Author's Note

Here's the second chapter. I hope that it's much more satisfactory than the first. This is what I can really do with my writing and I hope this captures your interest! I want this story to be a slow burn horror.

Where it starts out with a little bit of creepyness. As shown through Spike who felt a chill in his spine. And through Fluttershy when she is hearing something mysterious and eerie.

Then as we go on the horror will up its ante. But with a few moments here and there to build suspense and doubt. Well I'm off to do dishes! Then after that I'll get right to work on the 3rd chapter! See ya~

And So It Begins

The gentle light of Celestia's elegant sun shined brilliantly within the sky above. The complexion of the sun had become a stunning and vivid amber.

The radiant circlet had long since begun its descent, painting the sky around it in lovely hues of red like different shades of roses, as well as pinks like the shade of the rose apples that bloomed in the east orchard of Sweet Apple Acres.

Hints of orange and yellow, much like that of the fallen leaves in fall, were sneaking into the mixture. It was a lovely and alluring sight to behold, most of the ponies in Equestria adored it when the sun started to set especially the artistic ponies. They were able to draw a vast amount of inspiration from the divine spectacle.

"I can't believe it took us THIS long just to get to the Canterlot Caverns! I mean, what the hay was up with that cave in at the train tunnel?" Rainbow huffed out, her ruby pink optics narrowed as she gazed upon her friends just below her, all of them trotting along the pathway that would lead them straight to the entrance of the Caverns.

Unfortunately, what should have been a brief trip to Canterlot developed into a much longer than anticipated venture. There had been a rather unexpected cave in at the train tunnel, that wound around the mountain, connecting Ponyville to Canterlot.

Twilight and Starlight had to step out of the train and dislodge the multiple boulders that impeded their travel.

The unsavory incident had caused them to be stationary for five long and mundane hours. Not to mention after the whole event, it had taken them almost another hour to arrive at Canterlot. So that meant they had been held up for almost six hours, just trying to get to their destination. If the event with the train was anything to go by, their undertaking of the Canterlot Caverns was sure to be quite arduous.

The reason behind the voyage was due to the request of their charitable friend, Rarity. The generous Unicorn was presented with the knowledge of the Caverns through Sassy Saddles. Sassy had stumbled upon and procured a precious gem unlike anything Rarity had ever seen, just inside the entrance of Canterlot Caverns. Desiring more, Rarity had decided to gather up her friends to explore the Caverns.

"I am so sorry, my darlings!" Rarity verbalized in an apologetic manner, while she let her gaze wander over her group of friends. Her stunning azure orbs shimmered with sympathy for them all. "I never predicted that my simple request to explore the Canterlot Caverns for rare and precious gems would take this long."

"Now, don't yah be frettin' now Sugarcube! Yah didn't know about the tunnel cave in! It ain't your fault." Applejack remarked, letting her fashionista friend know that nopony blamed her for delay.

"Exactly," Starlight piped up as she trotted in-between Twilight and Trixie, " there's no way you could have predicted this outcome, Rarity. After all, your talent isn't being a Psychic."

Rarity exhaled in defeat, shaking her head. Even though she still felt partially responsible for what happened, knowing her friends were there to reassure her lessened the feelings of guilt.

A smile formed on her muzzle and she spoke with new found spirit. "Oh, I suppose you are right. We should count our blessings, and be thankful that it didn't take us any longer to reach Canterlot. Otherwise, the trip might have been postponed to another date."

A groan came from the left side of Starlight, "The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't understand why you didn't let HER help you with the cave in!" The illusionist let out a huff, her electric lavender orbs glistened icily. Her expression was very sour, it was obvious she wasn't enjoying herself. "You didn't even let Trixie move at least one boulder!"

Starlight shook her head and rolled her azure oculars at Trixie's griping. "Now Trixie," she replied to the irritated Unicorn, "it isn't that we didn't want your help, or that we wouldn't have appreciated it. But, you are still getting used to using actual magic. You could have hurt yourself while trying to assist us, and the last thing I want is for my best friend to get injured when it could have been avoided entirely."

