Spelunking

Chapters

Crickets in the Dark
Meals in the Orchard
Lines in the Ether
Dive Into the Dark
It Never Caves In
Stars in the Tunnels

Crickets in the Dark

Two bored ponies, walking in opposite directions and paying little attention to the road in front of them.

Apple Bloom was frustrated. Apple Bloom was sad. Apple Bloom was tired.

Most of all, she was bored.

For most of her friends, summer was a great excuse to get away from it all. Scootaloo’s parents had a home out in Vanhoover they could disappear to. Sweetie Belle dropped by now and again, but she was usually up country with her parents. Even Apple Bloom’s sister, Applejack, and brother, Big Macintosh, were usually busy with apple bucking to really interact with her, and some stages of the process she just wasn’t strong enough to help with yet.

As it stood, each of these things happened to coincide with this particular day. Apple Bloom was, once again, wandering alone in the streets of Ponyville. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who usually harassed her, were busy with one thing or another around town. As she passed the two rich snobs, who didn’t even acknowledge her presence, she sighed.

She spotted Twist walking down the road with Sweetie “Bon Bon” Drops and thought about going to her, but they were loaded down with sweets and being harassed by Pinkie Pie.

Prob’ly goin’ t’one o’her parties… Apple Bloom supposed idly.

A light breeze battled with her ruby hair, but she hardly paid attention. She sighed and passed under a lone cloud with a prismatic tail hanging loosely off the side. The last seven days had drifted by without so much as a whisper, each one mockingly similar to the last. She wanted her friends back from her vacation, but that was out of her power.

Briefly, she considered several solo activities to fill the day, but each one had been done to death, alone, several times over the past week. Drawing, fixing up the clubhouse, eating, kicking a ball around… they had all been fun for a while, but had soon lost their charms. She hung out at the library with Twilight Sparkle, but when the unicorn insisted on absolute quiet for the third hour in a row, Apple Bloom up and left. Swimming was no fun without buddies. Even battling Ponymon with Button Mash had lost its shine after a day and a half straight. She frowned and groaned. She was sick of the boredom, tired of the tedium and craving stimulation of any variety.

She didn’t want to do it alone.

Two bored ponies, thinking exactly the same thoughts, stepping in time with each other.

Rumble was frustrated. Rumble was sad. Rumble was tired.

Most of all, he was bored.

The little gray pegasus flitted about Ponyville idly. Pipsqueak had summer school after failing to get the grades he needed in Equestrian and Science, Button Mash was busy beating the latest Super Lunigi title, and Golden Arrow, a blue Pegasus with a bow-and-arrow cutie mark, was off competing in the National Archery Championship of Equestria. His elder brother, Thunderlane, was off with his two girlfriends doing icky grownup stuff and had kicked him out of the house for a while.

That left Rumble alone, wandering the streets of Ponyville, bored.

Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who usually harassed him, were busy with one thing or another around town. As he passed the two rich snobs, who didn’t even acknowledge his presence, he sighed.

A light breeze battled with his deep gray hair, but he hardly paid attention. He sighed and passed Fluttershy sheepishly getting told off by her pet. That gave Rumble a bit of a chuckle to break the monotony, but it was fleeting, and soon he was back to being bored. The last seven days had drifted by without so much as a whisper, each one mockingly similar to the last. He wanted his friends back from his vacation, but that was out of his power.

Briefly, he considered several solo activities to fill the day, but each one had been done to death, alone, several times over the past week. Drawing, practicing his public etiquette, flying, kicking a cloud around… they had all been fun for a while, but had soon lost their charms. He hung out at the house with his brother Thunderlane, but when the pegasus’ girlfriends had shown up, he had insisted that Rumble make himself scarce for a few hours. Swimming was no fun without buddies. Even battling Ponymon with Button Mash had lost its shine after a day and a half straight. He frowned and groaned. He was sick of the boredom, tired of the tedium and craving stimulation of any variety.

He didn’t want to do it alone.

Two bored ponies meeting in front of Sugarcube Corner.

With a bump.

Following a pair of brief yelps, a gray pegasus and a yellow Earth pony stumbled back from their unintentional connection, rubbing their foreheads.

“Watch where you’re goin’!” Apple Bloom snapped.

Rumble’s eyes flew wide. He blushed and tried to hide in himself. “S-sorry, Miss Bloom…”

Apple Bloom’s anger was diffused instantly. “Hey, it’s no big deal. You’re Rumble, right?”

The colt nodded silently.

“You look bored.”

Rumble nodded again. “My friends are all away. I’m bored.”

“Well, then, it looks like we’re in the same boat,” Apple Bloom stated with a smile. “If you want, we can play together.”

Rumble’s eyes blossomed. “Would I! What should we do?”

Apple Bloom’s smile grew. Her eyes shrunk. Rumble’s huge smile recognized instantly what was coming, and so prepared to take whatever the farmer was going to dish out. He braced his body as a hoof came up.

SLAP

“Tag! You’re it!”

Rumble watched the redhead gallop away, laughing. He began chasing her around Ponyville. Over stalls, around buildings, even in and out of Sugarcube Corner, their dance of oneupsmanship spread its chaotic influence all over the town. They traded slaps for hours, eventually goading a lone Silver Spoon into the game. Snips and Snails also joined. Twist, finished with her work, jumped in. Soon, they had relegated their play area to the Ponyville Park and had attracted eleven others to join in their raucous, joyous game. The battle rang with laughter through the majority of the afternoon and well into the evening, with colts and fillies running amok in the classic children’s game of strategy. A great time was had by all.

Unfortunately for the foals, Celestia’s sun dipped low into the sky, and dinner calls were made by parents all over the little hamlet. Steadily, the youths began dropping out of the game, never to be replaced by others. By the time Luna’s moon peeked over the horizon, Apple Bloom and Rumble were the last ones left. They had lost interest in playing as it dwindled down to just three of them. They bade farewell to a golden unicorn filly with a blue mane that was new to town and happy to have made new friends. They were beat, exhausted, and ready for some dinner.

That thought reminded Rumble that his brother had wanted him out all day. Likely, that meant he would have to find somewhere to crash that night. Usually, it meant asking Button Mash’s mom, who knew the situation, if he could have a sleepover, but he hadn’t seen Button since he got the latest Super Lunigi game. That meant he would have to sneak in while his brother, Cloud Chaser and Flitter were having their adult time, and, although he could do it, he was in no mood to hear Flitter belting out “Old Lane Sign” or whatever, his brother mooing like a cow, and Cloud Chaser screeching like an upset baby as they climaxed again.

He groaned inwardly as his stomach rumbled and Apple Bloom recalled the events of the day in vivid detail. About all he knew how to make were leftovers and toast. A growing colt with an appetite like his should not have to survive on PB&J sandwiches just to get the necessary food he needed. That was Thunderlane for you – enraptured and dedicated to the two loves of his life.

He wondered if the family of the filly beside him would mind hosting another for an overnight stay.

“Rumble? You okay there?”

The pegasus nearly leapt out of his wings at the sound of his name. “What?”

Apple Bloom grimaced. “You kinda spaced out there. I was asking if you wanted some dinner.”

Rumble, surprised that she and he were thinking the same thing, went silent for a bit.

“Rumble?”

The pegasus shook his head and mumbled an affirmative.

“Great! I’ll tell Applejack to set another place! Why don’t you go home and let your brother know where you are?”

Rumble sighed. “I don’t think he’ll miss me much tonight.”

“Why not?” Apple Bloom asked. “He may be a bit of a featherbrain, but I’m sure he’d still like to know where you are.”

“He was in one of his moods,” Rumble said. “I don’t like being around when he gets like he is today.”

Apple Bloom’s eyebrow raised. “Mood? What kinda mood?”

Rumble gulped, a light rose colouring his cheeks. “The super-lovey-dovey-mushy-mush type.”

Apple Bloom let out a low “Ah.” She nodded. “AJ usually organizes a sleepover for me and the Crusaders when she or Mac gets into that kinda mood. Reckon it’s better than me bein’ in there hearin’ it all. I can’t imagine what it’s done to you.” She paused for a second and mouthed to herself, “Or her.”

Rumble’s brow hardened. “I’d rather not think about it.”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Alright.”

They said nothing more of it as they walked to her home. The young farmer led her flight-capable compatriot down the road and turned left at the fork which, if one turned to the right, led also to Fluttershy’s home. A minute or so of walking passed before both youngsters heard crickets chirping.

Rumble gulped and sighed.

Apple Bloom glanced over. “What’s on your mind?”

Rumble bit his lip. “I was wondering…” He paused for a second, thought better of himself and sighed. “Never mind.”

The bow-bound filly frowned. “Now c’mon. You can tell me. I did invite you over to the house for dinner, so we’ve got most of the evenin’ to talk.”

“I was… um, I was just wondering…” Rumble said. He stammered some gibberish before swallowing. Now or never, he thought. “I-I was wondering if, maybe, I could, kinda, sleep over at your house tonight.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, a deep blush swept across his features. He had never had a sleepover before. Well, he had, but that was when he was younger. It was a girly thing to do, according to his friends. He hoped she wasn’t messing up his signals or something. He didn’t have a crush on her or anything. He just wanted a place to sleep that didn’t involve sneaking into his own bed with his brother and two sisters unwittingly singing a lullaby of eroticism. He knew too much just by listening to them, and because of that, it was his resolve to save himself until he found just the right filly to marry.

