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// Chapter Four: The Mine 
// Story: Cobalt and Emerald 
// by Cerulean Swirl 
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COBALT
It was dark. That was my first impression of the mine. It was so dark I couldn’t see my hoof in front of my face. One of the guards lit a lantern and let us out of the crab trap. I was grateful for air, but I figured I wouldn’t get much under here. It smelled of earth and must. There was a long tunnel through the endless dark and dirt. I gave Emerald a hat with the flashlight on it, and he put it on and flicked on the light.
You couldn’t see much, but the flashlights made an improvement. 
“Where should we go first?” I asked, and pulled out my Minerals book. I had brought it along only to research the stone a little more. I turned to the Shamrock Sapphire page, and read it, and the only information it offered was that Shamrock Sapphires were originally found in the Canterlot Mine in a damp place.That didn’t give us any leads, considering the entire mine was damp. 
I lit my horn and performed the gem finding spell. We weren’t getting anywhere without it. 
I began to trot down the long tunnel. The captain of the group of guards divided all the guards in half, half stayed, half went, just in case we were caved in and needed more help, help could be provided. As I walked, little patches of magic showed hazy images of gems, stones, expensive minerals, and jewels. I recognized all of them, and noticed that there was no gem that was more plentiful than all the others. I spotted a heart shaped piece of cobalt, I stopped and grabbed my shovel and used my magic to dig it up. Levitating it over to Emerald, I asked, “Isn’t it beautiful?” 
“Yes, it is.” he said.
“Have you found a Shamrock Sapphire yet?” 
“Not yet.” I said, and we trotted on.
Lots of gems lined the walls, and I looked up and saw a huge piece of amethyst that looked vaguely like an elephant. 
The smell of dirt filled my nostrils and made me cough, but it couldn’t be too far.
We were soon far away from the other half of the guards. The only light was our flashlight hats, my horn, and the captain’s lantern. Other than that we saw miles and miles of pitch black earth. The lack of noise was neither peaceful or comforting. It was eerie and unforgiving, and there was quiet behind me and in front of me. Nopony said anything. In fact, the only noise was everypony’s hooves on the dirt. I didn’t see it coming.



EMERALD
We were walking for what seemed like an eternity. Cobalt stopped only once to dig up a piece of cobalt. She saw lots of gems, I’m sure, because her horn did not die out once. Her cobalt colored magic danced around her horn, and she looked left and right, as if there were an audience cheering her name on both sides. 
I was the one who heard it. It was a low dull sounding noise, like somepony’s stomach was rumbling. A rock fell down and hit me on the head, and when it fell on the dirt floor it rattled. Then the noise grew louder, as if the entire ground was angry at us for being there. That’s when the ground began to shake. My eyes were shaking in their sockets and I was sure my head was going to hit the ceiling of the mine. The guards around me were shaking too, and I couldn’t see Cobalt anymore I was shaking so badly. The ground bounced us up and down as if we were in a bouncy house for foals. 
I vaguely remember seeing the Captain of our group of guards dive down and pull Cobalt to the ground. The rest of the guards followed suit and the ones not near me began diving on the ground, which was still shaking violently. However, one guard near me grabbed my neck and pulled me to the ground, giving me a face full of dirt. The pain shot up my hip, and I knew I had just gotten a dirt burn, or whatever you get when you rub your coat against hard dirt. Once I was on the ground, the guard who had pulled me there put both hooves above my head, as if protecting it. I never thought of squeezing the shard, but before I knew it, the ground stopped shaking and the dirt stopped cascading over our heads. All was quiet again. We laid on the ground for a few more precious minutes and we listened carefully before getting up on our hooves. We were all covered in a thin layer of brown dirt, but we were alive.
“Thank you.” I told the guard who had pulled me down on the ground. 
“Don’t mention it.” he said, gruffly, and went to go check on the captain.
The captain was up and Cobalt was too, her hat askew and horn not glowing. She adjusted her hat and glasses. 
“Is everypony okay?” she asked, looking at all of us. There was a chorus of yeses and I’m Okays. I managed a feeble yes.
“Thank you for saving me, Captain.” she said, and he gave her a nod. 
The captain’s walkie talkie buzzed on his belt. A scratchy and faint voice came out. 
“Captain! Captain! Do you copy? Over!” 
“I copy, over.” said the captain into the walkie talkie.
“Be careful, captain! You and those ponies only have…..forty five minutes left, over.” said the voice, and the captain said yes and returned the walkie talkie to his belt.
“Shall we continue?” asked Cobalt.
“Yes.” I said, and we all continued, more carefully this time. 
Now that we had been scared out of our hooves, we were much more careful. We each paced the dirt as if treading on thin ice. The guards kept their eyes on the ceiling and the floor, wings open at the ready. The guards formed a tight knit box formation around me and the captain stayed close behind Cobalt, her horn relit. 
We began to move farther and farther deep into the mine. No sign of any Shamrock Sapphires. I took a canteen from my saddlebag and took a gulp of water. The guards did not eye me enviously, but stayed close to me in case of the unspeakable. We all knew that if there was a cave in, that no amount of wings would save us. Perhaps….if I were to fly, I could dodge the falling dirt. But most of the ponies here were unicorns, including Cobalt. We had our shards, to be sure. I decided not to squeeze it until we got closer to the end of the mine. The captain, and seven other guards besides me were pegasi. The rest of them and Cobalt were unicorns. Heck, even three were earth ponies. There was the ever present feeling of fear and foreboding.



