Fluttershy Digs Deep

Chapters

Subterranean Splendor
Fool's Gold By Any Other Name
The Singing Mushroom Brothers
Stairway to the Opposite of Heaven
Watersliding Into Mudsliding
Upside-Down and Wrongside-Up
Flower Fatigue
Mollusk Matters
Consideration of Claustrophobia
Mole Malarkey
You Don't Wear Sunglasses at Night
Adventurers Still Take Breaks
Leaping Lizards
Worm World
Toxicology Testing
Earth Miser
Dark Digging
Cannibals or Not
Hot Enough to Fry an Egg
Magman
Up, Up and Away
Down the Rabbit Hole
Spelunkers Not By Trade

Subterranean Splendor

Fluttershy crawled and scraped through the constrictive tunnel that went down at a sharp angle below the forest. The little light on her hardhat only showed so much as she dug down, and down, and down. She didn’t mind getting her hooves dirty like this, especially if it was animal or rescue related, but she was still a bit dainty for this kind of thing and she knew it. It was slow going too because of how cramped it was. So far she wasn’t in danger of getting stuck but she still had to pretty much drag herself down the steep tunnel. She didn’t have the room to turn around but if she could she was certain she wouldn’t be able to see the entrance to the tunnel anymore. But she didn’t want to think about that, it was the kind of thing that might make her panic and her heart start to beat too hard when she needed to just keep calm and focus on going lower.

Her hardhat scraped along against the dirt roof of the narrow tunnel, sometimes brushing up against tree roots and rocks. She was very thankful for it for more than just the light now. The rest of her body, and especially her wings, kept snagging and scraping on stuff like that too though. Each time made her worried that she would get stuck even though the tunnel hadn’t gotten any narrower. By the time she got to the bottom of this she might be covered in cuts and bruises along with a whole mountain of dirt.

“Oh, Angel, I hope you didn’t get hurt while falling down here...” Fluttershy gulped.

She was already getting a little hurt and she was going down here on purpose. Bunnies were tough little creatures though, and Angel especially. He knew how to take care of himself… most of the time he just chose not to. She loved him all the same though, he was her very special friend even back when she was still struggling to make friends with ponies. Oftentimes she wondered if he really knew just how important he was to her? It helped for her to think about these sort of positive memories right now and she even smiled when she thought of all the times he had gotten jealous over her friends or Discord. Angel had to be her number one priority, that’s how he wanted things.

Her worries quickly came back to her though as her pessimistic mind thought about how horrible it would be if she lost him. How badly she’d miss him. It made her speed up her crawling even though that probably wasn’t very smart. She wanted to get out of this steep tunnel and find whatever cave or cavern it led to. There couldn’t be something too big below Ponyville, right? Ponies would’ve found it or something. This had to just be a lone tunnel or maybe the remnants of something dug by other animals long ago. But when was she gonna get to the bottom? She had been going down it for so long already.

The air might get a little too muggy or thin the further down she went, she had to be careful and really pay attention to that.

If she ran into any subterranean animals she could probably ask them for help too. So far though it seemed this tunnel was empty. Fluttershy hadn’t even seen any bugs or worms squirming through the dirt. Although her light might’ve been scaring some of them away and Fluttershy still couldn’t really see too well.

“Um… if there are any helpful critters in here, or down there, I would really appreciate any help you could give me,” Fluttershy asked out into the tunnel.

But it was just as silent as ever. The only sounds were from her own movements and scraping along down it.

Fluttershy loved the quiet. She loved when things were nice and calm. But she didn’t love being alone. Not like this at least. It had to be on her own terms. A calm and relaxing afternoon with some tea and a book, that was the good kind of alone. This was the bad kind of alone that made her afraid and made her body tremble in fear. Or at least it would tremble if she had enough space to do that.

With a grunt, Fluttershy realized something: the tunnel was getting narrower.

Only very slightly but it was indeed becoming a tighter fit the deeper she went.

“Oh no, what if I get stuck? I might not even be able to wiggle back out now!” Fluttershy yelped. “I can’t even turn my head...”

She was on the verge of panicking again. Hyperventilating and letting her fears overtake her at the worst possible moment. If she started breathing fast and hard she’d run out of breath sooner, she might accidentally inhale dust, she might accidentally dislodge too much of the tunnel around her. But even as she knew all these things and knew she couldn’t do them the possibility of it all happening was like a snowball effect in her mind. The more she worried about it the harder those worriers were to quash even as she tried to be sensible about it.

Fluttershy still kept crawling along despite the increased difficulty, refusing to let those fears and doubts stop her. Maybe old Fluttershy would’ve let that happen but she’d been through a lot with her friends. She was more worried and scared right now than she wanted to be and it was probably making things more difficult than they should be but at least she hadn’t frozen up completely.

The reason for that was because she had to do this for Angel. No matter how scary it got, Fluttershy wasn’t doing this just for herself. If a friend, or a pet, or any sort of animal was in danger and needed her help then Fluttershy would always be there for it. That was what drove her on right now. Even if she hadn’t fully quashed the fears and worries in her mind she was still beating them with the mantra of having to save Angel.

“Hng!” She now struggled a bit to move further, the walls of the tunnel constricting around her body and twisted roots that felt like they were pulling at her hardhat and wings waylaid her. She really did feel like an earthworm now.

The light on her head just kept showing a little bit ahead, it wasn’t very helpful at the moment. She was starting to get sweaty and exceedingly uncomfortable too. The tunnel might keep getting smaller and smaller, Angel was a lot smaller than her after all, just because he could make it through the whole thing didn’t mean she’d be able to. If it really did end up bunny-sized she’d have some impressive squeezing and wriggling to do.

How many feet had she actually gone down below the surface now? Fifty? A hundred? She couldn’t be sure.

One thing she did notice after a little bit of change was that the tunnel was starting to get less steep. It wasn’t practically vertical anymore, it was beginning to level out. She hoped that meant it would eventually stop and open up into a larger chamber but she really didn’t know. She just had to keep chugging along until she either found Angel or ended up somewhere else. Futtershy wanted to call out for him again but if she was too loud could she cause a cave-in? The words Fluttershy and loud didn’t exactly go together but if she was trying to find Angel she would most certainly project her voice as much as she could.

It was then that she finally actually saw something ahead for once. The tunnel ended only a short distance away. Fluttershy could see the circular edge of it as it opened up into somewhere else. She would’ve sighed in relief if she wasn’t so pained and exhausted right now. She still had to drag her body through the dirt towards it but eventually her front hooves passed the edge of the tunnel and grasped the ground outside. It felt like much more solid dirt and rock than the loose soil she had been digging through.

Only problem now was that with how narrow the tunnel had gotten, the exit was even narrower. When she tried to pull her head and shoulders through she got stuck. The hardhat, for all the light it provided, was now making things more difficult for her.

“Ohhh, come on,” Fluttershy whimpered as she tried to push herself out of the tunnel, the hardhat still banging on the roof of it. She was trying to dislodge the dirt so she could fit through.

The more she struggled the more progress she was making as the dirt started to break apart and fall down in clumps over her hardhat. At last she finally felt like she had made enough room and with another strong pull of her hooves and push of her body she got her upper body out of the tunnel. Her wings she was able to shimmy out soon after too. Now it was just her flank and back legs left and those came very easy since Fluttershy could pull with the strength of her entire body and wings now. With a pop she exited the tunnel completely and took a sigh of relief.

But before she could even look around her new location a low rumbling sound came forth from the wall of earth around the tunnel. Fluttershy swiveled her head back to the tunnel and saw with her hardhat’s light that cracks had gone up all around it and dirt was falling inside it thanks to how much she had disturbed it trying to leave. To her horror she watched as the entire tunnel and cave wall collapsed in on itself, making the way she came in (and likely the way she wanted to leave) vanish. Rocks and dirt all tumbled together and the wave of it fell right to her hooves before it stopped and things were stable again. A cloud of dust was knocked up from the disturbance and Fluttershy raised her wings to try and protect her face, though it didn’t stop her from coughing quite a bit.

Once the dust had settled and her coughing fit was over, Fluttershy looked at where the tunnel used to be and immediately paled. “Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no!”

The pegasus ran to the dirt and started trying to dig through it to hopefully reveal a still intact tunnel beyond. Her hooves frantically scraped over piles of dirt and rocks as she hyperventilated and grit her teeth in sheer terror. Trapped! She was trapped down here! The entire tunnel was buried and she had no way out! She looked all over the wall of the cavern with the light from her hardhat, trying to see any other tunnel or opening, but there was nothing left after the mini rockslide that had cut her off from her entrance.

“Ahhhhh!” Fluttershy couldn’t help but scream at her predicament. She clasped her hooves over her head and her teeth chattered as her whole body shook.

This was a nightmare. This couldn’t be real, could it? She was definitely dreaming and soon Princess Luna would show up and rescue her. That was clearly about to happen.

Fluttershy stood still and waited for Luna to show up.

Her eyes darted back and forth as she waited for Luna to show up.

Sweat started to pour down her head as she waited for Luna to show up.

Luna wasn’t showing up.

Fluttershy’s eyes rolled back into her skull and she fainted on the spot.

When she woke back up she took a quick look around and remembered where she was. “Ohhhh—fudgesicles.” She then covered her mouth with her hooves in shame. “Fluttershy, you’ve got such a bad mouth!”

The light on her hardhat was still working and hadn’t dimmed at all—thank Celestia. It must have a very strong battery for its size. Of course that still didn’t change her predicament at all. She was trapped. Trapped and lost deep underground and she still had no sign of Angel Bunny and no idea where he might be. With every breath she took it felt like the walls were closing in on her, closer and closer until finally the whole cave would collapse and-

“Ahhh!” Fluttershy’s imagination got the better of her again and she fell to the ground, covering her head and shaking all over.

With everything around her still quiet, Fluttershy eventually peeked an eye open to make sure nothing was collapsing. Despite the side where the tunnel had been falling apart, the rest of this cavern she was in looked okay. She managed to stand up and finally started to really look around the place with her light to see what it was like. Like she had felt when coming out of the tunnel, the ground was more rock and much harder packed dirt and when she looked up at the ceiling she saw stone stalactites hanging down at her. Fluttershy reflexively paled when she saw them. They looked like daggers, or teeth, or, or, something else dangerous and pointy!

Fluttershy shook her head. “Stop it, Fluttershy, just stop it!”

She was going to get nowhere like this and she knew it, she had to get some control over herself if she wanted to make any progress towards finding Angel. She swung the light over to the walls of the cavern to see anything but it didn’t penetrate the darkness deeply enough. She was going to have to pick a direction and start walking. With a gulp, she decided to walk in the opposite direction from where she had come in. She tried feeling for an air current or listening for any kind of noise but this place was still as the grave.

As Fluttershy walked she kept her head slightly tilted towards the ground so the light could see anything like a sudden hole or drop off. Luckily the ground was pretty level and she was taking things slow enough, probably too slowly, that she didn’t accidentally trip over anything. She was still breathing a little too hard and her heart was pounding but what could she do about that? Finally her light started to reflect upwards, warping as it hit a wall instead of just the floor of the chamber. Fluttershy squeaked and came to a stop, at first shaking in worry despite her best efforts at the sudden change.

She managed to straighten up her head and really checked out this new wall. At first it seemed like any other down in this dark cave but as she scanned over it she saw something that finally made her happy. Well, happy may have been too strong a word, but she was at least relieved. This new tunnel was much larger than the one she had come in through, more than twice her height so she could easily walk or even fly through it. Though she was still going to take things slowly. After all, the tunnel was foreboding in a different way.

Instead of stalactites, huge twisted tree roots came all the way down through its roof, hanging there and giving the entire tunnel a gnarled appearance. The entrance to the tunnel was completely covered in these roots and it was almost like Fluttershy had to walk through the mouth of some monster to go inside.

Fluttershy just barely stuck her head in the tunnel. “Angel? A-Are you in there?”

No answer.

“Guess I should’ve figured that by now...” Fluttershy sighed and took her first shaky step into the tunnel.

Unlike earlier she now was keeping her eyes and light trained on the roots hanging down from the ceiling instead of the ground. She could just imagine one of them suddenly coming alive and grabbing her. And she wasn’t about to let that happen. Unfortunately a lot of the roots dangled quite low and Fluttershy had to push them out of the way or walk around them. Every time one of them just so happened to snake across her back she nearly jumped out of her skin. Unlike the tunnel she had taken down earlier, this one wasn’t straight either. It had twists and turns to it and also seemed to be just ever so slightly descending lower.

At this point Fluttershy really had no idea how deep she was. Applejack would probably know best about how deep some tree’s roots could go but Fluttershy didn’t really know. And that didn’t mean there couldn’t be some strange magic ahoof in the first place. Fluttershy was more than familiar with strange magic and weird things in general. Came with the territory, much to her regret.

Now the roots had gotten so thick that she again couldn’t see very well, there was barely any space for her light to penetrate. It almost made her panic and start just running through the swinging roots but she knew how bad of an idea that was. Fluttershy continued to sweat and slowly go through the underground forest of roots. She was like Daring Do trying to conquer a wall of vines in the deepest jungles of the world.

Only she was also bothered by the sounds that came from the shifting roots and earth above them whenever Fluttershy had to move one. Thanks to how normally quiet it was in here, and the natural echo, the slightest sound she made seemed to create a cacophony throughout the tunnel of scraping and crumbling noises. It helped stir up the panic more and more in Fluttershy, already she could barely see anything but roots in front of her, she couldn’t hear anything but their noises, and she kept feeling them slide over her back, head, wings, and tail like they were trying to grab her. She was starting to hyperventilate again and it was all because of some dumb roots. Fluttershy kept trying to tell herself to stay calm and just get through them but her own inner voice was being drowned out by everything else.

It was getting so bad that she didn’t even notice when her own hooves picked up the pace and she started trotting faster through the forest of roots. Twisting and turning, no longer paying attention to where she was going, the light on her head almost useless, still just slightly going further down and down. No sign of Angel. No sign of anything. She was all alone in this strange cave system underground and she was certain she was just getting more and more lost in it. This is what it felt like on old Nightmare Night’s for her, the kind of terror where she just wanted to hide under her bed and pretend that nothing was happening outside her door.

It happened in a flash. Fluttershy pushed through the last sheet of hanging roots in the tunnel and her eyes went wide as a twisted and evil looking visage stared at her from the cave wall in front of her.

“Ahhh!” Her whole body went rigid as she screamed at the monstrous looking thing illuminated by her hardhat’s light. She turned her head to look away but another face was lit up, growling and snarling at her, and then another one, and another one! No matter where she looked her light revealed some kind of horrific face glowering at her.

There was only one thing Fluttershy could do. In her fear she flipped the light switch off, turned around, and ran back under the hanging roots, diving onto the ground and covering her head. She shook like she was in the middle of an earthquake while she wrapped herself into a ball.