So it was with resignation that he got the response he expected.

“If it’s okay with my brother and sister, sure you can stay. Applejack and Big Macintosh know what–” and here she stifled a chuckle “–‘super-lovey-dovey-mushy-mush’ is. They’ll understand. They’ll want you to sleep in your own room, though.”

As he walked, Rumble’s brain sped into ultra-high gear. He had just been invited to sleep over at a friend’s home. Not only that, but the friend was a girl. He was so going to get teased over this, if his buddies ever found out. What would Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon say?

Well, he surmised, I guess I could take it. It’s better than being teased for having an older brother as wild as mine.

“Thanks, Apple Bloom,” Rumble said with a grin.

The only sound that was made for the rest of their journey to Sweet Apple Acres was the chorus of crickets, strumming their legs under Luna’s moon.

Meals in the Orchard

Applejack and Big Macintosh were busy in the rustic kitchen, cleaning up the last of the supper dishes. The window above the sink was cracked open a bit to allow the nighttime breeze to clear the house of the sun’s relentless heat. The room, however, was still steaming with a different kind of temperature.

“When I see that li’l filly again, I’m gonna give her a piece o’ my mind!” Applejack said, snapping a striped glass cup with the force of her washing. She examined her hoofwork and groaned. “Sweet Celestia, not another one!” She tossed it in the trash receptacle.
Big Mac glared at her. “Language!”

“You agree, too, right Mac?” the orange palomino pony seethed, ignoring her brother. “I mean, t’be out all day long’s one thing, but t’miss dinner? Hardly fittin’ behaviour for a young Apple. What was she doin’ out there?”

Big Macintosh put the last of the dishes away and heard Apple Bloom’s distinct trot clack atop the wood veranda of their home. Shortly after, she was joined by a second set. Their voices wafted into the kitchen.

“There she is,” the tall crimson stallion rumbled. “An’ she’s got a friend.”

Immediately, Applejack stormed into the living room, hell-bent on letting Bloom have what-for as punishment for missing dinner.

“Now, what did I tell you about stayin’ out late like thi–”

She stopped when she swung the door open and saw a timid pegasus colt sitting at her front door right beside her sister. Of all the things she had expected, this wasn’t one of them. A thousand questions filled her mind, but only the two essential inquiries made their way onto her tongue.

“Where were you? An’ what were y’doin’ with him?”

Rumble blushed and shrunk back. This was a bad idea.

“We were playin’ tag an’ lost track o’ time,” Apple Bloom said, walking into the house.

“I see.” Applejack turned to the colt with a smile. “You must be Thunderlane’s brother. Why aren’t you home?”

Rumble blushed. “I… um, I mean, my brother’s having some adult time with his girlfriends and I didn’t want to stay.”

“Can he stay for supper and a sleepover?” Apple Bloom asked. “He doesn’t want to go home until they’re done.”

Rumble looked at Applejack with a look of apprehensive hope until his stomach growled. The elder mare laughed.

“Well, I’m sure we can put some food in you,” Applejack said. “I’m not sure about givin’ you a place to sleep. I don’t know where we could put you up in a proper bed. You obviously can’t sleep in the same room as Apple Bloom, after all.”

“I know,” Rumble said as he and Apple Bloom took a couple seats at the table. “The couch would be fine. I don’t need a quilt; a little bed sheet would do.”

Applejack mused, This kid ain’t like his brother at all. Wonder where he gets it from?

“That should be fine,” Applejack said.

Big Macintosh took the liberty of preparing a couple plates of leftovers for the young ponies while Applejack took a seat. Rumble was met with a knowing glance from the elder sister before she looked back at Apple Bloom sternly.

“As for you, missy, I don’t want t’hear of you stayin’ out that late again, y’hear?”

“Yeah, I know,” the youngest Apple said. “I’m sorry.”

A pair of salads and some apple pie were laid out before the foals on the round applewood table. His eyes lit up, but before digging in, Rumble glanced over at Apple Bloom, his powerful, youthful hunger overridden by gentlemanly courtesy, but just barely.

Applejack seemed placated for a time. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow, after Rumble goes home.”

“Miss Applejack, I think I should take the blame for some of this.”

Filly and mare looked over at the little colt in surprise.

“Well, I kind of didn’t want her to go. My brother wanted some alone time–” he swore he heard a snicker from the other room, where Mac had gone “–and I was wandering around Ponyville, trying to figure out how to fill the time.” He then proceeded to recount the events of the day, with a decidedly biased, self-centered angle. When he concluded, he was certain he would take most of the fall.

“Rumble, you’re a good colt, but don’t you be lyin’ t’me like that again.”

The pegasus blanched at the hesitation-absent shutdown he had just been hooved. “H-how did you know?”

She chuckled and pointed at Apple Bloom. “I know enough about ponies your age to know they don’t lie well.”

“Hey!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, indignant.

He had heard of Applejack’s legendary honesty. He didn’t know a lot about the Elements of Harmony aside from their names, but he figured being the wielder of Honesty had to say something about the pony. He realized that, because of her connection to the Element, she also had an eye for lies. He gulped.

Rumble blushed. “S-sorry, Miss Applejack.”

“Don’t you worry none,” she said with a smile. “I will be havin’ a word with your brother later, though. It’s his responsibility that you’re taken care of, no matter if he’s got girls comin’ over or not. Now, eat somethin’. I’m sure that game o’ tag you were playin’s made you a mite hungry.”

He looked over at Apple Bloom to see her face full of lettuce. He smiled and dug into his own serving, having fulfilled his obligations regarding etiquette. The first bite spoke volumes of its freshness. The leaves of lettuce had a sharp, moist crunch to them. The daisies and daffodils filled his mouth with a blend that was mostly sweet, yet with just enough bitterness to bring out the subtle spice within the daisy. He hit a dry crouton with some ranch dressing and the flavour filled out, completing a mouthful as healthy as it was tasty. He moaned as he swallowed, and without missing a beat, he excitedly stuffed his face back into a bowl for a second taste.

Applejack chuckled. “Your boyfriend sure loves a good salad.”

With that, her face was filled with particles of food. Apple Bloom and Rumble just stared, brains locked in place, a giant logjam blocking the cogs. A piece of salad hung off Apple Bloom’s chin. Crumbs of pie crust lined her mouth. Rumble still had a few pieces of dinner in his own oral orifice. Applejack’s mane had bits of lettuce, a couple whole croutons, many pieces of daisy and daffodil, and flecks of apple pie as extra adornments. The table went silent for seven whole seconds.

The only sound was another snicker from the other room. Shortly afterwards, the eldest Apple bolted upstairs to hide his raucous laughter in a pillow to spare himself of his sisters’ possible ire.

It was good of Big Mac to leave the scene. Shortly after his face hit pillow, like a soldier dodging a missile, a second explosion filled the lower levels of the house, courtesy of the cog in Rumble and Bloom’s brains snapping the logjam in half as what Applejack said finally added up. Instantly, the flood of flabbergasted denial ground the rest of the dam into tiny pieces, carrying it downriver and out of contemplation forever.

“No! He’s not…”

“I’m certainly not…”

“Eww!! How could you…”

“Boyfriend? Ick ick ick…”

“No! Ick! Eww!”

“Never no never no never no…”

This continued on for another thirty seconds. Applejack humoured herself at their expense, recalling an identical conversation she and her dad had commenced when she brought home her first “friend-who-was-a-boy-but-not-a-boyfriend-but-ah-horseapples-you-know-what-I-mean-dad!” It had happened just this way. Finally, when she had enough, she spoke up.

“Simmer down, young’uns,” she said with a chuckle. “I was only havin’ a bit o’ fun.

Both colt and filly glared daggers in her direction.

Apple Bloom looked down at her pie plate, then at the collection of food on the ground. “Oh, great. Y’caused me t’spill my food on the floor!”

Applejack just smiled and got up. “I’ll get you another one.”

Rumble, in support of Apple Bloom, put on his best angry face. However, it was pretty funny, so he couldn’t stop the face from falling away. A smile played on his lips as he cleared it of foodstuffs using the provided serviette, and when Applejack brought the pie to Apple Bloom, he caught her eye. She winked at him, and he snorted. Apple Bloom’s hoof immediately shot up to her mouth as she tried her best to maintain her madness, but that too slipped away in time, and all three of them shared a good, long laugh, especially when Applejack took hold of her mane and finally saw what she had in her hair.

“Well, I guess I’m takin’ a shower before bed.”

Another brief chuckle later, Apple Bloom and Rumble ate the rest of their dinner in peace and contentment. Big Macintosh returned to the lower level to bid everyone goodnight while Applejack set up Rumble’s sleeping quarters in the living room. In a few minutes, Rumble and Apple Bloom had cleaned up and put their dishes away.

