Shadow of the Sun
By Starwin
Chapter 8
Down, down, down the path led, well below the surface. This stairway did not seem likely to go to dungeons nor any part of the castle. From what Twilight could make out ahead of them the only place this narrow stairway seemed to go was into darkness.
Twilight managed to catch up to her friends rather quickly. Even though they had a head start their pace had been cautiously slow. Rarity led the way, her magic pushing back the shadows of the stairs as they went ever deeper. Behind Rarity was Pinkie Pie, then Fluttershy, then Applejack and finally Spike.
Spike looked back as Twilight approached. He shifted a little to his side to look past Twilight and see the empty stairs behind her.
“Where’s Rainbow?” asked Spike.
“She isn’t coming,” replied Twilight.
“Say what now?” asked Applejack, coming to a sudden halt and causing Spike to bump into her. “You just left her behind?”
“I didn’t really have a choice,” said Twilight. “I think Rainbow is claustrophobic.”
“Clost-a-what?” asked Applejack.
“Afraid of small enclosed places,” explained Rarity. “I had no idea. The poor dear, is she going to be alright all alone up there?”
“Maybe some pony should go back and stay with her?” suggest Fluttershy.
“I think she’ll be fine on her own,” said Twilight. “Hopefully we won’t spend too much time down here. We still have a long way to travel after all. Besides, I don’t think we could go back from here if we wanted to. There really isn’t enough room to turn around.”
“I thought that pony wasn’t afraid of anything,” said Applejack, continuing on.
“How do you fight against something the size of a castle?” asked Twilight. “How do you face something intangible? A fear you can feel inside and can’t control?”
As they went deeper the passage narrowed considerably. The bricks that lined the walls were replaced with smooth stone. The ceiling got closer so that it felt like they were squeezing down a narrow hole.
It was a good thing they hadn’t tried to force Rainbow down with them. Even Twilight was feeling nervous as the walls got tighter around her. It was almost like she could feel the weight of the world pressing down from above.
The stairway went on without turn or end. Wherever this tunnel led, it was very deep underground. They had been walking downwards for at least fifteen minutes now. Why did any pony need such a deep down basement? What were they going to find at the end of this path? Twilight desperately hoped it was the ponies of Hoofington and even more desperately, their water.
“I think I see light up ahead,” announced Rarity from the front.
“Good, ‘cause this place is starting to make me feel uncomfortable,” replied Applejack.
“I know what you mean,” said Fluttershy. “I’m starting to wish I had stayed up top with Rainbow.”
The ponies continued their descent. Twilight caught a glimpse of the end of the tunnel. There was a flickering light at the bottom of the stairs. It had to be some kind of fire light, most likely from candles.
As they moved closer, Twilight could hear voices, even if she couldn’t understand the words. She felt relieved that there were ponies down here. This sidetrack hadn’t been for nothing.
The friends were almost at the bottom of the stairs when a pony suddenly appeared in the doorway, blocking their path. The light was bright at the pony’s back and Twilight could only see a silhouette.
“Who’s there!” called the pony, his voice weary. “Stay where you are!”
“Hello,” said Rarity as she came to a stop. “We have come such a long way and we were wondering if we might have some of your water. You see our…”
“No,” interrupted the pony flatly. “We can’t take in any more ponies.”
“We aint looking for a place to stay,” replied Applejack. “We just need some supplies.”
“Please,” said Twilight, “We’ve come all the way from Ponyville and we…”
“Wait, you came from Ponyville?” asked the colt.
“Yes,” said Twilight. “We were carrying our own water but it sort of evaporated. It’s a long story…”
“Seven chapters to be exact, oh, eight now,” said Pinkie.
“That’s impossible,” said the colt at the bottom of the stairs. “No pony could have made the trip from Ponyville. Who are you?”
“If you let us come down, we’ll explain everything,” said Twilight. The colt was quiet for a long time but at last nodded.
“Alright, but don’t try anything funny. I’m not alone down here,” said the colt.
Cautiously, the friends descended the last several dozen steps until they reached the exit at the bottom. The stairs came out in a fairly large circular tunnel. Candles had been placed along the walls to provide light.
