Mineshaft Run
By: The Grey Pegasus
A rainbow streak in the distance.
The pegasus knew her flight destination. Rainbow had eventually gotten into books to the point that she branched out to all other forms of literature. Admittedly, this journey was going to be on a similar venturesome vein of her earlier Daring Do books, but she never would have embarked on it in the first place were it not for other references.
Rainbow's flight path directed her towards an indiscriminate hillside out in the northeastern region of Equestria. The landscape itself was a lush forest, the temperature during the season of early autumn cool and crisp. Soon, she came upon her target. It looked like the one she saw in a picture in one of the books. A green hill with moderate amounts of vegetation. The hill itself was somewhat steep-sided, and, aside from the fact that there were few hills in the area, was easier to spot among the other ones surrounding it due to its slightly higher peak.
Now all she had to do was spot the entrance on the barren hillside. It wasn't too hard, seeing that there were still remnants of abandoned structures standing outside from the finished operations. As she approached it, she could make out a large rectangular hole and signs near it.
Rainbow aimed for the entrance of the abandoned mine. Through her flight goggles, she saw the entrance get closer, and closer, and closer, and mentally counted the distance remaining.
'Here we go!'
A deep thump sounded in the pegasus's ears during the transition from open air to cave. The sound of rushing air hollowed and echoed as Rainbow Dash entered the tunnel of the mine. The environment grew dimmer and dimmer, until the sunlight could no longer reach the inside of the tunnel.
'Yipes!'
She narrowly avoided hitting an upright sign inside the mineshaft. Rainbow noticed that this area of the mine was furbished fairly well. It made some sense, being the most traveled area since it was closest to the exit. Fortunately, the antiquated mine still had functioning lanterns due to long-lasting enchantments.
The enchanted lanterns filled with golden glow dust dimly lit the mineshaft but enough so that the adventurous pegasus could navigate in it. Small traces of ores left in the brown walls glinted in the yellow light.
'Just gotta fly through the supports... Just like rings in an obstacle course.'
The cave supports, Rainbow noticed, appeared mostly sturdy despite a few of them showing a few signs of deterioration in some spots. Hopefully they would continue to keep the ceiling up, being constructed many decades ago.
Underneath the pegasus, minecart rails were still firm on the ground. They, too, were showing signs of age, with the metal rail rusting along its length and wooden ties rotting away.
Between the square shapes of the supports serving as sort of goal posts for Rainbow to fly through and the rails marking the passage way, she knew where to go. As it was, it was somewhat difficult to discern where the walls were from where darkness was.
'Oh, geez, it's dusty in here. Good thing I wore goggles.'
The constant intervals of wooden beams and parallel lines of the rails shifted left, leading Rainbow downwards into the tunnel's slow counter-clockwise spiral, deeper into the earth. The skilled flier kept with the turn easily, despite having little space to maneuver.
'I don't know if I should go any faster...'
The brown dirt walls rushed beside the pegasus, and the wooden support beams placed in even intervals through the length of the shaft whooshed in Rainbow's ears each time she passed them. As the air passed by sounding hollow with the steady, rapid beat of thumps every time she passed through a mineshaft support, her heart thumped twice as often. It was claustrophobic, frightening, and exhilarating.
Rainbow's heart raced as she fought her inner conflict to fly at the fastest speed she could while being sure she would not crash and injure herself where no one would find her, or fly at the fastest speed, period. The tunnel was still slowly spiraling down.
'... Yeah, let's go!'
Against common sense, the pegasus kicked her flight speed into high gear. She could feel the dust floating in the air accumulate on her fur and feathers. The fear and excitement of haphazardly rushing through the tunnel gripped her, sending chills down her spine. She tuned her senses to be as sharp as knives, immediately seeing any obstacle in the way or variance with the tunnel path and making small, deliberate changes in her flight path to ensure she didn't hit it.
Her high-speed disturbed the stale and musty air. The wind left in her wake moved and circulated behind her, leaving swirling clouds of dust and dirt where she had passed. All loose objects to stirred. Old tools and lanterns clattered and rattled. Pebbles bounced around. Litter changed positions, leaving distinct marks of their shape in the dust, where they had rested for many years.
'Oh... Well then. That makes stuff more fun!'
Up ahead, the previously clean state of the tunnel started fading into deterioration.
'Whoa!'
Rainbow's heart and mind leapt upward as she herself narrowly flew over and between a roof support lying diagonally from the ceiling to the ground. Before, all she had to worry about was not hitting the wall, but now she had to be alert for any obtrusive risks directly in the path that might cause her to become easily injured.