It wasn’t long after that when the Apple household checked out for the night. Rumble was lying, back flat against the couch and smiling. It had been ages since he had spent a night like that, without the sounds of lust being fulfilled the next room over to lull him to sleep. He liked it here. He liked the Apples. They were far more courteous-us-er… whatever… than his brother and his girlfriends. Heck, Flitter was always trying to get him to join their escapades. He did not miss Flitter. He considered her his mortal enemy. He wondered why Thunderlane kept her around, but he was scared that he would find out exactly – exactly – why. He didn’t want to go there, not now, not ever.

He decided to focus on dinner. The food was amazing, even for Ponyville standards, where everything was made fresh and only frozen for storage over the winter months. The warm environment the Apples provided just made it seem that much sweeter. He longed for the ability to come back here for a reason more than the food.

He shuffled a little to look at the stairwell, up which in her bed his new friend slept soundly. He smiled. Maybe he already had the reason to come back. He realized how kind Apple Bloom was, and how good a friend she could be if he put the effort into getting to know her better. He relaxed his reverse-hunch pose and curled deeper into the auburn and orange blanket. A scent of the stale samey-same fluttered into his nostrils, but it was ignored as the colt smiled a little.

He would get to wake up to her the next morning as a friend.

Letting that thought fill his head, he curled up into a tight little ball and slipped into restful slumber, thinking about battling strange but pleasant creatures. Tomorrow was going to be a blast and a half, even if he had no idea what was going on.

He and Apple Bloom would see to that.

Lines in the Ether

Rumble had no idea that he could have ever experienced anger with the fierce intensity as he did the next day. He was awoken by the five vilest words he had ever heard until that point in his young life, combined with three other things: the fields of white and orange too bright for his still-exhausted mind to make sense of, the searing blindness of the sanity-obliterating daylight, and the sheer earliness of the hour.

“Rise ‘n shine, li’l guy!”

He would recognize Applejack’s low twang forever and a day from that point on. It was the one voice he would hold an eternal grudge for. None would be spared his unwavering revenge on that mare when he became a grown-up. He would hunt her down and make sure she was woken up early every day for the rest of her natural life. He was younger. She was older. He’d definitely outlast her. He’d be able to stalk her, wake her, obsess over his sleep-depriving revenge, and then he would laugh as she went mad with the lack of sleep. Oh, it would be glorious!

He rolled off the couch and promptly took a pratfall onto his face.

He would recognize the smell of applewood forever and a day from that point on. It was the one smell he would hold an eternal grudge for. No apple tree would be spared his unwavering revenge when he became a grown-up. He would burn them down and make sure their descendants were charred to a crisp for his entire life. He was younger. They were older, but also made of wood. He’d definitely outlast them. He’d be able to find them, light a match, obsess over his flaming-hot revenge, and then he would laugh as they went up in a firestorm of searing-hot revenge with an abundance of heat. Oh, it would be glorious!

He was vaguely aware of a haze of laughter dying away as he stretched his still half-asleep form in the morning sun. He zombie-d his way into the kitchen, becoming a lead weight on the bench as some kind of food or another was placed upon the plain wooden platform in front of him.

Huh. He smelled apples.

He began registering something beyond burning hatred towards wood and Applejack as he started consuming what apple-based slop they put in front of him. Somewhere, he registered what he was eating as a “muffin”. The scent perked him up a little, washing away his hatred like a sweet stream, every bite quickly being accepted as a due apology for her actions earlier. Halfway through his breakfast, Rumble was placated and mostly awake. He finally recognized the liquid next to him as apple juice and chugged down a gulp.

A few minutes of feeding later, his hunger satiated and exhaustion mostly shed, he finally awoke to conversation. He joined in the morning banter joyfully, discussing the future work of the day. Apparently, the elder Apples had yet to finish yesterday’s chores, so it would be Rumble and Apple Bloom again. Neither of the foals minded.

As the adults left for field work shortly after breakfast, Apple Bloom and Rumble lounged in the living room, dreaming up how they were going to take on the day. They spent an hour bouncing ideas around, sketching plans for a half-hour, before they eventually just gave up. Apple Bloom was lying with her belly to the ground, her tail swishing side to side, an annoyed look on her face. Rumble had his back to the seat of the couch, hind legs up and over the head rest, idly studying the sketch he had made of himself as a superhero. Things had been silent for a few minutes now, and both foals were considering the very real prospect of actually asking if they could help out.

“So…” Apple Bloom said.

Rumble said nothing.

She groaned. “This was a bust.”

“I don’t know… it’s nice to be able to think,” Rumble said cheerily.

“I don’t wanna think,” Apple Bloom whined. “I wanna go an’ play!”

Rumble rolled over and hopped off the couch. “So? What do you want to do?”

Apple Bloom thought for a second. She listed off a thousand activities she could be doing, including those that involved farm labour: fishing, swimming, hiking, Ponymon (she was close to collecting all 250 of them…), eating contest, drinking contest, apple-bucking, hoof-wrestling, hoofball… She was not interested in any of them. Her brain deflated, sending thoughts hissing from her ears and hope out burbling lips.

At that moment, a beautiful, wonderful thought came to her. Why had she not seen this before? It was the plainest, simplest solution she could ever think of, and she had wasted a week not thinking of it.

Apple Bloom, if you ain’t a dunce before, you sure are one now.

“Let’s go spelunking!”

Rumble nodded and smiled. He began following her up to her room, but she put a hoof to his chest and pushed him away a little.

“Let me get the stuff,” she said. “I won’t be long.”

“O-kay…”

Rumble, like the obedient gentleman he was, unquestioningly reported back to his station at the couch. He waited there as the pony upstairs began clopping around, muttering and digging into her treasure. He heard her shuffling and touching things, dirtying her hooves with well-placed strokes and circular motions. Some moaning and groaning would have completed the picture forced upon him by his siblings, but the clattering and screaming of a decidedly different nature snapped his young brain out of its unwilling trance.

“Feather bucker!”

The resulting crash that followed the very loud, very offensive, pegasus-racist phrase quickly overrode any incense Rumble felt as he instantly blasted up the stairway and bucked the door open, sending the door flying in a one-hundred-eighty-degree slam into the wall. He looked around frantically.

“What happened? Are you hurt? Can I help? Where is he? Where is she? What’s on top… of…”

Brain finally caught up with Fight Instinct. Apple Bloom stood, half a backpack slung on her back, piles of equipment of many kinds, half-destroyed miscellany of her past crusading, and several other scraps of cloth and paper. A bunch of paints had spilled on top of her and now ran down her body alluringly in strings of rainbow delight. Those pretty eyes, one now hidden behind that cute, very wet polychromatic hair…

Where did that come from? He blushed.

She laughed nervously. “I forgot where I put the equipment.”

Rumble smiled kindly and did the one clean thing his mind told him to do – help her tidy up. Her room! Just her room. Not the tub. No. She was just a friend. He was saving himself for marriage. He would not be like Thunderlane. Nope nope nope nope…

He didn’t realize he was shaking his head until he snapped back to reality and saw the concerned red eyes of Apple Bloom looking back. He cleared his throat, pulled himself away, and continued cleaning wordlessly.

Apple Bloom, for her part, had no idea what was going on in the colt’s mind. She silently observed him getting back to work, digging hard into a particularly large pile near her. The oddest thing was he was avoiding eye contact, something he hadn’t done until now. She decided not to press the issue as they continued cleaning, though her mind slipped into a dark place of worry and lament: Did I do somethin’ wrong? A few minutes later, that question was pushed to the back of her mind as they finally found what Apple Bloom had been looking for.

“My spelunkin’ gear!”

Rumble eyed the brown belt with a mix of fascination and disappointment. What he saw hooked up to the brown belt was nothing more than a helmet, a flashlight, two helmet lights, and a round loop of faux leather for holding a water bottle. He was expecting chisels, hoof spikes, maybe a pick or two. It was a little less than he thought.

“Somethin’ the matter?” Apple Bloom asked as Rumble fumbled with a belt.

He shook his head. “I just thought there would be more stuff.”

Apple Bloom laughed. “That’s exactly what I thought when I borrowed A Beginner’s Bible to Caves and Climbing: What You Need to Know about Spelunking from the library when Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and I prepared to get our cutie marks in cave-diving. We ain’t used ‘em since.” She stopped herself and thought for a bit. Maybe that wasn’t entirely true. “Okay, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo ain’t been usin’ theirs. Big Mac an’ I go spelunkin’ together every now an’ again. Applejack don’t much like the smell o’ them caves.”

Rumble managed to successfully belt himself. “So, whose belt am I wearing?”

“I don’t remember,” Apple Bloom conceded. “It’s been about a year.”

A minute or so later, both foals were suited up and ready to take on a cave. The only problem was that they didn’t have a destination in mind when they started planning their little escapade. So, they went and laid out their war room in the kitchen, maps, a couple scrap pieces of paper, and a few pencils littered across the table. They first considered a cave northwest of Ponyville, but that required them trudging through the Everfree, then pulling a U-turn at Zecora’s when they realized they were following the wrong path.

Apple Bloom glanced over at her companion. “Um, Rumble, are you sure we need to enter the Everfree if all we’re doing is making a U-turn?”

