“Steady as he goes. Rainbow, slow down on the peddling,” spoke Rarity when they had almost reached the other side of the magma lake. All three of them had feared for their very lives with each stroke they made. Every little movement could have been the last one and they were highly aware of that little fact. They wanted to get out of there as quick as they could, but couldn’t haste.
Silence was the thing that took them all over until the final stretch was in sight. Rarity could be found standing at the stern of the long boat and Rainbow was peddling with both of the oars. She managed to actually get the thing forward against the currents of the lake as Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy all watched from the other size.
Applejack knew what needed to happen and nudged Twilight in her side. The soothsayer turned her head over to the admiral in confusion. Who in her own turn nodded towards the little longboat. “They be needing help to get it ashore. All of it needs to be out of the magma,” she said in a dead serious tone. One that Twilight could understand without a doubt.
The mare released a gentle nod towards the admiral and began to charge up her horn. The horn of Rarity had also coated itself within the aura as the two unicorns looked to one another. “Levitate out?” the pirate captain asked.
"Levitate out, but carefully and not too high off the ground,” replied Twilight almost straight away. Then both of the unicorns gave each other a powerful nod. With their powers combined should they have been actually able to and melt the ice away from the hull as well as levitating it over to the much cooler ground as well.
There it then hovered. It was levitated off of the ground by mere inches while it continued to crawl its way forward. Rainbow had made sure that the oars were magma-free and placed the pair of them on the places where they belonged. Pinkie could only watch as the longboat just left the lake they had crossed moments ago.
Only once it was actually safe for them all to disembark, would they have known it was completely safe. Although they used that term loosely as they were still next to a giant lake of magma that had taken a rest below one of the land’s most notorious volcano. Inch by inch did the longboat crawl over to the land as the ice was melted away.
All that remained from it was nothing more but mist and water. Water that would be finding its way back towards the magma and to be turned into nothing but steam. Twilight had a quick look after the first cloud of steam had been sent upwards. It worried her perhaps a little bit too much, but the gasses didn’t seem to actually have been able to go anywhere other than the side entrances.
The mare shook her head as she knew that there were more important matters to be worked out. The longboat came to a complete standstill as it was placed upon the actual ground and the three passengers disembarked from it without a hitch.
Everypony was reunited with the rest of the group and there was a moment of genuine happiness. For once again had they defeated a massive hurdle that was thrown into their path. Even though the dangers had risen up to unbelievable heights, they all had to admit that fact that the lake itself held a certain charm to it.
A deadly one that, but one nonetheless.
With the longboat back on the dry could they be making their trip further down into the caverns. Everypony turned themselves around to face the entrance of the next tunnel they had to be going through. It was the one way that hopefully would have brought them closer towards their goal.
Desperation was still something that lingered deep inside of their very minds. The desperation of them not finding the place they had to be going to. The desperation of the events that would have followed if they didn’t succeed within their quest.
But for Twilight was there another and more persistent danger that seemed to have been lurking around. The gasses inside of the massive chamber could be vented through both of the side caverns and possible holes that were invisible to them. Yet there still was the worry of huge amounts of methane gas and sulfuric acid vapors. Those two combined could become a silent but deadly killer.
The eyes and nose constantly shifted and twitched as she took sniffs from the air. The last thing she wanted was to be suffocated by anything before they had reached their goal. “Let’s go, we had the time to enjoy the view. Time to head deeper into the caves. Rarity and I will act as torches. I do not trust the caverns anymore,” said Twilight to the lot of them.
“How do ya mean?” Applejack asked before she rose an eyebrow. A little thing that was shared by pretty much all of the other members. They couldn’t really understand why Twilight didn’t wanted to give them all torches to light up the path ahead of them.
“The reasoning is simple, poisonous gasses plus open flame equals boom,” explained Twilight bare to the bone. Even Pinkie Pie could have understood the reasoning of the soothsayer. Which she actually did to everypony’s surprise. “Arcane light doesn’t irradiate any form of heat unless the unicorn desires so. Meaning we should be safe from that little fact.”
“But what about attaching the light to the torches? Won’t that create any heat?” Fluttershy asked after some thinking.
“She’s having a point,” added Rainbow. But Twilight already shook her head before all of them could have said their words upon the matter. Defeat once more came to the company as the explanation was made against them of just why.
“If either Rarity or I would place bits of our arcane powers upon a torch, it would need a self-sustaining fuel source. Heat, would be that thing. I do not know how much heat it would generate, but I’m not taking the risk. This air is poisonous, let’s go. The longer we stand here, the greater our chance of passing away is.”
