After walking east for ten minutes the choking underbrush thinned out until only the largest trees remained, giving them plenty of open space to walk through. Now, the uppermost crown of foliage truly did resemble a layer of emerald-green clouds. The ground sloped up, and the jungle gave way to rocky highlands. The icy mountain range loomed ahead of them.
They unpacked the cold-weather cloaks Rarity had given them. They were the same fluorescent orange as the rain-cloaks, but made of quilted goose-down. They proved unnecessary: despite the snow and ice all around, the air was merely cool.
“This can’t be right,” Applejack said, watching a nearby trickle of meltwater. “I was only kidding about the volcano thing.”
Twilight looked further up the mountainside. “I have to admit, this doesn’t look like a volcanic problem after all... there should be vents and geysers here and there, but it looks like the whole region is thawing."
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash called from above. “There’s a cave entrance up ahead! A couple of them!”
Twilight smiled up at her. “Perfect! A little spelunking will tell us what we need to know. Any signs of trouble?”
“Blue skies! I mean, apart from the clouds everywhere. But it looks clear!”
Twilight and Applejack rushed ahead, wary of the slick ice. After a few minutes of climbing, the clouds above grew thick and heavy. A light smattering of rain covered the mountainside.
“Consarn it! These goose-downs will be heavy as rocks if they’re soaked.” She paused to open her left saddlebag. “Can you help me get out the rain-cloaks?”
Twilight ran over and tugged at the latch. By the time they were dressed, the light rain had become a heavy downpour.
“Hey! You okay down there?”
Applejack searched for Dash through the rain. “Fine, so far. Better come down and put on a rain-cloak.”
“I’ll be fine. It takes more than this to slow me down.”
“You need to wear a cloak so we can see you!” Applejack waved the brightly colored garment at her. “And what’s with this weather, anyhow? I thought you said it was all clear ahead!”
“Well the rain wasn’t here a minute ago, was it?”
“Yeah, sure.” Applejack tensed as a deep rumble echoed around them. “What was that?!”
Dash swept down and landed beside them. “Probably thunder. But it wasn’t there a minute ago!”
Another rumble shook the ground... this time, followed by a deep, resonant cracking. The three ponies looked up the mountainside just as a massive chunk of glacier slid loose.
“Go for the caves!” Dash shouted as she flew overhead. “It’s the only cover for miles!”
Applejack and Twilight broke into a gallop, charging towards the distant avalanche. The chunk of glacier began tumbling, and a wave of snow gathered to each side of it. They could see the shadowy cave mouths ahead. The avalanche was still distant, but several rolling chunks of snow had begun to pick up speed.
“Twi!” shouted Applejack, “those snowballs are headed right for us! Now would be a really good time to—”
“I know! Stay close to me!”
Applejack rushed to her side as the nearest snowball tumbled closer. Twilight braced herself and lowered her head, and her horn flared with brilliant purple light as the ball struck them. Snow wasn’t nearly as hard as rock, or even ice, but it was still frozen water... and water was heavy. The ball struck an shimmering dome of force and sailed into the air, landing behind them. Most of it broke apart and scattered. Its core, however, continued rolling for a few seconds.
“Whoo!” Applejack yelled, and looked back.
Her smile faded as she saw what the snowball had hidden: A huge beast, covered with shaggy white fur. It flattened out and grasped the mountainside with long, curved claws. It spun around and scratched to a halt despite the icy-wet rock. It turned to look at them.
“Uh... Twi...?”
“Hold on, Applejack! There are more incoming!”
Applejack watched the bear loped towards them, its hunchbacked shoulders rippling with oversized muscle. Its paws and nose were tinted blue and its shaggy white hair flung off a spray of rainwater with every motion.
Applejack poked Twilight, rapidly. “I think you really need to see this...”
