All that Glitters

by Starsong


Chapter 3

Dusty descended into the earth with Ivory not too far behind him. Being their only source of light gave her ample reason to stay close, and him some comfort from the heavy darkness below. It parted like fog and the red rock gradually turned tan, the tunnel opening up into a larger chamber. Little bits of light crept in through slats somewhere in the rocky ceiling and the ponies squinted until their eyes adjusted.

Vast. The only way to properly describe Galehooves rest. It wasn't a mere hole in the rock. Soft sand spread at the bottom of a stone stairway, opening a field of always-warm ground. Several wells dotted the middle and all about this sprung a collection of nest-like ledges and caves. Even after being picked clean over the years, it still felt like a whole herd could be packed away in there somewhere.

“Seems like some ponies weren't shy about what they were doing here,” said Ivory. She pushed a hoof against an abandoned excavation pole with impunity. “How could they have missed something so valuable?”

“By looking too hard, I imagine.” Dusty paced past her. “Come on, let's peek around a bit. It's probably not that dangerous.”

“What about the other ponies here?” She looked from one side of the cavern to the other. But it was empty, still.

“We'll just have to hope that we get to the statue first,” said Dusty. “And if that doesn't work, well, we'll try the diplomatic approach.”

Dusty rounded up towards the back of the cavern and couldn't help but peek into some of the shelters. Now, ponies were used to living in houses. Back then it wasn't unusual just to sleep under the stars. But in times of cold or need... it had to be the next best thing. He knew that the barren rock and floor didn't do the place justice. He could almost see woven mats and beds of soft grass. It would have been snug for one family but the retreat itself offered plenty of room to cook, clean, and play.

“Find something?” asked Ivory. Dusty realized he'd been staring and shook his head.

“I'm thinking,” he said, brushing is thoughts of the past aside. “Something like a guardian statue would probably have been kept in the open, don't you think?”

“Makes sense to me,” said Ivory. “Unless it was dangerous.”

Dusty tapped his hooves together. He had that feeling in the base of his wings that he always had when he was on to something. “I doubt it,” he said. “But if it wasn't taken away by an expedition, it must either be hidden in plain sight... or somepony moved it. So where would you hide a guardian if you had a place like this.”

“Somewhere safe,” said Ivory. They were ascending one of the ledges, further from the courtyard. “This place was supposed to have caches?”

“Yeah, but those have been excavated already.” Dusty's wings began to perk. “If this is a shelter then they must have had a safe room.”

“But where?”

He scanned the chamber. Hundreds of caves, perfect warmth and lighting and corridors that stretched towards the back. But a safe place would be have to be close to everything, accessible to everypony. He saw a large archway which led into a small amphitheater. A meeting hall. His wings flared open and he flew higher up in a burst of excitement.

“There,” he said. “It has to be there!”

The two of them raced towards the ends of the cavern. There the light faded from natural to a sense of firelight, not just from the red of the rock but from the fact that a few torches had been lit in the room and burned quietly even as they entered. The big slab of polished marble dominated each descending row, echoed by a groove where thousands of others must have sat before. The ceiling, too, seemed to stretch up to a single glass dome through which sunlight kept filtering in.

“Only the Galehoof clan probably knew about where the hidden rooms might be,” Dusty pondered. “Do you detect any magic?”

Ivory frowned and slid past another tableau. “No,” she said. “But I think there's something else.”

“And what's that?”

The unicorn pointed a hoof towards the back of the chamber. Shadows shuffled about in the vague shape of a pony from behind the supporting pillars. Dusty's ears dropped a bit and he swept to the ground on instinct. He lifted one wing and gestured it at Ivory. Stealth mode.

Down through the rows they crept, closer to the belly of earth until they began to hear the shuffle of hooves in the distant chamber. They kept their heads down and slipped behind the white stone pillars, carefully leaning into the doorway to try to spy whoever was inside.

