//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Forbidden Deeper 
// by SaltyJustice 
//------------------------------//

	"Hey, it's turned red," Gabby said with a chuckle as I took another sip of tea.  The Pie sisters had ushered us in and offered us some tea as an apology for the large red bruise they had given me.
It's times like this I wish I remembered to bring my helmet, but I wasn't wearing it since it didn't fit me for some reason.  I obviously would never have told anypony that, because then they're make fun of me for having a big head, so I had meant to get it sent to a blacksmith for refitting, and never got around to it.  The rest of my armor fit fine, just the helmet didn't.
"Your observational powers are uncanny," I muttered.
"Sorry again, so sorry," Inkie Pie said, for about the millionth time.
"It's just a bump, I'll be fine," I said, for about the millionth time.
"It's just that Blinkie saw your sword and she thought you were going to - " Inkie started.
"I know," I said, interrupting her.
We were sitting in their living room, though it wasn't a particularly nice house.  All the furniture was covered in white cloths like they were trying to keep dust off of it, except that's something you only do if you're not living in a place.  Even the kitchen looked barely used, and I hadn't yet had the chance to ask why.
"So, um, why are you here?" Blinkie asked.  She was a dark grey pony with a short, dark brown mane that covered her eyes.  She would periodically push the mane away to reveal a purple eye underneath, but soon enough it would cover her again.
"I've come to hire somepony to act as a guide.  We're intending to travel through the mineshafts on the western edge of your property," I said, trying to keep it brief.  I had already wasted enough time.
"You know mineshafts don't generally lead up to the surface, right?  They go down, and they stay down," Inkie said.  It was hard to tell which of the two was older, but this dark blue mare acted the part.  She had spent most of the time trying to apologize for her sister and taking responsibility, however indirectly.  Blinkie had hardly uttered a word, and was unwilling to meet my gaze; she would purposefully look down at her still-full teacup whenever I looked at her.
"It is our intention to stay down," I said.  Inkie turned her head sideways.
"Like, you don't want to come back up?  Is this some kinda really crappy prank?" she said.
"No, our target is somewhere in Shaft 51," I said.  No sooner had I said that then Blinkie stood up and left, without even uttering a word, to go into the kitchen.
A grim silence hung over the dimly lit room.  Gabby cleared her throat, but Inkie didn't say anything.  She took another sip of her tea.  Luna took a step forward from somewhere behind me.
"Did she say something out of turn?" she asked.
"How did you know about that?  Father says it's illegal to talk about it," Inkie said.  She kept her face focused and steady, staring right at me.
"My sister wrote that particular law," I said.  Inkie nodded, but said nothing.
Silence again.  I heard a dish being washed in the kitchen, it was the only sound in the house.
"Am I missing something, ma'am?" Wedge asked Luna.  She shrugged.
"Amoria is the one who knows about it.  Perhaps she would care to inform us?" Luna asked leadingly.  I shook my head.
"Not now, when we're underway.  Miss Pie, is your father - " I started.
"Father's in no condition to go leading you around," she snapped.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I said.  Last I had visited, Jedediah had been getting on in years.
"It's all right, he'll be fine.  He just pulled a muscle and had to go to the hospital," Inkie said.
"Hmm, and so you two are managing the farm?" I asked.
"More or less.  It's the dry season so we've been in Ponyville most of the time," she said.
"So then, who is going to be our guide?" I asked.
Inkie looked down, and focused for a moment.
"It'll have to be me," she said.
Blinkie entered the room again, quietly, hovering in the door frame for a moment to size us up.  She trotted up next to her sister and whispered something in her ear.  She looked at me, then whispered something else and departed.
"What was that all about," I wondered aloud.
"Absolutely nothing.  I need to go pack, give me ten minutes," she said.  She stood up abruptly and walked out, down the darkened hallway, leaving the four of us in the living room.
"That was awkward," Gabby said.
"You wouldn't think so if you knew what happened in Shaft 51," I said.
"Is it a big deal?" Gabby asked, walking up beside me and sitting down.
I sighed.  I was going to have to tell them.  No doubt the Pie family already knew, but I had hoped Jedediah would be able to lead us in, instead of his daughters.
"I think it was almost fifty years ago," I said.  I paused, trying to remember.  It was somewhere around there, though I hadn't been present myself.  Everything was second-hoof, from Celestia's accounts of it.
"Yes, around there.  This area was just being settled, lots of wilderness, when somepony happened upon a big gold vein," I said.
"Ah the Ponyville Gold Rush," Gabby said, leaning back and smiling.
"Wow, you remembered our history lessons after all these years?" I said wryly at her.  She lifted a hoof to threaten me with, so I decided it best to continue with the story.
