The Quest for the Rainbow of Light

by Al-1701

Prologue: Disturbing the Web

Something about gems drove a primal force in diamond dogs to dig deep underground to find them. No dog knew why. You could not eat them. They were not comfortable to sleep on. They did make very handsome decorations with their vibrant colors and brilliant luster. It was those colors and luster that tantalized the senses even as puppies. Young dogs could not wait to dig into the soil to find their first gem.

Spot had been a small time mining foreman. He was so called because the blotchy nature of his coat though he was often the color of the local dust by the end of the day like his fellow canine miners. He and his small crew that never numbered more than twenty typically cleaned out the scraps larger mining troops had left behind.

However, this time he had found the mother lode after following up on an old tale of old mines. These caverns were practically incrusted with beautiful gems in every color and shape. They stuck out of the walls, ceiling, and even floor. Even after a week of extensive mining the gems seemed just as abundant as they did when they started.

Yet, there was another primal force tugging at the very back of Spot’s subconscious that was not unique to diamond dogs: fear. These caverns were in a place that civilization purposefully avoids. Even the roads were built to give these mountains a wide berth even if it added hours to the tip. It seemed like life also preferred to be somewhere else as the mountains were mostly barren with maybe an occasional tuft of dry grass here and there. Even the soil and air smelled particularly dead for lack of a better term.

The locals, if you could call people living twenty miles away locals, claimed a demon was sealed in these caverns. Spot ignored their tales as superstitious yokels telling old legends.

However, as they harvested the seemingly inexhaustible wealth of gems, he began to wonder if it was more than a legend. This place had been a mine centuries ago. Why would the previous miners abandon such a fortune? Through the subconscious chant of “Gems, gems, gems!” he heard another voice frantically pleading “Something’s wrong! Leave while you still can!” and it was getting harder and harder to ignore it.

Spot noticed a large diamond the size of an orange sticking out of the cave wall near him. He reached his large hand around it and dug his nails into the rock. He wiggled the diamond until it broke out of the wall.

Spot examined the milky white rock. Diamonds were the hardest of all the gems, the hardest substance known in fact. You needed other diamonds to cut a diamond. It did not look like much in its raw form, but after cutting and polishing, it would make a handsome collar decoration. He could show it off at formal parties as evidence he was now one of the big dogs and perhaps go from scavenger and chaser of far out leads to a real mining foreman with hundreds of miners under his command. That was why he would stay.

“Foreman Spot!” a voice shouted from behind him.

Spot spun around as he put the diamond in his pocket. His second in command, Bear, was running up the mine. Bear was a massive diamond dog, towering over just about everyone and hulking in his build. He ran out of one of the tunnels, almost knocking over a cart full of gems has he pushed off it. “Foreman Spot!” he repeated.

“What is it?” Spot asked.

Bear stopped in front of him, panting as he tried to regain his breath. He braced his massive hands on his unusually large knees for a couple breaths. He finally stood up.

Bear took one last deep breath. “We’ve found something in one of the deeper tunnels.” Bear was as deep voiced as his large body would imply.

“More gems?” Spot asked eagerly?

Bear shook his head. “No…I think you need to see this.”

Spot felt a chill go down his spine and his hair stand on head. Bear was also not an easy diamond dog to rattle. That made the uncertainty in his voice all the more unnerving. That nagging voice in Spot’s head came back louder than ever. “There’s something wrong here! This mine was abandoned for a reason! Don’t find out why the hard way!” However, a voice representing the massive diamond in his pocket argued, “Wimps don’t get to be top dogs.” The diamond won the argument.

“Show me,” Spot said.

* * *

Tunnels snaked through the mountains. However, the diamond dogs had only recently started exploring them. The ventilators keeping fresh air pumping into the main caverns were of no help down the tunnels. The air was hot and stale. Even the lights strung up on the walls ended before Spot and Bear reached their destination. Only the sun crystal lamps on their helmets provided any illumination and only in circles directly ahead of them.

Several miners stood around a poorly made barricade of half rotted wooden planks. Something had been painted on it once, but long faded away except for some chips of white. The other miners turned to Spot and Bear as they came to the group.

“Is this it?” Spot asked.

Bear nodded.