Rumble looked at the map again. He groaned and rubbed his forehead. “I was never good at mazes…”

After correctly plotting their course, they realized it would be a couple days’ journey. Apple Bloom also recalled that this particular cave required a partner with at least her expertise. It was a particularly challenging and narrow cave, and someone prone to claustrophobia would not want to take it on.

They chose two other caves, both which Apple Bloom had been to before. The first cave was just a dome in rock, not worth even bringing anything for spelunking. The second was more of a walk than a climb: a flat cave, meandering through the mountain with very little challenge at all.

Neither Rumble nor Apple Bloom wanted to start him off that easy.

A few other caves passed their scrutiny without being selected. Some were straight vertical drops. Others had weak floors. One nearly killed both Mac and Bloom due to a weak roof support structure. A few…

“…are just too dark,” Apple Bloom groaned. “We’ll never find the perfect cave at this rate!”

Rumble glanced over at one particular cave. It was wide out in the open, less than half an hour from the farm house, and marked with three crudely-sketched filly frowns. He tapped it with a hoof. “Why don’t you take me to this one?”

Apple Bloom looked at the cave Rumble’s hoof now indicated. She blushed. “Oh yeah. That one. I forgot about that one. The one where we went crusadin’. Yeah. That’s easy ‘n challenging. Right.”

Rumble chuckled.

“Shut up, you,” Apple Bloom commanded before joining her comrade. “Now, we need t’let my family know where we’ll be, an’ for how long. Don’t want ‘em worryin’ none.”

“We should pack a lunch as well,” Rumble said. “I’m sure we don’t want to go hungry.”

“Good idea,” Apple Bloom said, giving a quick smile. “Paper’s over there. I’ll see what I can grab from the kitchen.”

Rumble nodded and went off to get the paper. Apple Bloom watched the colt take a couple steps before turning to her own task. She had puzzled over his sudden burst up the stairs into her room, and had to admit that having a colt at her beck and call to defend her from stuff just made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

But what made him do that?

This was the same question Rumble asked himself as he prepared the note. He had noted a different feeling well up within himself at that point of her troubles, as if it was his place… no, his obligation to see that she was safe. As he prepared ink and a pen and began addressing the letter, he noted one of his ears was pinned to Apple Bloom’s direction. Though he couldn’t see his ear, he glared up at it anyway.

Stupid ear. Focus!

At the exact same time he tried prying his ear from its muscle-locked position, Apple Bloom, sharing his thought, batted at her own appendage, annoyed it wasn’t cooperating. She wanted it to face forward and be counted, like her eyes, but it would not respond. Whatever had possessed it to be out of her control was a gray colt with shimmering down, a pair of warm blankets any time she needed a warm hug…

What the hay, brain?! Where’d you go now?

Both foals groaned quietly to themselves, barely masking the sound made by the other pony from their own ears. Trying to put their thoughts out of their minds, they completed their tasks with swiftness that would make Rainbow Dash envious and left the farm house in a hurry.

The sack full of apple fritters and the letter left behind clearly told of their rush:

Dear Bacontosh and Appleack,

Apple Bloom and I are going spelunking with each other. She’s got a beautiful cave that she’s going to show me. I’m going to teach her all about stalactites and stalagmites. We will be back before midnight.

Rumble.

Dive Into the Dark

Rumble and Apple Bloom walked wordlessly towards their destination, awkwardly taking glances at and simultaneously avoiding each other as much as possible. It made for a really weird spectacle to observers – a colt and a filly, strolling down Ponyville’s main street side by side as friends, and yet not looking at each other at all. Most were wondering what was going on. Others recalled past crushes that ended awkwardly just like this one. A few took quiet bets on how long “RumBloom” would last, with most hedging on the colt being like his brother and leaving for some fresh tail at the end of the week. Additional pieces of paper with numbers on them, the largest being over ten thousand, were circulated. Every last one of these papers passed through a discerning, entrepreneurial pale pink or gray hoof.

As was not usually their custom, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon decided to sit and watch this one out. Silver had proposed the idea of beginning a betting pool after telling Diamond of “their immature game that I had absolutely no interest in joining” and discovering something between their two classmates. Diamond had agreed, especially when Silver proposed that they take one per cent of all bets once RumBloom broke up.

Diamond in particular watched Rumble and Apple Bloom with great interest, as she and some of the most valuable bets were set against odds that the pair would break up before the end of this first day. She had no idea what their plans were, but she didn’t care. She and Silver had already made almost a thousand bits on their awkward love. She was sure they would cash in. She snickered as the couple disappeared out of sight, Silver Spoon mimicking her best friend.

Apple Bloom and Rumble were too absorbed in their own worlds to notice. However, the kind of awkwardness that hung around them was temporary, and as they had been walking for ten minutes, it was bound to collapse any second, and it fell first for Rumble. He became bored about two minutes later, as the path to the entrance of the cave came into view.

“So, the cave.”

Apple Bloom jumped, shaken out of her self-box by the statement. “Y-yeah? What about it?”

Rumble gained an anticipatory smirk. “What’s it like?”

Apple Bloom thought for a moment, reflecting upon all the different caverns, claustrophobia-inducing pathways, and a couple odd, large domes – one with a latticework stone ceiling that allowed just enough light for a small tree and a patch of surface foliage, the other, a glittering jewel factory that Apple Bloom was sure Rarity had visited a couple of times. She decided against describing the route in detail, instead opting for a much more vague description.

“You’ll see.”

Rumble’s face dropped. “Is that all I’m getting?”

“Eeyup.”

He groaned. He was bored. He wanted to know where his red-headed friend was leading him and what to expect. When he goaded her again in an attempt to persuade her to talk, she simply taunted him with a hum of sadistic enjoyment.

“Oh, come on, Apple Bloom! Just tell me!” he demanded.

At that precise moment, Apple Bloom turned off the path and slipped into the foliage alongside the road. Rumble perked up and quickly followed her. Immediately, he shut up as the cave yawned, its eternally open jaw before them. However, he quickly noticed Apple Bloom enter, not in the large opening, but in a smaller tunnel down and to the left of the larger opening, underneath a small crag overlooking Ponyville from about nine or ten feet up.

“The first time Mac and I passed through here,” she said as she approached a cliff, “Mac had a hard time gettin’ through.” She dropped on her belly and swung her hips down off the edge. She lowered herself down from rock to another ledge, then waited for Rumble. “It took a lot of effort to get him in.”

Determined to forego the use of his wings, the pegasus lowered himself down. Apple Bloom made no further attempt at conversation as they hopped off the little crag and slid down a small slope before simply carrying their momentum into a trot. The highly reflective golden stones of the luminescent underground were revealed by way of the small entrance they had just entered. Reflection after reflection spilled light deep into this large cavern, unveiling a series of pathways over a pit of stalagmites, while similar golden spears displayed their glory from above. Stones from ceiling to floor and a few scattered gemstones peppered the rest of the cave. Occasionally the angle of the path would rise and fall and become rough, then smooth, and they would scale or descend other cliff faces, but their trajectory always seemed to be heading upwards.

At least, that’s how it felt to Rumble. They had climbed their way past the original assumed entrance, at least, that’s what Rumble guessed, and were now about thirty feet from their original point of entry. He was surprised that it was only here that the reflected light began to dim.

“What’s this place made from?” he asked.

Apple Bloom puzzled for a second as they walked. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever asked that question.”

“Hmm.”

Rumble puzzled for a while as they made their way to the first narrow section.

“This is where Mac and I had to stop last time,” Apple Bloom said. “He couldn’t fit through. I came back here with the Crusaders once an’ we dove deeper. Nearly brought a whole shaft down on us.”

Rumble gulped, unsure if he wanted to be underground anymore. It concerned him that a pony would be able to bring a roof of heavy stone crumbling upon him or her. He longed for the sky, free of such obstructions, obscurities, and dangers, though of course he knew not of such large words, instead simply referring to the ceiling as “a thing that could kill me.”

Apple Bloom just chuckled. “Don’t worry. They cleared this area for spelunkin' just a few weeks ago. They had a geologist pony in t’look at the rocks. Strange pony, that one. Dark gray coat, purple mane, always playin’ with rocks… Didn’t have much-” she grunted as she hopped up to the hole and slid herself in on her belly “-t’ talk about otherwise, but accordin’ t’ Applejack, she was one heck of an athlete. Even saved her sister from a rock slide ‘r somethin’… with her bare hooves!”

Rumble, who had made his way into the hole and was now gripping himself tightly with his wings, spoke up once again.

“Well, if she was able to make it to her sister in time, she could have just pulled her out with her hooves. I don’t see what’s so amazing about that.”

Apple Bloom stopped and thought about that for a minute as she subconsciously swished her tail. Rumble caught sight of something he really wasn’t supposed to be looking at and quickly averted his eyes. Unfortunately, the male mind, such as it is, can never forget certain traits, especially about the other gender, and the vision quickly filled his mind’s eye as soon as he subjected himself to blindness. He quietly shook his head, gritting his teeth in the process, and pointedly looked at the rocks between his hooves as she continued.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” she replied and moved on.

