Fluttershy Digs Deep

by MagicS

Earth Miser

A cave was a cave was a cave. And this cave was no different.

The ponies walked through its rocky interior while Daylight lit it up with her horn, guiding them. It was a straight walk the whole way through so far though and the ponies were keeping focused on what was directly ahead of them. They were looking forward to getting out of here and finally finding the lair of the rock monsters. After a couple of minutes of walking down this cave, Angel hopped off Fluttershy’s back and started walking on his own again too. This cave was still pretty hot but it wasn’t near as humid as the poison forest had been.

It sloped down slightly the further they went—which seemed almost ridiculous to Fluttershy. After all, with how deep they had gone they must practically be at the center of the world by now.

Amethyst Star’s stomach grumbled while they walked and all the others looked over at her.

A blush spread on the unicorn’s face as she held a hoof to her stomach. “I think I’m hungry.”

“None of us have had anything to eat or drink today, and after going through the forest I think we’re all even more thirsty and famished than normal,” Fluttershy said.

Angel Bunny grumbled from by her hooves, she knew he really wanted some carrots.

“Well if we’re lucky then maybe the rock monsters will have food and water for us. Or better yet, they’ll have some real sandwiches and tea,” Daylight sarcastically said.

“You never know,” Maud said.

“You never know?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

“They could be good hosts,” Maud plainly said back.

“Yeah after demolishing the mole’s farm and doing who knows what else I’m sure they’re just a blast to get along with,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“Actually I don’t think there’s any reason to be so negative either,” Fluttershy quietly cut in. “We should be willing to give the rock creatures a chance. They might prove to be much more friendly than we think. I’ve met a lot of groups and creatures that just needed to be given a chance, and they’ve shown how good they can be.”

“I’m with Fluttershy on this one again,” Amethyst Star said, raising a hoof. “I was there when Discord first came to Ponyville and comparing that to now, well… Fluttershy’s kind of a miracle worker when it comes to this stuff.”

Daylight Gleam shrugged. “I’m not doubting her or anything, I’d just like to say that I think I’m looking at things from a more realistic perspective.”

“Realistic doesn’t have much meaning to me,” Maud said. “Not when I’ve seen with my own eyes what a rainbow made of friendship can do.”

“Fair point,” Daylight allowed.

“Also, the tunnel is getting wider. We’re coming to the end.”

The others all looked around after hearing Maud’s words, and it was clear that the tunnel was indeed about to open up completely and drop them off somewhere else. The ponies and rabbit stepped out of the tunnel and into a large cavern that stretched a fair distance ahead before turning off to the right. They could see that not only because of Daylight’s illumination, but because of a large burning torch in the ground right at the turn.

“That’s something at least,” Amethyst Star said.

Fluttershy silently nodded and started walking towards it, the others following along with her. It was a sign that there was something down here besides just rocks, dirt, and plants. Meanwhile Maud had been totally enraptured by the stone walls of the cavern, her brow actually slightly knitted in confusion—practically the most emotion she would ever show.

“Is something wrong, Maud?” Fluttershy asked.

“This cave doesn’t make any sense.”

“Huh?”

“The rocks. Its makeup. Look,” Maud pointed across the walls.

Fluttershy followed and saw that the cave they were now in was hardly uniform. In fact it was the opposite of that. All kinds of different rocks and stone made up the cavern walls, all pressed and stuck together in a way that even Fluttershy could tell was odd. The color, the texture of them, there were so many different varieties it was just plain weird.

“Sandstone, marble, granite, obsidian, gypsum, talc. Not only multiple different rocks in a sequence they shouldn’t be in, but all different categories are represented too. Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. A cave like this shouldn’t exist,” Maud said. It sounded like her voice was halfway between wonder and frustration. Her love of rocks and discovering something new involving them clashing with her sensibilities and knowledge.

“I thought you didn’t care about things being realistic?” Daylight Gleam asked her.

“Perhaps it’s affecting me more because rocks are kind of my thing.” She went to point out some more. “Slate, limestone, quartz, rhyolite, flint, shale.”

“We get it,” Daylight put her hoof over Maud’s mouth. “This place is a rock museum.”

“Not really the type of museum I would normally visit,” Amethyst Star rubbed her head.

