//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Journey to Equestria // by Aldrigold //------------------------------// Amber struggled to open her eyes, then blinked hard. She lay in the dark, a blackness so deep it constricted like a shroud over her whole body. She stretched her eyes open wide, skin buzzing with nervousness, but she could see nothing. Her head pounded. Then something fizzed, a quiet hiss, and sparks fell onto her hoof. Green’s face was illuminated in front of hers for the briefest of moments. Amber leapt to her feet, and the motion caused a renewed burst of pain in her head. She winced, then froze as a harsh voice rang throughout the stone cavern. “Did you see that light?” Rikarr shouted. “Unicorn magic. They are alive down there!” Amber’s blood ran cold. Something feathery and soft touched her shoulder—Dusk’s wing. Amber stayed as still as she could, only the slightest of muscle twitches betraying her fear as something huge scratched at the dirt above her head. “Get them. Dig them out!” Something rasped against the stone, the sound making Amber think of the times she had seen the gryphons eat, their talons scraping against bone. The wing tapped her left shoulder again. Amber turned, taking careful, silent steps forward. There was no life under her hooves, just stone. She shook her head, trying to clear the confusion from the fall. The pain and the dark were not helping. Another tap, this time on her forehead. Amber swiveled her head, taking a step forward. A light breeze brushed her mane, and she kept moving, trying to put the scraping noise out of her mind while stepping as lightly as she could. A quiet whisper reached her ears at the same time another feather brushed her mane. “Follow me.” They did not speak again as they headed down the tunnel, the slight touch of Dusk’s wings guiding Amber on. As they walked, Amber’s senses slowly began to return. She sensed only absence. No soil. No life. But as they walked into the deep emptiness, the sounds of gryphon’s claws and Rikarr’s angry screeching faded to nothing. For what may have been minutes or eternity, they walked in silent darkness. “Now, Greenie.” Dusk’s voice anchored Amber. “Try to give us your light.” The same hissing, sparking sound reached Amber’s ears. Then the tiniest of lights emerged, illuminating Greenie’s scrunched face and squinted eyes. Unicorn magic. An image popped into Amber’s mind of the entrance to the gryphon mines. Unicorn lights always flanked the mine shaft corridors, steadily glowing orbs of magic that were like tiny glowing suns. Greenie’s light was small and weak, flickering yellow like a candle flame, but it was still light. They wouldn’t be blind here underground. Amber focused on it for a moment, trying to get her bearings despite the pain in her head. She took a deep breath, Green catching her gaze. “That’s very good,” Amber said. “You can do it, Greenie.” She wondered how old unicorns really should be to safely use such magic. Amber hoped this wasn’t hurting her. Greenie nodded, and the light grew brighter as she screwed her eyes completely shut. The radius of light spread to encompass Dusk, and he folded his wings tightly against his back, his guidance no longer needed. His coat looked black in the dim glow. “Are you alright?” he asked, his eyes meeting hers. “You didn’t respond for a few minutes when we hit the ground.” Amber nodded, wincing as the motion worsened the throbbing pain. “I’ll be fine. I didn’t…I knew there would be a tunnel, or at least a hole. I didn’t know we would fall so far.” “Well, it worked. We’re safe, kind of.” He looked up, his dark form steadily glowing bluer as Greenie’s light increased in power. The light bounced off of the walls, revealing the jagged, uncut rock. Dusk shivered. “How far underground do you think we are?” he asked. “I don’t know.” Amber blinked, struggling to remember what had happened during the fall. All she could recall was the sense of nothingness, then falling and sliding. “But deep enough that the gryphons won’t have an easy time at us.” No scraping sound from the gryphon’s talons reached them down here. “For now, at least.” Dusk sighed. “We have to keep going. Greenie? Can you hold that light?” The filly had relaxed, but the light flickered and danced like a flame, very different from the steady glowing light of a full-grown unicorn. She nodded her head once, the motion sending the light further down the tunnel. Something glittered in the distance. Dusk trotted over to the glint, tapping it with a hoof. “What is this?” Amber walked closer, peering down at it. It shone brighter as Greenie’s light flickered, making her head pound. “A gemstone,” she said. “Gemstones?” Dusk’s eyes widened. “We're not near the mines, are we? Put out the light!” he whirled, his spread wings the last thing Amber saw before they were plunged into darkness once more. “Calm down!” Amber took one step forward, putting her hoof on top of the gemstone. “The mines are far from here. Gems like these are fairly common underground. If we were anywhere near the gryphon’s mines, we’d see the unicorn’s lights from miles away.” She kicked the stone toward the wall, a sharp clack echoing down the tunnel the only sign that it existed. “There’s no light anywhere but here. What we have to do now is figure out the right direction to go.” Dusk let out a gusty breath. “We don’t have the star anymore.” Amber imagined his wings and ears drooping. That wasn’t the worst of it. They could