Rumble let loose a breath he had no idea he was holding as her tail shifted back into place. However, the damage was done. He began feeling a sensation in himself that soon had him in great fear. It was the same one that told him he was attracted in a feral manner to another pony, one that soon told him his attraction would be on display for all to see. They soon got back to the sweaty, grimy work of slogging through the tunnel, which he expected would calm him down. However, that wasn’t what would do it.

Apple Bloom soon stood up straight and moved off to the side. Rumble extricated himself from the hole and moved near to her. This room, besides some small bioluminescent mushrooms dotting the wall, was pitch black.

“You have your helmet on, right?” Apple Bloom asked.

Rumble nodded. “We put them on back at the farm house.”

Without further ado, the two young ponies clicked on their lights. Magic flooded the illumination gems in the helmets and blew a blast of light clear across the room, easily two dozen feet across and less than four hooves high, just enough for them to stand up. Rumble took a quick look around, his light passing over a lot of different formations and a few scattered gems. What he couldn’t get, though, was this giant patch of black just in front of him, at his hooves.

“Apple Bloom, why’s there no floor in front of us?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. That hole goes down for miles. I dropped a flashlight down there when Mac and I tried explorin’ this cave, before he realized he couldn’t get through that hole. It just… disappeared.”

Rumble couldn’t tell what her facial expression was. However, from the way her voice dropped and her shuddering breath afterwards, he knew she was grimacing and scared. The creepy echoing of two sets of breathing ceased in short order.

“Anyway, I had to use his voice and his lamp to get me back t’the hole,” Apple Bloom said, quickly trotting away.

Rumble kept an eye on his hooves and hers as he followed, nervous about the pathway that soon narrowed into a barely-hoof-and-a-half wall-like walkway snaking over the abyss. He found he had to walk similar to Flitter’s seductive strut to stay above the pit. He soon found he couldn’t take his eyes off the floor for a second – this sole walkway snaked its way around in loops and circles, occasionally dipping down under and up over routes they had already passed.

Honestly, to him, it felt like they were going in circles!

“Apple Bloom,” he whined. “When can we take a break?”

“Not long now, Rumble,” she replied. “The ledge should be here soon.”

Indeed, experience won out over youthful impatience. They were soon rewarded with a widening path, then a full ledge. The cave seemed to brighten here, but just a little. Rumble looked around for the light source and found a single, tiny ray of light from a small gap in the rocks above. It leaked a slow, steady stream of water that continually dribbled to the floor. He followed that line right to another, which snaked not to the edge of the plateau, but to another hole in the wall. He heard dribbling from his side.

“What’cha lookin’ at?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I think there might be a lake on the other side of this wall,” Rumble suggested.

Apple Bloom shook her head. “It’s more of a pond. When we find the tunnel on this plateau, I’ll show you.” A beat. “Then I’ll show you where that pond goes.”

Rumble was unable to catch a glimpse of her face as she turned, but he swore she was smirking. He both liked and didn’t like being led on like this. He preferred to know what was coming, and yet preferred to be held in suspense. It felt like water that didn’t evaporate was in intimate contact with fire that wouldn’t be extinguished.

He loved the dichotomy.

He took a breath and followed Apple Bloom along the wall. She made sure to keep her headlamp trained on the wall so as to avoid the creaks and cracks that occasionally interrupted her trajectory. Eventually, she came to a square-shaped opening just large enough for ponies of their size to trot through with little effort, save for an occasional duck of the head as they avoided stalactites, or a tight squeeze in avoiding a stalagmite. This time, Rumble noted they were descending. A few other gems gathered and reflected their lights, but they had clearly reached the furthest that gems could be found in this cave. They were few and far between.

Yet, for some unexplained reason, light began returning to the cave. Rumble couldn’t see how that was possible – they had clearly gone far deeper into the mountain than light would normally permit. At the same time, he began smelling something sweet.

“What in Celestia’s mane…?”

Apple Bloom smirked. “Our lunch,” she said. “Zecora asks me to bring her these… what did she call them, ‘fermenting daisy feathers’, I think… from time to time.”

“Daisy what?” Rumble asked.

“It’s a weird flower. It looks like three purple phoenix feathers cupped in white tulip-like petals.”

“How does it survive down here without light?”

“Something about feeding off the residual magic expelled by the world’s living creatures.”

“Like a tree does with oxygen?”

“Yeah, yeah! Like that. It takes the magical carbon dioxide and turns it into magical oxygen, or something.”

“So why don’t we have any of these on the surface?”

As they came around a bend, once again resuming their upward trajectory, the answer immediately became clear. While the flowers had some structure, they were clearly magical constructs in and of themselves. Though their stems looked like they disappeared into the ground, one flower in particular did so in a way that should have been biologically impossible. The flower’s stem disappeared into a large, solid boulder.

Rumble looked at it with his headlamp on and promptly blew it away. He gasped and shut off the lamp.

“No!”

“Don’t worry about destroying one of them,” Apple Bloom said. “There are lots of those things down the path. They light up the cave. Keep your helmet off, though.”

Once again, Rumble followed his guide down, which had again become up, the path. They vaulted up a cliff side where platforms were plenty and plants were increasing in number. Rumble began noticing a few things about these plants that defied nature. Their stems were arranged from red to violet, like a rainbow whenever they were grouped together, while singles had random selections of colours. Sizes varied wildly, from barely hoof-bone height to nearly ceiling level. All the properties above their stems remained identical. Their magical glow entranced the young pony, his eyes taking in as much as he could of the wacky flowers.

“Rumble!”

He snapped to and saw Apple Bloom about seven pony lengths ahead of him, near what seemed to be a reverse-funnel-like opening to the path they were on. As he caught up to her, he looked past and gasped. The flowers became as thick as grass, amalgamating seamlessly into an actual grassy field. A small pond of water, sourced from the little waterfall from earlier, pooled at the base of a giant tree. The dome of rock, clearly visible among the ether emissions, surrounded them completely.

The little pegasus suddenly felt very, very small.

Apple Bloom saw no problems with the area, though. She descended the four or five switchbacks to the cave floor and trod forth.

“See? What’d I tell ya?” she declared. “Lunch!”

Rumble swallowed and gradually followed her. He had barely taken his sixth step down the winding path when the world suddenly heaved. His hooves went out from under him. The pathway collapsed around him. The cave shed a few more rocks, some plants, a stalactite, a stalagmite. The narrow path in the previous room they had just crossed was now an open pit. Amidst the chaos, a frantic filly cried out for her traveling partner as well as her family. Rumble could barely tell which end was up as the universe seemed to choose him as the focal point for the end times.

And just as he began wishing he was back home, he was knocked unconscious.

It Never Caves In

Rumble awoke to the glowing ether of a hundred flowers upon a roof several dozen feet above him. Groggy and disoriented, he grunted and rubbed his head. He rolled over, the soft grass under his barrel ruffling with the slightest of drafts. As his mind caught up with his consciousness, he remembered the world spinning. He shuddered and squeaked as a small collection of pebbles dislodged nearby. The world instantly snapped into focus. If his head were Rainbow Dash, he would have created sonic rainbooms with the panicked speed in his glances.

“Apple Bloom!” he shrieked. “Apple Bloom! Where are you?”

He was about to call a third time after burning through a couple of flowerbeds in a hurried search when he finally saw her. Lying on one side on top of a pile of dirt, her mane a tangled mess and her coat caked with who-knows-what, she was as asleep as the dead. Less than two millimetres from one of her hind legs was a boulder twice the size of a full-grown pony!

He was caught speechless! Tears welled up in his eyes when he began speculating as to how she might have saved him. The possibility she didn’t never entered his mind because he didn’t know what happened after he had been knocked unconscious, and as far as he was concerned, even if the boulder fell after everything settled, he had still been where the boulder now was. That was enough for him.

He kissed his exhausted young companion on the forehead and whispered an emphatic “Thank you.”

He looked between the rock and the filly and began to feel a growing well of loyalty for her… as well as something else. This went beyond the filthy stuff called “making love” Thunderlane had done. It went deeper than simply a titillating glance at a filly’s sacred place. As he turned to try to assess the situation, he looked back at Apple Bloom and gained a look far too mature for his age.

She was his now, his to take care of.

With a newfound source of determination in his heart, Rumble took wing to check out the entrance. The path they walked was demolished and entirely unsafe. He also discovered, upon passing over the crumbled switchback pathway, that the rocks caved in at the open pit. Observing the cave-in, he realized that there was no way to remove any rocks without bringing the rest of the tunnel down upon them. He peered through a thin opening, through to the other cave, where he promptly realized he couldn’t see a thing. The ledge they had used, as well as the thin path, had completely disappeared from view.

Well, whatever view he had of them in the absolute blackness.

He decided to press on to the other side of the dome. He was sure that there was another way out. There must be another exit. On wings of anxiety, he flew over the foliage, on a beeline for the other tunnel. He made it around a single bend before having to bank harder than he ever had before to avoid crashing into stone on three sides. After sufficiently reducing his momentum using neck-breaking G-forces, he landed at the rock fall.

