“We’re almost there! I can feel it!” Pinkie called back to her sisters as she climbed up over the top of the hill. She picked up her pace, her saddle bag swinging wildly by her side. Her hooves kicked up the ground, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.
“Pinkie, wait for us!” one of her sisters called from behind her, coughing as the cloud of dust fell over her.
“Come on girls, hurry up! We don’t have that much time left!” Pinkie called back to her sisters, her pace showing no signs of slowing.
“Pinkie, are you sure this is a good idea? I can’t even see the barn from here anymore!” Pinkie’s second sister called out to her.
Pinkie looked over her shoulder and put the brakes on her run, her hooves sliding along the dusty ground before she finally came to a stop, her rear plopping down on the ground. Behind her, she could see her younger sisters slowly meandering over the crest of the hill.
Limestone was completely winded, the young filly collapsing in a heap on her belly as she gasped for air. Marble was not too far behind, her gaze shifting from left to right, her eyes keen and weary. From her cautious expression, she looked as though she was ready to dart away at the slightest sign of danger.
Marble looked back at Pinkie. “Yeah, I don’t know about you Pinkie, but I’m starting to get a little nervous. We’ve never been this far away from the farm before. Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Pinkie nodded eagerly, a wide smile on her face. “Oh don’t worry Marble; we’ll be fine! It’s not like the direction we’ve been walking in has been curvy, and we’ve been marking a trail behind us anyways!” As she finished, she dug her muzzle into her saddlebag and pulled out a small bucket and a still dripping paint brush. Her gaze settled on a large boulder not too far off the path and she scampered over to it. Popping the lid off the bucket, she dipped the brush into it, and proceeded to paint a shiny yellow X on the side of the rock. Marble sighed as she and Limestone followed their elder sister.
“Pinkie, don’t you think we should just head back home? It’s getting really late.” She looked over the horizon. Celestia’s sun was already beginning its descent over the distant horizon, the azure sky obscured by brilliant rays of gold and orange.
Limestone shuddered as she followed Marble’s gaze. “Yeah Pinkie. Look, I’m just as curious about the crystal cave as you are, but we should have come out here earlier. Can’t we just try again tomorrow?”
“Mhhhmmbtthemmbeh!”
“What?” Limestone asked, raising her eyebrow questioningly.
“Petooy!” Pinkie spat out the brush, which landed perfectly in the bucket, splashing vivid paint along the ground. She faced her sisters.
“Awww come on girls! Don’t be a couple of scaredy kitties! There’s nothing to be afraid of! Trust me!”
“Are you sure?” Limestone asked nervously. “We don’t know what could be lurking in those caverns.”
“Yeah!” Marble stated. “What if there’s a Hydra living in there, or even worse, a terrible fire breathing dragon!?”
Pinkie shook her hoof at her sisters teasingly. “Oh girls, there are no dragons living out this far!” She giggled. “Besides, I’ve already explored the entrance of the cave myself. There’s nothing living in there!”
Her sisters gasped in unison. They looked at each other at the same time, their faces filled with surprise.
“What!? You mean you came out here all on your own without us or our parents?” Limestone asked in shock.
Pinkie smiled innocently and nodded, her front bangs flopping around without care. “Yep. All by myself!” she stated proudly.
"Are you crazy!?” Limestone cried. “You could have gotten into so much trouble!”
Marble snorted. “Pinkie, what if you ran into a timberwolf? What if you ran into a cockatrice?”
“Or worse, what if daddy found out?” Limestone cried in horror, shivering at the very thought.
Pinkie walked up to Limestone and patted her on the back. “Nah. Daddy didn’t find out. He was too busy welcoming the new neighbors with mommy to notice that I had snuck off after my chores were done!”
“But, didn’t you say that you were sleepy yesterday?” Marble asked. “Me and Limestone saw you napping in one of the haystacks yesterday.”
Pinkie giggled. “Oh, that wasn’t me. I did a little fake out on you and daddy.” She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a long, curly swab of pink cotton glued to what appeared to be a thin stick. “I made a duplicate of myself that morning before daddy sent us out to the fields.”