Darkness was scary too but not as scary as what she had just seen. In the dark she could at least pretend there was nothing around her, nothing scary or dangerous. In the dark she could tell herself that nothing would find her or hurt her. Fluttershy lied there curled up on the ground for a decent portion of time, the only sounds were her own whimpers and heavy breathing. The roots above her head had stopped swinging and making noise. It was only her down here in this tunnel.

“No more, no more...” Fluttershy shook her head. “This is already too much, A-Angel must be somewhere else.”

Fluttershy gulped and went to get up, heading back out the way she came.

But instead she paused.

“Angel...” she whispered.

Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at the darkness that led deeper and deeper into the cave. She didn’t know what those monstrous faces were, but she couldn’t lie to herself about Angel. Fluttershy would never give up on helping him just cause she was a little scared. But how could she conquer her fear? Did she really have it in her to turn the light back on and face whatever that was? It was horrifying. So, so, horrifying…

“What do I dooo?” Fluttershy whimpered.

It was then that a very happy and important memory popped into Fluttershy’s head courtesy of her great friend, Pinkie Pie. It was all the way back from when they first met Twilight and Princess Luna returned as Nightmare Moon. They had to go into the Everfree Forest and while there they were temporarily waylaid by a group of trees with scary faces on them that terrified everyone. But not Pinkie. She had helped them all with a little song, a little tale of her childhood, and a little laughter. After that, things weren’t so scary anymore.

Pinkie Pie wasn’t here right now but Fluttershy still remembered it all. M-Maybe she just needed a little of that.

Fluttershy faced the way deeper into the caverns, light still off, and began to say- “W-When I was a little filly a-and the sun was going down...” Her voice cracked and wavered a few times but she managed to keep going. “T-The darkness and the shadows they would always make me fro-own...”

She gulped and with a quivering hoof, reached up to flip the light on her hardhat back on while she sang.

Learn to face your fears~
You’ll see that they can’t hurt you~
Just laugh to make them disappear~

“Ha… ha… ha...”

At first her eyes were still squeezed shut but as Fluttershy opened them all she saw again was a wall of hanging roots. She took a deep breath and continued singing while walking through them.

So, giggle at the ghostly~
Guffaw at the grossly~
Crack up at the creepy~
Whoop it up with the weepy~
Chortle at the kooky~
Snortle at the spooky~

She made it back to where she emerged from the hanging roots and saw those scary monster faces, whatever they were. She closed her eyes again but still kept the light shining and finished up the song.

And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he’s got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna… wanna.. wanna…~

“L-Laaaaaaaugh!” Fluttershy finished and opened up her eyes.

There was no snarling monster in front of her. What had scared Fluttershy so badly was nothing more than a tangled mass of roots and rocks in the wall of the cave that merely suggested the visage of a monster. Her own fear and imagination had done the rest. As she looked over with her hardhat’s light she saw that everything else was the same, just rocks, dirt and roots. No monsters, nothing scary or evil trying to get her.

It was just a cave.

“It’s just a cave, Fluttershy,” she told herself. “And Angel is somewhere deeper inside it.”

She nodded and walked past the obstruction, the roots stopped hanging overhead and her light illuminated the rest of the walls and ground around her until she came to the next segment of her journey. Another hole. Unlike the one Fluttershy had dug through earlier this one was much wider, enough for two pegasi to fly side by side in, and it went straight down into even deeper darkness. Fluttershy looked around to make sure there wasn’t anywhere else to go and came to the decision that this hole was indeed the only way forward.

“Angel?” Fluttershy called into the hole. Her voice echoed down and down it but no voice in return came back up.

Fluttershy glanced at her wings, they were still shaking a little but she was still able to unfurl them. There was only one thing to do now after all. With a few flaps she gently floated to the center of the hole and looked down. It was impossible to see how deeply this one went, the light just didn’t go far enough. Fluttershy had no idea how much longer she’d be down here or how much further she’d need to go but at least she had conquered a bit of her fear. Hard part was over. She wouldn’t let something like that impede her progress on rescuing Angel.

With a confident nod to herself again, Fluttershy descended deeper into the caves.

Author's Note

Chapters should be out every 4-5 days.

Fool's Gold By Any Other Name

Gently, ever so gently, Fluttershy floated down the deep hole further into the depths of the earth below Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. It was an almost perfectly round hole that made Fluttershy think of it as an artificial mine shaft more than anything. The problem with that though was she was pretty sure ponies had never made such a thing. Applejack, or more likely Granny Smith, would know for sure if anything like this had been made in Ponyville before her time. She had never heard stories or even rumors about something like this though. And what purpose would it even serve? Why would the ponies of Ponyville make such a thing and make it so far out of the way and tough to get to? It had to have been created by something, or someone, else.

She mostly kept her eyes down to make sure she wasn’t going to hit anything but she also kept her light swiveling across the walls of the hole in case she was missing something. It just looked like dirt and more dirt all around her though. And of course below her was just total darkness. It made her shiver in frightful anticipation about what could come next, but she tried to remind herself that so far nothing bad or scary had happened. It had all just been her imagination and worries that were troubling her. Things were fine. That’s what she had to keep in mind.

And to keep doing it for Angel Bunny. If it was Angel Bunny or Discord or any one of her friends, Fluttershy would do whatever it took to help them. Even as her nerves and fears got the better of her, she knew she had done so in the past already, she just had to do it again. Usually her friends were by her side when she needed to be courageous though… right now there wasn’t a single one of them.

Fluttershy shook her head. They were with her in spirit. Yes. Certainly. If her friends knew what she was going through they’d support her. She could picture Twilight levitating them all down here right now, aside from Rainbow Dash, who would’ve flown ahead all on her own. And then they’d go searching for Angel together. All the while Pinkie would keep their spirits up and everyone would contribute in their own special way. Fluttershy didn’t really like adventures but she loved being able to do things like that with her friends.

And yet here she was, still all alone in the darkness.

“Stop it, Fluttershy. That isn’t helping anypony,” she said to herself as she continued her slow descent. The deeper she went the less dirt she saw in the walls around her and the more she started floating past solid layers of rock. She remembered being told once when she was together with Maud that there were multiple different types of rock layers underground, what kind of rocks there were and what they were made of changed the deeper you went. And Pinkie Pie had chimed in that her sisters were named after some of the common types of rocks that made up deep caves. Limestone and marble. Is that what she was looking at now? She thought it looked a little different though from what she knew about marble and limestone. Admittedly not a lot but she had seen a lot of marble statues and the rock around her in this hole didn’t quite look like that.

Her light was showing her that this rock around her was kind of a sandy orange color. It may have been a little warped because of her eyes and the only source of light being artificial but that’s still how she saw it. Sandstone? There was a rock called that, right? Did it really matter? Maybe she was just being curious to try and take her mind off things.

Either way the hole kept going down and down and Fluttershy now kept her eyes glued to the bottom of it. She was certain it had to open up into a new cave or chamber soon. There was no way something could be so deep. Although really she didn’t actually know how deep caves could go…

If mountains could be thousands of feet tall then couldn’t caves be thousands of feet deep? Is that how it worked?

She hoped not. She had wings and she hardly ever liked to be that high up. She didn’t need to be that far underground, stuck in a dark and claustrophobic place instead. Even if the caves did go very deep, Angel Bunny probably couldn’t have gotten that far into them yet either. Fluttershy kept telling herself that once this hole ended she would find him. Or he’d be right around the corner. Or in the next chamber.

Now it was actually starting to get not warmer the lower she went but more humid. She could feel the condensation in the air around her as it gathered on her wings and mane. It almost felt like some hot summer days in Ponyville or the times she had visited Hayseed Swamp. Warm and wet was better than being icy cold but depending on the air quality deeper in the caves it might start becoming a trouble to breathe well. If she started sweating like she was in a sauna she’d lose energy faster. And where was she going to find something like clean water down here? Or any sort of regular food for that matter?

Fluttershy bit her lip. “I’m sure there will be plenty of moss to eat...”

She knew there were underwater rivers and lakes and groundwater, stuff like that, but was it healthy? Probably not. Was it going to be her only choice? Probably.

At least Fluttershy had a lot of first-aid knowledge, even if it was predominantly animal related and not pony. If something bad happened to her, like she got sick or injured, she was confident enough to treat herself. That was all a worst-case scenario that she really didn’t want to think about though. She just needed to be careful and take things slowly and nothing bad would happen.

It was then that Fluttershy started to feel a light breeze in the hole she was going down. It was coming up from below, there must’ve been an air current somewhere down there. Either a new tunnel or chamber had to be coming up soon. Fluttershy—perhaps against her better judgment—flapped her wings gently and lowered herself faster down the hole. She kept the light on her hardhat tilted down to see not just directly below her but also slightly on the wall of the hole so she could tell when it ended.

Fluttershy could pretty much sense something coming up down in the depths. The way the air felt, and she even thought she heard the sound of it blowing through a much larger cavern, it was all telling her that she was finally getting somewhere else. Her heart started to pound in her chest as she hoped that she would finally find the place down here where Angel was.

In an instant, her light dropped away from the wall as it disappeared and Fluttershy exited the deep hole, emerging from the ceiling of this new chamber. Whatever it may be.

Her light spread out and shown further, no longer held back by endless shadows or a wall of rock directly in front of her. It glinted and reflected off what was down here and illuminated so much more of this deep cave. Fluttershy couldn’t help but gasp in wonder at what she now saw all around her.

“Oh my, this—this is incredible!”

The world around her glittered. Because Fluttershy now found herself in a massive, massive, underground cavern full of and made up of crystals and gemstones. She had entered possibly the largest and most elaborate geode in all the world. Sparkling white quartz made up most of it, shooting up in huge spears near her that were wider than her entire body (including wingspan). An uneven bed of purplish crystals she didn’t know the name of made up the floor below her. She’d have to be careful to not slip or accidentally cut her hooves on them but they were at least certainly stable enough to land on. To give her wings a rest, Fluttershy descended once more and took a more detailed look around at the geode.

Her hooves trembled slightly when she landed and Fluttershy took in a breath of relief when she was now safe and sound, raising a wing to her chest to feel her heartbeat slow down back to normal. “There we go...”

Atop the bed of purple crystals, Fluttershy for the first time since starting this adventure actually felt good. It helped that there was something beautiful and wondrous around her for a change. The gigantic geode stretched in every direction, with arches and bridges of gemstones all over it. It wasn’t just one big sphere either, the bottom went up and down in valleys and hills of purple crystals. Huge shafts and growths of quartz were all over it too, Fluttershy’s light reflected and refracted off all of them, giving so much more light to the geode than she would’ve expected to get down here. The quartz was fairly white and it shone brightly whenever Fluttershy brought the light from her hardhat directly on it. One spear of quartz was close by where she landed, almost going all the way up the height of the geode like it was a pillar supporting it. Fluttershy walked towards it curiously (being careful on the uneven footing) and gently tapped her hoof against it. It was hard, very hard. She knew quartz was a pretty tough mineral and it definitely felt harder than the other crystals and gemstones in here. She just didn’t know enough about rocks to know how a geode like this was formed.

The shelves of quartz were huge solid chunks that oftentimes were bigger than any house Fluttershy could think of. It really was a massive cavern that she had floated down into. More and more gems came to her notice, glittering in the distance, forming almost a rainbow of color the more she shined her light around. If it wasn’t for the circumstances she’d want to travel around the geode just for how sublime and beauteous it was. It was more beautiful than a quiet forest in the morning or a clear night sky, two things Fluttershy already loved to appreciate. Oh how much she wished she could appreciate it.

However…

“I’ve got to find Angel. He must have come through here,” Fluttershy said to herself with determination in her eyes. The how of the matter wasn’t exactly important, she knew in her heart of hearts that Angel had been here.

“Aaaaaaangeeeeeel!” Fluttershy called out into the geode. “Aaaaaaare youuuuu heeeeeeere?”

She had to do it even though she knew by now she probably wouldn’t get an answer. This geode was just so huge—so cavernous—too that even if he was here it could take ages to find him. There were arches of stone and deep holes in the crystals that led to deeper chambers of the geode, it just stretched and went on like a labyrinth. Unlike before, Fluttershy didn’t just have a single path to keep going down. She had to figure out where to go now on her own. Make the choice.

Every direction could lead to somewhere new but she knew there was only one way she wanted to go: Whatever direction the air was flowing in.

Fluttershy brought her left hoof up to her mouth and licked it, then stuck it up into the air and waited to feel the gentle breeze of the air through the geode. Like this she could figure out where to go next. If Angel or any other creatures were down here they’d naturally be where the air was. Finding the air currents was also a way of possibly finding any entrances and exits to this gargantuan cave system. She floated out to a more open area of the geode, where so many different paths and possibilities branched off, and held her hoof up high. Her saliva-coated hoof felt ugly and uncomfortable, especially with how humid and sticky it was down here to begin with. She wanted the opportunity to wash it off as soon as possible. Who knew when that chance would come to her though.

Fluttershy kept the flapping of her wings to a minimum as she hovered in the middle of the geode, waiting for the breeze that would tell her where to go.

“You would’ve definitely found your way to the right place, Angel. With your big ears and animal instincts you know where to go...” It was helpful to her to voice her thoughts like that sometimes.

Soon after just waiting a few moments the breeze came through the geode and Fluttershy felt it slightly cool her wet hoof. She could feel the direction it was blowing in thanks to that. With a slight nod, Fluttershy began flying in the direction the wind was going. Normally she’d probably just take a light trot instead but with the somewhat dangerous “ground” of the geode and how there would’ve been some difficult spots to climb through she decided to just fly from the start. She still had to maneuver around outcroppings and large growths of quartz but Fluttershy was a decently nimble flier.

Eventually she did come to a small hole in one portion of the geode that led to the next, it was rimmed with jagged purple crystals and looked a little dangerous to fly through carelessly. Fluttershy had to be careful. It was just barely going to be enough room for her to make it through with her wings spread. She didn’t need to get cut up down here. Taking a deep breath she ever so gently floated herself through the maw and went straight on to the other side. Only once ducking her head down out of fright when passing under a particularly large crystal.

“That was a little more dangerous than I like,” Fluttershy whispered to herself as she held a hoof to her chest after making it through. Now it was time to see if this part of the geode was more of the same or something different.

Yes and no.

There was still nothing but crystals overflowing everywhere, but there was far more than just the common quartz and purple crystals she had gone through in the first massive chamber of the geode. Her light glittered off of so many different gems and jewels it was even more beautiful than before to her. Ruby reds, sapphire blues, emerald greens, sparkling diamonds, all up close to her now instead of just glittering stars in the distance. She wished she could share this sight with someone, anyone! Her friends most of all but what a joy it would be if she had a camera with her…

Fluttershy giggled as she imagined what Spike would do if he was down here. “Oh my, he’d eat himself sick...”

