The Dark City

by awf

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It took everyone less than ten minutes to get packed and organized, then Rusty Bones laid down the law about exploring the ruins: "Nopony goes anywhere alone, always two or more, understand? No walking down unexplored passages, I'll go first. There may be traps. Curio, you're second behind me so you can hold the light above me, then Gustaf. Winter Shine, I want you last with another light shining on our hooves so we don't stumble."

Ember Clover raised a hoof: "What should I do?"

"For now, just walk and keep your eyes open for anything interesting. Once we've explored a corridor and determined it's safe, that's when you three come in. We're looking for carvings, artefacts, anything that will tell us who lived here and where they went."

The pegasus gave a nod, then brightened up as he realized he would be walking behind the statuesque griffin.

"Good. It's late today, so we'll just explore to here-" Rusty said and pointed a hoof at her map. "This looks like some kind of an office, or maybe a guard room. The notes say there's broken furniture, but I guess it's useless by now. We'll camp in there. Any questions?"

There was a chorus of agreement and the ponies and griffin organized themselves into a line. Rusty took the lead and went in the ruins again. She briefly considered closing the door behind them, wary of strange creatures in the Frozen North who might come in after them, but then she decided not to. It should be left open to let in fresh air. They could always come back and close it once they determined if the ruin has ventilation. She took a deep breath and walked into the dark corridor. The clop of her hooves on ancient stone echoed, soon accompanied by the hoofsteps of her companions. Rusty found herself trying to step lightly, feeling a bit uneasy about disturbing the quiet of the place. As they walked Rusty tried to gauge how long the corridor was, but all the walls were uniform gray and they were only interrupted by the occasional torch bracket. It was too quiet, she thought. Every cave had some noise: a drip of water, a breath of air, even a low rumble if there was a river or something above. In this frozen wasteland she had expected to hear the occasional groan of ice above them, or a dribble of liquid.

Instead, there was silence.

The light was wrong, too. It was putting her on edge. Curio's spell was very bright and showed the walls and the floor clearly, but it was too white and too steady. She was used to the slightly yellow, dancing flame of a torch. She looked down at her hooves and clearly saw her own outline. There was her head, the bulge of her pack, an ear. The lines were too sharp. The shadows were too well-defined. It was an unnatural light. Rusty Bones decided she would use torches the next day, even if they were cumbersome and less efficient. Perhaps the unicorns were okay with that strange, magical light, but she would only use it as a last resort. She was jolted out of her inner monologue when she noticed a dark rectangle in the wall ahead. Curio's mage light cast a knife-straight shadow into the room beyond.

"This is it," Rusty whispered and slowed her steps. "Send the light forward a bit."

The Professor did as he was told and the little glowing ball floated a few paces ahead so it shone into the room. Rusty stretched her head out and looked around the frame. There was indeed furniture in the small office, a large desk in the middle and a number of wooden chairs around. At first glance they seemed okay, but after all this time they were probably as rotten as the lever at the entrance.

"Don't touch anything. It's liable to crumble to dust and we'll end up sneezing the whole night," Rusty warned the others. Her words were proven true when they entered the room and walked around. Part of the table had collapsed and the side was torn like thin paper. Rusty could see the shapes of drawers inside and wondered if there were remnants of ancient documents still in there. Who knew what had been written down, once. There was a metal candle holder on the floor which she picked up. "Professor?"

Curio, who had been inspecting a dark mass under one of the walls, came over. "Hmm?"

"Here. Can you tell how old this is?"

He picked up the object in his magic and concentrated for a moment. "Quick guess, between seventeen hundred and two thousand years. Definitely pre-Celestial, and quite possibly pre-Equestrian too."

It was music to Rusty's ears. The ruins really were as old as they had suspected. There had been a civilization of ponies who had chosen to live underground! This was a once-in-a-lifetime find. Tartarus, maybe even once-in-a-thousand-years!

She rubber her hooves together in delight. "Good! Okay, everypony, settle down in this room. We don't need tents, so there's plenty of space. Careful with the furniture. This room is safe and the corridor back outside too. Nopony ventures forward until we've explored it tomorrow." She took out her stove again and spread out her sleeping bag. It would be hard on the stone floor, but Rusty didn't mind. The room was dry and warm, which was more than some other camping spots she had had over the years. "We'll have a quick dinner, then I need two volunteers to go outside and grab some ice so we have drinking water."

