A Past Hidden In Shadows

by MrFLoom

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Original Character
Length: 1478

A stallion finds himself lost within the frozen caverns of the north, will he get out? Only time will tell.

Somewhere out in the frozen wastes somepony is having a bad day.
How he got here is beyond him but he's gonna get out of here either way

Published 2014-03-09 18:30:03 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-09 18:30:03 UTC

Meanwhile In The Middle Of Nowhere

Deep within the frozen earth, north of the Crystal Empire, south of the now frozen land that the Three Tribes had once called their home, someone lied idle in the shadows of the icy crevasses that dotted the land .
But it wasn't really someone but rather something that lay upon the frozen earth, to an passer by it would seem to be an oddly colourful rock but if they were to look closer they would see that i was no mere rock. It was curved like the blades that the warriors of distant Saddle Arabia were fable to have used in their battles in the eastern desert plains. It radiated a dark aura for it was not a rock but a horn of a gradient colour palette slowly transitioning from light grey to a deep crimson shade.

The horn sat their idly upon the frozen floor that lied between the cavernous walls but soon its shadow began to shift and warp around it, as if it were alive.Slowly the shadow shifted and shaped itself around the horn forming a shape similar to that of a pony, slowly the inky blackness shifted from a form dark shifting shadow to that of an adult stallion.
He was somewhat tall for someone his age, which would be roughly twenty-five to thirty years of age. A black flowing mane sat upon his grey coated head on which deep red eyes were set, and upon his flank near his shortened tail was a cutie mark in the shape of a black crystal behind a golden crown, what it meant he didn't know but he decided that that particular question could wait while he dealt with more pressing matters the first of which being:
"where in the name of the sacred dawn am I?"
Seeking an answer to his query he began to wander the caves nearby he found a tattered cape possibly once belonging to some pony of royalty and beside it a crown of polished metal.
He couldn't quite put his hoof on why but the crown seemed oddly familiar to him, seeing as the previous owner had either left it here or died while passing through this empty place he decide he might as well keep it for himself, the circlet of polished steel was surrounded in a red aura as it was slowly lifted from the ground and placed upon his head. After he had made sure the crown was securely placed he took a moment to inspect himself using the walls of ice around him as a mirror. He looked quite handsome, regal even with his the crown upon his ebony mane.
"I look like a prince," he thought to himself smugly "No a king" a stray thought whispered to him and he happily agreed. He then proceeded to lightly tap himself on the head with his right hoof.
"Focus dammit!" he thought to himself "You can play dress up and inflate your ego later, right now we need to find a way out of this Goddess damned place"

Remembering the task at hand he continued for his search for a way back to the surface, as he continued his search for freedom he found many strange things lying around the caverns such as a damaged and blackened steel neck guard and what used to be horse shoes, as well as an old flag bearing the head white unicorn with a purple mane surrounded by yellow diamonds upon a purple background and strangest of all were the black crystals seemingly scattered haphazardly around the place.
"Where is all of this stuff coming from?"He wondered to himself.
He marched onward stopping every few hours or so to rest and though it was difficult to tell the passage of time seeing as the sky above him was blocked by the surrounding ice,after what had felt like a day had passed he decided to lay down to rest.He lied down and happily entered sleeps sweet embrace...

But his dreams were far from sweet.

His thoughts were filled with visions of places he had never seen and his heart seemed to stop beating as it was gripped by some unknown fear, palaces of crystals filled with shimmering ponies appeared before him, but before he even had a chance to appreciate the beauty of it the image vanished replaced by those same ponies with their face contorted by fear and depression all bound in chains and the radiant crystal palace now but a distorted shadow of it's former glory.

Images kept flashing by before he had a chance to process them.

An equine of purest ivory

A mare with of coat of a lavender shade

And a mare with accelerating towards him with wings of shifting gradient shades.

And finally a cold blackness like no other he had ever felt before.

***

The stallion's eyes quickly opened after what had felt like his longs failing, he took in several short breaths as he tried to calm himself.
"Relax,"he thought to himself"It was just a dream."
"Was it really?" a thought whispered to him.
He slammed his head against the wall repeatedly.
"I've come too far just to suddenly go insane, I'm going to find my way out of here and when i do I'm finding myself a therapist" he thought to himself after the pain of the blunt trauma had subsided. Slowly he continued on his trek upwards in the hope of finding a way out.
"Somehow," he thought to himself "I'm going to find a way out of here."

***

Seconds became minute.

Minutes became hours.

Hours became days.

Or at least that's what he thought had happened, with nothing to give him any idea what time it was he slowly lost his grasp of time, he never stopped walking except to rest, and when he did his dreams were haunted by shadows and visions, so he continued onward in the hope that he would eventually be free and be able to walk in the warmth of the sun, it was that hope, that dream that kept him going. But some days he would just sit there as the reality of the situation reared it's ugly head and filled his head with questions. How did he know there was a way out? How did he know that there was even a surface? Even if there was a surface how was he supposed to know it wasn't just as bad if not worse than these caves? What if there were only caves?

Over time dream became simply that.

A dream.

The kind of dreams that foals treasure only for them to be ripped away from them and dashed upon the cruel rocks of reality, the only reason he continued to march onward was for the simple reason that he had nothing else to do in the frozen labyrinth that was his world.

Then one day he did that which he vowed he would never do.

He gave up.

He simply sat down and curled up into a little ball and just waited. But he did not cry, for what he was feeling was beyond anything that could be described as sadness, this was the feeling of having the only thing that drove, the thing that gave you purpose being crushed before you.

He just lied there waiting for whatever it was that the Fates had in store for him. That is that he was before he saw something. The path in front of him took a turn to the right where it went he didn't know, all he knew was that there was light shining of the wall. where there is light there is a light source.

And where there is a light source, there is a way out.

He picked himself off the floor and and ran across the bend and in front of him he saw light.

His eyes, ill adapted to such bright light squinted as he looked towards the large opening. But he did not have time to adjust to the radiance of the day before him, right in front of him was the only thing he had ever hoped for. A way out of the cavernous wastes below.

So walked forward.

To the surface.

Author's Note

So this is my first fan fiction that I've ever written, I hope you like it.
I would very much appreciate it if you gave e some constructive criticism so that i can make the next chapter better.
Speaking of the next chapter, my exams start tomorrow so it may be some time till I can update this. The next chapter will be finished when i actually have time to write it so i would advise you to find some, better written fan fictions to read in the meantime
Anyway, Thanks For Reading!