It was just another day in Ponyville. The sun rose, the streets bustled. There were ponies everywhere, all working and enjoying the day. All of them except Rainbow Dash of course, who should have been clearing the light clouds for this spectacular.
“Hey Applejack, lets go to that new hole we found the other day,” Rainbow Dash said with excitement.
“Eh... Ah don’t know Rainbow. Ah got some work to do right now, and you should be clearing these clouds anyways.”
“Oh come on. This can all wait. The apples are just going to sit there, pick them tomorrow!”
“You still have to clear the clouds. Mah apples need tha sunlight ya know.”
“Fine, I will do it in 10 seconds flat. You just watch and see!” said a prideful Rainbow Dash.
She took off with great speed and began rounding up the small clouds into one great mass in the middle. She then flew straight into it, and the clouds all dispersed into a light mist, then into thin air. She then flew straight back to Applejack. Applejack got nervous at Rainbow charging her, and fearing a collision, began to turn and run.
Rainbow tackled Applejack to the ground in a great cloud of dust, laughing when the commotion ceased.
“An just what the hay did you do that for,” said a giggling Applejack.
“Well why not? Can’t we all have a little fun? Now let’s go to that hole we found and check out what’s in it!” Rainbow said in a renewed excitement.
The two girls got up and dusted themselves off. They looked at each other, smiled, and began walking towards Applejack’s barn. They walked into the barn, which door was wide open, and dropped off some bins full of apples.
Applejack closed the barn door without a word as Rainbow eyed her from behind, looking at her flank with a spark in her eyes. The two fillies then walked to the road out front of Applejack's house, and proceeded to walk away from Ponyville, towards the hills a short distance away.
“So what do ya think is in that hole?” questioned Applejack.
“Only fun, adventure, excitement, and maybe something else,” Rainbow said with a smirk.
“Well ah sure hope ah can make up for my missed work tomorrow. Ah couldn’t let my brother down so early in the harvest.”
“Please, we both know he can buck all of those trees alone.”
“Ah know, but ah still want to help. Ah have to run it all one day too ya know.”
With that, the two proceeded into a little cutout in the rocks. A few feet in they saw the hole. A medium sized black pit in the middle, seemingly endless.
As they approached the hole, they looked at each other in confusion.
“So how are we supposed to get in there?” asked Applejack.
“Well I was thinking I could fly down and you could be up here just in case.”
"Ah don’t know Rainbow, it seems a little dark.”
“Oh don’t worry. You know me, I can do it all alone.”
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and lifted off the ground. She hovered over to the hole, and began to methodically lower herself in, careful not to hit the walls of the hole with her wings. It was quiet a ways down to the bottom, and every foot seemed to grow darker. It felt like a hand of silence and black reached up from the pit to grab her and drag her down.
She pushed on despite the feeling in her gut. When she reached the bottom there was a scamper of rat feet. Rainbow jumped and stirred up some long settled dust on the ground.
Everything went dark. She couldn’t figure out what to do. She just couldn’t see anything around her. Maybe this is just a dream,she asked herself. Maybe none of this is real. There has to be something here. It can’t all be like this. A voice broke the thick blanket of silence.
“Hey, Rainbow! Where’d ya go? You alright down there?” yelled Applejack.
“I can’t see anything in here! Can you give me some light?” Rainbow replied in a quavering voice.
“Sure thing. Ah’ll have it in a jiffy!”
Rainbow was unsure of what she had gotten herself into. She frantically looked around her to see if there was anything. Nothing. The light from the surface didn’t even come halfway down the wall, but she was still determined to push on. “Why can’t Applejack go any faster?” she thought to herself.
“Hey! Applejack! You back yet?”
The mine wasn’t very far from Ponyville, yet it took Applejack a long time to get a source of light. Maybe it wasn’t that long, maybe the shroud of darkness was playing tricks on her.
“Hey! Rainbow! Ah got it!” echoed a voice from above.
“Yeah?”
“Even better. I got your light and a rope. I’m comin’ down with you!”
