//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The dagger in the stone... // Story: Sister... // by Mellow Mare //------------------------------// ''TIIIAAAAaaaaaaaa..........-- '' The snow rumbled down with her, into this seemingly endless hole. Luna descended into the darkness. She turned herself around mid-air and moved her hooves around in hopes of grabbing a root, a ledge, anything that could prevent her from getting squished on impact. She used the glow of her horn to try and see the bottom. But as soon as she did so, Luna reached the very end of this hole. *SPWLASH* The water felt like hard concrete against her little body, but thankfully, it wasnt enough to badly hurt the little filly. '' *GAAASP* Ah!..- ah..... T...Tia'' The adrenaline kicked in at the right moment, which allowed Luna to swim safely to the shore despite being extremely sore from the impact. She climbed out of the icy water, it was so cold down there that the dropplets would immediately freeze... ''........'' Luna looked at herself and shook the water off her boday as best as she could, which seemed to work well enough for the time being. She walked to the edge of the water and looked up, the entrance of the hole now seemed like a tiny little dot that was barely bright enough. ''CELESTIAAAA!!! CELESTIA, I'M OKAAYY!!!!'' Her voice echoed up this tunnel, but it couldn't reach up to her sister, there was no answer coming back to her. And she even waited for one, but alas... The young filly glow seemed more faint. which allowed the darkness to slowly creep up to her. ''No, no! You stupid horn! Not now... *tap-tap*'' She poked at her horn hoping it would do somehow help it glow stronger. The tribe Luna came from were made of very powerful unicorns, their abilities were often shown at a very early age. But Luna.... Luna was one of those late bloomers. She only recently gained control of her magic, and yet it was limited... Never has anypony heard of a limit when it comes to magic, yet... The young filly seemed quite frightened as her horn's glow died slowly.... She finally looked around the cave for the first time since her arrival. It smelled like dirt and moss, the walls were made of dirt and stone, two elements clashing onto eachother. The ground was covered in mud and moss. It was extremely dark. There seemed to be no way out from here, she had to explore this underground prison... ''Please dont give out on me....'' Luna's horn began to glow a little bit brighter, which gave her enough hope... She began to walk amongst the darkness, never knowing where her hooves might step on. "It's okay... Celestia will find me, I just know it... I.. I just have to find an exi..-- *CRACK* EEEEYP!!!!! " Luna's pace went from unsure to fast. She did not know where this noise came from! Little did she know, she simply stepped onto an old branch... ================ This cave system seemed endless! Luna dont even remember how many turns she took so far, nor what they were... She knew for a fact she she was going up! Or..... down?... At this point, exhaustion slowly started to creep over her... she was using most of her energy on keeping her horn on. "I can't keep this on....-" *WHOMPH* "Ouch!!" Luna tripped over a big and bright green root, it took her a moment to realise what just happened. She picked herself up slowly and tried to scrape the mud off her body... "What is this?...." The young filly's curiosity took over her, the root seemed.. abnormally... long.... It lead towards another system of roots, and vines. They all seemed to go in the same direction, through another, muddy and gross tunnel... And this one even stinks! ''Wait.... Aren't plants attracted to the sunlight??..... So the exit must be this way!!'' This sudden revelation gave Luna enough energy to keep going. She felt very proud of herself for figuring this out on her own! With a big smile on her face, Luna pressed herself against the muddy ground to crawl into the entrance of that little tunnel. The roots and vines were taking up a lot of space. The tunnel felt tighter and tighter as she crawled through. *Fwomph!