Twilight’s response was cut off by a bloodthirsty roar. She recognized it as the same sound they’d heard just before the avalanche: it hadn’t been thunder at all. Other roars echoed back in response, and the snowballs ahead burst apart all at once. The bears rolled along for a moment, then stretched out their claws and charged on all fours without breaking stride. The massive avalanche beyond them suddenly seemed insignificant.
Twilight’s reluctance to use magic vanished entirely and she charged ahead, horn flaring. These beasts were gargantuan—much larger than an ordinary polar bear—but Twilight Sparkle had dealt with far larger in the past. Although their claws were well adapted to ice, a ‘slick-and-greasy’ spell sent three of them sliding out of control. A turbo-charged ‘growing’ spell lengthened the shaggy coats of two others, tangling them up in several yards of excess fur. A ‘dress-up-disguise’ spell transformed two bears into picture perfect replicas of Twilight and Applejack: the others nearby immediately fell to brawling with them. And on it went... the maximum amount of chaos, caused by clever applications of the simplest spells.
Eventually, Twilight ran out of clever ideas. A bear burst out of the snow ahead of her, claws outstretched. She clenched her teeth and hurled it overhead in a display of raw force. She followed it up with a ‘powder-and-pepper’ spell, and our others fell to the ground wheezing and clutching their noses.
Twilight tensed as one of the bears reared up on its hind legs. He raised a staff made from the trunk of a slender tree, with its twisted roots clamped around a crude geode. He wore a tattered hood, and had grey cloth wrappings around his forearms. He raised his staff high, and a great bolt of light seared through the air. Twilight screamed and scrunched her eyes tight in pain.
Applejack grabbed her and tugged her along. “Come on, Twi! There’s no time to waste!”
“I can’t... I can’t see!” She opened her tear-streaked eyes: they were milky white. “They aren’t just animals! One of them can use magic!”
Applejack looked up, and froze. They were surrounded. The bears were all standing upright or crouching in a three point stance. Her eyes flicked back and forth, and came to rest on the staff bearer.
“We surrender,” said Applejack. “Treat us fairly, and we promise to go along peacefully.”
“Kill them,” the leader growled. “Both of them.”
An explosion of prismatic light and color momentarily blinded them all, and a shockwave of force slammed the leader back and sundered his staff into splinters. The others gasped and looked to the sky: A rainbow ribbon arced up, let out a disc-shaped burst of air, and wheeled around for a second pass. The bears roared as the sky-blue missile bore down on them: several of them reared up to swipe at the dive-bombing pegasus, but all were knocked back with a deafening whipcrack.
Twilight and Applejack wasted no time and fled into the caves unnoticed. By now, the avalanche was nearly on them. The rainbow ribbon abandoned the bears and rushed towards them: Dash streaked past them with the force of a gale, just as the wave of snow buried the entrance and plunged them into total darkness.
Rainbow Dash gradually came to with a head full of cotton. She groaned as somepony patted her cheek.
“Did it... work?”
Twilight smiled down at her. Her blind eyes had recovered. “You were amazing out there.”
Dash managed a dazed, goofy smile. “Tell me you’re putting that in your journal,” she said before collapsing into unconsciousness.
After half an hour of rest they set out to explore the caverns. There wasn’t much choice in the matter: even if they could clear the snow from the entrance, there was no telling what might be waiting for them on the other side. Dash had mentioned multiple cave entrances, and there was a decent chance that at least one of them was connected to the same network they were in.
They moved slowly but steadily. Twilight kept her light spell as weak as possible, and their eyes adjusted to the dim glow. Her map of the caves was a simple flowchart, and she left chalk-mark numbers on the floor of every juncture.
Rainbow Dash had survived the battle with only a badly bruised wing to show for it. They’d tied splints to her wing for support, but she could still walk.
As they went further in, a howling wind rushed past them. Applejack shivered, and took out her cold-weather cloak. “This can’t possibly be a volcano problem.”
Dash’s ears perked up. “You think there are more of those bears are down here?”
“Not necessarily,” Twilight said. “Cave walls can carry sound a long way, distorting it. It’s probably just blowing wind or rushing water.”
