Shine Of The Silver Sun

by Nameless Narrator

Mistakes: Direct Measures

Astray's trip was nothing but boring. His visit to the castle was brief and uneventful, because all he needed to get Contradiction's belongings was his own badge. He took a brief break after walking all the way up half the mountain to examine the recovered saddlebags for anything to point him in a direction of Connie's visit to the royal city. Unfortunately, there were no clues. Just like he, Anvil, and Bubbles, she just packed some personal stuff, food, gold, Order insignia, and... well, one item that made Astray blush.

So, pretty much nothing.

Half an hour later, he was done with the exploration of the damaged train as well. Just like he'd heard already - dents, broken window, some blood, and that was about it. His training until now had consisted of fighting, not investigating things and as such he was reliant only on his common sense. Sadly, that left him with only one option - talk to somepony at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.

Just like that, Astray found himself at the reception of the reknowned school based in the lobby.

The visitor's lobby was a wide open square area with another doorway on the other side leading to some sort of a courtyard filled with ponies. In the right far corner, a staircase lead somewhere Astray couldn't see, and halfway across the room the left wall turned into a glass pane with a bored elderly unicorn stallion sitting behind it. He gave Astray a curious look up and down as the satyr approached.

"Can I help you, young, ehm, stallion?"

Astray gave him a short courteous bow. No matter how janitor-like the unicorn looked, the school was an esteemed institution and all its personnel deserved respect. He showed the receptionist his badge, and weighed his options. A new idea came to mind, summoned by the chat with Starstruck.

"I am here to ask some details about a break-in case around a month ago."

"Ooooh, this," the unicorn nodded, "As far as I know, the Royal Guard already questioned everypony supposedly involved and checked the workshop that had been broken into."

Astray smiled internally.

"I would like to know who called the guards."

The receptionist hummed to himself, his horn shimmered with yellow glow, and a thick book flew up from underneath his desk. He skimmed through the entries, the amount of which made Astray raise an eyebrow. A thin book like that really shouldn't contain what looked like thousands upon thousands pages. The satyr immediately expected some sort of space-bending magic.

"Heeere it is," he stopped flipping the pages, "The entire event was recorded and reported by mister Arcane Hex. Unfortunately for you, according to this there was... huh. Strange."

"What is?"

The receptionist shook his head.

"I must be misremembering things, but this book and all its mirrors are impossible to tamper with. It reads here that the receptionist on duty the day of the event noted the entry of a Royal Guard by the name Black Shield. I could swear nopony came to investigate until the next day."

"Can I talk to this Arcane Hex?"

"Of course. Should I call him here?"

"Please do. Oh, and can you direct me to a wizard who specializes in magic that can find ponies?"

The unicorn levitated a pen and scribbled something on a slip of paper which disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Scrying and divination? That would be old Eagle Eye, but I think he's out of Canterlot right now. You know what? Arcane Hex is a seventh level wizard. He can use pretty much the best magic known to ponykind. Unless you need something incredibly specific and obscure, like piercing magic resistance or protective spells, from the scrying then his knowledge should be enough. If it's not then Eagle Eye will be back," he checks his multipurpose book again, "this Sunday."

"Thank you very much," Astray smiled at the elderly pony.

"No problem."

A glowing green circle appeared on the white tiled floor, burst with bright emerald light, and when it faded a unicorn was standing there. Astray gave him an only slightly started look. The unicorn looked somewhere in his sixties, his dark blue coat deeply contrasted with his silvery grey mane and tail, and he had a short beard of the same colour. All the satyr could catch from his cutie mark before the unicorn strode straight towards him was that it was kind of smokey mess with a letter.

"You called, Flash Freeze?" the unicorn gave the receptionist a quick nod.

"Yes, Hex. This young lad is here to ask about the break-in and is in need of some scrying magic. He belongs to some out of Canterlot organization."

"Order of the Silver Sun, sir," Astray saluted.

"Oooh, serving under ambassador Cromach?" Arcane Hex bowed and glanced Flash Freeze's way, "I'll sort this out. Thank you for informing me."

"Don't bore him to death with the theory of spells."