The words of Twilight were grim without a doubt. Yet they could all understand them in one way or the other. They had smelled it in their noses, they had even seen it in distant pasts. The gasses of the underground were getting a hold on each of them. Whether they wanted it or not, they would fall victim to it if they would remain there.
Their only hope was to venture even deeper into the crust of the lands. Deeper to where the gasses didn’t reach any of them. It was a long shot once more, but one that perhaps could have been working out the best for all of them.
Twilight and Rarity had charged their horn to the brightest shine without creating any form of heat. With only the charge coating their horns and no spell being cast, it only irradiated the light. Which was exactly the thing that they needed. The unicorns were content with the shine and the soothsayer happened to be the first one to disappear in the new tunnel.
What followed was that the rest of the mares while both Rarity and Pinkie were the last two to enter. They formed the rear guard once again as the pirate kept a close eye on the lamia. She didn’t wanted to say it aloud, but she was still having her doubts about the creature. Something about her just seemed to have been off. Unusual even.
She kept herself silent on the matter though. Yet deep within her sapphire blue rims it was clearly visible. The troubles that she thought about were there. They always had been there, ranging back to their initial encounter.
~~~~
Minutes turned into hours while the company of mares kept on wandering through the cavern. Nothing was the thing that they encountered. A whole load of nothingness surrounded them for the moment. Their only hint was to go deeper. So every time there was a crossing, they would have gotten deeper into the cavern.
The magma lake was high above them but they all knew the dangers it carried. The heat from it could be felt through all of the rocks which luckily didn’t burn their hooves to a crisp. Twilight’s spell to keep their hearts cool seemed to have been paying off rather nicely. Yet the dangers were still lurking around every last corner in their minds. They didn’t have a clue about the wildlife.
Who knew what they would be encountering right around the next curve. Who knew what kind of horrors they would be seeing at the next opening. What ghosts of yesterday would be roaming the dreaded place.
There was nothing but silence that could be heard. Not even the breathing of the anthronies could be heard. Just a complete and utter silence. No echo, no nothing. Silence had taken over everything. None dared to whisper up as they all felt themselves becoming uncomfortable. It almost seemed as if the devil herself was watching them from beyond the shadows. She gazed upon the group of mares as if they were her prey and she could strike at any given moment.
Hours must have gone by when the company of mares couldn’t take it anymore. Hours they must have walked through the new cavern system and only have gotten deeper than before. Where they were was unknown, nopony had drawn their route upon a map of Equestria or anything. Not even Twilight could figure it out with her mental notes.
The soothsayer knew the steps that had been taken, she knew the locations of where they had turned and she even knew the directions of the wind by each turn. Yet all of that combined didn’t gave them a clear indication of where they were.
A deep exhale was being released by Fluttershy just before she spoke her words. “Can we take a rest here, Twilight? We’re all dead tired again. The air is getting thin and I’m sure, you’re having trouble as well.” But the soothsayer wanted to push on. She wanted to continue going forwards and discover what laid around the next corner.
Perhaps the place they needed to be going was resting right around it. They only could be knowing it for certain if they went on and took a look. Yet that was the very thing that Twilight did as well. She took a look at the faces of each of the mares and felt that a hard decision had fallen upon her once more.
Twilight saw how all of the faces were long, tired and just downright exhausted. But she was still filled with energy from the goddesses knew what. None of them knew why Twilight could still be that active about everything. Though they all thought it had something to do with the fact she was a soothsayer.
“Fine, we’ll set up camp right around the next corner. If there’s an opening we’re going to be in luck. If not, we’ll have to make one,” said Twilight before they then continued to walk further. Even though Twilight wanted to push on, the compromise was made. They would be traveling further, but only to the next corner. When that one would arrive though was anypony’s guess.
When the next corner came into their view, the feelings of relief were released by the mares. They all knew that rest was literally right around the corner. Twilight stood still at the intersection and had a great look around with her arcane light. A light that reached to ends far in front of her before it was once more consumed by the darkness.
Her eyes were peeled forwards as she kept on gazing for a suitable resting place. But all that they saw was a whole lot of nothing. Which made the mare come to a rather interesting decision. “We’re going to set up camp right here. In the middle of the road. I’m not going to take any second chances. What lays behind the darkness is anypony’s guess and not to be found out right now. So you have your way, set up the tent and get some dinner. If anypony needs me, give me a shout,” commented Twilight before she opened up the void storage portal to grab some things.
The words that the mare had spoken to each of them were perhaps a little bit unusual to say the least but she meant them in the right way. At least they thought of it that way. Not that there was much to complain about, for they could finally be taking up the rest that they required to have.