“Let’s just go to that torch and see what comes next, okay?” Fluttershy said.

The others nodded and they renewed their walk to the torch and the turn in the cavern. All the while Maud kept looking around and pointing out either deposits or shelves of rocks in the cave that shouldn’t belong. It was clearly bothering her at this point. Once they got to the large torch they inspected it together, noticing that it was quite tall, about a dozen feet, and burning with straw on top. It was propped up on bottom by a circle of polished rocks and while most of it was wooden, the top was ringed in granite to keep the fire from spreading down.

And as they left this torch behind and turned the corner they saw more torches in the distance. Lighting the way for them.

And they heard something now too.

“What is that?” Amethyst Star asked, turning her head as the steady rhythmic beating came down from further in the cave.

“It sounds like “pounding” or something,” Daylight Gleam said. “There’s something hitting up and down consistently. Like a hammer against rock? Maybe?”

“It’s definitely rock hitting rock. I can tell,” Maud said.

“Let’s go see what it is,” Fluttershy said. “I really hope this is one case of curiosity not killing the pony...”

The ponies and rabbit renewed their walk down the cave, towards the next torch and then the next one, the sound growing louder with each torch they passed and soon it became joined by other sounds. It was a symphony of beats, rock hitting rock in a rhythmic fashion, almost like a group of drums being played. Symphony was right, it really started to sound like actual music the closer they got. There was a real tune being played and a steady beat to the music. Whatever was the source of it was clearly making music on purpose and not just hitting rocks on the ground.

Fluttershy gulped in trepidation, despite being the most eager and optimistic of them she also couldn’t really ignore her own paranoia and irrational fears. Something was about to happen.

They passed between the last two torches that sat at opposite ends of the cavern and reached what looked like a dead end at first. But as Maud pressed her hoof against the wall they all saw how smooth it was. Clearly something that had been carved and sculpted out of the stone here.

“This is a door, isn’t it?” Daylight Gleam said.

“I believe so,” Maud nodded in agreement. “We just need to find where it opens up.”

“The music sounds like it’s really loud on the other side...” Amethyst Star said as she pressed an ear against the door.

She was right, it was already pretty boisterous over here. If they opened up the door it might sound like they were inside a concert or music hall. And they still really had no idea just what this “music” was. But there was nothing else they could do, they needed to push on, so each pony went searching over the rock door to find where it might open up.

“Wait, I think I found a crease,” Daylight Gleam said, running her hoof up a line of the door.

“I found another,” Maud said from about ten feet away from her.

“Me too,” Fluttershy said from right in between them.

Daylight Gleam rubbed her chin as she inspected the door. “A double door huh? So it should open up right where Fluttershy is standing? Let’s get on either side of her and see if we can push it open.”

“It looks like it’s going to be really heavy,” Fluttershy said.

“That’s what I’m here for then,” Maud said.

“Don’t knock our unicorn magic either,” Daylight Gleam smirked and shot a glance to Amethyst Star.

“Yeah!” Amethyst Star confidently nodded.

Angel Bunny thumped his foot a few times and pressed his tiny little arms up against the door too, giving Fluttershy a thumbs up from below.

Fluttershy smiled at him and nodded. “Okay, then let’s do this!”

All together the five of them pushed as one. Fluttershy, Maud, and Angel used their muscles while Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam pitched in with their magic. As was expected, it was a really heavy door. Possibly hundreds of pounds of stone. But at the very least it was still a door that was made to be opened and the five of them could feel it just barely sliding over the ground. At first it was only an almost imperceptible crack in the middle of it where Fluttershy was standing, but that grew and grew as inch by inch the door opened up. It became easier the further they went along too, as if it was just a little rusty and only needed some work.

“Almost there...” Fluttershy grit her teeth and put all her strength in the last few inches they needed.

The doors opened up and all of the ponies and Angels stumbled on through, accidentally tripping over each other and landing as a heap on the ground.

Ba-rump Ba-rump Ba-da-da-rump!

Pow! Pow! P-P-Pow!

Ba-rump Ba-rump Ba-da-da-rump!

Their eyes looked up together to see what the source of the strange rocky music was.