Inside paced a white earth pony, who seemed to be distracted with the tapestry-like carvings on the walls. Every now and then he would pause, sit, and study one before sighing and moving to the other end of the room.

Dusty shrugged at Ivory. And then the two of them walked in together.

“Pardon me,” said Dusty, “but are you looking for something?”

The other pony jumped and Dusty swore he could feel the floor shake, stone and all. He whipped around and lowered his stance for a flash of a moment before promptly unwinding. “Aside from a bit of common sense regarding sneaking up on another pony,” he said, “I'm thinking that there's something amiss about this room.”

A sigh of relief escaped Dusty. One other explorer, and hopefully reasonable. “I sure hope so,” he said. “Where are my manners? I'm Dusty, and this is Ivory. To whom do I owe the pleasure?”

The stranger looked up from adjusting his cloak. A proper cloak in tawny brown, covering up the exposed parts of his back and his flanks. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “Bruce.”

“Bruce?” Ivory repeated.

“Bruce.” The earth pony nodded with obvious pride.

Dusty and Ivory shared a look before approaching him.

“So what are you hear looking for?” Dusty said. Something about Bruce's behavior just struck him as queer. Maybe he had something to hide, too.

“Ah, something like a famous statue.” Bruce tapped his hoof. “If I would have hid it away somewhere, I'd probably have put it in here.”

A little buck! escaped Dusty before he could hold it back. “I see,” he said. No sense in trying to be coy about it, he thought. “And what if we happen to be looking for the same thing?”

Bruce tapped his hoof thoughtfully. “I suppose whoever found it first...”

“But you look like you need a little help to figure this out,” said Dusty. “Can't be too kind on you for that if you're going for my treasure, sorry. Now if you're being helpful I certainly don't mind making sure you get a cut of the take, or whatever else we happen to find.”

The earth pony listed back a bit. “You plan on selling it?”

“Not so much. Just that someone very important is paying us to get our hooves on it for them.”
“Well,” Bruce said, “Arguing won't do us a lot of good if we're stuck here.”

Dusty planted his flanks on the floor and stared around the panorama of the room. “Aye,” he murmured, and then his brain took over.

It was pretty archetypal of an old ruin. Stories in pictures, true stories with a bit of exaggeration in regards to the size of one's horn or speed of one's flight. He recognized many of them from the books that he'd leafed through. The pictures began with a lithe earth pony leading the wandering herds back to this place, immune to the pounding of hail and scorching droughts.

They could have spent days just making sense of all the little pictographs. He skimmed over them all once, twice, while the other ponies paced and studied them in sequence. Then there was a part that he thought stood out, three ponies standing beneath the radiant sun.

“Ivory,” he said, suddenly. “A little light here, please?”

She brought the dim horn of her light over. “What is it?”

Dusty leaned in and showed her where the light caught the rock just a little bit differently. “Different material,” he said. “And I didn't see this one in any of the books. I wonder why?”

“Maybe the scribes ran out of parchment,” said Ivory. “What now?”

“I've got a hunch.” Dusty looked over his shoulder at Bruce, who had abandoned his observations to watch them. “Could you lend us a hoof?”

He lumbered over and paused at the plate. “What you need?”

Dusty practically took up the bigger stallion's hoof and laid it against the image of the earth pony in the carving. It was hilariously mismatched but somehow seemed appropriate. Then he directed Ivory to put hers over the unicorn's.

“Galehooves Rest was about community,” he said. “It strikes me that no one person would be able to open the inner sanctum. And a good number, to me, seems to be three.”

He lifted his hoof over the pegasus', nudging between the other two on the sun. There was a discrete click and then nothing happened.

Ivory sighed. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Dusty looked down. The wall had changed, after all. In front of Ivory and almost a foot higher than her head was a small hole about the size of her horn.

“Heh, I think I can figure that one out,” said Bruce.

“Is it magic?” Dusty asked, biting his lip. Ivory shook her head.

“No,” she said. “None that I can feel.”

