What Lies Within

Midnight Aria jolted up out of bed, her eyes wide. A strange magic stifled the very air, sending shivers down her spine. Leaping out of her room, she galloped as fast as she could to the main room of her home, where Stone Teller would be meditating.

When she skidded to a stop by her home's entrance, she blinked in surprise at the absence of her teacher.

"Stone Teller?" she called out, "What is going on? Have you felt the strange magic too?"

Her voice echoed slightly in the doorway and down the passage beyond it, but that was the only sound she heard in response. The strange magic felt harsher near the entrance to her home, and she felt with a sinking feeling that it's source was close.

"Stone Teller, are you here?" Aria called, concern coloring her voice. "Where are you?"

He has probably already gone to investigate this strange magic. She thought, turning to look down the tunnel outside of her doorway. I should go find him before he gets himself hurt.

Hesitating for a second more, Aria shook her head. She wasn't going to get anything done by just standing around. She set off at a mild canter down the tunnel, unsuccessfully trying to push down the anxiety welling up in her throat. As she walked, the magic seemed to solidify around her, making her feel as if the simple act of moving was a great task.

Forcing herself through the influence of the strange magic, Aria slowed her pace to a trot. Struggling against the oppressive feel and force of the strange power, she barely noticed the tunnel beginning to open up. Aria finally came to an exhausted halt before a final sharp bend in the tunnel, panting and wheezing from the crushing feeling she fought.

As she stood there catching her breath, she noticed something off. It seemed to be just in the corner of her eye, shifting every time she turned to face it. It could have been a trick of the light, but the crystals providing light to the tunnels were few and far between in this area, and they never seemed to move.

"Is anything there?" Aria called carefully, shifting her hooves to prepare to run in case something hostile really was there. "Hello? I'm not going to hurt you."

Not going to hurt me?

Midnight Aria swiveled her ears around wildly, trying to find where the mumbling noise was coming from.

Not going to hurt *me*?

"Where are you?" Aria called, suppressing her urge to flee as an unexplained terror filled her. With a gasp, she turned to face the bend in the tunnel. What seemed to be pillars of light condensed into whip-like appendages grasped out from the tunnel beyond, reaching towards her with frightening speed.

Panicked, she tried to run, but found that her hooves wouldn't obey. She twisted and jerked, but her hooves stayed grounded to the stone below as if they had simply fused with the rock. With the strange light growing ever closer, Aria lit up her horn for a last-ditch teleportation spell.

As if sensing her attempt, one of the tendrils of light rocketed forwards, wrapping itself around her horn. She gasped in pain as her head filled with a strange buzzing feeling, as if the light had driven through her horn and into her skull.

From the light suddenly appeared a set of cold, black eyes, surrounded by what looked to be a mane of blood, coming closer to her as the light wound around the tunnel. Aria could only watch as the eyes glared down at her, coming to a stop merely inches from her muzzle. The light spoke, it's voice sounding as if it was echoing up from the depths of the Earth.

I make no such promises.

Her eyes widening in fear, Aria cried out in desperation.

"Stone Teller! Help me!"

With a feral snarl, the light engulfed Aria entirely.

"Do yah think... We lost it?" Applejack panted as she slowed her pace, her friends slowing behind her.

"I hope so." Rainbow Dash huffed in exhaustion, before she replaced her tired look with a forced smirk. "Not that I was afraid or anything."

Applejack rolled her eyes, before turning back to face the rest of the group. Everyone had made it through their mad dash, including their new addition to the team, and Twilight's horn was glowing brighter than before.

"Well, I think that went better than it could have gone." Rarity commented, brushing a loose strand of her mane out of her eyes with a disdained sweep of her hoof. "I would say that anything is better than being eaten, but my poor mane seems to disagree with me at this moment."

"Well that's silly, manes can't talk! Right, Timothy?" Mad said cheerfully as he once again seemed to turn in a full circle. "Huh, has anyone seen Timothy? He was right here a second ago..."

"...Right." Twilight deadpanned, before looking up again at the light coming from her horn. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she noticed that the light seemed to have tilted slightly downwards in it's direction.

I don't remember going over any hills. She though warily, making a mental note to keep an eye on the light. I could ask Spike to help me with that.

