Twilight felt her heart pounding as she ran farther into the mine with Applejack. The two of them began to cross a narrow, wooden bridge when suddenly Applejack stopped her. “Whoa there, sally-girl. See those monsters over there?”
Twilight squinted, and saw what seemed to be two separate kinds of monsters. One of them appeared to be a blue, tentacle-like creature, while the other had chitin covering its body and crystals growing out of its back. “Yeah, I see them. What’s so odd about them?”
“Well, Ah reckon your sword would cut through those soft-bodied ones, but on the other hoof, your sword might just be reflected by those crystally-looking ones.” She thought for a second, stretching her legs. “But mah Ironclad bucks should send ‘em running!” Twilight nodded in her understanding, and the two of them charged the monsters from the bridge.
Twilight swung her head as her sword sliced cleanly through the worm-like creature. A second one noticed the death of its comrade, and vomited up a green acid-like substance that hit the unicorn in the middle of her barrel. She groaned in pain as she forced her body to slay the creature in front of her. Before she could get to it, though, Applejack ran in. She turned on her front hooves and launched a buck that sent the creature flying, bouncing off the bridge once and then into the caverns below. “You alright, Twilight?”
“Y-Yeah… just took a hit from those things… I’ll be fine…” She said.
“Nonsense! Here, Ah brought a few of these here honey potions with me. Take one and tend to that there wound of yours.” Applejack dug into her saddlebags and pulled out a small green potion, hoofing it over to Twilight.
The unicorn blushed slightly. “Thanks… it’s very thoughtful…” She said, drinking the potion.
Applejack groaned. “W-What?” She stammered, clearly flustered. “D-Don’t go saying things like that with a straight face… It’s embarrassing!” She shook her head for a second, then continued. “Anyways, that there is a honey potion, like Ah said. It should take care of minor scrapes like that, but it’s not gonna help the bigger wounds.”
Twilight nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. For now, let’s focus on finding those two ponies who were screaming.” The mine was slowly becoming more and more rough, with less support beams from the miners present. In fact, a wooden scaffold not too far off seemed to be the last thing before it became full-fledged cave. The screaming voices were close, and Twilight could make out what they were screaming.
“Hey, Snips, how are you holding out?” A slender-looking unicorn said. His body was a mustard yellow underneath his standard-issue guard armor.
“WAAAH!” his green/blue companion said. “I think my leg’s broken!”
“Stop whining! Or the commander’s gonna yell at us when he gets back!” They were currently surrounded by monsters, being driven into a corner.
“Go away! Shoo!” The smaller one said. The monsters looked as if they were about to attack, when suddenly, they turned around to greet two newcomers to the fray.
“Don’t worry, we’re here to help!” Twilight shouted before drawing her blade. Applejack simply knocked her hooves on the ground, eager to get started.
“Give ‘em all you got, Twi! These are the strongest ones yet!” Applejack said as she bucked the nearest monster, one resembling the ones Twilight first fought. The main foe looked as if one of those smaller ones had grown up… and taken a large amount of steroids. Twilight slashed at it, only for the monster to swipe at her with a single paw, sending the lavender unicorn flying. Applejack bucked it with all her strength, but the same effect happened.
“This thing’s strong… how can we beat it?” Twilight thought. Unknown to her, that thought triggered a spark in her mind. The spark traveled to the spiral horn on her head, which began to glow in a violet aura. “Wait, this energy… is this magic?” She thought. “If so… then I need to use this to help us… Aura Breaker!” she shouted the last bit, her sword falling to the ground, only to be caught in the aura from her horn. The blade shot out with a powerful thrust, the shockwave generated from it knocking anything she considered an enemy to the ground. The blade flew upwards, then straight down as it pierced through the skull of the giant monster, killing it instantly.
“What in the name of the Sun…” Applejack gasped. The sword fell to the ground shortly after, Twilight’s horn ceasing its glow. “What did you just do?”
“I… don’t know…” Twilight responded. While she thought, the shorter blue unicorn spoke.
“I thought I was gonna die!” he exclaimed.
