Previous Chapters Next
Close
Crickets in the Dark2,072 words
Meals in the Orchard1,913 words
Lines in the Ether2,308 words
Dive Into the Dark2,691 words
It Never Caves In2,538 words
Stars in the Tunnels3,744 words

It Never Caves In

Rumble awoke to the glowing ether of a hundred flowers upon a roof several dozen feet above him. Groggy and disoriented, he grunted and rubbed his head. He rolled over, the soft grass under his barrel ruffling with the slightest of drafts. As his mind caught up with his consciousness, he remembered the world spinning. He shuddered and squeaked as a small collection of pebbles dislodged nearby. The world instantly snapped into focus. If his head were Rainbow Dash, he would have created sonic rainbooms with the panicked speed in his glances.

“Apple Bloom!” he shrieked. “Apple Bloom! Where are you?”

He was about to call a third time after burning through a couple of flowerbeds in a hurried search when he finally saw her. Lying on one side on top of a pile of dirt, her mane a tangled mess and her coat caked with who-knows-what, she was as asleep as the dead. Less than two millimetres from one of her hind legs was a boulder twice the size of a full-grown pony!

He was caught speechless! Tears welled up in his eyes when he began speculating as to how she might have saved him. The possibility she didn’t never entered his mind because he didn’t know what happened after he had been knocked unconscious, and as far as he was concerned, even if the boulder fell after everything settled, he had still been where the boulder now was. That was enough for him.

He kissed his exhausted young companion on the forehead and whispered an emphatic “Thank you.”

He looked between the rock and the filly and began to feel a growing well of loyalty for her… as well as something else. This went beyond the filthy stuff called “making love” Thunderlane had done. It went deeper than simply a titillating glance at a filly’s sacred place. As he turned to try to assess the situation, he looked back at Apple Bloom and gained a look far too mature for his age.

She was his now, his to take care of.

With a newfound source of determination in his heart, Rumble took wing to check out the entrance. The path they walked was demolished and entirely unsafe. He also discovered, upon passing over the crumbled switchback pathway, that the rocks caved in at the open pit. Observing the cave-in, he realized that there was no way to remove any rocks without bringing the rest of the tunnel down upon them. He peered through a thin opening, through to the other cave, where he promptly realized he couldn’t see a thing. The ledge they had used, as well as the thin path, had completely disappeared from view.

Well, whatever view he had of them in the absolute blackness.

He decided to press on to the other side of the dome. He was sure that there was another way out. There must be another exit. On wings of anxiety, he flew over the foliage, on a beeline for the other tunnel. He made it around a single bend before having to bank harder than he ever had before to avoid crashing into stone on three sides. After sufficiently reducing his momentum using neck-breaking G-forces, he landed at the rock fall.

“No.”

His breathing accelerated, becoming shallower. He leapt into the air, spun around, and backtracked.

“No.”

Again and again he paced as fast as his little wings could go, but no matter where he went, there was nothing but rock. Rumble couldn’t believe he had become trapped underground! This was a pegasus’ worst nightmare. Without the comfort of the open, blue sky, he may as well have been an Earth pony. Not that anything was wrong with that or anything. His companion was an Earth pony, after all. His need to soar had just kicked in a hundredfold. He had never been in a cage. He had never known a world without the blue sky. Yet here he was, experiencing both in one go. Everything was blue-gray, from the light cast from the fragile little flowers, but it wasn’t the same. He wanted the bright blue of the open sky, the touch of a cloud-bed, the wind within his feathers.

Eventually, his energy wore down until he was doing lazy figure eights in an effort to keep himself from sobbing in fear. Even this wasn’t enough. He landed in the covering of the tree. His eyes widened as he came to a horrific realization.

I’m buried alive.

He slowly raised his head to look at the roof and choked back the last of the sobs he had any energy to restrain before the dam broke in a particularly loud sob. He curled into himself and closed his eyes, wishing the nightmare he was sure he was in to be over.

He barely registered the shuffling of rock and the rhythmic steps Apple Bloom made.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Rumble couldn’t answer. He was still wishing this was a nightmare.

Thunderlane will wake me at any moment. My brother will save me.

He soon realized his usual nightmare excuses were unfounded, which caused him to hunker down even more. Claustrophobia set in.

