//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Forbidden Deeper 
// by SaltyJustice 
//------------------------------//

	"Gabby..." I muttered to myself.  
"Amoria, do you know this pony?" Luna asked from behind me.
"Cadence, who's Amoria?" Gabby asked  from in front.
"This is Amoria," Luna said, putting a hoof on my back and pushing off slightly, to make herself appear taller.  I didn't like where this was going.
"I - ", I started.
"No, this is my friend Cadence," Gabby said, putting her hoof on my head, and pushing off slightly to appear even taller.
"I - "
"Her real name is Amoria," Luna said, lowering her head and making what I swear was a growling noise.
"Please - "
"I've known her since we were fillies.  Miamore Cadenza, class Q foalsitter," Gabby said.  She pushed down on my head harder, and it took all my strength to keep from buckling.
"I've known her since before you were fillies," Luna said.
"Hello?"
"Oh yeah?  Then what's her mom's maiden name?" Gabby asked.
Luna glared at her.
"Get off of me already!" I shouted, and ducked.  The two lost their balance for a second as the weight they had put on me shifted and gave way.  They caught themselves before they fell over, and wound up face to face.  There certainly weren't smiles anywhere around here.
As you can plainly see, my skill at spreading love and happiness wherever I go is impeccable.
"Gabby, what are you doing way out here?" I asked.
She looked surprised to hear me ask that.
"You missed our get together and then act surprised when I keep my appointments?  Are you spacing out or something, girl?" she said.  Luna chuckled.
"Spacing out.  Most amusing," I heard her mutter.  I shot a nasty glare at her, and she stopped and straightened up.  If there's one way to get on her good side, it's to mock me.
"If you're thinking of missing another appointment then I'm going to straighten out that crooked mouth of yours.  You and I are going to have some motherbucking tea and crumpets, and we're going to laugh and talk about old times.  It'll be so much fun, you won't want it to stop.  Do you understand me?" Gabby said, leaning in close and placing her face directly in front of mine.
"Crystal clear.  Can I get back to you in a few days?" I asked, with the most insincere smile I could must.
"No, you can get back to me right now," she said.
"I'm serious Gabby, time is short and we have to get going." I said.  She pulled her head away and stepped back, opening up the doorway to allow us out.  I recovered from my shock as quickly as I could.
"Really, you're not going to stop me?  You're just letting us go without a struggle?" I asked.
"Of course.  As you said, time is short, so I've skipped to the conclusion.  The more the merrier, as they say," she said.  She held her head up in what I can only assume was a sign of respect.
"Thank you very much.  It was nice to be able to see you again, however briefly," I said.  The three of us trotted past her and prepared to take off.
"Oh you expect me to follow you on the ground then, huh?" Gabby asked.
"No, I – what?  Did I miss something here?" I asked.
"This is why you don't skip conversations, Cadence.  If you hadn't been in such a rush, you wouldn't have agreed to let me come with you," she said.
But I didn't - 
"And it was quite generous of you, even though you owed me one.  In fact, I think we should skip the arguments from now on and just get to the ending, it's so much more efficient," she said, smiling wryly at me.
"But I don't have time to argue now either!  Gabby, you can't come, it's much too dangerous," I said.
"Where, the forest?  To go into some stinking cave?  I think it's too dangerous to let you go alone," she said.
"How did you know that, if I may ask?" Luna asked.
"You may indeed, Princess.  I was told by Shining Armor this morning when I came to see Cadence," Gabby said.  Wedge made a whistling noise which I tried to ignore.
"Glad to see he's so good at keeping secrets," I muttered, loud enough to be sure everypony heard me.
"If that's the case, then how did you come here before we did?  Certainly you did not run here," Luna said.
"Why, I am incensed!  To question my athleticism, 'tis an insult," Gabby said.
I had never heard her speak like this before, either.
"Tis not a stroke against thy – er, your, skills Miss 'Gabby'.  I am simply observing a lack of sweat on your coat," Luna said.
"Keen eyes, or perhaps a keener nose, Princess," Gabby said.  She turned to me.
"I took the train.  Don't tell me you flew here.  Did you?" she asked.
