//------------------------------// // Chapter LXII // Story: Journey to the center of Equestria // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// “Twi ain’t coming?” Applejack asked while she was working once again on the dinner for each of them. The lamia had told them exactly what Twilight had told her and most of them could actually understand the reasoning behind it all. “I don’t get it, why does she need to separate herself from us all? Like, have we done something wrong?” Rainbow asked without much thought going through her. Her eyes looked at the group with a curious gaze. She was in fact the only one who didn’t understood Twilight’s very reasoning of being separated from them. The words were cringe worthy for all of them though. Rarity released a deep sigh through her nostrils as she wanted to argue with the pegasus, but made perhaps the best decision not to do it. She valued her own sanity and if she would argue against such an airhead as Rainbow happened to be, she would be busy for a long time to come without a doubt. Yet Fluttershy was the one who had taken it upon herself to defend the unicorn soothsayer from the harmful words. “Listen Rainbow, we haven’t done anything wrong whatsoever. She just needs some time alone. She has lived in that castle all of her life and has no idea of the outside world, from one moment to the next she’s dropped in this massive adventure.” “So, your point is?” Rainbow asked through. The pegasus still didn’t understood a single thing from the words that were said. What followed was that both Rarity and Fluttershy brought their hands to their foreheads. There possibly wasn’t a way that Rainbow was that stupid, right? “It means ya back off,” commented Applejack, but nopony heard her words. Then she spoke a bit louder. “It means that Twi ain’t used to getting involved in these kind of things, Rainbow. Her mind has troubles to process everything that is both seen and done. Ya’re used to the thing as ya had been fighting in the last war remember? Twi was only a foal at the time, or not even born yet. Yar used to action and adventure, y’all actually,” explained Applejack as bare boned as she possibly could have gotten. Finally there seemed to have been a little light that went on inside of the head of the pegasus. It luckily resolved the matter for the rest of them, but the admiral was still not entirely certain about what she needed to be doing with Rainbow. Either way, the matter had to wait as their dinner was ready for them. With their dinner being eaten in silence did the group returned to their conversation almost straight afterwards. Even though Applejack had called out to Twilight that it was ready and they had even saved her a plate, the unicorn soothsayer just didn’t come. Whatever she was doing, she was sunken deep inside of her mind. Perhaps she wasn’t just thinking things out, perhaps she was also just trying to place everything right in her mind. The anthronies could only guess because the lamia didn’t found it her place to meddle herself in with. Anything could have happened with the ticking time bomb that happened to be Twilight’s very own mind. The dangers that were always lurking combined with the rivalry within the group caused for a tension where the blade was already set upon. One wrong move would have been more than enough for everything to have snapped. And thus for everything to have fallen as if it were nothing. They all would then have been thrown into the abyss that was waiting for them. Much like the chasm that laid outside. A deep sigh went through the nostrils of Applejack as she stood near the entrance of the tent. Her eyes looked over to Twilight while she held her arms cross over each other. It pained her to see the unicorn just like that. Not much later had both Rainbow and Fluttershy made the decision to go to bed early in case there would have been a night watch and they would have been called right in the middle of it. Pinkie just slithered around the massive tent as if she was looking for a good place to curl herself up and fall asleep as well. But thanks to her own energy reserves was that something a little bit easier said than done. Yet Rarity walked over to the admiral and joined her in standing there. She took place upon the opposing side and laid her arms crossways over each other. Her sapphire blue rims stared deep into the bright green ones of Applejack. Silence took over the two anthronies as neither had the words to say. But in their eyes they knew exactly what they needed and meant. The two mares of the sea could read each other’s eyes just like an open book. The pages would have been turned with every shift the eyes made to further enhance that little metaphor for them both. The silence between them was in fact good enough for Rainbow and Fluttershy to fall asleep under as even Pinkie managed to get exhausted. She then just curled up around herself and closed her eyes. That marked the signal for the two sailors to start talking in whispers. “What are ya doing here? Ain’t ya supposed to get yar beauty sleep or something?” Applejack snarled in a whisper towards the pirate captain. The unicorn only shook her head a little bit from side to side in return. She wasn’t expecting the admiral to be friendly towards her for one bit. Seemed like her expectations had been placed rightfully so. “No Jackie, it’s not yet the time to do such a thing. Even now that you've sobered up all the way and haven’t drunk a single thing since we left Appleloosa, you’re still as cold and heartless as ever against me. I don’t care what causes that, as there’s a new pain in your eyes. A new stress, if I may say so,” replied Rarity just before she pointed one of her fingers towards the admiral’s eyes. “Heh, that obvious? Ah ain’t