And not twenty feet in front of them was a stone stage raised off the ground, hanging torches acting as stage lights stood above it and a “curtain” made of moss and sticks laid at the back. On either side of the stage were pits where strange creatures sat in, playing instruments. Although creatures and instruments may not have been the correct word. They had an appearance close to that of ponies but they were all made from rocks and pebbles fitted together with nothing discernible actually holding them in place. Their eye holes were filled with nothing more than spherical bits of coal as well. And the so-called instruments were just rocks shaped like drums, cymbals, xylophones, and somehow a piano.

Either way these were certainly the rock monsters the moles had mentioned. And this was certainly music of some sort. Though Fluttershy had no idea how they were making such sounds with just rocks.

“Are those guests out there I sense walking on my ground?” A large booming voice came from behind the curtain.

“Eep!” Fluttershy shot up in fright and the others scrambled to their hooves as well.

Except for Maud who appeared to be totally enraptured by the living rocks. She lied on the ground with her mouth slightly ajar and made no motion to get up until Fluttershy pulled her up.

“Pinch me, Fluttershy. I think I’m dreaming. Or I’ve died and gone to paradise,” Maud said.

“I-I don’t think we have time for that, Maud...”

Amethyst Star fervently nodded. “What Fluttershy said. Just what the hay was that voice?”

“What am I, you ask?” The booming voice called out again and Amethyst’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. “BAHAHAHA! Allow me to tell you!”

The music the rock creatures were playing changed to a more bass tune, it sounded slow and plodding but still somehow upbeat. And then the curtain was drawn back and out from the shadows lumbered another creature, many times larger than the others. He was pony-shaped like the others but he stood easily ten feet tall and had a massive body. All of it made up of dirt and rocks stuck together. The other one big difference was that he had actual eyes compared to the smaller rock creatures. They roamed over the ponies with an intelligent brightness and an honest warmth emanating from them.

Each step he took shook the entire cavern until he made it to the center of the stage and his mouth split open in a wide grin.

“You want to know who I am? Weeeellll-”

They call me Earth Miser, cause I’m Mr. Rock and Dirt~
Down here deep in the earth, I’m the very first~
And everything I touch~

He reached up and grabbed one of the torches above the stage and it crumbled into dust almost instantly.

Turns to dust in my clutch~
Haha, I’m too much!~

As all the ponies (and Angel again) watched with wide open mouths of astonishment—even Maud—some of the smaller rock creatures came up on stage and started dancing and singing as well.

He’s Mr. Earth Miser, he’s Mr. Dirt~
He’s Mr. Boulder, he’s Mr. Ten Miles Deep~
And everything he touches, turns to dust in his clutch~
He’s too much!~

“Hahahahaha!” Earth Miser laughed as he bounced back and forth between left and right legs, dancing and jigging around on stage. “I’m too much!”

“Welp,” Daylight Gleam said with a blank expression. “This is officially the strangest thing I’ve seen in my life. And that’s not an easy competition to win.”

“Ehhh, it’s definitely up there for me but I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff in Ponyville. So I’d have to think about it a little,” Amethyst Star said.

They call me Earth Miser~
And I never see the sun~
Cause I never go above~
I’m always in the dirt, just deeper and deeper~

Earth Miser continued his loud bellowing song, obviously not done yet.

I love my rocks and boulders oh yes indeed~
They make my body and my friends and my home, I decree~
I don’t ever want to be some place without solid ground beneath me~
I’d rather have dirt and stone and earth for me!~

The smaller rock creatures chorused in again in a new verse:

Because he’s Mr. Earth Miser, he’s Mr. Dirt!~
He’s Mr. Boulder, he’s Mr. Ten Miles Deep!~

And then Earth Miser cut in for the finish-

And everything I touch~
Turns to dust in my clutch~

He reached back and turned the curtain of moss to dirt.

I’m too much!~

“Bahahahaha!” Earth Miser laughed as he finished his song and all the smaller rock creatures took a bow.

Fluttershy started clapping and shot a few nervous glances at the others to make sure they got the idea. Soon the whole group was clapping along with her.

“T-That was a very nice song,” Fluttershy said. “Thank you for the pleasant introduction Mr—uh, Earth Miser?”

“That’s right!” The very large Earth Miser grinned. “Come closer and say hello! Just who might you ponies be?”

