, you've got to see this," Twilight whispered to the stallion some distance away from her as she crouched down to get a better look at the pit of darkness opening up in the cavern floor.

Although she couldn't quite see him, Twilight realized the moment when Sombra quietly came to her side. She took a small leap of surprise when he spoke again in her ear.

"What am I supposed to see besides the black darkness?"

"The fact that I almost fell for it without even seeing it means something..." Twilight brushed a hoof against her chin at the possible idea that had yet to be confirmed.

The unicorn next to her only made a low laugh rumble in his throat at another meaning.

"It doesn't necessarily have to mean something," he insinuated, glancing at her as the crimson in his eyes glistened only a bit in the darkness. "Even for an alicorn princess you're pretty clumsy."

She knew it, she knew very well that he was only trying to provoke her, but that did not make Twilight give him a withering look of pure indignation. That despite the darkness she noticed his mocking smile didn't help.

In a gesture she didn't expect to make, Twilight spread her wings slightly in apparent distraction, (not) accidentally hitting the side of the dark unicorn. He grunted and returned the same expression of hatred, turning away from her. Twilight ignored him and returned to the topic at hoof.

"I mean, this hole isn't just here," she replied, still paying attention to her surroundings. "Maybe it was created for a purpose by something, or someone."

"What other purpose would a deep well have other than the purpose of using it as a trap?"

It was those last words that made Twilight suddenly straighten up and turn her head in his direction. Despite everything he thought about that mare, Sombra could see the exact moment when the pieces in her mind began to fall into place.

"What did you say?"

"You know very well what I said, princess," he replied as he closed his eyes. "That's what it probably means."

This time Twilight did open her eyes wider from surprise, but not from that information actually. It was something much bigger.

"Sombra, you're right..." Twilight whispered as she looked back at that place, all her senses activated. "And yet it's not just that!"

The princess's slightly loud cry was accompanied by a sudden determination that influenced her last move. Twilight spread her wings and jumped into the void.

"It can also serve as containment..."

The call that Shadow shouted was quickly lost from the moment she jumped out. The momentum she had generated was stronger and kept her gliding in a slow but effective spiral. She still couldn't count on really "flying" when her wings hadn't fully recovered from the previous night.

It was the hope that in the end came with her idea that had given her enough encouragement.

"If I'm right, just maybe that means..."

Sombra, on the other hoof, kept his gaze on the hole through which the mare had disappeared with his usual frown, as he walked a bit away from the edge.

"That filly..."

He didn't understand her actions, not that he tried to do so, but he definitely didn't expect to have to carry the reptile alone when he left that damn place. Although it might not have been necessary, that was not the issue that suddenly began to concern him.

He didn't have to listen to what he suddenly began to feel at the core of his power, but when that vibration began to come in, he knew he could no longer ignore it. It was on those occasions that he sometimes regretted having the knowledge they had taught him.

These creatures were beginning to awaken.

But this event was totally ignored by the purple alicorn, who could only let herself fall completely when the bottom of the well presented itself in front of her. She landed as softly as she could, yet the thud of her hooves against the hard stone was clearly heard by the echo on the walls. It was a quick sound that made her shrink slightly.

"Let's see..." She lit her horn in a dim light while using as little magic as possible, and began to walk while scanning all the space around her.

She was aware that jumping in with determination just on a hunch hadn't been the best idea, but she sensed that just this once logic couldn't help her. On the other hoof, she knew the stallion would be fine, it hadn't been necessary to fully confirm it.

The minutes passed, and it became less and less likely that she would be able to find anything in the midst of all that darkness. She was only relieved that nothing had suddenly come out to attack her. Twilight was about to wait another while before spreading her wings again, taking with her disappointment in her downcast gaze.

"I thought maybe they could be here..." She let out a resigned sigh, but something finally made her change her mind. Something she felt in front of her hooves. "What...?"

She grabbed what was in front of her, noticing the soft texture of the cloth. Cloth? Yes, it was definitely that. With a faint look of surprise on her face, Twilight picked it up with her magic to get a better look... And she let go of it quickly as she took a few steps back.

"Why...?" she murmured when, despite how gnawed and dirty the object looked, she could see the dark, nasty red stain of what her nose had detected, even in spite of time. "Why is this here?"

