Limestone and the Digging Unicorn

by Miner

The Ritual Circle

The journey into the village under the rock farm was short and quiet. Limestone wanted to say something to end the silence but couldn't. Least she gets the spirits nearby angry. Looking around the city, she can see spirits flying in and out of the builds with a cold chill in the air. Of course, being underground is cold, but this feeling she was getting didn't feel natural. And it got colder the closer they got to the center of the town. Her body shivered against the cold she could see her breath. At the center of the city, she can see a small pagoda with no walls supported by six pillars. She notices that it's surrounded by a group of blue glowing mushrooms in pots similar to the one she saw when she was in the unicorn's care.

Once they are inside the pagoda, she sees four circles carved into the floor. Three of the rings are big enough for a pony to stand inside. All are connected to the fourth one in the center of the others in a triangle formation. Looking at the carvings, she can see that one of the circles has an earth pony carved into the ring, with a unicorn and a pegasus cutting in the other two. As for the fourth one, she can see what looks like an alicorn running in the wind. And for some reason, the center one was a little lower into the ground than the rest.

"Okay, let's get this over with. You are going to need to mesmerize this." The Digging Unicorn speaks up, alerting Limestone as a piece of paper floats in front of her, " Relax, as long as we are within the glows of those mushrooms, we are fine."

"Oh, so now we can talk?" Limestone says relieved to be able to talk again as she grabs the paper.

"Yes, but please don't shout as you learn the chant."

After looking over the paper she notices that is similar to one of the songs from the Hearts Warming Eve play. Or was it the book about the Windigos? It took her some time to get it right but she was ready. "So, what do we do now?"

"We each must step into the circles with our tribe's marking. And then we can begin."

The three of them step into the circles facing the center. Limestone was expecting something to happen when they did that but was disappointed nothing did.

"Now we each have to use our tribe's magic, and before you ask Limestone. You have to stomp your circle."

She did just that, and nothing happens, "Well?"

"You have to charge the circle. Do it a few more times," He replies with his magic glowing from his horn as Red Comet flaps his wings in his circle,

She rolls her eyes and continues to stomp. Before long, she notices that the lines around her circle started to glow lime-green. This causes her to stop, and the glowing stops.

"Why did you stop?"

"Are you saying I have to keep that up the whole time?"

"What do you think?" He replied as his circle glows blue as Comet's glow orange,

She huffs at him and proceeds to stomp the ground into oblivion. Surprisingly the ground didn't give away as it starts to glow again. The colors of the circles slowly follow through the lines around the ponies forming three solid circles before following into the final circle, causing a rainbow of light to appear from its engraved lines.

While Limestone stomps the ground, she thought she heard something calling her. She turned around to see if something was there but didn't see anything.

"What's wrong, Limestone?" Red asked,

"I thought I heard something."

"Ignore it." D.U. said, "You are starting to hear the voice of the spirits nearby. It is a side effect of the ritual circle." As he said this, the lines around every pony started to fill with silver liquid before flowing into the center circle, "Now don't let up we are almost done with the first part."

As they continue, the spirits of the ponies nearby start to gather around them, silently whispering to them. This makes Limestone feel uncomfortable. "Relax; so long as the mushrooms are nearby, they will leave us be." The Digging Unicorn said to no one in particular. Soon the center circle started to fill up with the liquid before completely submerge. "Okay, that is enough, every pony."

Limestone pants as she stares down the Digging Unicorn, "I thought you said I had to keep that up for the whole time."

"I never said that." He said with a smirk as Limestone shook a hoof at him.

"Can we get this over with already?" Red Comet said, "If I have to stand another minute of you two flirting with each other, I am going to leave."

Both ponies looked at him shouting with all their might, "WE ARE NOT FLIRTING!" As soon as they said this, they covered their mouths, looking around. The spirits nearby didn't seem to be bothered, making the two sigh in relief.

"Whatever you two say."

"Keep it, Comet." D.U. says glaring at him, "I know where you sleep."

"Staker."

"Annoyance."

"If we are done insulting each other." Limestone interprets them, "What is the next step?"

"Next, we have to say a chant. In this order, Unicorn, Pegasus, and then Earth Pony." He clears his throat as he begins to sing in a deep voice,

We see a warm wind blowing through

We see days that are fun and free,

We see a future caused by us,

We see a path meant to be

As he chants the words, the colors surrounding him start to glow brightly, alarming Limestone. But she calms down when she notices that Comet is not worried.

The future will be filled with magic

Dreams and wishes brought to life,

The days ahead are Bright with Magic,

There is hope for all is good

It might be Limestone's imagination, but is it getting warmer? Moving around her circle, careful not to leave it. She found that the warmth she was feeling was coming from where D.U. is standing.

Whatever that will be

All the dreams that ponies share

And because of us here,

The future will be a sanctuary.

Once he finished this, a pillar of blue light came from his circle, touching the ceiling. Limestone can still see him inside the pillar of light, but his eyes are glowing blue for some reason. He didn't say anything to them as Red comet starts singing the chant. Figuring that this was necessary, she waits patiently for her turn.

Once it was LImestone's turn, a lone spider was woken up from sleep. It looked down from its web to see what was happening and why it was getting warmer. Wanting to get warmer, it let itself down by a web string dangling in the air. And it so happens that the circle above was Limestone's circle at the time. Limestone was about to finish her chant when she got a close encounter with a new friend. But let's be honest, what would you do if a spider the size of your hoof lands on your face out of nowhere?