The small space was packed with ponies. Not just a few dozen but more than a hundred. It seemed they had found the entire township of Hoofington all stuffed into this small spot. How they had been living like this, Twilight couldn’t fathom. Ponies were pressed up against each other with hardly any personal space.
Twilight and her friends stood at the far end. The front most ponies had backed away leaving a small gap between the two groups.
“My stars, would you look at them all?” whispered Applejack. “What are y’all doing crammed in down here?”
“I’ll ask the questions, thank you,” said a rust colored colt with a redish mane. It was the same one that had shouted to them in the tunnel. His flank bore a six pointed star with a lasso around it.
“And who are you?” asked Spike. The colt glared at the dragon but Spike held his ground.
“I’m the Sheriff of this town, the names Long Star,” said the colt. “I am charged with helping keep the town safe. Now just who are you ponies and what are you doing here?”
“Like I said,” explained Twilight. “We came from Ponyville. We’re just passing through. I know this is a difficult time for everypony. I know what we are asking for is a precious resource but we desperately need it. We haven’t had any water for almost a day now and...”
“Oh you poor dears,” said one of the older mare’s nearby. “Sheriff, maybe we can just let them have a little bit…”
“Alright, just a little bit,” replied Long Star. He made a motion and some of the ponies came forward, bearing canteens of water. Twilight and her friends gladly took the offering. It took all of Twilight’s effort not to drain the whole thing in one gulp.
“I’m truly sorry that I can’t offer you more,” continued Long Star as he watched the thirsty ponies drink. “But I have a whole town to keep safe here. We don’t know how long this is all going to last and with things the way they are… well… lets just say our options have become limited.”
“Now hold on a minute,” said a golden coated unicorn mare with a contrasting silver mane. She had two rings on her flank, one gold and one silver. “I’ve been going outside to get water for days now. If these ponies came all the way from Ponyville, maybe they could help us!”
“You might be right, Glinting Rings,” said Long Star. “Would you be willing to stay and help us?” Twilight frowned slightly.
“We’re sort of in a hurry,” said Twilight. “We’re on our way towards Canterlot and…”
“To Canterlot?” asked Long Star harshly. “You’re headed to Canterlot?”
“Yep,” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “We’re going to save Equestria!”
“Save Equestria?” repeated the Sheriff in surprise. A whispered murmur spread across the gathered ponies. “Just who are you anyhow?” His eyes swept across the new comers as if he might have missed something important about them.
“Well,” said Twilight. She lifted a hoof and pointed to each of her friends in turn. “This is Applejack and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie…”
“Hello!” exclaimed Pinkie.
“…and Rarity and Spike,” explained Twilight. “And my name is Twilight Sparkle.”
“You’re Twilight Sparkle! Oh, of course you are! How did I not see it!” stammered Glinting Rings. “I’m Glinting Rings!” she repeated. “Uh, you already know that. I’m sorry, I’m just so nervous! I mean you’re Celestia’s personal protégée!”
“Uh, so I take it you’ve heard of me,” said Twilight with a strained smile. It was rare that any pony knew who she was, let alone that she was Celestia’s student. With the exception of her friends in Ponyville, Twilight kept mostly to herself.
“Ha, heard of you!” said a gray earth pony, “she won’t stop talking about you. How you’d come and save us. How you’d use that awesome magic of yours to fix everything.” Glinting Rings looked at the ground, her cheeks turning red.
“Oh,” said Twilight simply, she was at a loss for words.
“Look everypony,” said Applejack, stepping forward. “We can’t fix everything…”
“I knew it,” said the same gray pony.
“… But that doesn’t mean we aint trying to,” continued Applejack, giving the earth pony a harsh stare. “We are on our way to Canterlot right now. We’re gona talk to the Princess and get this all sorted out.”
“And what good is talking going to do?” asked Long Star. “If the Princess could fix this, she would have by now.” There were whispered murmurs of agreement.
Twilight could feel things starting to go wrong. These ponies were scared, terrified even. And they were right to be. Nopony knew what was happening, not even Twilight and her friends.