“Oh, come on. You’re just exaggerating.” The taller, slender unicorn said. “By the way, who are you two?”
Applejack answered. “Oh, just a passing information dealer and her amnesiac do-gooder companion. Ah don’t think you two can handle what’s in these here caves. You might just want to head back.”
“Snails, let’s do that! I don’t think I can go on… my leg still hurts. I knew I wasn’t cut out to be a soldier.” Snails simply huffed and led the two of them out of the cave system. Applejack shook her head in both mild amusement and concern.
“Ever since we joined up with that Romun Empire, the Equestrian Army technically part of that. But us here in Trottingham? Our army’s nothing more than a barely trained militia. Morale’s not that high, as you can see, Twi.”
Twilight simply smiled. “That just means it’s our time to shine! Let’s keep moving.” She proceeded to rush off, leaving a smirking Applejack behind. The caves started to head downward, and soon the two mares could see the bridge they crossed over high above them. There was a sparkling lake between them and the shore of the other side of the underground water system, and a few torches could be seen flanking an iron gate on the other side.
“Think there might be any more miners on the other side of this?” Twilight asked. She pointed a hoof to the torches. “They’ve obviously gone that way during the mining process.”
“Ah’ll have to agree with you there. The water doesn’t look too deep, we can cross by swimming over.” She jumped into the water, creating a mild splash that soaked Twilight’s forelegs. Annoyed, the lavender mare followed suit, attempting to splash her friend with as much water as she could. “Now, now. Let’s not do that sort of thing here.” Applejack blushed. “I-In fact, let’s just not do that at all, okay?”
“Alright, Applejack. Whatever you say.” Twilight responded. When the two crossed the still water, the gate was just a few meters away. Twilight trotted up to it and pushed on it as hard as she could. “It’s locked.” She said after a minute’s attempt, even with Applejack’s help. The lock was shining steel on the dull iron.
“It’s definitely not budging. Not sure if there’s any other way to go any deeper, though…”
“Let’s look for a key. There has to be one nearby; you can’t lock this gate from the inside, it seems.” Twilight said. Not too far off, the pair found a small, iron box. It had a copper lock on it, sealing away its contents. “No fair! This is locked too!” She cried out, punching it with a hoof.
“Don’t you worry, sugarcube.” Applejack said. “That lock’s copper, not steel like the other one, so I can buck it off no problem.” With that, Applejack spun and kicked at the lock, breaking it in two easily. The chest bounced open, revealing a very battered-looking key. “There we go. Let’s go see what’s behind that there door.” The key fit perfectly, and the two were greeted by a long hallway of rock.
Near the end of the hallway was another monument, akin to the one at the start of the mine. “I think we’re nearing the end of the mine.” Twilight said. Tall marble pillars flanked the two as they headed down a final hallway. The two eventually came to a large, open part of the mine. “Huh… this place feels different than the rest of the mine. It’s like a ruin.”
A small earthquake suddenly occurred, sending the mare off their hooves. A massive beast descended from the ceiling, thrashing two massive arms covered in purple and blue crystals. Its back was coated in more of the blue crystals, giving it a spiky look. The face was nothing but five red eyes on black skin, matching the relatively unarmored lower half of the beast. “Is this the monster that started all this trouble? Twilight, if you don’t want to die, you’d better hurry up and remember how to fight!”
The monster swung one of its massive arms towards the lavender mare, flinging her into the air and slamming her against a wall. Grunting out in pain, she saw Applejack kick the monster square in its unarmored stomach, causing it to switch its attention to her. “I have to do something.” Twilight thought. “But I don’t know how I used magic before. How can I do it again?” She rushed forward, joining Applejack in her assault. Twilight’s sword sliced through the skin of the creature, spilling blood as it howled.
Rocks fell from the ceiling of the cave, raining down on Twilight and Applejack. The armored back of the creature protected it from them, and the creature took full advantage of that to attack them again. Applejack was not as lucky as Twilight was, and took a full hit to her barrel which started bleeding fiercely. “I can’t let Applejack die… I barely know her, but she is still my friend!” A glowing power erupted over Twilight’s horn. Her sword enveloped in the aura, she prepared to attack the creature, pumping as much energy as she could into the spell.