gonna be making mah mouth dirty on yar first words. But yes, Ah’m worried, ‘bout her. One moment everything seemed fine and dandy, the next she just crashed or devastated,” said Applejack in a bit calmer tone towards Rarity. Whether she liked it or not, the admiral was genuinely glad that she was having at least somepony to talk to. Not to mention that that somepony even understood that she was having another problem up her flanks. “She’s a remarkable mare, I do have to admit that with my heart. Few are like her and even less would become like her through the ages,” answered Rarity just before she turned her head slightly towards the soothsayer and gave a gentle smile. “Ah just don’t get how somepony can change like that, that quick.” “Oh it’s pretty easy, actually,” commented Rarity while she made the gestures with her hands. “Twilight’s mind can only handle so much outside of its comfort zone. I personally think she had been sitting with the feelings a whole lot longer, but she never had found either the time or place to empty them. I think she does now.” “Ya think?” Applejack replied with a raised eyebrow. A gentle ‘hmpf’ was released through the throat of Rarity before she cracked a small smile. “Oh believe me, I think she does. She even left her dinner standing remember? When during the whole of the trip has that ever happened to her? No, we might best be off and leave her. Your wish to protect her only goes so far, Applejack.” Applejack then turned her body full towards the pirate with the eyebrow still raised. “What are ya hinting at, Brittenburg?” the admiral replied when her eyes shifted back towards the other unicorn. The sapphire blue rims of her eyes were two that somepony could lose itself in if they weren’t careful. Thus they made them open for all kinds of suggestions made by her. But Rarity just laughed it off before she shook her head once more. “Jackie, Jackie, Jackie, it really sounds like you don’t know me at all anymore. Then again, we only had one battle together before I made my decision to leave. Ever since, there always has been this hatred in your eyes.” “Can ya blame me? But get to yar point,” exclaimed Applejack quick and in a growling tone. “No I can’t, but what I mean is that we leave her there for the night. There’s only one anthrony that can save her, and that is Twilight herself. The matter is mentally, Jackie. Your blade wouldn’t really help,” finished Rarity before she had one last look to both Applejack and Twilight. After that she just nodded with her head and made her departure from the entrance. Only to look up her own bed and delved straight into it. The admiral herself fixed her cap a little bit upon her head after which she also had one last glance over to the unicorn. A deep exhale was what followed through her nostrils as her eyes then finally managed to tear themselves away from the broken down soothsayer. The mare then also made her way over to her bed and dropped down upon it. The steam powered leg was removed from its braces and before she knew it, she laid underneath the blankets of her bed. Pondering her mind upon what could actually have been troubling Twilight just so much, all of the sudden. That was the fact that remained to be unanswered for her. How Twilight had broken down just that easily and just like that. But Twilight herself was having different battles to fight. She had curled herself up against the rocky wall and almost appeared to have been actually asleep, if watched from the back. Though the unicorn was far from being asleep. She was wide awake with the ghosts of her mind haunting her. Her mind laid in shambles for all that she knew and every thought was hurting her just so much. The tough leader of the company of mares had become nothing more but a crying foal. While she leaned against the side next to her were the tears streaming out of her eyes. They made their way to her nose and her head was bend over just a little bit before they would make their way to the ground. Mentally devastated, that was perhaps the best way that Twilight’s current state of being could be described at best. Though worst of all had to be the fact that she didn’t knew how to solve the matter. All that she knew was how it was being caused. It was the fact that Rarity had said before, together with Fluttershy. Twilight had lived all her life in the castle and was only just at the beginnings of her twenties. She was the youngest of them all and had already been battling with old friends and imposters of caretakers. The whole trip just seemed like one that only could have been designed by nopony else then Nightmare Moon herself. Almost as if the devil herself wanted to toy with nopony else then Twilight Sparkle. Everything combined from the events, to the rivalry between everypony to the location that they were, it all added up to the facts that everything just seemed dreaded to her. The silent cries of Twilight didn’t slow down or increased themselves. They kept on flowing at a constant rate as another thought entered her. The thought that was turned over into the fact that she had to push on no matter what. She had to just keep sucking up everything and deal with all of it if they wanted to save their very land. It was a fact that truly was a lot easier said than done upon everypony’s mind. After minutes had the mare even cried herself to sleep. Which meant that every last member of the company laid comfortable in their beds or against a rocky wall, but they were all asleep. All of them had left the realm of the wake to likely join them all again in the realm of the sleeping ones. What they would encounter in their dreams remained unknown for good reasons. Twilight knew that the troubles she would be facing would have been actual troubles. Events