“Listen up everypony!” shouted Twilight, putting a halt to the growing fear in the conversation at hand. “I promise we will find a way to fix this! I promise we will do everything in our power to make things right! But you can’t give up hope. You can’t give in to fear! Now, more than ever, you have to stand together. Not just as ponies but as friends!”
The murmurs in the crowd changed. Twilight could hear agreement in the tone if not the words. It was working.
“Me and my friends, we stopped Nightmare moon,” continued Twilight. “Friendship held us together when her trickery tried to tear us apart.” There was a cheer this time, led by Glinting Rings.
“Me and my friends, we defeated Discord, even when he pitted us against each other!” The cheer was louder this time.
“Me and my friends,” the crowd of ponies cheered, the loudest so far. “We stopped the changeling Queen, even when thousands of her minions changed into copies of us and fought us in a really confusing battle, also, Pinkie used me as a unicorn cannon, and I guess, really, my brother and sister-in-law actually defeated her…”
There was an uncertain cheer at this last part, some of the ponies gave each other confused looks.
“… But friendship is what we all need right now!” Twilight pressed on, getting her pep talk back on track. “Look at the pony next to you, they aren’t just your neighbor anymore, they are your friend. Trust in them, believe in them and you will get each other through this!”
The crowd cheered again, hooves stomped on the ground.
“We will find a way to fix the Sun! We will find a way to save Equestria!”
The loudest cheering and shouting yet erupted from the crowd of ponies. Some of them began to chant Twilight’s name.
“Very well said, Twilight,” complemented Rarity with a smile. Twilight blushed a little.
“It’s what they needed to hear,” replied Twilight quietly.
“Thank you Twilight!” cried Glinting Rings, her eyes wet, the speech obviously moving her to tears. “I knew you could do it! I knew you would come through.”
“Those were some nice words, I’ll admit,” said Long Star. “But words aren’t going to fix the Sun. And words aren’t going to solve our problem.”
“What problem is that?” asked Fluttershy. The room went suddenly quiet. All of the ponies stared at her and some of them started to whisper. Fluttershy looked embarrassed.
“You’ll have to excuse them ma’am,” said Long Star. “Up until yesterday, we were not stuck in this part of the cave. We fled here after something attacked us. We’ve been holed up here ever since but… this is no way for a pony to live…” None of the ponies interrupted. “If you really are as great as Glinting Rings thinks you are, then we need your help.” He nodded to Glinting Rings.
“Everypony move aside!” shouted Glinting Rings to the crowd. It took her several repeats of the shout but finally there was just enough space for them to squeeze past. Glinting Rings led the way. Twilight and her friends followed in a single file line. Long Star brought up the end of the precession.
Twilight glanced around at the ponies packed into the tunnel. They were of all ages, young and old, big and small, mares and colts, unicorns and earth ponies… unicorns and earth ponies… Where were all the pegasi? There didn’t seem to be even one among them.
Twilight was distracted from her musings of missing pegasi when she realized that all of the eyes in the crowd were fixed upon her. Normally, having everypony looking at her would have made Twilight uncomfortable, but she held her head up high, trying to look as impressive as she could. She hadn’t studied magic with Celestia for years and not learned anything about presence. Her speech would mean nothing if she couldn’t act the part of the savior.
Her heart dropped a little in her chest. The question now was acting the part the only thing she could do. She hated to admit it but the earth pony in the crowd had been right, what would they do when they got to Canterlot. How would talking to Celestia fix any of this? Would they even be able to… to talk to Celestia?
Luckily they had moved beyond the crowd when Twilight finally lost her confidence in her own words. Her thoughts turned back to her teacher. She hadn’t thought about her since before they had left Ponyville, how could she have let that happen. Shouldn’t she be worried about the Princess above everything else? The truth was, there was simply too much to worry about to just think about her mentor.
“Where are we going?” asked Twilight, finally becoming aware that they were walking deeper into the underground area far beneath the castle. She hadn’t been paying attention at all. How long had they been walking? How far had they gone, how much longer was this going to take?