"I'll try to contain my enthusiasm," Hex chuckled, turning to Astray, "Come, mister satyr-"

"Astray."

"-mister Astray. I think we should discuss this in private."

"Of coooooooo-"

In a flash of light, Astray's surroundings changed. Feeling a little queezy, Astray's next steps fell on a dark green carpet. In an attempt to steady himself, he checked this new place and his brain failed when faced with the mess. It looked like he was in a suite which had to be an unholy spawn of a laboratory, living quarters, and a workshop. The chaos of glassware, workbenches, tables with drawers sticking out of them, shelves full of books, microscopes, and somewhere deep in there a buried bed made the place indescribable. In short, it needed either a disaster relief after what had to be an explosion, or an extremely patient maid.

Next to him, Arcane Hex laughed at his shocked expression.

"I apologize. I was in the middle of an experiment and wasn't expecting company."

"Experiment in what exactly...?" slipped out of Astray before he could control himself.

"I am not sure myself, but that is what experiments are for, isn't it?" Hex's horn flashed, and a tea kettle appeared in mid air, "Drink?"

Astray looked out of the nearest window. He probably still had enough time to stay here and get back to lower Canterlot before dark. No reason not to appear as friendly as possible.

"Thank you very much," he looked around for something even remotely resembling a chair, "Is there anywhere to sit down?"

All around him, books flew into the air and formed stacks by the room's walls, revealing a pair of chairs by a table. When the two settled down with the tea, Arcane Hex started the conversation:

"Alright, is anything wrong with emissary Cromach?"

"What?" Astray tilted his head, "Why would it be?"

"You are from the Silver Sun, and my only association with you was my offer to help your boss examine his condition. When I read the note I thought asking about an old Royal Guard case was a facade for helping sir Cromach. His power is not something to be discussed in public."

"No, mister Hex," Astray shook his head, "I'm here really about the break-in. I originally came here to ask for some magical assistance, but the unicorn downstairs said something was wrong with the strange record book."

"Oh? That thing is supposed to be absolutely true to reality."

"Mister Flash Freeze, was it? He said you called the Royal Guard about the crime."

"Exactly, and nopony arrived until the day after," he sighs, evidently tired of the repeated response, "I saw a shadow climb over the outer wall and enter the locked workshop in the gardens. Mundane events like that aren't exactly my forte, so I didn't go check it myself. All the Royal Guards found was the workshop equipment strewn around."

"Well, the record book said somepony came shortly after the event was reported. A Royal Guard called Black Shield who hasn't been seen since then. The thing is that neither you nor mister Freeze seem to remember it. The big problem is that a pony presenting herself as Black Shield attacked sir Cromach in the Canterlot Royal Hospital. Sir Cromach said she was an undead at the time. We believe a pony serving with us by the name Contradiction was attacked shortly before the Canterlot mountain avalanche by said Black Shield."

Arcane Hex paled.

"Contradiction? The unicorn lady with the suppression syndrome, black and white, eyes of different colour? Got seriously drunk during the ceremony where I met ambassador Cromach last time?"

Yeah, that would fit. Astray nodded.

"I don't know anything about the last part, but that's her."

"That is extremely unsettling. However, what is even worse is that I clearly remember reading the record book and nothing like Black Shield's visit being there. If the Royal Guards and even a wizard like Flash Freeze believe the same thing then that means our memory might have been tampered with, or something of that sort. That is no easy feat."

"Sir Cromach believes Black Shield is now an undead under the control of some powerful magician."

"I see. And you think you can find the best of the best here in the school, am I correct? Plus, all the events involving this Black Shield happened in Canterlot."

"Ummm, I thought I could do that before I saw the size of this place, yes," Astray chuckled.

Hex laughed openly.

"I understand your intentions, but you were mistaken. I could vouch for most of the faculty and the researchers here with my reputation. That, and there is absolutely no rule that powerful magicians have to gather here. The fact that we were afflicted by some strange event gives your theory certain weight, though," Arcane Hex finished his tea, "I will certainly discuss this with others later. Do you have any further questions?"

"I am grasping for any scraps of information, to be honest. If you could remember anything useful...? Or maybe some spell?"

Arcane Hex rubbed his muzzle, closing his eyes.