Amethyst Star leaned in to whisper in Fluttershy’s ear. “This guy kind of creeps me out...”

“I think he’s nice, just a little strange,” Fluttershy whispered back. “Let’s give him a chance, okay?”

“If I didn’t have a boyfriend I know who I’d be going after right now,” Maud said as she stared up at Earth Miser.

“Eyuck!” Daylight Gleam retched.

The five of them still walked up to the stage all the same while Earth Miser and the other rocks stood above them.

“Umm, h-hello,” Fluttershy shyly waved up at them. “My name is Fluttershy.” She reached down and patted Angel on the head. “And this is Angel Bunny.”

“I’m Daylight Gleam. Hello, Earth Miser,” Daylight said, a kind of confused expression on her face the entire time.

“I’m Amethyst Star,” Amethyst greeted.

“My name is Maud,” Maud said, slowly blinking. “And I’m very happy to meet you and your friends.”

“Bahahaha! I hardly ever have guests so the pleasure is all mine.” Earth Miser then seemed to notice that the ponies and rabbit had no place to sit. “Ah, hold on just one second.”

Earth Miser tapped a heavy hoof on the stage and the ground beneath the ponies began to shift and change. Chairs and tables of rocks and dirt erupted up from the ground around the ponies, they slid around the ground and molded like clay to perfectly fit the ponies’ shapes as they pushed themselves behind and under the ponies to force them to sit down. Then the table came sliding over in front of them, with another little booster seat coming out of the ground and propping Angel up as well. The ponies and rabbit were left blinking in surprise as they sat in front of the stage, witnesses to Earth Miser’s ability to control and move earth and stone.

“That’s better! I would never let any guests of mine lack for comfort.”

As he said that, numerous little rock creatures all came over to the table, setting down blocks of stone of various shapes and sizes before the ponies.

“Hungry? Thirsty?” Earth Miser asked and stomped his hoof again. The blocks changed shape, morphing right in front of their eyes into utensils, plates, bowls, teacups, and a teapot. Another stomp of his hoof and holes opened up in the ceiling that water and a thick green liquid poured down from, into the cups and bowls respectively. Then another light tap and crystals dropped out onto the plates. “Water to drink, rock soup to drink, and crystal candy to eat!”

“Just like mother makes,” Maud said and grabbed a spoon, taking a spoonful of rock soup up to her lips and drinking it down while the others watched on.

“I-Is it safe to eat?” Daylight asked. Obviously she was very concerned.

Fluttershy watched as Maud went back for seconds. “Um, looks like it.”

Amethyst Star had already grabbed a crystal candy and put it in her mouth, biting down on it and shattering it between her teeth. She winced but swallowed the remaining bits. “Well it tastes good but I almost felt like my teeth were about to break for a moment there.”

“Have as much as you want! I’m your host and it’s all on me!” Earth Miser bellowed.

“Thank you, Mr. Earth Miser. You’re very generous,” Fluttershy smiled and started drinking up some soup. It did surprisingly taste pretty good despite oozing out from a hole in the ceiling. Fluttershy did her best not to think about that part.

“But of course! You’re the first guests I’ve had in ages! Please, tell me what brings you down here?” Earth Miser smiled.

The ponies (except for the busily eating Maud) nervously glanced between each other. He seemed very nice and friendly right now but would he be so happy to hear them accuse him of destroying the moles’ farm and basically ruining their city? And what if he did that on purpose for some reason? Angering him seemed like a really bad idea. But it was still their duty to get to the bottom of things and make sure the moles wouldn’t be harmed by these rock creatures or Earth Miser again.

Fluttershy’s eyes glanced to some of the rock creatures now standing slightly away from their table after bringing out the rocks that transformed into their plates and utensils. She noticed how they didn’t move or speak at all now after their little chorus in the song was over. And their “eyes” weren’t even focused on the ponies. “Umm, Mr. Earth Miser? Are your friends here… alive?”

Earth Miser raised an eyebrow while a grin came to his face and glanced down at the smaller rock creatures. “Aha, I see you’ve noticed. I’m afraid not, Fluttershy. You see these are just dolls I’ve created with my power. I always keep some around for company and to help with things.” Earth Miser tapped a hoof on the ground and all the rock creatures fell apart into piles of dirt and rocks before coalescing together into one big pile and then separating again and reforming into individual “dolls”.

