With the fear of the unknown still surging through their bodies, the mares would have just kept looking at the massive sphere of magma. None of them knew what would be happening next, but all thought about something good. Though their bodies were prepared for the worst possible thing to strike. Not even Twilight had some wise words about the matter while she prepared herself as well.
They had done it though, they had reached the center of Equestria, but were stuck. Never was there told just what would be happening after they had arrived there. Everything always told them to keep on going. It was perhaps not a well thought out plan as Twilight would have hoped.
Though it was the soothsayer who allowed her eyes to fall back on the rest of the company. One thing still bothered her a little bit as her attention shifted over to Rainbow Dash. There was one little matter that haunted her mind and she needed to have some form of peace upon before she or they would continue. “Rainbow, can I ask you something? Something, apart from this,” asked Twilight to the major in a kind and polite tone.
The remaining mares all rose an eyebrow. It seemed that Twilight had once more taken the chance to get a hold of something small. Yet it wasn’t their place to argue with the soothsayer so they just shrugged it off. But Rainbow narrowed her eyes a little bit before she rose an eyebrow. “What do you want from me now?” asked Rainbow in a cautious tone.
“Just a bit of information to get a matter out of my head,” returned Twilight just before she made her way over to the pegasus. A pegasus who nodded calm in return as she seemed to be willing to answer the burning questions. “Alright. You said that the griffon shaman’s used the perception magic, right?”
The major had to think about it for a second before she returned her answer in the form of a nod. “Okay, but my question is, how did you manage to spot it? How did you see it while nopony else noticed it?” asked Twilight of her. A question that may have been out of place though.
Once more was the unicorn just digging for information. Which came much to the discomfort of Rainbow herself. The pegasus let out a deep sigh through her mouth as she seemed to have been having more than enough from everything.
She was done with the questioning of the unicorn. She was just utterly done with it but never made it apparent to the rest of the company. The remaining four mares all had their eyes peeled upon the two of them as they were waiting for something to go horribly wrong. They were waiting for their moment to stop the two of them.
“Twilight, first of all, I’m at least twenty years older than that you are, remember?” Rainbow growled to her in a low tone. “Secondly, I have fought in the war myself and seen it countless times. The shamans think it is so effective, but once you know that there are borders that shimmer like hot air. Guess you can fill in the rest of it now yourself.”
Twilight gave a nod to the major. She could indeed have filled in the blanks that were on her mind. The matter was made clear enough to her to be able to work it in the way that she wanted to. Which meant that she could finally focus herself upon the real task that laid before her. She had to find a way to do something with the massive sphere of magma.
Of course she could have tried to use her magic, but the problem with that was the fact that she still hadn’t recharged her magic. The massive orb that was used to turn the magma lake into stone had consumed just so much.
Which left her with barely any options to go with. There were just so little things that she could be doing in the moment. “I think, that we have to get inside of it in one way or the other. But the question is how we are going to do such a thing,” said Twilight while she stroked her chin a bit.
The eyes just shifted from left, right, up and down while she tried to make sense out of it all. The thing had its own gravity pull, that she knew. So it must have meant that the core of the sphere was hollow. Which opened up yet another problem. How would they be getting right inside of a sphere that is probably all magma?
The shaking motions of her head had told not only Twilight, but the rest of the company as well, more than enough. She was standing at an impasse that couldn’t been battled no matter what she would have tried.
Groans and moans left the mouth of the soothsayer while she tried to figure out something that hopefully would have been able to get her and them one step closer to fulfilling their duties. Yet the rest of the company was having so their own fair share of doubts about what would be happening. Not only to them, but also to the world around them.
Rarity crossed her arms over each other and she rose an eyebrow to the whole matter. “Hmpf, you honestly think we are able to find a doorway straight into the heart of that thing? Not even with the most powerful diamonds you’re going to be able to do that. It’s the core,” she said.
“What are ya talking ‘bout?” asked Applejack to her. The admiral’s curiosity had been awoken by her nemesis. “Are ya saying..?”
“I am indeed saying that,” countered Rarity straight away while she turned her head over to the admiral. “This, is the literal hottest point. We might not feel it because of ice in our hearts, but it’s boiling in here. One drop of sweat would instantly be vaporized.”
“And how do you know that?” was returned to her from the admiral.
The pirate captain released a little grin as she looked the earth anthrony straight in the eyes. “I like to use nature to help me a little bit when it comes down to certain matters, Jackie. I have studied a bit of magma back in school and it always managed to stick for some reason. Much like how you still know how to pick ripe apples,” returned Rarity in calm, lady-like voice.
