Penumbra: Ponyture

Chapters

Prologue: Final Look
1 - Friends in the Wrong Places
2 - Silence is Paradise?

Prologue: Final Look

There are things I need of you. Things you may not understand, and may not wish to do, but please do not make the same mistakes I did.

It wasn't my fault, though. In my life I have learned many lessons that have led me to happiness, but none of them mattered the second that I took my first step down here. It was just the nature of us ponies that led me to disregard when I was asked...

...and it was the nature of us ponies that led me to my downfall.

"I love you twilight." My Father said.

It was strange, though. He looked absolutely nothing like what my father looked like. He wasn't the Fully Blue unicorn stallion that had raised me. He was brown, with a black mane. I understand that whenever somepony I know wanders itself into a dream of mine, they don't always appear like they do in real life, but this was different.

And these dreams have been going on for more than a month, now.

"Twilight!" A more childish voice exclaimed.

"Yes, Spike?" I asked.

"The funeral starts in just an hour." Spike said.

"Thank you Spike." I thanked the baby dragon, burying my head deeper inside of her pillows.

The sky was dark, mirroring the mood. Dark clouds gathered overhead, making the scene even more ominous. The ponies gathered to the graveyard. They took their seats and waited for the others to arrive. They were all dressed in black, and none were smiling today, some were even crying. The family sat in ornate ebony chairs, next to the coffin. The polished coffin decorated with flowers, suspended over a pit in which it would soon fall. They weren't happy either.

Shining Armor and I were both sitting in their chairs, mourning for their dear mother, Dazzle. the same was with Dazzles husband, Orion.

One by one the family members stood to the podium before Dazzles dead body, paying their final respects.

"She was the perfect aunt I could ask for"

"She was the wife I would always stick by, even in death"

"I never thought my mom would go like this"

"Dazzle always taught me to be brave and take a stand"

After everypony had finished what they had to say, the coffin dropped, and the two stallions shoveled dirt over the top. Dazzle would always be remembered in the Canterlot graves.

"Twilight!" Derpy said, coming down to greet the stressed unicorn.

"Hello, Derpy. How is your day?" I said greeting the ditzy mare.

"Well, Other than the news, It's been good." She stated.

"Well, Then that is good." I said.

"You have a letter!" Derpy stated, showing a small hint of being exited.

"Well then, Thank you for bring it to me." I said.

"No problem, Twilight!" Derpy said, Handing over the envelope, but dropping it. "Oh, I'm sorry." Derpy said, showing a hint of sadness.

"It's alright, Derpy." I said, accepting Derpy's seeing disability.

"Well, then I'll see you later, Twilight!" Derpy said, happily.

"I'll see you soon, Derpy!" I said, saying my goodbyes.

I opened up the envelope, and inside was a key, instructions, and pleas for forgiveness. I was not sure why this pony called... Solar Wind, would ask for forgiveness. After reading through the letters a bit more, I had deduced that this pony was my real father, or at the least, trying to pass as him. The directions were to go to Manehatten where there was a bank that I had never even heard of before. I was supposed to go into that bank, retrieve a number of items inside, and burn them. First, though, I thought that I could stop by my father, Orion's, house first and ask whether or not that he was my birth father.

Was Orion my father?: No..

There were details, but nothing has changed between the two since the day I was born aside from the knowledge that this was true. Orion was right by my mother, giving support, while Solar Wind was somewhere else. I was accepting Solar Winds apology, from the letters, but if I were to choose to save either one, I'd save Orion.

"Hey! Twilight!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed as Twilight was walking past her on the road.

"Why, hello there, Sweetie. How are you doing?" I asked, greeting the filly.

"I'm doing great! We were all dismissed from school for the summer, so I get to go on big adventures with my friends, like Applebloom, Scootaloo, and you!" She said

"I promise to bring you on the next adventure I go on, Sweetie belle." I assured her.

"Yay!!" Sweetie cheered in happiness.

"Now, I've got to go, Sweetie. I'll see you later." I said.

"Bye Twilight!" Sweetie said, waving her good friend goodbye.

I had booked a train ride to Manehatten. It was a three hour ride, where I thought of a number of things, such as how this was the first time I've actually contacted my father. It was so odd. My father had left my mother before I was even born... but according to this, I was declared the executor of this bank account he had created twenty years ago. To make things even stranger, the bank accounts executor wasn't labeled anything like "My Daughter" or "My Child." When he made this bank account, somewhere around the time that I was born, but after he left my mother, he labeled "Twilight Sparkle" as his executor.

Somehow, he also knew that I'd follow his directions.

As I walked through into the bank, it's teller greeted me:

"Are you that Twilight Sparkle girl?" The older stallion asked.

"Yes. I am." I replied

How did he know who I was?

"You look like your father when came in here to leave those things in his safety deposit box.." he said.

"Oh." I said, after he answered my question.

"You look younger than I would have thought. I'd be surprised if you were even as old as this box.." He stated.

"I was born the twenty fifth of this month, twenty years ago." I said.

"So you're birthday is two weeks from now. Wow. This account was made more than a month before you were born." He said. "Would you like to see what you were left?"

"Yes, please." I said.

I was slightly confused. How did he know exactly why I would be here, and why is he offering to give me everything in it. He walked back behind the wall and came out after just a moment, carrying a small wooden crate. He set it on the table, then proceeded to open it.

"Whoa." I said as he opened it to reveal a large book, and a collection of notes.

"Yep. Here's your stuff." he said.

"I'm sorry, but why do you say that these are mine? My father deposited all of this. I'm just an executor." I said.

"Your father was declared dead two decades ago." He said. "According to law, all of this has been yours for that long."

"Oh." I said, closing the crate and putting it on my back. "I will be going now, then. Thank you very much."

"You're most definitely welcome." He said.

I got back onto another train back to Ponyville. I wasn't going to go over any of my new belongings until I got home, so I just thought.

"Hi Twilight! How was Manehatten?" Spike asked.

"It was good. Anything happen while I was away?" I asked back.

"No. Ponyville became really uneventful after you left." He stated.

"At least nothing terrible happened." I said. Setting the box down on the table.

"What is that?" Spike asked.

"What my dad left me." I said, opening the top and taking the book out.

"Are you sure he's your dad?" Spike asked.

"I wasn't sure, until the bank teller said that I looked like the stallion that deposited these." I stated.

"Wow." Spike said, picking up the largest and most preserved note.

"Now let's see what this book is about.." I said, opening up the book to a million words unknown by somepony who spends many of her days reading.

"When does it say?" Spike asked.

"I- I'm honestly not sure." I informed him.

"Why?" Spike asked.

"I can't read this. I'm not sure if this is somehow written in a different language, or if it's in code, or what... I can't read this." I said baffled by what I saw, including maps and pictures of insects.

"Well you know what this says?" Spike asked, reading his note silently.

"What?" I asked.

"It wants you, in name, to burn everything here." Spike said.

"This doesn't make any sense." I stated.

"I mean... A pony who I never knew existed until just last week sends me a note claiming to be my father, and tells me to go to Manehatten to an odd bank where he labeled me, by name, as executor when I wasn't even born yet. Then when I go, I learn that he was declared dead around that time and get a book and- and.." I began.

I picked up a note and started reading it. It was hard to understand, but it talked about the boars and Boarean Tundra.

"- Leaving me a book and some odd little notes about his work, or whatever. Then asked me to burn it?" I finished.

"Why would he ask you to burn his work?" Spike asked.

"I don't know. Why couldn't he burn it himself. Instead of leaving it for somepony else to take care of?" I asked back showing that my fuse was shrinking.

"You could take it to Canterlot. Mr. Title could be able to decipher it." Spike suggested.

Mr Title was a Linguistics teacher at Celestias School for Gifted Unicorns. He was probably the best Linguistics teacher in all of Equestria. If anypony here could tell me what this book is about, or what these notes mean.

"I agree. I'll look into taking a Balloon to Canterlot tomorrow." I said. "Would you please send Celestia a letter informing her of my arrival?" I asked.

"I'll get onto it now." Spike said

"Thank you. After, get some sleep. I'm going to try to get some sleep as well before I go." I said.

I stepped into the office of my old Linguistics teacher. He was preparing to give a lecture later today.

"Twilight, I swear to Celestia. if you actually start talking in Vaporian, I'm just going to leave." he said, referring back to a time when I was in his class and stated that I would one day learn one of the hardest languages to study, one that even Mr. Title knew: The language of Vaporia.

"Egh favuul ragapatruck est rodea." I said, Improvising with Giberish.

"Wow. That almost sounded like you knew what you were talking about. he said.

We shared a small laugh, recalling on the happy times that we have shared in class.

"Ok, so why was it important that you saw me on a notice like this?"

"I have apparently inherited a book." I responded.

"Well then read it." He suggested.

"I can't understand any of it." I said.

"Oh. Well then let me have a look at it, then." he suggested.

"I just cannot understand it, but I must know." I said, laying the book on the table.