Trixie stared at her best friend, letting her words sink in before she rolled her eyes. She gave Starlight a sly grin and a wink, it was a code they had created between the two of them. It was a sign that all was forgiven if a transgression had occurred, and everything was as right as rain.

Starlight chuckled and returned the sly smirk and wink, letting Trixie know that she was also forgiven for her complaining. After that exchange had taken place they finally reached the entrance of the Caverns only to find it blocked by rubble and a large boulder.

"Oh, for Celestia's sake, not again!" Rainbow cried out in dismay, glaring at the scene before them. She dropped down from the air and stamped a hoof on the dusty trail they had taken to get here.
The others groaned while they stared at the debris.

Twilight's violet gaze fixated on the rubble and the large boulder that blocked the entrance. She scowled at the sight of it, great another cave in to clean up. Her bottom left eyelid twitched as she illuminated her horn with her magic.
The glowing magenta aura shimmered and danced, sparking as she concentrated on lifting the obstructions.

The magical aura shimmered while it surrounded the entirety of the rubble, its color being slightly altered into a darker shade of purple due to the glowing of the setting sun.

The Alicorn's mane and tail began to flow, this was caused by the powerful surge of magic being emanated from Twilight's horn as it displaced the oxygen molecules around her. With a low grunt, the bearer of the Element of Magic forced the rubble to elevate into the air.

Wasting no time, she relocated the rubble away from the entrance without breaking a sweat. Gently she lowered the rubble down onto the earth. The aura around her horn sparked a few more times before it fizzled and faded, no longer needed as the task at hoof was complete.

"Uhm...girls?" Fluttershy voice out in a cautious manner as she peered into the entrance of the Caverns. All she could see was a gloomy dark abyss staring back at her, as though it were the maw of a predator about to devour her for a meal. "It's awfully dark in there, shouldn't we get some torches to light our way?"

"I agree with Fluttershy, it is rather dark in there." Spike remarked as he stepped up to the entrance, he cautiously reached a hand into the murkiness. His hand was quickly swallowed up by the thick shadows within the Cavern.

An icy chill slithered up his spine as soon as he reached his hand in, with a small whine he hastily pulled his hand away from the darkness.

"I dunno you guys, maybe we shouldn't go in?" He turned to the others, giving them a pleading look. "I mean, I know you want to look for gems inside of the Caverns Rarity, but this place gives me the dragon bumps!"

"Aweeee, it's okay Spike!" Pinkie blabbed out in her bubbly and cheerful attitude, seemingly not at all phased by the fact it was pitch-black in there.

"There's no need to worry when we're all together! As Granny Pie says: 'You gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears! You'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh to make them disa-'"

"Okay, okay!" Rainbow interjected as she placed a hoof over Pinkie's mouth. "I think he gets it Pinkie. I know you love to sing, but now's not the time. I thought we all learned when not to sing while we were in that escape room."

Pinkie let out a muffled giggle as she gently pushed Rainbow's hoof away. "Oh yeah we did, sorry I forgot about that! Right, no singing for now! We gotta go into the Caverns before it gets any darker!"

"Don't worry about the darkness, I've got a solution for it!" Starlight's horn began to glow with an icy blue aura. Nine small orbs of light appeared before them all, all of the orbs different colors.

Before Starlight was an icy blue orb, the other orbs were as follows a pink and blue orb for Trixie, a magenta orb for Twilight, a pink and yellow orb for Fluttershy, a rainbow orb for Rainbow Dash, an orange orb for Applejack, a blue and purple orb for Rarity, a pink, blue and yellow orb for Pinkie and a green and purple orb for Spike.

The orbs shimmered and flickered, their colors dancing and mixing. The colors began to shift and change and soon they took the form of necklaces with pendants in the shapes of everypony's cutiemark. Except for Spike, he had a pendant in the shape of dragon wings.

The lights turned into necklaces that gave off a vivid glow, it would be enough to cast light off of the group within the Caverns. "There we go! A simple spell to make glowing necklace charms, this should illuminate the Caverns just enough so we can see. Oh, and if I'm correct, the glow from our necklaces should reflect off the precious gems! Making it easier to find them, and not only that it will light up the caverns even more."

"THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" Rainbow cried out in excitement as she swiped up her necklace. "This necklace is so cool! Like me! It doesn't even need to be twenty percent cooler, it's just that cool!" She didn't waste any time in placing it around her neck.

"Now wait an apple pickin' minute!" Applejack blurted out as she turned to Starlight giving her a gaze of disbelief. "If y'all can make such beautiful doohickies, why do we even need tah go into this here Caverns in the first place? If yah can just magically make them appear outta thin air?"

"Because they're not real precious gems, honestly Applejack." Rarity glanced over at the farmer, giving her a look that she would do best to keep her mouth shut. "Gems manifested of magic are worthless compared to the real deal."

Applejack let out a small strained chuckle, rubbing her left leg with her right hoof, gulping as she did so. She grinned, but her face was contorted, as if to convey she was uneasy and who wouldn't be, given her current situation. "My sincere apologies, Rarity. I'm sorry for assumin' I guess I just don't know much about the art of gems."

Rarity's gaze softened and she smiled, "That's quite alright Applejack...now..." She turned her attention to her glowing necklace.

"This is so divine, Starlight! Wherever did you learn such a spell? This may not be made of real precious minerals or gems, but it is simply stunning!" She used her magic to levitate the necklace against her neck and snapped the clasps into place.

Everypony else and Spike also commented on how stunning or wonderful the necklaces were as they placed them around their necks.

"It's actually a simple spell, even Unicorns with basic magic can do it. I read about it in a book in Twilight's library, I'll show you sometime." Starlight replied, a sparkling grin settled itself onto her face and her eyes shimmered brightly.

Rarity let her gaze wander over her friends before she spoke in a clear and determined voice. "That sounds lovely Starlight. Now, that's that I suppose, shall we be off into the Caverns? The sun is setting and Luna's divine and absolutely radiant moon will soon be climbing into the sky; with stars that sparkle like a thousand diamonds joining it. We need to go in and be hasty but efficient about our work!"

Everypony and Spike nodded, as they all cast their attention to the Cavern entrance. Everypony looked back and forth from the entrance to each other, as if contemplating whom they should send in first. Fluttershy however was the only pony not partaking in the shenigans of staring back and forth.

Instead she was poking at the ground with a hoof, flittering her wings and staring anywhere but at the faces of her friends.

For some peculiar deduction, she felt as if she were being beckoned by something within the Caverns. She strained her ears, trying to pinpoint what exactly was trying to summon her attention.

It wasn't specifically a voice that demanded her to hone onto it, but rather a melodious harmony of baritone noises.

The babble coming from within the murk of the Cavern was all so enigmatic, and yet vaguely ominous all at once. Could there perhaps be some sort of beast within that was creating this alluring pandemonium?

This piqued the animal lover's ever inquisitive passion to learn all she could about the various fauna living around the world. If there was a new creature just waiting to be exposed to all equine kind, then she wanted to be the pony to seek it out and record the finding.

Her aquamarine circlets shimmered and gleamed, she straightened up and held her head up high.

She stared deeply into the cave, the expression on her face beamed with concentration and tenacity. Her newly acquired intrigue was what spurred her on as she made her split-second decision.

She chose her course and carried it out, she trotted through the cluster that was her friends. Fluttershy closed her eyes, she took in a deep intake of air and exhaled in a drawn-out manner.

She stepped a hoof into the entrance, ever so warily as she perked her ears up, listening once more for the vibrant aria she heard previously.

The instant she set a hoof in the entrance is when the baritone symphony once more seized her auditory senses. She trotted into the Caverns with no regard to wait for the others.

Her heart rate increased at the very thought she could uncover an unknown entity, her thoughts buzzed in her head like a swarm of angry flash bees. Every inch of her body was tingling, and she could scarcely contain herself.

"Fluttershy!"

The Pegasus did not heed as her appellation was bellowed out, causing a reverberation to travel ahead of her, it bounced of the walls, then it bounced back at her and then faded away into quiescence.

The bellowing from her friends was all for naught, the pink maned equine was on her own self-assigned mission and no matter what came her way, nothing could stop her.