encountered before played out inside of her mind as the alternative endings were created by her mind. If she had only done one little thing differently, the whole outcome of pretty much everything would have been completely different. Not only did such a thing happen with the battle against Sunset Shimmer, but it also happened with Chrysalis, Pinkie Pie and the massive spiders. The dreams of Twilight Sparkle had turned themselves over into the most horrifying nightmares she had ever had in her life. Fear was her companion and she wasn’t happy about it at all. Though how worse the events seemed to have been, it is said that they only could have gotten better. The thing that was never told, was that they also could have become worse. A lot worse. ~~~~ For not even a couple of hours into their sleep would all six of them be disrupted from it. The sounds that originated out of the very bottom of the chasm could be heard loud and clear but the vibrations were never felt. The sounds of the tremors were heard within each of their ears but they never felt anything. That was the thing that frightened them the most before realization came setting in. It meant that they were either so close to the epicenter that the force wasn’t that great yet, or that there was something else that moved at the bottom of the chasm and thus created the sounds. Most likely something which was along the lines of a giant animal or creature. Nopony wanted to check it out as they preferred to remain in their beds. Not even Applejack would have gotten out to check upon the facts as they were. They didn’t feel any of the vibrations which were mostly associated with the tremors so they all prayed on the fact that they weren’t walking right into them. As long as it wouldn’t be hitting them, they all thought that everything was fine. The company inside of the tent made a massive realization however, they assumed that the sounds were from the tremors being sent upwards. Which in their books meant that they were close to their destination. Whether they liked it or not, they finally seemed to have been reaching the goal of their very trip. Finally could they say that they were almost there. Yet Twilight was having different thoughts about the matter. She constantly had to think about the words that the ghost had said to her. That they needed to be careful of fangs. But what fangs were meant with that? The fangs of a fruitbat or something the like? Or perhaps the mythical vampthronies also seemed to have been existing deep down there? Or even worse? Who could tell and who wanted to tell? That remained a series of questions that just went unanswered by anyone. The ear of the unicorn soothsayer was placed against the wall in order to listen through the rocks and so she hoped to get to know a little bit more information about anything that would have been going on. But all that she caught were the sounds just travelling away from her until they just faded away. Where they would have been going to was something that remained to be questioned and seen. The head of the unicorn then turned itself over towards the chasm as well as the rays of light that were travelling down from it. She was expecting to still see the lights of the sun being cast down to it but got something else. The light hadn’t faded away, not at all. No, the light of the moon was cast down right into the chasm. The bright, silvery light of the moon shone down through the hole and illuminated the walls of the place. Twilight had to know whether or not it would have been able to shine through the darkness that blocked out the sunlight. But her body was weak and feeble in the moment. She didn’t had her dinner and it was being felt by her stomach, which kept on rumbling. She didn’t possess the physical strength anymore to hoist herself up and walk to the edge of the chasm. So all that she could be doing was to just take it easy and continue on her rest. The mare then laid her head back against the rocky wall and closed her eyes. With the sounds of the tremors still surging through her ears did she closed her eyes in another attempt to get the sleep that she needed. In the meantime and back in the tent had everypony been sitting upright as they were talking to one another about what they needed to be doing. Rarity had suggested they should pack the tent at least and prepare for a possible evacuation to the epicenter. Rainbow and Fluttershy didn’t agree with the plan and proposed that they would just drop back into their beds, nothing would be happening anyway. The major managed to carry the doctor along in her argument by the simple fact that they were the two pegasi of the group. Applejack had proposed to remain calm and listen further to the situation but it already stood two against one against one. Which meant that the pegasi of the group had won. Rainbow was therefore the first one who dropped herself back in her bed and closed her eyes. The levels of annoyance between both Rarity and Applejack about Rainbow soared pretty much through the roof while Pinkie laid herself down next to Fluttershy. The doctor stroked through the hair as if she was petting a dog. It felt unusual yet familiar at the same time for Pinkie Pie. The tail of the lamia twitched happily, it was being splashed over the floor of the tent while the doctor continued with her motions. Fluttershy didn’t had the intention to let Rainbow walk over her like she did, but what happened had happened. None of them could change the facts as they were and they could only accept them. The rest of the mares released a deep sigh through their nostrils. Even they then just closed their eyes and dropped back in their beds. It was the only thing that they could be doing, besides hoping that everything would have gone good until