“So... there aren’t any bears down there?”
Twilight shrugged. “I didn’t say that.”
Applejack gasped and pointed at the cave wall. “Look there!”
Twilight raised the intensity of her light and shone it at the wall. There were carvings in the rock: symbols chiseled out of straight lines and surrounded by decorative patterns.
“Language!” Twilight said as she rushed closer. “This is amazing! I don’t recognize it, but it’s definitely a form of runic script. Some of the oldest languages in the world are runes.”
“Ancient runes?!” Dash ran to her side, hopping excitedly. “You guys, you guys! We totally have to take some rubbings! That would be just too perfect!”
Applejack quirked an eyebrow. “...Rubbings?”
“I read all about it! You hold a piece of paper against something, then rub a piece of charcoal all over it. It makes a copy of the surface!”
Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, but there’s no way to copy all of it. There’s just too much.”
“We can still take a little rubbing, can’t we? As a souvenir?”
“Certainly. If I find any particularly important passages, I’ll let you know.” Twilight squinted up at the runes, and trotted further down the cave. “It looks like a record... maybe a historical account of something.”
Applejack stared at the writing. “That sounds like it could be real useful. Do you think you can translate it?”
“Maybe... hm. It does look sort of familiar. If only I had my linguistic reference with me.”
A distant, warped roar interrupted them.
Applejack glanced back the way they’d came. “That doesn’t sound like wind. Or water.”
“Come on. We’d better find an exit.”
They moved ahead at a gallop. Twilight kept her map notes as brief as possible, and dimmed her magical light even further. The sound of heavy footfalls and scratching claws echoed all around them, growing louder with each passing moment.
Applejack glanced behind them. “Twilight...?”
“I know,” she said, and flipped to an earlier page in her journal.
Dash flinched at a particularly loud roar. “Twilight? I think they’re getting...”
“I know!” Twilight’s eyes flitted back and forth, scanning the nearest branch of the cave. “The exit has to be around here somewhere... it has to be!”
Dash pointed at a nearby wall. “Not to focus on the negative, but if we were nearer to the surface wouldn’t there be less writing?”
“That doesn’t necessarily...” Twilight stopped, and scanned the writing. It was different now. It was still a runic script, but the symbols were larger and the strokes were jagged. Like claw marks.
Applejack turned around, trying to face the nearest sound. “This place is a maze, but it sounds like they’re right on our tails! How could they have found us down here?”
A hulking pale brute stepped into view, with a half-dozen followers right behind him.
“The runes in this part of the cave are theirs.” Twilight stared up at the nearest bear, and backed up a step. “This is their home. They live here.”
Twilight bumped up against Applejack, who had begun backing away from the bears behind them. They were completely surrounded. Twilight took a deep breath, and looked to her friends. They both gave her a resolute nod.
“All right, girls. As soon as I...”
A deep roar reverberated through the caves, but this one was different. It was less guttural, and more... predatory. The bears, judging by their reactions, found it just as unsettling:They readied themselves for battle as the new threat approached, but as it grew louder their resolve began to waver. The roar was clearer now: The grinding of an earthquake, and the hiss of cherry-red iron quenched in ice water. There was no mistaking the sound of a blazing furnace nor the scrape of scales and talons.
The bears muttered amongst each other and finally broke ranks. They fled deeper into the caves, howling the same word over and over. Twilight needed no translation to know what it meant. The three ponies huddled together as a shadow came into view on a corridor wall. The outline of a massive reptile.
The slow, steady roaring abruptly faded to a quiet, disgruntled yawn. The extreme perspective of the shadow receded, and a familiar baby dragon trudged around the corner.
“Spike?!” all three of them called out at once.
“Wouldja keep it down over there?” Spike grumbled. He ran a hand over his head and combed his spines back. “I was in the middle of the best dream ever.”
Applejack ran over and gave him a hug. “Thanks a bushel, little guy!”
He blinked at her. “For what, exactly?”
