A sudden blast of freezing cold air swept stealthily throughout the empty hollowed out earth, twisting and turning, causing a certain frustrated mare to shudder. Starlight quivered at the mere sound of the wind as it whistled throughout the tunnels, creating a haunting melody that resembled a choir of whispers, the strange orchestra chilling her to the very core and something she'd rather soon forget. Usually the strong willed unicorn could cope easily with a gusty wind or icy cold chill but today was not one of those days. Today was a day unlike any other. Today was the day everything had changed. Today was the day they came. Today was the day they ruined it all. Today was the day they tore her world asunder, and it was today she found herself helplessly lost in a maze of stone and ice.
"You've got to be kidding me! Even more tunnels!" The angry mare hissed, particularly salty at the dark caverns that stretched out before her. The immense lack of any form of natural light was now really starting to get to her as she peered into the large expanse of darkness. What'd she give to just see a sliver of natural sunlight shimmer around the next corner.
"And just when I was starting to get bored as well" She moaned, dragging her hooves through the dirt for what felt like the billionth time. The experience just as exhilarating as it was an hour ago.
"Hah! I just can't wait to see what's round this corner!" She exclaimed, rolling her eyes as she rounded a solid granite wall to be faced with even more twisting tunnels. "Well can't say I'm not surprised..." She snorted, twisting her face in disgust.
"Seriously...." She sighed, looking down at the winding passages and glaring. "Who in their sane mind built a place like this? It just makes no sense!" She stomped, sending thick particles of dust and grit in the air, causing her to cough and splutter, just fueling her furiosity even further.
"Tunnels that lead to seemingly dead-ends! Pathways that go in circles! Labyrinths that have no beginning and no end! Who was this mad pony that dug this hole out so I can strangle them!" Starlight screamed, panting out of breath as she vented out her rage.
It took her a few minutes to calm down and compose herself again, but deep down she had a nagging feeling that the real mad pony was the one that chose to enter these caves, evening knowing of the dangers. "At least it can't get any worse than thi-" She sighed before stepping into a murky sticky puddle. ".....Great....."
She had always known this was going to be a bad idea from the start, but of course her arrogance would never allow her to admit that. She knew only a few good reasons to why any sane pony would ever enter these caves, and even then, she recalled that even fewer actually made it out.
As she walked through the seemingly never ending darkness she tried to picture happier days when she was just but an innocent little filly, a last ditch effort to try and do something to lighten up the eerie atmosphere that surrounded her. Funnily enough though she couldn't help but smile a little, remembering sweet days long gone by as she pictured herself running through open fields, laughing and playing with the other kids from her small village. The ponies she once knew and loved, waving and welcoming her with warm open arms. Cheerful images reminding her of the sweet scent of the lush poppy fields that surrounded her house.
She frowned a little, missing how they'd always stay up to the latest of hours, each of them gathered around a roaring fire, lying down on their backs and watching the stars soar across the night's sky before telling each other spooky stories about unfortunate ponies who entered these caves but could never find their way out, their ghosts still haunting the very tunnels she now found herself wandering around in, always on the lookout for weary travelers to spirit off into the night. Unsurprisingly enough; they were definitely not helping to calm her nerves now. Deep down she had always found those stories silly, but never did she think somepony's dark fantasy would become her morbid reality.
But looking back on it what other choice had she? Those stupid fools she had once called friends had forced her hoof, and now her whole world lay in ruins. Her years of hard work and sacrifice wasted, her image of a utopia toppled. And her only home abandoned. She snarled, her smile fading away along with her memories, now she found herself fumbling about in the dark, only her echo to keep her company as she tried to hang onto the last sliver of hope and sanity she had left.
"Damn idiots, all of them! Couldn't they see the favor I was doing them all! The Pink mare hissed. Her voice bouncing off the wet rock that surrounded her and coming straight back.
"Without me...Without me they'll all be miserable! Every single one of them!" She spat, her horn flaring up and sparking as she lit up the dark serpentine tunnels in a greenish glow. "Couldn't they see that without their idiotic cutie marks equality could blossom, with me being in charge of course, but no! That stuck up princess just had to show up with her band of stuttering imbeciles!"