“Even though they can’t speak or do much without me I like having some other faces to look at.”

“I understand,” Fluttershy smiled. “It does seem like it might be a little lonely down here...”

“Hahaha, I get by. I talk with the worm, but even the stones and soil themselves all have voices for me to listen to. This has been my home for a long time and I haven’t gotten bored of it yet.”

Daylight Gleam nudged Fluttershy under the table and nodded towards Earth Miser, asking Fluttershy to bring up the subject of the moles already.

“Mr. Earth Miser? I have a question to ask,” Fluttershy said as she raised her hoof. “It has to do with why we’re here.”

“Oh? Then ask away, please!” The friendly Earth Miser responded.

“Well, um, we came from quite a bit above here and the reason we’ve traveled so far is that we’re trying to figure something out. You see… I kind of came across a city of moles and they said their farm where they grew all their food was destroyed.” She gulped and shyly looked up at Earth Miser. “By rock monsters. Rock monsters that, um, sound a lot like the ones you make.” Fluttershy giggled nervously. “Ehehe, not that I’m accusing you or anything. Just trying to figure things out!”

Earth Miser was silent as he looked down at Fluttershy and the others. The smile had left his face.

Fluttershy bit her lip. “Mr Earth Miser?”

“I was worried something bad might have happened,” Earth Miser sighed and sat down, his massive flank causing the whole chamber to shake.

“So, wait-” Daylight Gleam furrowed her brow. “You are responsible for what those rock monsters did? And you knew about it?”

“Unfortunately yes but I did not mean for anything bad to have come from it. And I was unaware that I had harmed them so much. What has happened to the moles?” Earth Miser asked.

“Well they’re in a really bad spot actually,” Fluttershy tapped her hooves together. “They’re totally out of food and they can’t grow anymore because the ground they farmed on has all been destroyed. They’re close to starving and they’re very desperate. I promised to help them by figuring out where the, um, rock creatures came from and why, and then getting food for them when I got back to the surface.”

“So why’d you send your rock monster minion things up so far from your home?” Amethyst Star asked.

“I was searching for a new home.”

“A new home?” Daylight Gleam narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m sorry, Earth Miser, but that isn’t adding up for me. You just said you’ve been down here for ages and have never gotten bored of your home. And to be honest you seem to love it down here quite a bit. Why were your minions really up there?”

Earth Miser shook his big head. “It was in case I needed it. Not to move to just because.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened slightly. “Did… did something down here happen to you too?”

“Yes. Sadly something that worried me enough to think I may have to forever leave this place if it happened again,” Earth Miser said. “Because of it I sent my rock dolls all throughout this subterranean world, searching for an uninhabited place that I could call home. My dolls found several for me… but as you know they also came across places like where the moles lived. I did not intend for them to do such damage and harm. It simply naturally happened from the way they traveled through the ground and open up new tunnels and passages. If I could I would apologize to the moles with all my rocky heart.”

“Well we still need to find food for them… how much of that water and rock soup do you have anyways?” Daylight Gleam looked up at the ceiling.

“Not enough for a whole city but I’ll do what I can. It won’t be difficult for me with my power to get up there and feed them.”

“That should at least give us enough time until I can talk to Twilight and have her help the moles out,” Fluttershy sighed in relief.

“So is that it then? Problem solved?” Amethyst Star shrugged. “Pretty easy.”

“I guess we can start looking for a way up and out of here now. Thank heavens,” Daylight Gleam took a drink of water.

“No!” Fluttershy slammed her hoof on the table, startling the others.

Amethyst Star jolted up and looked over at her. “Fluttershy? What’s up?”

She looked right up at the sorrowful Earth Miser. “Mr. Earth Miser, what happened that scared you and started all of this in the first place? Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Oh no...” Daylight Gleam sighed and facehooved.

“If somepony’s in need we can’t just leave them be. It’s our duty to help,” Fluttershy said.

“I guess we’re not getting out of here anytime soon then,” Amethyst Star said, cracking another crystal candy in her mouth.

“Fine by me,” Maud said. “I wouldn’t mind staying here with Earth Miser another day even.”

“Bahahaha! You really love rocks don’t you?” Earth Miser grinned at Maud.

