Two days and two nights had pass’d
Since Thorn had last visited Gryphonstone.
Here he was, in (what is now) Canterlot at last.
But he did not arrive here completely alone:
Joining him was Coin, Cloudsdale’s outcast,
To find her sister’s last whereabouts known.
Grøß made mention of the Canterlot mine–
Was it here that that filly he did consign?
“Avast! These are the mines of Canterlot!”
So declared the captain of the Æolus.
The ship was anchored with many a knot,
To hold fast against persistent lightness.
Now Thorn and Coin disembarked the yacht–
There was no city– it seemed dangerous!
Noöne was there for them to greet–
A quiet scene– something was offbeat.
A variety of tents were scattered about,
But the mining gear was kept up with pride.
All was quiet, but there was no doubt
That within the mines they were inside.
Thorn grew impatient, and gave a shout:
“Hark! Hail! Does someone here abide?”
But Coin said, “Look! There’s no gatekeeper!
Don’t you see? We ought to go deeper!
“Can Tânadain light the way?” asked she.
“Sorry, Coin, I’m afraid not,” Thorn replied.
“The Dragons made it quite clear to me–
It’ll burn me if anything nonviolent is tried!
We’ll need torches!” But there weren’t any.
Thorn looked into the tunnel and sighed.
“Here we go.” Thorn descended within first,
Coin next– into darkness they were immers’d!
The shaft was bright enough to start–
Celestia’s Sun creeped in to light the way,
As a more malevolent Darkness did part.
Everywhere they gazed were halls of gray.
There, on the track, was an old mining-cart–
A way for them to reduce the delay!
They climbed in, and Thorn released the brake.
The cart set off then, with the slightest shake.
The cart accelerated into the mine’s night–
Celestia save us from this chthonian store!
Now, more than ever, they needed light,
As Pluto welcomed the two to his shore.
After a straight rail, suddenly they turned right.
On, and on, and on the rail the two wore.
Until at last the rail’s end was reached.
The brake was applied– O! It screeched!
A glowing lantern was hung on the buffer.
This they shall require to advance!
With that in hoof, they needed not suffer
From nyctophobia, or from Alû’s lance–
Though Thorn admitted the Sun was brighter,
Their vision even a lantern did enhance,
As they descended into the earthen tunnels,
Following the cave’s moisture-runnels.
A mad maze ensued in the underground grotto–
Left, right, left, as they followed gravity’s tail
To where Canterlot Mountain was hollow.
The lantern barely pierced Nyx’s shadow-veil.
Then they noticed that the streams did slow
And pool in a well at the end of the trail.
A sign hung above the entrance, overhead–
In snow-white paint, “Ðwaite Mine” it said.
“Ðwaite Mine?” said Coin. “That’s its name?”
“Doth your sister abide here?” Thorn asked.
“If Grøß be right, then this is what became
Of her! Setting her free, then, I am tasked!”
“So I see,” said Thorn, “but all the same,
We need to keep our presence here masked.
Look yonder!” Thorn pointed within the shaft.
Sounds of mining resonated through fore to aft.
Most occupants were young fillies and foals;
The eldest was aged not two-and-ten years,
And all had lived their lives as merely moles.
All were kept to labor by the greatest of fears:
Two diamond-dogs, watching them dig holes.
Sometimes alone, but usually with their peers.
Dissatisfactory work was punished by the whip.
Any worse? Then they ended up in Death’s grip.
“Thou shalt not stop!” demanded the two.
“Lord Fenrir demands from us another ton!
No time to waste! Keep at it, all of you!”
Seeing this awful scene rendered Coin ashen.
“This place is terrible through and through!
There’s no way they can pick the mine barren!
Thorn, we must act! My sister is down there!
I recognize her mark! Quartz is in the lair!”
“In a moment’s time,” said Thorn. “Patience!
She shall be free before you can know it!
We shall sneak around, in complete silence,
To somewhere outside of their sight and wit.
When they known’t, then we lend assistance!
We lay out a strike that they cannot outwit!
Patience, Coin, is the key in this endeavor–
If we’re not careful, we’ll be here forever!
“Now this way!” They got deep in a crack,
And crawled forth in an empty vein of crystal.
“Wait a second,” Thorn said. “Coin, go back!
Circle the other way!” “Why?” “Don’t mull!”
Thus, though a logical reason Coin did lack,
To Thorn’s idea and plan she remained loyal.
The route grew narrow, but she pressed on–
She was eager to see her, even after an æon!
Coin found dear Quartz past the next bend,
Hard at her work, digging for the mineral.
At last, her misery came to its ultimate end
’Midst the granite, limestone, and opal.