"If I ever get out of these stupid caves I'll make sure they spend the rest of their lives in this abyss!" She screamed as a nearby rock was suddenly enveloped in a green aura and smashed against a wall, pulverizing it completely. She was panting furiously now, a wicked and twisted smile forming on her face as she pictured locking away that lying yellow pegasus and throwing away the key. Just the thought of it making her feel that much better. It took her a moment to realize however, if she kept breaking down like this she'd end up going insane. Or worse... The image sending a cold shiver down her spine.
"Come on Starlight, get a hold of yourself, this isn't the time to be breaking down" The exhausted mare sighed, chastising herself before slumping against the rocky walls in exhaustion and hanging her head between her legs. The dusty ground not making that much of a good resting spot but it was either that or cold pointy rocks to sit on.
"But what if I don't make it out of here...What if this is the end of me!" She stammered, her bottom lip giving way and tears starting to cloud her vision.
"I-I-I, I Don't want to die here...." She cried, hugging her legs. The warmth reminding her of the home she once had...and the ponies she once knew. The image of them now just making her feel cold,angry and alone.
"S-Stop it you stupid mare" She sniffed to herself as picked herself up.
"Crying like this is just gonna get you killed quicker" she stammered, looking around the green lit corridors for some sign of a way out. Unaware that somepony, or 'something' was watching her every move with a keen interest, something it had not done for a very, long time.
"If I just keep moving, I'm bound to find my way out eventually" she kept telling herself, Smiling away as she tried to keep her spirits as high as possible, this would have been easier however if she had not stepped on something extremely pointy, causing her to yelp in pain.
"Aaaahhh! What in Equestria!" She shouted in fury before looking down and suddenly having to stop mid-sentence. Awe struck at what she saw between her hooves. From the ground a single small black crystal grew. A faint red glow emanating from it.
"W-What is...this?" Starlight wondered out loud. Watching as the small crystalline structure began to pulse with a red vigor.
She only starred at it for what seemed like a moment, but something seemed amiss. It was, strange, almost as if a soothing wave of heat was running through her body. She couldn't quite place it but it felt as if this small crystal was talking to her. Calling her name. Reaching out to her. She couldn't tell if this was just her imagination playing tricks on her, or if her thoughts were even her thoughts, everything just seemed, fuzzy... Without even thinking and without her own reasoning she decided to try and envelope the crystal with her own magic. This however only seemed to make it pulse with even more furiosity than before. The rapid red glow pulsing and beating even stronger now, lighting up the tunnel in a red glimmer, whilst strange cracking and snapping sounds could be heard emanating from the mysterious crystal.
Without warning the small crystal suddenly burst forward, cracking and snapping as it charged towards her, it's red glow now pulsing like wild fire as it grew. Instinctively she closed her eyes and turned away, suspecting the worst and trying to protect herself. Then came the silence. For a few moments everything seemed to slow down, Her sense of sound and smell amplifying tenfold. She had always heard this phenomenon happened when a pony was put under extreme stress or was about to die but she never actually believed it. She listened all around her, to the sound of the water dripping and cascading down the sides of the caverns stony stalagmites, slowly echoing off the walls and bouncing back to her, She listened to her still breath starting to slowly match the pace of her heart as it beat slower and slower. She listened to the sound of the small beetle scurry across the rocky floor, looking for some form of sustenance, an immense sense of peace flooding over her. Slowly however she realized she had been standing there for a good few minutes, now listening to herself breathing and once her heart rate had started to regain it's normal pace she slowly started to peak one eye open. The sight that greeted her was definitely not one she was expecting.