"I see." he said, opening the book to the first day.

"I just feel like I have to understand what it is. It's just bugging me so much." I said, observing him observe the inanimate object.

"Wow!" he lightly exclaimed.

"What? What does it say?" I asked.

"I have absolutely No idea. None of this is... I just don't know." He admitted.

"That can't be. you're the whole reason why this school is known throughout the entire continent for it's linguistics." I reminded him.

"I know, But this... This is absolutely Nothing. If I didn't know better, I'd say it would be Vaporian... But this doesn't even follow a lot of the rules of Language that Even Vaporian follows..." He explained.

"Darn." I said.

"I'd say it would be nothing but complete Gibberish, But... I just can't accept that. It just feels like this is talking about a specific topic." He said, turning pages.

Mr. Title was turning the pages, looking for any sense of how to speak, when he came across another note.

"Well... what is this?" He said, Opening it up.

"Probably another note." I said.

"You mean, there are more?" He asked.

"Oh yeah. you want to see them?" I questioned.

"I would love to see the rest of them." He admitted.

I pulled out a pile of letters out of my saddle bag. and laid them on the desk, the larger, more noticeable one stating to burn it all on top. Coincidentally, he picked that one up.

"And you looked at these notes?" He questioned, still on the larger one.

"Not all of them, But some." I said, admitting to not spend my time on them.

"You do know that your mother wanted you to burn these, right?" he said.

"It's not from my mother." I told him with a straight face.

"Oh. I'm sorry... I just figured.." He said, feeling awkward.

"It's okay. I understand." I said comforting him.

"But yeah. They wanted you to burn all of this." He said.

"I know. I did read that one." I admitted.

"Oh. Same old Twilight. If it's in a book. It must be read, Right?" He interrogated, putting the note down.

"Yeah, I guess." I said, chuckling again.

"This note talks about..." He started, picking up another letter.

"Yes?" I questioned.

"The Boars..." He said.

"Yeah. One I saw last night said something about the Boarean Tundra." I admitted.

"I'm guessing that your best bet would be to visit them. Maybe the Boarean Boars know what this says." Mr. Title suggested.

"Boars? I don't think this looks like their language." I stated.

"Well we only studied the language of the Boars of Boarder. I don't think that the nomadic Boars of the Tundra share the same language." Mr. Title shared, Picking up another note.

"Oh. So you think that I should go there?" I questioned.

"I believe so. But I would wait a while, first. This next month should be eventful for you, you know, your Birthday and all." He said, picking up another note to compare with the other one he's holding.

"I suppose you're right. But how am I suppose to find them?" I asked.

"I honestly have no idea. Those Boarean Boars are tough to keep track of." He said, putting both the notes down.

"How should I approach them. They are really aggressive." I said, reminding Mr. Title that the Boars were a Warlike Race that fought anything that they saw.

"Well I have heard the Nomadic tribes are more friendly, But I guess you're right." He admitted.

"Plus the Boarean Tundra is a harsh place." I put out.

"Yeah. I guess you would have some planning to do." He said.

"Yeah. I'm going to do a bit of planning." I said.

"May I keep these for a week, or so to see if I can find any more?" He asked.

"Sure." I said, Shrugging.

"Thank you. I will send it back to you tomorrow." He assured me.

"Thank you for giving me your time." I thanked him, walking out of his office.

The mood of the party was as bright as the streamers. The balloons were shiny, the food was sweet and tasty, and the ponies were having fun all around. My tree house hadn't been livelier since the day I came to town. Pinkie had really outdone herself. My house was practically glowing in the dark, with all the party lights illuminating the town.

I however, was not in the mood to party. Not for the reasons why I usually don't party as hard as others. I was still contemplating how to tell everypony I needed to leave. The amount of things I had to process was taking its toll on me, and I knew I couldn't tell them everything or they might want to 'help' me. I couldn't risk anyone else being around me for this.

I sat in my 'special' chair as all my friends came up and said kind things about me, and after they were done I would have to tell them.

"And because she sometimes gives me lessons, I hope I can be as good at magic as her someday!" Sweetie Belle said happily.

"Thank you Sweetie Belle." I said as I walked up to the makeshift stage. "Thank you all so much! This party is spectacular!" I said. Everypony talked happily for a few seconds before calming down.

"As a celebration of my birthday, I'm going to take a little personal vacation to the Boarean Tundra." This didn't go too well as some ponies let out sad 'awww's'

"Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." I said reassuringly.

"Can I come, Twilight?" Sweetie Belle piped up.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie, But I can't have you come." I told her.

"But, You said I could come along with you on your next adventure!" She pointed out.

"Sweetie, it's going to be long, cold, and boring. I'm there to study, not to play. I'm sure you'd rather have fun in the sun playing with your friends." I said convincingly "Besides, I really meant the next fun adventure. The longer you wait, the better it will be."

The party reverted back to it's original state. Everypony moved on, but the topic was avoided for the rest of the party.

I arrived in Stableside, it was a day before the boat I had been able to buy a ride was set to leave port. My friends came with me to say their goodbyes, and of course, Pinkie Pie had the wonderful Idea to throw me another Goodbye party.

It was fun, considering the occasion was seeing a friend for the last time for a few weeks, maybe months. Everypony was there... Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie (Of course), Spike, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. We all rented a house at the last second and spent the night together in Stableside.

When the morning arrived, I got up first. I prepared for the Boat ride. That alone was scheduled to take a week. I've packed a lot of thick clothes for my walk into the cold weather. I was able to look at a probable path that the Boars would be taking at this time of the year, but it was still a distance inland.

It is well known that the area is a home to a number of abandoned facilities and mines. The place was being colonized by multiple nations, until one faction started a conflict, then the boars drove everything out of the tundra, thankfully without conflict. If I needed a place to stay from the cold, that would be my best bet. The downside would be that it would still not be as warm as I wanted, and alongside with that, it would be dark inside there. I have also packed a lighter, for fire, a flashlight, for light, and a glow stick, for a backup, in case my flashlight battery runs out.

I figured that this was a rare occasion. The Boarean Tundra has been rarely visited in the past. Little is known now of the boars that Roam it. I figured I could learn more of them. Reading books were great, But learning first hand how a nearly lost society functions first hand seems amazing. I have packed a notebook to note anything important.

The only boat that I could get to take me into the area where I wanted to start looking was a fishing boat. They wouldn't have anything good to eat on there. I have brought satchel of my own food, but I'm going to save that for my actual journey into the tundra. It will take a couple of days to get to where I believe the boars would be, So I'm going to take that with me, Rationing myself just in case it takes longer.

As I walk through the house, I decide: My boat is probably getting ready to leave about now. I wouldn't want to wake all my friends up. For first, They stayed up late last night, celebrating one last time before I left. I wouldn't want to disturb them from their precious sleep. Secondly, If I woke them all up, they would spend so much time hugging me and wishing me best on my journey, I would be late.

I go down the steps to the ground level, where the Fillies are sleeping. They are sleeping together inside the queen sized bed, as I walk past, Sweetie Belle shifts in her sleep. I open the door as quietly as I can and walk out of the home. I close it and greet the sky. This is the last time I see the sky of Equestria before the first time I leave it.

The ship was a large, metal fishing boat. It was the size of a private yacht, but sadly it was missing the luxury of one.
it was floating of the side of a dock on the southern side of the port town of Stableside. For some reason, I believe that the start of this day may be the end of my time in Equestria.

"Are you that Sparkle girl?" a pony said, greeting me as I walked on a long, wooden board made as a bridge onto the fishing boat.

"Yes. Thank you for bringing me." I said, thanking him.

"It is no problem, Miss Sparkle. Now may I show you to your room?" he asked, moving to the side, letting me have more room to get past.

"Yes, thank you." I said, Thanking him for his kindness.

"You'll be staying just a floor down." He said, Directing me to the stairways.

"Will I be bunking with anypony?" I asked, concerned with what my situation will be for the next week.

"Well, since you are a mare, none of us thought that you would like to share a room with anypony else, So we actually moved one of our fishermen to another room for you." He said, Informing me on the situation.

"Well, then I thank you all for the thought." I said.

"It's no problem, but how do you plan on getting back?" He questioned.

"I know a teleport spell." I informed him.

"Then... Why don't you just use that spell to teleport into the tundra?" He questioned.

"I've never been outside Equestria. I can't teleport someplace I've never even seen." I said, telling him I could only teleport to places I have visited.

"Oh, I see. Well this is your cabin until we get to the tundra." he said, stopping at a door.

"Thank you very much." I said, thanking him for being so kind to me.

As I step into the room, I look around at it. It is small, with maybe eight square feet of space to walk around. Surrounding that space is a bunk bed, with a desk to the side of it, an actual desk, a few barrels, and a locker. at the foot of the bed was a small chest.

I placed my bags on the bed, and began to unpack. I put the sack containing all of the food into the chest. In the Bedside desk, I placed my flashlight, the locker, my glow stick, clothes and some batteries. On top of the desk, I put my journal, and myself, I places on the bottom bunk of my bed. Disregarding the youth of the day, I rest now.