“No.”

His breathing accelerated, becoming shallower. He leapt into the air, spun around, and backtracked.

“No.”

Again and again he paced as fast as his little wings could go, but no matter where he went, there was nothing but rock. Rumble couldn’t believe he had become trapped underground! This was a pegasus’ worst nightmare. Without the comfort of the open, blue sky, he may as well have been an Earth pony. Not that anything was wrong with that or anything. His companion was an Earth pony, after all. His need to soar had just kicked in a hundredfold. He had never been in a cage. He had never known a world without the blue sky. Yet here he was, experiencing both in one go. Everything was blue-gray, from the light cast from the fragile little flowers, but it wasn’t the same. He wanted the bright blue of the open sky, the touch of a cloud-bed, the wind within his feathers.

Eventually, his energy wore down until he was doing lazy figure eights in an effort to keep himself from sobbing in fear. Even this wasn’t enough. He landed in the covering of the tree. His eyes widened as he came to a horrific realization.

I’m buried alive.

He slowly raised his head to look at the roof and choked back the last of the sobs he had any energy to restrain before the dam broke in a particularly loud sob. He curled into himself and closed his eyes, wishing the nightmare he was sure he was in to be over.

He barely registered the shuffling of rock and the rhythmic steps Apple Bloom made.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Rumble couldn’t answer. He was still wishing this was a nightmare.

Thunderlane will wake me at any moment. My brother will save me.

He soon realized his usual nightmare excuses were unfounded, which caused him to hunker down even more. Claustrophobia set in.

I gotta get out.

“Rumble?”

He barely heard his name. He squeezed his eyes tighter, hoping with all his willpower it wasn’t a dream.

“It never caves in,” he wheezed. “It never caves in.”

“Caves in!?” she exclaimed. “What do you mean?”

“The sky never ever ever ever…”

It was obvious Rumble was locked in his own mind for now, trying to reconcile with what had just happened. Apple Bloom puzzled over what he had just said, so she went to investigate for herself. She hopped and jumped her way up the fallen pathway to the tunnel they had entered from. As she did, she analyzed the rocks for stability.

“Nothin’ wrong so far.”

She rounded the bend and saw the cave-in. Having retained her helmet, unlike Rumble, whose helmet had fallen off and become crushed under the huge stone as he fell, she clicked the light on. She saw the same hole Rumble had and tried to peer through it.

Blackness.

Nothing but an open pit.

“Well, that’s a problem,” she commented.

She turned away and, concerned, trotted across the dome. Minutes of careful navigation resulted in a large pile of fallen stone in the only other tunnel leading out of the cave.

“We… we’re trapped…” she breathed.

She looked over at Rumble, realizing just what had made him panic.

“We did forget something,” she realized. “We forgot to pack a beacon!”

She bit her lip. After all the faith her sister had put in her lately, she was fast doing the best job she could to eradicate that confidence.

“If my mind wasn’t wanderin’ away with my heart, I woulda remembered t’pack a gem…” she grumbled. “Stupid Rumble bein’ so sweet…”

Resentment began to creep into her heart and she glared at Rumble with all the fury she could muster. She knew it wasn’t his fault that their exits had been closed up, nor was it his fault that she had forgotten the beacon, but…

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s his stupid… this stupid…” she searched for the words, bumbling incoherently for a while in a fruitless search. An exasperated groan escaped her lips. “Aw, horseapples! I can’t even think straight now! My heart’s in a blender. My stomach’s on spin cycle. My head… asplode… UNGH! It’s all Rumble’s fault. It’s gotta be his fault I forgot the gem, too!” She turned around in fury, but froze. “Ponyfeathers… I can’t even decide that. I don’t even… Gaaah!!!”

She spent a few seconds spinning in circles deciding what in the heck she believed about that colt. All she came up with was that there was something seriously wrong with her if her thoughts kept coming back to this colt that less than a day ago she had thought nothing of.
Upon her next breath, a brand new, musky smell invaded her lungs. She blanched.

No!

She took another breath and nearly barfed in worry.

“No no no no NO! I’m not s’posed t’ go into heat yet!” she screamed. “This is just great. Just just just just…”

She dove into their water source and swam around in the cold water to rid herself of a sensation and a smell she really shouldn’t have had for another year. She backed as far as she could from Rumble, who looked on in confusion, while remaining in the pool. She buried her face in the water up to her muzzle and vented her frustrations underwater by filling water bubbles with air through violently burbling lips while her eyes were firmly locked on her colt.

My colt?!

She froze and whirled her head away as soon as that thought passed her consciousness.

Darn it, brain! You traitor! What was all that about? Rumble ain’t my colt. He’s his own pony.

She brought her head out of the water and looked down at her reflection. It gave her a smirk. Somehow, it pulled a top hat and monocle out of nowhere and put it on.

“Yeah? Well, if I’m a traitor, what does that say about your dreams, hmm?”

Apple Bloom grunted. “It’s all your fault. You’re the one giving me all these weird signals! I don’t know what t’make of it!”

Her reflection gave her a lascivious look. “Oh, I’m givin’ you all the right signals,” it replied. “All the right signals to begin ma–”

“NO!” Apple Bloom shrieked, temporarily forgetting about Rumble’s physical presence. “His brother’s girlfriends are always tryin’ t’get him to do…” she gulped… “that… with them. I don’t… want…”

The reflection gained an incredibly evil look. “Are you sure?

“Yes! Yes yes yes yes! I don’t want it! Leave me alone!”

“We’ll see about that…”

“What do you mea–”

The unbidden thought of an intense make-out session with Rumble invaded her mind. She froze as the scene played out in spite of the cold water…

They were in the space between the big tree and the pond, looking seductively at each other. Apple Bloom and Rumble pursed their lips, before meeting in passionate ecstasy. Their forehooves found their way around in an embrace. Slowly their bodies came together, attempting to eliminate the space between their souls. Tongues quietly found their way into other mouths, delicately wrestling and caressing as the pleasure built. Slowly, Apple Bloom’s hoof moved south, while her partner did the same. Slowly they pulled apart and looked down at their bodies, their hooves trailing down to…

“NO!!”

Apple Bloom’s bellow was soon followed by…

“I’m…” SPLASH “…not…” SPLASH “…s’posed…” SPLASH “…to…” SPLASH!

The last splash caused water to get into her nose. The inhale sent the stream into her lungs. Her heat was quickly forgotten as her respiratory system demanded air. She was sent into coughing fits. She quickly turned and collapsed on the shoreline to avoid drowning herself further. Finishing her spasm, she cracked open her eyes to see four gray hooves standing directly in front of her.

“Are you okay?” Rumble asked.

Apple Bloom’s eyes slowly rose to meet his own. She soon realized that she must’ve gotten his attention with her actions and immediately blushed crimson. She was now completely sure she had made a mule of herself. She slowly brought her eyes up to meet her spelunking partner. She swallowed. Her heart raced. As her eyes met his purple optics, she blushed even redder.

“I-I’m okay…” she whispered meekly, quickly avoiding his concerned gaze.

Rumble grew worried. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” she sighed. “It’s these stupid hormones. They’re makin’ me think bad about you.”

“B-bad!?” Rumble exclaimed. “So, I did do something wrong!”

“No no no,” Apple Bloom insisted. She gulped and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Promise me you won’t be mad?”

Rumble nodded furiously. Whatever he did had to be corrected!

“I’ve been thinkin’…” she paused.

She took a second to organize her thoughts while Rumble digested every inch of her beauty. A quick log nearly jammed up her thoughts once again: I love bein’ looked at by him. She quickly strong-armed that particular stream and forced it upriver for the time being.

She decided just to come clean.

“I know of your situation with your sisters. Everypony does. But today, I can’t help but… well, lovin’ everything about you.” A tear escaped and the dam broke. “I don’t even know when it started, really, maybe back at the farmhouse when we were preparin’ for this, but– Oh, who am I kiddin’. This sounds stupid. Look at me, I’m talkin’ gibberish and I don’t think you wanted to hear this.”

Rumble simply smiled sympathetically and said, “It’s okay. Go on.”

“W-well, I don’t even know what else t’say that won’t drive you away. I mean, I’m in my first heat, so it may be the heat talkin’, but I love you, Rumble. I know you’re savin’ yourself for the right filly an’ I don’t wanna take that away from you and I know we’ve only really had this one adventure and I hope you don’t hate me for this and I–”

Rumble silenced her with a hug. Apple Bloom couldn’t tell if he meant to hug her out of friendly support or if this was a love-hug. It was different than a friend’s hug. That was certain. The colt soon made it clear.

“I don’t believe in love at first sight, Apple Bloom. Lust at first sight? Absolutely. Curiosity? Certainly. Butterflies? Totally. Love? No.” He pulled back. “You’re a great friend and I really don’t hate you for telling me this, especially your love and your heat. You’re also running on fear. That could drive a desperate girl into doing some pretty wacky things just to calm down. Believe me, I know how you feel right now, and I’m super grateful you didn’t just act on it. I might’ve been okay with it at the time, but I would have hated you afterwards. It would be like Cloud Chaser’s seductions… or even Flitter’s morning wake-up calls.” He punctuated his statement with a shudder.

