Digging, apparently, is not as easy as the creatures in Deepholme make it look. Not only is the ground remarkably sturdy in its own right, but moving that much material around (quietly or otherwise) is not easy in the close confines of a body-sized tunnel.
Regardless, the mere thought of being caught by the dark one was enough to spur her on. Fistful after fistful of moist earth was clawed free, scooped, and deposited behind her. The thin roots of the garden tangled with the sturdier roots and tendrils of the bushes she had been hiding in, all being little more than an inconvenience at the moment; an inconvenience she could hardly afford when her tormentors were so near.
Muttering quietly to herself, she wondered what particular god-like being she had offended to have been gifted with such an unpleasant experience. First, the timeways collapsed, casting all of her world's already tumultuous past into chaos. Then the Iron Horde invasion, forcing many to fight their own ancestors... she still hadn't heard of any mage explaining the continued existence of the descendents of fallen combatants. Next, Draenor's split from history, entire regions and pivotal points in both worlds pasts coming under fire. And then, as if to add insult to injury, the paradox had apparently grown to such monumental proportions that when the original Draenor had been torn asunder by the power crazed warlocks of the Burning Legion, the new Draenor's magic had become too unstable to hold itself together.
And when all was said and done, she, like countless others, had been cast off into the twisting nether when the physical shell of the planet had ruptured.
And now, after being frozen, shattered, burned, crushed, tortured, and whatever else they had done to her since her arrival, she was being pursued by the very tormentors who had plucked her from the cold dead of the empty reaches of the night sky itself.
Pulling another fistful of soil from the pitch before her, she shoved it back along her tattered side, hoping that they would take a few minutes before finding her method of escape.
-~oOo~-
Gentry stood, glaring at the gatehouse. Two other guards stood, staring back at Gentry with little more than a raised eyebrow to show any form of reaction between the two of them.
He really hadn't expected any, to be honest. It wouldn't make sense for the castle to be up in arms over his departure, and there was even less reason that the on-duty Guards would have shown anything less than perfect composure and respect for any citizen... even one who had deserted his post.
With a frown, Gentry set his jaw and snorted once before trotting up to the gatehouse with enough snarky comments running through his mind to fill a book. Perhaps that's what he should really do... go home and write books rather than go through with his plan to return to duty and beg forgiveness if the Princesses questioned him.
"Evening Sir," one of the stallions, Bulwark if the voice was anything to go by, said.
"Anything to declare," the other guard, Impasse, asked with a quick glance over Gentry's shoulder, "unless this is an inspection, of course?"
He rolled his eyes. Of course, they'd have to make a big deal about this. Check me over. Ask all the questions. Waste my time and give me grief all within the bounds of protocol without breaking any rules.
"No. Nothing to declare... I'm naked... see?" He frowned all the harder as he briskly turned around, proving himself with little more than an impatient huff as he faced them again.
Impasse, ever the polite one, nodded quickly before turning to open the small service door but stopped when Bulwark coughed softly.
"Beggin' your pardon... Sir... but, if I remember correctly, unless a Guard is discharged, one way or another, their clearance and permissions are revoked until proper notice is given."
Gentry paused. It was true, technically at least, but that particular rule was only enforced where matters of treason were being considered... something that hadn't happened in living memory. With deliberate slowness, Gentry planted his front hooves and turned to look at Bulwark with his most cutting glare.
"Bulwark, I'm not going to cite a good number of things regarding proper procedure right now. I'm not going to point out that, as the more senior of the two of you, you were required to address me by rank. I'm not going to remember that your helmet wasn't polished with regulation polish this evening. I'm not going to offhoofedly mention that the gatehouse door was, and still remains, unlocked while there is an unconfirmed visitor at the gate. I shall miss the lack of bootblack on your shoes. I might even accidentally forget to require a proper parade welcome as I could request as a member of Princess Celestia's appointed staff. Or, I could just as easily point out that since I was NOT dismissed, or recalled, that I have been, and still remain, on duty since events behind closed doors occurring some time ago... events which, I might add, were confidential and secured, meaning that anything you might have overheard, or been told, would be a chargeable breach of Equestrian Royal Security."
Bulwark stood for a moment, enduring his baleful glare, before licking his lips slowly. "Sir, to reiterate, unless a Guard is discharged, their clearance and permissions are revoked until proper notice is given... which would mean that unless the Princesses gave explicit instruction that you not report for muster, you were not properly discharged and have been AWOL since the conclusion of the closed session a while back. And, unless I miss my mark, I would also assume that you have not received proper notice of your clearance being reinstated."
Impasse watched silently, hoof half-raised to the service door, as the two continued to consider each other. Bulwark, clearly treading on thin ice while Gentry similarly overstepping his bounds.
The moment was broken however, when a shout went up from within the grounds nearby. An angry shout.
A shout, in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
-~oOo~-
"The Creature is GONE!" Bellowed Princess Luna as she uncovered what appeared to be an intact, if rapidly collapsing, tunnel behind a collection of wilting shrubberies.