"And because of us here, the future will be a GET IT OFF!" Limestone flails her hoofs around, trying to get the spider off her. She took a step out of the circle, causing the color to change from lime green to red.

"Limestone, NO!" D.U. cries out in alarm,

Before any of them knew what had happened, the fourth circle glow a bright red, filling the underground with a deep red light before turning to a bright blue, making everypony shield their eyes before everything goes dark.

---

Limestone's body felt cold, very cold. She shivers violently, trying to wake up, and hears some ponies nearby arguing. She can't make out what they are saying. But one sounds like her father, and the other is the Digging Unicorn. Why do they sound so far away? Why is it so cold? Where is she? And why can't she open her eyes? She can hear his voice fade away as darkness consumes Limestone again, going back to sleep to the numbing cold.

---

She wakes up once again this time, she is in a train's sleeping cart bed lying on her side, along with a thick blanket and a source of heat greeting her from behind. She can barely move her head as she moves closer to the heat source behind her. She hears somepony approaching, and with great effort, she slightly opens one eye to see that it is Red Comet with a hot beverage. But she is so weak to grab it, so why did he have it, and why was he moving it towards her?

"How are you doing, Bro?" He said, moving the beverage over her as her heat source moved,

"I... I... I have... been...been better." The Digging Unicron replied with chattering teeth,

"That is good to hear."

Wait, is there a Stallion behind me sharing my bed? Under a blanket! And is it that Unicron Stallion!? I am going to kill him! After he stops being so warm. Limestone thought, closing her eye as the two stallions talk away as darkness consumed her again.

---

Limestone doesn't remember much after the train ride. She must have passed out shortly after waking up. But now she feels warm, very warm, it feels so lovely and... wet? Slowly her eyes start opening, and she finds that she is indeed wet. Except for her head, her whole body is submerged underwater. Looking around, she can tell she is in a hot spring. She had only heard about them but had never been in one. The spring was small but roomy, even to give three ponies a comfortable space. A towel is on a rack for her to dry off near the door. But first things first.

"I am going to kill that stallion," She said out loud, getting out of the spring, "All I have to do is stay quiet before saying a few words, he said," Limestone says to herself as she dries herself off, "It will be over before I know it he said," She throws the towel at the wall, "It is a win-win for everypony he said," She shakes herself dried, "Well I don't think so. When I get my hooves on that stallion, he will never be able to walk again!" She opens the door to find a pair of silver eyes waiting for her on the other side.

This startles Limestone causing her to back up to see that it was an earth pony mare with a light yellow coat and deep yellow mane with curls. Before Limestone could say anything, the mare spoke, "Hello, it's good to see that you are up and about. I was worried I would have to get you out myself again."

"Who are you?"

The mare giggles into her hoof before she lowers her head in a slight bow, "I am Daisy Glow, Lady Pie," She raises her head, her smile never leaving her face, and closes her eyes, tilting her head slightly, "And I would like to welcome you to our humble home."

"Your home? And where might that be?" Limestone says, trying to figure out where she was.

Daisy Glow shakes her head slowly, "That is not important right now. What is important is that you follow me and don't talk to strange ponies." She starts walking down the hallway with Limestone following her,

"You are a strange pony." Limestone says flatly,

"I know, right," Daisy said, looking back at her, "It is a strange saying that one is. I mean. Come on, if you can't talk to strange ponies. Then how will you ever meet new ponies? I have always wanted to change that saying into something else, but I got nothing. The closest thing I have ever gotten is to only talk to ponies you can trust. But then you can only talk to ponies within your friend circle. So that won't work. Did I mention that it is good to have another mare to talk to yet?"

Limestone sighs as she rubs a headache coming along, "You talk just like my younger sister."

This gets Daisy to gasp and gives Limestone her full attention as she slowly advances towards her, "You got a sister! How many? And do you have any brothers? Are they little cutie pies? Or are they all grown up and have families of their own?"

Limestone backs up to a wall getting nervous by this mare. She never had to deal with ponies like this very often, so her only defense to this is to answer their questions and hope they go away, "Aah, Three sisters, no brothers, they are adults, and no."

Daisy backs away as she stomps the floor, "You are so lucky; I got stuck being the oldest of five brothers."

Limestone tilts her head, confused at this, "That doesn't sound too bad."

"Well, true, but nothing of them are mares. So I can't do any mare stuff with them. Besides, most of them are quiet, except for the middle brother. No telling what is going on with that one." She huffs and starts leading them down the hallway until they arrive at a sliding door, "Here we are." She said, opening a door and showing Limestone inside. The floor was covered in green mats, a sliding closet to the side, one small dresser, and a small table in the center of the room with hot tea ready to be served, "This will be where you stay for now. I will be back with your meal, and I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Wait!" Limestone halting Daisy, "I WANT ANSWERS!"

"To what, Miss Pie?" she says innocently as if nothing is wrong,

"What happened to me, how long have I been out, and what will happen to me."

Daisy puts a hoof to her chin in thought while looking up before answering her, "To put it simply, you goofed up a ritual removal about a week ago, I am not sure; and BYE," she says quickly before closing the door behind her.

"WAIT!" Limestone shouted, trying to open the door to find it locked, "I WILL NOT BE IGNORED!"

Author's Note:

I know those old readers that have read this story before will be confused as to what happened to the next two chapters. Well, I figure that this was a good point to end this point in time, for D.U. and Limestone and I can make another story for their adventures to continue.

But I hope you enjoy this story and come back for more later.