Crashing the crystals...
Raindrops sneezed and brushed ineffectually at the dust in her eyes. “So, is there some reason you’ve brought us here?”
“You didn’t expect the cave’s entrances to be out in the open, did you?” Regal Tome responded, trying and failing to use his telekinesis once again to move a pile of crates out of his way. Lyra sighed and picked it up with her own magic, setting it behind the group with the rest of the junk.
“Thank you. This building used to be a waypoint for mining ore, but fell into disuse when richer deposits in the east were discovered some four hundred…” Regal’s voice droned on as the others tuned him out. It seemed Regal Tome’s natural state was lecturing ponies, as he’d been doing almost nonstop since he’d brought them to this abandoned storehouse, seemingly picked at random. The building was buried inside with scrap and other rubbish, and everything layered with enough dust to suggest no pony had been here in their lifetimes. The few windows were so grime-encrusted that no starlight could get in, so Lyra was providing the light. It was slow going, having to clear a path through all that rubble. And it didn’t help that their guide had clearly never set hoof here himself.
“It’s actually more common that you’d think, building new structures over old.” Regal continued, shoving his way through a tangle of cables and completely ignoring his audience’s lack of interest. “I wouldn’t have even known about the caves if I hadn’t overheard an intern talking about them several months ago. I theorized that the crystals might have similar properties to those found in the north; a fact that the Princess would find immensely interesting, I’m sure. Perhaps enough for me to be allowed back… aha!”
Regal overturned a stack of boards and uncovered a rickety door set into the wall. The door was secured with a lock that was more rust than metal, and it snapped off with just a touch of his hoof. He pushed the door open to reveal a low tunnel carved out bedrock slowly sloping downwards.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Cheerilee said, then gestured the other to follow her. “Come on, girls!”
Regal Tome eyed the portal as if mulling over something and held out his hoof the stop Lyra as she was about to enter. “Um… Ms. Heartstrings?”
Lyra looked him up and down. “You don’t have to come down with us if you really don’t want to, you know. You can wait here until those things are gone.”
“Uh… yes, well…” Regal cleared his throat and avoided looking her in the eye. “See, I just wanted to get off my chest… um no, what I mean to say is… look, I just wanted to say that I really am sorry about what happened with the Zebra spell book. I never imagined anything like that happening and… well, I apologize.”
Lyra blinked and smiled, turning into the tunnel to follow her friends. “It’s all right, it’s in the past. You just make sure Bon Bon knows how to find us down here, OK?”
“Um, yes! Of course. You can count on me!” Regal Tome said, sounding both nervous and relieved. He watched the five of them from the doorway until they disappeared into the darkness.
The tunnel twisted and turned, the roughly hewn walls seemingly following no path other than down. After about five minutes the tunnel let out into a large channel, this one running straight as a line, which was wide enough for the five of them to stand side by side comfortably. Wooden beams held up the high ceiling at regular intervals. An old iron track cut through the center of the tunnel and seemed to be in good repair compared to the door up above.
Raindrops trotted forward and tapped the rail thoughtfully, peering down each way they could take. “So now that we’re down here… has anypony figured out how we’re actually going to find Trixie?”
“Now that you mention it…” Cheerilee scratched her mane in embarrassment. “I was just focusing on getting down here.”
“There are only two directions, so we could flip a bit.” Lyra suggested, before remembering she wasn’t carrying any money.
“Does anypony have a coin?”
Carrot Top walked to the edge of the circle of light cast by Lyra’s horn and gestured down the tunnel. “Well, the library is back in this direction, so why don’t we head this way and see if it branches more to the right later on?”
The others blinked at her, and Carrot Top shrugged self-consciously under their attention. “I’ve got a good sense of direction…”
“Great!” Cheerilee applaud, “They we’ll follow your lead! Get us as close as you can!”
Carrot Top nodded and set off along the track, her friends close on her tail. All except Ditzy, who sat for a moment staring up at the ceiling. She blinked as the light dimmed and straightened up, running after the group to catch up.
…
Ravid blinked lazily and shifted on the low stone she’d found, sinking into it just a little bit more to find that extra smidgen of comfort. The High Priestess and the others were late, but that suited her just fine. It was unlikely they could have run into any serious trouble, not with nearly half of the nest working together. Once again she congratulated herself on the quick thinking to volunteer to guard the escape route. All of that heavy digging could wear on a snake’s fragile disposition, after all.
“Ma’am!” a salamander hissed, sliding up to Ravid and shaking her as if she were asleep. “There’ss ssomeone coming!”
Ravid glared at the hand until the soldier dropped it hurriedly. “Iss it the High Priesstesss?”
