//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 - Midnight // Story: The Earth Ponies // by RomanCandle //------------------------------// The mountains loomed. While the three young mares had by no means been traversing easy terrain before, the mere foothills of the giants now before them were truly frightful. The world could not decide if it was going to be impossibly smooth or impossibly sharp, and had settled on a compromise - the weather had shaped the rocks into dangerous knives, and left the ground slicker than wet glass beneath the carpet of snow. They walked close together, and slowly, as the night grew steadily darker. The wind had picked up to a screaming roar long ago, and tore hungrily at their clothing, nipping at their skin through every imperfection in their layering. As what little light there was faded - the Aurora did not reach quite this far - they looked at each other. Though most of their faces were obscured by many layers, they all knew. They couldn't pitch their tent here - they needed better shelter. Carefully, a small lamp was lit, and by it's meager light they continued through the bitter cold of night, huddled close to keep the cold at bay. Slowly, slowly, slowly, the giant teeth of the Earth rose before them, visible only as a slightly deeper darkness against the moonlit stormclouds. They stopped as one when the lanterns light reflected off a wall of glassy rock before them - polished into smooth, sharp edges, it had appeared to rise suddenly from the darkness. With careful steps, they approached, and saw a dark spot among the reflective, frozen surface - a cave. Shelter. They moved in as quickly as they could, and their clothes crackled with the sudden movement - snow had melted and re-frozen against their coats. While the inside of the cavern was just as cold as outside, if not more, the wind did not penetrate beyond the very mouth, and within a minute they had a small fire going. The three stayed huddled close together, seated on the bags that they had carried on their backs, as the small fire ate away at the cold. Even when the air had warmed, it was several minutes before Half Note revealed her pink muzzle and spoke. "So...do you guys think we can go any further North anymore?" One head was shaken, and another scarf revealed the orange muzzle of Firelock. "No way. Did you see how steep this mountain is? There's no way we could climb it, and who knows how long it'd take to go around it." She bunched her shoulders and shivered. "No, I think one way or another, this is the end of the line." Half Note nodded, and rubbed her ears beneath her hat. "I don't think I can argue, honestly. But...well...we are in a cave, and we can't go further North..." she looked up from the ground, to the blackness that was the depths of the cave. Firelock looked with her and shuddered. "I guess we should at least make sure that there's nothing else in here with us before we go to sleep, if only just so that we don't end up a three-course dinner." She picked up one of the burning logs in a hoof and stood up. "And hey, if it's the cave we're looking for, then great, we can go home." Half Note followed her lead, grimacing. "We'll head home even if it isn't. There's no way we can go any further. One way or another, we're done here." Tornado likewise picked up a torch, albeit without speaking, and together the three walked deeper into the cavern. Their lights illuminated mere yards in front of them, and the end of the cavern never appeared. Perhaps it was minutes, perhaps it was hours, but when Half Note looked back behind her there was no sign of the little fire they had left at the entrance. She stopped for a moment, and turned to the side, squinting at one of the walls. It was only a moment before Tornado Bolt and Firelock came to her side. Firelock squinted for a moment before raising an eyebrow at the pink Earth Pony. Half Note raised a hoof and put it against the wall - even through her boot, it was freezing to the touch. But there was something else, too, and she walked over to the other side, and did the same. Tornado shook her scarf out of her face. "What are you doing?" Half Note put her hoof back down. "I've got a weird feeling. I think the walls are kind of curved, and the floor is at a really gentle slope. Hang on a second." She set her torch on it's side, and let go. Sure enough, it rolled gently down the corridor, and slowly leaned to the right before disappearing behind the wall. She reached into her coat and brought out the compass. It was still pointing North. Frowning, she shook it - she knew they had turned, but surely not a whole rotation? Still, it told her that North lied ahead. She trotted down the corridor, holding the compass in front of her. Tornado and Firelock watched over her shoulder. They came upon the torch she had let roll, caught against a rock. Even though she knew that they had turned a corner - a wide one, but a corner nonetheless - the compass had always said that North was further down the tunnel. She looked to her friends. Firelock had her brow furrowed and her mouth a tight line, staring intently at the compass. Tornado looked up and met her eyes, before shrugging. Half Note grimaced and put the compass back in her jacket. Picking her torch back up, she continued walking. None of them spoke, and the only measure of time was the flicker of their torches, which continued to burn. After some time - Half Note had tried to keep track in her own head, but couldn't keep count past a minute for some reason - the tunnel opened to a wide cavern, filled with ice. From behind them, wind rushed in and extinguished their torches, but the light in the cavern did not seem diminished. Looking to the roof, the icicles sparkled against the black rock like stars in the sky. The cavern was silent, save for the breathing of the three ponies, who stood and shivered. Firelock was the first to break the silence. "It's really....really cold down here, guys." She looked behind her as if to run. "TO FEAR THE COLD IS TO FEAR NOTHING, LITTLE PONY." The voice froze them in their tracks. It was as deep as the night sky, yet light as a clinking glass. Half Note saw a slither of movement on one side of the cavern, but it was gone before she could focus on it. "IT IS VERY RARE, THAT A PONY SHOULD CHOOSE TO VISIT ME..." The voice hissed, and something skittered across the ice. "MORE THAN ONE, EVEN LESS SO..." A tinkling noise came from the ceiling. "AND THOSE THAT MAKE THAT CHOICE SELDOM TRULY KNOW WHAT THEY SEEK...SO TELL ME, YOU PONIES THREE..." The silence that followed was eerie - not even the rattling of her teeth made it to Half Note's ears, as though sound itself had frozen. She turned around to look at the entrance to the cavern, to find it no longer there. Tornado and Firelock turned as well, and as one they turned back around, and screamed. Before them was a gigantic, skeletal, serpentine face; grinning with black, needle like teeth and framed by curved antlers that appeared to be made of black ice. Though it appeared to be staring directly at them, there were no eyes - simply a black void that stretched from the tip of the nose to the base of the horns. The voice boomed across the silence. "WHAT BRINGS YOU TO ME?"