be trapped underground. Amber didn’t want to voice that concern though, not yet. “We were going to go over the mountains, right? We can find an exit. Then we can start again.” “Right.” Something rustled, probably feathers. “We can’t just give up now.” “Greenie, can you give us your light again?” Amber said. Nothing. The soothing darkness remained. “Greenie?” Dusk called. “Greenie, your light?” Amber’s stomach twisted. “Green!” her voice echoed and rebounded, and she winced as the pain in her head throbbed with the noise. Her stomach dropped further when another deep, rasping voice spoke. “Yes, Green pony. Give us your light.” A dim glow began. The first thing Amber saw as the light rose was a pair of glowing green eyes. Her first thought was Rikarr, and she almost panicked, every muscle and nerve screaming. But no. This was different. A gray-furred doglike beast had an oversized paw curled around Greenie’s neck, the filly’s eyes enormous and her legs shaking. Black claws dug into the unicorn’s green fur, and sharp fangs poked from the creature’s lips. Dusk stood beside Amber, wings tight against his back and his ears flat against his head. “You are ponies, yes?” the creature spoke. Its voice was warped, as though the fangs marred its speech. “The ones that get gems for nasty gryphons.” Amber and Dusk didn’t speak and the creature narrowed its eyes to slits. “You,” it growled at Dusk. “Ponies have wings?” They had to do something, say something. It had said “nasty gryphons…” “Yes,” Dusk said. His voice assuaged some of Amber’s fear. “We are ponies. You are…?” “I am Stone,” the thing said, and it took Amber a moment to realize it was giving its name. “A diamond dog. You ponies get gems for nasty gryphons?” Dusk and Amber exchanged glances. “No,” Amber said. “We don’t. We don’t serve any gryphons.” “But you find gems?” The dog’s voice was eager. “Yes?” Amber took a quick breath. Was that all it cared about? “Let her go,” she demanded. “She can find gems, not us.” Amber had no idea if that was true. “But not if you hurt her.” The dog released Green immediately, and the unicorn took a few wobbly steps toward Amber, her light flickering. Amber moved quickly, letting Green lean against her flank. She glared at the dog, who looked back with blank green eyes. They glowed eerily in the light. Stone could probably see her far better than she could see him. “You want gems, right?” Dusk said, his voice calculating. “Why not go to the gryphon’s mines?” “Bah!” The dog’s bark made Amber wince. “They were our mines! The nasty gryphons and their ponies took them from us!” Stone slumped. “Now we dogs have few gems, not like before. If we go to the old mines, the gryphons kill us. Eat us.” Green shivered. Amber had never seen a corpse of one of Stone’s kind, but she believed him anyway. “You live down here?” Dusk asked. “Underground, in these tunnels?” “Yes. All of us.” Dusk’s eyes narrowed. “How many?” The dog held up one paw and tapped his fingers with the other. “One…two…three…” He paused, staring at his thumb with a furrowed brow and his tongue hanging from his mouth. Green turned, her wide eyes slowly losing the glazed, blank look of fear. Amber stood up straighter, letting the filly take a few steps forward. This dog may look ferocious, and its fangs and claws spoke of it eating meat, but at least it wasn’t smart. It was no Rikarr. Dusk smiled. “So, Stone. We ponies are trying to get under the mountain. Away from the nasty gryphons. We want to get to the other side.” “To barren plains?” The dog’s ears perked. “There are no gems there!” “Right. But we’ll find gems for you, if you take us there,” Dusk wheedled. “All the gems you want. Just lead us to the other side of the mountain, underground, far away from the nasty gryphons. You’ll be the richest, uh, diamond dog in the world.” Stone’s eyes narrowed, and Amber tensed for a moment. But then he broke into a fanged grin. “Winged pony has a deal!” *** “Walk fast, ponies!” Stone called. Green’s bubble of light encompassed them, the tiny flame on the end of her horn still flickering like a candle. Stone foraged farther ahead. His soft paws made no sound on the stone, and Amber had to squint to keep him in sight. The air had grown colder and more stale, and she was fairly certain they were headed deeper underground. “How are we supposed to find gems?” Green whispered. “I don’t know that spell.” “Fake it,” Dusk whispered back. “Or maybe their glint will catch your light. We have to go through here, and fooling them is the best way.” Green frowned. “Trust me,” Dusk added. “It’s this or be constantly hiding from Rikarr aboveground again.” Amber looked back over her shoulder. For all they knew, Rikarr could have dug through the tunnel and be hunting them even here. “Through here, ponies!” Stone’s voice warped strangely as he squeezed through a small passage. Amber had to breathe out fully to squeeze through, and Dusk sighed in annoyance, his wing feathers scraping against the rock. Green, at least, had no trouble. Amber froze on the other side, staring. “This is Dog’s Home,” Stone announced. “See?” They had emerged into an enormous cavern, the pressing weight of the tunnels gone. This was larger than any tunnel she had ever seen, more of a work center than a mine. Lichen clung to the walls, giving off a steady green glow. Dark, clawed shapes pushed crudely hewn wagons on stone wheels. Black holes in the wall marked entrances to other tunnels. “It’s like the mine, but…different,” Green