"'Tis an invader and scondrel, an invisible assailant upon these, our own... OUR OWN subjects, and yet it IS GONE!"
The small cadre of Guard, a haphazard mishmash of both her and her sister's personal troops, as well as a number of the generic 'Royal' Guard, flinched under the withering assault.
"It has been but a moment since our arrival, a tare of effort, and we have located its escape, and yet NONE have sought to arrest its flight!?!? Pray Tell! From whom do you draw sustenance?"
A quick, though reserved, "Our Princesses" echoed across the band of armored ponies.
"And to whom willest thee labor, yea unto completion, such task as may be set before you?"
A similar, though no less reserved, "Our Princesses" rippled through the crowd.
"And from who has this trespasser stolen both security and privicy?"
"Our Princesses," came the reply again, though Luna noticed a few of her own Guard to be whispering "my princess" under their breath.
"Then for what reason art thy still-"
"Luna, that is enough."
The Princess of the Night's head snapped around fast enough to cause many of the Guard to shrink back as Celestia coolly watched her. Off in the distance, she could see a number of unicorn magi blinking in and out of existence as they teleported closer. A few stray hairs of Twilight's mane were curled as they had sprung free of her normally ironclad manestyle. And through it all, Luna only briefly wondered what the issue was until she noticed the coil of glowing blue cable that she had been levitating unconsciously.
"My apologies. I have forgotten myself," Luna whispered at a volume that was easily heard by all. "Time hast marched long past where such discipline might be entertained." She closed her eyes and steadied both her breathing and the lashing whips of her mane and tail, only opening them again once she had quieted her inner voice. "I have overreacted again. Please, resume your duties and pray, forgive my misjudgement."
A number of the Guard blinked at her for a moment before one of the Solars nodded and turned to the wilting brush to resume his examination. A few moments later and the bulk of the gathering had turned to resume their own labors as well.
Luna held a hoof to her head as she berated herself silently. She had been making such progress with Celestia's little ponies... and then she had to go and do something like that.
"For what it's worth Princess," a soft, though no less certain, voice said from her right, " I am rather embarrassed that it took me so long to notice it."
"The fault is not thine own, Mistral. We art as much blinded by assumption as-"
"Luna..." Celestia's voice slipped into her sister's exchange with just enough warmth to remind the Lunar Diarch of her support.
"... what we meant to say was that," Luna looked over to the other two alicorns present, watching for approval, "we understand...," a soft nod, "... your remorse, and it is," a sharp look from Celestia, "... un...founded." Another slight smile, "'Tis not something that anypony should rightly know to search for," Twilight nodded curtly, glancing up at Celestia herself. "Think no more on this matter but, know that I value your insight," an approving, if somewhat surprised look from Celestia, "and hope that you would feel inclined to provide such again, at your leisure."
If Mistral was surprised, she didn't show it, instead only nodding and flitting off to a nearby tower to scan the ground below.
The soft whisper of her sister's hoofsteps beside her brought Luna's gaze back to the garden. "That was a much better recovery than last time," Celestia whispered with a smile. "And I am surprised at you Luna! When were you going to tell me you chose a mare to keep as your consort?"
Luna's startled squawk brought a smile to Celetia's face.
Even if Mistral's conclusion was incorrect, Celestia knew that levity helped Luna more than any hunt ever would.
...
Besides, seeing Luna blush would never get old.
-~oOo~-
Her fingers clawed through the inky blackness tirelessly. One fist after another, one inch after another, she slid silently through the humid slumber of the earth. Even here, hours after starting her escape, she could still feel those eyes upon her, searching and finding her... wanting.
Intellectually she knew she had escaped. She had, after all, slipped out from under their very noses, even as they had cornered her and were closing in. She knew that if they had discovered her quickly enough, they would have just drug her back out, beating her into submission, and then resumed whatever tortures the dark one intended.
She knew all this and yet...
Shaking off another chill, she reached forth again and paused as her fingers slid against something much much harder than the soil she had been working through for the past few hours.
Whatever it was, it was smooth as glass and at least as hard.
Working her other hand forward, she set about tracing the edge nearest her, working to pack the soil away, determined to free the object or at least dig around it to continue her escape.
And yet, when she finally had crushed enough soil to move the object, she found it refused to shift, even when she braced her spine and shoved with both of her arms.
Curious, but more motivated by her desire to escape, she had just decided to dig around the thing when she ran into another surface only a few feet away.
Confused, but still wary, she shifted herself again, adjusted her course and started to dig once more, just to strike a third object.
Unlike the first two however, the third shifted with a loud cracking sound, before erupting into a bright gray/blue light.
What she saw would have stolen her breath had she still required air.
Below her, a great cavern of glittering crystal yawned aglow with a ripple of multicolored light.
And then, she felt the ground shift, heard a shuddering crack, and the world went dark once more as she fell.
-~oOo~-