My mind had already slammed my hoof into my face before I could come up with an answer.  The train would have been much faster than flying, those things go four times faster than the fastest flier.
"Tis quite all right, old friend of mine, for you have just demonstrated precisely why I shall accompany you on your journey.  You're kind of an idiot, and I will be your brain.  And since I'm bigger than you, your brawn as well.  And your good looks, while I'm at it," Gabby said.  Wedge was now desperately fighting the urge to laugh, I could see his chest convulsing as he tried to keep it in.
"So you made one good decision, it doesn't make up for the waffle incident," I said.
"I was young and you encouraged me.  That one doesn't count," she said.
I stepped up next to her and pressed my head close to hers.
"Then what about that time at the magic show?" I said.
"That punk was a fake and he was going to steal our bits.  You ought to be thanking me," she said.
"It was still stupid!" I said.
"If we're going to go over a list of everything dumb we've ever done, yours will be longer," she said.
I lowered my voice to a whisper.  "Gabby, you could get killed.  I could get killed!  This isn't some silly adventure like when we were little.  If I fail down there, it could be the end of everything.  Wouldn't you rather spend what could be your last minutes with your family?" I hissed.
She didn't respond at first.
"You've been away for a while, so I'll forgive that one," she said.  "You either let me come, or I'll follow you and save your butt anyway.  One or the other."
I stepped back and looked at Luna.  She was making a show of checking something in the saddlebag Wedge had given her, because eavesdropping was supposedly bad form.  Wedge had the same unconcerned look on his face as he usually did.
There wasn't exactly any protest coming from the peanut gallery, it seemed.
"Fine," I said.
"Good.  See, the conclusion is the same, but we could have skipped all of that fighting.  Next time you'll listen to me, eh?" she said.
"Shut up and let's get going.  Follow me," I said.
"Amoria, about this shortcut," Luna started.
"It's to the south of here, about four hours, three if we speed it up," I said.  I set off at a trot, and my three companions followed along behind me.

Ponyville, though a small town, still stretched out some distance.  I'll admit I was keeping track of the time, at least passively.  It seemed to take forever to clear the buildings on the way out of town, last I had been here it seemed much smaller.  It still had that distinct, small-town charm, perhaps because there were no electrical lights to be found, or because all the houses were thatched-roof.  Technically that was still a style, but the further outwards we went from the town's center, the more modern the buildings became.  The newest constructions had a very square look to them, with the exception of the sole windmill that was near the southern border.
We crossed a bridge over a stream and into the green fields on the southern edge of town.  The buildings stopped at that natural border, and only the occasional tree broke the openness of the surroundings.  We were following a dirt road as it meandered to the south, towards the Pie Family Farms, which was our first stop if we were going to catch up to the bearers.
Since we had left without waiting, Shining Armor knew he was supposed to go there as well, should I be unable to meet him.  If he couldn't catch up, we'd just have to go on without him; time was running out and such sentimentality had to be discarded, no matter how painful it would be to not see him again.
My mind began to drift.  What was the last thing I had said to him?  Hadn't it been some order?  Barked like an uncaring monarch, and it could be the last thing to cross between us.  That time had been so precious, and while I knew I had not wasted it, I still felt as though it was too short.
I shook my head.
I was making sure we kept a good enough pace.  A hearty trot, too quick for anypony to speak, but not fast enough to tire us all out.  Exactly right, since if I let Gabby tell Luna her thoughts on politics, sooner or later one of them would take a swing at the other.  Or Gabby's idea of sexuality.  Or music.  Or clothes.
Gabby has a problem with authority, you see.
The fields began to become cluttered with shrubs as we made our way further south, and eventually a forest became present, then meandered about closer and closer to the path, until it overtook it.  We now wandered in shade amongst Whitetail Wood's outer perimeter, but strictly speaking, the ancient entrance to the Abyss was a long distance west.
Finally I saw a clearing ahead onto a long, flat, empty plain.  For whatever reason, this area of the forest had been cleared off and turned into rock growing fields.  I didn't understand much about the mechanics of how one grows rocks at a rock farm, but it had something to with magic, and it was supposedly very profitable.