* ''Oh.. Oh no... '' Luna was now stuck in between the roots and the stone walls, no amount of mud could help her slip out of that one. ''O--...Okay, it's okay.... I will just.. *Squish* ....squeeze... *Swash* ...back out.... *Struggle* Oh no, no no no!!'' Tears began to form in the filly's bright blue eyes, she could not back away nor go forward. The realisation that this might be the end made her weap softly.... She was so exhausted that she did not had the energy to try anymore. ''T..Tia... please come help me, please...'' As she softly weaped, her horn's glow slowly died, leaving Luna in complete darkness, she was sad to know that this is how her sister might find her. Images of her poor mother came to mind, how worried she might be after learning her daughters went on a dangerous quest. ''Mama.....Mama, I'm sorry *sobs*'' Luna closed her eyes, because it felt safer to her than staring at the darkness and the creatures that may lurk in it. Suddenly, the pressure on her hips moved away from her, letting Luna enough space to breathe better. In between sobs, she found just enough energy to bring back a soft glow from her horn. The vines.. they moved aside? A very confused filly loked forward, and there it was, the end to this tight tunnel. She sniffled and wipped her tears from her cheek and quickly crawled all the way out of it. Was Luna dreaming or did those roots and vines truly moved?? Maybe she was too tired and felt stuck. It might have been in her head? She stood from the ground, feeling so much better. ''I will NEVER complain about this place again..'' As Luna looked around, her gaze fell upon a stone, wrapped in the vines... They all seem to be connected to this one lone stone. With an intrigued look, she slowly approach this mysterious stone... The closer she got, the more she could see. ''Is that a.. a dagger?'' The stonne held onto a dagger, that has been stuck into it, vines where wrapped around said weapon, as if it tried to maintain it there. Luna took a closer look, it was a golden handle with a nice leather wrap. ''Woah.... '' ''......'' She looked around her, thinking maybe this was a trap, but it seemed innocent enough.. She grabbed onto the handle with her mouth and began to pull, she used all of her body weight. Surprisingly enough, this seemed to do the trick, because the dagger came right out, ripping the vines holding it down. Luna fell on her back, into the muddy ground again. The root and vines suddenly changed color and seem to quickly die. ''Oof... I hope I did not do anything wrong...'' Luna sat up and held the dagger into her hooves, her expression went from amazed to disappointed. ''Eww.. it's all old and rusty, it's kinda useless....'' As soon as she said that, an eye opened onto the dagger, and it looked straight at her and seemed quite angry. '' Hey! Mind your manners will ya?..-'' ''AAH!!'' Luna threw the weapon onto the ground, she was in complete shock. Did it just spoke to her?? Why does it have an eye..- ''Well, that's one way to present yourself, would you mind picking me back up, I dont want to get a pink eye or something...'' Luna was completely flabbergasted, she slowly approached the dagger and with shaky hooves she picked it back up. She turned it around so that she could take a closer look, but when the eye opened again she couldn't help herself and screamed. ''AH!!' ''AH!!'' ''AAAHH!!!'' ''AAAAAHHH!!!'' Luna pushed the dagger away from her, hoping this was all just a bad dream...- ''What the hell are you??!'' She asked in disbelief. ''A dagger, duh! I think you mean WHO the hell am I?'' Asked the dagger ''..... I'm having a conversation with a rusty blade....'' Expressed Luna ''Hey, watch it! 'Name's very sharp and pointy blade of the underworld's lord, but my friends call me James...'' Luna was still unsure of what she was experiencing right now.. it seemed quite surreal. ''Do you have a lot of friends?'' She asked him. ''No..... They are all dead and rotten now..... But that all good, they deserved it.!'' He answered, a little too excitedly... ''Okay, we're done here. I have to find my way out.'' Luna stood up and placed the blade back onto the stone, but not in. As she began to walk off, James seemed a little panicked. ''Wait up! Dont leave a defenseless blade here! I know a way out!'' Luna stopped right there, she turned around, feeling unsure. She walked back to the stone pedestal ''So, if I take you with me, you will help me get out?'' She asked him, still feeling unsure. ''Aaaabsolutely!! I promise it on my grandmother's head!'' Luna picked the blade back up and used the straps on it to attach it around her waist. As strange as it was, she needed to get out and back to Celestia as soon as possible... Hopefully, she wont regret this..... The two of them began their short journey out of this gross and muddy underground world... ''Say, what's your little name??'' Asked James with a curious stare. ''.........'' ''.... Luna, my name is Luna....''