Diamonds are a girl's worst enemy

by Rarity Belle

Act 1 chapter 11

The decision of keeping the fact that they were spotted silent had been one of the heaviest that had fallen upon the ivory coated unicorn so far on the expedition. In the next ‘morning’ had every single member woken up without a real problem. Not only that, they also seemed to have been more than ready to hit the road. Even the younger twin seemed to have come back from his delusions. It was a small fact but one that satisfied the unicorn the most if she had to be honest with events. They were ready to find whatever else was lurking in the darkness of the caverns.

And that was exactly what Rarity feared. Whatever else remained hidden from her hawk like eyes was something that frightened her more than anything in the moment. She may have never revealed it to any of them, she may have kept her courage high and dry for the time being. But even an expert gem-huntress like herself knew that around every corner there could be surprises that they rather didn't come across. It was a risk that needed to be taken in order to do their job right. Rarity released a deep sigh as she leaned a bit more against the leg of the crystalline giant and closed her eyes for a minute or two.

“Miss Rarity, are you alright?” the voice of Brush Drawn could be heard in her ears eventually. It was a voice that in and of itself was more than enough to knock the mare back straight into the reality they were in. With a gentle shock did she came back. Rarity’s eyes were forced open faster than anything else. They first scanned the ground that laid in front of her before they made their way up to the stallion himself. Only to end up looking him straight in the eyes.

It was a surprise for certain, though whether or not it was a good or a bad one still had to be discovered. “Oh, yes. Just, just fell a bit asleep really,” replied Rarity to him before she managed to hoist her body back up. Some of the bones snapped themselves back into their respectable places which caused the mare to moan and groan gently. “A-Any who, how far are, are we able to go yet?”

“According to the words of Rare Thinker, we happen to be yes,” the stallion returned to her before she gave him a small but thankful nod. The time to continue moving on had fallen before them and the last thing Rarity wanted was for any of them to be left there.

So she made her way up to the head of the convoy and charged up her horn to cast the light spell once more. It was more than enough to get the attention of every pony that was down there and they all fixed their eyes upon her. “We shall go further into the caverns within five minutes. Whatever lies even deeper inside of here, I can not say. Those giants even took me by surprise so I suggest that we make the second leg a quick one. I do not know how far it still is or how difficult it shall become. So let’s get a move on it.”

While the words themselves might have been everything but encouraging, the team did feel the same way about it. They just wanted to get it over with as soon as they possibly could. Even the caverns and the halls themselves were just an eerie place to be. None of them could believe at that point that Canterlot was built right on top of the place they were going through. It was a place of horror. It was a fact that they constantly had to remind themselves of. If any of the horrors down there would have made it topside, Discord’s dream of eternal chaos would have become a reality.

All four of the other team members packed their stuff and strapped themselves with saddlebags for the second trip that laid ahead. None knew how long they were going to walk and none knew just what they would encounter. The levels of care were raised even more thanks to the unfaithful events of Brush Drawn and they all had listened carefully to the warnings of Rarity about it. Because the last thing they needed was a repetition of what already had happened.

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With the progression of time itself had the company found its way through the caverns. They even thought they were getting a bit closer to the object that they were looking for. The hints were certainly there that they went to a place that seemed to have been a lot bigger as they traveled more downward. Some spoke of an evil lair, others about the room of treasure. But Rarity never knew for sure unless she had seen it for herself.

Which was exactly the thing that happened around the next turn. They traveled with the path in silence before they laid their eyes upon something that was both horrible as well as magical at the same time. None of the members could have even imagined that a thing they were looking at did even exist. None of them even wanted to believe the fact as it was presented for them.

Before them laid something carved out in both the rock and the gems themselves. Gems that irradiated a vile orange coloring, almost as if they were actual lights. Something that caused the horn of the unicorns of the expedition to discharge almost completely. The structure itself seemed to have been more than fine to house anything though it was when they looked better, each of them had to take a step or two backwards. The entirety of the room was revealed to them, including the terror.

What they were all looking at was nothing else but the resting place for the insect-like changelings. Every last cavity that was cut out in the wall was filled with one of them and there were literally thousands of them. Thousands of changelings had taken their refuge under Canterlot and appeared to have been asleep. Velvet Fashion released a deep gulp as her eyes followed the gem that irradiated the light all the way to the top before she looked to the sheer ceiling.

“There’s no way we can pass that in silence,” Rare Thinker whispered as silently as he could. “If you are actually thinking about crossing this, for a gem, I declare you mad, lassy.”

“You better start doing that, because that’s exactly what I am planning to be doing. Feel free to stay back here and enjoy the view, master Thinker. Anyone who is ready, it’s now or never. They are asleep and we should proceed now,” commented Rarity with a stern, whispering voice.

“Can’t you at least look for another road?” the pegasus stallion tried to reason with her in the hope for a better aftermath. Though it was Rarity he was talking to That mare could be truly as stubborn as a mule, especially when she had set her sights on something she wanted.

“If you want to stay here for another week, maybe so, yes,” the unicorn replied to him in a sharp tone before her head turned itself back to the sleeping creatures. “It’s the only way I have seen so far.” It must have been a certain charm that the made had to herself, for not even five minutes later had almost everypony agreed about crossing the grounds that laid before them.

Silence had taken over the team of ponies. They tiptoed their way through the chamber that was filled to the brim with nothing else but changelings. All of them seemed to be hibernating, sleeping and overall just be inactive. Silence had become their biggest ally in that very moment and they did everything to make sure it would stay that way. Rarity walked up front and her eyes never were given a rest. She knew where the exit laid as it was just as obvious as the entrance.

It were the creatures that she was worried about. One wrong move against anything and they could be running for their dear little lives as well as fear for it. She would be bringing the company to the other end. Yet she had forgotten one little fact, they also needed to return through the same places to make the quickest getaway. A fact that would continue to haunt her deeper than she could realize.

But the saying goes that first things, needed to be done first. In their case it was getting across without ending up with every last of the bugs awoken. So far so good, but for how long?

Comments

[The1templar]

Someone should have learned a muffling spell.