“They rock my world,” Maud said, a faint smile on her lips. “I’d love to study you and your home more.”

“Maybe if we had a little more time, Maud. But I think we need to keep moving as much as we can after learning what happened here,” Fluttershy patted her shoulder a few times.

Maud shrugged. “I can always come back on my own.”

“That’s the spirit,” Fluttershy giggled.

“Okay, so then if we’re doing this, what actually happened?” Daylight Gleam asked.

“Yeah, seriously. What scared you?” Amethyst Star raised an eyebrow at Earth Miser. “You’re like… big. And intimidating. And you’ve got these magical rock manipulating powers.”

Earth Miser stood up and tapped his hoof on the stage, the front of it shifting and molding into a set of stairs he could walk down so he wasn’t quite towering over them as much anymore. Now on “equal” footing he cleared his throat. “Not long ago my home was almost completely destroyed. The ground was shaking and tearing apart from an earthquake through no work of my own. And then...”

Fluttershy gulped. “What happened?”

“It was an eruption. Lava burst from even deeper within the earth than we already are. Geysers of molten rock started pouring out from below, covering everything, flowing seemingly endlessly. They threatened to reshape and melt my caverns and all my rock dolls. So much of my home fell into chaos and disappeared down a gigantic chasm that first opened up in the middle of my domain. When I looked into it I saw bubbling lava deep below. I thought it was all going to come up and make an even grander eruption than before, but instead over time the lava went back down like a draining lake and disappeared into darkness. And I was left with my half-destroyed home.” Earth Miser paused and then looked behind the stage. “I can show you what happened if you’ll follow me inside.”

He walked back up the steps and as he did so the rock walls behind the stage slid apart, making way to a new part of Earth Miser’s home. Torches lit up the interior and the gang of ponies could hear more shifting and sliding as the whole place seemed to be rearranging itself just for them.

The others turned to Fluttershy and while she was a bit nervous she also trusted Earth Miser.

“L-Let’s go,” the pegasus said and began walking up the steps, the others following her lead.

---

As Earth Miser led them through the inner circle of his home, the ponies and Angel all noticed that a lot of the rocks and ground here looked like they had been damaged recently. Melted. So what Earth Miser had told them was likely true about the lava erupting into his home. Though what led to that was still a mystery, as well as its sudden disappearance. Maud in particular was able to point out a lot of melted spots and fresh holes where lava had poured from, and bits of recently created obsidian and other cooled off stones born from lava. Earth Miser obviously had no problems with it lying around.

“There’s not much in this world that bothers me but magma is one of those things. Liquefied melted rock, even I wouldn’t be able to do much of anything if a volcano erupted in my home again.” Earth Miser said.

“Hopefully we can figure this all out and make sure that doesn’t happen,” Fluttershy said.

“I thank you for that. My fear of the magma is what kept me from trying to discover its source in the first place. All this time I never thought there could be anything beneath me.”

“Aside from the molten core of the planet I would’ve said you were correct in that assumption as well with how deep we already are,” Maud said. “I doubt any living creatures actually live below this part of the world. If the lava isn’t a purely natural event, which it sounds like it isn’t, it’s likely the result of some sort of magical calamity or monster.”

“Oh, well that’s wonderful,” Daylight Gleam sarcastically said.

“Yep. This is why I hate adventures,” Amethyst Star nodded.

“Bahahaha, I believe you are right, Maud! I thought I was far too old and knowing of the subterranean world to be surprised by anything. But whatever the source of this volcanic activity is may be even older and grander than myself! What’s deeper than deep? The bottom of the deep!” Earth Miser laughed uproariously.

“And I would like to discover and research the rocks that can be found at the bottom of the world,” Maud smiled.

Fluttershy shot a surprised glance at her. “You’re very into this Maud.”

“Magma is just molten rock after all. I think I was made for this journey,” she glanced at Fluttershy. “But you’re still the leader who will really figure things out and make sure we’re all okay.”

“Well I’m still not too sure about that but I appreciate your confidence...”

As soon as she said that, Angel Bunny frowned and pinched her.

“Ow!” Fluttershy looked down at him in confusion and saw him glaring up at her with his arms folded and his foot thumping up and down. The message to not look down on herself was clear.