"Yes, it triggered a gold rush.  Lots of workers, drifters, and prospectors flooded to the area looking to hit it big.  Most of them stayed up north, where the rivers could be panned for gold, but one prospector, Herbert Pie, set up a claim just west of here.  It was the big one, they found a quartz vein rich in gold, leading due west," I said.
"Did they not know?  So close to the Abyss..." Luna said.
"They knew, but greed does strange things to a pony's heart," I said.  Luna closed her eyes and nodded for me to continue.
"Technically, only the surface was considered to be off limits.  The miners dug closer and closer, branching off to follow the veins of gold, but always encroaching.  Tia said she visited herself and warned the miners to stop, and they promised they would.  The next day, she visited again, and was not surprised to find them digging again as though nothing had happened," I said.
"Grandpa said we're not supposed to go down to Shaft 51," Inkie said, re-emerging from the darkened hallway.  She now sported a hardhat with a light strapped to it, and some saddlebags that matched her grey mane.  A pickaxe was strapped to her left side, and a rock hammer to her right.
"Do you know the way?" I asked.
"Yeah, I've been there," she said.
"But didn't - " I started.
"I thought it was a superstition.  I was wrong, okay?" she said.  She shook her head, and said, "There are things in there."
"Things?" Gabby asked.
"We should get going," I said.  I couldn't wait to be out of the house, I felt uncomfortable for no apparent reason.  I stood up and everypony else did too.
I secretly hoped that Shining Armor would be standing outside, waiting for us, but he wasn't.  We wouldn't be able to wait for him either, so I asked Inkie to leave instructions for him to follow.  We were going to leave marks on the walls of the mineshaft as we went, for his party to follow so they'd not get lost.  I also made double-sure to tell Blinkie he was coming, lest his head meet the same fate as mine.  It was starting to sting now.
We set off at a trot, heading due west, following a path that had been worn into the brown dust fields.  Here and there, I could see markings where rocks had presumably been tilted, turned, or dragged off.
"Miss Pie, would you be so kind as to inform me as to how rock farming works?" Luna asked.  It was better than talking about Shaft 51.
"Huh?  Oh, it's pretty simple, I guess," Inkie said.
"See the markings on the ground?  Magic flows along the air currents between rocks, and we've mapped out the flow patterns.  If you leave rocks exposed, any large crystals in them get larger by absorbing some of the current.  Then we sell the resulting gemstones," she said idly.
"Fascinating.  You have mapped out the currents?  I did not know such a thing was possible," Luna said.
"You can buy an arcano-voltometer for a couple bits, Luna," I said, chuckling.
"Pardon?" she said.
"The ones we have are more expensive, and more accurate, than ones you can find at a hardware store," Inkie said, "but yes, we use them to map the currents out."
"A device that maps magical currents?" Luna asked.
"She doesn't know much about electricity," I said to Inkie.
I leaped about four feet into the air before my mind caught up with the powerful shock I had received to my hindquarters.  I looked back to see my tail cast a faint whiff of smoke, though my coat wasn't charred.
Luna was giving me a chiding look.
"I know a bit about the basics," she said.
Everypony except Inkie laughed at my expense, she was lost in her own thoughts, looking off into the distance at the hill that now occupied the horizon.
As we approached, I could see more of the cliff face.  A quarry had been dug into the hill, stripping away all the plant life, and boulders began to become more common.  A rather large mine entrance led further underground, though now it was boarded up, and some squat, ramshackle wooden buildings stood around its entrance.  They looked about ready to collapse, even more-so than the Pie household, but at least these buildings had an excuse.  They likely hadn't been in use for decades.
It was like entering a small village, the way the buildings were arranged.  We walked between them and the world became totally silent again, all sound caught between the wooden planks, only the faint rustle of wind made any impact.
"Don't tell my mom, but we used to play in these buildings when we were fillies," Inky said.
"Were they as dilapidated as they are now?" Wedge asked.  He pushed on a board with his hoof, and looked disappointed when it didn't give way.
"They're tougher than they look, but they're one bad storm away from a fall, I think" she said.
She led us to a side entrance, not the main shaft entrance that I had seen.  Had it not been for her, I wouldn't even have known this entrance existed.  It was a smaller opening, hidden behind some rotted wooden boards, and covered in a much newer set of boards attached by nails to the frame of the supports.
"Why the side entrance?  Why not go down that big opening we saw," I asked, as I tugged on the lowest board.  It refused to budge.
"This one's faster, trust me," she said.  She struck the nail out of the board with her pickaxe.
"Stand back, wimps," Gabby said, and the two of us obliged.
Gabby sized up the boards, then turned around.  She paused, gave me a sidelong look, and seemed to be waiting for something.  She looked up as if to sight a bird.