The once small little crystal had grown to a height to match even her own. She glared her eyes at this thing studying the strange structure for a second before trying to figure out just what in Equestria had just happened, but something about the crystal caught her attention, it seemed...off. At first she put it down to the fact that a giant crystal had just shot randomly out of the ground, but something still didn't seem right. Something felt misplaced. It wasn't till she started to circle around the crystal that she finally noticed the difference. The crystal was now as reflective as a finely polished Canteronian mirror. Every sharp face on it's glassy surface portrayed the environment around her in a red haze. The face she knew when she looked into the crystal felt completely different from her own, almost as if somepony or something else was staring straight back at her. It was about then she realized the reflection wasn't just staring back at her, it was smiling back at her.
Starlight's heart sank deep into her chest, her legs frozen in complete fear as she looked into the eyes of a face that was not her own. Her mind racing, trying to make sense of the current situation. Without even thinking she suddenly screamed, trying to back away from the entity, but catching her hoof on a fallen rock and falling back onto her rump, closing her eyes and stumbling away from the dark crystal as it began to snap and crack again. Hesitantly upon opening her eyes, she now found her reflection was back to normal, but the crystal had changed again. It now was crooked to one side, almost as if pointing. It's tip now ever sharper, If she'd not been completely petrified she could have sworn she heard something laugh as she fell over, but she couldn't be sure, her spinning head wouldn't allow that.
"W-What do you want from me!" Starlight stammered, rising back up onto her hooves and regaining some of her confidence again. Unsurprisingly enough the crystal did not reply.
"I said! What do you want from me you stupid crystal!" She now shouted, angry at this thing for embarrassing her and making her cower in fear. Without warning she charged her horn, filling it full of magic and shot it at the crystal. A huge blast of energy engulfing it in light and scorching the ground and walls around it, creating a large dust cloud. As the dust cleared Starlight panted, a grin slowly forming on her face and a bead of sweat rolling down her brow as she expected nothing more than a smoldering pile of glass to be left after that display of power, what she had not expected was to see the crystal perfectly intact. It having seemingly channeled her very magic energy into itself, dissipating it proportionally as to absorb the force of the blast, and was now glowing even more furiously. In a split second, the now crooked crystal channeled it's surplus of energy to it's jagged and toothed tip, shooting out a beam of dark red energy.
Starlight's eyes widened in shock as she just ducked just in the split of time, narrowly avoiding being hit by the fast moving beam. The little display now making her see a whole new shade of red. No pun intended.
"YOU STUPID CRYSTAL, I'LL DESTROY YOU, YOU USELESS CHUNK OF ROC-!" Starlight screamed in anger having being bested by an inanimate object but having to stop at the sight that lay before her. The once dark cave she had found herself wondering about in for who knows how many hours had been completely transformed. Along every wall, every crevice and every crack, dark crystals grew rapidly from them, sharp snapping and cracking sounds resonating throughout the entire cave system. The original dark crystal that had given her so much bother now acted almost as a beacon, sending a constant beam of red light into a crystal which then sent two more beams of light out, hitting other crystals and before long the whole cave was lit up in a bright ruby red glow.
"What is this place?" Starlight wondered as she moved through the now lit cave. Various shapes and sizes of crystals decorating It's walls. Before long the once granite cave was now completely engulfed in a case of crystal. "Did I do this?" She said out loud, turning to face the original dark crystal that now acted as a beacon and receiver for the rest of the cave, but behind it the other passageway was left bare and dark, not a single crystal grew on it's surface and the original granite still sat strong reminding her of the maze like tunnels she had been wondering around in for hours. Almost as a warning not to go that way, and follow on down it's path, Starlight hesitantly decided to follow on down the newly created crystal path. She wasn't happy about it of course but walking around in a glowing red cave was better than walking about in a dark dank cave. But not by much.
"Okay, okay, so let's get this straight. I'm definitely not insane, but I'm walking down a glowing crystal cave that can suddenly appear from thin air. Either I AM insane or...or...I'm....I've got nothing..." Starlight sighed, shaking her head and deciding to trek on. "At least it's a change in scenery! A creepy change in scenery, but a change in scenery none the less!" She joked trying to find some humor in her bleak situation.