Just as she had finished her thought, it hit her that she had left Spike behind. A small pang of sadness hit her at the memory of her assistant's offer to come with her. I hope he's doing alright back in Ponyville.

The group's slowed pace picked up again as the seven ponies fell silent, resuming their trek through the forest following the possibly faulty spell. Twilight wouldn't have noticed it if she had not been looking for it, but the light did seem to tilt further down the longer they walked where it was pointing. After what she judged by the sun's movement to be three hours, the light was pointing well below the horizon, and moving ever further down, getting continually brighter as it moved.

"I think we're close." Twilight announced in relief. "Whatever we are looking for should be not too far from here."

"Finally, we can be done with this little adventure." Rarity sighed, looking over her matted coat and mane with a deep grimace. "I'll need an emergency spa treatment after this."

"I think I'll need to throw an extra-huge party once we get home, with all the crazy spots that we've run into." Pinkie said, her mane deflating slightly. "This hasn't been much of a special adventure at all. More like a 'specially horrifying one."

The darkening trees around them cast strange shadows on the group of seven ponies as they continued to follow their light, it's magical glow throwing distorted patches of bright and dark across their surroundings. The sun had reached the point in it's arc where it had yet to begin its fade below the horizon, but its light could no longer shine between the closely packed trees of the Everfree canopy.

By the time the sky had gained its first streaks of evening amber light, the light from Twilight's spell was bright enough to illuminate the forest all around them. As the group of ponies emerged into a rocky clearing, the spell was shooting off wayward sparks of energy.

"It's here. It has to be." Twilight announced confidently, adjusting her element upon her head. "Now let's end this crazy journey."

She had only taken a few more steps forwards when she stopped, a look of confusion etched across her features. A strange purple glow seemed to outline a circle of rocks nearby, its shape twisted in places with unrecognizable glyphs.

Overcome by her curiosity, Twilight trotted over to the strange circle, her friends following suit. The light seemed to glow brighter as the approached, until it shone in harmony with her tracking spell. With a beaming smile, Twilight let her tracking spell fade. Her smile turned into a look of confusion when the magic circle remained as bright as ever instead of fading with the spell.

"Well, looks like we found it. But what is it?" Rainbow asked, eying the light suspiciously. "Some strange Everfree magic?"

"It doesn't seem like it." Mad said, scratching his head in confusion. "Or at least, it's not like any that I've seen. Most of the time it looks more... Poofy."

"Poofy?" Rarity rolled her eyes. "How does magic look 'poofy'?"

"It just looks more... poofed." Mad clarified, causing Rarity to simply shake her head in defeat.

Ignoring them, Twilight stopped just outside of the magic ring. Carefully, she levitated a rock up and moved it slowly into the circle.

"That some kinda magical test?" Applejack asked, her eyes following the rock's path.

"Well, it should tell me if the magic is volatile or is activated by movement over it." Twilight said absently, her focus dominated by her search for changes in the magic circle as the rock drifted over it.

"So, it'll tell yah if it's a trap?"

"Basically."

A few moments went by as Twilight passed the rock in and out of the field, placed the rock inside the field and picked it back up again, and finally placed the rock directly on the ring of magic. An astounding amount of nothing occurred.

"Soo." Applejack rocked on her hooves slightly. "What'd yah find?"

Twilight nodded, her horn slowly lighting up. "It seems safe enough, but I'll have to perform a few more intensive tests to determine the nature of the magic and why it persisted after the spell should have faded. If you could stand back a little bit then I can get to-"

"Whee!" Pinkie yelled as she dove headfirst into the magic circle. "Come on guys, we just found what we were looking for! Don't just stand there!"

"Pinkie, no! It could be... dangerous..." Twilight trailed off as the magic circle didn't respond to Pinkie's presence. With a shrug, Applejack and the others all stepped in to the circle to join their friend, leaving only Mad and Twilight still standing outside it.

"Well, what now?" Rainbow asked, pushing over a few of the rocks and looking beneath them. "Where is this... whatever we're looking for?"

"Maybe it's inside the rocks? Or underground? Or high above us?" Pinkie tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Or none of those!"

"Thank you for narrowing it down, dear." Rarity huffed. "I'd rather not chip a hoof trying to break open a few rocks."

