Penumbra: Ponyture

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.