“Leave mah family out of this, Brittenburg,” growled Applejack towards the unicorn.
“I’m not involving them, I’m just saying you have the knowledge still somewhere.”
“Can you two be quiet?!” Fluttershy exclaimed in a rush. Then she covered her mouth with both hands. But the bickering mares had heard that words and shifted their gaze over to the pegasus.
Only to realize that they once again had erupted in a pointless battle. There wasn’t anything else they could be then to cease it. Which was luckily the thing they did. The attention was turned back towards the sphere and Twilight.
For seconds would they have been watching over the things when they could’ve sworn that something didn’t seemed to have been right. Something was in fact giving off trouble from inside of the sphere. For it began to boil even more violently than before.
Almost as if there was something inside of it, that wanted to come out. The mares could only be taking a couple steps backwards and hope that everything would be turning out alright for them. Gulps were released as the boiling became even more fierce and they just anticipated what would come next.
Though the events that would happen next were some of the most unbelievable they had ever seen. For the sphere of magma erupted open like water. The surface of it was torn open like the water in the ocean while something managed to slice through it.
There, at the near top it happened. A giant, greenish, fin-like something came out of the sphere before it disappeared again within it. But it wouldn’t have just given that tiny show to the mares, they would be sitting in the front row seats for something else. Something a lot more powerful.
It was when the fin-like something broke the tension with the magma once more that there also was a secondary something. Which happened to have been a sonic boom that banged straight through their ears. They all covered their precious ears while the sonic boom was also aimed directly at the rocks above where the impact happened.
Suddenly did the eyes of the unicorn soothsayer go wide as she realized what was happening. Everything began to make a little bit of sense and she could finally tie the ropes together. “Oh, my, goodness,” were the only three words that Twilight could have said.
The sonic boom crashed against the rocks above and shattered them on impact. But the shockwave that was created by it managed to travel through them for miles and miles to come. Eventually it would result in exactly the thing that had been tormenting the lands of Equestria for so long already.
The fin-like thing of the creature that lived inside of the sphere of magma was the main suspect. The main convict when it came down to the matter of their homes. They were all witnesses of the events and they all were just utterly terrified of them.
Nopony had ever even considered or even thought about the fact that there probably was a giant creature that lived inside of the sphere. Yet that just happened to be the case. Any old theories that they were probably having were all thrown straight out of the window. They were going to face something that perhaps nopony had seen before.
Though also words of some time ago were remembered by a couple of them. Twilight remembered the words of the ghost back in the broken settlement as she turned around quickly. “Did the ghosts tell any of you a date, how long it had been since they had come down here?!” the soothsayer exclaimed quick. The fin disappeared again within the sphere, resting for the time being.
The hopes were kept up high by all of the mares as they thought that somepony would be having the answer that they were looking for. While the seconds ticked away, the feeling of disappointment came setting in the hard way.
Nopony had caught anything of a time period of when the spirits tried to enter the place. So it could have happened a year ago, but just as easily been ten thousand years ago for all Twilight knew. A deep exhale was released through her nostrils before she gave a gentle nod. “Alright then. Well, I think we need to change our strategy a little bit.”
The company all sat down on their bums and they kept on looking over the sphere of magma. Despite it being the cause of all the tremors and earthquakes in their lands, it still held a power that was unknown to them. It managed to capture their wildest dreams and attention and just nullified them. Yet it was almost calming to see the orb spin the way it did.
Slow but steady, almost like the sun but deep down in the earth they walked upon. The mares had trouble to take their eyes off of it. The beauty of the natural thing seemed to take them over one by one, captivating their imagination. They were staring at the core of Equestria, after all.
Though in the back of their heads they all realized just what was the real reason of them being there. They knew why they were there. The problem just happened to be the little fact that it almost was impossible to break through the magma barrier.
“You think we can just knock upon the door?” Pinkie Pie said in a well meant chuckle as she laid curled up on top of her own body. Some of the mares released a chuckle as well as they realized the joke that was being told.
Others had remained as serious as they had always been and didn’t even change the expression. Twilight closed her eyes and focused herself mainly upon the recharging of her magic. Perhaps that sphere wasn’t the brightest of ideas yet it did help them in one more than one way.
The unicorn took deep in- and exhales while she seemed to have lost the connection with the rest of the world. Though where Twilight had ‘wasted’ all of her magic with just one spell, Rarity was still having more than enough ready to be fired if needed.