Minutes had gone by before the mares had finally set up the tent and found themselves all inside of it. The limited space on the outside didn’t really gave them a chance to have their supper on the outside. But inside of the tent they could at least have a couple of flames in order to keep themselves warm and have light.
Applejack was preparing their dinner once more while they all sat down on the beds. There just wasn’t enough space inside of the tent to set up a table. Not with the admiral cooking inside as well. Nopony truly had a complaint about it though. They also took the opportunity to get some shut eye as well. Or at least Rainbow did that.
Pinkie was slithering around a little bit uncomfortable while both Rarity and Fluttershy had dropped themselves upon the bed of the pirate captain. The two of them were just talking about everything they had done and seen in their lives.
The more Rarity listened to the tales of the doctor, the more she became suspicious about the fact that Applejack could have been right all that time ago. That there was more to Fluttershy then at first glance was given away. Perhaps she did have a much darker secret held close to her heart. None of the mares knew and none wanted to actually pry at it.
“Say Flu- Oh hey Pinkie,” said Rarity before she blinked with her eyes a couple of times. There where she thought to be talking with the doctor just a moment ago, she stared right into the eyes of the lamia. “It’s quite, an interesting manner to make an entrance.”
Pinkie giggled and allowed herself a gentle squee to be released from her body. The unicorn rolled her eyes a little bit as the pegasus released a quiet giggle. “You, wanted to ask something, Rarity?” the timid pegasus then said in the hope to catch the conversation back up.
“It’s not that important, Fluttershy. It can actually wait until a later date. But Pinkie, you know it’s rude to just drop in, when two anthronies are having a conversation. Didn’t they thought you any manners in that place of yours?” The voice of Rarity was both kind and stern at the same time. Combined with the cutting glare within her eyes, the deadly combination was just complete.
The lamia’s smile faded from her face the second she heard the words and shied away from the unicorn her face. She only looked at Rarity with shady looks from her own but knew that the unicorn demanded her answers in silence.
“W-Well, they did, taught us,” replied Pinkie. Rarity then crossed her arms in response and gave an even more eerie looking glance from her eyes. “But, I kinda, forgot, them. It’s not easy to live in a cavern!” she then exclaimed while her arms were then frailed all over the place.
“Okay, okay, okay, I believe you!” the pirate captain returned while she leaned away from the lamia not to get hit by the arms, or anything else for that matter. “But think about it next time, alright? Two beings might be having the more intimate conversation they ever had in their lives or are in a heated but civil discussion.”
The lamia dropped her arms back to the mattress and used them as support for her body. She then released a nod towards the words of Rarity. “Oki Doki Loki. Mind if I stay here, with you two?”
“No,” replied Fluttershy straight away.
“Yes,” said Rarity at the exact same time. Which resulted in a pair of strange eyes from both the lamia and the pegasus. Once the unicorn realized what she had done, there was a little blush that came to her face before she allowed herself an awkward giggle. “Sorry, I meant no, of course.” It all was just a lie to keep everypony happy and not end with yet another skirmish she didn’t want.
Rarity already had to look out for Applejack just to be certain, the last thing that the captain needed were two new enemies that would be knocking at her gates. The awkward giggle died down as the unicorn leaned a bit backwards and closed her eyes.
In the meantime had Rainbow been brought back from the realm of the sleep and had heard the whole conversation between the three of them. She couldn’t help herself to not chuckle at it. It was just that idiotic to listen to. “Sounds like the navy is having some issues when it comes down to their manners, don’t they?” the major chuckled just before she opened one of her eyes.
The eye moved over towards Rarity who had opened her own. The two mares stared each other down before they both shook their head a little bit. Rarity was actually negative about the words that Rainbow had spoken, while the major was just satirizing it even further. “No problems with manners in the navy, major Dash. But I’m the kind of mare who is used to civil manners and chivalry. One can say it’s in my blood.”
“You saying you’re having blue blood in those veins of yours? Don’t make me laugh, a pirate like you?” Rainbow then said just before she shook her head from side to side. She just couldn’t believe a single word that came out of the mouth of the mare.
“And what if I do happen to have blue blood coursing through my veins?” Rarity pried. She wanted to know the further details and intentions of Rainbow’s words. Pinkie and Fluttershy kept themselves silent as they had no intention of getting involved in the clash of titans.
“All I’m saying is that you wasted your blue blood by becoming a pirate. You can kiss all of those sweet little benefits, goodbye. And don’t give me the crap of me not knowing how it feels to work or anything,” replied Rainbow in a near stone cold tone. She had her one eyes pinned down on Rarity.