She bucked so fast, had I blinked I'd certainly have missed it.  Each hoof connected with a board and broke it clean in two, the two halves still attached by nails at the sides.  She leaped into the air, spun around, and kicked the highest board and broke it into three pieces, the third one sent flying into the mine.  I couldn't see it as it skittered off into the darkness.
"Hi-YA!!" she shouted, and brought a forehoof down on the last board, nearest the ground.  It broke as well, though she pulled up her leg and held it gingerly for a moment.
"Piece of cake," she said, wincing.
"Thank you for saving us ten seconds of hard labor, Gabby," I said.  She took a small bow.
"Anything for you Princess," she said.
"I'm no stranger to sarcasm, you know," I said.  Everypony was giving me a hard time lately.  Must be due to stress.  Or because my friends and family are cold-hearted monsters who merely masquerade as ponies.  At least the faceless ones are honest about who they are, sort of.
"Are you coming?" Wedge asked, sticking his head out of the mineshaft.  I was the only one still outside.
"Yeah, be right there.  Taking one last look at the sun," I said, and I was only partially lying.  It really could be the last time I saw it, you take this sort of thing for granted and never realize what it meant until it's gone.
Just like Tia.

The sole source of light as we followed the narrow hewn cavern was the light on Inkie's helmet.  It cast a pale glow ahead of us, reflecting off the rock.  All around us it was a thick dark igneous stone, but along the walls was a distinct white rock, running in a vein between two differing rock slabs.  Inkie stopped abruptly and the rest of us stopped as well.
"Before we get too far ahead, I should give you some of these," she said, and sat down.  She opened her saddlebags and pulled out several sticks, giving two to each of us.
"Am I going to look stupid if I ask what these are?" I asked, examining the stick closely.  It looked like a stick, but there was a metal cap at one end which must be significant somehow.
"Yes," Gabby said before Inkie could answer.  Inkie ignored her.
"These are magnesium flares, I made them myself.  Just yank the cap off quickly and voila," she said, and chomped the metal cap, ripping it off.  An intense white light shot everywhere and lit up the cavern, I had to look away lest I go blind.
"Impressive," Luna said.  She took a breath and her horn began to glow, casting a similar light that wasn't as intense or painful to look at.
"Or you can do that, I guess," Inkie said, "but keep the flares in case we get split up."
"Will do," Wedge said.  The others voiced their own agreements.  I looked at my own flare uneasily, but botching a light spell at the wrong time would be a bad move.  I could count on the flares, so it was best to keep them.
We trekked for a time, and I could no longer keep track of the hours as we went, lacking a sun to use as a reference.  Luna didn't have that problem, she would tell us when it was sunset, as it was something she could feel in her bones, the same as my own particular sense, which was quiet right now.  I couldn't rely on it anymore, not since the Los Pegasus incident, but the quiet still reassured me, even if it wasn't rational.
The clear white rock vein on the wall zigzagged as we went, sometimes disappearing for a distance only to reappear later.  I saw some other passageways that followed it, to our left and right, each clearly marked with a big number carved into the wall.  "Shaft 11", "Shaft 12", "Shaft 14".  I guess they thought 13 was an unlucky number, and had decided to skip it.  Inkie would stop and chip an arrow onto the floor with her pickaxe to show which path we were taking, but we were just following the main one.  It was also getting wider as we went.
"So – "Gabby said, probably bored.
"If you want to know about it, just ask me," Inkie said.  Gabby cast a sidelong look at me, again.
"Why are you looking at me?" I asked.
"Aren't you going to shush me?" she said.
"You need to hear about it, and now is as good a time as any," I said.  Inkie was probably itching to get it off her chest, the way she had been walking made her look like she had an upset stomach.
Inkie seemed to be gathering her courage up, we kept walking as she breathed deep a few times.
"Papa said he was just little when it happened.  He said Grandpa woke him up in the middle of the night, said he saw lights coming from the mineshaft and was real unhappy about it," she said, at last.
"This was after the mine had been closed, right?" I asked.
"Yeah.  Grandpa said he started feeling really uneasy whenever he was down there, and then they got the official order.  Inspectors said there was a poisonous gas leak, but he knew there wasn't one;  He sealed it up anyway," she said.
"Then, a few days later, he wakes up papa and says he's got to go down there and shoo off the intruders.  Figured it was probably the miners he laid off, taking their chances to get a little more gold out."
"So he goes down there, and my papa is told to watch the house.  Grandpa didn't come back,  so he waited until noon the next day and then set off himself."
She hung her head.
"Inkie?" I asked.