That same thought also went through Twilight and she hoped that the pirate captain was willing to help her in yet another plan of utter insanity. None of the company’s members were aware of just how exactly they would have been able to enter the sphere of magma and the answer wouldn’t have been thrown at them from the skies.
Even though they wanted that to happen, the rocks above them just didn’t allow it.
Deep exhales were released by all of the anthronies while the lamia seemed to have fallen asleep. The creature had to regain her own energy. The thoughts of the mares had been running wild in the meantime. All of them thought about way through which they could be entering the sphere.
Though all of their manners ended up in the same way. The little and horrifying fact that they would have been burned alive by a shower of the stuff. They didn’t even had a clue of what kind of creature even had such a fin.
It could have been a prehistoric monster that roamed the place for all they knew. Whatever laid beneath the surface of the magma, they knew that one way or the other they would figure it out. And had to stop it.
That discouraging thought caused all the mares to release a deep exhale through their nostrils before they nodded to themselves. They knew how far they had gotten from and how close they seemed to have been to their final goal.
Going back wasn’t an option, for most of the ways back had been blocked off and they didn’t had the desire to get lost in the unknown realm of the underworld. Applejack stood up and began to pace up and down. Her steam powered leg constantly jammed itself against the rocky floor which was much to the annoyance of a couple other mares.
They never made a complaint about it though. They knew that she meant it well and Applejack was actually the only one next to Twilight who was thinking about a way to get inside of the sphere of magma. “Ah reckon ya can’t just freeze it all up and carve a way in?” she spoke aloud to the soothsayer. Twilight then turned back around to face her with a genuine confused expression clearly visible upon her face. She didn’t seem to understand exactly what was meant by the admiral.
“What do you mean, freeze it up?” she repeated with a raised eyebrow, “like, freeze up the core of our entire land?”
The reply got the admiral to think and she placed her hands behind her back. Applejack closed her eyes for a moment. “When ya say it like that, it indeed sounds terrible. But, in theory, what would happen if ya did?” she said in a genuine curious tone. She wanted to know the possible outcomes of the events if they would have been playing out.
Twilight turned back to the sphere of magma and did the calculations that were required with haste. Her mind crunched the numbers quick, she only had to make estimations instead of being really precise. “Well, if I managed to freeze up the core, I think that the Frozen North would expand overnight by half its current size. The heat of the magma travels far and wide and to places unknown to us,” she brought forth. A desperate future would have arrived if it happened.
Applejack nodded calm to the words before she released another sigh through her nostrils. “So, if ya manage to freeze it up, we basically be still dooming the land. But if ya unfreeze it again, how long until everything is turned back to normal?”
“That, that depends on how long the freeze has been kept going, admiral,” said Twilight with a worried expression clearly visible. It couldn’t have been meant that she had to freeze the whole thing up, could it? Applejack wasn’t that stupid, was she? Twilight could only speculate about what would be happening next as Rarity stood up.
The pirate captain made her way over to Twilight and began to whisper words within the ear of the soothsayer. The eyes of the mulberry skinned unicorn went wide as she couldn’t believe a single word what was being said to her.
Nopony knew what they were talking about, all that they knew was that it horrified Twilight. And to a certain degree, it would also horrify them all. Gulps were given off by the soothsayer as she turned her head slowly towards the pirate. “Are you crazy?!” she exclaimed in a worried tone. The words that Rarity had been saying had crawled right under her skin.
Twilight was terrified of the words and wanted everything to just be done and over. Yet she also realized the fact that there perhaps wasn’t any other way through which they could be going. After the exclaim had the silence returned between the two unicorns while they had a little stare down.
Rainbow Dash nudged Fluttershy’s upper arm and pointed to the pair of them. “I don’t like where this is going to, do you?” she asked the other pegasus of the company. “Unicorns under each other like that often means trouble.”
But Fluttershy was having more than enough from it all. She released a huff while she crossed her arms over each other. Then she gave the pegasus a cutting glare while her words were thrown into the world. “I do not know what kind of brainwash they still are doing up there in Cloudsdale, but I am working constantly with unicorns and they never had given me any kind of trouble. You just don’t know their manners of dealing with stuff, major Rainbow Dash,” the pegasus said in an annoyed whisper.
Yet the very same whisper was heard by both the earth anthrony and the lamia. They both shifted their eyes of the pegasi of the group and rose an eyebrow or two. “What do you mean?” Pinkie asked to them, she was just before Applejack.