Like the last apprentice, or heard of it? Or never heard of it? Hell. Even if you hate it...

CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CHECK IT OUT!!!

The last apprentice is the current project of the proofreader of this fic, and the writer of the Funeral and Party scenes.

His name is Cat4... General Cat4. (And these are his four side kicks: Major Woodie, Captain Obvious, Corporal Punishment and Private Part)

1 - Friends in the Wrong Places

I heard a knock on my door... I quickly raised myself from my bed, both confused and slightly scared. Why would somepony want to see me this late at night? Or early in the morning as you could see it.

It has been more than a week since we set out from Stableside to go south to the Boarean Tundra. We were well more than halfway there.

I got out of my bed and approached the door cautiously. I reached in front of me and opened it to a random sailor.

"Miss Sparkle?" He asked with a look of disappointment.

"Yes?" I said, both verifying I'm me and asking what he wants.

"Is this filly with you?" He questioned, moving a bit to the side to see a small filly with white filly with a purple and pink mane and sap green eyes.

I hesitated. I honestly cannot believe what I am seeing. I would believe this to be a dream if it all didn't feel so real.

"Yes. She is with me." I said, confirming his question.

"Please, miss Sparkle. It is dangerous to have such a young pony wandering so late at night." He warned.

"I understand. I will make sure she doesn't get caught outside of this cabin again." I assure him.

"Thank you. I apologize for interrupting your sleep." He said apologetically.

"It's alright." I said, assuring him no real harm was done.

He left and I closed the door behind him, I turned around to see the filly looking rather sorrowful

"Sweetie Belle." I said, trying to confirm the being in front of me.

"Yes, Twilight?" Sweetie said, assuming some form of punishment coming.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, mind blown on the current events.

"Well, I saw you sneaking out of the house, and you said I could come with you on your adventure." She said defending herself.

"But, Sweetie. I'm going to the Boarean Tundra. Do you have any idea how cold it can get there?" I questioned her.

"No?" Sweetie said, sounding intimidated.

"I'm sorry, but you can't come out there. Imagine what Rarity has been thinking for the past week." I said, moving towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Sweetie asked.

"I'm going to see the captain. Please, stay in here. Don't leave unless it's a major emergency." I commanded the filly.

I opened the door and stepped out into the hall to realize it as being too dark to traverse. I walked back inside and grabbed a flashlight. I should now be ready to find my way to the the captains cabin.

The ship was dark. It seemed to be a calm night, but the rocking of the ship was still noticeable. I honestly had no idea on how to get to the captains cabin. I decided to just walk down the narrow hallway. Hopefully I see somepony on patrol that can give me a general direction of where it is.

I took a left to the stairwell and I decided to go up. There had to be somepony patrolling the deck. Just after a few seconds of walking vertically, I made it to the next floor. I opened the door to an empty deck.

"Really? What kind of ship is this?" I asked myself.

I knew it was suppose to be a fishing boat, but I thought for a moment. I realized that I had seen no fishing equipment. No nets, nothing. I continued my search.

From the deck, I turned to my right and headed towards the back side of the ship. That general area was my best guess for where the captain would be. After a few steps though, I met a guard, who could possibly verify this.

"Hey! What are you doing up here?" He asked interrogating me as if I had done something wrong.

"I'm looking for the captain. Do you have any idea where he would be?" I asked in hopes of getting an answer

"He's sleeping at this time. You're going to have to wait until tomorrow. Now return to your room." He demanded from me.

"Are you sure there isn't any way that I could talk to him? I need to make a request." I informed him, hoping to get a different response.

"No. Now, please allow me to escort you back to your cabin." He requested, motioning towards me to give me company in my journey back under the deck.

The walk back down to my cabin was quick. I knew where to go. That, along with the guard that was pressuring me to move back down there. He wanted me there.

We both arrived back at the cabin and he nearly slammed the door behind me. I heard a click at it and I presumed that he locked me in here. I was a slight bit confused as to why he was so forceful. I had a simple question and he didn't even want me looking out of this cabin. I looked over at the bed and saw the intruding filly sleeping on the top bunk.

"Sweetie, we are going to have a talk in the morning." I whispered to myself while climbing back into my bunk. I laid my head down and I joined her in the art of dreaming.

"I love you Twilight."

*click* The door sounded.

It was a sign that the door was unlocked, and that I was free to roam out of my cabin, even though that aside from last night, my only ventures outside of my cabin were to the lavatories.

The filly above me groaned as she awoke herself. I rolled out of my bed and sat down at the desk, pulling out my notebook, which was almost empty. I started writing down what I could remember of the events last night.

"Twilight?" Sweetie Belle asked me, sounding mildly intimidated.

"Yes, Sweetie?" I responded, having an idea what the question was going to be about.

"Are you mad at me for coming with you?" She asked, confirming my theory on her questions topic.

"Sweetie. You shouldn't have tried to come with me. I'm going to a place where it's freezing cold. There is no way somepony as young as you could venture out there." I informed her.

"But why are you going there?" She asked, pushing the subject.

"Well, truthfully, I'm looking for answers to my father. My old teacher said that he might have something to do with the boars that live in the Boarean Tundra, so I'm taking a book to them that is probably written in their language." I said finishing up what I was writing in my Notebook.

"But doesn't your father live in Canterlot?" Sweetie asked in confusion.

"Oh. Orion isn't really my father, it seems." I informed her while putting my notebook back on the desk.

"Oh. then why don't you just find somepony to translate?" She said asking the same questions I had.

"Well my old teacher couldn't figure it out, but it is known that the boars that roam around the Iceland like nomads have a different language." I educated her on the boars of Boarean.

"Then How do you plan on talking to them if they speak a language so messed up?" Sweetie questioned further.

"I was taught a spell that allowed me to understand other ponies. It should work on any other Intelligent being, though." I answered, not completely sure whether or not my plan was flawed.

"And can I come?" Sweetie pushed.

"No." I answered.

"Aww... Why not?" She questioned with a tone of sadness.

"As i said before, it's really cold in the tundra. Besides, what does Rarity think of me taking you?" I questioned her, wondering if Rarity even knew that Sweetie was gone.

"Well... I don't think she knows...Where I went..." Sweetie belle admitted.

"Sweetie!" I complained.

"I'm sorry..." Sweetie apologized.

"Now Sweetie. I'm not even sure how far we are into the ocean, but I really need to go talk to the captain to ask if we can turn around to get you home as soon as possible." I said, getting up to set out on a new mission.

I walked to the door and quickly looked back at the filly who was still on the top bunk, head down and looking sad.

"Sorry Sweetie. Now stay here." I ordered her.

I walked out of my cabin and onto the stairwell. From there I made it to the deck of the ship. I quickly found a sailor.

"Hello, can you please help me find the captain of this ship?" I questioned him.

"Sure, miss. He's just this way." He said as he began walking back to the stairs.

"Thank you, sir." I thanked him, glad that this encounter was better than last nights.

We walked down the stairs two levels down, and one level below mine. This level had less lighting than the floor above, and the walk through the halls just felt a little awkward next to this sailor pony. I don't know why, it just felt that way. We eventually made it to the captains cabin after an eternity of walking and the sailor opened the door, which creaked loudly, screaming for some kind of lubricant. The sailor pony stepped to the side and allowed me in.

The room was pretty well decorated. Probably about three times the size of my small cabin, it had a queen sized bed on to my right and a desk to my left. On the left wall there were a large number of cabinets that I presumed held all sorts of food. Just to my left there were metal lockers. I couldn't really think of what could be in there, because the captains clothes had to be in that dresser that was by his bed. Straight in front of me was a large window that took up half the wall. It appeared very thick for protection against anything that might hit it on a wild and stormy night. On the other side of the window, some land could be seen.

"Miss?" The captain asked sitting in a chair in front of the window.

"Yes, captain, I have a quick request." I informed him

"Yes, what is it?" He asked.

"First, may I ask how far we are?" I asked, questioning our progression after seeing the land in the window.

"We are well in the Quiet Sea. That land you see through that window is the Boarean. We are about an hour away from your drop off point." He informed me.

"Oh. Well then may I ask how long it will take for you to return to Equestria?" I requested, wanting to know how long it might take for Sweetie to return to her family.

"Well I would say a good two more weeks." The captain estimated.

"Any way that could be sped up?" I requested.

"Please don't tell me you've decided to return to Equestria after all of this time at sea." The captain said, probably trying to be polite and concerning himself with my decision to go so far just to turn back.

"Oh no. It's just that, there was a little filly who had followed me onto this ship without me knowing, and she needs to return home as soon as possible." I informed him on the matters I have been facing recently.

"Oh...Well that is a large problem." The captain said, looking out the window to think about how to help this case.

"I was just wondering if you could try as hard as you could to get her back to Equestria as soon as you can." I requested again.