Limestone narrowed her eyes. “Pinkie, isn’t that cotton from one of your pillows?”
Pinkie grinned. “Well, I had to improvise somehow.”
“Impro-whatta?” Marble asked. Limestone turned to her.
“It means to create spontaneously, you know, without any preparation,” she stated promptly with a hint of pride in her voice. Marble rolled her eyes.
“Oh, of course, how did I not know?” Marble sneered.
Pinkie dropped her pink swab back into the pack and began hopping away from the boulder.
“Come on girls. It’s just around the corner! The coolest most awesome thing you’ll ever see awaits you!”
“But Pinkie, please, we...ugh.” Marble facehooved. Limestone shook her head and patted her younger sister on the back reassuringly. She smiled warmly.
“Come on little sis. We better catch up to her before she disappears. She’s just excited. Besides, the last thing we want is for her to get angry at us, right?”
Marble’s eyes quickly popped open, and she stood up attentively. “Yeah, about that! Come on!” The two sisters quickly dashed off together, hurrying to catch up with Pinkie, kicking up dust and rocks behind them. As their elder sister rounded the corner of a nearby cliff, the two fillies picked up their pace.
“Pinkie, wait for us!” Marble called.
To her relief, Pinkie screeched to a halt and looked from left to right as she tried to find her bearings.
“Oh which way was it…?” Pinkie said to herself, scratching her chin thoughtfully.
Marble gasped for air. “Oh Pinkie, thank Celestia! I thought for sure you were going to-”
“Eureka! Over here! Come on!” In a vivid blur of pink energy, Pinkie dashed off to the right just before her sisters reached her, leaving them behind in the dust. She zipped through the gorge, the high stone walls of the cliffs rising up to the dusk sky high before her like great monoliths. She shot around a corner, turning on a dime on the tips of her hooves with ease.
She gasped and planted her hooves firmly on the ground, bringing herself to a grinding halt that nearly dug up a trench around her. As the dust cleared, she stared in wonder at the daunting entrance of the cave that stood in front of her, the darkness looming from inside. Her eyes widened, and a wondrous smile spread across her face.
“We found it!” A second later, she heard Limestone calling for her.
“Pinkie! Pinkie where the hay did you go--AHHH!”
Pinkie yelped as she felt Limestone crash into her from behind, shortly followed by Marble. In a crazed domino effect, the three tangled fillies tumbled across the ground like a deranged tumbled weed, hooves and manes flailing through the air. The filly ball rolled across the ground a few feet before coming to a stop, the dust settling around them.
Limestone giggled nervously. “Oops! Sorry Pinkie. Guess I got a little too carried away, didn't I?”
“Ugh. It’s alright Limestone, cept my head’s all dizzy wizzy now,” Pinkie groaned as she stood up, only to feel something yank on her tail, pulling her back down to the ground.
“Eeek! Something's got me!” she squealed as she tried to pull herself away from her prison.
“Ow! My tail! Pinkie!”
She looked down to find Marble lying next to her, her face filled with irritation. Pinkie’s gaze followed hers to see that their tails were tangled up, intertwined around one another in a giant knot.
Pinkie gulped. “Uh oh,” she whimpered as she grasped the knot and desperately tried to untie it with no avail. She looked over at Limestone who was on her hooves a few feet away, shaking the dirt and grime off herself like a little puppy.
“Uhhhhh Limestone. Could you please help us here? We’re kinda...stuck.”
Limestone looked over at Pinkie. One glance at her tangled sisters and the young bookworm fell into a fit of giggles and snorts as she collapsed on the ground. Marble groaned
“Oh for pete's sakes, Limestone! This isn’t funny!” Marble whined as she grasped the knot in their tails and tried to undo it herself. However, one tug on her own tail quickly tightened the knot. She shook the tails furiously.
“Grrrrrrr!” she growled as she slapped the tails to the ground. By now, Pinkie had joined Limestone on the giggle parade, her face buried in her forelegs as she sputtered tears of laughter.
“Good gravy sticks on a biscuit, what is wrong with you two!?” Marble asked, her sanity beginning to crack.
Pinkie snorted as she tried to regain control of herself. “Well it’s like mommy always said, ‘We need to stick together’!” she joked before falling back into her fit.