Apple Bloom chuckled. “Eww.”

Rumble laughed, lessening her tension. “Yeah, eww. Anyway, I’d be happy to hang out with you more until we figure out this love thing for ourselves. Right now, we’ve gotta figure out a way to get out of this cave.”

Apple Bloom watched Rumble turn away with a hint of disappointment in her heart. She had hoped that he would have kissed her in an attempt to show her how serious he was. Or maybe she just wanted him to kiss her and take her and ravish her and abu–

“Shut up!”

Stars in the Tunnels

Rumble now knew why Apple Bloom had been so silent during their journey. She was never that silent around her friends. As he led them back through the dome, he sniffed the air. He wasn’t thinking as clearly, but he still maintained control over his base instincts. He was happy about that.

I’m not going to go the way of my brother, he insisted. I’m going to endure this trial and come out a better pony for it.

They entered the tunnel together. Both filly and colt refused to look at each other for fear of stimulating themselves any further. The musky scent of heat, however, was working on them both. Thankfully, they got to the rocks.

“Let’s dig through and see what’s beyond here,” Apple Bloom suggested.

Rumble gulped. “Y-yeah.”

So they began to dig. They worked hard, determined to push through this period of time without soliciting titillating hallelujahs from each other. Small stones, large boulders, and a small deposit of particularly stubborn rubies holding a very long oval rock were all relocated to make room for the two small ponies. Eventually, they had a small round tunnel through the pile, supported by a well-stabilized dome of naturally tessellated stonework. They also had a stacked group of gems that would make fine additions to Rarity’s gowns should they get back. Apple Bloom in particular made a mental note to come back and clear the path for Rarity to excavate if they could find a way back to Ponyville.

Rumble and Apple Bloom skirted a small open pit where the creek they had followed earlier fell off the side and vaporized. A lazy stream flowed somewhere in the darkness beneath them, and the walls were covered in the same magic flower as before.

“Well, this is it.” Apple Bloom declared.

Rumble’s ear twitched as he looked up and down. His face contorted with a frown.

“No, it isn’t,” he said.

He hopped up on several steps of limestone and began following the upper path.

“What? There’s more?” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “Hey, wait up!”

She scrambled to catch up. They looped back around into the same tunnel they were at before, except up to what served as the second floor.

“Wow!” Apple Bloom said. “I’m going to have to bring Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo back here again. We obviously didn’t look close enough.”

They passed into the tunnel, but instead of descending into the dome where they were earlier, they made a sharp left-hoof turn just before the wall of the path and the wall of the cave met. A series of seemingly endless downward switchbacks led them to a path which took them back to the pit, this time at water level. They passed over the stream, wider than the room above by several hooves, atop a pony-built bridge of solid marble. A boxy dome of identical design leading to a carved-out secondary cave lined with thousands of tiny emeralds stretched forever into the mountainside. Another pair of switchbacks, as well as a couple gentle curving hallways, which now had the young ponies thoroughly disoriented in their positioning related to the tree room from before, saw them descend into a room filled with sapphires just as tiny as the emeralds.

Upon taking in the back wall, both ponies realized that these gems were not randomly placed. Each and every collection depicted scenes of a thriving civilization done in the pointillation art style on a scale that would be inconceivable to modern artists. Several of the gems had gone missing, leaving indents in the rock where they once were. Dividing these drawings into distinct images were the roots of a tree.

Which meant they were directly below the Dome.

Neither pony spoke for several minutes as their brains digested what, exactly, they were seeing. They proceeded to the middle of the room, taken completely in shock. They turned around, taking in every waking detail of these tapestries of jewelry.

There was no mention of the Princesses anywhere. There was only very briefly an image of what could even be relatable as modern history, on the third panel of nine from the left of the entryway. It was a clear depiction of ten alicorn-like creatures looking at ponies of all three persuasions, but also including the Breezies, the Gryphons, the Horses, and the Dragons, plus a number of creatures long lost to history.

Apple Bloom bit her lip and began to tear up. Rumble looked down at the floor.

“What does this mean?” she asked.

She turned until he saw the very back wall.

“Rumble!”

The mentioned pony turned his head. “Yeah?”

“I know who that is! That’s Star Swirl the Bearded!!”

Faster than lightning, Rumble whipped around and stared squarely at the back wall, the nineteenth panel in the room, the only one directly across from the entryway, and a panel nearly three times as large as the others. There, in inlaid-sapphire glory, was a glittering, full-body effigy of Twilight Sparkle’s idol, complete with hat, cape, and beard.

“Sweet Celestia!” he exclaimed.

“I know, right?” she said. “When we tell Twilight Sparkle of this, she is going to freak!”

“Twilight Sparkle?” he asked.

“You know. Ponyville town librarian?”

Rumble stared at her blankly.

Apple Bloom groaned. “Lives in the crystal tree in the middle of town? Has a dragon assistant named Spike? Any of this ringin’ a bell at all?”

Rumble slowly shook his head.

“You seriously don’t know Princess Twilight Sparkle?”

He blushed. “The only time I ever remember even hearing her name was when we were preparing for tornado duty, and even then I didn’t pay much attention to exactly who she was.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “The pony who ran the… tha-that wing power measuring thingy.”

Rumble’s eyes went wide. “Oh! That’s Twilight Sparkle!”

A big smile dominated her face.

A flat look fell over his. “Yeah, I don’t know her.”

The smile popped.

Apple Bloom couldn’t fathom someone not knowing about one of Equestria’s princesses, much less another resident of his own town. Then again, she realized she might be privy to information unavailable to others, like exactly what, or who, Twilight’s Night Mare Night costume was that first year she was in Ponyville. She grumped a bit at the gaffe, but the small smile soon returned.

“That’s okay,” she said. “Me an’ the Crusaders’ve been learnin’ some skills from her.”

“Ah!” Rumble said.

“Yeah, we’re friends.”

“Okay.”

Silence fell awkwardly in that rather humbling room. The smell of Apple Bloom’s heat had dissipated somewhat, or maybe they just got used to it. He didn’t know. All he knew was he could think a little clearer now. Rumble looked around and found nothing more of note. He began walking back to the switchback to return to the tree dome, but stopped and turned to look for his partner. He found her closely examining a rather uninteresting panel, the fifth from the right.

“Come on, Apple Bloom,” he insisted. “There’s nothing there.”

“Wait. Gimme a second. I’ve never come this far down before. We always assumed that the big pit was the end of it. This is excitin’!”

Rumble rolled his eyes and trotted back by her side. He noted she was running her hooves along the wall.

“What are you doing?”

She glared at the wall and shivered. “There’s a draft comin’ from this side of the wall. Why is there a draft here?”

Rumble’s hair responded with some slight movement. A brief double-check confirmed that yes, it was moving. He voiced his confirmation, then began searching the panel work with Apple Bloom for breaks. Up, down, around, and over the stone and artwork they went, a frantic and excited search for a way out. Every minute and stone that passed by without yield, however, weakened their resolve. Even employing Rumble’s wings to check atop the panel had proven fruitless. Apple Bloom stepped back as he landed, and both sighed, defeated.

“Well, it was a good thought,” Rumble said. “But where’s that draft coming from?”

Apple Bloom looked around at each of the other panels. “Should we try them all?”

Rumble took a step back and looked again. The panels that weren’t Star Swirl and were not already observed in detail didn’t seem to say or show anything regarding the breeze. One was a pony bucking a tree. Another was two ponies locked in mortal combat, one made of blue gems, while the other was bedecked in green. A third was a rather explicit kissing scene that both foals quickly moved on from (just what we need right now – thanks, you fan-pony-tastic cave). One mural spread over three panels told of a town ablaze, using fire red rubies as the flames. Another was a simple brown book with yellow topaz gems forming a pony head. Still another was a simple blue door with a weird polygon atop it and a tall bipede in a long, brown coat standing next to it.

Nothing about the breeze at all.

A growl echoed through the chamber. Rumble and Apple Bloom looked at each other, wide-eyed and startled. The colt blushed. Apple Bloom snorted.

“Sorry. I guess it’s time to eat.”

Apple Bloom affirmed the suggestion. She too had developed a hunger since their escapade began. As if to emphasize the point, her stomach decided it was time to voice its own concern. They shared a brief chuckle as they trotted back up the walkway. They ascended into the tunnel with one last forlorn look at the cavern, determined to solve this puzzle later.

Minutes later, they were eating their fill of grass and flowers in the crux of the roots of the tree. The smell of the heat had gone away, but Rumble knew it was still there. So did Apple Bloom. Whenever they made eye contact, both ponies would cave just a little bit more. They knew they wouldn’t resist for much longer.

“I-I’ll get in th’water…” Apple Bloom mechanically said.

Rumble nodded. “I need to… um… use the bathroom.”

Apple Bloom nodded. She watched the colt, tail between his legs, hobble off into the cavern. She knew what he was going to do to prolong his endurance. She suddenly felt really guilty about not at least offering to help him with his issue, but she knew there would be no stopping them once that first contact was made. She had heard enough when Applejack and Big Macintosh got randy with their partners that once they started there was no stopping until the mare was satiated, no matter how used the stallion was by the end.