'Rope up ahead!'
The pegasus felt her wing clip the rope off to her right side. The tunnel farther down did not look too bad though, and she would be able to continue on without much hassle. A couple of slight adjustments here and there to avoid debris, and Rainbow went along her way.
The feel of the air was much different now. The objects filling up the tunnel altered the way the sounds resonated in her ears. The tone and pitch changed more frequently, and they were much more random compared the uniformed thumping in the tunnels above her. The air also felt even stuffier with the broken beams and splintered wood. More loose articles were strewn across the ground.
The increase of objects in Rainbow's path had a strange psychological effect on her. She began to feel entrapped. She felt like she had been down in the mine tunnel for an eternity. How long had it actually been? Minutes? It couldn't have been an hour could it?
'Just... keep calm and focus on flying and not hitting anything...'
She tried to reassure herself with more thoughts and continued flying at high speed. She attempted to distract her worries with focusing on dangers ahead. At her speed and the state of the tunnel, precise movements had to be made in seconds. The next fast approaching obstacle was two collapsed beams, with barely enough space for her to fit through.
*Whoosh*
She passed in between them with expertise. She continued to do so for the subsequent obstructions.
The tunnel floor, ceiling, and walls ahead appeared as if they were slowly contracting, becoming ever more confining. Quite possibly a natural reaction; as a pony born for and accustomed to the open skies, the closed environment highly contrasted with it. It was almost psychological torture. Her thoughts were becoming clouded and she began to hyperventilate from the pressure.
'Keep it cool Rainbow, just stay calm. You'll get out soon enough...'
The pegasus had asked for a challenging, daring adventure, and now she got one. It was testing her mental limits, and it was not yet working her at its fullest...
'You've got to be kidding me!'
... until now. The fear of being stuck in the mine were temporarily shoved aside by fear of crashing. Meeting the pegasus head on was a length of tunnel filled with debris as far as her eye could see. The state of decay of the mine worsened from there on out.
Yet it was not an impossible task for this amazing pegasus.
With her brain and reactions working as fast as her airspeed, she frantically dodged splintering wood, rusting lamps, frayed cables, dormant mine carts, and all sorts of obstacles.
'This is crazy!'
Rainbow barrel rolled through the largest, cobweb-covered hole in a group of collapsed support beams. She immediately pitched up to avoid a group of mine carts. There were even some boulders in the path. And yet she refused to slow down.
'Ah, slow is for the weak!–'
Rainbow ducked between a hanging lantern and a mine cart filled with rocks.
'–Yipes! Too tight...'
Years of acrobatics practice and competitions conditioned her to this dangerous art. Granted, it was never this dangerous, but she had her share of life-threatening experiences before.
*Whoomp*
The pitch of the passing air changed once more as the pegasus entered into a large cavern, deep beneath the surface. It was massive to Rainbow, and she estimated that it could probably fit the tree of Twilight's library. Lanterns emitting a yellow or white light were placed all around to allow visibility, and the pegasus could see just how spacious it was. It was a gigantic tunnel, extending to her left and right.
First of order was celebrating the fact that she was no longer in a restricting place to fly by doing loops and rolls in the musty atmosphere. Looking at the large mine tunnel, she once again felt alone with all the emptiness, but quickly forgot about it after remembering that she was on an adventure. She suddenly felt like she was released into a playground of new horizons.
The walls of the mine were cut fairly smoothly and uniform, leaving a great oval shaped mine weaving deep below Equestria. Rainbow had still not yet stopped flying, not even to hover, and chose a random direction out of two to travel in.
It was cold in the mine. It was also very dry. The concave of the ceiling was near-black in the minimal light, but the walls near light sources showed that the rock face was a dark gray with streaks of white where cuts were made. The long tunnel she flew in proceeded in a very wide clockwise turn.
The spacious floor held an assortment of findings, from still more mine carts and tracks, tools, tables, unlit lanterns, and more. Off to the walls, still even more tunnels branched off, the passageways being visibly larger compared to the one she entered through.
Old mine carts were parked still on the tracks. Some of them were in tunnel entrances off the the side, while others were right in the middle, presenting even more obstacles for Rainbow to avoid. They, too, were rusting, and she could just imagine pushing one and hearing the piercing screech of the wheels refusing to budge.
'Hmm... This tunnel is big enough to fly around in without slamming into a wall I think... Or anything. Geez that junk course was kinda scary.'
Rainbow's ecstasy and awe at finding this wondrous place distracted her, and her instinct to fly fast kicked in.