"Well, we are going to have to make a stop at an Island in the Tapirus republic... then to the Dragmire, Visiting those two locations are very important for us, and that will take another weak, then we'll get her home. Is that alright with you?" He questioned me.

"Well, It's a bit longer than I would have hoped for, but I guess it will do." I said, not wanting to turn my requests into demands.

"Now, she's going to be in your cabin for the rest of the trip, is that ok?" He questioned.

"Yes." I confirmed.

"Ok. We will check on her every day to make sure she's alright, and we will get her back to Equestria. Where would you like us to send her after we arrive?" He said requesting more directions.

"Please, if possible, contact a mare named Rarity who lives in Ponyville. If you can't get a hold of her, I guess just send her back to that town, she'll be able to find her own way from there." I informed him.

"Ok, thank you, miss." He thanked me.

"Thank you..." I thanked him back.

I left the cabin and transcended the dark hallway. I found my way to the stairwell and I climbed them back up to the floor I was staying on, I came back to my cabin to see the filly still lying on the bed where she was last seen.

"Ok, Sweetie?" I asked to make sure she was paying attention.

"Yes, Twilight?" She responded with a tone of sadness.

"You're going to have to wait here for the next two weeks. Somepony will check in with you every day to make sure you're alright. I'll leave you some of my food. When you get back to Equestria they will try to contact Rarity and depending on what happens, they might send you back to Ponyville on a carriage." I said, informing her on how the next couple weeks of her life were going to play out.

"Ugh..." She groaned.

"Now, we're almost to the point where I get off. I'm going to get ready and leave in about an hour." I said.

I walked up to my desk and picked up my Notebook. I turned around and opened the drawer in my bedside table. From there, I pick up my flashlight and the key to the locker. I place the flashlight in a saddle bag that's on top of the table and then walk over to the locker where I use the key to give myself access to my clothes, a glow stick, and some batteries for my flashlight. I took the batteries and the glow stick out and placed them in my saddle bag. I went back and too about half my clothes and wrapped them around me to give me as much warmth as I could get from them. I went back and threw my saddle bag on. I then walked over to the chest at the foot of my bed and took about four days worth of food. I would have taken more, but I would like to leave Sweetie Belle some food to eat.

I stepped out of my door and made my way to the deck. Traveling up the stairs was a slight bit difficult with multiple layers of clothes on, but I made it to the surface of the boat. As I stepped onto the deck, the horn of the ship went off. A couple crew members lowered a large plank onto the surface of a thick sheet of ice and assured me it was safe to walk on. I believed it and stepped off of the boat and began my journey. I looked back at the boat, and I saw Sweetie Belle through a small window that was in my room. This is probably the last time that I see the Starlight, or it's crew. I turned back around and began walking.

While walking through the blizzard that had formed around me, I had realized how utterly devoted I'd been in the discovery of my fathers past. I had no idea what to expect.

Soon enough, my concerns were justified. I don't know whether I lost my orientation, or my spirit, first, but I lost feeling in my extremities soon after, and knew hypothermia was setting in. I started looking for shelter.

My head felt so numb, but I could still hear the wind of the blizzard roaring past my ears. I think I started hallucinating because it started to sound like an actual animal in the distance. I kept walking. I knew I needed to find some kind of shelter. I pushed on. I eventually came into an area where the ice formed a wall around three of my sides, the fourth side being the way I came from. I was too weak to try and climb up the wall, but it didn't matter. There was a hatch here. Sadly, Ice had formed over a section of the wheel.

I quickly searched my surroundings for some kind of tool. to see if I could break the ice. I found a rock about the size of a lunch box. My hooves were numb, but I still managed to pick it up. I brought it down o the ice with as much force as I could spare, but I missed. I tried again, but dropped the rock. I picked it up again and tried a third time. This time, I hit it, but the ice didn't completely break off. I hit it one last time with enough force to break the ice. I quickly threw the rock a foot away and began turning the wheel. It had to be freezing, but thankfully my hooves were numb. I had to get down there soon because although it would have felt terrible touching that cold wheel, numb hooves still were a bad thing. I managed to turn it until it stopped and used as much force as I could spare to pull it open.

"By Celestia, I hope it's not cold down there." I said to myself hoping that I could be able to regain feeling in my body down there.

It was dark, but I ascended down by ladder. I regret the decision for just a second as a step broke off from under me, but I didn't hesitate to continue my journey, after I decided falling would be a better death than freezing... That was when the entire section I was on unhinged and gave way to gravity.

I awoke to the sound of ponies whispering. They conversed in the unseen darkness that surrounded me. Strange as it is, I couldn't help but think they were talking about me, though I couldn't understand a word that they were saying. I looked around for a second and they stopped, after one shushed the others.

"Oh Celestia..." I groaned, standing up.

I don't know how long I was out, but It couldn't have been too long. The temperature down in this cave was hot, but that might just be because my body is a walking ice sculpture. I looked up to see that I had fallen about fifteen feet. I'm surprised that I had survived a fall of that height. I looked forward at my surroundings. It was dark, so I pulled out my flashlight. I could see several wooden pillars, some crates, a metal fence around me, and a door at the other end of the room.

"Twilight!" A younger sounding filly yelled for me.

I looked up to see Sweetie Belle hanging on a ladder that had broken long ago for her life.

"Dammit!" I said as quietly as I could.

"Twilight, Help!" Sweetie Belle yelled for me.

"Sweetie!!" I yelled back at her.

"I'm sorry, Twilight!" She yelled back in apology.

"Just forget it. I got you. Let go!" I said instructing the Filly

A good moment passed where Sweetie could be seen fighting herself for the control to let go.

"Sweetie!" I yelled.

Sweetie Belle suddenly dropped from the broken ladder. I changed my footing to try to catch her and I was successful in my attempt. I fell on the ground because I was weak in the first place, but Sweetie Belle was safe, and that's all that mattered.

"Sweetie Belle." I said, knowing that that was all that had to be said.

"I'm sorry, Twilight." She apologized again.

"It's ok." I said standing back up and taking some of the clothing I had off of me to let the air come in contact with me.

"Do I have to go back again?" Sweetie questioned.

"No, the ship is going to be gone by now. Darn it, Sweetie, I'm going to have to teleport us back to Ponyville, now." I said, charging up my horn to try and teleport us both back to Ponyville, an act I didn't want to do, but had to be done.

My horn sparked, but nothing happened. Maybe I was too weak to perform magic, or that there was some kind of anti magic area that I was in, but I couldn't even move myself to the other side of the room with my horn.

"What's happening, Twi?" Sweetie asked.

"I'm not sure. I can't do it." I admitted.

"Oh... Then what do we do now?" Sweetie asked.

"Well we can't go up..." I said looking above me at the ladder that had broken.

"Then we try to find another exit?" Sweetie suggested.

"It looks like that is our best option. Since this place was made by intelligent life, there has to be another exit." I told the filly.

"So let's get started." Sweetie said as she started towards the other side of the room.

I picked up my flashlight, finally realizing that I had dropped it when I heard Sweetie Belle call for me from above. The batteries in it might have taken damage, or perhaps just ran out of juice, so I switched them up with a couple more from my saddle bag. I then proceeded to walk through to the other side of the room, where Sweetie Belle had been searching for things.

"Hey, Twilight, I found this. What is it?" She questioned holding a light stick with a red cap on it.

"That's a flare." I answered.

"Oh, so this thing makes light?" The unicorn questioned.

"Yes. Here, give it to me and I'll keep it. I'll show you how it works later if we need it.' I assured her.

"Ok." She said, handing me the flare.

I tried to open the door that was on the side opposite of the ladder, but something heavy was blocking it. I rammed against it, but it wouldn't budge. I looked over to my left to see another door. I picked up a metal rod that was on the ground in front of it and opened the door while putting the rod in my saddle bag.

Boxes of ammunition for weapons were piled on an entire side of this room, there were also a couple more barrels and three book cases, two being to my left, the other opposing those two. I went to my left and picked up another flare and a hammer, which I put in my saddle bag just in case I needed it. I turned around to find Sweetie Belle looking behind the third book case.

"What's going on, Sweetie?" I questioned.

"There's a tunnel behind here." She answered.

"Step back." I commanded her as I stepped forward and grabbed the book case. I threw it down to the ground and pushed it away from the hole, which was boarded up.

I had just picked up a hammer a couple seconds ago and it already became of use. I took it back out and hit the wooden plants boarding up the hole with the hammer. It took only two swings for the board that kept the webbing of wood together to break. I ripped the boards off and went in first.

I got as low as I could get while being able to move freely and made my way through the small cave system. Just a few feet in I had to choose either left or right. I chose left and it sent me in the direction of where I came, only I was climbing a slope. After another few feet, It turned left again and I could assume I was going over the tunnel I was just in, I checked to see if Sweetie Belle was following to find her having no trouble climbing through the tunnels due to her size.