"Hah!" he exclaimed after a while, "Was this Black Shield an earthpony?"

"Yes."

"I believe it was her who, as they say, 'crashed the party' where I met sir Cromach and his associates. She indeed was with a magician, a powerful necromancer. He managed to prepare a magical sigil which temporarily paralyzed everypony inside the mansion including the royal sisters and myself. Before fleeing from the ambassador and miss Contradiction who broke the spell for some reason, he summoned a horde of undead and specters to cause panic. I had to use my magic to banish them when the paralysis spell faded."

"Yes, sir Cromach mentioned that incident. He does believe the pony there was Black Shield and the unicorn was her master."

"Ah," Hex's ears drooped, "Then I am afraid I have nothing pertinent to add."

"Well," Astray finished his cup, "mister Frost said something about scrying magic."

Shaking his head, Arcane Hex sighed:

"I am not a divination expert, but even if I was I would require something connected to the target. A part of their body, a treasured belonging, or an item of such sort. I would be extremely surprised if you had anything like that."

"Actually, I wanted to ask if you could find Contradiction like that."

"Is she missing? Same rule applies then," Hex shrugged.

Astray winked at him.

"I have her saddlebag here with me. There's her money, toothbrush, some clothes..."

"Oh? Give it to me," he levitated the bag from Astray's grasp. The satyr mentally prepared himself for the worst, "I can sense some personal aura from many things here, but there's a much stronger source. Wheeere can it be?" Hex froze, "I see," just as Astray expected, the griffon dildo came flying out, accompanied by Hex's smug expression, "Heh, youngsters," he just added, putting the replica on the table.

Astray had to recuperate from the lack of surprise or shock on Hex's side. He did it masterfully, though.

"Is that... is that enough?"

Chuckling, Arcane Hex drew some invisible patterns in the air with his foreleg.

"Something this personal should work just fine," he paused, "Actually... I can do better than tell you her approximate location. I have been working on a variation of a translocation spell which might transport you into her vicinity."

"How close?"

"A circle of a thirty-pony radius, give or take."

"Radius? Does that mean I can end up inside a wall? I'd like to avoid that if possible."

"No no no no no," Hex shook his head so quick his beard flopped behind, "There are many safeguards against lethal cases. The two big issues are that the spell is untested, as I am not allowed to use a theoretically lethal magic on sentient beings without previous peer review, and the closely related second problem is that of it requiring a significant amount of energy to work."

Astray just gave him a blank stare, and Hex continued:

"Said amount of energy needs a special type of magic to supply it, a... morally questionable magic."

"Look, mister Hex," Astray raised his hand, "I have no clue what you're talking about, but if it helps find Connie I swear I won't tell a living soul what happened here."

"Aaah, excellent, a voluntary test subject," Hex gave him a wide smile, "Alright, hold this and focus on everything you know and feel about the target you are attempting to find," he levitated the silicone toy to Astray's hand. The satyr felt suddenly extremely uncomfortable, "Don't be shy. Real or fake, mares will be mares, young satyr."

Astray gripped it tightly, and took a deep breath.

He remembered the hate. Every insult, every derogatory comment Connie had thrown his way. Deep down, though, especially after their last drunk chat, he knew she had only been trying to do too much on her own just like now. She had been worried, terrified of the future just like he was. None of them had a promise of tomorrow, considering what they were training for all this time. With that, he finally understood Bubbles' point of view on the entire situation.

After all, when thinking about Connie, Astray still called her that. No Contradiction, no insult, no crazy bitch like Anvil did. Just... Connie. Maybe it was just because he was himself, but he couldn't hate her.

He-

"AH HAH!" Astray heard Arcane Hex's enthusiastic yell, "It's working!"

A swirly white ball was hanging in the air ahead of him. As he reached out to touch it, he was stopped by Hex.

"Not yet, not yet. This just means the spell's targeting is working. Now we need to fuel it," he said, and Astray noticed a very sharp knife with golden, gem-encrusted handle hovering next to Hex's head, "This is going to sting a bit, but it'll heal instantly. Trust me."