"How about me and Gustaf?" Ember Clover proposed. Both the unicorns looked at him strangely and the bird gave a surprised squawk, but Rusty hid a mischievous grin and nodded.

"Good idea. We don't know if any beasts are roaming around. Anypony going out takes either me or Gustaf as escort. That okay with you?"

That last question was aimed at the griffin, who shrugged and nodded. "Fine. It's what I'm here for, anyway. Not like I can contribute much to the research."

The two volunteers dropped their bags and took all the empty pots for the ice while the rest of the party set up their sleeping spots. Curio kept glancing at the door out of the office, but didn't leave. It was just as well, since Rusty would have called him back immediately. He really was excited to explore the ruin, but they were all tired from the hike and it was late in the day. The last bit didn't matter much underground, but tired ponies made mistakes and Rusty didn't want any of those marring her expedition.

"We'll sleep eight hours, then we'll explore. Curio, let's pick a few spots we could reach tomorrow."

This was something concrete to do and the Professor gladly came over with his light to examine her map. "Maybe this way, it looks like an armory with adjoining barracks. If we see any weapons and armor we might be able to place the time more precisely, or at least know from which civilizations these ponies splintered."

"Sounds good. I'd like to go and see this area. It looks like a mess hall and a kitchen, but I don't know what these are." Rusty pointed at several large boxes which seemed to go off the side of the map. "It almost looks like fields, but there are no notes. Maybe it was where they grew their crop? Could it be open to the outside you think?"

Curio shook his head. "No, I don't think so. That legend mentions they subsisted exclusively on cave-growing mushrooms. If these are fields, they're almost certainly mushroom fields."

"Interesting. A species of pony who lived in caves and ate mushrooms. Do you think it could have been Thestrals?"

"Maybe. Though that wouldn't explain where they came from. Most theories have them as Nightmare Moon's creation, but maybe she found a tribe in a place like this instead."

"Anyway, that's enough of the labyrinth for one day. Armory, barracks and maybe this way to the supposed mushroom fields. After that we'll decide."

"Agreed."

Rusty rolled up her map and began digging out supplies from her pack. They had reached their destination without difficulty, so she was feeling confident enough about having a big meal to celebrate. They would probably need the energy with how exciting the next few days were likely to be!

---

The night passed with extraordinary slowness, at least for Rusty Bones. She listened to her co-adventurers breathing for a while and even managed to fall asleep a few times, but each time something woke her up. For a while she thought some of the ponies with her were whispering in the night, but when she sat up and listened more closely she heard them breathing deeply, or snoring. Besides, their beds were spread apart in the room and anypony walking around would be easy to hear. She would have attributed the faint, dry, rustling noise to wind, but they were deep underground and the air was completely still. They had left the outside door open with a clever little magical trap placed across it which would alert them if anything passed that portal, or so Curio assured her, but no draft made it to the office they had occupied as their sleeping chamber. In the end Rusty Bones had attributed the weird noises to her own imagination. The ancient ruins were completely silent and the darkness was impenetrable without a source of light, so perhaps it made sense that her mind was playing tricks on her. Celestia knew she was excited enough and couldn't wait for morning.

Eventually it came and her group began to stir. Winter Shine was first and she stood up with a quiet groan about the hardness of her bed before she walked to the door. Her hoofsteps roused Rusty from a light slumber and she opened her eyes to see a faint ball of light floating in front of the pudgy student.

"Stop. Wait. Where are you going?" Rusty asked the mare.

The unicorn stepped from hoof to hoof as she swung the light around to shine on the adventurer. "Toilet. I'm not gonna do it in here, obviously."

"Take somepony with you. None of us go alone outside."

"Why not?" Ember Clover asked, then sat up. The others followed suit, having been woken up by the conversation.

"If there's fog or a blizzard it's too easy to get lost. You'd never find the cave again. We go in pairs or more, and we'll tie a string to the cave entrance if it's fog or blizzard outside."

"Fiine," Winter Shine groaned. "Ember, wanna go with me?"

"I'll go," Gustaf said, but that of course meant Ember Clover refused to be left behind. In short order Rusty was alone with the Professor, who created a fresh ball of light for them and went to rummage in his pack.

Rusty's first thought was that he was looking for breakfast, but the stallion got out a book and settled back on his cot to read. She sighed and shook her head in bemusement. "Oatmeal?"

"Yes, please."