Dusty wiped his brow with his free hoof and nearly fell over. There wasn't much more to say on the matter, and the two gentlecolts politely averted their gaze as Ivory leaned over and slid her horn all the way into the hole in the wall, grunting a bit as her forehead pressed against it.

Another click. Then a sudden groaning and grinding in the wall that shuddered the room around them. Ivory leapt back first and then the others followed, laughing as the slab in front of them began to lower.

“Brilliant,” said Dusty, wings giving a swift flap.

“Always the unicorns,” muttered Ivory. “Always.”

But even she was a little bit excited. Secret doors always did that to a pony, especially if they just happened upon them. They had to move single file, but beyond the hallway began to open up again.

“How do you figure no one ever found that before?” asked Dusty. “I know explorers are reclusive, but...”

“I think someone may have,” sighed Bruce.

Dusty's gaze snapped up. The final room was plain by necessity. It wasn't made for occupation, merely a vault made to protect its contents whether they be ponies or baubles. Lots of empty space, and all of it empty, except for one thing.

A sharp ascent, an almost royal staircase leading far away to a few makeshift beams. And at the center of that was the statue. In the dark, they couldn't make out any of the detailing.

“Looks like we're in luck.” Dusty sighed. “The one thing no one's bothered to take.”

“And why do you think that is?” another pony asked.

The three ponies spun about. Dusty and Ivory recognized her immediately. The cloaked, rusty coated unicorn that had stolen the horn at the castle. Their constant shadow, and the one who more often than not got to the goods first.

“Garnet.” Dusty huffed. “I should have known.”

“Yes, you should have.” The unicorn trotted past him, flicking his nose with her tail. “You may have given me the slip back in Canterlot, but I'm always one step ahead. I just needed you to do the one thing I couldn't.” She whipped her black mane towards the door. “We're not all that different. Suckering someone else into doing our dirty work.”

“That's not it at all,” Dusty flicked between glowering and looking at Bruce with puppy eyes.
“And what were you planning on doing with the statue once you all got to it, hm?”

Dusty swallowed. What was he supposed to say? He had to get that statue for Celestia, and that might mean doing what he had to do to overcome the competition.

“I thought so.” Garnet laughed. “Not that it matters, since I'm going to get there first.”

A single second of silence followed, and then both ponies bolted towards the statue at once, leaving Ivory and Bruce behind. Dusty flew ahead, fighting the still air with his wings. Much to his disdain, he was trading paces with the unicorn as she cleared series of steps and platforms in single bounds.

He was beginning to realize that the statue was farther away than he thought, that the vault was much larger than he'd believed... and as the statue came into view he realized it was more than a mere trinket. A beautiful carving of two ponies reared their hind legs, propped neck and neck against one another. At first glance one might think they were fighting, but as they got closer, Dusty realized that wasn't the case. One was allowing themselves respite, and the other looking outwards. He could practically feel the threat rolling off of the guardian pony. Strike, and face the consequences.

Dusty and Garnet raced and raced as the other ponies followed them up the stairs. Dusty poured all of his momentum into a glorious forward arc as Garnet took to the air. They arrived at the statue at the same time.

“Guh!” Dusty groaned as he smacked into the statue, wrapping his hooves around it. “This thing must weigh a ton!”

Garnet stopped at the top step and laughed. “Of course it does! It's practically a fixture. Not that it matters for someone of my caliber.”

And she flicked up her horn with a flourish of scarlet magical energy. The same energy began to engulf the statue. It gave a little wiggle and Dusty clung on tight.

“It's not yours to take, Garnet!” Dusty hissed, now wrapped all the way around the statue's circumference.

“I think that whoever has the stones to carry out the stone gets it,” she said cheerfully. As the stone began to lurch, though, Ivory cleared the top of the stairs and used her own magic. The statue stood still.

Garnet jerked her head about. “Oh, not this again. You aren't going to stop me this time.”