"Wha-AAAAAAH!" Astray stared in disbelief at his slashed wrist. Shaking, he huffed as the stinging pain faded along with the deep cut closing on its own. In front of him floated a red blob formed from his blood. His hand was still trembling.

"I know, blood magic is exhausting and, you know, banned, but I believe I must help when needed. You will feel weak for a while, but a good meal will cure the bloodloss in a day or two. Now, good luck in your search."

The blood got sucked into the swirling ball, dying it red, which in turn stretched into a door-like rectangle of Astray's size.

"Thank you," he said, "Do I just walk inside or...?"

"Take a leap of faith, if you wish."

Astray decided that it would be a good idea, and jumped through. A microsecond later, he realized he absolutely despised teleporting.

His stomach agreed.

***

Cold. Scraping noise. Sharp blades being stabbed into her back.

"Arrgh..."

The scraping rapidly faded into the distance.

In the oppressive darkness, she could hear only her breathing. Her ragged, shaky breaths. Turning her head sent a painful tug through her whole neck. She licked her lips, tasting iron and scraping her tongue.

Dried up blood. Everywhere.

Her frozen limbs stung as the blood flow returned after so long of lying here underground. At least it must have been long.

The fall had been followed by an impact, she remembered, but not on her body, rather her mind.

That's what the blood was, why her head and neck were covered in it, why she felt hammering inside her head, why her horn was completely numb. She had telekinetically protected herself during the fall and hit the ground, but the mental barrier softened the impact just enough for her body to survive.

"Owwwwww..." she croaked, trying to move her legs. She didn't even know if she had any, there was no light to see in.

Okay, the pain of battered and bruised flesh was enough of a clue.

Contradiction was freezing, hurting both inside and all over, but, as she had to grudgingly appreciate, breathing.

Several minutes of quietly lying on her side and listening for anything, she made a second attempt at standing up. Her shaky legs couldn't bear her weight at first, and she fell over.

"Damn, owww, stars!" Connie cursed in a raspy voice.

How long had she been lying here? Where was here?

What were the good things about the situation? She was alive and her legs weren't broken. There were no sharp things stuck in her back, but every breath hurt as if that was the case. That meant she had fallen on her back and definitely cracked something despite her shield. Tapping her head carefully with her hoof, she was happy to find her horn still being there in one piece despite not feeling it.

"Hmm," she croaked, focusing. A sharp spike of pain reaching from her forehead to her nostrils quickly ended the effort.

Through the haze and headache, she recalled talking to Harmony, or something left by the god inside her. She remembered the tentacles and stopping the unicorn's teleportation... temporarily.

Glowing tentacles.

Sitting down and relaxing, she stopped trying to force her mind to work, and instead let it wander while sending weak waves of telekinesis around to 'touch' her surroundings. Several minutes later, she regained better control of her power, and now it was time for an experiment.

She gathered all she could muster, and focused her powers on a spot on the ground or floor just ahead.

"Heh," she chuckled through a wave of nausea and exhaustion when a small glowing, see-through tendril appeared out of nowhere. Everything worked how she remembered it. Telekinesis was a mental grasp, but now that she did it the grasp was an invisible tentacle. If she forced the issue despite the pain, the tentacle gained a visibly corporeal form.

Connie knew little to nothing about divine effects, but she was determined to find somepony who would help her control her changed power when she got out of here. Cautiously shifting the mental pressure into a grasp focused at her front left fetlock, the glowing tendril wrapped around her foreleg like a glowing bracelet.

Faint, but better than nothing. At least she could see enough not to fall down a hole or something.

Time to find out where she was.

A corridor, some four ponies wide and five ponies high. Alright, a good start.

Moving her foreleg towards the walls, she illuminated, using the word extremely loosely, a barely worked rocky wall. Some steps later, she came towards a vertical wooden support and even in her concussed state realized what must have happened.

Were the mines undeneath mount Canterlot this shallow, though? The falling rocks, even the biggest ones, she had ripped out of the mountain must have broken through some shafts before she dropped down.

She sighed, looking at the chiseled floor. That, or maybe her telekinetic protection held long enough that the rocks smashed through the ground along with her. Maybe even-

There was a dark stain hardly visible in the dim light on the floor leading forward. Blood.