“Alright, but be careful. It will be hard to get out once we are done exploring this place.”
As Applejack lowered herself, Rainbow heard a noise to her left. She looked frantically around, but saw nothing, for it was pitch black. She let out a little whimper, but stayed strong. She couldn’t let Applejack know she was scared. “Please hurry,” whispered Rainbow Dash.
Just then another sound behind her. Louder now. Something dropped. Quickly a light flashed on blinding Rainbow.
“Ahhh!” she screamed in terror.
“Shhh Rainbow! It’s only me. Nothin’ else.” said Applejack in a rushed manner.
“What do ya think is down here? Some lost treasure or something?”
“I would hope so, otherwise this whole thing is just a waste of time.” replied Rainbow Dash with a new confidence, trying to make up for her scream.
“Well we better get searching then. Here, follow me Rainbow.”
The two friends walked towards part of an earthen wall. There had a small opening in it, just big enough for them to fit through.
“You go first,” said Rainbow.
“Haha! You scared of the dark Rainbow? Ah never took you for a chicken.”
“I am not scared of anything. It’s just that you have the light. That’s all!”
“Well then, how ‘bout Ah give you this light, and you lead the way? It was your idea after all ta come down here.”
“Ugh, alright. I will, but only because I know you would never set a hoof in there.”
Rainbow grabbed the light from Applejack and shined it into the opening. She hesitated for a moment then, mustering all her courage, plunged into the darkness. She searched for an end to the ‘hallway’ they were in, but she couldn’t see anything at the end.
“I don’t think this goes anywhere AJ.”
“Well how do ya know? Maybe it just sloped down and you cain’t see the exit.”
“I don’t think we should go too far from the exit though. It is getting later in the day. We should come back tomorrow with Twi and maybe she can help us figure out what is down here.”
“Ah think you’re just scared of what’s down this here hall. Maybe Ah should lead
because you cain’t seem to lead.” Applejack said with smirk.
“That isn’t it at all! You know I would walk through here all alone if I could. I just—“
“You’re just chicken” interrupted Applejack.
Rainbow let out a sign and turned back towards the darkness. “I am not going to let her think I am a coward.” She started moving forward again, this time with Applejack right behind her. She could feel Applejack’s breath of her back. She was so entranced by it she forgot to look where she was walking.
There was a loud noise and everything went black.
There was absolute silence. There was nothing to be heard. Applejack opened her eyes and look into a shroud of darkness. She sat there, listening for something, maybe the scuffling of Rainbow Dash, or the hoof steps of some other pony. She sat in fear, listening, hiding under the blanket of black.
She finally gained the courage to ask the black for her friend.
“Hay, Rainbow, you there?” came Applejack's wavering voice.
“Huh? Yeah, I’m here. You alright?” replied a voice from the darkness.
“Yeah, Ah am. What happened?”
“I don’t know.” said a distraught Rainbow Dash. She looked around into the darkness, hoping she could see something, but there was nothing.
“Hey, you got that light Applejack?”
“Oh, yeah, Ah almost forgot. It’s somewhere around here.”
Applejack moved her hooves around on the dirt floor, cautiously at first, then more erratic as she couldn’t find the light. She kept searching for it in her one place, but then got up and started moving. Her hooves made scraping noises as she rubbed dirt and sand into the stone underneath. There seemed to be an echoing quality to the scratches, but there was no actual echo.
“Ah cain’t seem to find the light RD. Any idea where it might be?”
Before Rainbow Dash could respond, Applejack's hoof came across Rainbows front hoof. Applejack held her hoof there for a moment, startled.
In a low, soft voice “I don’t think that’s the light.” said Rainbow Dash.
Applejack blushed, but the blackness covered everything. She continued to leave her hoof there, touching Rainbow’s hoof, and just look at the area of space where Rainbow’s voice came from. She sat perfectly still for what seemed like hours. She barely made a noise while breathing. Nothing went through her mind as she sat, entranced by the feeling of having somepony there.
Softly, “Hey, Applejack? You okay?”
