The tragedy and the curse
150 years ago, Goldshack Mine, base of Canterlot Mountain
From the entrance of a mine at the base of Canterlot Mountain came a loud BANG and then a very large dust cloud came out after. Then the miners went back inside to continue on with their work. There were seven miners in total, not a large number, but even so they were doing a bang-up job. Their goal; gather as much gold as possible, and get paid as soon as possible by their employer, Mr. Goldshacks. The fore-mentioned pony was a large earth pony, quiet chubby,with blue eyes, with brown coat and black mane. He was wearing a black tux-like outfit, a large black top-hat, light brown pants with white going down their lenght and fancy black shoes and his cutiemark were three blocks of gold in a pile.
Goldshacks was a a very rich pony, one of the richest ponies in Equestria, because he always liked to employ others to mine gold for him all over the country. And when one mine was depleeted he would move on to the next one. But regarding his personality, he was extremely lazy, very greedy and didn't care one bit about the well-fare of his workers. The only thing he cared about was the gold.
Everyone in Equestria knew this and therefor only the desperate and/or the poor would work for him. Like I said earlier, he didn't care as long as he gets what he wants. And a lot of times he did, but not today.
As the dust cloud cleared off and the miners went back in, Goldshacks came out of his trailer-like carriage to inspect the situation, and to know about the noise.
"What in Sam hills is with all this racket!"-he yelled in a thick, southern accent, very much like the well renoned Apple family.
One of the miners, a unicorn mare, with gray fur and brown mane, with a pickaxe cutiemark and with green eyes went towards Goldshacks and explained-"That was just the sound of dynamite going off sir.There was a section of the mine that was blocking our way, so we had to blast it to get through."-said the mare, who's name was Silver Axe, and her boss didn't quiet seem relieved of the news.
"Well can't you do this whole...BLASTING quietly. I was having a very nice dream, until ya'll just woke me up with your...bing-bang-booms! Make sure it doesn't happen again."-after he was done, the fat pony went back to his work while Silver Axe didn't say a word, just glared at the back of her boss. Then she just turned around and went back to her work while muttering:
"Gold-brained idiot."-as she went back to a wagon, filled with rocks, an earth pony stallion, with black fur and gray mane with yellow eyes, with a triple-edged quarts cutiemark walk up to her with a smile and said:
"The boss giving you a hard time again?"-he asked as he playfully nudged his coworker and she just groaned and answered
"Yeah. This time he asked us to blast the mine silently so as to not disturb him from his work."-all the while she had a look of disgust while saying her complaint, then she continued-"I don't know how long I can keep up with this White Quarts. I mean, we keep working overtime, the boss is a lazy ass who only complains instead of showing some gratitude and the payment also sucks."
The stallion, now identified as White Quartz, just put his hand on his colligue's shoulder and said-"Hey come on. How many times did I tell you to not let all this get to ya?"-Silver Axe just looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he just continued-"Look, my point is, remember why you are here. You need that money for your family, remember?"
This kinda raised Silver Axe's spirits up a bit. She worked for Goldshacks longer then anyone did to get some bits for her family. This would be her last day working for that fart and that thought alone put a smile on her face. Seeing the reaction he wanted, White Quarts smiled too and said-"There, ya see? Always think on the bright side of things."-he then decided to help her with the wagon, 'cause it seemed quiet heavy, and then Silver Axe decided to ask him a question out of curiosity:
"Say White Quarts, I know why I'm here, and I know mostly why everypony else is here too, but...I never figured out why you're here."
"Hehehe, well the truth is, my old man wanted me to work somewhere, and I thought that if I work at a gold mine I would not only get payed but maybe I'd also swipe a few little pieces of gold too."-he said all that in a hush tone so his boss wouldn't know and then he added-"Listen, just...don't tell Goldshacks, alright?"
"*giggle*Cross my heart."-said Silver Axe
Before the two would part ways to do their own work, White Quarts decided to ask Silver Axe something that's been making him nervous since they started digging:
"Hey, Silver? This may sound like a stupid question, but...do you think the stories about this mine are true?"
"Urgh, Quarts not this nonsence again."