Her horn flared and a small red ring glowed near the base. Garnet's magical aura enveloped the statue again and it began to grind across the floor. She and Ivory strained back and forth and it seemed for a while that Garnet would overpower her.

Then Ivory's horn sparked like a giant bolt of static. The two unicorns stumbled backwards as the spell was broken, and a dull hum came from beneath the statue.

Then the vault began to tremble.

Garnet growled and flicked up her horn, but now Bruce was at the statue. She was outnumbered and the shaking was not going to stop. “It's kind of ugly anyway,” spat Garnet, and then she fled.

It was a good idea. Dusty ran five lengths before he realized he was alone. Bruce rubbed his head.

“What's happening?” he said, having to speak up over the increasing churning of the earth.

“If I had to guess,” said Dusty, speaking as quickly as he could, “the statue was what was holding the local magic in a particular order, and Ivory could not tell because it wasn't a proper enchantment-- it felt too natural. They must have upset the balance and that means we should probably get out of here.”

Bruce stared. And then he nodded, standing with his back to the statue. “Alright,” he said. “I gave you a hoof, now give me one. Just give it a nice little buck up top.”

Dusty stared dumbfounded. But now that bits of gravel were beginning to fall from the ceiling, he didn't feel like arguing. “You go ahead, Ivory.” he said, taking to the air. “I'll catch up.”

They looked into each other's eyes once, because they'd recited this exchange before. I'm not leaving you here alone. No, it's too dangerous. That's exactly why I need to stay! No one is going to be able to help me if we're both dead. Dusty always won those arguments, and they were both still alive, so she turned about.

“I'm going to make sure we have a way out,” she said dutifully, and was gone down the stairs.

Dusty sighed. All there was left to do was buck the statue about and then be gone. He made care to strike the statue about the shoulders, because it only seemed polite. As he did he heard something like thunder below. Bruce's back hooves struck the statue and the little bit on top in the opposite direction was just enough, after being upset by the unicorn's reefing and tugging, to make it topple.

Right onto Bruce.

Dusty gawked as the white pony braced himself from the floor and propped the entire thing on his back.

“Keep it steady!” he called, somewhere between a bark and a laugh that seemed eerily familiar. Dusty flew behind the crazy stallion, nudging the pillar of rock when it'd tipped one way or another.

His balance was uncanny, even going down the smooth sides of the stairway. The quaking was violent now, and weaker parts of the walls were beginning to cave in. Yet the pony still took one hoof after the other and soon they were out of the vault.

Dusty would never look at this pony the same way again.

The vault, being the stablest part of the Rest, fared far better than the other chambers. Many of the housing caves had already collapsed in from the pressure. Dusty even felt a little dizzy just from the vibrations in the air.

All they had to do was clear the courtyard and hope that there was an exit still intact.

Rocks were falling all about them as they met Ivory in the central excavation site. She waved her hooves frantically towards another passageway.

“It's still clear,” she said, and then lowered her gaze. “I'm sorry.”

“You can buy us drinks when we're safe and sound,” Dusty huffed. “Come on, and help me with this lout.”

Bruce grunted. Even with his immense strength the strain was beginning to get to him. He had to put all of his effort into keeping the thing steady, keeping them moving, and now it took the three of them together to maneuver up the winding ascent towards the surface.

Everything happened at once. The echoes of the quake became deafening and the ponies couldn't hear each other shouting as they struggled to keep their footing. Rocks crashed down around them and one nearly knocked Dusty from the air.

They could see sunlight. And that's when the earth opened up in front of them.

Ivory leapt over the fissure on instinct alone. Dusty hovered long enough to watch the crack widen under Bruce's foot. He tripped, and fell.

“Bruce!” Dusty gasped, zipping down.

The earth pony managed to grasp the opposite side of the fissure with his fore hooves, but couldn't pull himself up. Dusty saw why. He had the statue clenched in between his hind hooves. No matter how strong he was, it was going to fall.