Spot walked up to the barricade and looked in one of the wide gaps between its planks. The light from his lantern glistened off the wall of gems beyond it. He felt his mouth water upon seeing color and reflection. This chamber made the rest of the mines look barren in comparison.

“Take it down!” Spot barked before even thinking about it. He took a step away.

Bear turned to Spot with an uncertain expression that rarely crept onto his face. “This barricade was put up for a reason. It could be dangerous.”

Spot took the moment to consider this. Why would they barricade the chamber ahead? Did they trap something in there? These mines had been untouched for a thousand years, so whatever was in there was long dead. Was it because of a toxic gas leak? The gaps in the planks would not stop a leak and the canary the other miners brought down was flitting in its cage as lively as ever. There was nothing he could think of that could threaten them.

“I said take it down,” Spot said with a growl to his voice.

The miners paused for a second, but picked up pickaxes and crowbars. They wedged their tools behind the planks and easily yanked them down. Some boards fell apart as soon as they were touched. Within seconds the barricade was nothing but a pile of rotted out wood on the ground.

Spot stepped over the pile and into the chamber. The light from his lamp reflected off the incredible wealth of gems. Other circles of light joined it as the miners slowly followed him.

Spot scanned down to the ground and the one thing not covered in gems. It was a rectangle of bare rock. However, it was a perfect rectangle with perfectly square corners. It actually reminded Spot of a coffin.

Spot scanned his lamplight across the rock. It was very orderly in its dimensions: two feet tall, four feet across, and eight feet long. His lamp passed over a gold medallion at about the halfway point on a long face of the rock and towards the top. It had some kind of marking on it, but before he could tell what it was the medallion turned a brilliant orange and melted. Spot froze in place and stared on as the molten metal ran down the side of the rock.

Spot unfroze as he jumped back to a pinprick of white light come from where the medallion had been. The light lengthened horizontally across the rock. It soon extended all the way around. The thin slab above the line lifted up and slid off the main body. The slab landed on the ground with a loud, dull thud. Brilliant white light pour out of the main body, illuminating the chamber. “You should never have come here! Leave while you still can!” the nagging voice insisted.

Spot was almost ready to listen to the voice now. He swallowed down a lump forming in his throat and felt his entire body prickle from the chill going through it. This was powerful magic they were dealing with. Perhaps the locals were not exaggerating when they said a demon had been sealed here and he might have undone that seal.

However, there was also morbid curiosity suggesting he just take a peek at what was inside. What kind of demon was in there? Was there really a demon in there?

Spot slowly crept towards the rock. He looked and gazed at the contents.

Inside the rock was a body lying in repose. Apparently Spot was not too far off considering this a coffin.

However, the body was unlike any creature Spot had ever seen. It was tall and gaunt like a skeleton with medium gray skin pulled over it and little else in between. It had no fur except for a mane of long, wiry, yellowish-white hair coming from the top of his head. Spot assumed it was male given the shape of the head and torso. He was fully clothed with a tattered, light gray shirt and medium gray trousers under a long, dark gray, equally tattered coat. A wide-brimmed hat sat on his head and footwear completely covered his feet. His arms were crossed over his chest with the right fist clenched around a gold flute.

The miners gathered around the coffin and gazed in.

“What is it?” one of the miners asked?

“Is it dead?” another asked.

“It has to be,” yet another said with confidence. “Nothing has been in this in more than a thousand years.”

Spot watched the body. Why would someone go to such trouble to seal away a body? Perhaps it was merely a precaution. “Leave it alone!” the nagging voice pleaded.

The first miner in the conversation pointed at the flute. “Look at that. Do you think it’s real gold?”

“There’s one way to find out.” Spot slowly reached across the body’s chest towards the flute.

Spot almost had a nail on it when a yelp came from behind him. He pulled his arm back and spun around. A miner was frantically brushing his shoulder. He looked up with a sheepish grin.

“Sorry,” he said. “It was a big spider.”

Spot rolled his eyes and shook his head. He was letting his fears cloud his judgment. This was an ordinary body of an admittedly extraordinary creature in an ordinary mine. There were no demons, just gems for the taking.

Spot turned back to the flute. He reached in more quickly this time. He almost reached the flute with the other hand suddenly grabbed his arm. Spot felt his heart pound against his ribcage as the bony hand tightened its grip.