I gotta get out.

“Rumble?”

He barely heard his name. He squeezed his eyes tighter, hoping with all his willpower it wasn’t a dream.

“It never caves in,” he wheezed. “It never caves in.”

“Caves in!?” she exclaimed. “What do you mean?”

“The sky never ever ever ever…”

It was obvious Rumble was locked in his own mind for now, trying to reconcile with what had just happened. Apple Bloom puzzled over what he had just said, so she went to investigate for herself. She hopped and jumped her way up the fallen pathway to the tunnel they had entered from. As she did, she analyzed the rocks for stability.

“Nothin’ wrong so far.”

She rounded the bend and saw the cave-in. Having retained her helmet, unlike Rumble, whose helmet had fallen off and become crushed under the huge stone as he fell, she clicked the light on. She saw the same hole Rumble had and tried to peer through it.

Blackness.

Nothing but an open pit.

“Well, that’s a problem,” she commented.

She turned away and, concerned, trotted across the dome. Minutes of careful navigation resulted in a large pile of fallen stone in the only other tunnel leading out of the cave.

“We… we’re trapped…” she breathed.

She looked over at Rumble, realizing just what had made him panic.

“We did forget something,” she realized. “We forgot to pack a beacon!”

She bit her lip. After all the faith her sister had put in her lately, she was fast doing the best job she could to eradicate that confidence.

“If my mind wasn’t wanderin’ away with my heart, I woulda remembered t’pack a gem…” she grumbled. “Stupid Rumble bein’ so sweet…”

Resentment began to creep into her heart and she glared at Rumble with all the fury she could muster. She knew it wasn’t his fault that their exits had been closed up, nor was it his fault that she had forgotten the beacon, but…

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s his stupid… this stupid…” she searched for the words, bumbling incoherently for a while in a fruitless search. An exasperated groan escaped her lips. “Aw, horseapples! I can’t even think straight now! My heart’s in a blender. My stomach’s on spin cycle. My head… asplode… UNGH! It’s all Rumble’s fault. It’s gotta be his fault I forgot the gem, too!” She turned around in fury, but froze. “Ponyfeathers… I can’t even decide that. I don’t even… Gaaah!!!”

She spent a few seconds spinning in circles deciding what in the heck she believed about that colt. All she came up with was that there was something seriously wrong with her if her thoughts kept coming back to this colt that less than a day ago she had thought nothing of.
Upon her next breath, a brand new, musky smell invaded her lungs. She blanched.

No!

She took another breath and nearly barfed in worry.

“No no no no NO! I’m not s’posed t’ go into heat yet!” she screamed. “This is just great. Just just just just…”

She dove into their water source and swam around in the cold water to rid herself of a sensation and a smell she really shouldn’t have had for another year. She backed as far as she could from Rumble, who looked on in confusion, while remaining in the pool. She buried her face in the water up to her muzzle and vented her frustrations underwater by filling water bubbles with air through violently burbling lips while her eyes were firmly locked on her colt.

My colt?!

She froze and whirled her head away as soon as that thought passed her consciousness.

Darn it, brain! You traitor! What was all that about? Rumble ain’t my colt. He’s his own pony.

She brought her head out of the water and looked down at her reflection. It gave her a smirk. Somehow, it pulled a top hat and monocle out of nowhere and put it on.

“Yeah? Well, if I’m a traitor, what does that say about your dreams, hmm?”

Apple Bloom grunted. “It’s all your fault. You’re the one giving me all these weird signals! I don’t know what t’make of it!”

Her reflection gave her a lascivious look. “Oh, I’m givin’ you all the right signals,” it replied. “All the right signals to begin ma–”

“NO!” Apple Bloom shrieked, temporarily forgetting about Rumble’s physical presence. “His brother’s girlfriends are always tryin’ t’get him to do…” she gulped… “that… with them. I don’t… want…”

The reflection gained an incredibly evil look. “Are you sure?

“Yes! Yes yes yes yes! I don’t want it! Leave me alone!”