the next morning. Slowly did the moonlight beam fade away and for a couple of minutes there was nothing but darkness being cast down into the chasm. Until the first rays of sunlight made their way down to the rocky cliffs and into the abyss. Whatever laid beneath there, nopony could be knowing that for certain but they would have been the ones to figure it out one way or the other. Whether they liked it or not. Twilight Sparkle was the first of the whole company who would have woken up from the slumber and she shocked back into the land of the wake. Her body began to struggle and she realized that she had to get out up as quick as possible. Her brain was still bouncing inside of the skull from the crying of the night before. Speaking about the crying, the dried tear stains could be found almost all over her face. She wiped them away with haste in order to appear a little bit more decent if any of the other mares would have gotten out. She took long and deep inhales through her mouth to calm herself even more. Somehow had the soothsayer managed to feel herself getting a lot better. Whether it were the thoughts that had finally placed themselves upon the rightful locations, or the sheer ability to not think about it to begin with remained to be seen. For the moment was there a new and fresh Twilight Sparkle who stood in the starting blocks. She was ready to hit the new day and to see what laid at the bottom of the chasm, if it even had a bottom. Who knew, perhaps it was a hole that didn’t brought them to the center of Equestria, but instead brought them somewhere else in the land. It was a thought that caused an odd chuckle to come out of her mouth. It just didn’t make sense whatsoever, but it made her happy in the early morning so it had to count for something. Though luckily for her wasn’t there anypony else near her and from the looks of it there also didn’t seem to have been too much damage from the tremors. Everything seemed to have been nicely intact as she continued to gaze around the rocks. Without having been able to wash her face yet, the unicorn charged up her horn and summoned a little bit of water which was then splashed right into it. Only to be rubbed in a little bit more with her hands so that it reached all over. Quiet moans of a certain delight were released by the mare as the water acted as a massive wake up call for her. Finally she had enough energy surging through her body to make it over to the edge of the chasm and not fall into it. Her senses were sharp again and her magic was flowing, for as much as they could have been in the early morning. The unicorn made her way over to the edge of the chasm that was filled with the light of the sun. In one of her hands she summoned and conjured a little fireball that would be acting as a torchlight. Perhaps the sunlight could only reached that much down, like it would have been when hitting the waters in the ocean. But the little ball of fire would always cast an immense amount of light to the sides of the chasm. Which in return meant that she could always follow it. No matter how deep it went. At least that was the plan and function behind it all. If it actually would have been working was something that remained to be seen by the unicorn. She didn’t held her hope up too high though. for everything had been a struggle so far. So why wouldn’t a simple fireball down a hole become easy? It was a thought that made the unicorn chuckle almost to herself as she realized just how ridiculous it actually seemed to have been. With her hooves nearing the edges and the ball of flames being ready to shot down, the time was there. Not only look at the events as they would pack out, but also see the chasm in the reddish morning light of the sun. Her eyes looked over the edge and stared right down into the massive hole. A massive hole that was coated within a beautiful light. The reddish light created did have an interesting effect upon the whole thing as it was being cast in a red light. It almost made it look like the whole chasm was on some kind of fire in and of itself. The red glow that was given off almost could be seen as magma, a little thing Twilight rather wouldn’t have been reminded on. “Well then, what else are we having here?” mumbled Twilight to herself. Then she looked further into the gaping hole. Her eyes followed the whole reddish glow until it just stopped. She then squinted her eyes to near nothing as she wondered just what could possibly be laying beyond it. Anything and everything just rushed through her mind as she kept on wondering to herself any and everything. But the mare knew that she had the solution right in her hand. If she would have let go from the fireball, the answer would have been given to her after a little bit of time. It was so easy, yet at the same time was it just so hard as well. It felt to her as if there was a life threatening decision that needed to be made if she dropped the thing or held it in her hand. The seconds began to melt away before her eyes as the glow on the chasm turned more and more into an orange one. The sun was shifting and soon she wouldn’t be having the time anymore to distinguish the fireball from the sun. The unicorn just closed her eyes and allowed gravity to do the job for her. The ball of fire was dropped out of her hand and began to soar down into the chasm. With the heat gone from her face did Twilight open her eyes again and she looked down. She looked straight into the chasm again and followed the little ball of fire with her eyes. Down and down it went as the eyes could keep following it quite clearly. Not even a blink was being made by the unicorn as she was intensely focused upon the fact of following the little thing. But just when it was about to travel further than