//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2:  The Effect 
// Story: Fire and Brimstone, Book 1 
// by BluePhoenyx 
//------------------------------//

For weeks, Crimson wandered alone in the dark.  Avoiding ravenous monsters, starvation, and hostile ponies, he would started to make his way through the labyrinth of underground caves to escape the centuries of his kind’s brutal tyranny and bloodshed.  He had no idea where he was going.  All he knew was he wanted to get as far from his old life as possible.

His ears perked up as he heard a feint rumble.  He illuminated the area with his horn to see his surroundings clearly.  Crimson leaned his head toward the floor and notice the pebbles jumping and hopping around.  

“This is not good.”  He whispered to himself as he started to frantically look around to find a safe place to go.  Suddenly, he got knocked off his hooves as the earthquake hit in full force.   Unable to stand from the violent shaking, he attempted to crawl into a more stable and secure corridor as the rocks above him started to give away from the shock.  The strength of the ceiling buckled as the earth all around him started to split open.  Crimson jumped as hard as he could to avoid being sucked down by the vacuum created by the giant crack below.  Finally, the earth settled and the crevice stopped growing.  Crimson slowly got on his hooves and cautiously headed to the crack in the earth.  He looked down to see the rocks his hooves unintentionally kicked fall endlessly through the dark void.  Then he looked up at a strange and mysterious light illuminating from above.  He lightly turned his head and shut his eyes from the bright light from overhead.  Trying to get his eyes acquainted with the light levels, he slowly opened his eyelids while holding his left hoof in front of his eyes to help control the light.  “What is that?”  He asked himself.  He looked in amazement and curiosity at the strange blue light as it reached all across the newly created canyon.  Then, the earth rumbled again.  Rocks fell as the crack slowly closed.  Crimson turned and started to run as the corridor behind him collapsed.  Making the light from his horn as bright as possible, he dodged the falling rocks, trying to keep his balance from the uneven ground.  The cave in closed in as Crimson hurdled over boulders and taking tight and blind turns.  He felt the rocks closing in, bouncing off his armor as he ran as fast as he possibly could.  Just as the rocks overtook him, he collapsed and slid on the ground just as the corridor stopped closing in on itself.  Exhausted and bruised, he started to slowly stand to his hooves as the earth settled.  Crimson panted, attempting to catch his breath.  He sat down to rest as he brushed off the rock and rubble from his mane.  He looked up at the ceiling in deep thought, wondering what that light was.  After a minute of sitting and staring at the ceiling, he stood up and walked to a wall.  His horn glowed and he started to use his earth magic to slowly turn the rocks before him to sand.  As the rock disintegrates, he pushed the sand behind him with his hind hooves to create a passageway upward.  Slowly, he started to create a tunnel heading up toward the strange light.


* * *


Two weeks come and go as Crimson’s food and water supplies ran dangerously low.  He worked diligently on the tunnel towards the strange light.  He stopped his tunneling as he noticed the strength and stability of the earth around him wasn’t as strong as before.  The moisture in the ground and the integrity of the earth was different from deep underground.  Taking a small break, he used his earth magic to separate the moisture from the damp rock for water and he took a nibble of the dried meat he has created from his weeks of hunting in the darkness.  After his break ended, he started to turn around to find another point to work when he heard something down his tunnel.  The echoing growl diminished as Crimson extinguished the light from his horn, and he waited and listened.  His eyes slowly adjusted to the pitch black as he intensely looked into the darkness, looking for heat signatures.  The disturbance got louder as Crimson finally saw something in the distance.  Something big – big enough to take up the entire tunnel.  “Out of all of the things...”  He whispered to himself when he saw the 30’ long multi legged creature charging through the tunnel.  He turned toward the unstable rock and let out a deep sigh.  He knew he was in trouble, and he quickly thought of ways to resolve this massive and impending problem.  He started to turned in a stationary circle, dragging his clawed hoof on the ground.  As the drawing of the circle closed, his horn lit up as he used his earthly magic on the rocks around him.  Being his only way to stop the dangerous monster’s advance, Crimson started to channel his energies through the circle to create a small earthquake around him to cave in the tunnel between him and the monster.  The earth started to crack and crumble.  Dust picked up as the monster drew closer.  Its eyes started to glow as Crimson's breath grew heavier and quicker from the exertion of energy.  He closed his eyes and tried to focus more of his energy into the spell until finally the earth faltered.  The tunnel gave and collapsed on itself, stopping the monster in its tracks.  It loudly roared at the blocked path and scratched futilely at the rocks.  Crimson sat down with exhaustion as he panted heavily.  The dust in the air made it difficult to breath.  He coughed as he illuminated the area with his horn.  His eyes widened when he realized that he trapped himself in a tight space.  

Crimson took a deep breath as the dust settled.  When Crimson felt rested enough to get back to work, he stared intently at the unstable rocks above him, hoping they don’t fall.  A few moments later, he started to slowly and carefully shift and move the earth above him.  Cautiously, he continued his trek towards the direction of the mysterious light.  With no air flow, it slowly got more and more difficult to breath.

After a few hours of careful work, the oxygen got thinner and thinner.  Taking a simple breath was almost impossible.  He felt his head lighten and his vision starting to fade from the lack of oxygen.  He knew he was done for.  Then, in an act of desperation, he gathered what strength he has left and focused it to his horn.  A beam of light shot out and obliterated the rocks ahead of him with a thunderous boom.  The ground shook, then Crimson blacked out and uncontrollably fell to the ground.  

Crimson’s eyes slowly opened after his body recovered from the asphyxiation.  A breeze filled the tunnel as light entered from the passage above.  Crimson coughed as he gasped for air.  Slowly, his breathing returned to normal.  He looked up, unable to see clearly from the bright light at the end of the tunnel.  He rubbed his eyes with his hoof, then looked at the light again.  In disbelief, he staggered to his hooves and cautiously walked towards the end of the tunnel.  The closer he got to the end of the tunnel, the brighter the light got.

Finally, Crimson escaped from the tunnels.  His eyes squint as he looked at the brilliant white and yellow orb above as it illuminates everything that it touched.  He stood at the bottom of a deep crater looking at the blue ceiling that was too high to touch.  He stared at the white spots far above him lost at the thought of what they were.  He walked towards the edges of the crater and climbed the crater walls.  His clawed armored hooves and his underworld life had him climb with great ease.  Upon reaching the top, he almost fell back down when he looked in shock at the vast world around him.  The light from the great orb reflected off of his diamond dust steel armor, showing the intricate and elegant detail carved into the armor as he stood stunned at what he is witnessing.  He looked around to see the entire land illuminated in colors and hues he has never seen, and a world so vast that it goes further than the eye can see.  He had never experienced such a world before.  He never knew such a world existed.  Crimson stood in total awe at this land.

“What is this?”  Crimson asked as he looked down on the ground at the green and prickly yet soft landscape.  He leans down and smelled the strange substance.  “What an unusual mold.”  He looked up to see large brown and green rock-like objects extruding from the ground.  He walked over to one of the strange things and looked at it.  He lightly touched it with his armored clawed hoof and the outer layer he touched crumbled to the ground.  “Where am I?”  He asked himself as he started to wander around to explore this strange land.  Then his eyes popped wide open as he looked in awe.  “I… I have never seen so much water!”  He said as he looked upon a river.  He cautiously looked around as he walked up to the river.  He leaned over and took a sip of water.  His eyes pop again as he dipped his head in the water.  “This place is amazing!”  He exclaimed with a smile.  He looked around one more time, then he started to take off his armor and trinkets to take a bath.