"Better to not start at all and ride it out," she said, biting her lip.

The cold water helped, but she was still aching. She felt like if she didn’t do something she would explode. Again, she was brought back to her brother and sister, and again she stopped. She clenched her body into itself and moaned as she rode out her heat, alone in the pool. It was very uncomfortable, with the pinching sensations and the overwhelming desire to just cram something into her.

No, she thought. I’m not going to tempt Rumble. If he’s holdin’ out, then I have to. For him.

She gritted her teeth and rolled over, crossing her hind legs and squeezing. A tear trickled down her cheek.

Dammit, this is hard…

Rumble moaned as he pulled himself away from the floor. Never before had an opportunity for him to experience what his brother and girlfriends had with such a willing participant been as available as now. He couldn’t lie to himself. He wanted to do it now. He wanted to take Apple Bloom’s body and do the unspeakable to her. However, he had a morality to keep, as hard as it was.

Curse pony society for being so open, he thought.

He fought his hooves, so eager to drift southward that he nearly let them just to release his hormones. He didn’t want to. He wanted to control the beast. He wanted to know consensual submission rather than hormonal enslavement. He wanted to decide when he would have his first time. Everything in him was screaming against this decision.

Equestrian culture frowned on sexual control, saying it was better to experience it all and just let go than try the discipline route. Education on the subject was limited to contraceptives, anatomy, and the ‘should you decide to’ theory. Nothing was encouraged in the way of abstinence or saving oneself for just one other pony. Such was the culture that Equestria had no word for abstinence. These were preposterous notions, discouraged based on the idea that sexual morality was expired and outmoded. To hold off was also terrifically painful for ponies, so not having sex when your heat came was outright feared.

The only reason it got so painful to keep it, though, was because we started just doing it willy-nilly, Rumble insisted, unsure if this was indeed scientific fact or whether he just told it to himself to sleep well at night. Ponies’ biology became used to sleeping around and began rejecting control. I know we have the capability, though. I want to show ponies it’s still possible to control yourself, to wait for the right one.

In thinking this, he turned his thoughts from the erotic to the academic angle. Slowly his desires began to ebb. This brought him great encouragement, and he called out to his compatriot.

“Apple Bloom! Think about something else other than your heat! It might not make it go away, but it’ll weaken it!”

All he heard was a grunt from the other room.

Heat was always more difficult for the females of Equestria as a whole. Stallions could escape the smell and in an hour or so clear their heads. Mares, however, had to live with it for a while. Rumble truly felt sorry that he couldn’t even touch Apple Bloom during this time. He knew that some mares reacted quite strongly to even being brushed up against, while others you could hug and get little reaction from unless you stimulated their proper spots, which sometimes didn’t even include their lady bits at all. He wasn’t willing to risk anything that would send Apple Bloom down that path.

Apple Bloom, I wish there was something I could do for you.

A sudden piercing thought tore apart all his work.

Anything but that!!

Apple Bloom barely heard Rumble’s cry. She wanted to just roll over and die, wanted this to be over, him inside her, to be filled. She was getting sick of this pain in her gut, a pain that could only be cured one way, a way he didn’t want to, and a way she was determined to help him avoid. It hurt far more than she ever considered possible.

But she did hear him.

“Apple Bloom! Think about something else other than your heat! It might not make it go away, but it’ll weaken it!”

She found it nearly impossible to tear her mind off her aching body, but she managed to partition a piece of her brain and place it on the mystery downstairs.

Wrong word! Wrong word!

After fighting that thought off with handcuffs, a whip, leather boots, and a whole swarm of rather well-endowed ponyquins, though they could have just as easily been a passing desire – thought!! passing thought as much as her own weaponry, she recalled Star Swirl’s face and the draft. She brought her mind around the room once again, focussing on each individual panel as needed, including the two rather obscene panels.

It took all her will not to race out of the pool and jump Rumble at the thought.

As she considered the Star Swirl wall and the two obscene walls, she soon realized that they were placed at a precise triangle from each other, their places specifically chosen to create a perfect equilateral. She then moved on to the details of the pointillation art itself, analyzing what she could remember of the gem dot shapes. Immediately, she felt Rumble’s suggestion begin to backfire as her body reacted to her thoughts.

Sweet Celestia, why was this pervert allowed to make this puzzle!? And darn you too, Rumble! This isn’t helping at all!

She separated herself from her task for several seconds, simply breathing and thinking of apples, before forcing herself to think of the pictures with little discernible anatomy whatsoever. She soon noted that one pony in each pic could be identified as Star Swirl. The gems of the beards trailed off from the figure, identifying the triangular pattern and the lines that the eyes were to follow. However, Apple Bloom soon remembered one particular detail about the gem art that made her heart flutter in non-erotic excitement, which was a relief. Her face blew open in a radiant smile of epiphany and her heat faded. She leapt out of the water and bolted down the tunnel back to the Star Swirl exhibit.

She heard the sound of clopping behind her. She turned and looked at Rumble, who had joined her run. She clearly saw confusion on his face.

“Did you figure something out?” he asked.

She nodded with a huge smile on her face. “We were so focussed on the pictures we didn’t even think about what we were standing on!”

“What?”

“Three of the panels have a pony that resembles Star Swirl on it. All three look toward the viewer, rather than at the pony they’re with, including the solo Star Swirl head. However, they also look at something else – the middle of the room! I think the key to figuring out the breeze is to figure out what we were standing on.”

“That way, we’d be able to figure out what to do!”

“Yeah!”

With new eyes, the pair of young ponies descended back into the buried Star Swirl museum. When they passed over the marble bridge, their experience with the large room brought the gems along the entry wall into focus. They depicted three Star Swirls looking at each other, their beards knotted as one in the middle of the room.

Both ponies blushed.

They continued to the large room. Apple Bloom began proceeding down the stairs, but an astonished Rumble stopped her with a hoof. He silently swept a hoof across the whole room.

Apple Bloom gasped. “How in Tartarus did we miss this!?”

A very elaborate series of cobblestone bricks drew out a massive, sweeping, and round Celtic knot on the floor. At the centre of the giant design was a very shallow impression in the stonework easily three adult pony lengths across with room for at least a head and a half to spare. It was patterned with a waterfall, simply an extension of the larger knot in the raised platform. In the middle of that was a small, corroded, ancient bit made of copper, covered in glass and set in a depression padded in black velvet. This was surrounded by another knot of such fine stonework that it looked impossible to do, even with magic. It was an exact duplicate in scaled miniature of the larger stone knot.

After Rumble and Apple Bloom recovered from their shock, they spent several minutes just walking around atop this masterpiece, examining and appreciating it as fully as they could.

Finally, Rumble managed to squeak out, “We really need to get someone who knows what they’re looking at down here.”

Apple Bloom wordlessly nodded before swallowing. She tore herself out of her reverie, though not without some internal complaining, and brought her mind back to Earth.

“Y-yeah… so, the center of the room.”

Rumble snapped to attention. “Yeah. The bit.”

They returned to the scene identified by the Star Swirl glances. A feeling of trepidation settled over the ponies.

“Soooooo…” Apple Bloom uttered.

“What do we do?” Rumble asked.

Apple Bloom thought for a second. What are we missing?

Rumble extended a shaking hoof. He looked at his partner, who nodded.

“Go for it.”

Rumble stepped on the coin case. He waited a few seconds with his hoof on the coin. When it became clear nothing was happening, he groaned and stomped his hoof in the same place. Still nothing happened.

“Well, that was a dud,” he said.

He removed his hoof and set it down. As soon as hoof met earth, the world began to tremble.

“Whoa!” Apple Bloom shrieked.

The coin in the middle of the room began lifting up out of the earth. It illuminated with a pale gray sheen, transcending material presence as it passed through the glass. It ascended a couple more feet until it was eye-level with an adult pony.

I don’t think Star Swirl expected foals to find this, Apple Bloom thought.

A high sound like a sword being unsheathed echoed through the room. The coin shattered, setting the room ablaze with green luminescence. The sources were multiple, to the point that there were no shadows when the fragments were spread out, even among the cobblestones on the floor. For a period totalling five seconds, the gems held their positions, allowing Apple Bloom and Rumble a brief period of awe at the tiny glowing fragments. Some fragments began moving in a slow circle. Others began moving faster. A few moved one way. A few moved another. Soon, they were encased in a giant magical bubble, created out of swirling gems. As they looked around, they saw the walls begin to rise. The bubble and the platform sunk below the earth, then shifted left and shot forward.

Apple Bloom and Rumble quickly forgot about their problem as the platform seemed to move the universe around them, rather than moving them directly. Soon, they found themselves slowing down as they approached the moon.

“Whoa!” Rumble exclaimed.

Apple Bloom could do little more than glance around, a shocked expression on her face.

The platform then accelerated.

Apple Bloom grimaced. “Is it…”

The ground grew closer.

Rumble swallowed. “Yup.”

The platform rocketed straight for the surface.

“It is!” Apple Bloom shrieked.

Both foals screamed.