And then of course Rarity especially would be absolutely awed, she’d never have to go on another gem finding outing in her whole life! This one geode had the amount and variety of gems for a million dresses. Fluttershy should definitely tell her about it when she got back to the surface. Even though getting back here might be a problem, Rarity was a surprisingly determined and strong-willed pony. If she wanted to do something she would do it.

Just like Fluttershy had to do now with finding Angel.

She floated down to the “ground” because it was much more even now in this part of the geode. It was easy for Fluttershy to land her hooves on the layer of gemstones and start walking. She did wonder, with such a huge gathering of gems, if somepony like Maud may have already found this place in the past. Or if the Diamond Dogs had ever tried mining it. It looked undisturbed aside from the holes leading into it, but it was also so big that Fluttershy couldn’t really be sure.

Either way her hooves now easily clopped over the gems beneath her as she continued going the way of the wind. Fluttershy’s overall situation hadn’t changed but this was much better than crawling through a narrow dirt tunnel or going underneath a bunch of gnarled and twisted roots. The only real downside was how humid this geode still was. Mixing with the dirt that was already all over her from her previous endeavors and she didn’t exactly feel or look too good right now. Again she wished for some water that she could both use to drink and clean up with.

Fluttershy passed by a crop of brilliantly orange crystals that glimmered when the light from her hardhat reached them. She had to squint her eyes shut thanks to how bright they glowed. Another group of yellow crystals coming out of the wall leafed off everywhere like an aloe vera plant. Fluttershy saw numerous other units of yellow crystals like that, it must’ve been the unique way they grew. A radiant blue gem the size of a house then came up, jutting out of the purple crystals. It was partially see-through and Fluttershy looked inside it to see her distorted reflection. Her body warped so it was like looking in a funhouse mirror. She couldn’t help but laugh a little in amusement, remembering Pinkie Pie’s words was really helping her right now. The more she walked by the crystal the more it changed her body. From skinny, to fat, to tall, to short, to looking like she was squished and being stretched in every direction at once. The next crystal she walked by was totally clear and when her light shone upon it it acted like a prism and created rainbow rays of light that jumped across the rest of the geode and lit up more and more crystals. It was like a cascade effect, as long as Fluttershy kept her hardhat light trained on it, practically the entire chamber was illuminated.

Of course she had to turn away and keep going on her path eventually.

Things got more cramped and crowded the further she went in this chamber away from the hole in the ceiling she had entered the geode from. Soon Fluttershy was almost boxed in by walls of gemstones all around her. The gems beneath her hooves were still clustered together enough that she didn’t have to worry about getting stuck in a hole and twisting an ankle at least. It was almost like a complete sheet of purple crystals. Because things had gotten narrower the wind picked up a little bit and Fluttershy could actually hear it whistling through the walls and beds of crystals around her. It wasn’t a strong enough breeze to do more than ruffle some errant locks of her mane but at least it was proof that the air was still flowing down in this cave system.

Her light was proving to be an indispensable tool as Fluttershy easily traversed the narrow gashes of the geode. She couldn’t imagine how impossible this journey would be without Rarity’s gift. Even if the light was just a bit weaker she’d be in a real bind. She’d probably be scuffed all over and bumping into things.

Speaking of which, the light danced over the nearest few feet of crystals and made them light up and sparkle like somepony had thrown glitter all over them. And beyond that was a hole. Not just another hole lined by crystals that led to another part of the geode, but a hole much like the one she had flown down from. She had found her exit from the geode. And the entrance to a new part of these caves and her subterranean adventure in search of Angel.

Fluttershy smiled even though the crag that the wind blew into was dark and foreboding. She was happy to know she was making progress. And while she couldn’t say she had conquered any of her fears she was doing a very good job managing them. Fluttershy was tough. Tougher than most other ponies thought she was. Especially when she kept her friends in her heart.

Fluttershy paused right in front of the crag, still standing atop the purple crystals of the geode and peering inside this new place she would soon go. Her light illuminated a little bit of it, enough so that she could see the ground was stable and level, but not much else. Tilting her head up she saw that the ceiling of the crag was fairly high too and nothing seemed to hang down from it. As far as narrow passages in an underground cave went, the crag was probably one of the better ones she could find herself forced to travail. The crag still seemed damp with moisture and humidity though so Fluttershy clearly wasn’t getting a reprieve from that. And of course before she entered it at all she had something to do first.

She cupped her hooves to her mouth and took a deep breath. “Angel! Can you hear me?!”

In the back of her mind she knew it was probably pointless. He hadn’t responded yet and if he didn’t hear her when she called out to the entire cavern earlier he probably wasn’t going to hear her now.

And while she didn’t hear Angel, she did finally get a response from something.

At first it sounded like leaves rustling but then the sound grew—heavy fluttering coming from deeper in the crag. Chirping, high-pitched squeaks, the sounds of hundreds of tiny wings beating. Fluttershy’s eyes opened wide and she ducked as suddenly a massive swarm of black bats shot out from the crag, flying off into the geode.

“O-Oh my, this must be your home, I’m sorry to intrude!” Fluttershy called out to the huge swarm. She gulped and stood up as the bats continued to fly all about. They were just some more of her beloved animals, nothing to be afraid of, in fact they kind of made her a little happy to see. Though they didn’t look happy to see her.

“E-Excuse me! Can any of you tell me if you saw a white bunny rabbit come through here earlier?” Fluttershy asked them.

One of the bats stopped in its flight and turned to her with a glare on its little face as it beat its wings to stay hovering there. Chirp Chirp Chirp!

Fluttershy gasped and clasped her hooves over her mouth while her eyebrows shot up. “Such language!” Her face quickly turned into a pout. “I was only asking if you had seen a friend of mine.”

The rude bat blew a raspberry at her and flew away with the rest of its brethren. Shortly afterwards, they had all vacated the crag and went off further into the geode.

Fluttershy frowned after them. “Really now, there’s no need to be like that.” She sighed and looked down at the ground. “I guess I can’t expect every animal to be friendly… especially not in a place like this that’s so strange and unknown.”

She turned around and looked back into the crag the bats had come from. It was still where she needed to go after all. With another sigh she began her walk on in. It wasn’t big enough where she could extend her wings to their full length but she still didn’t have any trouble just walking on her hooves through it. In a second she had left the geode behind and was now in a new cave, the crag seemed to tilt down slightly, meaning she was still going deeper and deeper underground. Fluttershy wasn’t sure how deep she was already but she had to guess she was deeper than Diamond Dogs or most mines usually went. At least her light was still working and she had no problem seeing ahead.

The further she walked into the crag though the more she noticed something. Fluttershy had to crinkle her nose, there was something funky smelling coming up ahead.

The Singing Mushroom Brothers

Fluttershy hopped off a ledge in the crag and continued walking between its narrow walls. Thankfully it didn’t branch off anywhere, she only had to walk straight. Un-thankfully though that strange scent she had started smelling earlier kept getting stronger. It was similar to how a swamp smelled but not quite the same. Something like decaying plants or flowers or maybe really bad smelling flowers like rafflesias. That icky smell that was still natural but no less revolting.

The humidity and moisture had increased as well to the point droplets of water were dripping down the walls of the crag and little puddles of it formed on the floor every now and then. At least that was a start.

Fluttershy intentionally walked through some of those puddles just to get her hooves a little less dirty. Looking up with her hardhat’s light she saw that it really wasn’t just the humidity that was the cause of this water gathering here, little rivulets flowed from cracks higher in the ceiling of the crag. There must have been a source of ground water or the bottom of a river or lake somewhere far above that was the cause of this. That was good news to Fluttershy. A real source of water could mean plant life somewhere as well as animals that used it for survival.

With a smile she continued her trek through the crag, looking for any further signs of life or activity down here that would lead her to Angel.

She couldn’t imagine him willingly staying in a part of these caves that smelled so bad though. Angel Bunny would’ve ran through here with a paw pinching his nose shut the whole time. Fluttershy even considered using her feathers to mask the scent if it kept getting worse. At least it was just a bad smell and nothing nauseous or dangerous like a gas or sulfur. In her travels she had been to swamps and other places that had stuff like that. As far as she could tell this was just a bad smell coming from something further in the crag or maybe on the other end of it.

“Is there anypony else down here? Or anything? If there are any cute, cuddly animals I promise you I’m friendly!” Fluttershy called out as she walked, the light of her hardhat giving her more than enough light to safely travel so long as she didn’t run.

“I know there were bats down here, do any other animals call these caves their home? Are there any bears or salamanders down here?” It’s true she may not have been an expert on caves but she was an expert on the kinds of animals that lived in caves. This was most certainly a bit too deep for bears though, they didn’t live in these kinds of caves, Fluttershy was maybe just being a little too hopeful. There were a lot of other animals that just generally lived underground too that she might come across. That she hoped to come across.

Besides them the only other things would be Diamond Dogs.

Who Fluttershy hoped to not come across.

Frowning at the lack of response, Fluttershy continued on while more water dripped around her. She went right underneath a steady stream of it falling from the ceiling and used her wing to cover the hardhat. The light probably wouldn’t be damaged from something like that but she wanted to be extra careful. It was her irreplaceable lifeline after all. She thought about pausing for a second under the stream to take a drink but decided otherwise. It would be better to find clearer water that was probably safer to drink, rather than some that probably had just dripped between a whole bunch of rocks and dirt.

Her journey through the crag took several more minutes before it looked like things might start to change for her. The smell finally stopped getting worse and merely stayed at the same strong level for quite a while and the floor of the crag soon became flooded with a low level of water. Her hooves were soggy now as she walked through it, making the slightest of splashes, the pitter-patter of her steps in the water echoing off the walls. At least it was a different sound than her own voice or breathing. Now she had something else to listen to. She almost got lost in the pattern of that sound, just because it was something to occupy her mind with other than her own inner voice.

So when a new sound suddenly appeared through the echoing of her steps, she was rather startled.

Buzzzzzz~

Fluttershy’s ears perked up and she stopped, shining her light forward to see what was making that buzzing noise. She didn’t have to wait long at all. Attracted by the light atop her hardhat, a mosquito the size of her hoof flew right towards her from deeper within the crag.

“O-Oh!” Fluttershy started as it buzzed right up to her face. “Hello there, Mr. Mosquito. Or is it Mrs.?” Fluttershy put on her kindest smile for the insect. “Is this your home? Um, sorry to intrude but do you perhaps remember seeing a white rabbit come through here earlier?”

The mosquito didn’t respond except to buzz harder and attempt to jab its sharp proboscis directly into the light on her hardhat.

“Ah! No, don’t do that!” Fluttershy squeaked and ducked, letting the mosquito fly right over her head. Fluttershy frowned and turned around. “Please Mr. Mosquito, I need this light, and I need to find my friend, can’t you help me?”

With an angry glare on its tiny face, the mosquito buzzed directly at her light again.

Evidently not.

Fluttershy covered the light with her hooves and gently tried to swat the mosquito away with her wings. After all she didn’t want to hurt it. Just cause it enough trouble where it flew away on its own. She couldn’t afford to lose her light. And if he got mad and bit her instead it could almost be just as bad. Mosquitoes carried all kinds of diseases, if Fluttershy got sick down here…

“Please! If you don’t want to help or know anything then just leave me alone! There’s no reason to be mean like this,” she whimpered and tried to convince the mosquito to buzz off.

BUZZZZZZZZZ~

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as she heard a much louder buzzing coming from behind her. Turning around she shined the light back in the direction the first mosquito had came from only to see dozens upon dozens of more oversized mosquitoes coming right for her. She gulped.

“Uh oh...”

The swarm washed over her immediately and Fluttershy squawked and dropped to the ground, splashing water everywhere. The mosquitoes buzzed all around her so Fluttershy flapped her wings a few times to try and knock them away. She could feel some landing on and probing her, others flying and poking at her hooves that covered the hardhat light. She knew she couldn’t just lie here and let them harass her for much longer. Fluttershy stood up quickly and shook her head, flapping her wings a few more times and then running forward through the crag. She had to get out of here. Where had these mosquitoes even come from? There must be something close up ahead.

She knew it was dangerous to run like this, she was barely even looking forward as she ran, she might hit a wall if she kept this up. But it was either that or lose her only light in these dark caves.

The mosquitoes kept up right behind her, their loud buzzing drowning out everything else.

But as Fluttershy briefly glanced up to see what was ahead, she saw her potential salvation—a light at the end of the tunnel.

“Wait, a light?” Fluttershy said to herself, utterly puzzled. How could there be a light down here? Was her mind playing tricks on her? No. When she squinted her eyes to make sure, the light didn’t change. There was something coming up soon once this crag ended. Fluttershy was now determined to make it there and see what it was, she wasn’t letting these mosquitoes get the best of her.

She sped up and ran through the water of the crag, splashing it up and making herself wet without any regard. A mosquito tried to poke her in the flank but she flicked her tail at it and kept running. Safety wasn’t considered as the end of the crag came up despite Fluttershy having now idea what was right outside it. She could be jumping off a cliff for all she knew. It was a risk she was willing to take—not like she couldn’t fly after all—she just had to be sure she had the space and time to adjust.

It might not have been the smartest thing to do in retrospect but once Fluttershy reached the end of the crag she jumped and extended her wings—and then promptly hit the ground with her hooves since it was just a foot below the floor of the crag. Fluttershy stumbled and started to tumble end over end down the hill that existed at the exit of the crag before she suddenly came to a stop on her stomach with a heavy thud at the bottom of whatever this new chamber in the cave was. It was wet all around her thanks to the water flowing from the crag, she was practically lying in an ankle-high puddle with her eyes just barely poking out the top thanks to her prone position. With a groan she managed to at least partially get back up and sat there. She didn’t hurt too bad, and the hardhat was okay, it was just a little unpleasant.

Now she could look around though and finally see where she had ended up.

“This is… not what I expected. Even more than all those crystals.”

Fluttershy was now in a rocky underground canyon, streams of water dripped over the ground and down the walls of it, it was at least a few dozen feet wide even at its narrowest part and the roof of this new place stretched up over a hundred feet high. Fluttershy could see massive stalactites hanging from the ceiling, all of them and it made of a cold dark grey rock. And the reason she could see it all so clearly in the first place became evident as she looked up at the ceiling.

Fungus growing all across the ceiling almost like a bed of grass glowed bright white, illuminating the entire cave and everything in it.

“Bioluminescence...” Fluttershy muttered. She knew a number of animals that carried the trait, such as fireflies and jellyfish among others, and she had heard of some plants that did it too but she had never seen any. Until now that is. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Oh, it’s beautiful.”