“No, but-”
“Then it’ss probably nothing. Thesse tunnelss are abandoned.” She pulled her golden cap down as if to cover her eyes and settled back down. Her bracelets jangled dully and she wondered idly if she should get some new ones. She’d have to check when she returned if there was another raid planned soon…
“Ma’am, I can ssmell them!” The soldier insisted.
Ravid’s head arced up and she glared at him. “For the lasst time, there can’t be any…” She paused and flicked her tongue between her teeth into the air experimentally. Her eyes widened as her extra sensitive tongue tasted more than stale air and old stone on the breeze. “There are poniess coming.”
“That’ss what I ssaid…” the soldier started, but Ravid paid little attention to him as she shot passed him and stared around the curve of the tunnel. There, the glow of a bright golden light was just starting to come into view further down the mine. And from the wrong side! What were ponies doing along the escape route? What were ponies doing down here at all?!?
“We were promissed they wouldn’t interfere.” She hissed, glaring at the steadily approaching light.
“Promissed what?”
Ravid spun and stared at the three salamanders who were under her command. She had not bothered remembering their names, if she had been told them to begin with, but she assumed the one in the middle who was looking sheepish was the one who’d asked. She suddenly realized that the soft glow coming off their scales would be just as visible to the intruders as their light was to her.
“There’ss no time for that; they’ll be here any minute! We’ll sstop them in the cavern up ahead like we prepared, even if they are coming from the wrong way!” Gesturing furiously to get them moving, she mentally cursed her loose tongue. She also spent several choice phrases on the intruders. It was going to go even harder on them if they forced her to spend what little free time she had left dealing with them instead of relaxing…
…
“Look at this.” Cheerilee said, stepping up to a strange rock lying long the wall. “What do you think happened to it?” The stone was deeply pitted on the top to the point that it was practically a bowl, but unevenly. Swirls like frozen waves on the ocean’s surface ringed the impression randomly. Cheerilee traced a hoof along one of the paths and found it as smooth as polished glass, despite the outside looking like eroded sidewalk.
“Um… there’s a light ahead.” Carrot Top said, almost at the same time. The group immediately forgot about the strange boulder and focused forward.
Up ahead, the tunnel looked like it was going to open up into a larger area, the first change since they had started down it. It was well outside of the light from Lyra’s horn, but a dim glow illuminated the portal from the other side. From this distance, none of them could make out what was on the other side.
“Carefully.” Cheerilee reminded them, but they hardly needed the suggestion as they huddled up. Bracing themselves, they closed the distance quickly and poked their heads over the threshold. As one, their jaws dropped.
The tunnel had opened up into a large cavern and every inch of the walls was covered in deep indigo crystal. It caught the light shining off from Lyra’s magic and returned it twofold, bright and smooth enough to see one’s reflection in scores of polished surfaces. The wall seemed to have a phantom light of their own briefly lighting up and fading in waves. Bursts of crystal rose out of the ground, forming corridors and conflicting pathways that kept them from seeing very far beyond where they were. The tracks they’d been following continued right into those glittering structures and vanished around an outcropping.
“It’s beautiful…” Ditzy breathed, and the sound of her voice broke the trance they had fallen into.
Lyra trotted to the nearest wall and laid her hoof against the smooth surface. “If this was what Regal was after, I totally understand why he wanted to come down here.”
“Why do you suppose nopony comes down here anymore?” Carrot Top wondered, craning her neck to stare up at the high ceiling.
Cheerilee picked up a particularly impressive shard from the ground and held it up to the light. “I can’t imagine. It’s almost a shame Regal Tome isn’t here, he probably knew.”
“Let’s not forget why we’re down here.” Raindrops said dryly, peering down the path the track wound down. “Are we still going this way, Carrot Top?”
Carrot Top shook her head and pointed down another path. “We need to head this way a bit.” The others fell in behind her as she led them into the maze of crystal. The path twisted and turned and split every couple of minutes, but Carrot Top confidently picked her course. The crystals glittered and flared around them as they passed.
Cheerilee slowed down to pace with Ditzy, who was walking with her head down a bit back from the group. “Are you doing OK, Ditzy? You’re not worrying yourself too much about Trixie, are you?”
Ditzy flinched and tried to smile, but it just came out forced. “No, I’m not. I mean, I am worried for her, I didn’t mean that! It’s just…”
Cheerilee rested a hoof on Ditzy’s shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“It’s fine…” Ditzy sigh, gathering herself and raising her head to look her friend in the eye. “I’ve got a handle on it. We’ve got to save Trixie.”
“Are you sure that-” Cheerilee started, but Raindrops’s shout cut her short.
“Hey, keep up you two! We found more tracks up here!”