Or maybe she had fallen somewhere and... something or someone dragged her through this tunnel before leaving her for dead. Had she been really that badly wounded? She didn't feel completely broken.

The underground cold. The chilly temperature in here must have slowed her bodily functions down so much she seemed dead. That would also explain the horrible time she had waking up.

Alright, who or what would drag her, and for what reason?

More importantly, should she follow the stain to find out where she had crashed through the surface, or should she get the hay away as fast as possible?

Connie decided to follow the stain based on the grounds that her dragger, if that was a word, would have left her lying where she'd woken up, and kept going in their original direction.

"Damn," she reached to her barrel as discomfort she'd previously attributed to dried blood proved more annoying, "What is this, a piece of paper? Ah!"

She ripped it off along with some pink goop gluing it to her coat and quickly remembered that was the spot where Black Shield had punched her back on the train. Had she pinned this thing to her with -she sniffed the sweetly smelling mess- a chewing gum?

Having recovered enough to make her illuminating tentacle bigger and brighter, reaching all the way up her foreleg to her knee, she narrowed her eyes to read something scribbled on the paper.

"Seek Mystery >dirty and bloodied stains< 2 Hazel st. 3, filly >smooshed mess<."

"Looks like an... address? Why would she...? More importantly, how could she be allowed to do that?"

But Cromach had said Black Shield wasn't hostile in the hospital until Connie arrived. Could the bait thing back on the train have been true? Had she really been luring Connie away from the train just so that the passengers wouldn't get hurt?

With the rage of past few weeks subdued, Contradiction was thinking as clearly as her sluggish, shaken head allowed her to. Flesh golems Connie had read about were simple constructs using a magical infusion of absorbed abilities to perform certain tasks, but one that could talk and think on such level like Black Shield had to be something special. As much as Connie was unsure about Shield's trustworthiness, her dizzy mind kept throwing up strange words, she was absolutely certain her master was powerful.

However, none of that mattered right now. She had to get out of this place before the cold, thirst, and exhaustion snuffed her life out forever.

"...cold..."

"...help me..."

Contradiction froze, terrifying memories rushing through her head.

"Shit, shit, no no no, not now," she whispered, holding her breath to listen for the source of quiet wailing in the distance.

"...hungry..."

It was behind her, and she was pretty certain about what the it was. Forcing herself to limp forward, she picked up the pace while trying to do as little noise as possible with her shuffling. Following the trail of her own blood, she now knew where the tunnel would lead. The only thing remaining was to hope that the horror behind her had dragged her through the main mine complex before.

There used to be mining operations going on inside mount Canterlot reaching deep down underground. However, from what Connie had been told after her first encounter with the... thing shambling after her, the mines had been closed after several cave-ins which killed groups of miners. Most original entrances to the mining complex had been barricaded, but sometimes somepony living near the mountain wanted to enlarge their cellar, and knocked through a weak wall. Adventurous foals got lost, and the thing now used their voices to call for help and lure others towards it.

Connie had never seen the lurker, but had heard it once before while attempting to reach Canterlot castle vault through a secret entrance in the sewers. She had been warned not to pursue the desperate and weak voice calling for help, and there had been more important things to do at the time anyway. Abomination created by blood magic, she recalled, a vengeful amalgamation of souls of the lost miners and later the devoured. All that fueled by hatred of miners towards those who despite warnings kept sending them inside the mountain, their last wishes for revenge, their despair.

"...so alone..."

Who knew if Connie was now powerful enough to fight it, but she wasn't going to stop and find out. If one thing was in her favour now, it was that her pursuer was not fast by any means. On the other hoof, neither was she.

It was getting closer.

"Dammit, move!" she limped harder, but her right hind leg was stiff as wood.

Her head was spinning and her breathing grew ragged again. The adrenaline was keeping her going, but it was fading as her wounds and the events of whatever long ago the fight had happened caught up to her.

Led only by the faintest light of her now flickering telekinetic tentacle -she would have to name the things later- she reached, after agonizing eternity, a conflux of mine tunnels and shafts. Freezing cold air rushed from a giant hole in the middle of the enormous cavern still protected by rusty iron railings.