'Yeah... let's see how fast I could fly in here!'
The acceleration was swift, and the roaring of the air passed by her ears.
'I wonder...'
*CRACK*
There was a deafening clap and faint traces of the color spectrum as the pegasus broke the barrier once again. This time underground.
'AWESOME! I can't wait to tell ponies about a Sonic Rainboom underground!'
And then the sound of something tearing apart reached her ears. She looked up.
'Uh-oh... Whoops. If I get out of here, that is...'
Fear ran across Rainbow's face as she felt vibrations in the air behind her. It could only mean one thing–the mine tunnel was collapsing.
'Maybe a Sonic Rainboom under tons of rock wasn't so smart...'
'You think?'
'But since when do I do smart things anyway?'
'...'
'... Okay, just focus on flying and staying alive then.'
After quickly concluding her inner conflicts, she focused on scanning the tunnel ahead of her. Any sign of a tunnel that might lead back above ground.
Her wings had not slowed down one bit. Speed was crucial if she wanted to stay ahead of the cascade of rock. But she also felt like she was running out of options.
'Uh... there! I hope. Good as any.'
Taking chances and hoping she was lucky, Rainbow turned down a tunnel branching off from the main, labeled Tunnel 124, as evident by the white sign with stains of rust and dirt next to it. The pegasus followed the minecart tracks, and soon saw a new obstacle in the form of a wooden wall. Rainbow slowed her speed to read a large notice painted on it.
"Warning... Hazardous Environment Beyond Wall... Barricaded For Safety."
She sure didn't remember reading anything about wall-offs in any books. Then again, collapsing rocks were right on her tail.
"Well, I got no other choice!"
The pegasus increased her speed and braced herself to bust through the wood.
*SMASH*
The wood splintered away as the pegasus rammed through the blockage, and she found herself assaulted by the bright light from a magma bed down below. It was a massive underground chasm, extending far to her left and right.
'Whoa! How in Equestria does this place exist?!'
*RUMBLE* *CRASH*
Turning to the sound behind her, she found her point of entry obstructed by rocks.
'Yup, no going back that way...'
Rainbow took a quick moment to wipe her goggles clean of dust and dirt.
'Wow it got really bright. Count myself lucky for actually surviving with that much dirt on these things.'
Undaunted by the recent discoveries of the now-non-existant mine tunnel and newfound lava bed, Rainbow turned to fly towards her right. Her naturally adventurous attitude told her to descend lower near the lava. The magma rumbled and churned underneath her. Any sound echoed through the long underground pass. The rock walls were a brilliant gray, illuminated by the natural light from below.
Rainbow could feel the heat of the magma river. She stopped flapping her wings, and allowed the them to catch the thermals rising from below. The warm air flowed between her mane and ears; a comforting feeling after the cool air of the mine. The heat built up on her underside, only cooled by the rapid air passing by, as she had still not reduced her airspeed.
'Wow, if this is what it's like in a deep cave, I wonder how it's like at the center of the planet!'
Ores and crystals jutted out from the walls. They were probably never going to be dug up, or at least not for decades or even centuries. The environment was probably too dangerous to risk loosing workers in. Looking up, the gray rock walls faded to a black abyss, though she could faintly see a ceiling with barely visible outlines of stalactites highlighting it.
'What the... whoa...'
The subterranean chasm continued on straight, and it opened up to an even more impressive sight. For the first time in her journey, Rainbow slowed her speed and returned to a slightly higher altitude to take in the sight.
'This is... wow... so cool...'
It was a naturally formed atrium, with magma flows falling from various points in the ceiling. Rock faces and small cliffs stuck out from the walls. On some of the ledges, there were even black voids indicating natural caves that carved deep into the unknown. As much as Rainbow wanted to explore those however, she knew that if she did, there was a large chance of getting lost and never returning.
At least right now, she somewhat knew where she was, right?
The massive size of the atrium dwarfed the earlier mining tunnel she came from. How this all came to be, she didn't know. Perhaps Twilight knew. She should ask when she returned to Ponyville later. If she ever did.
With light sources coming from below and flowing from the sides in the form of superheated molten rock, the steep vertical walls of the earth glowed a brilliant orange-gray. The amount of magma in the area caused the circulating air to feel warm, like one would feel sitting next to a fire in the midst of winter.
'Maybe this is what it's like to be a cupcake in an oven... I sure am hungry. I wonder what's new at Sugarcube Corner today...'