Coin whispered, “Quartz, sister, my friend!”
But her reaction– Coin’s mind it did baffle:
She then shouted, though she sounded hurt:
“Geri! Freki! Come quick! An intruder! Alert!”
Thorn’s glare was hurled at Coin– “You fool!”
He whispered so harshly. “What did you do?”
Quoth the Rose, “There’s no time to ridicule!
See what remains of your plan through!”
“Now Coin!” shouted Thorn. “Defy their rule!”
The other miners started shouting anew.
When Geri and Freki arrived, then they struck–
Tânadain’s summoning would wreak havoc!
Geri quickly dodged Thorn’s first swing–
Freki noticed this, and pounced upon.
Tânadain, though, forged by the dragon-king,
Wasn’t easily trumped, even this battle hereon.
The fires frightened them off– what a thing!
The mine was lit as bright as Celestia’s dawn.
Then, out of naught, a whip met Thorn’s face!
It retraced quickly, leaving a bloody trace.
But what can cords do against fiery iron?
“Naught!” Tânadain answered for Thorn.
It charged forth, and Freki’s face it did burn.
Before either reacted, Thorn was airborne,
Sailed aloft by the Firewing in the cavern.
Then, in a flash brighter than Celestia’s dawn,
Tânadain dove down onto its canine prey–
But that still ended not the subterranean fray!
If ever they had an excuse, this was one:
All the slaves stopped with a shirk
And looked on the unexpected action.
With them all distracted, Coin got to work
Liberating Quartz. She then said, “Listen!
You’re now free.” She added a smirk.
“Thorn there shall repeat after the fight,
And bring everyone out into the light.”
Meanwhile, Tânadain fought on for all,
Showing no mercy to the diamond-fœs.
When the two were flung up against a wall,
They charged back, united as amigos.
The whip lashed out, once and for all,
Causing upon Thorn the greatest of thrœs.
Thorn needed a way to start the revolution,
But nowhere was there an apparent solution.
It seemed the end, but Thorn did take notice
Of a boiler, powered by a dragon in chains.
His work had left him completely happiless,
And his bindings had given him many pains.
The chains rendered him wholly flightless–
This alone was the greatest of his many banes!
“Help me, warrior!” he begged on all fours.
“Free me here, and my life shall be yours!”
“Shall you betray me after?” Thorn asked.
With dragons, he had to take great caution.
“Nay!” said he. “My intents are unmasked:
I never saw freedom after that fateful auction.
Torch is my name, before the query is asked.
Now please, foal! Make my liberation done!”
Thorn saw such impasse, and took advantage–
Tânadain, then, quickly severed the linkage!
Freed Torch had no words to convey grace.
His actions, instead, spoke his volumes.
A fiery look of vengeance swept ’cross his face,
And his nose puffed out smoke and fumes.
He was a proud member of the dragon-race,
Not someone to toy with, as anypony presumes.
He opened his maw, and breathed forth fire–
Such was just an expressed fraction of his ire!
Unfortunately, neither Geri nor Freki it hit.
They rolled aside to dodge the flames.
“Torch!” shouted Freki. “Dare not to quit!
Or want you to be the target of our blames?”
Their only reply was Tânadain’s blade-hit,
Knocking their wind out of their frames.
Tânadain cooled, and Thork kept them pinned.
Torch alit to them, and told how they sinned:
“You’ve deceived your own Lord in your efforts
To keep your crystal-mining production going.
We’ve heard what Lord Fenrir always asserts–
A lack of slavery! –Yea, that is your knowing!
Yea, though what Truth I say to you hurts,
How much time can you keep on borrowing?
Heed my words, if dignity you want to keep,
Else Fenrir may give you the æternal sleep!”
“But how else to dig out these precious stones,
If this help be denied to the diamond-dogs?”
Said Freki. And Geri added, “’Tis in our bones!
In this mining-machine, they are the very cogs!”
“Why justify cruelty, when Fenrir condones?”
Said Torch, in ever-acerbic-toned dialogues.
“Remember this one thing, and omit the rest:
‘Cupiditás radix málórum est!’
“They’re yours now, Thorn, as you see fit!”
Declared Torch. But Thorn had another idea.
Rather than granting relief to their spirit,
He used a penalty borrowed from Equestria.
“No punishment to you I shall commit,”
Said he. “Nor shall my Princess Celestia!
Rather, I’ll leave you two to Lord Fenrir–”
That statement caused in them great fear!
“You cannot be serious!” declared Geri.
“Have you not met him?” asked Freki.
“His punishments to all are legendary!”
Said Geri. “Especially when he’s cranky!”