"Alright, any way upwards will do... any hole," she looked at the ground underneath her and hissed, "Crap, can't make out where the thing dragged me from. Alright, just go up then."

"...warmth..."

The wide ledge spiraling upwards around the hole which was the main shaft and a source of air down here was full of obstacles - small cave-ins, old barrels of mining explosives, mine carts and rails, but in Connie's unsteady state those were a blessing in disguise as she had something to support herself whenever the flashing lights of exhaustion inside her head threatened to end her progress.

"...astonishment."

"Buck!" Connie cursed as another echoing voice came from the mouth of the tunnel just ahead. Her head darted down the spiraling walkways where heavy, dragging steps accompanied by hissing and weeping kept coming from. Were there more of the creatures?

Focusing, she felt a stab of pain through her head and spine, but the familiar flow of telekinesis was there. Maybe she could just quickly push and keep plodding on-

"Tomato," a cheery female voice called out, followed by a beam of bright light momentarily blinding Connie coming from the tunnel.

"Wait what?" the unicorn muttered-

"MISS CONNIE!"

-and something tackled her onto the cold ground. On the bright side, her tackler was definitely warmer than any underground terror could be, and the tongue licking Contradiction's face didn't seem to have any ill intention whatsoever.

"Contradiction?!" a deeper and definitely louder voice along with heavy stomping and clanking of steel joined the original voice.

"Get offa me!" Connie pushed against Bubbles' barrel, failing completely.

"We found miss Connie!" Bubbles exclaimed loudly.

"Shut! Up!" barked Connie firmly.

"The hell is wrong with you again?" Anvil stomped over, shoving Bubbles surprised by Connie's hostility aside, "We've been through-"

"Shut up, you idiot, and listen!"

"To what? More of your whining-"

"...warmth..."

"...feed..."

"...hungry..."

Anvil's eyes went wide as the voices spoke all at once. She shone her flashlight down the main shaft, but wasn't sure what she saw. The normally bright beam of light distorted at its end, revealing nothing other than movement, the movement of something that devoured the light itself.

"No, to that, dumbass," Connie sneered, "Now how about you help me get up and-"

She heard a soft click as Anvil's finger flicked something on Bubbles' helmet, then a long intake of breath.

"GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

It took a while for the ringing in Contradiction's ears to stop and her eyes to uncross. It didn't help that the first non-blurry image she saw was the grinning muzzle of a minotaur. Anvil was looking down the ledge with her arms crossed on her chest and a satisfied expression.

Contradiction still heard the shuffling and quiet weeping-

"...still hungryyyy..."

-however, it was growing distant with each second.

She stared at the shifting darkness retreating under twin beams of light. Alright, time to sort something out right here and now. Pushing herself back on all fours, she cleared her throat. Bubbles slid some sort of a latch on the earholes of her helmet and Anvil gave her a grim stare. Connie returned the gaze stoically.

"I'm sorry for being such a terrible bitch," she said simply, "It wasn't entirely my fault, and I'll explain details later, but I definitely don't deserve a stroke of luck like you two being here right now. Believe it or not, I am really happy to see both you, Anvil, and you, Bubbles."

"So... will you be nice again, miss Connie?" Bubbles, head low, inched towards her. Connie leaned down and rubbed Bubbles' muzzle with hers.

"I'll do my best."

"We will have words," added Anvil, but Bubbles poked her leg with her head. Anvil sighed, "Look, you can't expect us to forgive you just for apologizing."

"I'm not expecting anything," Connie shook her head, "but there will be enough time for kicking my ass later. Now listen to me and let's get out of here."

"EHM," Anvil coughed loudly, "I am the official leader of this operation by sir Cromach's order. You are a civilian I was supposed to recover."

A single corner of Connie's mouth rose. Now that the immediate danger was gone, she could affort a little distraction from her pitiful state.

"Of course, miss big leader," she said angelically while smiling, "Please escort me out of this dreadful place. I am eager to see the surface as soon as I can."

Anvil and Bubbles exchanged glances.

"Ehm, we... sort of don't know the way."

"What?" Connie facehoofed.

"We dropped here through a hole in the ground."

"Can we get out the same way?"