Her stove was soon lit and the cheerful little flame cast dancing shadows on the walls. It made the room look infinitely more friendly than the harsh, pure white light the unicorns produced. She had plenty of supplies left, so Rusty poured a packet of powdered milk into the water before adding the oat mixture. "Salt or sugar?"

"Either," Curio replied, lost in his book.

She shrugged to herself and then opted for sugar. She was feeling optimistic about the day and she could always have salt later in the form of the licking stones. Pretty soon the two students and their griffin guard came back and immediately smiled when they smelled the meal.

"Serve yourselves, just leave enough for me and Curio. Come, it's our turn," Rusty called.

That did the trick and the Professor finally left his book and stood up. He followed her wordlessly out of the office and back up the corridor to the entrance.

Something occurred to the mare as they passed the threshold. "Your spell didn't work. We didn't hear the alarm when those three went out, nor when they came back."

Curio was already shaking his head even before she had finished talking. "No, I keyed the sensing spell to us so it will only react to things which are not us or our equipment. It'd be a bother to keep dispelling and recasting it all the time when we wanted to go out."

"Clever. Is there a way for us to test it?"

The Professor didn't reply, but he levitated a nondescript stone from the ground and flung it through the portal. Immediately an invisible klaxon began to wail. He let the sound go for a few seconds, then his horn flared and everything went silent.

"Good. Thanks."

They were about to continue their way, but a scrabble of paws on stone made Rusty Bones look back. Gustaf was hurrying up the corridor, but stopped when he saw them.

"Sorry, we should have told you. I wanted to test our alarm," Rusty explained.

The griffin shrugged a little and his feathers, which had been puffed out, settled back down. "No harm. Might as well go with you since I'm here. Just a sec." He took a deep breath and turned back into the corridor. "FALSE ALARM! IT'S FINE!" he bellowed. It took a while for echoes to die down and Rusty thought she heard a shouted response from the two ponies still in the ruin, though she couldn't understand the words.

She turned to continue to the surface. "Okay, let's go, then."

"It's a nice day out. I might want to go stretch my wings a little, since it looks like we'll be stuck underground for the whole day."

Her rule about always going in pairs didn't apply to the experienced and toughened griffin warrior, so Rusty just nodded. "Sure. We'll wait for you at the entrance. Fresh air would do us all some good," she said, remembering the strange noises she'd heard in the night.

---

Their oatmeal was almost completely cold by the time they made it back, but it was still good and both Rusty and Curio wolfed it down. She was pleased to see that the two students hadn't been idle during their absence and had prepared their gear. There were a few cameras, some torches, a lot of rope and she saw saddlebags full of little plastic zip-lock bags, presumably for any small artifacts they might come across.

Professor Curio looked it over, then grabbed his own gear and looked expectantly at Rusty. "Your lead," he said.

The mare was pleased that he remembered her instructions from the previous day and gladly took point. She glanced both ways in the corridor, then headed the way they hadn't yet explored. If her map was to be believed they would come to some stairs and then a junction in a few hundred yards. "Careful, the note says there's a pit somewhere in this corridor. I'm guessing a trap door against intruders. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Aye," Gustaf confirmed. He was second in line and his sharp, griffin vision would come in useful.

Rusty took a deep breath and led them deeper into the labyrinth. Soon everypony fell into a reverential silence and their hoofsteps became careful and quiet. Once again it felt as if they were intruding in something that was not meant to be disturbed. Each noise came back amplified by echo and the harsh, magical light made every feature surreal.

After only a few minutes Rusty stopped and pointed, slightly relieved. "There's the hole. I was worried it would be hidden somehow, but this is pretty straightforward."

There was indeed a black pit in the floor of the corridor, stretching the entire width and perhaps a little less than one pony-length long. She walked carefully up to it and Gustaf laid a claw on her rump. Rusty didn't mind. She knew the griffin would grab her and pull her back if the ground should suddenly give way or crumble beneath her hooves. As it was, the mare stepped lightly and tested every hoof before putting her weight on it.

Quickly she had reached the edge and peered down. "Curio, some light please?"

The magical ball obediently floated above the pit and stopped there. The edges of the hole cast sharp shadows down the sides, but the bottom was nowhere in sight. Rusty turned her head to one side and listened. Absolute silence. She licked her nose and held it still above the opening, feeling for a draft, or any movement of air. Nothing.

"How are we going to cross it?" Winter Shine asked.