“Please, Thorn the Great– nay, Legendary!”
Said Freki. The both of them were shaky.
“Is that so? Then that’s what I intend!”
Said Thorn. “Fenrir shall see to your end!
“Fillies! Colts! You are all manumitted!”
So stated Thorn “Help me escort these two
To Fenrir, for the crimes they committed!
“Thank you, Thorn!” said a filly colored blue.
“But will Fenrir render their crimes remitted?”
“Not at all! The one to be liberated is you!”
Left and right came the breaking of chains.
At last all were free from their iron reins.
“What seemed to ye to be a side-quest,”
Spoke the Rose in the following interval,
“Might in fact be your absolute best!
By challenging Geri and Freki in battle,
You’ve secured freedom for the rest!
Gather the Janus Stones while you’re able. . . .”
Thorn found what he needed by an old rag.
Five blue Janus Stones went into his saddlebag.
Trumpet blares! Guards standing alert!
Fenrir had come to oversee the mine.
But his expectations the scene did subvert:
There were not just two dogs in the mine,
But a slave force, working in concert.
“What’s this? Geri! Freki! You’re out of line!
You swore to me this was your own work!
. . . Though I suspected this strange quirk.
“Guards! Take them out!” Fenrir ordered.
That was their last moment of freedom.
“The rest of you, let me now be heard:
You are dismissed from my lorddom.
You are free now, and you have my word.
Now go! Flee from conditions so gruesome!”
This they gladly did, but then came the query:
How to return to their parents, who did worry?
For most of them, this was straightforward:
The ponies of now are not so well mix’d
As they are today– Pegasi resided skyward,
Unicorns by the sea, and earth ponies fix’d
To the farmground where first they stirr’d–
Friendship was all that they had betwixt.
O Twilight Sparkle, sing forth such magic–
Be there for them, as a leader so choragic!
The ship stood patient, anchored by its hands–
“Where is Cloudsdale?” asked one pegasus.
“I last saw it travelling to Dragon-Lands,”
Replied Thorn. “Therefore, travel with us!
Torch’s home is there, right upon its sands,
And I to Saddle-Arabia’s vast barelessness.
Earth-ponies! Unicorns! What about ye?”
“To decide,” said one unicorn, “we are free.
“The Unicorns elect to stay here in Canterlot.
Here, we shall do a great many great things
That will live on for the ages as a grand blot
Upon Equestria’s map– as queens and kings!”
They then retreated under a shady spot,
To weave a web from their spiders’-strings.
There they remained, planning in the shade–
This, you see, was how Canterlot was made.
An earth pony said, “We elect to migrate
To where we deem the soil to be fertile.
Just as the unicorns here can be great,
We help grow corn and trees of apple.
How else do you maintain your state
If the crops bloom not come April?
Let us take our leave!” So the departed,
Setting off for their destiny in the mud.
Coin decided to follow Quartz her sister,
And so that left Torch and the other pegasi.
Fortunately, not many of them there were,
So the yacht could take them to the sky.
Once they boarded, weighed was the anchor,
And they sailed to the cloud-city so high!
That was also on the way to Dragon’s-Land,
Where Torch could rejoin the dragon-band.
In a matter of hours, Cloudsdale was seen–
White clouds, rainbow-falls, and dragons, ho!
Thorn shouted to the captain, seeing the scene:
“Cloudsdale’s up ahead! Get the ship to slow!”
The ship slowed trajectory, and all nineteen
Pegasi fillies and colts saw what they did know
Still, after that long time, their long-lost home–
From its fluffy foundation to its wide dome.
Then they all took flight, towards their kin.
Torch, for one, was especially grateful.
The parents cried, “Where’ve you been?”
“You want to know not– ’twas baneful!”
“Thorn!” said a dragon “Time grows thin!
Hath Quivett’s threat yet been made null?”
“Nigh!” came the reply. “I shall now travel
To Saddle Arabia’s library– then I’ll have all!”
This settled, the ship again took off
To the desert nation– to the bibliotheck!
Flying through a cloud made Thorn cough,
So he decided to go down below deck.
Saddle-Arabia, so it was told, was not far-off.
He’d be there before he could even check.
Though the Blue Rose did have to warn:
“Don’t hop off the ship until it stops, Thorn!”
True to their word, a desert was drawing near–
But unlike the desert in Dragon-Lands found,
This one did not inspire in ponies’ hearts fear.
Rather, dotted here and there in the ground,
Tents, caravans, and date-palms did appear.
The ship, to let off the colt, was then down’d.
Why, before his hooves even touched the sand,
Thorn already knew the name of this land!