"Sure thing, we are just walking through cold tunnels because we enjoy darkness and exploration."

Connie chuckled.

"Well, I know a way out of here, kind of," she paused, counting quietly, "Wait, how long have I been gone?"

"About two days."

Connie rubbed her freezing and numb legs.

"Feels about right. Damn... so cold."

"Hey, Bubbly," Anvil nodded to Bubbles twitching her ears and looking confused, "Did you take some spare clothes?"

Bubbles shook her head and focused on here and now. Something was bothering her. Scent, a whisper in the air. She couldn't quite place it, but it made everything inside her... twist. Still, in few seconds she pulled a plain white Order shirt out of her saddlebag which Connie happily put on immediately.

"You know where we are then?" asked Anvil.

"Not exactly. We're inside the Canterlot mountain mine complex. I'm not sure on what level, though."

"The tunnel we fell into was sloping down slightly, but it was only twice my height under surface. We've been walking for half an hour at most," Anvil offered her analysis.

"Oh?" Connie asked, looking up the spiraling ledge spanning the enormous circular main shaft.

"I worked in Rift mines for few months. There's a ton of raw materials under the city."

"Alright. Then we can either follow the shaft upwards until we reach the top levels where we might find a way into upper Canterlot, or we can search every tunnel around to find a lower Canterlot exit. I think the way up is better, because the spiderweb of tunnels down here must be massive while it can't be that bad on the top. How about that, miss leader?"

"I know when to accept guidance. Perhaps you might learn one day too," Anvil replied with a smug smile.

Authority situation understood by both sides, Connie took point, and the trio went on their way to finally get out of the mines.

"Got anything to eat?" asked Connie after stumbling due to her foreleg temporarily failing her.

"Mhm," Bubbles absent-mindedly trotted in front of Connie and wiggled her saddlebag while sniffing the air.

"What's going on, Bubbly?" asked Anvil, "You've been out of it since we found Contradiction."

"I... I don't know. Something is weird. As if somepony wanted to hurt me, but not me."

"Maybe it's just this place. I haven't felt darkness this oppressive for a long time. Or maybe it was just the thing I scared off."

"No," Bubbles shook her head, "Nothing is nearby. This place smells strange, but... I don't know. I just feel something is wrong."

Anvil patted the demoness' neck.

"The sooner we get out of here the sooner you'll feel better."

"I guess..." muttered Bubbles, clearly unconvinced.

Close to an hour later, Contradiction was certain they had to be getting near the top floors of the mines. The air was fresher, and the main shaft much more narrow.

Bubbles froze...

...and whimpered, head turning around and ears twitching.

"What's-?" Anvil turned her head to the half-demon staring with eyes wide into a dark side-tunnel they were passing by.

Bubbles dropped her flashlight and bolted forward into the blackness.

"What was that about?" asked Connie, levitating the light source.

"No idea. Can you run?" Anvil shone her light into the tunnel, catching only a dim rusty blur quickly disappearing in the distance.

"I can wobble."

"That'll have to do."

Comments

[Anonymous Critic]

That's what the blood was, why her head and neck were covered in it, why she felt hammering inside her head, why her horn was completely numb. She had telekinetically protected herself during the fall and hit the ground, but the mental barriersoftened the impact just enough for her body to survive.

...I just had to mention that one.

[Anonymous Critic]

There used to be mining operations going on inside mount Canterlot reaching deep down underground. However, from what Connie had been told after her first encounter with the... thing shambling after her, the mines had been closed after several cave-ins which killed groups of miners. Most original entrances to the mining complex had been barricaded, but sometimes somepony living near the mountain wanted to enlarge their cellar, and knocked through a weak wall. Adventurous foals got lost, and the thing now used their voices to call for help and lure others towards it.

Huh, so the mines were closed because of cave ins. Not quite as dramatic as I was half expecting it the reason to be, but meh. Good to know, at least.

[Two_Madmans]

That would be old Eagle Eye

I'm sure he have archer-brother

"I can sense some personal aura from many things here, but there's a much stronger source. Wheeere can it be?" Hex froze, "I see,"

"...hungry..."

Hey,.. Shuffles?
I always forgetting it's name.