“Missy rainbow here says that when two unicorns are talking like that against each other often results in trouble for the non-unicorns. Or, us. But I know that they wouldn’t be doing such a thing. Twilight wouldn’t at least,” answered the doctor in a growling tone.
“And Rarity ain’t powerful ‘nough to take us all on at once with her magic,” added Applejack into the mix. It was starting to look pretty bleak for Rainbow’s statement and the mare quickly realized who she had to keep as a friend.
“I’m sure they are both planning on making the tremors stop, but Rarity’s idea was just crazy enough that it might just work,” commented Pinkie while the tip of her tail swayed from side to side. That slice of the pie they all hadn’t thought about. All of the sudden did everypony turn silent and gained an embarrassed blush across their faces.
Pinkie would have released a giggle before she shook her head a little bit. The inner joke that was only known to the lamia caused the massive smile to reappear upon her face as she laid her upper body on top of the rest.
“Twilight, you know just as well as I that that is the only way we have as a possibility of entering the thing,” spoke Rarity in a whispering tone towards the other unicorn. The soothsayer was having a difficult time to really accept the facts as they were, but she also saw the truth in the pirate’s words. A truth she rather hadn’t seen though.
The mare of the sea couldn’t have always been trusted, yet her words that time rang only the truth. Twilight stroked her chin at first. Then the hand could have been found all over her face. A deep groan was given off by her as she tried to see an alternative upon the matter. There must have been another way to achieve the same thing, or so she hoped.
But the more she thought about it, the more time they were wasting upon trying to find anything. So perhaps the only thing that could have been done was to give Rarity her right and go with her idiotic plan. “So, what you want to do is to give me all of your magic, or almost all of it. And then? Have me release all of it to find a magical doorway that may or may not even be there?”
That was the whole plan in a nutshell. A massive longshot that only would have worked if Rarity knew the anthronies of old well enough. “Twilight, it’s the only way something could have been getting in there. There is no other way it could have been done. All those stairs, that sphere of magma, all is either pony, or anthrony build. There’s a doorway and magic never fades.”
“That’s true,” replied Twilight before the worried expression loosened up a little bit. She still had her doubt on the matter though. “But what do you think we will encounter inside of it?”
“That, my dear Twilight,” the pirate said while she gave a little grin to the soothsayer, “is a worry for later. First things first, right?” To that could Twilight only nod as she began to pray for her life that the other unicorn would have been right.
~~~~
Moments later had both of the unicorns gathered themselves before the sphere of magma with the other four of them right behind them. Rainbow Dash was naturally still having her issues with the pair of them as the rest all had made their peace.
Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were ready for anything that would have been thrown their way. The three of them had mentally prepared themselves for the events to come, the instructions were clear and the moment was there.
Twilight and Rarity both released deep exhales through their mouths as they called upon their magic. The soothsayer didn’t use her staff as the horn seemed to have been powerful enough for it. The pirate allowed her horn to be coated in the sapphire blue aura and just let it settle there for a moment or two.
Then it was shot towards Twilight like a massive bolt of lightning. The soothsayer took the magic to her once more with a small yelp of pain. The extra surges of power that went through her body had to be converted in her own magic via the long way. Which meant that everything had to travel through the whole of her body before it could be used by her.
The surges of magic caused a unique effect on top of Twilight’s horn though. The mixture of color that was both sapphire blue and raspberry could be seen clearly by all of them. The thing that they were doing was new. For neither of them had even tried it before prior to the journey. While it was true that Rarity had given her magical energy to Twilight once more, the soothsayer never had attempted to use Rarity’s magic straight up as her own. There would be a first for everything.
But finally there was the blast shot into reality. The massive blast against the sphere of magma. The blinding light caused all of the mares to look away while the unicorns just covered their eyes. They had to focus upon their task if they wanted to have any chance of succession.
Mere seconds later did the light fade away and the mares all glanced over to the sphere of magma. The massive cast was still dissolving when they already began to notice that something had changed. Their eyes were peeled for anything out of the ordinary. And soon enough did the smiles upon the faces of the unicorns told the whole story.
The unicorns both discharged their horns and witnessed the events first hand. They couldn’t believe the facts that were revealed to them. Everything was almost the way they had imagined it to be. For they were staring at the entrance way. The entrance way that was carved out of the purest diamonds ever found.
Diamonds that were hard enough to withstand the massive heat of the magma sphere and was one of the most well hidden entrances in the land. Relief went through every single being as they felt that they had managed to do something that they never could have even thought to be doing. Yet they had managed to do it.