“We’ll see about that…”

“What do you mea–”

The unbidden thought of an intense make-out session with Rumble invaded her mind. She froze as the scene played out in spite of the cold water…

They were in the space between the big tree and the pond, looking seductively at each other. Apple Bloom and Rumble pursed their lips, before meeting in passionate ecstasy. Their forehooves found their way around in an embrace. Slowly their bodies came together, attempting to eliminate the space between their souls. Tongues quietly found their way into other mouths, delicately wrestling and caressing as the pleasure built. Slowly, Apple Bloom’s hoof moved south, while her partner did the same. Slowly they pulled apart and looked down at their bodies, their hooves trailing down to…

“NO!!”

Apple Bloom’s bellow was soon followed by…

“I’m…” SPLASH “…not…” SPLASH “…s’posed…” SPLASH “…to…” SPLASH!

The last splash caused water to get into her nose. The inhale sent the stream into her lungs. Her heat was quickly forgotten as her respiratory system demanded air. She was sent into coughing fits. She quickly turned and collapsed on the shoreline to avoid drowning herself further. Finishing her spasm, she cracked open her eyes to see four gray hooves standing directly in front of her.

“Are you okay?” Rumble asked.

Apple Bloom’s eyes slowly rose to meet his own. She soon realized that she must’ve gotten his attention with her actions and immediately blushed crimson. She was now completely sure she had made a mule of herself. She slowly brought her eyes up to meet her spelunking partner. She swallowed. Her heart raced. As her eyes met his purple optics, she blushed even redder.

“I-I’m okay…” she whispered meekly, quickly avoiding his concerned gaze.

Rumble grew worried. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” she sighed. “It’s these stupid hormones. They’re makin’ me think bad about you.”

“B-bad!?” Rumble exclaimed. “So, I did do something wrong!”

“No no no,” Apple Bloom insisted. She gulped and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Promise me you won’t be mad?”

Rumble nodded furiously. Whatever he did had to be corrected!

“I’ve been thinkin’…” she paused.

She took a second to organize her thoughts while Rumble digested every inch of her beauty. A quick log nearly jammed up her thoughts once again: I love bein’ looked at by him. She quickly strong-armed that particular stream and forced it upriver for the time being.

She decided just to come clean.

“I know of your situation with your sisters. Everypony does. But today, I can’t help but… well, lovin’ everything about you.” A tear escaped and the dam broke. “I don’t even know when it started, really, maybe back at the farmhouse when we were preparin’ for this, but– Oh, who am I kiddin’. This sounds stupid. Look at me, I’m talkin’ gibberish and I don’t think you wanted to hear this.”

Rumble simply smiled sympathetically and said, “It’s okay. Go on.”

“W-well, I don’t even know what else t’say that won’t drive you away. I mean, I’m in my first heat, so it may be the heat talkin’, but I love you, Rumble. I know you’re savin’ yourself for the right filly an’ I don’t wanna take that away from you and I know we’ve only really had this one adventure and I hope you don’t hate me for this and I–”

Rumble silenced her with a hug. Apple Bloom couldn’t tell if he meant to hug her out of friendly support or if this was a love-hug. It was different than a friend’s hug. That was certain. The colt soon made it clear.

“I don’t believe in love at first sight, Apple Bloom. Lust at first sight? Absolutely. Curiosity? Certainly. Butterflies? Totally. Love? No.” He pulled back. “You’re a great friend and I really don’t hate you for telling me this, especially your love and your heat. You’re also running on fear. That could drive a desperate girl into doing some pretty wacky things just to calm down. Believe me, I know how you feel right now, and I’m super grateful you didn’t just act on it. I might’ve been okay with it at the time, but I would have hated you afterwards. It would be like Cloud Chaser’s seductions… or even Flitter’s morning wake-up calls.” He punctuated his statement with a shudder.

Apple Bloom chuckled. “Eww.”

Rumble laughed, lessening her tension. “Yeah, eww. Anyway, I’d be happy to hang out with you more until we figure out this love thing for ourselves. Right now, we’ve gotta figure out a way to get out of this cave.”

Apple Bloom watched Rumble turn away with a hint of disappointment in her heart. She had hoped that he would have kissed her in an attempt to show her how serious he was. Or maybe she just wanted him to kiss her and take her and ravish her and abu–

“Shut up!”

1,048 views

131

Previous Chapters Next