Chapter 2: New search subject.
The Kezzerdrix had not yet found anything worth looking for. The lower areas proved hard to see in the dark. Not much light shined down.
What he did find were some discarded rags that looked like they might have been clothing. Some useless broken digging tools and carts were found as well.
The place was an abandoned mind, as far as he could tell. Little clue as to who used it. But the owner must have liked dogs. The smell of them was still everywhere down below.
He was getting far more upset at finding no reason to be here. He started scraping at the walls and screeched out his frustration. He had a fit for himself.
Kicking over an already broken cart. He felt his summoner should have been here. His anger grew, at being here alone.
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Plunk opened her wings and glided down the hill in search for the errant ball that could now be anywhere. Halfway down, she figured it might be best to use this height to glide around. She could make a quick fly by and search from the air she thought.
She settled on going straight, seeing the ball likely might have gone that way. She was right. She saw it off in the distance.
Seeing it off that far was annoying to her. By the momentum it gained from going down the hill it went further than expected, and had made the rather vexed filly grumble more.
With all the trees and bushes around this lower plateau, the ball found the one straight trail that gave it no resistance to bouncing and rolling far away.
On the other hoof, it at least did not get lost in a bush or go in a random direction from hitting a tree. It may have gone far, but was easy to find just the same, she relaxed a bit knowing she would no longer have to look for it.
Swooping down and landing next to the ball, with a huff she kicked the ball hard back in the direction she came.
She was going to try and take Dazzle's suggestive mannerism towards the game and have some fun with it, even if she did fail to stop the ball. It's not like one gets anything for winning. It's just the prestige in showing one's good at the game. She likes being seen good at whatever sport she tries.
When starting to follow the ball back, Plunk heard what sounded like a voice. It was hollow as if coming from the air itself. Or was it the ground, she asked herself. It is faint, but nearby.
Plunk set herself looking for the voice. It sounded sad to her, with a hint of distress. The sound made Plunk worried. Whoever is down there, maybe in need of help.
Hearing the voice again gave her a direction to look. Moving to a batch of bushes between some trees, she found what looked like a hole in the ground behind the bushes. It looked like a small cave entrance to her, when she gotten herself a good look at it.
Curiously, she leaned in at the entrance and gave a soft but solid "hello." She could hear her voice flow down the cave in a fading echo.
The Kezzerdrix heard a voice come from the entrance of the cave he went through the other day. A simple hello.
He reasoned that he caught the attention of someone. A child by the sound of it. He decided to play a little game with this inquisitive youngster. Continuing as he was, He wondered just how far he could draw this possible little one down.
Plunk not having to wait long, the voice responded, but not in the way she expected. It sounded like a sort of desperate shrill. She expected a call back to her, instead of this odd cry. Plunk now was real worried. Somepony, or something must be hurt or stuck down there, she thought.
Plunk called again. "Help is on its way! Hold on! I am coming to find you!" The pegasus was not sure who or what was down there, but knew that if it were her, she would want the help, and soon. It was just the right thing to do, to go down there and find out what happened.
She thought about going back and at least get her two friends, Trooper, and Dazzle. Having them both here right now would bring her some comfort. She never had any problem with doing a little exploring on her own, but not in such an unknown area, and bad situation as this.
Continuing to think. If This person is hurt and stuck, and I could not do anything on my own, I can at least find this person. Then let whoever it is, know I can quickly get more help. I would want to feel some reassurance that I was going to receive help and not be stuck alone with nopony knowing where I was. If, that was me down there.
The desire to help gave the young filly the courage to face the unknown for the sake of helping someone in need. Going in this time was not her first cave exploring. But the last cave was much bigger, and one that was well known by others. She also had her two new friends with her at the time. It was safer, to go in such a cave as that, and with friends close to her.
This cave however was new, and small at the mouth. Not much light was going in. There was also a danger that nopony knew she was going in. Despite this, the young filly felt she just had to go in, and now.
The descent went on, and the light got dimmer. The now unsure explorer wished more that she had her friend Dazzle with her. Dazzle's light spells she is known for would make this a lot easier.
Not being able to see good, and while crawling along at a painfully slow pace trying not to walk into anything, felt she could sure use having a friend near her at the moment. That thought just kept tugging at her she noticed. She knew why. She just did not want to admit it. She was scared.
With a feeling of more despair for another in need, the screeching voice made her trudge on. There was some comfort in knowing that she was heading to someone. That made the concerned filly feel not so alone in the growing darkness. Her growing reluctance made her hope she would find this other soon.