Buzzzzzzzz~

Fluttershy looked up at the crag she had emerged from and saw the swarm of mosquitoes come flying out. However, this time they took no notice of her, instead they all flew up higher in the cave towards the glowing fungus. Fluttershy blinked and looked up at the hardhat on her head, they must’ve been attracted to her light in the first place because it was the only source of light in that dark cave. Now that they were back here where everything was already bright they didn’t care about the little light on her head.

Speaking of which, Fluttershy reached a hoof up to the hardhat and flicked the light off. No reason to keep it on in here, it was better to conserve power. With a nod and a smile she continued to look around and see what else was in here.

That’s when her brain registered the fact that it smelled really, really, funky in here.

Fluttershy crinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out. “Just what is—oh.”

She had been wrong about flowers being the source of the smell. It was a different kind of plant life. No, that was incorrect. A kind of fungal life. On the bottom of the cave, on the ground, on the piles of rocks, partially crawling up the walls, were mushrooms, mushrooms, and more mushrooms. Some she recognized as oyster mushrooms, shelf mushrooms, deathcaps, and dapperlings, among others. These were mushrooms actually fairly common close to her cottage and in the Everfree. But then there were others that were completely unknown and foreign to her. And downright weird.

Bright yellow mushrooms, pink ones on white stalks that shot up a foot high, green ones that grew in clusters, all the colors of the rainbow and more were represented by these mushrooms. And some of them were very big. It wasn’t just the stalks of some that were tall or thick, their caps also blossomed out with enough room for a pony to sit on. Some were taller than her, others grew out all twisted and gnarled, and there were just. So. Many of them. She had fallen into a forest of mushrooms. So many different species. And so many that gave off a distinct and pungent odor.

The ground (that wasn’t either covered in mushrooms or water) was uneven down here so she flapped her wings and gently floated her way over the rocks and everything else. The breeze was going down deeper into the “canyon”. It sloped away from the crag she had come out of so it seemed Fluttershy was going to keep going down in these caves for now.

As she flew past them she couldn’t help but take more looks at all the mushrooms. It was just such a zoo of them, she had never seen so many and so many different types before. It was a fungal paradise. They seemed to grow bigger the further down she went too until some were the size of small trees, they would’ve towered over her if she was walking on hoof. Now it really was a forest down here. The colors just got even brighter and zanier too, she flew above the cap of a mushroom that had red and yellow stripes, and another group that had green dots all over them, including their stalks. Some of them were a sickly yellow color that radiated a particularly bad smell—almost strong enough to make Fluttershy think they could solely be the cause of the pungent odor in here.

“This is so strange, I have no idea what’s going to come next,” Fluttershy said to herself as she flew.

There seemed to be a large tunnel at the bottom of where she was going, and it was totally flanked by tall mushrooms. It also looked completely dark so it seemed there wasn’t anymore bioluminescent fungus down there. That was too bad but she still had her hardhat light with her. To get ready for the tunnel she stopped flying and plopped down with her hooves onto the rocks. A few slid out and tumbled beneath her when she landed on them but she kept her hoofing and trotted on. The mushrooms here were now pretty much all the same type, tall and thin white stalks with red caps and white spots on the very top. Fluttershy guessed they were probably a good ten feet tall each. At least the fully grown ones were, there were some that were only around her height or a little taller.

“I wonder if any of these are safe to eat… so many mushrooms are poisonous though,” Fluttershy bit her lip as she walked through the mushrooms and thought back on all the others. “It’s probably best not to chance it.”

The next tunnel was getting closer, it had a large mouth and looked very uninviting with the jagged shape of it. And it was pitch black like so much else of the caves. There were only a few tall mushrooms right outside it and as far as Fluttershy could tell none grew inside it. That made sense, even mushrooms and other fungus needed light to grow.

“Hello,” someone said from next to Fluttershy.

“Hello,” she replied without thinking. And then froze mid-step, doing a double-take at the source of the voice.

A mushroom was looking down at her.

And yes, looking, because it had a face on it. Complete with a mouth and eyes, a ten foot tall mushroom was leaning down and peering at Fluttershy. She blinked. The mushroom blinked in return and tilted its “head”.

And then Fluttershy did what Fluttershy does.

“Ahhhhh!” She screamed in fright and quickly backed up into the stalk of another mushroom.

“Hello.”

Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk down to pinpricks and she looked up, seeing this new mushroom also looking down at her with a smile on its face.

And this time Fluttershy didn’t scream. She fainted.

“So what do you think she is?”

“I don’t know, but that was quite the shriek earlier.”

“She has wings so isn’t she a pterodactyl?”

“Don’t be silly! She has four legs, she must be a dimetrodon!”

“Certainly not a mole, that’s for sure. Much too colorful.

“Do you think she’s okay? That was quite the fainting spell she had.”

“I don’t know but—oh, look! I think she’s starting to wake up!”

Fluttershy grumbled and turned over, rubbing her eyes and trying to make sense of all the voices she heard in her half-asleep state. It was all sort of a jumbled up blur to her.

“What happened?” Fluttershy asked as she stood up and looked around, trying to remember where she was right before she fainted. Everything came back into focus and she saw the tall mushrooms around her. She remembered now. Although she almost thought she had to be imagining it.

A shadow of one of the mushrooms happened to be cast over her and Fluttershy looked up and right into the smiling face staring down at her.

“Hello there!” The mushroom said to her. “Are you alright?”

“Um… yes. But I’m starting to think I may have hit my head somewhere...” Fluttershy said, practically frozen as she stared back at him.

“Oh? Why’s that?” The oblivious mushroom asked.

“Well… I didn’t know there were mushrooms that had faces.”

The mushroom raised an eyebrow at her. Somehow. “What’s so surprising about that? How could we talk if we didn’t have faces?”

“Oh,” Fluttershy pondered, bringing a hoof up to her chin. “That makes sense.” She smiled up at the mushroom. “And you’re clearly very polite and considerate, so thank you for worrying about me.”

“You’re welcome!” The mushroom said, beaming. “Now though… is it possible for you to answer something me and my brothers are curious about?”

“Brothers?” Fluttershy looked around and noticed that almost all of the fully-grown mushrooms here had faces too and were grinning at her.

“Yes! My brothers!” The first mushroom said. “Allow us to welcome you to our home!”

“Well it’s nice to meet all of you,” Fluttershy smiled and waved to him and the other mushrooms. Normally she’d be a bit shyer but… these were mushrooms. And they were friendly. And she had been trying to work on her shyness when it came to meeting new creatures. “What did you want to ask me?”

“Well we were curious but… what are you?” The mushroom asked her.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Fluttershy giggled. “I’m a pony, a pegasus to be exact, and my name is Fluttershy.”

“Hahaha!” The mushroom laughed. “Then we are pleased to make your acquaintance, Fluttershy. You seem to know that we’re mushrooms, I suppose ponies must be quite the knowledgeable folk. And my name is… Phillip! And my brothers-”

“Jeremy!”

“Albert!”

“Frank!”

“Steve!”

“Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla!”

And so on and so forth did each mushroom name and introduce themselves while Fluttershy smiled and waved to each one. She was quite happy right now to meet some, er, creatures that were actually friendly. They had some very odd names though. When they were finished, Phillip laughed again and smiled brightly down at Fluttershy.

“And just so you know, we aren’t just any talking mushrooms.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at him. Truth be told any talking mushroom already was quite the event for her. “You’re not?”

“Not at all!” Phillip looked over at his other brothers, they all shared a few winks and smiles with each other while Fluttershy watched on in confusion.

The mushrooms all took deep breaths and-

“Da da da da da da!”

We are The Singing Mushroom Brothers!~

Fluttershy’s jaw dropped and her eyes went wide as they all broke out into song together, their bass voices creating a loud chorus together in the cave.

We live down here together~
Though we can’t leave truly ever~
It doesn’t bother us one bit~
Because we can always just sing about it~

Some of us grow long and tall~
Others short and stout~
Some of us don’t sing at all~
And for others that’s what we’re all about!~

Our stalks keep us here~
And friendly faces are always near~
We greet anyone we see with a great big smile
Because we hope they’ll stay awhile!~

And now something called a pony has come~
A wonderful pony named Fluttershy~
We hope our friend she will become~
And it will be some time before she says goodbye!~

Fluttershy clapped her hooves together and smiled. “Oh, that was wonderful, I loved it!”

“Thank you, thank you!” Phillip said to her as he and the rest of his brothers congratulated themselves on a well sung song. “And there’s plenty more where that came from, you can believe it!”

“I’d love to hear some more, it’s a very nice change of pace down here after everything else I’ve been through,” Fluttershy told him.

“Oh?” Phillip raised an eyebrow again. Somehow. “Haven’t had a pleasant trip through the caves? What brings you down here anyways? Me and the brothers are here cause that’s just where our stalks happen to be planted, haha!”

Fluttershy grimaced briefly but managed to keep a smile on her face as she told Phillip all about what she had been through and what happened to Angel Bunny. It occurred to her that it had only been one crazy morning so far. Although by now it might be getting late in the day. Phillip was very understanding for a giant mushroom and seemed to be quite glad that he and his brothers managed to be a pleasant reprieve from the rest of her adventure so far. It was nice that Fluttershy felt she was able to make new friends during something like this. Certainly unexpected.

“And so, if you’ve seen a white rabbit come through here recently I would be ever so grateful,” Fluttershy said as she finished up with her story.

“Rabbit… rabbit… I do not know what kind of animal this may be,” Phillip said as he glanced upwards in thought. “But that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen him. We mushrooms don’t know anything that we haven’t seen here in this cave of ours after all.”

Fluttershy rubbed her chin as she sat down and thought. “Well, I could describe what he looks like for you?”

Phillip eagerly nodded. Somehow. “Alrighty then, we’ve certainly seen a fair number of creatures come through our cave. Maybe we have seen this Angel Bunny and just didn’t know!”

“Okay, let’s see then!” Fluttershy beamed with an ecstatic smile on her face and clapped her hooves together. “Well first of all he’s white all over. He’s furry like me. He’s got two big floppy ears, and two big back legs. And he has a puffy cotton tail. That’s um… that’s about it.” Fluttershy bit her lip for a second. “And… he was probably pretty angry and saying some rude things if he was stuck down here.”

“Hmmm...” Phillip thought, he was joined by Jeremy, Rufus, and the others in that.

Fluttershy just kind of pattered about, waiting for them to respond to her now. They were very kind so she could at least be patient with them. Though they didn’t seem like the quickest thinkers. They were only mushrooms after all. Oh! Fluttershy gasped internally after thinking that, what a rude and horrible thing to think! Just because they were mushrooms didn’t mean she should think less of them in any way.

“Aha! I do recall such an animal!” Phillip suddenly exclaimed.

Fluttershy immediately flapped her wings and flew right up to get level with his face, imploringly locking eyes with him. “You do?!”

“Mhm, almost certainly! You see, I’m now remembering that earlier today some of the moles came through here.”

“Moles?” Fluttershy tilted her head.

“Yes, moles often come through these caves. We see them more than any other creature. The moles from earlier had what I think must’ve been your so-called-rabbit tied up with them.”

“Tied up?!” Fluttershy gasped in horror.

“Yes, I’m sad to say. You see the moles aren’t exactly very friendly, it’s part of why we greeted you so happily, we wanted you to have a good impression of us down here and it was nice to see another smiling face,” Phillip told her.

“Thank you, but now I really need to find Angel,” Fluttershy said hectically. “It sounds like he might be in danger. Where do these moles live?”

“Moleville.”

“Oh. That makes sense.”

“Obviously none of us have been there or know how to get there, but the moles always come up first from that tunnel back there,” Phillip said and gestured to the big tunnel Fluttershy had been going towards in the first place.

Fluttershy looked past him and gulped at the imposing tunnel before looking back at him. “Well, thank you for all your help, Phillip. I wish I could do more to thank you.”

“How about listening to another song?” Phillip grinned.

Fluttershy giggled and set herself back down on the ground, smiling at him and the other mushroom brothers. “I think I can do that.”

“Alright, brothers! Let’s take it from the top!” Phillip shouted and took in a deep breath.

“Da da da da da da da!”

The Singing Mushroom Brothers are happy you could stop by~
Happy as any mushroom down here could ever be~
Happier than any odd day we would never lie~
But now it is time to say goodbye to thee~

We’re glad we could make your acquaintance~
We hope we weren’t a bother~
Come back soon if you have the chance~
And then we’ll all sing together!~

“Yeah!”

Stairway to the Opposite of Heaven

Fluttershy pushed past mounds of loose rock as she traveled down the wide tunnel that the Singing Mushroom Brothers had directed her towards. If the moles (who lived in Moleville) were this direction, Fluttershy was determined to find them. It sounded like Angel Bunny was in danger and needed rescuing, so despite Fluttershy’s myriad of fears and how dark things had gotten again, she was going deeper and deeper.

“Ouch!” She scuffed her hoof on a sharp rook on the ground she couldn’t see. The entire tunnel was like loose gravel, some of it sliding further down whenever Fluttershy moved and making her worry there would be a rockslide each time. Her helmet light simply didn’t give her enough vision in such a wide tunnel.

It was only gently sloped at least, like going down a gentle hill, so she wasn’t worried about suddenly falling and the trip was pretty easy so far aside from the loose ground. There hadn’t been anything strange again so far like the mushrooms nor had she come across any animals… which after the bats and mosquitoes may have been a good thing. She hadn’t exactly had good luck with the animals down here. Fluttershy sincerely hoped that when it came to these moles too that everything was just a big misunderstanding. Maybe the Mushroom Brothers had been mistaken with what they saw, or maybe Angel Bunny had just done something a little rude and a simple explanation would solve things. She wasn’t sure but she’d get to the bottom of things. Both figuratively and literally.

She just hoped whatever conflict there was could be resolved peacefully. And that nothing else scary would be there on the way to Moleville.

Another stumble over a pile of hoof-sized rocks made Fluttershy pause for a brief moment. It might be better for her to slowly float down the tunnel instead of walk like this. She didn’t want to twist anything. Looking up at the ceiling she saw that it was covered in the expected stalactites, but she should have enough room to fly under them. She’d just have to make sure to keep her flight angled low. Didn’t want to be flying straight and smack her head on one of them.

Fluttershy nodded and flapped her wings to float a couple feet above the gravel floor of the tunnel, but with a curious thought she picked up one last rock from the ground and tossed it into the darkness, down the tunnel. It quickly bounced out of the field of her light and disappeared but she continued to hear it tumble, and tumble, and tumble with more and more rocks being dislodged and sliding down with it. Fluttershy turned her head and put her hoof behind her ear to listen in as best she could, trying to figure out how far this tunnel went. Soon the echoing of the falling rock stopped but it didn’t exactly tell Fluttershy how far it had gone. Just far. She still had quite a ways down to go before she got to Moleville it seemed.

And she didn’t even know if Moleville was at the end of this tunnel or even further below. There could be so much more she had to go through.