I could see an exit. In the room I could see hatch that led down into another tunnel. It was made of metal and didn't seem as though it could be pulled up. My theory of how the door couldn't go up was confirmed when Something from below it slammed into it when I stepped into the room. I stopped for a second.

"Sweetie Belle. Stay there." I instructed her before she climbed out of the tunnel.

I stepped over the hatch and looked down to find nothing. Not even a trace of what might have hit the door. I was going to have to take this careful, but down was the only direction I could venture. Since you couldn't manually move the door, I took a quick look around the room, I saw a strange box that was on top of a rod that went into the floor just a few feet away and a door with a barrel in front of it.

I attempted to move the barrel out of the way. It was heavy, but manageable. I opened the door to find the original room where I had fallen. This was apparently the door that I had too much trouble getting through.

I went back to the room where the hatch was. I walked over to the box. I noticed that there was a hole in the box that a pole could go through. I reached back into my saddle bag and took out that metal rod I had found earlier and jammed it into the hole, where it fit perfectly. I tried turning the box in several directions with it and thankfully it moved clockwise.

"That door is opening." Sweetie Belle pointed out,

I looked behind me to see that the hatch was opening up as I moved the box clockwise. The door wasn't moving up or down, but to the side.

"Ok, Sweetie. Let's go down there." I said, instructing her to follow me

She climbed out of the tunnel and joined me as we descended deeper into the structure.

Whatever I was descending into, it was a hundred feet below the ground, protected by two solid, metal hatches, located in a remote, arctic wilderness, and buried beneath the snow. I didn't know what to expect, but it made me feel something I hadn't felt since I was a child.

I'd never given it much thought before, but I realized that our entire society is a network of safety nets: Emergency services at the end of a phone line; health and safety in the work place; friends; family;lovers. All there, if something goes wrong, part of a carefully designed structure to prevent all but the most mundane of emotions.

Once again, I felt like I did when I was in school, surrounded by a closing ring of other kids, knowing anyone that might help me - friends, parents, teachers - where too scared, or too far away.

Then I realized that Sweetie Belle was there by my side. She shouldn't be there, but I was kind of glad that I didn't have to go through all of this alone.

2 - Silence is Paradise?

I had made it to the bottom of the tunnel and there was a metal door at the end, I opened it and just as soon as I did, our surroundings began to shake. I looked out of the doorway and saw that the ceiling above us was shaking as well, but supported heavily by wooden beams. Several rocks came falling down at us.

"Sweetie!" I yelled while grabbing the filly and galloping out of the tunnel.

I dropped her and Closed the door, seeing that multiple other rocks were falling at us, all about the size of Sweetie Belle and I.

I looked back out at our current location. It was still dark, But I could see more boxes, beams keeping the ceiling up, and a map mounted at the center of the area. I couldn't see how far they went, but there were at least two different hallways we could go through, now.

I chose this time to write down what was going on.

The path behind us has caved in.
We are now traveling further into the cave.
There could be anything living down here...

"Ok, Sweetie." I said requesting the filly unicorns attention.

"Yes, Twilight?" She responded, giving it to me.

"I'm not sure if there's anything down here. I know you've seen and heard about heroics, but keep them for theater actors, the minds of writers, and pony tales. Don't take any chances." I instructed her.

"Ok, Twilight." She said, confirming that she understood.

"If you see anything, Get down as low as you can and try not to move too much." I instructed her further.

"I understand." She said.

I had to tell her something. I didn't want to scare her, but if we face off against anything down here, we wouldn't last a second. Caution and stealth are our only defense, now.

I stepped forward slowly and pulled out my flashlight and took a look at the map.

"Ok...So Sweetie? Where do you want to go?" I asked the filly.

"Well where can we go?" I can't see that map too well." She said, pointing out that she was too short.

"Well...We can go to an office, which is just over in that direction." I said pointing at the tunnel to our left.

"Anyplace else?" Sweetie questioned.

"There is also storage down the other path. And there is also another area on the other side of this wall." I said, pointing to the large rock wall.

"Let's go to the office." Sweetie suggested.

"Fine, let's go." I agreed.

We began walking in the left direction. We took it slow. we soon came to a four way intersection in the cave with a beam in the center and some boxes littering the sides. I pointed to our left, remembering the direction that the map suggested.

We started walking again, and we had another choice to either go left or right. Accord to the map, the correct answer was left, again. I pointed that direction and we started moving again.

As we made our way through the cave, it was hard to breathe due to the amount of dust that was in the air, but it was still easier to breathe than in the blizzard above us. We moved slowly and cautiously, Sweetie was as scared as me, but we both knew there was no other way to go than forward.

We got to the door of the office and I opened it up and stepped through it first. I wished the door was quieter. No doubt the sound of it opening was heard throughout the area. I looked down at Sweetie Belle who brought her head closer to her shoulders as if she was trying to pretend that the recent event didn't happen.

In front of us was a desk, with some filing cabinets and a strange cylindrical object that was sitting on top of the desk. To our right was another desk, and there was a large wall in the center of the room splitting the first desk from more filing cabinets and book shelves.

I picked up a container that was labeled Baxtrin and picked up a number of papers that were sitting on the desk. They were labeled about sixty years ago, about at the end of the last war that Equestria had with the Gryphons. It's a weekly report, stating that pretty much nothing remarkable happened, aside from a couple of idiots nearly blowing off their hooves by trying to make cherry bombs.

I put the papers in my bag and I opened up a drawer in the desk. Inside of it was a key that I picked up and put in my bag and another piece of paper. I picked it up and read it.

This one was from seventy years ago...this one calls this place the "Death Mine" and talks about some weird chemicals that might be in the rocks here that cause high suicide rates to the workers of this place. Apparently some of the people grew paranoid because of this place, and people who got out claimed that they were caused by spirits from boar tribes called the Tuurngait, who came from the mountains.

I look to my right side at Sweetie Belle, who is admiring the Cylindrical artifact. I look back and reach for another drawer, but I am halted when Sweetie Belle touches it and immediately jumps, pulling her hoof away.

"Sweetie, are you alright?" I asked, concerned with the Filly.

"Yeah... But I saw something..." She said.

"What did you see?" I questioned.

"I saw a man. An old man. He was clutching something unseen. He was strange, but he wasn't a stranger. I've never seen him before, but I know that his name is his name was Aurora. He had a brown coat, and his mane was black. Sweetie said.

"That's strange." I said, opening the drawer I was reaching for earlier.

Sweetie had just explained to me what my father had looked like in my dream.

"Ugh..." She groaned.

"What?" I questioned.

"I don't know why, but touching that thing just felt wrong... I don't know what it is about it, it just feels like something I don't want to touch again." Sweetie said, telling me that she was having that one feeling that nopony can explain.

"It's ok. We'll be leaving soon." I assured her.

After finding nothing in the drawers, I made my way to the other side of the room. I noticed a chest in the corner and I went over to it. It was locked, though. I pulled out the key I picked up from the first drawer I searched when I came into this room and tried it out. It fit perfectly and I unlocked it. Inside was a small book called "The Big Book of Explosives." This book was 77 years old.

Inside the book it pretty much just informed me on how I could easily make things such as bombs and fuses. I put it in my bag, knowing that down here, It could come in handy in several locations.

I walked to the second desk and I looked inside the drawers, where nothing rested, other than some beef Jerky. I would eat it if I knew how long it has been sitting there. I looked up and saw that there was light coming down through a metal grate built into the stone that made this room. I missed being outside, but I wasn't sure about being outside in this weather.

"Ok, Sweetie, are we done here?" I asked Sweetie Belle as she was searching through every corner to see if there are any secret paths like the one she found before we came down here.

"No." She replied.

"Ok, let's get going." I suggested while reaching for the door.

We were back out into the dark hallway that we used to enter. We walked cautiously this time, and it paid off too. We only got about twenty feet out until we heard howling.

"Sweetie! Get behind that crate." I instructed the Filly Unicorn, who hesitated for just a second.

I joined her and we got down as low as we could get. I peaked out the side of the crate. I couldn't see whatever it was, but I knew it was just around a corner that sat about five feet away. With a howl like that, it had to be some kind of wolf, or dog.

Celestia... I've never been this scared in my life... I can feel my heart racing. If whatever that thing is gets within a few feet of my hiding spot, I better not stare it out. Anything in my field of vision might panic me, then I'm a gonner.

"Don't look at it." I whispered to Sweetie Belle, instructing her to the path of survival.

She responded with a small whine. She's as scared as me. After what seemed like an hour, I peaked my head out around the crate and I didn't see anything.

"Stay here." I whispered to the filly.

I started moving. I left the crate and moved silently to to cave wall. I moved to the 3 way intersection and peaked around. Nothing was there. I moved back to Sweetie Belle.

"Let's go. It's gone for now." I whispered to her.

She got up and cooperated. She knew that no good was going to come from sitting behind a crate until your life is lost. We moved silently back to the intersection. The paths were straight and to the right. We came from the right, but so did the howl. I motioned forward and we were on the move again. After about twenty feet, we came across a long wall that blocked us from a large open area in the cave. There was a door but when I tried it it was locked.