The pegasus continued along her way. She passed by all sorts of cliffs and strange landforms. There wasn't really a specific way for 'straight', unlike the canyon formation before. There were, however, multiple large chambers branching off in different directions.
'That way looks big. Maybe that'll get me closer to the surface.'
Rainbow flew towards the largest looking chamber. Soon enough, she was leaving the brilliant luminescence of the lava pools and once again returned to the cool, dark airspace of cold, hard rock. The only source of illumination came from ambient light stretching from the magma.
'Note to self: Maybe bring a saddlebag with a lantern and other important stuff in it next time.'
She thought for a moment.
'... After getting Twilight and Rarity to make it strong and light enough for high-speed flight. Yeah, that sounds about right.'
Her eyes were adjusting to the dark, and now she could see strange formations all over. There were large pillars carved by some unknown force standing tall and thick, standing floor to ceiling, which itself was decorated by great stone arches. Pedestals of rock jutted out from the floor. Stalactites and stalagmites formed wherever they pleased.
She passed through these arches and gateways with the hopes that it would lead somewhere safe. The atmosphere, gloomy, lonely, chilling, and eerie, only served to further drive the point home that she was lost.
'Good thing no creepy monsters are out to get me here too... right?'
Putting the fear off as the usually brave pegasus normally did in times of fear, she turned her attention to positive thoughts. She would escape. She would tell her tale. Most importantly, she'd look more awesome.
In fact, why not appreciate the beauty, albeit unwelcoming, sights of a deep, dark cave. Half of flying into the mine, or what used to be a mine, was the sightseeing. The exploration.
There were no sounds except the flapping of her wings and her breathing. The air was cold and damp.
To her left was yet another branching off cave. A waterfall flowed quietly out from high up. To her right, the cavern continued combing through deep beneath the surface of Equestria. Huge columns of solid stone appeared to be holding up the weight of the land above. Below her, the waterfall from earlier had formed a small stream, slowly weaving through the hard rock. Looking up, she saw–
'Hey, there might be a way out up there! Or at least bring me to a cave closer to the surface!'
Pitching up and racing towards the shaft vertically, her hopes raised with her altitude. Though the diameter of the passage was still large–wider than the canopy of Twilight's library-house-tree by a little bit–there were now walls, as opposed to the open cavern. There was now only one direction–up. It was as if it would continue to bore through the bedrock until it broke out into open air.
*Wham*
Rainbow hit a hard surface. The ceiling.
'I... I thought this was it. It felt so close...'
The pegasus sighed as she fell back down through the shaft. She needed a break. She wanted to think optimistically. To block out the bad like she always did. But no one was around to see her be frightened. No one could see her scared. What was the point of hiding emotion? Perhaps she might never get out...
*BOOM*
Loose pebbles and rock fell around the pegasus, stirring her from her mind. She looked back up as a plume of dust came forth from one of the sides of the walls.
"What the hay is this place?!"
'Voices!'
Rainbow flipped back into flight position and aimed for her exit point.
'Get me outta here!'
"No clue. But we ain't gettin' any further this way. Report it back and wall it off. Don't want any ponies fallin' down there."
The pegasus made a sharp turn and sped through the mine tunnel.
"Sorry!"
"What the–"
"The hay did she come from?!"
Rainbow dodged workers that they themselves ducked out of her way. It felt good though, to be back in civilization. The mine was in very good condition, obviously because it was still in use. The lamps were of newer designs, which meant they were very bright.
"Whoa!"
"Sorry!"
Rainbow turned onto what she assumed was the main tunnel. She quickly flew up to avoid an oncoming minecart train.
"How'd you even get in here?!"
"Long story bye!"
She left confused workers in her rainbow trail.
'Ugh... I can't wait to get out of this place.'
Compared to the abandoned mine tunnel, the operating mine tunnel was actually fairly easy due to being much wider. All she had to do was pass over the top of moving carts and miners.
There were so many crates and boxes sitting aside. They were most likely filled with supplies of some sort. All sorts of things such as spades and helmets were placed on top.
Carts rumbled past her. Picks plinked everywhere. Metal items clattered as she passed by.
Most ponies noticed her flying through. And not a second passed without something being said about the pegasus passing through the tunnel. She didn't blame them–
"OW! I'M OKAY!"
Rainbow shook her head as she smashed through a hanging lantern. It stung, but she didn't care. She was getting out.
And then there it was. Blue. The sky.
"Yahoo! Yeah!"
<<+>>
"Rainbow, why are you so... dusty? And dirty? Rarity would have a fit if she saw you."
"You'd never believe it Twilight... It was a long way down..."