“Moleville…” Fluttershy muttered. “I hope it’s straight ahead and I can’t miss it. But what if it’s somewhere where only moles can get to? What if the deeper I go the more like a maze this place becomes and I go past it or get lost? Ohhh, Fluttershy, you’re making yourself worry so much.”

Since she could only go one direction now though she continued flying, pretty much gliding, at a steady descent down the tunnel. The air still flowed well so Fluttershy could breathe easily and she hoped that meant it would keep leading her in the right direction too. While the tunnel was mostly quiet aside from the sound of some shifting rocks, a new noise came from Fluttershy that shattered that silence.

Groan~

Her stomach grumbled and a blush rose to her cheeks. She didn’t realize she had gotten that hungry. “Oh my,” Fluttershy brought her hooves up to hide her face, despite not having anyone to hide from. “How embarrassing… thank Celestia no one was here to hear that.”

It did bring attention to one of her big problems though. She still hadn’t found any food to eat. It was possible there were some edible mushrooms back up there but now the thought of eating them just felt weird. Even if they didn’t sing. Fluttershy would have to look for other sources of food and water as she continued on her journey. There was no turning back. It was just that now she really, really needed that food to come sooner rather than later. Some moss, grass, flowers, anything like that growing down here would do. If she felt like it was nightfall before she had found a source of clean water, Fluttershy figured she might have to chance it with whatever the next source of water she found was.

“It all tastes the same at least, doesn’t it?” She grimaced as she thought about it. “Hopefully those moles are at least being courteous and giving Angel plenty to eat and drink.” Fluttershy smiled. “Of course they must, what kinds of creatures wouldn’t?”

Fluttershy was a cynic in a number of areas but when it came to the innate goodness of others she was most definitely an optimist despite a number of other encounters seemingly trying to prove her otherwise. There was the issue with the Diamond Dogs, and most dragons, and Iron Will, and occasionally her own fellow ponies, but that still didn’t mean she would think the worst of these moles without real proof to. Her cynical side mostly revolved around her own issues and how she seemingly kept finding herself stuck on crazy adventures. And with how her life had gone she figured she had good reason to be cynical in that regard. Of course the good and optimistic parts still far outweighed the bad and cynical, her friendships alone made everything worth it.

With a smile on her face now, Fluttershy easily breezed through he tunnel, no longer worrying over little things. Her hardhat light gave her all the vision she needed as she hummed to herself to pass the time. Maybe it was just coincidence but she felt like her attitude got her to the end of the tunnel faster than if she had just been moping or worrying. Relatively quickly the tunnel leveled off and Fluttershy landed at the “bottom” of it, the ground still made up entirely of loose rocks and gravel but on a straight path now.

“Okay, let’s see what’s ahead,” Fluttershy said to herself as she tucked in her wings and started walking again. It was still just dark right now but she could tell the bottom of the tunnel was slightly narrower than the rest and may have been getting more narrow the further she went. The ceiling with its stalactites was closer to her head too, she didn’t want to risk flying right now.

“Anybody there?” She called into the darkness, purely by habit now.

No response once more.

Fluttershy didn’t let that get her down though, she knew a response was probably unlikely so for now she kept walking until she got to the next part of these caves. Her hardhat light was proving much more useful to her now in the smaller section of tunnel too. She could easily see the ground in front of her and ahead enough to know she wasn’t going to walk into a wall. Every now and then she still stumbled or slipped on some of the loose pebbles below her hooves but she was careful enough not to hurt herself. Things were going decently well for Fluttershy now.

It wasn’t long until she came to the end of this gravelly tunnel either. The walls narrowed together until they were at a point no wider than a double-door and the stalactites trailed off until the ceiling of the tunnel was nice and smooth. Fluttershy stopped at the new “doorway” for a moment instead of just immediately walking ahead, getting her bearings and looking around to see if there was anything significant here. It didn’t seem like it for now so she peaked her head further in and used the light to scan around the next chamber.

She had ended up in a small room of sorts. The pebbles and loose stones that lied all over the tunnel stopped at the entrance and inside was a simple oval chamber of rock. The walls had nothing of note on them, no other passages, nothing unnatural, it was the floor that was the interesting part. In the middle of the chamber there was a hole cut into the floor, clearly with the use of tools, and it went down deeper into the ground. When Fluttershy walked up to it to inspect it further she saw that it wasn’t just an empty hole but the start of a spiral stone staircase that spun down into darkness.

“I wonder if the moles made this?” It was as good a guess as any.

The stairs looked like they were enclosed by a wall of rock on all sides for at least a little while, but Fluttershy couldn’t really see too far into it from the top to make sure. All of the steps were totally solid at least, not only were there not spaces between them but she didn’t see any cracked or broken either. Fluttershy still fidgeted before them for a moment though. These had to lead to Moleville and there was nowhere else to go but she was still apprehensive about them. It was the first thing down here she had come across that was without a doubt not a natural formation and built with a purpose. Somehow… Fluttershy just felt like her little underground adventure might be taking a new turn.

It was impossible to tall how far down the stairs went too. They could’ve merely made a single revolution before dumping her off somewhere new or they could go down and down and down. No end was in sight with her standing here.

Despite knowing it was probably pointless, Fluttershy leaned down and cupped her hooves over her mouth before quietly yelling down the stairs. “Helloooooo?”

Her voice reverberated off the walls of the stairwell, bouncing and echoing around before disappearing. Fluttershy leaned in with her ears open for a response but ended up with nothing. She didn’t sigh or frown this time, knowing that it was unlikely anyways, and instead lifted up her hoof to take her first step down the stairs. The problem was her hoof stopped in midair. Fluttershy could feel her leg shaking, her inner worries and fears making her afraid to take that first step.

“Stop it Fluttershy, it’s nothing. It’s just stairs. You’re a big pony, you can do this.” She closed her eyes. “You can do this, you can do this, you can do this.”

With a deep breath she steadied herself and took the first step. Her hoof plopped onto the stone step and Fluttershy hesitantly opened one eye and then the other. Nothing had happened, she hadn’t fallen into a trap door, no monsters had come screaming out of nowhere, it was just a spiral staircase she had started to go down. Sighing in relief, Fluttershy quickly took another step and then another until she had fully started walking down the stairs. It was a fairly tight staircase that she couldn’t really extend her wings in but she still had plenty of room to walk down it. It curved pretty tightly too. With only a few more steps she had made a full revolution around it and continued going lower and lower. The hardhat light again proving its worth as it fully lit up the stairs and everything else in the stairwell for her.

Fluttershy once again started humming to herself as she walked down the stairs to pass the time since there wasn’t really anything to look at now. Although that would change very soon. The air flow was still strong going down these stairs and Fluttershy could actually feel a cold breeze picking up. Seemed wherever these stairs took her there was a strong air flow, she couldn’t wait to see it. Unless it was something scary or creepy again.

As she walked down it got breezier and breezier and she soon saw why. The wall around the staircase disappeared, leaving only a “railing” of solid stone that came up to her shoulders. Now Fluttershy could look out and see what was around her and this spiral staircase.

Nothingness.

Total blackness in every direction, enough to make her pause and a small amount of sweat to begin collecting at her brow. She put her hooves on top of the railing and peaked over the side. The stairs continued on down as far as she could see and probably then some. If she was Rainbow Dash she’d just jump and fly down them but the cavernous darkness of this, well, cavern, was off-putting to her. She had no idea what might be out there just beyond the staircase or how quickly the ground might catch up. Her hardhat light couldn’t penetrate the thick darkness.

Looking down at her hooves she found a tiny pebble and decided to repeat a prior experiment of hers. Picking it up she dropped it off the side of the stairs and listened in for when it hit the ground.

She never heard anything.

“This is a very long staircase...” Fluttershy blinked and looked straight ahead into the dark. It was impossible to see how big the cavern was but she was guessing pretty big. “Hello?” She called out into it.

“Hello… hello… hello...” Her voice echoed off far away into the darkness.

It was obviously a very large chamber she was in, probably stretching far in every direction instead of just down. Without anything to illuminate it though she couldn’t tell for sure or see anything besides darkness a few feet in front of her face. So there was nothing to do but keep walking down these stairs. However many thousand of them there were. Fluttershy didn’t exactly have all the time in the world on her hooves but she wasn’t going to think super negatively and think Angel Bunny needed to be immediately rescued from danger.

For such a long and simple stone staircase it was well-constructed and clearly had no problems staying up even without any other real support. It was basically just one gigantic pillar. There wasn’t much else to occupy Fluttershy as she went down it other than her thoughts, and she had to think about how long it would’ve actually taken the moles to carve such a thing. Applejack would be able to appreciate that sort of hard work. Maud maybe even moreso since it involved rocks. She should definitely tell Maud about this place when she got back home, contrary to Fluttershy, Maud would probably love going on a trip through all of this.

Her ears suddenly picked up the sound of flapping wings coming from the darkness. She swiveled her head and passed the light over the direction the sound had come from, but whatever had made it was either gone or the light couldn’t penetrate deeply enough. Fluttershy stood there frozen like a statue for a minute. Then two. Then five. Not moving her head and the light from the spot, waiting to see if that noise would return or something would appear. The flapping wings sounded larger than any simple bats’ wings. It sounded closer in size to a pegasus like herself but different at the same time too. The wings didn’t sound feathery, nor buzzing like insect wings. It sounded closer to leathery bat wings but again, too big to be any sort of bat.

After another few minutes, Fluttershy started moving again. But this time she kept her light out aimed at the darkness the whole time she walked down the stairs. She was always watching and carefully listening in. She maybe should have been looking down at her hooves and the steps, that was probably much safer when going down stairs, but her fear that something was out there watching her, maybe waiting for the moment to swoop in, overrode that.

She wanted to think of a song she could sing or hum to herself right now to pass the time or show whatever was out there that she wasn’t afraid but at the moment she just couldn’t come up with anything. Fluttershy wished the staircase would end soon. She had already been winding her way through it for a while now, it couldn’t be that much longer. How huge could this chamber actually be after all? The geode was gigantic too but that was a little different. As far as Fluttershy could tell, this entire dark cavern was just one big empty space. It was a little scary to think of. Anything could be out flying around in that darkness… what kind of creature would live in a place like this? If it was just a normal animal, Fluttershy would be quite happy. She’d try and make friends with it. But even the normal animals down here hadn’t been very appreciative of her and she had a nagging feeling that whatever had made that flapping noise wasn’t anything normal…

Fluttershy gasped when her hoof slipped off the edge of one of the steps and she almost tripped, just barely catching herself before she began what would’ve been a very long and painful tumble down the staircase. “Oh my, that was close.” She held a wing to her chest and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

Only after that had she realized that she wasn’t keeping her light and ears trained on the darkness anymore.

Her heart pounded inside her chest but thankfully the sound of leathery flapping didn’t return.

“Goodness...” Fluttershy whispered, taking a gulp of air and getting her bearings back. Her hooves were shaking a little bit but she managed to still herself and calmly stand up straight on the stairs. No more danger of falling down them. She very likely should have been paying attention to where she was walking instead of where something that might not even be out there might come at her from. Pay attention to the danger you knew about rather than worry about a danger that might not even be real.

So Fluttershy briefly shut her eyes and fought to push the thought of leathery wings out of her head before opening them back up and continuing her walk down the stairs.

The winding and winding walk. Her hardhat light now illuminated every step in front of her as Fluttershy practically kept her eyes on her hooves to make sure she wouldn’t step on a crack or miss a step. Luckily most of the steps were still kept up very well, she only saw a few that actually had broken bits and they were all still mostly intact. Or at least intact enough for her to walk over. She doubted these stairs were actually used that much, from what the Mushroom Brothers had said it just didn’t seem like many creatures came up from here. By the looks of it, even though the stairs were in relatively good condition, it also didn’t look like the moles did anything to really keep them in tip top shape. At some point the cracks and fissures would expand and you’d either really have to do something about the spiral staircase or the whole thing would just collapse.

At least Fluttershy could fly.

But for any creatures that couldn’t… with the way this chamber seemed to be it didn’t seem possible to get from the bottom to the top without this staircase. What an odd place this was. And even odder to live in that they had to use something like this. There was no way it could be their only way to the surface or the upper levels of the caves. It was just too unreasonable.

The leather flapping came back and Fluttershy froze. This time not swiveling her head to look in the direction the sound came from. She didn’t know if it was because she thought it was pointless or if because she was afraid she might actually see something this time. Either way the hardhat light stayed trained on the stairs and the fluttering disappeared as quickly as it came. Fluttershy was back to being alone. Maybe she was always alone and she had only imagined things. It didn’t really, she had a staircase to go down, moles to find, and Angel Bunny to rescue.

It had been a long day and the staircase descent was making it longer still. It was obvious now, but finding Angel wasn’t going to be a simple day trip and every day she spent down here looking for him was probably going to be tense and packed with adventure and exploration. Just what she didn’t want.

Fluttershy sighed to herself. “I just hope things can be nice and quiet from here on out.”

Watersliding Into Mudsliding

Fluttershy careened down the watery tunnel with no way to stop herself, pulled along by the fast current while her wings stretched wide open and dragged behind her.

“Ahhh!” She screamed as she went down the chute like a foal going down a slide.

She went through twists and turns, sliding up the side of the wall, going in a spiral, falling down a sudden steep slope while screeching. The entire time being carried with the fast flowing water. Fluttershy had never gone down a waterslide before (she found them scary) but she had seen them at Las Pegasus. She just never expected to somehow find herself stuck in a naturally occurring rock one deep underground.

It had happened so suddenly. Fluttershy had reached the bottom of the huge spiral staircase and had found herself in a circular tunnel that led deeper underground. She wasn’t sure if she was going north, south, east, or west but she was going somewhere. Unfortunately this new tunnel had quite a few branching paths and on one of them the dirt ground beneath her hooves had given away and Fluttershy had fallen into here. In her panic she couldn’t get out in time and was washed away, continuously swept along by the water and stuck for the ride.

She was now drenched from mane to tail thanks to her dip and “fun” ride in this aqueduct or underground river, whatever it was. The volume of water was far more than any simple waterslide would normally have and that’s why Fluttershy found it so hard to free herself. And it’s not like she knew where to go anyways, maybe letting herself get carried along like this was a good thing. The water had to go somewhere. Even if she had fought her way back to the hole she had fallen down there would’ve just been a bunch of other random paths to choose from. Maybe this was fate deciding for her.

She just wished it wasn’t such an uncomfortable trip.

A sudden drop-off had her head dunked below water and her body tumbled end over end before she managed to get her head back out above the surface and breathe deeply. The sloping of the tunnel and fast paced stream still perpetually carried her through the water the whole time. She never had a moment to stop or get her bearings and it was impossible for her to tell how far she had gone down this slide. Fluttershy was completely disoriented from all the twisting and turning.

The only thing she knew for certain was that she was still going down.