"Would that key work that we found earlier?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

"Maybe..." I said, taking out the key to try, even though the chances were unlikely.

It wouldn't move once it got into the lock. We needed another key. I looked to my left, which was the way we came and then to our right, our next destination and I began to walk that way. The storage room had to be somewhere in that general area.

While walking forward, we came to another three way intersection and I looked to my right to see a pair of glowing eyes off in the distance. I hurried the filly forward in the direction I believed storage was. We soon came onto another four way intersection and I chose the left direction, which curved backwards towards the way we came from. A sign laid on the ground that read "Storage" with an arrow pointing the way we were going, though, so we continued that way. We soon made our way to a door, which we opened, equally as loud as the last one we opened.

I closed the door behind us. In the room were two book cases, both mirrored on the sides of a door that was in front of me. And along with that, there were two more doors to my left and right. I saw a metallic box sitting on the middle shelf of the book case on the left. I picked it up to find a lighter, with no fluid in it. I thought I heard something behind the door, though...

"Sweetie, get back." I instructed the filly as I walked forward to the door.

"What is it, Twilight?" She responded.

"I think I hear something..." I informed her, putting my ear against the door to hear muttering.

it sounded as if there was a pony inside. A stallion to be exact. He sounded insane, though, like something was constantly poking at his mind.

"Is anypony there?" He asked.

I could hear him touch the door.

"Who is that?" He questioned again.

I stepped back and made my way to the door to my left. I entered it and instructed Sweetie to follow. This room was empty, aside from a cart that was in the center with a bunch of rocks inside of it. There was also a door to my right. I made my way towards the door.

Inside of this room, there was one of those strange artifacts that Sweetie had touched earlier. Beside it were some painkillers and some batteries. I picked up both and put them in my bag. I looked around the room to see if I could find anything else of use. While I was turned, Sweetie touched the artifact again.

I spun my head around to see Sweetie pull her hoof back from the artifact. She was holding it as if she felt a small amount of pain.

"Sweetie. Why did you touch that thing?" I questioned her.

"It was different... but the same, that time. Like, I had more control - But over what?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Sweetie. Please try to keep away from those things." I requested of her.

Sweetie Belle continued to search the room like other places, but immediately found something.

"Twilight!" The filly said requesting my urgent attention.

"Yes?" I responded, granting her wish.

"Somepony drew on the wall over here." She said, putting her hoof against the dark wall.

I took my flashlight out and shined it against the wall, revealing a a picture somepony had carved into the wall. It looked like instructions. Rocks were floating above what looked like a cart, and there was a rhombus under the cart.

"I think..."I thought aloud.

I looked out of the door into the last room and saw the cart that was in the middle of the floor. The rhombus is a hole.

"Thank you, Sweetie." I said, thanking the unicorn filly for finding the instructions.

I walked up to the cart and pulled out the rocks, I threw them away. I had obviously alerted the person the in other room because there was a light knock on the wall while I was moving the rocks. When the cart was empty, I could just lift it off of a trap door and move it to the side. I opened the trap door and found that there was an entire area under us that we could venture to.

"Ok, Sweetie. I'm going down. Stay up here and hide just in case I need some help getting up." I instructed her.

"Got it, Twilight!" She said.

I jumped down. The jump wasn't too high, only about six feet, but that was still far over my head. I searched around to see a couple of barrels and some crates. I ventured over by a group of crates to find a tunnel. I got down low and made my way through it.

I saw a large arachnid run across an open space ahead of me...

"Celestia. Was that a spider? I... don't like spiders..." I thought to myself as I stepped back slightly.

The spider was now out of view and I slowly made my way forward. The cave split and on my left I could see a ladder. That was my key out. I look one last look to my right to make sure the coast was clear for spiders.

I walked to the ladder and picked up one end. I dragged it through the tunnel and into the area under the hole I got in here through. I mounted it on a pair of hooks that were built for this purpose and climbed up to look for Sweetie Belle, who was continuing her search for possible clues.

I climbed back down and went through the tunnel again. This time, I went through the path towards the spider that I saw. I came across a three way intersection. A path in front of me was cut in half by steam that was rushing out of a pipe in several locations. I was too large to go through this. If I had to venture fourth, I would need to get Sweetie Belle. I looked to the path to my right and took a few steps. I could see around a corner that there was a carcass that belonged to a canine. This only tells me that if this is the animal that we heard in the halls, there were more. This carcass has been mummified for some time.

Beyond the mummy was a dead end. I made my way back to the room where the hole to the top was and I climbed the ladder.

"Sweetie Belle, can I have your help, quickly?" I asked the filly.

"Sure, how can I help?" She responded.

"Come down. I believe it's safe." I said, starting my climb down the ladder.

I had made it to the tunnel with Sweetie Belle behind me. When we came to the part of the steam, she immediately knew what I wanted to ask of her.

"So, you want me to get passed these pipes?" She asked, verifying her theories.

"Correct." I responded.

She immediately started crawling her way through the cave with all of the pipes. I took that moment to take a seat to wait for Sweetie Belle. It did take a good minute, but the pipes shut off, and the hot steam stopped pouring out of the walls. This was my queue to continue.

I crawled through the caves myself, safe from the searing water that was previously pouring from the walls. I found a room where Sweetie Belle was. There was a cage she was in, but the door had been broken off from the outside and she was already searching for objects and clues. She walked up to me and presented a tube of lighter fluid.

"Thank you, Sweetie." I said while taking my light out of my bag to refuel it.

She didn't even respond before walking over to a chest and opening it up to find some more batteries for my flashlight. She sat those down at my feet while I refueled the lighter.

"Is that it?" I asked her.

"It looks like it." She responded.

"Then let's get back. This lighter gas should most definitely come in handy." I said, while making my way back into the caves.

We had gotten out and started making our way back to the entrance. While on the way, Sweetie Belle stopped me.

"Twilight?" She said, questioning if I was paying attention to her.

"Yes, Sweetie?" I responded.

"I found something down this tunnel." She said.

I looked behind me to see her in a small hole that I couldn't possibly fit through.

"Did you find it when you were going to shut off the steam?" I asked her.

"Yeah." She said, confirming my question.

"Well, then let me see it." I told her.

She retreated into the hole, but quickly reemerged bringing what looked like an egg. It was still sticky in some parts on the inside, meaning it would have hatched more recently.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Well I would say it would be an egg, but it's too big for that." I told her.

"Ok..." She said, Shoving it back into the hole.

"Something, wrong?" I questioned her, noticing that she seemed a bit worried about something.

"Nothing, it's just that egg shell thing. It really creeps me out." She admitted.

"It's ok, Sweetie. This whole place creeps me out." I admitted as well.

We started moving back to the entrance of the hole we were in. As we entered the open space where the ladder to the level above was, the ceiling begun shaking. A strange sound that sounded somewhat like a lower pitched birds mating call echoed above us as dust fell from certain points in the ceiling, eventually forming a trail in our direction.

After the area had settled, I had realized that I had grabbed the unicorn filly and she had done the same to me. We were both equally scared.

"Stay here for a minute..." I instructed moving towards the ladder

I climbed the ladder to the level above. The door to the middle room that also led out of here had been opened, along with the locked door that the insane pony was behind, and the on that was across from me. Just to make the situation creepier, a thick trail of blood drew a line between the room where the insane pony was to the new one.

I think the insane pony was dragged through here... I've never seen so much blood before. Even if the pony was insane, they were the only living being down here I could have communicated to on some way to get out of here. I quickly searched both rooms, one being a study, and the other just a room with a hole in the wall. I made my way back to where Sweetie was.

"Sweetie Belle, you there?" I asked, hoping she was alright.

"Yeah." She responded.

"Ok, come up. But be prepared." I warned.

"Prepared for what?" She questioned while climbing the ladder.

I didn't answer her because I was too busy looking at the blood myself. I was dumbfounded at how much there was. When Sweetie Belle came up, she took a second to look at it, but averted her eyes quickly. She then walked through it to enter the room where the insane pony was just a few minutes ago.

I followed her. There was a key sitting on the desk along with some notes. I read the notes, which were about the pony and how he was forced to eat spiders. He was trapped down here for at least 300 days according to these, and apparently he eventually had to amputate his tongue after finding that a thick glue like substance was forming on his tongue.

I put the notes in my bag along with the key and I began to make my way over to another door that I had not peered through on the other side of the room. I looked past it and found the tongue of the stallion. He didn't just cut off a part of it, it seems like he had taken the entire thing out of him. It was lying on a shelf that was a couple feet away from the door. to it's right was a desk with a dead spider. A very large dead spider. I closed the door and left the other room to the one in the center. I went into the final room, where the trail of blood seems to have vanished through a small hole in the wall.

"Ok, Sweetie, don't come in." I told the Filly as I closed the door halfway and searched a few drawers to find a couple pieces of beef jerky. I put those in my bag as well and we were ready to leave this area.