"Oh come on, you know them as well as I do. That a family of zebras were forced to work in this mine, just like us right now. And right before they died of starvation and ecsastion they put a curse on this place so that anypony who goes in there suffers a fate worst then death."-a chill ran up his spine when he finished, but Silver Axe just went up to him and gently pulled him closer to her by the neck of his uniform.
"White Quarts, listen closely, 'cause I'll only say this once: there is no such things as curses. Understand?"-she said dead-seriously and the black stallion could only nod 'yes'-"Good. Now get back to work. Or you'll never find any gold to swipe away."-she said the last part teasingly
Inside the mine, five ponies were working hard to find some gold. Luckily, after ten long minutes one of them found a little bit of the shiny yellow metal they were after. Then the others went to that spot and after five more minutes of digging they unearthed at least ten whole veins of gold in a single wall.
They began to cheer for their success, and their noise was herd outside by Silver Axe and White Quarts, the later running off to tell Goldshacks the news. But after just two minutes of cheering they started feeling a deep rumbling in the earth. The rumblings became bigger and bigger and chunks of rock was falling off the ceiling. That was when they realized that the mine was caving in and that they had to get out of here.
The two remaining workers outside and the fat richpony felt the rumbling too and saw rock falling off the mine ceiling inside. Then they aw the other workers, who were running as fast as their legs could carry them. Unfortunatly, they were too slow, and a part of the ceiling caved in, right in front of them. Then they stopped and tried to think of another way out, but then the rest of the ceiling fell on them as well.
The others outside heard the rest of the mine caving in and heard the heartbreaking cries of agony and pain from the others. Silver Axe wanted to go there and help them, but White Quarts held her back, saying that it's too dangerous. Then, as abruptly as it began, the rumbling stopped and the cries of the now-dead workers died down as well.
"Their dead...their dead..."-Silver Axe kept repeating as she started breaking down into tears. White Quarts hugged her, trying to comfort her.
Goldshacks just took a few steps forward, his eyes never leaving the mine's entrance (which became harder to see, doe to the thick dust cloud) and, without any shame, just said-"I can't believe it. The mine just...fell broke down...How in Equestria am Ah gonna get mah gold now?!"
Shocked by what Goldshacks just said, Silver Axe just went right up to his face, with a venomous, puffy eyed glare and said-"The gold? Is that all you care about?! Didn't you just notice that five ponies died just now?!"
Goldshacks was shocked that Silver Axe would talk to him that way so he just retorted, still without any shame (and apparently without any respect towards the men who died)-"Listen here you...I don't give a rat's ass about the workers. They are easily replaceble, my gold isn't! Now just shut up and find a way to-"-he couldn't finish because Silver Axe cut in:
"Oh, so is that it?! We're just...tools for you to use and then for you to just throw even into the mouth of a dragon once we're not useful to you anymore?! You know what? I quit and I'm gonna sue you for this you asshole!"-then she just stormed away without looking back
Goldshacks wanted to retort again and maybe even threaten her a little bit about the payment as well, but then he looked at White Quarts who had the same glare a his friend just had and just said in a low voice:
"She's right. You'd sacrifice even your own mother for that stupid gold of yours. Your greed is what kept you up so far, but it's over. Five innocent ponies died today because of you, and you're gonna pay for this. Me and Silver Axe will both make sure you'll go down."-and with that he just turned around and left.
And White Quarts was right: two weeks after the tragedy, both survivors told Princess Celestia herself what happened, and upon hearing this, she stripped Goldshacks of his nobility rank and took away all his gold. No one knows what happened to him after that.
After that they closed down the mine and renamed it Dead Pony Mine, in honor of those who perished there. But Equestria will soon discover that curses and the fraze 'restless spirits' will prove to be very real.
Author's Note
Hey guys, so this is was the prologue of my latest story. I really hope you guys will enjoy it and I'm hoping to make this story as awesome as possible for you guys.
Just a quick little spoiler, the next chapter will be in present day Equestria and the OCs that appeared here won't make an appearence in future chapters. Except for the monster.
Well that's just about it, so I'm gonna go now and will try to update soon, so...see you guys next time. Pace.