"Jump, I guess. It's not really wide. I don't see a way to close the pit, and I wouldn't trust it if I did close it. If anypony isn't sure, the fliers can ferry them across. Gustaf?"

"No problem. Come," Gustaf said and his claw went down to grab Rusty around her midriff. He got a good grip on the mare, then spread his powerful wings and jumped. It wasn't really flight, just hop and a single flap to take them to the other side. She could easily have jumped it, but the apparently-bottomless pit unnerved Rusty slightly and she didn't want to risk herself without reason. The griffin left her there and hopped back to pick up Winter Shine. That left Ember Clover to ferry his professor, which he did with a murmured apology for how he had to grip him. In less than a minute they were across.

"Remember that this is here," Rusty Bones told them. "There's other traps marked further on. When you're walking from room to room, keep your mind on walking, understand?"

There was a chorus of agreement. A day ago the academics might have argued, but seeing the hole made them realize just how easy it would be to get themselves killed through inattention.

"Let's move on."

It wasn't much further until the party came to the junction. The map showed a large, rectangular room, but it absolutely didn't do the place justice. They all stopped when they filed out of the corridor and Rusty looked up in wonder. The place was huge! Her map didn't show pillars, but there were pillars, like half-seen tree trunks in the darkness as far as the light would reach. Ancient dust, disturbed by the heat of their bodies and their breathing, floated around them like twinkling stars in the white light. The ceiling was lost in shadow, so it looked as if they were walking in a forest of stone columns.

"Wooooow," Ember Clover was the first to break their silence.

'Wooow- oooow- ow- WOOOW!' the echo came back, making them all flinch.

"No loud noises," Rusty whispered and the others nodded. "The notes say this room is safe, but I want to make sure. Wait here while Gustaf and me walk around."

The three ponies settled down and Curio took out a notepad and began writing. Rusty fetched a torch and caught Winter Shine's eye to get her to light it. Having a unicorn or two on an expedition was proving to be quite useful, after all. Once she had her own, non-magical light, Rusty Bones picked the right side and began to walk along the wall, Gustaf closely behind her. She watched the floor for any pressure plates and the way before her for possible tripwires or ropes, but the notes on her map were proving correct so far.

"Looks clear," Gustaf said. His eyes gleamed like polished gold in the torchlight and he kept glancing in all directions, including straight up.

"Yep. I wonder why this place is so big."

"Bah," the bird said dismissively, "it's showing off. They had to trade with the outside world, at least sometimes. Get a delegation into a room like this, show off a little, get better prices. It's a common trick. Especially if there were torches to light the ceiling."

"You see the ceiling?"

"Barely,", Gustaf replied. "It's about fifteen or sixteen yards up. Looks too regular to be a cavern, which would explain the pillars. I think they simply excavated around them."

"Impressive."

"Very."

They found the exits from the big room just as Rusty's map had predicted, so the pair decided to walk back down the middle. There were remnants of ancient carpet, the mare thought, but it was blackened and little more than dust. She avoided stepping in it. Every now and then they passed a small pile of broken wood which might once have been a chair or a table. Places for the officials to write and sign their documents, she thought. This place must have bustled in its heyday. Now it was dark and empty and quiet. Very likely they were the first living beings to see these sights in centuries. She wondered what it must have been like for this room, sitting empty under the ice while Equestria grew and prospered outside. The ponies who had built it, loved it, lived in it, gone for so many thousands of years. She almost felt as if the ruin resented her for intruding upon its quiet contemplation. Rusty Bones was so lost in her thoughts that she was startled when Gustaf put a claw out and held her back.

"What?" He didn't answer, but she immediately spotted why. "Oh."

There was a suit of armor on the carpet. An occupied suit of armor. The sight made her skin crawl and Rusty took an involuntary step back. Most of the skeleton had crumbled to dust, but the skull was still recognizable, its empty sockets staring silently at her from under a heavily corroded bronze helmet and the teeth grinning at her in a horrific mockery of a smile.

"I wonder what happened to them."

Gustaf shrugged. "Something sudden. No one came back to put the body to rest. I reckon we'll see more."

"That could mean that the denizens had to leave quickly, or were wiped out by something sudden. Poison gas from some deep mine? Enemies? Probably not sickness, or this one wouldn't have died in armor. Maybe a magical curse?"

"Perhaps the unicorns will be able to tell?"

"Good idea. Let's go back," the mare agreed. She walked carefully around the corpse and looked back. The skull was staring that way, away from the entrance. Rusty wondered why that was.