We stepped out back into the darkness of the tunnels. I quickly took out my flashlight and prepared to move swiftly through the halls.

"Sweetie. I'm going to be moving quickly. Stay low and move as fast as you can while still being quiet." I directed the filly.

Sweetie Belle responded with a nod and we were off. I turned on my flashlight so that I could see the reflection of any eyes in the distance. Unfortunately, we came across a fork in the caves and I forgot which way to go. My goal was back to the door that we tried to get through earlier, but I forgot where that was. I chose left. After just a minute we found our way back to the location of the map. I quickly took a look at it and drew out our path in my head.

Left, then straight, then right, then the door will be on our left side. I motioned for the unicorn filly to follow me, and we began moving again. We took a left, the path was slightly curving to the right. After ten feet of moving we came across a four way stop. Straight, twenty feet later we were facing a wall with a path to our left and right... Right, After about another ten feet we found the door.

We also found eyes in the distance, though. I quickly turned off the flashlight and reached into my bag for the key we found on the desk of the insane pony. It took a second to locate and I placed it in the lock of the door and twisted it. It worked, thankfully. I opened the door and was followed by the filly. I closed the door again and tried to lock it, but there was no hole for me to accomplish my goal. I quickly looked around and saw two barrels.

"Hide, Sweetie!" I directed the young one, hearing the dog gaining speed.

I reached over and grabbed a barrel and started pushing it to the door. It thankfully had weight to it, because when I put it against the door, I was hit with the force of the dog from behind the door. I quickly dashed for the other barrel and started pushing it towards the door. I looked over to see Sweetie Belle pushing against the door to help keep the dog out of the room. I wasn't going to protest her decisions quite yet.

As I pushed the barrel against the door, Sweetie Belle stepped back in sync with me. The door was being banged against by the dog, which I could see through cracks in the wall.

It was an ugly beast. It looked as though it was shedding patches of its skin, and in many of these areas it seemed to be bleeding as well. It's eyes didn't seem to reflect light, but to glow naturally. It just seemed like the spawn of evil. A demon dog.

I looked behind me to find the white filly gone. The room seemed like it had seen somepony recently. A lantern was already lit and set up when we got there. That fact made me fear for the Sweetie.

"Sweetie!" I called for, not too loud to echo through the entire cave, but still loud enough to be heard by the demon dog, who replied with a snarl.

"I'm over here!" I heard the voice of her call out.

I followed the direction to the voice to find her in a small area where there was a really old cement mixer and what seemed like what use to be an exit.

The shaft caved in. I knew I shouldn't have risked my life like that, but I needed to press on. I reached into my bag and pulled out the Big Book of Explosives...

While I was reading I looked back to find that the filly had ran off again. I moved back to the main area, where the door was that the demon dog was trying to get through. The dog seems to have moved on for now. I continued to read, using the already lit lantern as a light source.

"Maybe there are still some industrial grade explosives around here..." I thought to myself. I quickly got up and searched around.

"Twilight! I found a strange note!" Sweetie Belle said, running up to me and handing it over.

I love my workshop. It is TWO great a hunting ground to let others gorge their faces. ONE cannot help but feel FOUR those without such delicate mousey morsels on which to munch, for Cat EIGHT ravenously off their flesh today, and shall continue to do so. This is possible, thanks solely to the button pad I installed on the door.

And yet, Cat's mind is working somewhat BACKWARDS today.

I continued to observe the note. There were a number of words that were put in all capitalized letters, and all but one were numbers... I'm not sure what it meant, but it talks about somepony named Cat and how he loves his workshop. This is probably the most confusing thing I have read in my life.

I slipped the note back into my bag. I looked around to find the filly gone yet again. While she was off looking for things to aid our escape from this place, I continued to look for explosives.

My search didn't take long. I was lucky to have walked ten feet away and find a barrel of TNT in a corner of the cave. I grabbed it and began pushing it towards the place where the path caved in. While that was happening, the dog had returned. It slammed into the door several times while I was pushing the TNT. When I had arrived to the shaft, I moved a large, loose rock and lifted the barrel into a hole that the rock was occupying.

While I achieved this, I heard the door in the other area break. I immediately lowered myself and moved towards that way. I looked over a crate to see that the dog had breached our haven. I had to find Sweetie Belle, now.

I moved to the other side of the cave, where another tunnel could be seen, crouching down behind a line of crates. When I believed that I was in the clear, I started to hurry myself. I had to find Sweetie soon. The tunnel curved like a snake a bit and the walls of it were littered with crates. I found Sweetie Belle in front of a metal door, observing it and a keypad that was to its side.

"Sweetie! Don't venture too far away from me again." I said, checking the way behind me for the demon dog.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Sweetie questioned, seeing that I was spooked by something.

"The dog broke through the door. Be careful when you go back there." I advised the filly

"We may not have to go back. I found this door, but we need the code for it." Sweetie informed me.

I observed the keypad. It was standard 1-9, 0, #, and *. It took me a second to realize what the previous resident was trying to tell us.

I pulled out that note Sweetie Belle had recently found and observed it... The words that he is putting in all capitalized letters are, in order: TWO, ONE, FOUR, and EIGHT.

I quickly inputted those numbers, only to hear a buzzing sound of rejection. I grabbed the handle of the door and tried to nudge it to validate the response. It wouldn't budge. I took another look at the note.

"Oh... The last sentence says BACKWARDS." I thought to myself, feeling a tad bit stupid for not catching that before.

I pressed 8, 4, 1, 2 in on the keypad and the door to be greeted by a positive sounding beap. I put my hoof on the handle and opened the door.

In this room there was two bookshelves on both the left and right sides of the room. Tools were hung on the walls and there were doors in front of me, and to my right. I walked up to the bookshelf on the left side of the room and reached into a box and reached in to find a cotton string. This would help make a fuse so we can safely ignite that barrel of TNT. I quickly took out my big book of explosives to make sure it would do.

To make a fuse, I needed a to soak a cotton string in Baxtrin and then coat it in gunpowder. I put the book back in my bag and took out the jar that I found earlier to verify if it was labeled correctly. I was glad to find that I had been carried Baxtrin already, and placed it back in my bag until I had found some gunpowder. I looked around to see where Sweetie Belle was.

With her out of sight, again, I stepped into the room that was in front of me to see her digging something up from under some rubble.

"What is it?" I questioned, walking over to assist.

"I saw something shine from under these rocks." She stated.

I helped her move the rocks from over the handle of some kind of tool.

"Ok, stand back, Sweetie." I advised her, as I grabbed the handle, preparing to yank it out of the rock pile

After a brief second of pulling, I successfully held up a pickaxe. No doubt that this would come in handy. I placed it back in my saddle bag and I looked behind me to see the filly smiling. It could have been the fact that we were accomplishing something that made her happy, but whatever it was made me smile too. I took a brief second to sit down and observe the room.

In one corner was the door. I was sitting to the left of the door and to my left was the pile of rocks where I had pulled out the pickaxe. Directly in front of the door was some ancient machine. I had no idea what its use was for, but it was rusted over and looked as if it had no function anymore. In the corner opposite of the door were just about everything you needed to be a successful carpenter.

I stood back up and I went back to the main room. I walked through the other door to find a hallway. I quickly checked behind me to see that Sweetie Belle was directly behind me. I took out my flashlight and we traversed down the hallway together.

There was a metal gate. Behind it, the hallway turned right, and a small hole near the ground could be seen dug out through the wall, too small for any pony to fit through. I moved on, trying to ignore it, while Sweetie Belle took a quick second to observe it. I took a few steps forward to check out the rest of the hallway. Straight in front of us, more lanterns were lit. To my left, there was a section of hallways where somepony had boarded up. and to my right, another room wit ha fence in the middle. The fence was sparking though, and gave a sign that it was channeling a powerful electric current.

Sweetie Belle had caught up to me and I started walking forward towards the lit lantern at the end of the hallway. In our path was another gate, but it had either fallen off of its hinges, or been torn off of them by something. We stepped over it and continued.

The path turned toward the left, and we continued over a small makeshift wall of rocks. We took another left and found a rack with some barrels sitting on it. Sweetie, being at a lower altitude spotted something below them.

"Hey, Twilight, there is another one of those flare things with the red cap on them under here." She said as we passed by the rack.

I bent down and looked under. She was correct, and I grabbed another flare and put it in my bag.

"Thank you, Sweetie." I said, thanking the observational filly.

We continued down the path and took another left, finding ourselves at the part where somepony had boarded up the hallway.

"Wait, why would they board up one entrance to this hallway, but not the other side?" Sweetie questioned as I took out that pickaxe we had just found so that I could test it out.

"I'm not sure..." I admitted as I swung the pickaxe at the boards, tearing them to shreds.

"It doesn't make sense." Sweetie said, speaking her mind.

"That gate over there was probably still on its hinges when this side was boarded up." I theorized, referring to the gate that was lying on the ground that we stepped over.