As Starlight found her way through the crystal cave she couldn't help but shake the sensation that something was keeping a very close eye on her, observing her every movement and noting her behavior carefully. She shrugged it off however, putting it down to her racked nerves and the surreality of the situation she now found herself in. Like how many other ponies can say they've ever seen a giant crystal shoot out from the ground and fire a beam of energy. Not many, she thought, but still, the sensation was just, there. Sadly however her little day dream was abruptly interrupted as she felt her little nose come into contact with the hard glass like surface of a crystal wall.
"Hmmmnn...who put this wall here!" Starlight moaned, rubbing her snout as she sat on her rump, looking up at a large crystal dead end. "W-Wait this can't be the end!" She stammered, giggling nervously to herself. "I just took a wrong turn, right!" She panicked, trying to calm herself down but her efforts were in vain as she turned around just to see the tunnel she had already came from.
"No....Haha...this is a joke right? WHERE'S THE EXIT!" Starlight shouted, her voice echoing and bouncing down the empty, cold crystal halls, signifying just how alone and isolated she really was here. Her two front hooves were twitching uncomfortably now, grinding into the floor.
"Right, just think for a second Starlight, If this cave has shown me anything it's that these crystals aren't just so simple" The pink mare thought to herself, trying to salvage what seemed like a bleak situation and scanning around the dead end for some sign of a way out, or an indication that there was more than meets the eye, but nothing seemed to catch her attention. In every direction the thick walls of red crystals surrounded her, each one glowing with it's own unique red aura, And then there was the dead end. The dead end that should have been glowing red. The dead end that should have had red hazy crystals. The dead end that had crystals as black as the nights sky stretching out of it. The dead end that wasn't just a dead end after all. Starlight's eyes suddenly widened in realization at what she was seeing. It wasn't a dead end. It was a door. A massive, giant black crystal door, but a door none the less. The only question was to how to open it? Her eyes darted around it's glassy surface but she couldn't see any form of keyhole, or handle. Just a giant ominous door. Which raised the question just what on Equestria was inside? Who'd put a door in the middle of a labyrinth? Why'd somepony go to so much effort to make sure nopony got inside? Or outside...The thought causing her to shiver a little.
"Okay, It's now or never..." She grinned wickedly deciding to just wing it as she spread all four legs eveningly apart and hunched down closer to the ground, giving her a better grip and raising her head. "Come on, this worked last time!" She shouted as her horn flared to life, sparking and burning with a vast amount of untapped magical energy. The sheer amount of pressure, causing a ring of green light to form around her as she started to channel it towards the door, wisps of energy rising up all around her. Without warning or hesitation she released it, a solid beam of pure unicorn magic glassed the surface of the crystal door and heated it up to the very core, and pushing her physical limits to their edge, but she wouldn't stop. She couldn't stop. Even if it killed her. It was now or never. Either this door gave way or she'd end up wandering around in the dark for the rest of her life, and she would not let that happen. She would not just become somepony to disappear into the night, never to be heard of again and nopony to mourn that she was gone. With one final push she forced herself to breaking point, firing her last torrent of energy into the door, increasing her beam to a near unheard of size that would equal even the most of gifted Unicorn mages. Then she heard it. The most beautiful sound she'd ever heard in her life. Suddenly the crystal door started to crack, splintering in various place before caving in on itself, sending a thick wave of black smoke throughout the cave. Starlight quickly turned away to shield her eyes from the dark cloud.
"Crystals-0, Starlight-1" Starlight coughed, trying to avoid inhaling the dust as the sound of small crystal fragments smashing all around her filled the tunnels. Slowly the dust started to dissipate, leaving Starlight to venture on ahead. The once mighty black crystal door now lay in pieces on the ground, shattered to oblivion. Wisps of black smoldering smoke still rising from the recently scorched crystals but it didn't appear to be because they had just recently been scorched. No. It was almost as if this 'smoke' was escaping from the crystals themselves. Slightly puzzled by this sight but not wanting to dwell on it and waste anymore time Starlight hopped over the charred remains and entered the room behind the door. The room behind the door that would change her life forever...
And so it begins my little pony.... A voice boomed through out the empty halls, It's menacing laughter echoing and never ending.