We reached a fork in the path with some signs pointing in various directions, but the writing was all weathered away, so I could only guess at what they meant.  The topmost sign pointed off to my right and had no lettering on it; if memory served, that was the right way to go.  The bottom-most sign pointed off to the left and had something carved into it, but the lettering was all smoothed out.  The middle sign pointed back behind us, and somepony had painted a crude 'P' onto the side, perhaps because Ponyville was the only major settlement this far out.
"Which way now?" Luna asked me.
I looked off to the right to see, in the distance, a solitary farmhouse and a grain silo standing next to it.  Exactly why a rock farm needed a grain silo was probably none of my business, but I did stop to wonder what they filled it with.  Sand?  Salt?
"Amoria?"  Luna asked again, louder.
"This way, come on," I said.
We passed under a worn out sign that looked about ready to fall off its hinges.  The sign itself was part of an archway that went through a fence, and it read 'Pie Farms Ltd.'  There was nothing else even remotely interesting about it, it was almost confrontationally boring.
The house itself was some distance away from the fence, so I trotted over with purpose and stood afront of what seemed like a deserted building.  I couldn't see any light coming from inside and there was no sound, and all the windows were closed.  The place could certainly use a coat of paint, and probably some maintenance.
"Do you think anypony is home?" I asked.  Nopony answered.
I turned around to see Luna, Gabby, and Wedge standing some distance behind me, staring at me curiously.
"What are you doing standing way over there?" I shouted at them.
"That place looks like it's about to fall apart," Gabby shouted back.
"So?  It's not actually going to fall apart," I shouted.
"Then you should be so kind as to go in first," Gabby said.
I felt my teeth grinding of their own accord, but it wasn't just Gabby who was staying back.  Luna and Wedge should certainly have more sense, and it's not like the building was going to collapse.
I knocked on the door a few times, and waited for a response, though none came.
I knocked again, with a bit more force.
I knocked a third time, and as soon as my hoof connected, it punched through the rotten wooden door, and I nearly got it stuck trying to pull it back out.  I didn't get any splinters in my panic, but I did tear the door off its rusted hinges.  It collapsed into the yard next to me and kicked up a cloud of dust as it did so.
I shot an angry glare back at my companions, but they weren't laughing at me.  They were just looking disinterested, probably because they didn't know why we were here.
"Hello?" said somepony from inside the house.
"Ah, I thought nopony was home.  I am - " I started.
Whoever it was, they screamed, and all I saw as I turned around was a flash of a dark tail retreating into the darkened home.  I waited some more, but the house was quiet again.
I stuck my head in to try to look around, and -
CRACK
A rolling pin slammed into my forehead, but not very hard.  Just enough to annoy me, and not enough to leave a proper bruise.  I stumbled backwards and sat down, holding my snout and quickly running through a list of swears I had memorized for just such an occasion.
"Oh Dog Flagget!" I shouted, but I think I got it wrong.  I was pretty sure it was Dog Something.
"Get back you brute!" screamed a dark gray mare just in front of me, still brandishing the rolling pin.  I looked up to make eye contact, and as soon as I did, she dropped the pin, eyes widened with fear, and darted off again.
I darted forward and grabbed the rolling pin, tossing it into the yard.  My friends, some distance behind, still had made no effort to come assist me, but that was now because they were busy laughing at my misfortune.
Luna, I should point out, was the loudest.
Maybe I should give them a rolling pin upside the head, see how they like it.
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," the gray pony said, now having reappeared in the doorway in front of me.  Fortunately, I am a Princess, and I was not going to lose my royal composure over such a minor incident.
"Fliminigibbet," I said.
"Sorry, sorry," the pony was still saying, repeating it to herself more than to me.
"Why did - " I started.
"I thought you were a burglar!  You broke in the door and you have a big sword and - " she said, but stopped herself mid sentence and started to breathe in and out heavily.  Her hoof to her chest, she was trying to measure her breaths and calm herself down.
According to Celestia, this was the exact same sequence of events as when she had visited, except it had been a frying pan for her.  Meet the Pie family, fillies and gentlecolts.