The Mirror-Stone Wasteland

Chapter 04

“Sister are you sure you should have let her go?”

“Yes, Luna this has to be done. She must go or else everything shall fail?”

“Yes, but are you sure she is ready?” How are you sure that she is the one for this role?”

“I am quite sure my sister. I was sure of it before I began to mentor her.”

-A conversation between Celestia and Luna on the day of Twilight’s departure.

The ring of a loud explosion woke the Alicorn up from her slumber. The Orthros awoke as well who began to bark as the room vibrated. Seconds later a sharp screeching sound began to resonate off the walls. Trixie’s alarm spell must have been triggered, meaning that the stability of the tunnel had been compromised somewhere.

“We need to leave.” Twilight told the Orthros as she telekinetically grabbed her saddle bags and placed them on her back. She opened the door and immediately ran toward the exit tunnel the Orthros in tow. They ran down the tunnel but had to stop because the door to the main tunnel was jammed.

The princess could hear voices on the other side of the door. No doubt they were members of the excavation team trying to clear away the rubble from the cave in blocking the door.

“Hello!” Twilight called out, “can any pony hear me?”

“Princess,” A voice spoke from the other side, “is everything okay? Are you alright?”

“We’re fine,” Twilight yelled back, “What happened?”

“The explosives went off prematurely on their way to the main chamber," The voice replied, “It seems that the passageway to Queen Sapphire’s chamber as well as to the sleeping quarters has been closed off. We also have reason to believe that there are ponies trapped within. Possibly even injured.”

Hearing this, the princess came to the realization that the ponies were trapped on the same side she was. Some of them might be injured and in need of her help.

“I will attempt to find those ponies. Okay. Just keep digging at the rock.” Twilight called out. There were no sounds of objection as Twilight went back to her room to grab the map and the first aid kit. Then she and the Orthros left the VIP sleeping quarters. The princess went through the excavation/recovery team quarters to check and see if anyone was there. The search ended quickly due to there being no ponies in the quarters. Thus Twilight decided to check the tunnel to see if she could gain access to Queen Sapphire’s Chambers.

“Help!”

Twilight heard a weak cry deeper in the tunnel. Immediately the Orthros ran down the tunnel towards the source of the call. As she neared the princess spotted a place where a portion of the tunnel wall had broken free. A recovery pony lay on the ground with one of her hind legs trapped underneath the rubble of the fallen wall. The Orthros stood beside the pony barking to attract Twilight’s attention.

Using her telekinesis Twilight lifted the rocks off of the poor mare’s leg. Opening the first-aid kit the princess pulled out some bandages as well as a splint to hold the mare’s broken leg in place. Twilight then cast a spell that would allow the leg to heal more quickly. Now she could have healed to leg entirely however doing so would require a lot more energy, which Twilight might need to spend on other deadlier wounds she might came across.

“Thank you.” The recovery mare said, as Twilight helped her to stand up.

“No problem,” Twilight pointed down the tunnel from which she had come, “go to the VIP sleeping quarters. Back there are some ponies trying to clear the blockage.”

Watching the recovery pony go Twilight turned toward the Orthros who sat on its honches panting. Twilight examined the Orthros a little bit before speaking, “Sorry for the lack of imagination here but I think I will call you… Browney.”

The Orthros merely responded by cocking both its heads and raising both of their left ears.

Another five minutes passed as Twilight moved through the tunnel toward Queen Sapphire’s chamber. Piles of rock made traversing the tunnel difficult but soon she was out staring at the large chamber interior. Looking around the princess was surprised that there were not any ponies trapped here. Twilight thought she saw a shape lying by Queen Sapphire’s statue, like an injured pony laying on its side. The pony’s body was covered in a dirty robe.

“Hello.” Twilight spoke as she neared the pony on the ground. It was then that Twilight realized that Browney wasn’t beside her. Where had the Orthros gone? As she contemplated this, the princess heard a chuckling sound off to her right. She looked but didn’t spot anything, at least not at first. There was something being reflected off of the mirror-stone wall, something that wasn’t supposed to be there.

In the reflection a black colt looked back at her with red eyes. It resembled a unicorn but there was something strange with its horn. Behind the filly stood a misshapen Alicorn looking back at Twilight with the same red eyes.

“What do you want?” Twilight yelled at the two reflections. However they just kept on laughing at her. Then suddenly the laughing stopped and the two reflections turned their attention to something else. It was then that the princess heard movement behind her.

Twilight turned to see the robed body on the ground rise to its full height. It was then that the princess realized it wasn’t a pony at all but something else altogether. It stood on two legs, its nails clicking against the stone floor. Under its hood a white face stared back at Twilight. A ceramic pony doll’s face looked back at the princess, however both of the doll’s eyes and its lower jaw were missing. Instead two canine eyes looked back at her with saliva dripping from sharp doggy teeth.

Twilight screamed as the robed abomination lunged at her. It violently dug its teeth into her neck and began to shack her in an attempt to break her neck.

Seconds later the princess opened her eyes to realize that it wasn’t the monster that was shaking her but instead a couple of the excavation ponies trying to wake her. She lay on the chamber floor next to the statue of Queen Sapphire, where she had stood moments ago.