said. “Primitive,” Amber elaborated. “And not really a mine.” “There are more dogs than I expected,” Dusk said, some of his confidence gone. “This is Dog’s Home,” Stone repeated. “Ponies will meet other dogs. Then we lead to other side of mountain. Ponies find gems, like they find for nasty gryphons.” Stone hurried forward without another word. “Be careful,” Dusk whispered. “I don’t know if the other diamond dogs will be as thick as our friend here.” They had left the gryphons, but Amber did not feel safe underground with these diamond dogs either. Larger dogs waddled by, looking like boulders with huge arms, spiked tails and jutting teeth. Some of them were hooked to harnesses and pulled nearly empty wagons, just like the earth ponies back in Eaglesburg. Amber swallowed hard. Green stared around the cavern as they walked, eyes wide but gaze focused. She didn’t seem as frightened as before, though her tail twitched whenever one of the dogs looked at her. Dusk kept his head high and his wings loose. He, at least, could fly if he had to. Some of the dogs sniffed the air as they passed. Catching their scent, Amber realized. If something went wrong, they would be hard pressed to escape. “Here, ponies!” Stone stopped outside a dark tunnel, a smile on his face. “Meet with Chert, our leader!” Instead of leading them inside, he bellowed, “Chert! It is Stone! Back from outer tunnels!” Dusk took a deep breath next to her. Green’s light flared brighter, and the leader of the diamond dogs emerged. He was a ruddy brown color where Stone was grey, but unimpressive compared to the burly dogs Amber had seen save for the emerald that hung around his neck. He was flanked by two large grey dogs who looked similar to the ones pulling wagons in the cavern. These dogs wore stone helmets and carried stone spears. Amber’s stomach sank. “Ponies,” Chert growled, breaking into a wide grin. One of his fangs was missing. “You will find gems for us.” “Yes,” Dusk said. The dogs with spears were pointing them at him. “We will gladly find gems for you, if you lead us to the other side of the mountain.” Another dog came up behind Amber. It carried a yoke carved out of stone. “No deal,” Chert said. “You are ponies, slaves for nasty gryphons. Now you mine for dogs.” “That’s not what Stone said!” Dusk shouted. A dog placed a yoke on his neck. Stone stood to the side, silent. His glittering green eyes narrowed as his gaze slid from Amber’s. For a moment, Amber despaired. All this way, all that fear and desperation, to be stuck underground doing the same work she would have been doing for the gryphons. They would never find the land of Equestria. They would never even see the sun again. The yoke settled onto her shoulders. One dog tossed a rope around Green’s flank, and another began to bind Dusk’s wings. His eyes were blank, in shock. These dogs would work them to death, just like the gryphons had her parents. “Good pony,” the dog behind her laughed. It was another gray-furred one, smaller like Stone. No. Her blood boiled, muscles tensing with anger, not fear. She wouldn’t work for them. Not for dogs, not for gryphons. Never again. She reared, arching her back, and lashed out with both hooves. A sharp crack was the only sign she had connected, her strong hind legs encountering almost no resistance. The yoke fell to the ground beside her and snapped in half. She turned, ears flat and teeth bared. The dog who had tried to yoke her was on the ground, squealing from a jaw that was wrenched sideways. It’s tongue lolled out of its mouth and blood dribbled from between broken teeth. Green’s eyes were wide, and even Dusk stared, silent. “We are not your slaves!” Amber yelled. The dogs winced at the volume of her voice, and Amber rounded on Chert. “Let them go!” Chert stared at her, his eyes glowing in Green’s fiery light. His gaze slid to the dog on his right. Amber reared, the burly gray dog moving out of the way of her lashing hooves. She landed, then spun and kicked hard at the one on Chert’s left, her hoof catching the dog’s paw on his spear as he held it up to block. A yelp echoed in the cavern, mingling with the crack of the brittle stone spear breaking. Another dog yelped, and Amber turned to see Dusk bucking, and his straining wings snapped the incomplete knot. He leaped into the air, his wings beating frantically as he gained altitude. The light grew brighter, Green’s eyes squinted shut. The light on her horn was a torch now, and the dogs near her had backed away, mouths open in fear. Amber turned her gaze back to Chert, and took a step forward, slamming her hoof on the stone. “Take us to the other side of the mountain, and we’ll find you gems. As equals!” “Deal!” Chert whimpered, cowering. “We make deal with ponies! Not slaves, promise!” Green’s light faded, and Dusk landed heavily. Amber let out a breath, the anger quickly replaced with satisfaction and no small amount of exhaustion. They would stay free, no matter what, as long as she breathed. “Amber, your side,” Dusk said. She turned, heart pounding. On her hip, a small picture had appeared. It looked like a hoof, but tougher, stronger. A steel hoof. Beneath it was a broken yoke. She smiled, forgetting for a moment about the exhaustion of having come so far and nearly being enslaved once again. The dogs stared at her, newfound fear and respect shining in their eyes. Greenie and Dusk stared too, their gazes full of hope. When you wanted freedom, running wasn’t the only answer.