“It’s not too much further now,” said Glinting Rings, still leading the way. “We had to move as far back into the tunnel as we could to stay away from… well… you’ll see.”
The friends exchanged worried looks.
“So, you said you came all the way from Ponyville and you intend to get to Canterlot,” said Long Star as they walked.
“That’s right,” answered Applejack. “It’s a long way by hoof, so that’s why we’re itching to get a move on.”
“How exactly?” asked the Sheriff. “So far, Glinting Rings here is the only one of us that’s been able to go outside.”
“Are you talented with magic?” asked Rarity. Glinting looked back and blushed a little but shook her head.
“Uh, no,” said Glinting Rings. “Actually, my shield spell isn’t very good at all. But I’m the town smith so I am used to really intense heat. Up until the last couple of days I’ve been able to make the trip to the storehouse and back with very little magical aid. It’s been a lot harder these past few days.”
“Well,” said Twilight. “I can manage the shield spell fairly well on my own but Ponyville to Hoofington is a stretch even for me. Luckily, we discovered that Rarity and I could combine our magic to protect us against the Sun.”
“Combined your magic?” asked Glinting Rings with curiosity.
“Yes,” said Twilight. “It makes keeping up a larger shield much easier. I can teach it to you if you like.” Glinting Rings came to an abrupt stop and Twilight nearly collided with her. The golden mare turned around to look at Twilight. From the expression on her face and the tears in her eyes, Twilight might have very well said she was setting the Sun for her.
The whole group came to a stop in the tunnel.
“Really?” asked Glinting Rings. “You would teach me a spell?”
“Sure,” said Twilight with a strained smile. “It you want to learn it.”
“Yes!” said Glinting Rings excitedly. “Yes, yes, yes, yes…”
“Okay,” interrupted Twilight. “Come stand next to me.” The other unicorn let out a squeal of delight and rushed next to Twilight so that they stood side-by-side. The golden unicorn was practically shaking with anticipation. “Now, cast your shield spell.”
Glinting Rings horn began to glow with light and an orange-ish aura of magic spread out around the golden unicorn. It wasn’t the strongest shield Twilight had ever seen, but it was cast correctly and it would repel the heat of the sun.
Taking a calming breath, Twilight’s own horn glowed with magic. The shield spell expanded around her, shimmering with purple light.
“Now,” explained Twilight, “we just have to move closer together until the spells touch.”
Twilight took half a step towards Glinting Rings and as she did a blaze of red sparks sprayed into the air. Instantly, Twilight knew something was wrong. She tried to stop the spell but she couldn’t. The two shields pushed against each other, the point of contact burning white hot. A moment later, with a crack that shook the stone tunnel, the two ponies were flung apart.
Twilight crashed into her friends, while Glinting was flung across the ground, skidding along the stone. Long Star rushed to her aid.
“Twilight! Are you alright?” cried Spike in concern. Twilight’s head was spinning and her body was a little sore but nothing seemed to be broken. Long Star was helping Glinting Rings back to her hooves, she seemed to be a bit dazed but otherwise uninjured.
“I think I’m fine,” said Twilight getting back to her hooves. “What happened? Why didn’t it work?”
“I have no idea,” said Rarity, glancing between the two ponies. “It looked like you did everything correctly.” Glinting was coming back over too them, helped by Long Star. The other unicorn looked a little unsteady on her hooves.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” apologized Glinting Ring’s.
“No, that should have worked,” said Twilight. “I don’t understand…” Twilight trailed off as a thought occurred to her. “No… that can’t be right…”
“What?” asked Glinting Rings, “what can’t be right? Did I do something wrong?”
“I want to try one more time,” said Twilight. She hoped that she was wrong about what she was thinking. Glinting looked a little hesitant after what had just happened but finally nodded. She made towards Twilight but Twilight shook her head. “No, this time I want you and Rarity to try casting the shield spell.” Rarity raised an eyebrow.
“I guess I can,” said Rarity. She and Glinting Rings moved closer together and the other ponies backed away slightly.