Marble just stared at her snickering sisters, her face practically steaming by now, the heat rising in her cheeks. She took another look at their tails as they sprawled out on the ground, then back at her sisters.
“Wow, this really is stupid isn’t it?” she admitted before finally caving in and chuckling herself, facehoofing in the process.
Limestone finally composed herself and sauntered over to her sisters, her gait still wobbly as the occasional snicker escaped her lips. She sat down besides her tied up sisters and began to undo them with natural ease.
“Just hold on a minute. I’ve got this.”
“Please! I hope so!” Marble gasped as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.
Limestone shook her head. “Thank Celestia I decided to become a pony scout last summer, otherwise you two would have been in a pickle. Heheh, could you imagine trying to get back home like this.” She finished untying the knot and gently pulled the tails apart, Marble quickly grasping hers and caressing it as she embraced her freedom.
“Thanks sis.”
Limestone shook her head. “Ah it was nothing. I should really teach you two how to do knots someday.” Her eyes lit up in inspiration. “Actually, you two should come to filly scout camp next week! We would have such an awesome time together! Now all we need to do is convince Pinkie to come with us.” She chuckled. “I don’t think that will be that hard though. Hey Pinkie, what do you think? Pinkie?”
Both sisters looked over at Pinkie who was standing at the mouth of the cave, her gaze peering into it with an unrivaled wonder. The two walked up beside her and looked into the cave’s depths.
Marble gulped. “So...this is it, huh Pinkie? Heheh, looks cool, I guess.”
Pinkie hopped up with elation. “Oh, if you think this is cool, wait till you see what it looks like inside!” With that, Pinkie began to hop into the darkness. Gasping in shock, Limestone leapt forward and grabbed Pinkie’s tail, causing Pinkie to yelp as she flopped to the ground.
“Noooo! No no no no! This isn’t a good idea! I don’t like it!” Limestone gasped as she hugged her sister’s tail tightly. “Something’s really bad is going to happen, I swear!”
Pinkie grumbled and stamped her hoof in frustration. “Oh come on girls! I’ve told you there is nothing dangerous in there!”
Marble’s body shook nervously, her teeth chattering. “You...you don’t know that? Something may be living in there now!”
“What if it’s the boogie pony?!” Limestone squealed in terror.
Pinkie giggled, a cute snort erupting from her muzzle. “Oh you girls! There’s no such thing as the boogie pony. Come on, no pony is silly enough to believe in such a little filly tale.”
Limestone grumbled in frustration as she let go of Pinkie. Marble meanwhile stepped up next to her sisters, shaking her head in detest.
“Ok Pinkie look! We’re here! We saw the cave! Fantastic! Now let’s get out of here. Daddy’s going to be wondering where we are soon!”
Limestone gulped and shuddered in fear. “Yeah, and you know how angry he can get!”
Pinkie got up and stamped her hooves in frustration. “Oh you two can’t be serious now right? We came out all this way and now you don’t even want to see what’s inside?”
Both her sisters shook their heads simultaneously, causing Pinkie to sigh in disappointment. “Tsk tsk tsk. Do I always have to do everything myself?” Giggling, she walked over in between her sisters and pulled them close to her.
“Come on you two. We’ll go in together, side-by-side? How’s that sound?” she asked, taking time to slow down her quirkiness and add some comfort in her voice.
“Well...I guess…” Marble’s voice trailed off. She knew that challenging Pinkie at this point was pointless. Plus, deep down, her curiosity was slowly getting the best of her. She looked over at Limestone, whose gaze was also searching the cave. She sighed in defeat and nodded.
“Okay okay, let’s just get it over with. The sooner you show us what’s inside, the sooner we can get home.”
Limestone nodded in agreement, and Pinkie’s smile returned to its original glow. She bounced sporadically in excitement before landing between her sisters again and pointing her hoof forward. “Oh thank you thank you thank you! Let’s go!”
Together, the three sisters stepped forward into the cave's depths, Pinkie leading the way with her sisters at her sides. The gloomy blackness quickly enveloped the three fillies, shrouding them in darkness. Marble and Limestone shook slightly as the warm, familiar light of Celestia’s sun vanished behind them. Pinkie, however, didn’t shake in even an inch.