After a long and wide curve that had Fluttershy pressed against the wall of the tunnel thanks to gravity, she came out into a straightaway that had a curtain of water falling from the ceiling dead ahead. She sighed and took a deep breath, waiting for the wall of water to cascade over her head and soak her some more. She didn’t have to wait long either. The exceptionally cold waterfall poured on top of her while she drifted past it, making her shake and shiver thanks to how drastically different the two temperatures of water were.

“This is starting to get a little ridiculous,” Fluttershy pouted.

It was about to get more ridiculous too. The hardhat light was thankfully waterproof so Fluttershy could still more or less see where she was going but a lot of it was still dark to her. She couldn’t imagine how horrible it would be if the water broke the light. What would have happened to her then?

Well for one she wouldn’t have been able to see the fork in the tunnel coming up ahead.

Fluttershy’s eyes bugged out. “Uh oh.”

The tunnel split right down the middle with the stream of water going right and left down two new smaller tunnels. And this wasn’t some gentle split or anything either. The rock that separated things was sharpened by ages of water pouring past it, if Fluttershy didn’t move to one side very quickly she’d slam into it and—it would not be pretty.

“Eeek!” Fluttershy yelped and threw her weight to the left as best she could. The stream of water did the rest of the work and at the last second Fluttershy was safely carried past the split. She didn’t have any time to relax though as the smaller tunnel she was now being thrown into was like a tube she could barely fit inside. And because of that the water almost filled it up completely and Fluttershy was having trouble finding room to breather. She could do nothing more than flail about and hold her breath while her hooves and wings scraped along the sides of the tube, hoping that soon she’d get out of here and back to somewhere where she could breathe easier.

It was like she had been thrown into a washing machine almost. Fluttershy’s lungs burned for air and she had to keep her eyes squeezed shut to stop any water from getting into them.

This is just the worst so far! She thought to herself.

When she almost couldn’t take it anymore she suddenly felt herself shot out of the tube like a bullet, flying through the air for a brief moment, before landing in a pool of water with a huge splash. Fluttershy bobbed up and down like a piece of driftwood before floating to a relatively steady stop, her hooves treading water beneath her while she panted in exhaustion, taking in as much air as she could. Shivering in that cold water she looked back and saw the tube she had emerged from ten feet above her, the water pouring out of it into this pool. Numerous other holes on the wall also had water pouring from them, all adding to the little underground lake she was now in.

“At least I can just relax and breathe for a moment...” Fluttershy said as she tucked her wings in to her sides while her mane clung limply to her head.

The pool of water was enclosed by walls of rock on three sides that she could see. Behind her, to her right, and to her left, dark stone stretched up maybe hundreds of feet, creating a tall but narrow shaft that this water was at the bottom of. A look at the water she was treading in revealed next to nothing to Fluttershy, it was far too dark and murky to see down into. Whether it was deep or shallow she couldn’t tell. The only sound she could hear was the sound of water falling into the pool. Endlessly. Flowing water was a sound she had gotten a little bit tired of.

Fluttershy allowed herself to just float there for a moment longer to catch her breath, letting the light of the hardhat disappear into the darkness a few feet away. How did she end up here? Just less than an hour ago she was walking down a staircase. The moles couldn’t have possibly come this way with Angel either, she might be way off course now. And she had no way to go back now either. If Moleville really was where Angel was taken she might have really just gotten lost on her way to it.

Fluttershy sighed and started slowly paddling in the one direction she could actually go. Her body had more or less adjusted to the coldness of the water now. She turned her head to the right and left but saw nothing except the smooth stone going up. Impossible to climb for any wingless creature. It was very likely this could’ve been a place she had gotten trapped in, but she still didn’t know what was directly ahead. There were probably a lot of dead ends and lone caverns in this strange and fascinating cave system though. She didn’t envy any poor creature that couldn’t fly their way out of here if that’s what it came to for Fluttershy.

She now faced straight ahead as she swam so she could see where she was going. The light reflected off the water, showing back as a deep green to Fluttershy. It was good there was no current pulling at her in here now, she wasn’t exactly the strongest swimmer. Although she could’ve probably just flown out with all the extra room she now had. Drying off after she got out of here might be tough though, obviously she didn’t have a towel and things were pretty damp in these caves. She didn’t want to catch a cold down here. It was part of the mild amount of wilderness survival knowledge she possessed, wherever she ended up now she should take a moment to dry off afterwards.

“I hope there’s nothing else swimming with me in here either...” Fluttershy gulped. “I’ve had enough of unseen creatures stalking me. If there are any animals here they could at least be friendly enough to say hello.”

Fluttershy kept swimming for a few minutes longer until her light finally came upon something besides more water. There was an earthy, muddy embankment directly ahead of her. She didn’t know how long it went but it ended the pool of water she was swimming in. Not a good place to dry off but Fluttershy would take it for now. Flapping her wings to make it easier to get out of the water and onto land, Fluttershy hopped on out of the pool and onto the mud. Her hooves sunk in a good inch despite her being a very light pony. The ground was just that soft. She would have to be careful to not get stuck, slip, or accidentally trip in the mud.

And first thing was first. She may not have had a towel but there was still something she could do. Fluttershy planted her legs and shook her body like a dog, throwing water in every direction and turning her mane and tail into a mess. A quick fluttering of her feathers got them as dry as she could get them at the moment too. Now she was prepared for the next leg of her journey.

The light from her hardhat showed tall stone walls around her just like when she was back in the water, and the way forward was lots of mud leading into darkness. She’d just have to take it slow like always. With a heavy pull of her front right hoof she yanked it out of the mud and took her first step forwards. Thanks to how much the mud grabbed her it seemed like she was going to be forced to go slowly anyways.

“One hoof at a time, Fluttershy.”

At least the path she was on was straight and not sloping downwards so there wasn’t any worry about falling somewhere crazy. She still kept her eyes trained on the ground so she didn’t step anywhere that wasn’t safe, Rarity’s hardhat still performing perfectly even after all the water that had washed over it. She did pause for a moment to see if there was still a breeze in this part of the cave or if the air was stagnant. In all the duress and confusion of her waterslide adventure she had kind of forgotten. Luckily for her the slightest brush of air through her mane told her she was still going the same direction the air flowed. One positive thing to think about.

Since humming had been an alright way to pass the time for her earlier, Fluttershy decided to start doing more of that too. It was easy to come up with a simple tune and hum to herself and keep her mood up while she walked through here. Ignore the cold, ignore the dark, ignore the difficult trudging through the mud. Just make sure you aren’t about to step anywhere dangerous and enjoy a little music inside your head in the meantime.

She found some of Pinkie’s more common musical moments going through her mind. Pinkie Pie was good to be the friend she kept on the mind for a lot of reasons right now. How many times had she been walking through the streets of Ponyville only for her pink friend to show up out of nowhere singing or dragging her into a song? It happened so often…

Fluttershy stopped. Her hoof was in midair, right in the motion of stepping back down.

There was a drop off, a slope really, on the muddy path. And she had almost accidentally tumbled right down it. She looked down slightly to use the light and see how far it went, it looked like at least twenty feet of a steep slope of mud was right there in front of her. Her wings were most definitely the better option for her to use when it came to descending here.

“That was a close one,” Fluttershy smiled to herself.

A crumbling sound came from beneath her hooves and the muddy earth all fell away, falling down the slope.

And in the world of cartoons, Fluttershy had just enough time to frown, look at the camera, and say: “Oh no.” Before gravity kicked in and she fell down with it.

She attempted to open her wings to catch herself and hover but she hit the muddy slope too fast. Fluttershy bounced off it several times, getting covered in mud, before sliding to a painful and dirty stop at the very bottom. Drenched with water just before, she was now drenched with mud. And that was a lot harder to get off. The pegasus did manage to pick herself up on wobbly legs and tested her wings to make sure she hadn’t damaged them in her tumble. Everything checked out, she was okay—just very uncomfortable. Things had kind of been nice for a second there but it seemed like the world was having a bit of a laugh at Fluttershy.

“Oh well...” Fluttershy sighed and continued walking over the muddy ground. “Now I want more water to get all this mud off...”

Upside-Down and Wrongside-Up

Fluttershy had continued to find herself in a very wet part of these underground caves. She was now walking through another tunnel in knee-high water, splashing it all over with every step she took. The light from her hardhat was more than enough to illuminate everything around her. It wasn’t a very big tunnel at all, neither that tall or wide, you couldn’t even fit a carriage down it. That was good for Fluttershy though, she was sure she wasn’t missing anything and nothing surprised her or came out of nowhere. She didn’t like all the water though but even that wasn’t so bad. And she had decided to keep her spirits up even more until she found Angel Bunny, and what better way to do that than with a song?

I may be a little lost and things might be kind of scary, but I’m not letting anything just get me down now~
No, I’ve got a place to be and a friend to find so it’s time to just keep walking~
Oh yes just keep walking, trotting, prancing, stepping, hustling, just keep on going all day~
Cause I’ve got to keep on moving and keep this smile on my face, no time for frowns no time for crying, it’s time to find my friend~

“Yay!” She whisper-yelled to finish off her little stanza.

Fluttershy giggled to herself, keeping Pinkie Pie at heart. It was certainly helping her make this cave jaunt more pleasant lately. And she needed it after going through all that watersliding and ending up who knows where now. She just had to keep optimistic and keep plugging along to find Angel Bunny. At least she was making steady progress too. The water and the tunnel was neither too warm nor too cold, Fluttershy was doing her best to enjoy when things were easy for her down here.

“I just know I’ll find Angel soon, I believe it. What’s that thing Twilight says is a good way to focus and get through a hard task? Mind over matter? Yeah, that’s it! Doesn’t matter what’s ahead of me or what I have to do, I will find Angel!” Fluttershy truly and honestly believed.

She hummed positively as she continued her jaunt through this watery tunnel and into the next leg of her journey. Keeping a positive mind, a positive mental attitude, and enough faith in herself to get through whatever other obstacles existed down here did wonders for her. It didn’t pay to be a scaredy-cat. Not right now. She had to focus on her friends to overcome most of her timid nature, but strangely she found herself functioning better in this serious situation than she would have on Nightmare Night or doing something else scary but not as “real”. Maybe because of what was on the line and she knew she was the only one who could do anything… which should make her more anxious, right? But instead it was like being backed into doing something had unlocked more courage in her, more strength. Because the alternative was just unacceptable.

So maybe her friends were right about her, she was stronger than she thought.

“I’ve gone so long thinking I was weak and helpless, is this what “When push comes to shove” means?” Fluttershy wondered. “Well… I’ll probably still be scared of normal stuff once I’m out of here. This is all just for Angel.”

After all it was smart and right to be scared of stuff sometimes. Fluttershy was cautious of things for a reason. She didn’t have a problem with that part of herself but there was simply no time for it down here.

The steady splashing of the water along with her humming made time just melt by as she wondered how much longer this watery tunnel would go. Things were now getting a little warmer, she could feel it coming from up ahead so there was probably a new chamber or something soon. What she didn’t feel was much of a breeze though, she might have to test where the air was flowing again. And she also really really hoped that she would find something edible soon. Even just some moss to lick wouldn’t be so bad.

As she walked she thought she heard a sound building up in the distance too but it took a little while longer for her to be certain of it. The sound of rushing water. Maybe she was coming to another underground river or something? Whatever it was she was going to be careful and keep on the lookout to make sure she didn’t get washed away.

“Maybe it’s better to start hovering for a little bit?” Fluttershy said to herself and slightly lifted out of the water, her wings giving her a steady altitude. Like this at least she wasn’t going to suddenly fall down a hole.

Her hardhat light shone ahead as Fluttershy slowly floated on down the tunnel with little droplets of water falling from her hooves. The sound of rushing water became louder and soon Fluttershy could not only see the exit to the tunnel she was currently in but also a source of light outside it. Her hardhat wasn’t the only light down here, she wondered what else could be lighting things up. The tunnel’s exit was wide enough for her to remain floating right inside it so Fluttershy paused there for a second and took a look around the new place she was in.

And if she thought the mushroom cavern was weird and unexpected, well this really took the cake. This place made that one look downright normal.

Fluttershy tilted her head in pure confusion and bewilderment as she looked up at the ceiling and saw trees growing from it. Underground trees growing upside-down from the ceiling. She had to bring her hooves up to her eyes and rub them to make sure she wasn’t going crazy. But they were really there. The whole entire roof of this big cavern was covered in a forest of upside-down pine trees. It was like nothing else Fluttershy had ever seen before in her life. Looking down she saw that the water from the tunnel she had just been in poured over the side and into a much larger river.

But… how? While Fluttershy was walking through the watery tunnel she didn’t feel any current whatsoever. It wasn’t flowing or pulling at her at all. But suddenly it’s like at the very end of the tunnel it just started magically falling out. The river below her looked strange and warped too, Fluttershy couldn’t tell what direction the water was going in and she started getting dizzy just looking at it.

“Oh my...” she closed her eyes and held a hoof to her forehead to steady herself.

When she opened them again she noticed something else about the river. That it’s where the light was coming from. Or at least that the light was coming from something below the river. She couldn’t see it clearly even as she narrowed her eyes and peered down, but there was something like lights below the water, maybe on the bed of the river or the bottom of the cavern’s rock. One big light and a bunch of smaller ones. Thanks to the warping effect of the water it almost looked like a full moon and starry sky reflected on the surface, shining down on her somehow even though it was coming from below. Fluttershy looked up again and sure enough all she saw was trees, no moon.

“What’s happening here?” Fluttershy rubbed her head. She flew from the mouth of the tunnel and started gliding over the water, no matter where she went over it the moon seemed to “follow” her and was almost always directly below her. Or above her. She was getting kind of confused.

The strange upside-down chamber was very large too. It stretched wide in every direction that Fluttershy could see. The good thing was that she could see clearly the whole way too, the lights were more than enough for her to see. It wasn’t exactly bright though so she kept her hardhat light on for now instead of turning it off and saving power. She wanted to inspect things closer.

Shaking her head to get rid of the dizziness that possessed her from looking at the river (or maybe lake would actually be a better descriptor) she flew up to the pine trees on the ceiling.

And felt pushed.

“?!” Fluttershy gave a wordless gasp as she suddenly felt weight pressing down on her body when she got within a few feet of the treetops. The thing is as a flier she knew exactly what that feeling was. Gravity. Simple gravity pressing down on her, no more and no less. But it came out of nowhere like her wings had suddenly became lead for a split second.

She looked up at the trees with a puzzled expression, raising a single eyebrow, and then tried flying back up to them. Again she felt that same feeling.

Fluttershy decided not to push herself and flew back low, hanging right between the trees and the water. She wasn’t sure why that was happening but she decided not to put herself into any potential danger for no real reason. Figuring out these trees probably didn’t have anything to do with finding Angel. This was almost certainly not Moleville. Just out of curiosity though, Fluttershy flew closer to the water to see if the same thing would happen.