Who on her own turn only released a deep huff and she pulled her nose up. “Hmpf, listen to yourself, pegasus. Born and raised in the city of pride, everything has a cost within there. No, I’m going to spare you all that crap indeed. And so what if I wasted my blue blood. Who ever said I wanted to be royalty anyway? Besides, it was all before of Applejack that…”
“What’s with me?” the admiral said when she finally returned to the group with dinner for them all. “Twi, soup’s on.”
Mumbles came from the outside of the tent before they could hear the bones being snapped back in their respectable places. Twilight had gotten up and would be returning into the tent. The green eyes of applejack then looked back at the mares on the beds as she was still waiting for her answer.
“This is none of your concern, Applejack,” returned Rarity in calm. The skirmish between the pirate and the major seemed to have ceased down with the interference of the admiral. Though who could be saying for how long that would have been.
“If yar saying so,” said Applejack before she went away again to get the plates. Only once she came back a couple seconds later were the final words upon the matter spoken. “Ah just don’t wanna end up with a dagger in mah back.”
“Heh, with our treaty still standing? Not going to happen, Jackie. You know I have still some bits of decency left,” chuckled Rarity while she took a plate and filled it with the content of the pan.
“Ah hope ya keep on having it until this all is done,” added Applejack as one last note before they all would begin with their dinner. Twilight was actually the last of the mares who came in and greeted all of them with some simple words.
She took place upon her bed and began with her dinner as well. The silence that had taken over between the six of them was a thing that could be cut with a knife to break it. Tension was standing strong between the lot of them. Each of them had their respectable worries as well as troubles.
Nopony knew what they would be expecting next and they rather wouldn’t been thinking about it either. Death, was always a possible visitor for them all. Who knew what shady figure was lurking outside of the tent as they were eating. Nopony could tell, nopony wanted to tell and nopony should have told.
The darkness concealed a lot of things from their eyes. But they would meet another danger sooner or later. That was one of the things that was a certain as the sunrise in the morning.
While the dinner went on, Fluttershy couldn’t be keeping her eyes off of the lamia. She found the creature just fascinating to witness and did so to great extents. But she never seemed to let the alarm bells go off inside of Pinkie’s mind. The doctor was examining the creature while also eating her own dinner. It was the near perfect cover up in her own eyes, if only the lamia wouldn’t figure it all out.
Pinkie on the other end just remained silent while she enjoyed the cooking of Applejack. A thing they all shared there in fact. Despite being a rough and tough mare of the seas, she knew how to make the greatest of delicacies with only the simplest of ingredients. It didn’t matter what it was, it always tasted good and there always was plenty of it to be found.
The eyes of the doctor went over pretty much all of the scales and she tried to figure out the whole anatomy of the creature. An anatomy that both made sense and didn’t at the same time. She understood how the snake portion worked and how the anthrony portion worked. What she didn’t understood at all was the link between the two different kinds of bodies. While it was more than true that it was there, she didn’t know just how something like that would have been a possible feat to begin with.
Rarity on the other end was a little bit disgusted by the creature. She was eating her dinner in perhaps the most civilized manner that they all were eating in. And then there was Pinkie Pie, who ate like a literal wildebeest. The unicorn wanted to shake her head just both so hard and so much at the same time that she would have been afraid of losing it.
Yet she managed to keep all of her nerves together for all times sake. The last thing she needed was yet another fallout with the lamia. She had seen the sheer power the snake possessed as it curled up around Twilight. Luckily for the soothsayer could she teleport out. The pirate captain on the other end wasn’t that fortunate when it came down to her magic.
So if Pinkie’s body would have coiled up around her, she would have either been squeezed or had to be saved by the rest of them. Rarity had to just suck it up for the time being and just live with the facts as they were. Sooner or later would the creature have removed herself from her presence again. Or so she hoped at least.
It wasn’t that she truly was disgusted by the lamia, she just didn’t felt herself too comfortable whenever it was near her. She couldn’t truly explain how it all worked. Whether it worked upon her intimate desires or just with the facts of what anthronies were supposed to be looking like, she didn’t knew. Nor did she wanted to know the answer upon the question that was surging through her mind. For everything just seemed to had become a massive cloud.
A slight grumble was being released from her throat when she realized that little fact happening. Her eyes closed themselves off from the world for a little bit time before she would keep on eating her dinner with her eyes closed.
Everypony continued to be doing that. Rainbow had even crawled out of her laying position and sat up straight on her bed. But that dreaded silence was the problem that they all were having to deal with whether they liked it or not.