The three of them were standing in a wide open area, crisscrossed by quite a few rail tracks leading out through different paths. Several of them were still filled with chucks of crystal shards and all of them were in surprisingly good condition. The others were standing around one of the carts and looking out over a track on lifted rails traveling out over a sheer drop.
“Are you sure we have to go this way?” Lyra was asking.
“It’s heading right towards where the library is.” Carrot Top answered, testing the carts wheels carefully. “It’s kind of strange that these aren’t all decrepit. Do you think those creatures had anything to do with it?”
“Maybe.” Raindrops said, still looking at her two trailing friends. Suddenly her eyes went wide and she charged towards them. “Look out!”
Cheerilee spun around and noticed two things very quickly. The first was that those phantom lights weren’t in all the crystal walls, and in fact were only nearby as if they had followed them. The second and far more pressing thing was that the nearest jut of crystal was tilting over them in an alarming angle. The two of them were paralyzed with shock for the vital seconds they needed to get out from under it.
Fortunately, Raindrops wasn’t similarly frozen. A jasmine blur tackled the two of them and carried them out of the path just before the enormous crystal smashed into the ground. The three of them quickly untangled themselves and leapt up in time to see a reptilian face hiss at them from the gap left by the fallen crystal.
“They’re in the walls!” Raindrops screamed, right before rocks and crystals started to fall around them. They tried to dodge, but they could barely keep ahead of the carefully aimed debris. Carrot Top and Lyra tried to run to their aid, but a pair of giant crystals toppled into their path and cut them off.
“You have to do something!” Carrot Top cried, trying to hop up over the pillars to see what was happening.
“I can’t catch all of those. There’s too many!” Lyra desperately racked her mind and gritted her teeth. “Get back, I’m not sure if this is going to work!”
A golden sphere grew out of the air beside her, resolving into Lyra’s harp which fell into her waiting hooves. Not bothering with technique, Lyra ran her hoof violently over the strings while simultaneously channeling a quick spell through the instrument. The sound of the chord grew louder and louder until it was almost painful and the air seemed to thrum. Everywhere, the crystals lining the walls broke and shattered, including the fallen pillars that were blocking her friends. Several of the snake things were revealed, rolling on the ground and holding the sides of their heads.
Lyra smiled in satisfaction as the sound died away, but it was quickly replaced by a deep rumbling. The ground started to tremble and crack as the ceiling, which had been supported by the crystalline structures for too long, started to bow down.
“It’s collapsing!” Lyra shouted, gesturing frantically for her friends to get clear.
Raindrops and Cheerilee started running, but Cheerilee ground to a halt when the realized Ditzy wasn’t with them. Turning back, she saw the grey pegasus was looking around wildly without seeming to see anything, her breathing coming in loud gulps that could be heard over the rumbling. She cried out wordlessly and charged down a random tunnel, getting further away.
Raindrops turned back at Ditzy’s scream, but Cheerilee waved her back. “I’ll go after her! You just get the others out of here!”
“No! Cheerilee!” Raindrops shouted, but the magenta pony vanished down the tunnel after Ditzy. Gritting her teeth in frustration, Raindrops spun around and flew as fast as she could. Large bits of the ceiling were starting to fall, but she bulled through the worst of it without flinching. She picked the two startled ponies up as she shot out of the avalanche and knocked them into the mine cart. The cart shot out under them along the track at a breakneck speed, barely keeping itself on the track.
“What are you doing?!” Lyra shouted, but Raindrops held her down and tried to shield the two of them from the falling rocks as best she could with her wings.
Suddenly the rail convulsed as a large rock smashed down upon it somewhere behind them and the whole track wavered violently. The cart overturned and spilled the three of them out over a deep pit. Carrot Top tried to grab the edge of the cart, but only succeeded in hitting the side of her head on the edge and scrambling her wits. She thought she felt something grab her, but then everything collapsed into sound and darkness.
…
“What do you mean, only the Princess can open it?” Bon Bon demanded incredulously.
“Er… just that?” The guard replied. “It’s a magically sealed lock. Only Princess Luna knows how to unlock it.”
Bon Bon stared up at the admittedly impressive looking safe’s doors and back to the guard standing protectively in front of it. “And the Princess isn’t in Canterlot, you said.”
“No, ma’am.”
“So there’s no way to get the Elements out, is there?”
The guard blinked and seemed to suddenly see the flaw in his logic. “Well… now that you mention it…”
“WHO THOUGHT UP SUCH A STUPID THING?!” Bon Bon shouted, smashing her hooves violently onto the marble floor.