Finally startled from her trance, “Uh, yeah, Ah am. Ah uh -- Ah cain’t find tha light.”
“Well keep looking.”
“Hay Rainbow, ah uh, Ah have been thinkin’ bout stuff. Ah-- Ah just wanted to say that-”
“Look, whatever it is, it can wait.” Finding the light, “Here I got the light. Let’s keep going.”
Rainbow Dash flicked on the light. The small room they were in became illuminated. Rainbow Dash panned the light over the walls until she came across Applejack.
“Hay! Watch where you point that thing!” Exclaimed Applejack.
“Sorry, I was only looking around for you,” apologized Rainbow. She then panned back across the room, revealing a small tunnel leading out of where their current room and into the next. “Why don’t we go explore more? We are already this far.”
“Eh, Ah don’t know RD. It could get more dangerous the further we go.”
“Don’t be such a wuss. You pushed me on, now it’s my turn to push you.”
“But Ah, uh, well -- Fine. We will go, but only a little more. Then we go back.”
Rainbow nodded in agreement and turned to walk into the newly found tunnel. She felt like there was something pulling her along as she walked towards it. She didn’t want to rush in as quickly as she did, but there was a nagging feeling that told her to. She walked right through the opening.
The walls opened up to a large cavern. There was a smooth floor with little puddles where water dripped into from massive stalactites above. The sound echoed throughout the cavern, about twice a second, all from different areas, but eventually coming from the walls themselves.
“Well would ya look at that,” Applejack mumbled.
The two ponies stood about halfway on a little overhang that looked out across the cavern. The light reflected off the mineral walls, and the stalactites shadowed the roof. The far wall was out of sight, and darkness stood between the two ponies and the end.
“Well I suggest that we get back now,” whispered Applejack.
“No, we need to go further in.”
Rainbow could still feel an urge to go further. She knew nothing good lay between the girls and the far wall, but she had to know what it was. The longer she stood there the more the feeling grew. She looked to her right at Applejack.
In a low voice, “I can’t do this without you. I need you to come with me.”
Applejack stared long at the cavern as Rainbow looked towards her, something calling to her, nagging her to delve deeper into the unknown.
“Rainbow, Ah just don’t know if we should. We may get hurt goin’ in there.”
Rainbow continued to look at Applejack. She sensed something was off, but she didn’t know what. She examined her mane, her neck, and her eyes, all barely illuminated by the faint glimmer of light being reflected off of the crystal structures. She noticed the features of Applejack’s face. She saw the frown of dismay as Applejack stared into the blackness, the uncertain eyes questioning what lay beyond, and the wrinkles in Applejack’s forehead, as Applejack waited for a reply.
Applejack looked over to Rainbow Dash, who just sat there, still deciphering Applejack’s feelings. Applejack looked upon Rainbow with the same questioning eyes. Neither of them said a word for a few minutes. They let the silence come over them, and the darkness loom around them, its march halted only by the faint rays of light, emanating from a small box, help up on Rainbow’s back.
After about five minutes, Rainbow opened her mouth to say something, but nothing could escape her dry mouth.
Applejack just stood there, looking on into Rainbow’s eyes until she finally opened her mouth to speak.
“Rainbow Dash, do ya ever wonder about me?”
Rainbow’s mouth opened again, only this time her head dropped down, and she looked at the ground in between her and Applejack. She whispered so softly Applejack didn’t understand her.
“What was that?” asked a soothing Applejack.
Finally speaking up, “I -- I just...”
Applejack hushed Rainbow.
“You don’t need to say. Ah understand.”
With that Rainbow looked up and locked eyes with Applejack. They stared into each others eyes, and even through them. They looked deep into each other. They both made a connection with each other, and they felt that the other had that same feeling. That same nagging that called to them. The voice of mystery calling from the pits of nothing.
They both nodded at each other only one, and then turned back towards the cavern. They both approached the steep ledge together in unison, and peered over. In one, deaft, choreographed movement, both ponies flew over the edge.