They had uncovered the one way that would be leading them straight into the heart of their land. The beating, living heart of their so beloved Equestria.
“Hey Rarity, how long does that portal remain open?” asked Twilight before she had a look to her magical partner. The pirate captain only could speak some gibberish before she began to count on her fingers. “I take it that that is not all too long, is it?”
Rarity just nodded and they all realized just what would happen. They were running out of time to make it into the place and figure out exactly what was going on once and for all. Yet that brought a whole other matter to itself.
When both of the unicorns wanted to take the steps inside, they realized that they were the only two anthronies going. None of the other beings even dared to take a step closer. It almost seemed as if they had been afraid of entering the place. To them it seemed like they would be entering the tomb of some kind of ancient king and raid it.
The unicorns both released deep breaths through their nostrils as they glanced each other in the eyes. There had to be a way to get them all inside of the sphere. “Just, get on with it!” Rarity exclaimed when she noticed how the doorway was already sinking on them. “There’s not much time to think about ethics!”
“Rarity’s right,” the admiral said in response. She never thought to give that mare right once more. The earth anthrony was the first of the four who took a step forward. “We promised to stick together, if ya have any intention on keeping that promise, Ah reckon ya might be joining us.”
Those words were spoken in that honorable tone that only an admiral of the navy could give might just have been doing the trick. The rest of the mares realized straight away what needed to be done and they all rushed over to the entrance way.
Twilight and Rarity stood at the sides of it as they helped everypony to get in. Their eyes were peeled upon the ceiling as it seemed like at any given moment it could just collapse on them. Fear had taken them over as their finally managed to haul Fluttershy inside. The hesitant pegasus had taken her sweet time, but finally was she too inside the sphere.
Relief was given off by all of them as before them a hallway stretched. A hallway that was only a couple dozen hooves long but it kicked in yet another realization. The place seemed to have been a lot bigger on the inside that it showed on the outside.
“What the hell..?” Rarity whispered while she couldn’t believe the facts as they were revealed to them. Behind them had the wall caved in again and they had been locked inside of the sphere. Perhaps the only way out was by performing the spell again, but that was a problem for later. For the time being did they have another issue at their hands.
“Follow it?” Pinkie Pie asked. The lamia was curious to see where the hallway would be taking them. She actually spoke the words that were on everypony’s mind. The answer laid ahead. Just a little bit further ahead and they would have discovered the trouble of their land.
“Let’s go,” the soothsayer said and thus was she the first one to make the step. The rest of the company just followed. Rarity formed the rear guard for unknown reasons. Her eyes had one last look over the closed exist before she released a deep exhale to herself.
Her attention turned back to the rest of the mare as even she had lost the spirit of it become a two way trip. But if that place was going to be their tombs, they had one amazing place to find their final resting place.
Once they had walked through the hallway had the company of mares found themselves in a massive chamber. A chamber that resembled the outside of the sphere but with a brilliant diamond floor for them to stand upon. Curiosity had struck the mares as they couldn’t believe what they saw. But the wonder would only have gotten bigger.
There were two massive shadows that had been cast down upon the floor and those shadows belonged to two separate creatures. The mares were all mesmerized by the facts of just what could possibly leave such an imposing shadow upon the ground. But in the mind of Twilight were the words already ringing.
The words of the ghost were almost constantly repeated by her. The eyes of the mares finally dared to be looking upwards. Whatever they would be seeing, it would have been something that would knock them right out of their shoes. That much was certain, but what exactly they would be seeing was a fact that remained unknown for just a moment.
Their eyes were peeled at the ceiling of the sphere and none could believe what they saw. For in silence they flew there. In silence they flew past the edges of the magma sphere. The mares couldn’t believe what they saw.
The silence was remained upon the ground as high in the air the roars began to happen. Before anything else could have been said or done had one of the flying creatures sliced the hollowed sphere of magma. Seconds later it returned back to the inside without a scratches visible upon it.
Nopony believed what they saw, but what was it that they saw to begin with.
In their eyes it looked like creatures of old, but the creatures that they saw were supposed to have gone extinct so many years ago. They both shared the similarities of giant reptiles with wings as one was scaled completely in green and the other in purple. Only the eyes were different on each of them.
There where the green scaled lizard carried purple eyes, it went vice versa for the other. Nopony believed what they saw yet Twilight only had one words for the creatures that were flying there. It must have been the most well-kept secret of Equestria. The creatures that were flying there were nothing else but, “dragons,” exclaimed Twilight in a quiet and amazed tone for them all.