The body’s eyes popped open. The whites were black and the irises were gold. The eyes slid in their sockets to gaze as Spot. Spot tried frantically to pull his arm free, but the hand would not relent. He could not hear the “Gems” chant or even the nagging voice over his heart pounding in his ears.

The flute bearing hand slowly reached up and closed over a substantial part of Spot’s vest. He was pulled down towards the head of the body. The mouth opened revealing yellowed, spike-like teeth. The breath coming from the mouth was dry and smelled like dust and rancid meat. Spot trembled as he was brought closer.

Spot turned his muzzle away before it reached the mouth. The body brought his ear close. The voice coming from the mouth was more like a wheeze, a balloon slowly releasing air formed into words. “How long?”

“H-h-how l-l-long w-w-what?” Spot managed to stuttered out.

The body swallowed and then asked more clearly, “how long have we been trapped in here?”

The body pushed Spot back away enough he could face the body. Those ghoulish eyes looked at him. Spot swallowed another lump down his throat.

“W-w-we d-d-don’t know,” Spot answered, “b-b-but this m-m-mine h-h-has b-b-been ab-b-bandoned f-f-for more than a thousand y-y-years.”

The body, or rather the very much alive creature, finally let go with Spot’s wrist and vest. Spot fell backwards. He looked around him and the gems were gone. In their place were spiders and scorpions. The ceiling and wall were moving down.

Spot suddenly thought of the diamond in his pocket. He looked down to something moving in his pocket. A scorpion as big as his hand crawl out and clacked its pincers. Spot swatted the scorpion off him and turned around as he jumped to his feet.

Spot ran to the others huddled in a corner, taking care not to step on the arachnids swarming on the ground. Their eyes were all as big as dinner plates and filled with fear. He could only imagine the same look being on his face. He practically fell into the group and turned around.

The arachnids gathered around the rock and appeared to bow. The creature sat up and then stood up. The arachnids made a clear spot for him to stand as he stepped out.

“Wh-who are you?” Spot asked timidly.

“I am known as Arachnis the Captor,” the creature, apparently named Arachnis, replied casually. “Who are you?”

Spot swallowed. “W-we’re diamond dogs, simple gem miners.”

Arachnis nodded as he apparently took this in. “Indeed,” he said. His voice had a gravelly and sinister quality to it. “We should reward you for liberating us from our prison.”

Spot’s fear ebbed some upon hearing about a reward. “A reward? What kind of reward?”

“A swift death,” Arachnis said plainly and casually. “It is an honor we rarely afford our prey.”

Spot’s jaw dropped. He was too shocked to be scarred or so scared he his brain could not process it.

The arachnids turned and crawled in a moving carpet towards them. They crawled onto the miners and onto Spot. That nagging voice was back, “You idiot!” it scolded.

* * *

The blood curdling screams of the diamond dogs echoed through the tunnels and chambers of the mine long after the source was suddenly cut short.

* * *

Arachnis strolled towards the entrance into the mine. His spiders and scorpions followed around him. He finally stepped out into the open and could feel the warmth of the sun on his face. He stopped and took in the sensation.

He could also feel her sorrow among the light and warth. Despite her efforts, he was free to finish what he started a millennium before, and this time she could do nothing to stop him.

“We’re free.” Arachnis chuckled. He threw up his arms and shouted, “We’re free!” He gave a bellowing laugh as his words echoed through the mountains.

Author's Note:

If you've read my MLP novel "Arachnis the Captor" elsewhere, then this is a massive overhaul of the concept. I had originally written it to fit into the G1 universe. However, I found myself bending over backwards to explain things. So, I figured I would take the same basic idea and make a new universe. This is what I'm calling the "Shattered Equestria" universe with the idea G1 ponies are actually the descendants of G4 similar to Firehooves' work. However, my vision of a post-Equestria world is much different as you can see.

Although somethings are similar to AtC, this is a completely different story.

Comments

[Sunstar]

Faved and followed!
Also, first! (Sorry, couldn't resist)

[Leave a Whisper]

oh god one big spider would have been enough to send me fleeing! 80

[NobodieZ]

Nice start.