COBALT
We walked farther. Farther. Farther still. I was still ahead of the group, and I noticed the guards had formed a box formation around Emerald. Which was odd, but I knew only that they wanted to protect as many ponies as possible. The captain was on my hooves while I walked, in case of another scare. We’d walked all of seventeen minutes, but it felt like years. Years and years and years and years of walking in the dirty, smelly, earthy mine. I’d had no luck, unfortunately. There were no Shamrock Sapphires. There just weren’t any. I checked the book again, and found nothing. It only said what it looked like, how many karats it was known to have, and of course, how it had been found in damp places in the Canterlot Mine. Oh, and of course, it said that it had been found: “In the place where ponies collect water.” 
Of course, there were no natural springs I knew of in the mine, and from what I gather nopony had found one. Plus there was no secret civilization down here anyway, or else Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would have discovered it. They’ve been down here many times, they said. There was nothing to go on,  once again, so we kept walking. I was glad I double checked, though. I couldn't really be sure of anything right then. 
We all sat down and took a break and had water and berries. It wasn’t high class nourishment, but it was something, and since we’d traveled over a mile down into the mine, we’d figured we’d made good time. All the guards were allowed a sip of water and two large berries. All of us had brought water and I had picked plenty of berries in case we were stuck somewhere. We weren’t, but I’m sure some of the ponies were beginning to think this was a lost cause.
It wasn’t! I’d seen lots of gems, but not the one we were looking for! I was getting more and more determined to find it. If we didn’t….then what would he wear to the Gala? Those gems, after they’re used, they go to charity and ponies who are in need. They’re melted down and the money taken from them goes to ponies in need and charities and orphanages. Money for the needy. Don’t worry, I told myself. We’d find it soon. We had to. We were running out of time. 
We were off again without any delay. We packed up our water bottles and I re-performed my spell and my horn lit itself once again. 	“Are you sure you haven’t found it yet?” asked the Captain, checking his digital watch. “We only have thirty more minutes.”
“We’ll find it soon, trust me,” I said, carefully, trotting ahead. 

It came from the right. A low rumbling sound, just as before. Then everything began to violently shake. We all stood motionless for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. 
“On the ground!” yelled the Captain over the noise, and the guards tried to pull Emerald Blast to the ground, but he fought. The Captain reached out a hoof to trip me, and my horn faded. 
Then the debris came. Big chunks of the ceiling came down on our heads. I was knocked off my hooves and onto the cold hard ground, holding my hooves over my head as a shield. I saw Emerald coming at me from my right, and a big chunk of earth hit him on his lower back, by his wings. He yelped, but over the noise it sounded like a squeak. A large piece of debris was coming at me, but I saw a sand colored hoof knock it out of the way. 
The last thing I remember before I blacked out was the floor giving out under our weight and the Captain yelling ‘NO!!’.