Dusty landed on the edge of the fissure and almost fell over from the vibrations that jarred through him. He and Ivory grasped the stallion's hooves and pulled, but the weight of him pulled back and they all slipped a little closer towards the drop into the abyss. Dusty pulled and pulled until he thought his heart would burst from the pressure. He didn't want to let it go. But there wasn't another way.

“You're going to have to drop it!” Dusty screamed, just to get over the clamor. “Just let it go.”

Bruce looked up at the two ponies. And what argument was there? He slackened his grip on the statue and it plummeted into the abyss, rock bouncing off of rock until it fell out of sight. The fissure continued to widen as the two ponies pulled Bruce from the drop and they raced for the exit together.

The rest was just running and flying. Something Dusty was far too used to, and far too used to doing with a nice bit of loot under his wing. The ground kept shaking as they burst out of the cave. They ran until they couldn't feel the ground moving anymore, and then fell in a heap on the dirt, panting.

Several minutes passed. They looked back at the oncoming fog of dust and debris from the remains of Galehooves Rest.

“That could not have gone worse.” Dusty groaned. “The princess is going to kill me.”

Bruce coughed. “We're still alive,” he said.

Dusty didn't feel like it, entirely, and Ivory wasn't making any efforts to demonstrate otherwise herself. “We destroyed a piece of history. I'm not sure that's better.”

The earth pony laid a solid hoof across his back. “No one ever stays there anymore, and someone was bound to bring the place down someday. This way no one got hurt.”

There was always Dusty's pride, but the wound made whimper rather than rage. Ivory exhaled.

“It was Garnet,” Dusty said, glancing over.

She nodded and closed her eyes. “It was almost mine.”

And before the utter silence could conquer them all, Bruce laughed. “You're too young to be worrying about what-ifs. Why don't I go with you back to Canterlot and buy a round of cider. We can work out what happens next after that.”


* * *

Normally, Dusty was not predisposed to letting strange ponies invite themselves to his entourage. But after their ordeal and Bruce's surprising displays of strength, he was not inclined to argue.

They all shared stories on the road back to Canterlot, Bruce mostly of his patrols in the north and Dusty of his and Ivory's ventures. Garnet came up frequently, of course, and on the first night he thought he spied her balloon fading into the dusk.

Only when they were back in one of the palace chambers did Dusty manage to piece it together, and only after Bruce had put on the golden armor belonging to the royal guard, sitting beside Celestia herself. Even in such a graceful company, he couldn't help but facehoof. The loudmouth guard, the chatty old man. The very same one.

“Don't be too surprised,” said Bruce.

Celestia seemed unusually calm, though she had most certainly gotten a report from Bruce beforehand. Still, she listened patiently as Dusty explained all that had transpired. Everything, even his candid musings, up until they'd lost the statue and escaped with their lives, leaving rubble in their wake.

“Please forgive me,” said Dusty, nearly pressing himself to the floor. “I do not think I could have failed you more spectacularly.”

And the Princess' voice came like a gentle wind after a long stillness. “I think otherwise,” she said, and did not give him time for clueless theatrics. “I sent along Sir Ironoak along not to spy on you or to hinder your way, but to tell me what he thought of you. This outcome is one of many that I considered. It was not my intention to have the statue in ownership, but to judge your character.”

Dusty looked up, eyes brightening. “So does this mean...”

The princess' lips pursed. “Given that you do not have any relic to show for your efforts, I cannot yet contract your services and cannot officially offer you any compensation...”

She inclined her head ever-slightly and the door latched shut, the curtains drew and an almost fae sense of peace settled over the room. Celestia sighed a sigh Dusty had never heard before, not one of royal acquiescence but of a pony ready to confide. “I know I can trust all of you, now, and I must ask of you a favor most personal.”

Dusty's eyes widened. All three of them stared, and could not help it. Princess Celestia let slip just a fraction of the guard she'd built for millennia, and it made her no less regal, no less resplendent. The presence of the alicorn threatened to hold them spellbound, and threaded the guilt she had even as she looked upon her eager subjects.