And lo and behold, she felt a tugging sensation pulling her away from it when she got within a few feet. There was a sensation like vertigo for a few seconds and Fluttershy felt like something was trying to spin her around before she flew back and stopped in midair. Fluttershy let out a queasy groan and brought a hoof to her mouth. Luckily she didn’t have anything in her to throw up.

“This place is so strange. I just don’t know what’s going on,” she rubbed a hoof on her exasperated forehead in small circles. She might have felt a minor headache coming on.

Fluttershy instead decided to switch gears and figure out which way the air was flowing in here. She hoped it wasn’t as mixed up as the water. Whatever was up with this chamber didn’t matter, she was going to get out of here and find Angel. It was too bad her hopes for food were dashed.

Despite how endless things looked, she still flew out a decent bit away from the tunnel she had come out of to try and get more in the middle of this upside-down chamber. Hovering out there she did indeed feel the breeze going in just one direction, thank Celestia for that. At this point though she had no idea what direction that really was however. North? South? East? West? Everything had become completely jumbled to Fluttershy after all the twisting and turning down here. She had no idea how deep she was or where she would even end up if she dug straight up. Below Ponyville? Below the Everfree? That was more likely, with everything strange about the Everfree Forest maybe it explained some of the strange things she had seen down here. Although there was nothing quite like this there there were still things like the Mirror Pool that Fluttershy had no idea how to explain. That was something even weirder than singing mushrooms if you really thought about it.

Fluttershy shook her head, she was getting distracted. With a flap of her wings she took off in the direction of the wind. Since she didn’t know how long she’d be flying through this strange place she went back to humming to pass the time. Carrying on with a tune in her head she occasionally looked down at the water and the false starry sky inside it. It would’ve been pretty with the way it warped and reflected through the water if it wasn’t for the dizziness that came with it.

While following the breeze she heard a buzzing noise coming from above and looked up. Around the trees she saw a number of dragonflies flying about them. Only the way they were flying was… a bit off. Fluttershy had to pause to make sure but the dragonflies were not only flying upside-down, they were flying backwards. Against all sense and physics she was watching dragonflies dart back and forth as if they were totally reversed. In fact because of that it was more like she was watching dragonflies that were going back in time or something.

Fluttershy got dizzy looking at it and almost felt herself start to spin around before she recovered and stopped looking. She sighed and kept on flying while only looking ahead. “I can’t even look at the lovely trees for long either...”

Up ahead though she did finally see the end of this large cavern. The wall stretched across the distance with the trees and lake pushing right up to it and in the direction Fluttershy was going she saw another cave opening that the water flowed into. And the air most likely too since she was going along with the breeze. The cave looked to be half-submerged and didn’t reach high enough to also connect to the treetops, its opening just sat near the bottom of the wall.

She was happy to see it and know she could get out of here soon. A small smile spread on her face.

“Positive. Stay positive, Fluttershy.”

Unlike most of the caves and tunnels she had been through down here she didn’t see any stalactites on its ceiling. It was all just smooth. That was good for her though since because it was half filled up with water she’d need all the room she could get for flying. It wasn’t lit up though, the lights from below the lake didn’t continue on into the cave. Fluttershy would once again have to rely entirely on her hardhat light. It had worked well for her so far though, she was just worried that it might finally run out of power at an inopportune moment.

As Fluttershy flew for longer and longer towards the cave, her smile started to drop as she realized that for some reason she didn’t appear to be getting any closer. She had been flying for several minutes and yet the wall of the cavern was the same distance away. She knew she was moving forward but somehow she wasn’t making any progress. Confusion turned into plain worry as she sped up her flight and beat her wings harder to try and get to the cave. But even that did nothing. She briefly looked up and down and saw trees and water passing by—she was definitely moving. She could feel it, she could see it. But it was like someone had played a prank on her and put her on a magical treadmill or was constantly moving the goal further away.

Fluttershy stopped and stared at the cave. It was in the same place it always was.

“Really now,” she frowned, panting a little bit. Looking down the false moon was almost right below her and looking up she saw dragonflies flying all over the trees. Some of them were able to get closer to the cave. Maybe she should ask them for help? “I just hope I’ve found some friendly creatures in these caves for once...”

She rose up a little bit, not enough to be pushed back like before, but enough to get a little closer to the trees. “E-Excuse me?”

A number of the dragonflies stopped at the sound of her voice and looked over at her. It was the first time she had seen any of them take note of her presence and to do it they stopped moving about in reverse. Whether that had to do with them, the cave, or Fluttershy, she had no idea. Either way she saw herself now reflected in hundreds of tiny little compound eyes.

Fluttershy was both relieved and surprised. It seemed like they were acting normal when it came to dealing with her and none of them had said anything rude like those bats. “Um, if I can ask you a question?”

Bzz bzz? One of the dragonflies flew up right to her face and buzzed at her.

“Thank you for being so polite,” Fluttershy smiled at him. “I was wondering if you perhaps knew how I could get out of here? I’m trying to fly to that cave over there but no matter how long I go I don’t seem to get any closer.”

The dragonfly nodded enthusiastically and made a few loops. Bzz bzz bzz!

“To go forwards you have to go backwards and to go up you have to go down? I don’t understand,” Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion.

Bzz bzz!

“Reverse how I think?”

Bzz!

“And look at things the opposite way...” Fluttershy clutched her head. “Oh… I’m sorry, this is all so confusing.”

Bzz bzz, bzz. Bzz bzz!

“The sky isn’t the sky and the ground isn’t the ground? I need to be upside-down if I want to be right-side up in here? But-” Fluttershy paused and looked past the dragonflies at the trees. “The ground isn’t the ground… the ground is up.” She looked down at the water and the moon below it. “And the sky is down.” She gulped. “Okay, I think I understand now.”

Bzz bzz!

“So I still have to go under before I can go above and out before I can go through?” Fluttershy nodded to herself with a determined look etched on her face. “Alright, I can do this.” She then smiled at the helpful dragonflies. “Thank you so very much!”

Bzz! The dragonfly happilly buzzed in reply and then he and all his friends went back to flying around the trees. In their upside-down and backwards manner of course.

Fluttershy then turned to the water below—above her. With a deep breath she sucked in a lungful of air and did half a barrel roll so she was flying upside-down. It was weird to maintain that position, Rainbow Dash was much better at flying in all sorts of ways, but she could do it for a little bit. However it wasn’t enough to just fly like this, while keeping her eyes on the water she also turned around so she was no longer looking in the direction of the tunnel. A total reversal, like everything about this strange underground chamber.

And Fluttershy didn’t go forwards—er, backwards—yet either. She had to get on the right path first. Which meant going down. Which was technically up. Or it was going to be up. And she had to go below to go above and she was going crosseyed just thinking about it. This was all very odd and confusing and she had no idea if it was actually going to work or not. But with that deep breath of air still in her lungs she flew down and right into the surface of the water. This time there was no push back. There was no feeling of gravity trying to keep her away from the water and the starry sky it contained.

She felt the tip of her mane and tail hit the water first, then her wingtips, then the back of her head and her back, and finally she was mostly submerged in it. Her eyes squeezed shut on reflex once her head dunked below the water and when she felt her whole body splash into it—briefly floating right below the surface—she murmured and let a stream of bubbles out of her mouth. Her wings were still splayed out in the water while Fluttershy tried to relax and figure out what to do now. It was a strange sensation in the water, she felt like she was slowly falling but it didn’t worry her at all. In fact things were pretty calm. But she knew she still had somewhere to go. With the water enveloping her, she started to flap her wings some more and pushed deeper.

Fluttershy tilted her head and opened up her eyes, peering into the depths of the water.

No—she was still thinking wrong. She wasn’t looking at the depths of the water. It was the surface down there. Up there. She was already in the depths and now she had to get out.

She didn’t know when it happened but at some point during her swimming she really did start to feel like she had been turned around. It wasn’t just in her head anymore, it truly felt like she was swimming up from the bottom of a lake and about to break the surface. Fluttershy looked, seeing the shimmering moon and starts past the water. The moon was still right there for her as if it had been watching her the entire time. It twisted and distorted all about in the fake sky, surrounded by stars, something that Fluttershy could still only look at through the window of water. She fought with her hooves and wings, swimming harder and trying to make it out of this lake. To see the moon and stars directly is what she wanted.

Fluttershy was right there. She was about to break the surface of the water and emerge into the top side of the cave. The right side. The forward side. She had just needed to go a bit of a backwards way to get there.

“Fwah!” Fluttershy gasped as she shot completely out of the water, taking another big breath of air. She kept flapping her wings to make sure she would stay in place and then looked around.

It was the same cave but different at the same time. Instead of her just being able to see the lights of the moon and stars through the water and not being able to make out much detail, Fluttershy now clearly saw them embedded in the dark ceiling with their light shining directly onto her. When she looked down she saw the forest of trees through the water, now no longer looking like they were upside-down and stuck on the ceiling. Instead they wavered as if at the bottom of the lake. So that was kind of just as weird as always.

Her sense of direction was all out of whack so Fluttershy had to looked around for a little bit before she finally saw the cave again. The wind was still blowing right into it so Fluttershy was certain that’s still where she needed to go. Like everything else, it looked a little bit reversed to her too. Instead of a smooth top there were now stalactites hanging from it, meaning she’d have to hover close to the surface of the water if she wanted to fly through it safely. At least she didn’t feel the same pushing or pulling effect anymore. Seems Fluttershy had conquered the strangeness of this cavern.

With a happy smile she started flying towards the tunnel. It sure felt good to be on her way again. Movement from below caught her eye and Fluttershy looked down to see all the dragonflies flying along right below her, just under the water. They were right-side up and flying straight now too. At least to Fluttershy’s eyes they were.

“Thank you!” Fluttershy said and waved to them.

She couldn’t hear any reply but she saw all the dragonflies buzz around in a circle before going back to their own business. Golly did she feel good meeting some nice animals down here for once. The dragonflies and the Singing Mushroom Brothers at least proved that friendship could be alive and well even in a place like this. It made her hopeful for the moles too. Fluttershy wasn’t going to stop being her kind self and look for a peaceful, friendly solution to whatever problems arose down here.

In another minute she had made it to the cave and, keeping her head low, flew inside it. No trouble whatsoever. She may not have had any idea what could possibly come next in this strange underground place but for once she was feeling optimistic and positive enough to actually be looking forward to it. Angel Bunny was getting closer with each flap of her wings.

Flower Fatigue

The tunnel was easy to fly through, it just went straight on and Fluttershy’s hardhat lit up every part that was relevant to her. No branching paths or any large rocks were in her way. Good. She realized that it had been a long time since she had gone down any further, instead ever since coming out of that waterslide she’d pretty much just been going straight. At some point she’d probably have another tunnel or shaft that led deeper underground but it was also possible that Moleville wasn’t any deeper than this. Fluttershy wasn’t sure if she cared one way or the other, she just wanted to find the moles and Angel. The deeper she went though the more she thought she’d probably find weirder stuff.

“Well… weird is okay. As long as it’s nice too,” Fluttershy pondered. “I still need to find Angel but as long as I can make friends with anyone I come across I shouldn’t be upset.”

She was sure she could make friends and get on the good side of the moles too. Maybe they would like to get to know her and ponies better? Maybe they could even come to the School of Friendship? That would be so nice, and Twilight would be so happy to have more creatures learning the magic of friendship. She just had to find them first. Even if they weren’t friendly or happy to see her at the start she would do her best to win them over. For the sake of Angel, herself, and the happiness that friendship could bring itself.

After flying for a bit longer, Fluttershy saw a light up ahead. So it was likely she was about to find herself somewhere weird again. She reached a hoof up to turn off her hardhat light and winced slightly at the change in illumination coming directly into her eyes now. But it still lit up all she needed to see in the tunnel so Fluttershy decided to save the power she had in her hardhat. The literal light at the end of the tunnel completely obscured what lay beyond it so Fluttershy was just going to have to fly on out of it and see what was there.

Giant Geode? Mushroom forest? Upside-down forest? She would take it in stride at this point.

Out of caution she still wasn’t flying very fast but she reached the curtain of light soon enough and emerged out of the tunnel. For a second she held a hoof over her eyes so she could let them slowly adjust, squinting a bit she lowered her hoof and looked out into the new chamber she was in. With a few blinks the white blur went away and the world came into focus. And once more Fluttershy was again looking at something she didn’t expect to see down here.

But since she did expect to see something weird then maybe she did expect it after all? She furrowed her brow for a second but then shook her head. No time for confusing questions like that.

This new part of the underground caverns she had entered was—to put it simply—very pretty. The water coming out of the tunnel split into two different directions, going up and down the shore of a large bed of rocks and dirt that stretched for hundreds of feet and formed a large oval, mimicking the overall shape of the huge chamber. Fluttershy gently flapped over to the rocks and landed on them to give her wings a little rest while she inspected the other oddities in here. Chiefly among them the fact that the entire ground portion of the chamber beyond the water was covered in flowers. Flowers, flowers, and flowers as far as the eye could see. It was a rainbow world of them, so many different colors and types were sprouting up from the ground.

Daffodils, daisies, roses, lilies, snapdragons, poppies, pansies, marigolds, begonias, chrysanthemum, and so many more Fluttershy couldn’t even name or recognize. The flower sisters up in Ponyville would love to come across this place.

“Oh, this is even more beautiful than the geode!” Fluttershy said as she hopped from the rocks and onto the dirt, sniffing the first patch of daisies she found. “But how did such lovely flowers grow down here in the first place?”

Fluttershy looked up to see what exactly it was that was giving this place its light. More glowing moss? No, nothing so simple this time. Fluttershy looked all across the ceiling of the chamber to see glowing red crystals jutting out everywhere. Dozens of them of all shapes and sizes were embedded into the rock. Together they gave off enough light to make it look like she had walked out into a real, above the ground, meadow.

“I know some crystals glow when magic is put into them, so why are these glowing like this now?” Fluttershy wondered. She wasn’t a magic expert like Twilight or Starlight though so it was doubtful she’d be able to discover why they were the way they were.

What was doubly weird was that while Fluttershy could see that their cores were all clearly ruby red, the light they emitted was much more natural like real sunlight. Maybe someone or something had put them here at some point specifically to grow these flowers? But why? Fluttershy looked around the flower bed some more, she didn’t see any signs of them having been planted or any being dug up recently. There wasn’t a single pony-built touch to the entire huge harden. Oh well, in the end it wasn’t a big deal to what she was doing down in these caves in the first place. It obviously wasn’t Moleville and Angel Bunny obviously wasn’t here.

What it was though was food.

Fluttershy had finally come across something she could eat, and her empty tummy was extremely grateful for it.