“So you said there was one big chasm that appeared in the middle of your home, Earth Miser?” Daylight asked their host and guide.

Earth Miser’s big head nodded. “That is correct. The floor of my home caved in and what was there in its place was a deep hole with a pool of magma at the bottom. Shortly after that happened though the eruptions stopped and the magma sunk away.”

“Would you have been able to tell if that magma was normally there? Just out of sight on a level below you?” Daylight asked.

“Of course. I’m not Mr. Rock and Dirt for nothing. If there was magma in a chamber so close beneath me I could tell. It only very recently appeared there and disappeared just as quick.”

They walked through the torch lit caverns that made up Earth Miser’s home only for about a minute longer until they reached a large wall. At first Fluttershy thought it was simple granite but as she looked harder she saw that it was numerous interlocked pieces of stone more like a gigantic brick or cement block wall. Earth Miser tapped his hoof against it and with a low rumbling several of the stones depressed and turned on their side before the entire wall pulled away to the sides like a curtain.

“I had sealed this up just in case. But rest assured there’s no danger now.”

The ponies and Angel followed Earth Miser as he stepped past the door and into a circular room that looked like it was at one point a large amphitheater. The stage that would’ve taken up the middle was gone though, replaced by a dark hole that might as well have been a bottomless pit.

“Oh my… do you have any idea how deep it goes?” Fluttershy asked as she stared down it.

“I can feel it goes down over 1,000 feet. After that it gets foggy to my senses,” Earth Miser said.

Maud was looking at the edges of the hole and the sides of it as it went down, taking note of how smooth they were and the obvious lava damage the place had taken.

“That’s really deep. How are we supposed to get down there?” Daylight Gleam mused.

“Can’t really expect Fluttershy to carry us one by one, can we? It would take too long,” Amethyst said.

“You may leave the way down to me,” Earth Miser said. He stomped a hoof on the edge of the hole and the entire room started to shake. Then from the very top of the hole a rectangular piece of stone shot out, then another one beneath and in front of it, then another and another. Rapidly the steps appeared from the side of the hole, all of them spiraling down in sequence like a gigantic staircase descending into the darkness.

“That will take you as far down as I can sense,” Earth Miser said as the steps finished up. “I wish you good luck in figuring out the source of my troubles.” He sighed. “And meanwhile I will help makeup for the troubles I have caused.”

“Thank you, Earth Miser,” Fluttershy smiled up at him, also walking over and affectionately laying a hoof against his leg. “The moles really need your help so I’m glad you’re doing this.”

“From what you’ve said there is no time to waste either. I will keep my home completely open for you in case you come back up this way. And now I shall depart for above,” Earth Miser bowed to the ponies and turned, walking back to head out of his home and help the moles.

“And that leaves us with the long walk down,” Daylight Gleam gulped as she looked at the stairs.

“They’re sturdy and won’t break. I can guarantee that,” Maud said as she tapped the first one.

“Still not looking forward to it,” Daylight said.

“Neither am I, but we have to go down there,” Fluttershy said. “I’m sorry I’m dragging you along with me again but more problems will arise in this underground world if we don’t solve them now. Maybe I don’t need to do this but well… I need to. It’s just right. I couldn’t live with myself otherwise.”

“We get it, Fluttershy. You don’t need to explain it to us. That’s just how you are, as you and as one of Twilight’s friends,” Amethyst Star shrugged.

“Agreed,” Maud nodded.

“Yeah, you’re cool in my book, so you can just ignore my whining,” Daylight winked.

Angel Bunny patted her leg and gave her a thumbs up.

Fluttershy blushed from all the attention and praise and had to take a fairly deep breath to calm herself. “T-Thank you. Let’s get going now and find out what’s going on down here.” And she took the first dainty step down into the hole.

Comments

[RoboRed]

I'm loving how whimsical this underground world is. The Snow/Heat Miser reference was fun.
I'm starting to wonder what lurks below, though? So far it's been a lot of events with nothing particularly bad that couldn't have been walked through or talked out of. Surely something actually evil must now be around the corner?

“If I didn’t have a boyfriend I know who I’d be going after right now,” Maud said as she stared up at Earth Miser.

Maud was loving that area waaay too much.

[Mini-Joe]

Oh man, maud is hilarious here