We stepped into the room with the electric fence and I started to observe it so I could decide how we could get past it.

"I think I know how we can get past this." Sweetie said, making her way toward the door.

"How?" I questioned.

"I'll be right back!" The filly said, leaving me to go on a mission to get past this fence.

While she was gone, I decided that If we could find enough wood , we could just climb over it, but that would be a bit risky. Who knows how fragile the wood here is?

"Ok!" Sweetie said, entering the room, dragging a large wooden plank.

"Wait, Sweetie, what do you plan to do with this?" I questioned, hoping that she didn't have the same idea I had.

"We can prop this up on top of that fence and I can walk across." She said, informing me of her plan.

"Sweetie, what if that board breaks? We have no idea how powerful this fence is." I said, reasoning.

"I already tested it out. This one can hold my weight." She argued.

I thought to myself for a minute. There had to be some kind of power source that the electricity was coming from, and if not from this side of the fence, it had to come from the other side. If Sweetie could disable the power source, then I could get across as well.

I didn't want to risk her though. I still believe we can get out of here, and I don't want to return to Ponyville to inform Rarity that I let Sweetie Belle get electrocuted. I believed that it was the only way we could continue, though.

"Ok, Sweetie, just step back for a moment." I instructed the filly while taking out the pickaxe.

"How far?" She questioned, knowing that what I was about to do could be highly dangerous.

"Exit the room for a minute.' I advised her, charging a swing towards the fence.

I hit it, and sparks flew everywhere. It didn't break the flow of electricity, but it dented a small area on the top of it. I look at the board the unicorn filly had brought in and judged how wide it was. I hit the fence again, this time the explosion of sparks was larger than the last. I hit it several more times, each time I hit the fence, the room turned into a danger zone.

I looked back at the board one last time to judge the width, and decided that I needed to hit the fence one more time. I drew back the pickaxe and hit the fence one last time. I put the pickaxe on the ground. The end of it that was being beat into the fence had a red tint to it and if I had placed it back into my bag at this time, no doubt something would be damaged.

I picked up the board that Sweetie had brought into the room and placed it in the depression that I had made in the fence. This way, the board wouldn't accidentally slip to the side, and Sweetie wouldn't fall into the fence.

"It's safe to come back in!" I said.

Sweetie Belle returned to the room and together we placed the board in its new place.

"Ok, let's do this really quickly." I said trying to speed up this process.

"Ok, I'll try." Sweetie Belle said trying to comfort me.

The plank stood with one end in the air, the other lying on the ground. Sweetie stood on the end that was on the ground and I lifted that end up into the air, allowing her to walk across it.

"Be careful!" I advised.

She didn't bother to respond and kept focus on walking to the other side. I quickly put myself under the board to help prevent it from moving and watched as she traversed into the unknown without me.

As she got to the other side, she quickly hopped off the plank and quickly crawled away from the fence. She looked back at me, and I pulled the plank away from the fence. She exited into a hallway that was behind the fence and within a few seconds, the fence stopped sparking.

"Is it clear?" I yelled trying to verify if it was safe to go across or not.

"I think so!" Sweetie Belle yelled back.

I picked up the pickaxe off the ground, and its end seems to have cooled down. I hit at the fence one last time to make sure it was safe. After seeing that no sparks had appeared, I started to climb over.

As I arrived on the other side, I entered the hallway the Sweetie Belle was in. Connect to the fence was a large square battery. It must have been a pretty powerful battery to cause such a huge problem for us. I looked further down the hallway to see Sweetie push against a metal door. I walked towards her.

"I think it's locked." The filly said.

I looked at the door and read "Explosives," which was printed on a sign that was centered on the door. We needed to get in there to check out if we can find some gunpowder for our fuse.

I nudged the door slightly, and it felt weak and old. I took out my pickaxe.

"Stand back." I advised, charging my pickaxe.

I struck the door with it and it just seemed to pop off of the hinges and fly back into the room.

This room was mostly empty in one corner there was a barrel, and on the wall to my right there were two bookshelves that housed a number of cherry bombs. I walked over to pick one up, but it seems like they have soaked through by now. I made my way over to the barrel in the corner.

I brushed away some dust and read: "Gunpowder."

"Yes!" I said aloud.

The keg was just what we were looking for. The hole in the top was too small for me to reach through and the level the gunpowder was at was too low for me to thread the string through to it. I took out my pickaxe and decided to make that hole a bit bigger...

I hit the keg of gunpowder with my pickaxe and it seemed to just fall apart. I sat down and opened up my bag. I took out the baxtrin and the string. I soaked the string in the baxtrin and then rolled the string around in the gunpowder until it was coated in it. I looked across the room to find out that Sweetie Belle had apparently found one of those artifacts that she keeps touching. Just like she just did.

"Are you ok?" I asked her as she looked around, gaining a hold on reality again.

"Yeah." She confirmed.

"Did you see the same thing?" I questioned.

"Yeah. I saw your father again." She stated, completely surprising me that she even knew what my father looked like.

I'm honestly not sure how she found out about how my father looks. Maybe that artifact really is supernatural. I really don't know. I use to not believe in things that had logic like this, but I had learned to accept the supernatural as being a possibility after I had met Zecora.

"These things must be tied into what's going on here. If I keep experimenting, I may find something useful, or have a heart attack..." The filly stated, theorizing on what might come with contact with more of these things.

"Please, be careful when you see them." I said, trying to keep Sweetie safe.

"I will, Twilight." She said trying to calm me down.

"Now let's get out of here." I said, getting up and moving towards the door.

"Wait..." Sweetie said while moving a rock.

"What?" I questioned.

"I found something." She stated, holding up a piece of dynamite.

"Give that here." I said, wanting Sweetie to have nothing to do with that.

Sweetie Belle handed me over the Dynamite and we went on our way. We crawled over the fence, we took a left, anotehr left through the gate, and then a right into the central room of this place...Reds Workshop.

I opened the door and looked back into the cave system it was dark so I took out my flashlight. I started walking with caution though. The doors down here are all loud as can be, and I know that that dog is in the area.

We traveled down the caves and back to the central room. I turned off my flashlight and put it back in my saddle bag as I got down, hearing the dog snarl.

"Get down!" I said, pushing Sweetie behind a crate as I heard that the demon dog was in our path.

I had to take this thing out. Even if we did get to the other side, once we light that fuse we're going to have to go somewhere, and I couldn't take the chance of us being trapped between a time bomb and a demonic wolf.

"Stay here." I instructed the filly as I got down and started to move silently. I hide behind another crate. I didn't know where the wolf was, but from the sounds of it, I guessed that it was only feet away from me, having nothing separate us but a decomposing box. I reached into my bag and took out two items: The old jerky, and my pickaxe.

I gently hit the crate to see if I could get the dogs attention and I threw the jerky about a foot away from me to my side. I heard the dog quiet down as he changed his attention to my direction. I held the pickaxe to my chest and I prepared to do something that I hoped I would never do.

The dog charged at the beef jerky and scooped it up in his mouth. I held the pickaxe and charge it.

"AGGHH!!" I yelled bringing it down on the dogs head.

The dog yelped and I went to hit it again. I just hit it twice in the head with my pickaxe, and it only seems to have stunned him. I hit him a third time and he fell to the ground, not breathing anymore.

I stood up and went to Sweetie Belles hiding place to find her curled up, covering her ears with her hooves.

"Come on. Let's go." I said, offering her my hand to help her up.

"Ok." She said, nodding, still a bit shaken from what she was hearing.

We made our way to the spot where I had put the barrel of TNT into the depression in the wall.

"Ok, Sweetie. I want you to move away. I don't know how fast this fuse will light, and I don't want you getting hurt.

The filly obeyed me and left the area as I prepared to proceed into the next area. I took out my pickaxe and used the bloody, sharp end to dig out a small hole in the top of the barrel. I then inserted the home made fuse into the small hole and took out my lighter. It took a couple tries to get the light going, but it started, thanks to the gasoline that Sweetie had found earlier and I lit the fuse.

"Oh no. The fuse is going too fast." I thought to myself, as I turned around to run as fast as I could.

I made my way to the center area as I heard the boom from the explosion. I stopped for a second and waited to see what the surroundings did. Thankfully, the place didn't not even shake. I honestly found that quite surprising.

"We can move on, now?" The sweet little filly asked me, coming out of her hiding spot.

"Yes. We can, Sweetie. Let's go." I said, confirming her question

We made our way back to the spot where we forged the door to a place even deeper in the mine. We had just taken another step into the unknown. Hopefully, we had also just taken another step to finding our way out of here...

When I look back, I can't think of what spurred me to go deeper into the mine. Perhaps it was arrogance for still being alive; or something as ridiculous as facing adversity, and coming out on top.

Now, I know I would have been better starving, or being mauled to death, than kick starting the chain of events that lead me to end up here, writing to you. I just hope, once you understand my story, you will have what's necessary to put an end to this tale.

I certainly didn't.