“Your highness, are you alright!” Jerrode asked a worried expression on his face. Browney sat beside him looking at Twilight nervously.

“What happened?” The startled Alicorn asked, “What is going on?”

“Some of the ponies here say that about an hour ago you just walked into this chamber,” Jerrode spoke while examining Twilight for any injuries she might have sustained, “They say it was like you were sleep walking. Then you walked up to the statue and suddenly collapsed. When one of the excavation ponies came over and tried to wake you, you just started screaming and flailing your arms.”

“Where… where did it go?” Twilight asked, frantically looking about the room.

“What? What are you referring to?” Jerrode inquired.

Twilight thought back to the creature. Despite what the face looked like she had been able to recognize a portion of its body structure through the dirty robes. A creature she had seen a few years ago in an underground tunnel system.

“Diamond… dog.”

After a few minutes Twilight was able to calm down. Both she and Jerrode came to the conclusion that something in the tunnels must have subconsciously reminded Twilight of the time her friend Rarity had been kidnapped by the diamond dogs for the purpose of gem mining. When attempting to rescue her Twilight and the rest of her friends had wound up being captured by the hounds.

However this didn’t explain the strange mask the creature had worn or the two reflections Twilight had seen. Trixie arrived some time shortly, she had been aiding the other ponies with the removal of the fallen cave wall.

“Twilight what were you doing in this chamber? Why did you come here after the explosion?” Trixie asked.

“The door to the main tunnel had been blocked off by the cave in,” Twilight replied, “Thus instead of waiting to be rescued I figured I would search and see if there was anyone in this chamber that might be a trapped and in need of my help.”

Twilight told the other two ponies about the events leading up to this including the voice on the other side of the blocked door. After she finished speaking Twilight noticed that both Jerrode and Trixie were looking back at her with shocked expressions.

“What? What is wrong?” Twilight asked, perplexed by their bizarre expressions.

“Twilight,” Trixie was the first to speak, “Your door wasn’t blocked by the cave in. The collapse happened further down the tunnel closer to the Queen Sapphire’s chamber. You should have been able to leave for the safety of the surface.”

This didn’t make any sense. Was Trixie telling Twilight that she could have left at any point in time? But the door was blocked, wasn’t it? Was the voice on the other side of the door a subconscious delusion?

“But… but what about the mare was I found injured in the tunnel?”

“She was indeed injured,” Jerrode replied, “but she is fine now thanks to the first-aid you applied to her. Once you bandaged her up she was able to find her way back to the surface. The mare says she wouldn’t have made it if it were not for your help.”

Twilight signed. It was a relief to know that it wasn’t all just one strange dream. But then what did really happen? Surely the door being blocked had been a hallucination. Had something or some pony been intentionally holding the door closed and if so… why? What could this mean?

“Twilight you look tired,” Trixie spoke, “maybe we should head back to the Obelisk. If anything here is discovered then Jerrode can give you a full report later.”

Jerrode nodded. Thus Trixie, Twilight and her guards ascended back up the tunnel system to the surface. As they neared the entrance Twilight could see the rays of the sun shining through the sewer entrance. It was so bright that the group had to shield their eyes to allow for their vision to adjust. Coming out of the sewer system the princess was greeted by Fire-Stride.

“Good afternoon your majesty,” Fire Stride spoke, “How is the exploration going on down there?”

“There was a cave in but aside from that everything else went well.” Twilight replied not really wanting to do into detail about the endeavor she went through in Queen Sapphire’s chamber.

“Yes, I heard something about that!” Fire Stride said while turning to glare at Trixie.

“Hey!” Trixie yelled, “Don’t look at me like that. It was the excavation team’s explosives that caused the cave in. Also when the explosion went off my warning spell alerted every pony just like I said it would!”

There was a long pause before Fire Stride turned to address the princess, “Well, if your majesty is unharmed I suppose I can forgive this matter.”

“Forgive!” Trixie yelled again, “What do you mean FORGIVE!”

“The matter that you put the princess’s life in jeopardy,” Fire Stride retorted, “After all NOPONY told me that there were going to be explosives used! If I had known I would have stayed and had one of the other royal guards address the issue that had called away my attention!”

“What was the matter that called for your attention?” Twilight asked, both out of curiosity and in an attempt to defuse the argument the two ponies were having.

“There was an intruder spotted a few miles from this location. Thus I went to check and see if this intruder was a threat.”

“I bet it was probably some local that had just made a wrong turn and was lost,” Trixie said her tone still indicating her irritation with the royal guard pony, “Wouldn’t be too surprising seeing as new citizens are starting to come Twilight’s new kingdom.”

Fire Stride’s eyes narrowed again, and Twilight waved for him to continue.

“First this ‘local’ as it were was able to successful dispatch an entire squadron of guards,” Fire Stride spoke in a dead serious manner, “and second the intruder wasn’t a pony.”

“What?” Trixie asked, now it was her turn to be serious, “What would have the ability to do that?”

“Did anyone get a good look at the intruder,” Twilight inquired, “What did it look like.”

“From the information I gathered from my squadron as well as the survivors of the injured squadron,” Fire Stride spoke, “The intruder had the shape of a diamond dog.”