Limestone gulped. “Uh, Pinkie? How do you know where to go? I can’t see anything in here!”
Marble shivered. “Yeah Pinkie. I don’t even think a bat would be able to find its way through here.”
Pinkie chuckled. “What are you talking about girls? Don’t you see the light ahead of us?”
“Huh? What light Pinkie? I don't see anything,” Limestone asked, her gaze shifting from side to side.
Pinkie pointed ahead of them and for the first time since entering the cavern, her sisters could barely make out the tip of her hoof in a dim glow.
“There! Right ahead of us! Don’t you see that purple light at the end of the tunnel?”
Both of her younger sisters gasped as they saw what she was pointing at. Up ahead, a faint, placid glow was gleaming from around the corner, illuminating the walls in a bath of lavender and scarlet. Pinkie’s younger sisters looked on, entranced.
“You think that’s cool? Just you wait! Come on!” Without warning, she bolted from her sisters and zipped down through the cavern towards the glow. Her sisters yelped in shock as they tore off after her for the umpteenth time that afternoon. The three of them rounded the corner, the shimmering glow growing like a rising sun with every step they took.
Pinkie skidded to a stop, her sisters following suit in the middle of the cavern. Pinkie could only smile and feel a sense of accomplishment wash over her as she listened to her sister’s gasp in awe at the cavern cubicle they now stood in.
Crystals, hundreds of them. Each one radiated a brilliant, vivid glow of red and purple that shone throughout the gave, lighting it up in a beautiful, majestic aura. The crystals themselves varied in size and shape, from great gems that ran up the side of an entire wall, to tiny little fragments, some the size of a bit. As the sisters admired the beauty, they heard the soft trickle of water along the side of one of the walls, the rippling waters catching the glow of the emeralds and disorienting their shimmering forms along the walls.
“Wowwwwwww!” Limestone gawked as she trotted around the cavern. “This is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like this!”
Pinkie squeed. “Oh isn’t it neat! I just knew that I had to show this to you two when I discovered it the other day!” She smiled slyly as she looked over at Marble who was standing entranced. She nudged her playfully.
“Huh?” Marble gasped.
“Come on, say it! You know you want to!” Pinkie cooed, a playful smirk on her face.
Marble sighed and shook her head. “Okay fine, it’s really neat, I’ll admit it.”
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “Uh, neat?”
Marble chuckled. “Incredible! There, you happy now?” She stuck her tongue out at her sister playfully.
Meanwhile, Limestone walked over to a small patch of crystals near the underground stream and set her saddlebag on the ground. Noticing two of the crystals were loose in the rock, she gently grasped one of them in her hoof and with a strong tug, wedged it out of the rock, rocking it back and forth till it popped loose. Despite being separated from the stone, the crystal continued to glow brilliantly in her hoof.
Limestone eyed them curiously while her sisters walked up behind her. Marble smirked. “So Limestone, I bet you probably know what type of crystals these are, am I right?” she drawled, poking her sister playfully in the back.
“To be frankly honest, I don’t,” Limestone said, shaking her head in response. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the crystals more closely. “I read all of daddy’s books on gems and crystals in his study and I’ve never even heard of these. It’s...mindblowing.”
“Wait? Really?” Pinkie gawked as she peered over Limestone’s shoulder, who chuckled in shame.
“Nope. Never heard of em.”
“Whhhaaaaatttt?”
Both fillies looked back at Marble who was sitting on her rump, her front hooves cupping her muzzle in shock. Despite this, both fillies could clearly see that she was trying to hide her giggles.
“Erh, Marble? What the hay is so funny?” Limestone asked questioningly.
Marble snickered as she un-cupped her own muzzle and cleared her throat.
“Did my ears just deceive me? Did my sister Limestone, the greatest know-it-all in all of rock farming, just admit to not knowing something?” she questioned, a sly, devious smile crossing her face.
“Uh, yeah. Of course I just said that. There are a lot of things I still don’t know about, you nut,” Limestone snarked with irritation in her voice.