Twilight ran over to him. “I thought I left you in charge of the library! What are you doing here?!”
Spike shrugged. “I was sleeping.”
“No, I mean... before that. Think, Spike. What do you remember?”
“Okay. Let’s see. You were about to go on a balloon ride or something, and I was going to curl up in your sock drawer and sleep for a few days... but then Pinkie Pie woke me up and dragged me off somewhere. Said she had some kind of special mission for me.”
“What?!”
“She wouldn’t tell me what it was, but she said it was important. Super, duper... booper important. She threw me in a barrel, filled it with enough gems to feed me for a month, and carried it around for a while. I figured sleeping and eating was better than just sleeping. Next thing I know somebody drops me on a mountain in the middle of a thunder storm.” He plucked one of several wooden splinters out of his scales. “Found a cave to nap in. Been here ever since.”
Applejack gave her head a brisk shake. “Hold-onna-minute-there... you’ve been sleeping in the barrel since we set out, and then you were sleeping here in the caves since the balloon crashed? That was two weeks ago!”
“Yeah, I know...” Spike stretched his arms out with a metallic crick. “My nap was off to a great start until all that ruckus.”
Twilight stared at him, slack jawed.
He looked around, bored. “What’re you guys doing in a cave, anyways?”
“It’s... kind of a long story.”
Dash shrugged. “A storm wrecked the balloon and we came to the mountain looking for where it came from. The storm, I mean... not the balloon. Then I fought off some bears.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “All right, so it wasn’t a long story. Listen, Spike... we have to get out of here as quickly as possible. We need to map out the tunnels and find an exit without being seen.”
“Or we could go that-a-way for about five minutes.” Spike pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “It leads to the surface. There’s a hot springs.”
Twilight turned Spike’s head side to side, looking him over. “Spike, are you sure you’re all right? You were sealed in a barrel for a week!”
“You have no idea how boring it was... Pinkie Pie only gave me three books to read! A picture book about whales, a scrapbook of your old grocery checklists, aaand...” He took out a heavy textbook and squinted at the cover. “...A book from the Reference Encyclopedia of Ancient and Extinct Linguistics? Why would she give me this?”
Twilight hopped in place. “Is it volume seven? Please tell me it’s volume seven!”
Spike held the book up. “Yup... Syntactical Reference for the Translation of Hieroglyphs, Runic Scripts, and Semiotic Proto-Languages. Unabridged and with fully updated annotations and errata.”
“Eeeee!” Twilight snatched up the book. “Thank you, Spike! Thank you so much!”
He gave her a grumpy frown. “Again. Please. For what, exactly?”
Twilight turned to Applejack and Dash. “We need to translate those inscriptions as quickly as possible. There’s no telling how long we have until the bears to return!”
“You got half an hour,” Dash said. “I wouldn’t risk anything more than that.”
“That isn’t nearly enough time for a full analysis. If only I knew what language it was, this would go a lot quicker!” Her eyes widened. “Oh, silly me! Dash, do you still have those rubbings you made before?”
“Yeah. I only made three of them, though.” Dash took the scrolls out of her bag and handed them over. “I’m getting these back, right?”
“Probably not. But I’ll give you full credit in my report to the university.” Twilight scribbled a brief note, and bundled it up with the charcoal prints. “Spike. If you please?”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Spike took the bundle and, with a puff of green flame, incinerated it. The cloud of sparkling mist streaked through the cave and out of sight. In a matter of seconds, a belch from Spike produced a neatly ribboned scroll. Spike caught it before it hit the ground, and passed it to Twilight. She popped the seal and scanned the contents of the letter.
“Brilliant... she makes it seem so obvious!” She tucked the letter away and walked down the cave. “Let’s go. I think I can have this done in half an hour.”
“That’s great,” Spike said and stumbled back the way he’d came. “Just let me know when you’re all done.”
An aura of purple sparkles lifted him into the air and carried him along. “You’re awake now... and I’m definitely going to need my number one assistant for this.”