The descent eased off as flat ground was found. Looking back, the light from the entrance was just visible. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, it seemed not such a good idea to have looked back. Doing so made even the dim light from behind hard to look at. It also made her near blind again to the dark ahead.
There seemed to be a slight turn and an opening to a larger area around the corner. The difference could just barely be seen by some new source of light in the distance. Seeing that there was little else of a choice for some direction to go, moving to the new light source seemed to be the best idea. The voice as well seemed to be coming from that direction.
The voice was much closer, but still hard for her to make out.
One odd thing about it to her, that did seem concerning is that there were no words to this voice.
No, cry for help. Just some moaning and the occasional screech, as if whoever it was may be hurting herself by struggling to get free of something.
She thought, at least it sounded like it might be female. Maybe she did not hear me after all, and was still set on trying to get herself out.
"Poor thing must be more scared than I am," she said to herself.
To her the situation was not good. Plunk felt she needed this other to calm down, and know someone was on their way. That, she or whoever was no longer alone down here.
Risking what it might disturb, Plunk gave one more good yell to the struggling and likely injured captive of this cave. "Hello! I am here to help you! Where are you! Who are you? Can you hear me?"
Plunk was sure she was close enough that whoever it was she is looking for would have heard that.
Again she was shortly answered by another screech and wine. None of this felt right to her. She thought she should have received some answer by now.
Feeling lost herself as what to do for this poor suffering victim of fate, she decided to try to move much faster. Not much seemed to be between her and this new source of light. So she reasoned even a slow jog was not too unreasonable without hitting anything.
Being able to see would only improve the closer she got to the new light source. It seemed, speed the further she went was not going to be a problem for her.
A small weight seemed to lift, the better she was able to see. All the faster she felt she could go.
This good feeling was replaced by another sort of concern. This voice, as she was getting closer to all the time, sounded like nothing she ever heard before. This continued to not feel right.
Plunk was sure she might have been able to make out what might be making these sounds, the further in she got. Mostly if it was some pony.
She continued to concern herself more about it. She spoke softly to herself about this. "Whatever it is, is no pony. Not as far as I can tell. Is it a griffin?"
The voice was still not saying a word. Just sounding perhaps hurt and desperate for help. She could also hear movement now. Just slight, and still a distance away. Some scraping sounds as well. Yes, possibly a griffin, she thought.
As she galloped at a good pace, a fare but a safe brisk gallop. The inquisitive adventurer has seen the source of light. It was a few glowing stones in the walls of the cave.
Looked real pretty to her. A momentary forgetfulness as to why she was there upon seeing them. She thought it might be nice to come back down after all this and collect a few. A small and nice memento of her trip in the cave. Provided all went well.
The stones were not the biggest source of light. Further down, looked much brighter than what the stones could be responsible for producing. Another opening to the cave perhaps, she hoped.
She knew some have more than one entrance. "Maybe whoever was down here came in on the other side," she said softly to herself.
The long tunnel of glowing stones ended as an entrance to a not so tall but wide cavern.
A hole in the shape of a long crack in the top was where light is shining through. A little small to fit through, but big enough for much light to come in, and bouncing off more shining stones helped the little light fill around the room nicely.
With her eyes adjusted to the dark a little better, and all this new light all around helped her able to see quite well in this area.
Some odd rock formations looked like old offset table tops to her. A few small stalagmites dotted here and there, as well some small stalactites up top. Some glowing looking moss and mushrooms as well could be found, all around.
She was not sure if they were self-illuminating or an odd effect of the glowing stones.
A fresh musty smell all around from the moss and mushrooms she seemed to like. All in all seemed as if it would be a fun spot to hang out with her two friends, she thought. It all looked made this way, then abandoned long ago, she reasoned.
Plunk was shaken out of her thoughts as the voice reminded her as to why she was here. It sounded real close now. There are two other exits to this cavern, other than the one she came through she noticed. Each seemed to lead down. The voice was on the left.
The voice sounded odder than before as she could hear it more clearly now. It was no longer loud screeches. More like deep heavy breathing. She did not like it.
This change in sound made her feel tense, like this was a mistake to come alone.
She could hear something that sounded like more scraping and other movement as well.
Speaking up and letting herself be known, no longer seemed like a good idea to her, as a shiver ran up her spine.
With wide eyes and some trepidation, the now shaking filly moved slowly to have a look at what lead her down here by voice alone.
She hoped whatever it was that lead her down here, may indeed be stuck and unable to get to her if it was something dangerous. Hope was also in her heart that she would not regret failing to turn around and run right now. She felt after all this, she just had to take a look at it.