Once in place Rarity’s horn began to glow, as did Glinting’s. Shield spells formed around them. Rarity stepped closer but Twilight could already tell it wasn’t going to work. The two shields flickered dangerously and red sparks erupted into the air. Any moment the two ponies would be flung apart.
Acting quickly, Twilight used her magic to move the two ponies apart. The shield spell flickered and collapsed but neither pony was tossed away.
“Oh my,” said Rarity. “That was unpleasant.”
“It looks like I’m right,” said Twilight, a worried expression on her face. “It doesn’t seem like the spell works with any unicorns except for Rarity and myself.”
“Why not?” asked Long Star. Twilight shook her head.
“I wish I knew,” said Twilight. “I’m not even sure how it works in the first place. I’ve never read anything about the shield spell ever being combined in any of my books. I’m sorry,” said Twilight. She wasn’t sure if she preferred ‘I’m sorry’ over ‘I don’t know.’ Over the last couple of days she seemed to be using both phrases a lot. “I don’t think I can teach you that.” Glinting Rings looked incredibly sad. “But maybe we can still help you with your other problem.”
The golden unicorn nodded and the group resumed their trot down the tunnel. It wasn’t much longer before the passage opened up into a huge natural cavern. It was like nothing Twilight had ever seen before. The area was so tall that she couldn’t see the ceiling above. The only indication that there even was a ceiling was a tiny hole so far away that it looked like a little star. The cave was so wide that she thought most of the town above might fit inside it.
In fact, there were actually houses down here, like a very tiny town. It sat near the entrance to the cave but couldn’t have extended more than one tenth of the way into its full space. Green flame torches bathed the whole subterranean town in an eerier emerald hue.
“What is this place?” asked Twilight.
“Neat, huh?” said Glinting Rings. “This is the largest chamber in a series of natural caves that run all over the town. We’ve never explored them all. Some of the passages go on for ever and ever. Others drop strait down into blackness and no pony has ever been to the bottom.”
“The castle was built directly above it by my great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather,” explained Long Star from behind them. “He discovered the entrance to the caves and got lost in them when he was a little foal. He spent a month in this chamber. When he finally got out, he had become so accustom to the caves that he wanted to go back.
“So, he built the stairway down to them so he could visit whenever he wanted. I think he actually spent pretty much the rest of his life down here. He was a strange pony.”
“Yeah, this is really impressive,” agreed Twilight. “But, uh, we are kind of in a hurry to save Equestria, don’t you think you could have just told me about it?”
“Oh, no,” said Glinting Rings with a shake of her silver mane. “No, the cave isn’t what we wanted to show you…”
A painful screech rent the air. Twilight put a hoof over her ears, although it did little good to dampen the sound. Several other screeches echoed the first.
“What is that!” cried Fluttershy in terror over the sound of the screeching.
“That’s our problem,” shouted Long Star. The colt was holding out a hoof and pointing into the distance. Two dancing tiny flames raced around the darkness of the cave, leaving trails of fire behind them. Twilight had never seen anything like it… or had she… there was something oddly familiar about them. She just couldn’t place her hoof on it.
“What they hay are those things?” yelled Applejack, still covering her ears. As abruptly as it had started, the screeching stopped.
“We aren’t really sure,” said Glinting Rings. “They showed up a few days ago and started attacking us. We had to move everypony out of the main cave to keep them safe. And there is something else.” She led them forward, up a slight incline to give them a better view of the shadowy depths of the enormous cave.
“That hole in the roof appeared about a week ago,” continued Glinting Rings. She pointed her hoof up at the ceiling to the distant stream of light. “I think that’s how whatever those things are got in here.”
Twilight’s gaze followed where Glinting Rings was pointing, but something else caught her eye. There was something on the floor of the cave. A spot, that glinted like a diamond in the light. Twilight felt her eyes widen slightly.
“So, we can’t come back in the cave with those things flying around like that,” explained Long Star. “It just isn’t safe. But, since you all are big shot adventures, maybe you could lend us a hoof. After all, you did have some mighty fine words for us.”
“Yes,” said Twilight her eyes fixed on the distant gleam of light. “We will help you.”