the light of the sun, it vanished. It simply vanished right before her eyes and straight out of existence. “What in the name of..?” Twilight said to herself in a genuine surprised tone. She hadn’t expected that such a thing would have happened and her eyes almost went cross in their sockets. The unicorn couldn’t believe that the ball of fire had just vanished from their realm. Perhaps it was a massive teleportation hole that would be guiding them over to some kind of different plane of existence? But if that happened to be the case, why would there have been stairs? All of the questions rose up while the mare discharged her magic. The unicorn couldn’t wrap her head around the facts as they were given to her and the last thing she needed was exactly that. Hundreds of possible explanations went through her mind as she hoped to find some kind of answer just by looking at the abyss over and over. Not much to her surprise, there wasn’t any kind of information gathered by looking down at it. She had known it all the time actually, but simply refused to believe it herself. The mare shook her head a couple dozen times before she caught the other company’s members leaving the tent. All of them were made up and ready to hit the day while Applejack gestured her over for breakfast. A thing that Twilight needed more than anything in the moment. Not much later could all of the mares be found at a makeshift table and were all eating their breakfast. It was the first meal for Twilight since the breakfast of the day before as they had skipped lunch. So naturally was she almost starving for anything. The admiral had taken that into a deep consideration and prepared an extra big meal just for the soothsayer. Nopony complained about it, luckily. Where they did moan over though, was the revelation that came from the unicorn. The disappearing fireball and her will to climb down the stairs weren’t two things that would have been done with favor of everypony. The ball disappearing was already enough to worry all of them. But the fact that Twilight wanted to go down and travel down the stairs towards the thing that consumed it was questionable for all. Surely she must have lost her mind in the night. But there wasn’t any actual way to make the unicorn change her mind. Their entire mission could have been summarized in just a couple of very simple words though: go down. Those two words had formed the foundation of everything they had done so far. So why would they stop at something like that? The stairs appeared to be once more carved right into the rock like they had seen before. So that shouldn’t have been the biggest problem in the world. What did worry them though, was the thing or things that could possibly be hunting them at the bottom of it all. Nopony knew what could be wandering at the bottom, if they would even reach the bottom to begin with. But they also realized the fact that they were just close to reaching their goal. Even though they didn’t wanted to do any of it, the mares of the company agreed upon going down and into the chasm. It was the only chance that they had that was clearly leading them all to something. Whether it would have been good or bad remained to be seen. They had faced impossible odds before and came out unharmed and unscratched, they could be testing their luck perhaps one more time. ~~~~ A couple of minutes would have come to pass when the whole of the company just stood at the edge of the chasm again. All of the eyes were aimed directly down into the abyss and they followed the light down. Down until it just gave away into nothing else but utter darkness. “Seems to me like that whatever rests at the bottom, just doesn’t want to be found. Air doesn’t have the same resistance as water when it comes to breaking light,” said Rarity while she pointed to the black floor and the orange glow on the wall. She was right upon the fact, but the only way they could have known it for certain was if they would have gone down there themselves. “Heh, let me have a fly down there and we be knowing it in no time just what lays beneath there,” said Rainbow fractions before she pumped her chest. The cocky pegasus was ready to make the descend down and hoped that they would actually let her go. It had been too long since she could actually have flown down or away from something. The last time was when she tried to get away from the spiders and almost became spider-chum. A fact that none of the anthronies had actually seemed to have forgotten either. The head of Applejack immediately shook itself from side to side as she didn’t deem it a wise idea at all. “And what if yar flying right into the maw of some giant beast which then closes? Then we’ve lost you. No, Ah say we listen to Twilight and just take ‘em stairs to walk down. They give us some kind of safety. Other than that, Ah don’t know what we can be doing,” commented and countered Applejack before she got a torch tossed over to her. The mare caught it and looked over to whom threw it. It was nopony else then Twilight Sparkle who did it. The soothsayer was ready to make the descend down the stairs. The rest of the group looked into her direction as well and the clouds could already be seen hanging right above them. Nopony wanted to climb down anymore stairs. But the answer they had been waiting for laid perhaps right at the bottom of it. They all had gotten a hate and love relationship with the stairs they had encountered in their lives. With a couple of deep sighs did the company of mares made the silent decision to just follow the unicorn down. Down into the unknown once more as they could pray upon the fact that whatever laid at the bottom of the staircase wouldn’t consume them all in any way or form. It was a wishful thought to say the least.