"It's okay.  Papa went down into the mine, and he got down to Shaft 40 and then he heard it.  Screaming, echoing up from the depths of the mine.  So he started running, and as he did, the screaming got louder and louder.  He found grandpa lying unconscious next to a mine cart, his head was damp on the back where the mane was.  He shoved him in the cart and dragged him back up to the surface, and they boarded the mine up the next day," she said.
Gabby hesitated, but one of us had to ask sooner or later.
"What about the miners?" she asked.
"They were never seen again," I said.
"That's not true," Inkie said, much to my surprise.  I hadn't heard this part.
"A few years back, our farm was in a bit of trouble, see?  Pinkie had to move out to take her apprenticeship, and we had a bad year, so we were in debt, right?" she started.  She stopped again, and I noted we had passed Shaft 22 now.
"Blinkie didn't want to go, but I figured it was up to me to handle it, so I went down to try to find some gold.  I had a gas mask, but it had been decades, so any gas leak must have cleared up.  Or not, either way.  Gold or bust," she said.
"I had never been underground that far, and when I got closer to the end of the mineshafts, I started to get nervous.  I thought I was hearing things, hoofsteps behind me, somepony whispering something I couldn't hear.  I felt like I was being watched the whole time, but I shook it off, told myself it was my nerves.  I went down Shaft 51 and I found them," she said.
"The – miners?" Gabby asked.
"Yep, two dozen of them.  Their bodies were still fresh, but they didn't stink.  It was weird, they should have rotted away by then, but there they were, mouths still open, pieces torn off. I swear one of them move to say something to me, then stopped by the time I had turned to face it. There was blood all over the walls, it was like something had scraped them against it, leaving scratches all over.  I tried not to look, just tried to focus on the vein, but it was too much, I got scared, and I ran out as fast as I could," she said.
"And as I got to the entrance to Shaft 51, there was a big thing in the way, blocking it.  It was black and huge and it just sat in the portal.  I froze, and I just looked at it while it looked at me.  It'd follow my movements left and right, but it didn't come after me.  Just sorta looked at me," she said.
"It seemed like hours went by before I panicked and threw my flare at it.  Then I ran past it and didn't stop until I was at the surface.  So, that's what we're going down to," she said.
"Then why'd you agree to take us?" Wedge asked from behind me.
"Somepony has to, right?  Can't turn down a request from royalty," she said.
"Yes you can," I said.  I didn't like being referred to by rank, I hated how some ponies thought they were somehow less than us just because of circumstances like their birth, but now wasn't the time for that sort of political talk.
"If I didn't do it, Blinkie would have.  She doesn't have the nerves for this, but she does know the way," Inkie said.
Gabby nudged me.
"Well?  This is the part where you reassure me," she said.
"Gabby, the thing she saw is called a Faceless one.  They're real.  I've fought them," I said.
"Oh well if that's all – "she said.
"No, it isn't.  This is not a game, and it's not a joke.  They're strong, fast, and they can shrug off any amount of pain.  They play tricks on your mind and they can strike from anywhere with no warning.  If we see one, leave it to Luna and me," I said.
"I'm not scared, if that's what you're implying," she said.  She picked up her pace a little, moving past Inkie and casting a long shadow in the light ahead of us.  I sighed, and picked up my own pace to match.
"What is up with you today?" I hissed.  I hoped the others wouldn't hear, but sound echoes in caves like this.
"Cadence, you didn't hear, did you?  Have you talked to the twins lately?" she asked, in a tone altogether not playful or aggressive like her usual.  It was rare to hear her take this sombre pitch.
"No, I was doing my job.  You know, Princess stuff," I said.
"I take it that it involves these things, right?  Just like at Los Pegasus?" she asked.
"Yeah, this is them," I said.
"Listen, Cadence.  My mom - " she said.
"Oh I forgot her birthday!  Ack," I said.  It had been a thing that we did, because Gabby's mom lost her husband a long time ago, when Gabby was little.  So, me and the twins, we'd get her a present on her birthday, and - 
"She hung herself," Gabby said.
It was all I could do to not break pace.  I don't think anypony behind us heard that, or they gave no indication if they did.
"Gabby, I'm so sorry," I said.  She had been in and out of depression for some time, and sometimes she would just zone out for days on end.  Sometimes, Gabby would show up at my house in the evenings, back when we were in high school, and ask to stay the night.  My parents had just accepted it after a while, they didn't ask why she would show up out of nowhere.  I was just a dumb kid, and hadn't realized why.
"It's okay, I'm over it," she lied.  I could tell she was lying, wasn't exactly hard.
"Sorry, I must have been all insensitive earlier," I said.
"Not your fault, just, stop trying to persuade me to go home, okay?"  she said.
"I wasn't trying to - " I started.
"Yes you were.  Just let me do this, okay?" she said.
"Okay," I said.