Marble didn’t hear her assertion. Jittery as a gopher, she began prancing around the cavern, laughing gaily to herself.
“Limestone doesn’t know something! Limestone doesn’t know something! Oh my gosh this is the best day ever!”
“Marble, quit it,” Limestone growled. Marble snickered as she continued, her voice ringing in the cavern walls.
Limestone looked at Pinkie. “Pinkie, please tell her to stop.” All of her hopes vanished however when she noticed the pink filly desperately trying to quarrel her own chuckles as well. Limestone stamped her hoof in frustration.
“Oh come on! What is up with you two!?”
Pinkie snorted as she tried to compose herself. “Sorry Limey! It’s just so funny! She’s such a crack up!” she chuckled.
“Pinkie, for pete's sake! This isn’t funny. I don’t like it when you and Marble make fun of me!”
Pinkie caught her breath. “Oh Limey, you need to relax. We’re not laughing at you, we’re laughing together.” She giggled. “Besides, you’re my sister! Why in Equestria would I ever make fun of youuuauuauaaua!”
At that moment, the pink pony began to shake violently, her entire body jittering from head to hoof. Her tail and bangs flopped around chaotically.
Limestone jumped back while Marble’s giggling quickly ceased. They looked at each other, worry in their eyes for their shaky sister. Marble looked back at Pinkie.
“Uhh...Pinkie? Are you okay?”
“I-I-d-d-don’t-kn-knowwwwww!” Pinkie stuttered, her voice bouncing around more than a hyperactive kangaroo on a pogo stick. “I-I think it’s my P-P-Pinkie sense!”
At that moment, Pinkie’s violent shaking came to a stop, the party pony falling to the ground in a heap as she desperately tried to catch her breath. The cave fell silent for several long seconds, the only sounds being the trickling of the underground stream, and Pinkie’s heavy breathing.
Suddenly, the fillies picked up the distant hum of a deafening rumble, the haunting building with each passing second. The ground beneath their hooves began to vibrate, tiny stones and crystal fragments being tossed around on the cavern floor. The waters of the underground stream shook violently, sending ripples cascading across the surface. The three fillies looked at each other in horror.
“Earthquake!” they all shouted in unison. Pinkie scampered up off the ground, her eyes zipping over to the cavern entrance. “Run girls! Go!”
Her sisters didn’t need a second to think it over. They quickly darted off in the direction of the passage they had entered, followed closely behind by their elder sister. Behind them, the ceiling began to collapse, chunks of rock crashing down to the floor, smashing crystallized sculptures and shattering them to pieces.
The three fillies picked up their pace, running as fast as their little hooves could carry them as they rounded the corner. In the distance, they could see the light of the cave entrance beckoning to them. Pinkie felt her heart rise at the sight of the golden sunset pouring into the cave. Behind her, a cacophonic crash echoed through the cave, shaking the floor violently and throwing the pink filly off her hooves. As she scrambled to regain her footing, she looked back over her shoulder to see the crystal room blocked off, a mass of boulders and stone piled up behind her. Her chest tightened in fear.
“Hurry!” she screamed after her sisters. Luckily, they were seemingly miles ahead of her, the fillies nearing the entrance to the caves, the dim light of the late afternoon sun awaiting them.
Pinkie took off, dashing as fast as her tiny hooves could carry her, desperately trying to reach the exit. The cave around her shook, trails of sand and dust and small pebbles drifting down from the ceiling. Up ahead, her sisters zipped out of the cave and into the sunlight, safe and sound. Even in her frantic pace, Pinkie felt her heart leap in relief.
Her sisters turned around at the mouth of the cave, panic in their eyes.
“Come on Pinkie!” they both called in unison.
Pinkie tore towards them, her legs aching from the strain she applied to them. Ahead the entrance of the cave grew, the welcoming sunlight growing ever more vividly before her eyes. She was almost there.
Her tail shook.
“Pinkie look out!”