The guard actually backed up step before remembering which one of them was wearing the armor.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know…” Money Penny said softly, thinking furiously. She still seemed a bit weak from her ordeal and kept putting a hoof to her forehead.
“Lyra!” Bon Bon shouted, spinning around sharply. “They’re going to be waiting for us to bring the Elements! We have to warn them…”
“That’s enough!” Dapple Cross said, gesturing to the guards which had followed them into the room. They lowered their spears to block Bon Bon from leaving. “Your plan had failed, so I’m taking control of this situation before any other civilians get in danger. We’ll form a rescue party as soon as we can.” He turned away from the two mares and started issuing orders, sending guards running off at a gallop.
“Not soon enough.” Bon Bon muttered through gritted teeth. “They need help now!”
Money Penny laid her foreleg over her shoulder and gave her a reassuring hug. “I’m sure they’ll be alright. They are the Bearers of the Elements, after all. I bet they’ve already got Trixie and are coming back as we speak.”
Bon Bon smiled at the effort to cheer her up, but a small spot of worry burned in her heart anyway. Somehow, she just knew it wasn’t going that way at all.
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Awesomeness new chapter!
wow Regal actually got a bit of character development here, good scene there.
I like the hinted crystal stuff it gives us some good mystery and something to build on later.
The description of the cave the remaining L!6 found was breathtaking also loved Raidnrops's reaction to it, she's so focussed on saving Trixie
good point about the carts how did they survive... crystal magic?
The description of the "falling crystal" scene could have been written a little better, as in many cases characters names weren't used so I wasn't sure who was talking or what was falling on who.
Wow Lyra was a badass here! also this is how I imagine her bardic spells working, so hooray!
Ooh and Raindrops get's to be badass too I love it!, though pony's likely don't use "arms" but besides that, also instead of "thing" maybe "tracks" could be a good descriptive word.
Loved Bonbons reaction to the elements defence mechanism, seems both in character and totally reasonable, still desperately want to punch that soldier in the face.
Overall good chapter!
I'm thinking that Ditzy is somewhat Clostrophobic which probably makes sense for a pegasis and that Money Peny might be one of Luna's avatars although she seems to be rather low on power.
It's fun that the salamanders are all named after serpentine monsters from the Monster Manual. But we've only met half of them? Are we going to see salamanders named Arbok or something before too long?
And I guess Lyra's Shatter spell must have struck a dis-chord.
1709149
Yay! Someone noticed the little detail about the names! You win a cookie!
But no, you probably won't see the other salamanders. The group that came with Marilith represent half of the whole nest; the rest remained wherever they live when they aren't stealing ancient artifacts of unimaginable power. There's only one other salamander I've named and he's the one carrying Trixie. You'll hear more about him in the next chapter.
Nice action. :D Lyra rocked there, pun intended.
But oh, no, Ditzy! 
1709321 Oh joy, a cookie! I knew reading and memorizing that book would pay off one day!
I look forward to next chapter, then. I love monsters and creatures, and it's always fun to see them "out shopping" as it were.
Ditzy's gone mad?
But anyway, things are certainly heating up quick; fitting what with the story's name.
Not much to add beyond that, I don't think, so I'll just leave this here.
1708105 Yeah, and it's probably worse given how much trouble her strabismus probably gives her when it comes to navigating without running into things in such a tight space. At least when she's out in the open, she has more room to correct herself if she starts going off course.
Headbang sequence commencing in 3... 2... 1...
SO FAR AWAAAAAY WE WAIT FOR THE DAAAAY
FOR THE LIGHT SOURCE SO WASTED AND GOOOOONE
WE FEEL THE PAAAAIN OF A LIFETIME LOST IN A THOUSAND DAYS
THROUGH THE FIRE AND THE FLAMES WE CARRY OOOOOOOOOON
I must say, BonBon makes a pretty good point about how stupid it is to lock the elemental jewels in vault that only Luna can open. The inverse sort of makes sense in the maneverse, but in the Lunaverse where Corona is still an active threat and has in the past proven herself capable of banishing Luna with little effort there is a serious flaw in that strategy.
1761461
I always wondered what the logic in that was. Even after Discord proved that a sufficiently skilled opponent could "pick the lock" as it were. Keeping the Elements in a vault that only one "pony" could open. Is a horrible idea. Especially if there was an emergency, like in this fic.
gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Boy-That-Escalated-Quickly-Anchorman.gif
Yeah, this ain't good.
WEll, see Bon Bon. Lauren Faust thought it would be cool to put the Elements in a vault to be honored and loved like ancient artefact of power. Now, while this was a cool idea, in practice you realize that this is a bad idea
When did that happen? I must have missed that fic.
5579336 It's in Helping...Hands?
Not too much to say other than the action was well done