Applejack bucked the creature’s legs, causing it to stumble as hoof shattered bone. Its soft underbelly exposed, Twilight unleashed her instincts, sending her blade flying into the creature’s stomach. The blade tore up the monster from the inside, causing its life expectancy to fall rapidly. When the spell faded, Twilight’s blade fell from the gaping wound in the monster, and the beast itself fell to the ground. Life left its five eyes, and the two mares smiled at each other in their victory. “Ah still want to figure out why you can’t use magic normally like any other unicorn,” Applejack began, “But Ah sure am glad it works when we need it!”
Twilight nodded. “That was a little too close, if you ask me. Are you alright?” She pointed to her companion’s barrel. The bleeding was slowed, but the wound was still fresh.
“Ah’m alright. Nothing a good night’s sleep and a few potions can’t heal.” She turned to fully face Twilight. “But mare, you are one of the strongest ponies Ah’ve ever seen. Ah’m starting to understand how you managed to get out of the Everfree alive!”
“Well, nopony’s more surprised than I am…” Twilight said, rubbing her head with a hoof.
Applejack sighed. “And yet you just trotted on in here without a sword. Hopeless is an understatement when it comes to you.” She joked, causing a laugh from both.
“Hey, you two!” A voice shouted from further in the cave, past the monster’s corpse. A trio of mining ponies appeared, their leader a dull gray coated stallion with a short beard. “I can’t believe my eyes! You two actually took down that big monster! I’m Igneous Rock, the head miner.”
“My name’s Twilight, and this is my friend Applejack. I’m just glad you’re alright.”
“I can’t thank you enough. You saved all of our lives from certain doom! As long as that monster was there, we couldn’t leave.”
“At least you’re all no worse for wear. Small favors really do help out bigtime, huh?” Applejack mused.
“Absolutely! Now, there was a reason we stayed safe…” Igneous turned to face the single cave the led deeper into the mine. “In there is an old ruin, and a statue of some strange pony. It started to glow, and that calmed the monsters down a little. I swear it actually happened.”
“What kind of statue was it? Any clues as to what it is at all?” Twilight asked.
“Well… it was distinct. It was a pony, with wings on its back and a horn on its head. But that kind of pony doesn’t exist, right?”
“Twilight,” Applejack said, “You look like you want to see this statue even more now. You got this little spark in your eyes.”
Igneous smiled. “Well, if you’re that interested, go on and take a look for yourselves. The three of us, though, we’d best be getting out of here. I think everypony would be quite worried about us by now!”
“Take care!” Twilight called. The three miners proceeded to say their thanks once more, and then departed the cavern. Twilight trotted forward, looking back to Applejack. “Well? We’re here anyway, might as well take a look.” AS she walked into the entrance to the old ruins chamber.
“Hey what’s that?” Applejack exclaimed as they entered the room. A statue was present in the room, identical to Igneous’s description. The statue depicted a winged unicorn mare, with a mane that flowed behind her in an invisible wind. The crest on her flank was that of a slim, crescent moon. When Twilight stepped close, she cried out in pain. A sudden headache had wracked her mind, causing her to fall to the floor.
“Twi… light… I… truly sorry… this way… certain… you… return… This… false… sanctuary… I… have…”
The memory ended as soon as it happened. All Twilight could remember was that one sentence, not the pony behind it or even their voice. A hoof struck her face. “Twilight! You okay, sugarcube?” she looked worried. “Was it that voice you heard outside or something? Maybe we should head out ourselves…” A light shone between the two, seemingly emanating from the statue. A small idol, a pegasus wing made of pure silver, landed in Twilight’s hoof. “What in tarnation? Where did that thing come form?”
“Calm down, Applejack. I don’t know anything you don’t, remember?”
“S-Sorry… guess there wouldn’t be any way you’d know. Either way, Ah guess this might just be another unsolved mining incident for the history books. Ah say we head back for the surface now, and get us some cider.”