She couldn't continue. Her heart began to beat faster and betrayed the faint noise she had picked up from a certain direction, and even though no wind was blowing, the atmosphere brought her a smell that was quite familiar to her. Her hooves almost moved on her own, trying to move in that direction and finally finding the one who needed her.


***


Sombra was sure that he had waited for quite some time, but still the alicorn showed no sign that she would soon come up. He practically didn't care what happened to her anymore, but he knew he couldn't leave right now. Not until those things were finally awakened.

And it was in one of those moments that a faint pink light suddenly appeared near the entrance of the well. It was obviously her using her magic.

Magic.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Sombra almost wanted to scream at how reckless the mare was really being, and his expression didn't change as she came closer and turned off her light. His face showed the same annoyance befitting that situation.

It was only when Twilight finally appeared and landed panting near him that his countenance changed to surprise. As surprised as he might be if he saw any other pony in his place with two little silhouettes lying on her back.

"What does this mean, princess?" he spoke in a low tone as he approached her.

Twilight's eyes widened when she heard his question. She controlled her gasps of exhaustion as she held up a hoof silently asking him to wait. To his astonishment, Sombra listened.

After she had recovered, she looked at her back, towards where the cloth-covered figures of the two little ponies that slept on it were.

"It's them, two of the little ones who disappeared that day." Her gaze dimmed and reflected her sadness. "Only them." She looked at the stallion again, pointing to the hole. "This was what I sensed a while ago, that pit not only exists to stop intruders, it also exists to trap ponies that were unlucky enough to fall, even flying is a challenge."

"The question would be why would anyone want to leave them trapped considering that these caves are difficult to traverse" Sombra spoke again as he looked in a certain direction. "But that's none of our business now."

"Yes, now we have to take care of something else," Twilight said, looking back at the two colts. She was beginning to worry that they still hadn't woken up even after checking them and making sure everything was okay with them.

"I don't mean..."

He didn't finish his sentence, interrupted by a new and sudden vibration for the princess. Twilight grabbed the two little ponies in her magic quickly.

"By Celestia!" What is this!?"

It was only when that calmed down a bit that Sombra answered.

"This is the awakening of the creatures we saw earlier. They're big enough to cause the earth to do it too, but not big enough to drive them out" Sombra turned his gaze in that direction again, the tone of his voice deepening even deeper. "It's not over yet."

Twilight now couldn't fit into her stupor.

"What!?" She replied as she blinked rapidly. "Why didn't you say that before?!"

"Because I didn't remember," Sombra grunted and gritted his teeth, revealing the sharp tips of his fangs. That was really a nuisance to him.

Twilight stifled a snort, though she didn't refrain from rolling her eyes. She sighed in an attempt to regain her calm, with some success.

"Is there at least any other way out than by taking the same path we came from? Because otherwise it would mean going through that cavern again."

Sombra looked at her again as she asked her question, narrowing his eyes slightly at the meaning that he was thinking of something that would lead them, at least unharmed, to the exit.

"There's only that way..." he murmured, then asked. "How strong is your magic right now?"

The alicorn lowered her gaze, frowning in a thoughtful countenance.

"Enough to perform a few more spells. What happened last night took a lot more than I thought, but it's still coming back."

"Right now I need to keep mine, we still don't know what else we can find" The unicorn's serious face was what warned Twilight of the next thing he was going to say. "All that's left for us to do is have yours."

She sighed, knowing he would say that in the end, but there was no more time. The vibration was getting stronger and stronger, and Twilight was almost certain that it would somehow cause a collapse. The priority was to get them all to safety, especially the little ones.

Twilight nodded, willing to go along with his plan. Sombra walked over and stood beside her. She lit her horn and laboriously forced her magic to take on the spell's structure she wanted. In the end, and with a great flash, the four of them disappeared from that place, reappearing seconds later in the place where they started, under the light of the real sunset. But the forest was darker than usual.

"It really worked, I thought maybe I wouldn't have enough magic," Twilight struggled to her feet after a slight dizziness caused her to stay in place. She rubbed her head and checked that the rest were stable.

Sombra muttered something under his breath as he did the same.

"With that execution, though, it was almost preferable that you hadn't had it."

She just answered, shrugging her shoulders, "It was your idea after all."

After that he didn't say anything and preferred to ignore her. Twilight only looked at him for a moment, but ended up with a long sigh that was then accompanied by a small smiling expression as she looked down at her back.

"But in the end what we did didn't end up being in vain."