"What do you think, Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked, startling her out of her thoughts. "You've been awfully quiet."

"Oh, I think it's somewhere here." Fluttershy said, lightly tapping one of the rocks. "Why else would this magic circle be here?"

"Why else, indeed." Twilight mused. "It doesn't seem to do anything. Why is this even here?"

"Well, you won't find anything by just standing there." Mad said, poking at the glowing magic with his horn. "Do some science-y magic-y stuff."

"I don't think that's how that works." Twilight sighed, stepping into the magic circle to push Mad back. "Why don't you go help out over there?"

"Woah, sheesh, okay!" Mad cried, his shaggy mane falling in his eyes as he waved his hooves wildly. "You don't have to threaten me with the glowy rainbow thing, I'm moving!"

"Threaten you with the... What?" Twilight cocked an eyebrow, confused by Mad's sudden outburst.

"Isn't that what happens when your crown gets a-glowing?" Mad asked, his panic suddenly gone in place of curiosity.

"But it's not glowing." Twilight frowned, before turning to face Fluttershy. "Is it?"

"Yes it is!" Fluttershy gasped, shrinking down under her mane. "Are you sure you aren't doing that?"

"I-" Twilight's eyes widened as she saw the light pink glow shining from behind Fluttershy's concealing mane. "Yours is glowing too!"

"Twi, ah don't think ah can do this twice today." Applejack said nervously, backing up to the edge of the circle, her element glowing its characteristic orange.

Twilight whirled around to look at all of her friends in turn, her heart sinking as she saw each of their elements lighting up along with her own, their glow increasing until it was as bright as the circle of magic that surrounded them. The circle bent and twisted with the glow of the elements, forming into a twisting mass of magical leylines, glyphs, and images.

Twilight simply couldn't believe the complexity of the magic being performed in front of her. I seemed not just to be a spell, but a work of art, with magical wards and complex writings amid a scene that could have been at home among Canterlot Castle's stained glass windows. The scene it showed was actually quite similar to those of the windows depicting the banishing of evil, showing the three races of ponies cowering beneath the sun, which seemed to be eclipsed by two winged shadows.

Instantly, something clicked in Twilight's mind. A great spell had been found depicting an unknown evil that was apparently giving off the magical disturbance, and she had been the one to find it.

"Girls! help me read these glyphs, quickly!" Twilight shouted, rushing to follow the shifting patterns of the spell. "This could be an incredible discovery!"

"I don't think the rest of us can read glyphs, Twilight." Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not that much of an egghead."

"Well, could you at least get off of the glyphs please?" Twilight huffed, pushing Rainbow's hoof to one side in an attempt to read the glyph she was sitting on.

"Fine, fine, sheesh." Rainbow grumbled, before spreading her wings and pushing down hard to get a good take-off. She cocked an eyebrow as she stayed firmly glued to the ground, and tried her take-off again. With her hooves still not leaving the earth and her panic at her inability to fly rising, she simply stood flapping her wings as fast as she could, sending a fierce wind over her friends.

"Rainbow, what's gotten into yah?" Applejack yelled through gritted teeth as she struggled against the wind, her hooves being forced back to the edge of the magic field.

"I can't fly! Twilight, what the hey is going on?" Rainbow cried, struggling with all her might to get off the ground. Twilight, still focused on the glyphs, didn't seem to hear her. As she continued to follow the glyphs, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"What?" She snapped, "Can't you see I'm doing something important here... uh..."

Applejack was floating directly next to her, seeming to be pressed against a solid object at the edge of the magic field, and with a very unamused expression.

"Ah think ah'm done with your magic circle now. Could'ja let me out?"

"I'm not doing that!" Twilight exclaimed, turning back to look at Rainbow still futility attempting to fly out of the magic.

We can't leave. She thought, a sinking feeling overcoming her. With renewed intensity, she sought out the next glyph, translating it as fast as she could past her growing panic.

Bind

Bind what, us? I think I found that out already. Twilight grunted in frustration, seeking out the next glyph.

Evil

Bind evil? Why is it trapping us then? Her confusion mounting amid a swirling tide of emotions, she moved on again.