Something Applejack had become hell-bent on to change. Her eyes shifted over towards Twilight. Perhaps one of the most illogical questions to have been asked, was then asked. “Hey Twilight, what do ya think we might be finding when we’re in the center? Like, what do ya personally think there is?”
It was the same old question asked in a new jacket. The unicorn released a deep exhale through her nostrils before she placed her fork back on her plate. Her eyes turned over to Applejack with almost little to no twinkle to be found within them. Almost as if somepony had sucked all of the life right out of them.
Which happened to be a little bit true in Twilight’s case. She didn’t wanted to admit it herself, but she was tired from the wandering through the cavern. Not only that though. She also felt that they were running out of time and they needed to be finding the center as quick as they could.
But the question still went unanswered by her. What did she personally thought they would be encountering in the center of Equestria? Another deep exhale was released as the gears inside of her head were turning and twisting into pretty much every single direction. Nothing seemed to be making even a little bit of sense anymore as there was nothing in her mind that could possibly have been helping her in any way or form.
“What I think we shall encounter there? What can’t we encounter there, might have been the better question. For all I know, every last Dark Witch has gathered herself upon the ground and tries to darken our very center. Maybe there’s a giant colony of spiders that have their webbing stuck around the core which causes the tremors. Hell, there might even be a dragon for all I know.”
Twilight honestly didn’t know the answers. She didn’t knew what they could have encountered in the very center of Equestria. But she had a way of actually getting there. A pretty simple one at that. “The answer to all of our questions lays in one simple direction: deeper. We have to get deeper and deeper, more into darkness until we finally are able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
“But who knows how long that’s going to be taking. I thought we were on a matter of time here,” said Rainbow while she looked the soothsayer almost straight into the eyes. The mare nodded in return as Rainbow did happen to have a point.
“Yes, we’re on a matter of time, one that actually manages to let itself wait for something,” replied Twilight. A quiet groan was released through her throat before she closed her eyes for a little moment. “We have to travel even deeper than the magma lake, to who knows where deep inside of the crust of Equestria to stop something that maybe can’t even be stopped.”
“Which makes you question, why you have even began doing this? It’s too late to turn back now anyway. Might as well finish what you started,” added Rarity before she finished her plate. Finally had her eyes opened up again and she gazed over to Twilight as she said her words.
The unicorn nodded to confirm the words of the pirate captain. For she was hitting the nail straight on the head. “Not to mention, if we manage to find a way to bypass the doors we have been traveling through and make it back out to the mountain, I expect Chrysalis to appear any second. Sunset I’m not too worried about as she keeps Everfree for herself.”
“Yeah, thanks for bringing them lot up again,” said Applejack in a sarcastic tone towards the soothsayer. Perhaps it wasn’t the smartest move to start about two of the beings that wanted to put an end to their lives. Or at least Twilight’s.
After their dinner would the company have gone to bed quite early. All of them were broken and tired from the day they had behind them. They needed their rest and every last one of them travelled into a deep sleep.
All of them were deeply asleep as the lights were dimmed. All of them laid just so peacefully in their beds. Nothing could have gone wrong that ‘night,’ right? They were underground, they were thought to be safe from anything. Which did happen to be the case for most things actually. But there was one massive danger that never ceased to exist. And that danger was the tremors.
In the middle of their sleep did the first very few shocks came through. Not enough to wake all of them, though only Pinkie was woken up by them. The tiny vibrations within the ground she managed to pick up and made her worry. Where there was one, many more would have followed.
Before she could even wake the others were they all woken up by the tremors. For they had not only increased in their size, but also in their violence. Something terrible was about to happen and each of the anthronies knew that. All that they could do was to rush with putting their clothes on and get out of the tent as fast as possible.
Everything happened in less than seconds before the mares finally stood on the outside of their tent. Twilight was already busy taking it apart when an orange glow came from the direction that they had come from. All of the eyes went wide as they couldn’t believe it. None of them wanted to believe what was heading their way, but Rainbow was either brave or dumb enough to ask it. “T-Twilight, w-what’s coming our way?”
“That, is most likely, the magma from the lake we crossed so many hours ago,” commented Twilight before she put on a quote that had been said many times before. “Run!” It wasn’t something that needed to be said twice to any of the anthronies. They all feared for their lives as they could only see the lights of the magma. Who knew how far the magma was still away from them? Or more importantly, how fast it was traveling towards them.
With the tent being collapsed even further, the mares could have only ran the direction they didn’t wanted to go. They could only run as fast as they were allowed into the unknown. They had to stay ahead of the magma no matter what and impossible as it seemed.