It was too close. As if on reflex, Pinkie felt herself come to a screeching halt as the entrance of the cave in front of her collapsed horrifically before her eyes, the boulders smashing into the ground with terrifying force. She screamed, frantically backing away from the avalanche in front of her. Her tail continued to shake violently as she leapt about the cavern, just barely avoiding several rocks that fell from the ceiling until she was finally away from the cave entrance. For several more seconds, the cave continued to shake. Then, just as quickly as the nightmare had begun, the earthquake dissipated, vanishing without a trace. Then, silence.
“Pinkie! Pinkie can you hear us?”
Catching her breath, Pinkie opened her eyes and was met with almost utter darkness, the pitch blackness only being pierced by a faint glow of light from behind her that shot across the cave’s passageway across. Fearing the worse, she turned back towards the cave entrance. What she saw made her heart sink in despair.
The entrance was completely blocked by an unmovable pile of rocks and debris that reached from the floor to the ceiling. The only trace of sunlight visible was at the very top of the debris pile, a tiny hole only big enough for a mouse. She was trapped.
“Girls!” Pinkie cried. She ran over to the pile, her front legs resting on the pile as she tried desperately to pry one of the boulders away from the heap with all her might.
Her hooves slid off the stone in defeat. She couldn't even budge it an inch. She fell to the floor, panting. Through her breaths, she could hear her sisters.
“Pinkie Pie! Are you hurt?” Limestone’s asked desperately.
“I’m...huff...I’m okay! Don’t worry, I didn’t even get scratched!” Pinkie could hear pebbles moving on the other side of the wall as her sisters tried to dig her out from the other end.
“Pinkie, can you get out?” Marble called.
“I...I don’t know! I can barely see in here!” she cried as she looked around the debris pile, praying for an opening, only to have her hopes dashed. “Can you dig me out?”
“We’re trying! If only we could...Aghh!”
Pinkie’s eyes bulged in terror as she heard a boulder loosen from the other side of the pile and cascade outside. She heard her sisters yell and the scamper of their hooves as they leapt out of the boulder’s way.
“Girls!” She leapt up on the pile and tried to clamber up it, her hooves kicking up sand and pebbles behind her. Before she was halfway up however, she felt the boulder she was holding onto begin to slip away from the pile and hopped off it just before it rolled to the cavern floor.
“Marble! Limestone!” she cried. Her mind was racing.
A few seconds of silence passed, then she heard Marble, her voice gasping for air.
“We’re...we’re fine. Oh Pinkie, I’m sorry! We can’t get the boulders out of the way! They’re too heavy!”
"I can’t do anything either!” Pinkie’s teeth chattered in fear. She didn’t want to do this, but seeing her predicament, she had no other choice. “Girls, go find mommy and daddy. Maybe they can find a way to get me out of here!”
“But Pinkie, it’s getting dark! We can’t just leave you out here by yourself! We need to get you out now!” Pinkie heard the scampering of hooves on the other side. “Come on Limestone! Help me out!”
“Are you crazy? You saw what happened last time! You almost got crushed! Besides, if we remove the pile, there's a chance that the entire cave might collapse on top of her! It’s too risky!”
“But Limestone!” Pinkie heard Marble whine, her voice on the brink of tears.
“No! It’s too dangerous! There’s got to be another way, I just know it! I…” Pinkie heard her sister sigh. “I just don’t know. We need daddy out here. He’ll know what to do.”
Pinkie shivered as she looked around the inside of the cave, the blackness of the passageway meeting her gaze everywhere she looked. She gulped.
“I’ll...I’ll be fine girls. Go...just go! Get daddy and bring him back here, please!”
“Just hang on Pinkie; we’ll be back soon, we promise!” Limestone called from the other side.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of there big sister! Just be careful, please!” Marble gasped between tears.
With that, Pinkie heard the patter of hooves as her sisters ran off for home, running as fast as the wind.
“Hurry!” Pinkie called out of them. She listened through the debris as the sound of her sisters' hooves got fainter and fainter until the only thing she could hear was the slight whoosh of the early evening wind, the soft drip drip of water as it trickled from the ceiling, and the sound of her own breathing.
Sighing, she sat down at the entrance, her head hung low in shame and despair. With the pop like a balloon, her mane deflated and went flat, her locks swooping down her face which she swept away with a shaky hoof.
She was alone. Alone, and afraid.