Seal

Below

Tartarus

Tartarus? Twilight froze, her frenzy shattered into a single cold feeling as the meaning of the magic field dawned on her. After the Discordian era, monsters of terrible power had roamed the world. The Princesses had used the Elements of Harmony to lock away the beasts into Tartarus, placing powerful seals over the entrances to that realm of punishment. The seals could only be opened again by the Elements themselves.

All six of which were currently upon the seal.

"No. No no no, no!" Twilight screamed, running straight at the edge of the seal. "We have to get out of this!"

Applejack huffed in anger as Twilight bounced harmlessly off the boundary of the seal. "Thanks for the tip, sugarcube."

"No, you don't understand!" Twilight yelled, grabbing Fluttershy and pulling her up from where she had been cowering under Rainbow's wind. "This is a Tartarian Seal, and we're breaking it just by being here!"

"Tartarian? How do you know?" Rarity gasped, holding her hooves over her mane so that it wouldn't become messier than it already was.

"It's in the glyphs. We have to get our Elements out of this seal before it breaks!" Twilight wrenched her Element off of her head, before turning to face Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow, calm down!" Twilight growled, before yanking Rainbow's Element off of her neck.

"Hey!" she yelled, rubbing her neck as her wings slowed down in their frenzy. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to solve this instead of making it worse, now stop with that wind!" Twilight barked, before turning to grab Rarity and Fluttershy's Elements.

"How are you going to do that?" Pinkie asked, jumping up and down on the seal's barrier.

"If we can't leave, then we need to get the Elements out before this gets any worse." Twilight explained, grabbing Pinkie and Applejack's Elements and gathering them all in one hoof.

"Hey Mad!"

Mad turned around from building a house of rocks at the edge of the clearing, and walked over to the seal. "Wow, how'd you do this?" he chuckled.

"It doesn't matter. Here, take these!" Twilight yelled, thrusting the Elements at him.

Shrugging, Mad grabbed the Elements and pulled them back towards him. The barrier at the edge of the seal made an audible groaning noise as the Elements passed halfway through it, before it shimmered in a bright array of colors. With a sharp snap, the barrier popped back into place, flinging the Elements from Mad's grip and into the seal again and flinging Mad back across the clearing.

The Elements skidded against the rock for a few feet, before stopping suddenly in the center of the seal. The glyphs seemed to reach upwards and over them, joining the Elements with the seal.

The seal and ground below it simply shattered into millions of pieces, opening the rock below into a seemingly endless, yawning drop. In an instant, the sky receded away as Twilight fell down the tunnel, her friends dropping around her.

Before Twilight even had time to process that she was falling, Rainbow sprung into action, grabbing a hold of Twilight and Fluttershy, whose wings had snapped shut in fear, and angling her body to guide them over to where Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity were falling.

"Come on guys, join together!" Rainbow shouted, swinging her back hooves out towards Rarity and flaring her wings to try to slow them down.

Just as Rarity reached out to grab on to Rainbow, the air crackled and distorted with power. In an instant, the space between Rainbow and Rarity was suddenly replaced by a booming explosion of confetti, cotton candy, and small rodents, flinging Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie back up and out of the tunnel.

Rainbow's grip on Twilight and Fluttershy was broken by the force of the explosion, breaking the three apart and slamming them against the tunnel walls. Rainbow extended her wings to try and right herself just before she collided with the stone wall, her right wing collapsing beneath her body weight with a sharp crack.

"Agh!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled as Rainbow fell limply down away from her and Fluttershy, the three of them now descending uncontrollably through the Earth.

In panic, Twilight flung out her hoof to try and reach Fluttershy, but she had simply curled up in a ball, paralyzed by fear. Just as Twilight thought she could reach her friend the tunnel split between them, bouncing Twilight away and down a branching path and causing  Fluttershy to disappear behind a wall of stone.

"Fluttershy!"

Twilight, spinning out of control, didn't see the tunnel branching once again beneath her until she collided with the tip of the divide, her hooves slipping to find a grip against the stone as the air was forced out of her lungs beneath cracked ribs. As Rainbow Dash fell down the opposite side of the divide, Twilight struggled with all her strength the pull herself up and to where Rainbow had gone. The rock beneath her hooves cracked away, leaving her hanging for a single moment, her eyes full of fear and loss, before she too plummeted into the darkness alone.