“These daisies look perfect,” Fluttershy said with a big smile as she walked up to the nearest ones. She really had her pick of any flowers she wanted. Some of the ones she didn’t recognize she might stay away from, they could always be poisonous, but she’d give them a smell at least too while she was here.

Fluttershy was always a dainty eater even when she was starving like she was now (which is why she stopped going to get hayburgers with Twilight) so all she did was calmly lower her mouth to the daisies and pecked the flowers off their stems. They were just normal daisies but they were still absolutely, positively, wonderfully, scrumdiddlyumptious! With her stomach as empty as it was the daisies were more than the perfect little lunch to have. Or possibly dinner. Or even breakfast. She still wasn’t exactly sure how long she had been here now. But she hadn’t fallen asleep yet aside from that time she fainted earlier. She didn’t exactly feel safe enough anywhere yet to fall asleep and she didn’t want to fall even further behind Angel and the moles. Sleeping could come after she rescued Angel or she truly had no more energy left.

These flowers were going to go a long way to replenishing that energy though. Fluttershy ate up a few daisies, enough to feel a little full, and went to pick some when she frowned. No bag to carry them—or anything else for that matter—in. So she couldn’t really bring any food with her to snack on later.

“Oh!” A lightbulb suddenly lit up over Fluttershy’s head. She plucked a few of the daisies and lifted up her hardhat, sticking them up under it. Safe and sound right on top of her head. It wasn’t a lot of room but it didn’t matter if flowers got a little squished either.

It was certainly better than however Pinkie managed to transport those cupcakes she always seemed to have on her…

After her quick meal and foraging was done, Fluttershy decided to go walk through the field of flowers. She did her best not to step directly on any of them but it was such an ocean of them that that was a little tough. But she didn’t want to just fly over them either, she wanted to feel the ground on her hooves and the flowers brushing up against her legs. That’s how you were supposed to enjoy a meadow. Some of the flowers were quite tall and bushy too, they reached up to her shoulders and even her head and tickled her as she walked by.

Since Fluttershy was looking all over to make sure she didn’t miss any pretty flowers she almost ended up walking directly into a peculiar and quite large one right in front of her.

“Oops!” She caught herself just before her nose bumped into it and blinked a few times before narrowing her eyes and inspecting this new flower. It had beautiful royal purple petals that got darker at their tips and a dusty yellow stamen emerging up from the middle of it. Fluttershy was enraptured by just how pretty it was and she leaned in to take a whiff of its fragrance.

When she did though, the purple petals all convulsed as if they sensed how close Fluttershy was to the flower. Fluttershy’s eyebrows shot up as the entire flower wavered and its stamen shook until—puff!

A big cloud of pollen was blown directly into Fluttershy’s face.

“Ack! Geheh!” Fluttershy wheezed and coughed, backpedaling away from the flower as her eyes teared up and her nose immediately went runny. The pollen didn’t stop there though, Fluttershy felt a great sneeze building up inside her and her whole body stiffened up in preparation. “Ah—Ah—Achoo!” Fluttershy loudly sneezed and fell onto her butt, head listing about as she suddenly felt very tired and dizzy.

“Oh my… t-that pollen may be a little… oh...” she couldn’t finish her sentence as the world spun around and her eyes rolled back into her head. Fluttershy fell over backwards and was out instantly, snoring her troubles away.

Fluttershy was still spinning behind her closed eyes by the time she regained any sort of awareness. The world was dark for her but there was light just beyond her lids, she only needed to open them back up. That was easier said than done though. Each time she tried to move her body it felt like she was fuzzy and floaty all over. And she still felt just plain weird. Dizzy but full of energy and with another big sneeze just waiting around the corner-

“Achoo!” Fluttershy sneezed and bolted upright, her wings spread out and breath quickly leaving her panting mouth.

She was still in the flower garden, that much was certain. But she couldn’t exactly remember what had happened. Only that she now felt all warm and light and still rather dizzy. There was a pleasant aroma filling up the air, sweet like honey and different from any flower she could recall. It beckoned Fluttershy to stand back up and she did so, though her hooves felt all tingly. She followed along with the pleasant aroma as it was joined by many others just as sweet.

“This has all gotten so strange again...” Fluttershy murmured to herself in a daze as she walked past more flowers.

“What’s gotten so strange?”

This time despite her somewhat fuzzy state of mind, Fluttershy immediately realized that there shouldn’t have been anyone else in here to talk with her.

“Who said that?” She asked, looking around and not seeing anyone.

“She’s a rather oblivious creature isn’t she?”

“Speaking of strange, isn’t she quite strange looking?”

“And her coloring is so drab and simple.”

“That fragrance coming off her is just mud, isn’t it?”

“My, whatever would possess such a… unfortunate creature to come here?”

“Hopefully she doesn’t stay long.”

“We can’t have something dragging the rest of our pretty selves down.”

The voices kept coming and coming and they were making Fluttershy’s pupils spin around and around before she finally clamped her hooves onto the side of her face. “Would somepony please be friendly and tell me what’s going on!” She shouted before getting red in the face after realizing what she had just said. “Um, if that’s okay that is...” she added, much quieter.

“Look down, you silly creature.”

Fluttershy looked down right at a blue tulip.

“Hello,” the tulip said to her.

“So we are greeting this thing?” A red rose next to it said.

“Might as well be polite I suppose,” a violet said.

Fluttershy looked all around the flower patch she was standing in, more and more flowers were clearly moving around and whispering and looking up at her. Was she hallucinating all of this? She certainly felt weird enough to. They didn’t have faces like Phillip and the rest of the mushroom brothers either. All Fluttershy saw were “normal” flowers that were somehow moving and talking on their own. And they seemed a bit snobbish at that.

“More talking plants?” Fluttershy said. “Well, mushrooms aren’t plants, they’re a fungus, but—oh, that’s not very important right now!”

“You consort with mushrooms?” A tiger lily asked her. “How utterly vulgar. What ugly things they are.”

Fluttershy frowned. “They were friendly...”

“But of course they were. How could something so ugly and smelly get any attention if they weren’t friendly?” A poppy said.

A group of azaleas then giggled. “Are you talking about mushrooms or her?”

Now Fluttershy may have been the element of kindness and she could take petty insults thrown her way, more or less, but she certainly didn’t like hearing those friendly mushrooms disparaged. She was about to tell these flowers to stop being so rude when the big red rose asked her a question.

“What even are you? Odd creature.”

“Oh, well, I’m a pony,” Fluttershy replied, still polite.

“Pony? Never heard of such a thing,” the tulip said. “Have any of you ladies?”

The flowers went around, whispering and gossiping to each other while Fluttershy stood there with an unhappy look on her face. She really loved flowers so why did they have to turn out to be so rude? If she ever had pictured herself meeting with and talking to flowers one day in the past this is certainly not how she wanted it to go. Well, she knew she probably shouldn’t have such a knee-jerk reaction, maybe she should give them a chance? They were probably fine once you got to know them. And even if they weren’t it would’ve been Fluttershy’s duty to make them nicer.

“I believe I know of these pony creatures,” an old zinnia said.

The other flowers looked over at her respectfully.

“Oh, of course, you’re the eldest of us all, if any of us know about ponies it would be you,” the tulip said.

“Pony… pony...” the zinnia said, seemingly trying to peruse her memories. “Ah yes, Equus Ferus Caballus. Pony. A four legged creature that sometimes comes with wings and sometimes with a horn. Rather widespread if I recall correctly.” The zinnia rubbed at one of its petals with a leaf. “There was something else about ponies that involved flowers but I can’t quite recall what at the moment.”

“Obviously not a flower. So what is the pony doing down here and why are we bothering to converse with her?” A particularly snobbish hydrangea asked.

“Well I’m looking for my dear friend, Angel Bunny. He was taken away by moles. Speaking of which, have you seen him or the moles come through here?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh you mean those vile, ugly, smelly little things? They affront us with their presence all the time,” the same tulip said.

“They did come through here not too long ago,” a lily said.

Fluttershy’s eyes lit up as a wide smile appeared on her face. “Oh, that’s wonderful to hear! Now I know I’m still on the right path!”

“You aren’t saying you’re friends with those moles too, are you?” The rose asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh no, not at all. Maybe some day but for now I need to rescue a friend of mine from them.”

“Well even as unimpressive as your coloring is at least you’re somewhat prettier than those moles,” a poppy said.

“Um… thank you?” Fluttershy said, fighting back a frown.

“Yes, but not nearly as pretty as us flowers, hahahahaha!” A violet laughed.

“Not at all,” the tulip said.

The rose then joined on, with a tittering giggle on her breath. “No, not as pretty as-”

The flooooowwwwerrrrrs~

All of the garden around her sang at once, with Fluttershy only blinking in astonishment. “Oh, is this happening again?”

Whether its roses, violets, lilies, tulips or azaleas~
We’re all called flowers, yes it’s true~

Truuu-oooo-uuuee~

From beautiful red to lovely morning yellow~
All colors of the rainbow you will see in the garden~

Raaa-aaaiiiin-bow~

There’s nothing as pretty as a flower~
Nothing that can compare to our beauty~

So beautiful it’s true~

Our petals and our stems both are lovely~
And our pollen and fragrance too~

Oooooh, oooooh, ooooh~

Every single flower has its own beauty~
Whether its hydrangeas, poppies, daisies, or chrysanthemums~
We all have something different to offer~
And it’s all just as pretty and wonderful~

And colorful indeed too~

We’re different from the other plants you’ll see~
No weeds or ugliness here at all~

Aaaa-aaa-aallll~

Not just some simple green grass~
We’re far more pretty and colorful than that~

Coooo-loooor-ful~

Flowers like us make the garden truly wonderful~
Not like ugly weeds or dirty mushrooms~

Noooo-oooo-oooo~

Here we make sure things stay lovely~
And only pretty flowers make that come true~
Whether it be zinnias, carnations, gardenias, or orchids~
There’s nothing as pretty as a flower!~

As a flower, ooooooohhhhh~

The singing stopped and all the flowers laughed and giggled together. Fluttershy looked around awkwardly before she started clapping her hooves together.

“T-That was a very pretty song,” she said, smiling. “Although some of the lyrics...” She whispered.

“Of course it was pretty, it was about flowers!” The tulip scoffed.

“Well… good point,” Fluttershy admitted.

She could hear a bunch of the flowers start to gossip and complain about her behind her back, as if she couldn’t hear them. Fluttershy was being as kind and patient as possible but even she had her limits. If they gave her a chance she would’ve extended an olive branch but they seemed too stuck-up to give her that chance or accept it anyways. It’s not like she needed to stay here around them anymore what with knowing that Angel had been through here, but she didn’t like just leaving. It would feel bad if she didn’t at least attempt to get these flowers to be a little less rude.

“You don’t need to be so rude to strangers who haven’t done anything wrong to you, you know?” Fluttershy said to the flowers. As kindly and politely as she could.

“Well I never!” The rose gasped.

“You come to our home and just insult us like that?” One of the poppies said.

“What a vulgar creature,” the tulip sneered. “Vulgar colors, vulgar shape, vulgar smell, and a vulgar little crown on her head.”

That last one was the one that actually made Fluttershy a little annoyed. “This isn’t vulgar, it was a gift from a very close fried. And it’s not a crown either, it’s a hardhat.” She said and grabbed it with her hooves, lifting it up to show them.

Forgetting what she had underneath it.

Several pulled up daisies fell off of her head and onto the ground, in full view of all the other flowers. It was dreadfully silent as Fluttershy and all the flowers looked down at the daisies. A single bead of sweat rolled down Fluttershy’s face as all the flowers slowly turned to look up at her.

“Umm… this isn’t what it looks like?” Fluttershy blushed.

“N-Now I remember what ponies have to do with flowers,” the elderly zinnia said. “Ponies eat flowers!”

“Ahhhh!” All the other flowers screamed in terror.

“Oh no, no, no, no!” Fluttershy tried to calm them down. “I would never do something like that to you!” Her words however didn’t sound very convincing with the daisies right there though.

“Pull up your roots, ladies! Let’s get out of here!” The tulip said and then much to Fluttershy’s amazement, actually did pull up her roots and started running off.

The other talking flowers soon followed suit despite Fluttershy attempting to stop them. Even as she flew about and tried to calm them down it didn’t stop all the roses, poppies, azaleas, and what else from quickly ditching her and running away. Soon things were quiet again in the big flower patch and Fluttershy was left alone. She sighed as she looked down at the daisies she had took with her for a snack, this was really not how she wanted things to go. Quietly she picked them up and stuck them back under her hardhat.

It was bad to be wasteful after all…

“Oh, Fluttershy, you’re such a screw up.”

The good thing was she was still on the right path to Angel. Fluttershy tried to stay positive with that thought in mind and began walking to the other end of the huge flower garden in search of a tunnel.

Mollusk Matters

Even deeper underground in a cavern nearly forgotten by time, an ages old war was raging still. Thousands of soldiers from both sides of the conflict were just beginning to clash in the latest battle. Veterans and greenhorns alike were thrust into combat for the sake of their kingdom. It didn’t matter if one had fought a hundred battles before or if this was their very first, all able-bodied soldiers were called upon and expected to do their part. The battlegrounds were long torn asunder from decades and centuries of previous battles. Craters, trenches, dilapidated pillars and fences, razor wire, pylons, discarded equipment, all littered the field in vast numbers. The combatants were in their regiments, battle formations ready, with all their weapons and armor together. The front lines were close enough to begin fighting while behind them reserves were waiting to replenish their numbers and fill in any gaps. No break in the lines would be tolerated. No breach would be allowed. The soldiers on each side were willing to throw down their lives for the cause, all had friends fighting alongside them and family to think about. Phalanxes and lines would smash into each other for dominance and to decide the victor of this battle. This battle that was just one of countless others.

Beyond the battlefield to the east lied a dense metropolis of stone buildings, dozens of stories high with grand spires at the top reaching even higher. The ground was paved and even to make sure everything was level and structurally sound. To the west a grand city of huge domes, less dense but far more widespread, stood. The domes were squat and made of mud and wood and while none were more than a few stories high there were hundreds of them and they lied amongst hills and large crops of rocks.

These were the two kingdoms that had been fighting an endless war against each other. But this was not a war for anything material. They did not seek to take control of the lands in-between their nations. They did not fight over food, water, or any other such resource. It was not for money or gold. No, this was a war of annihilation. This was a war where both sides sought to destroy the other, where neither could rest until the other was eradicated from the world. A sad and sorry affair. A terrible conflict where both sides were so filled with rage and hate towards the other that peace was a word whose meaning was forgotten.

How many thousands were fighting in the battle raging right now? How many tens of thousands lived in the cities now? How many hundreds of thousands had had their lives consumed by this war? This tragic, good for nothing war. It had no end in sight either. The ones waging it couldn’t even consider it ending without the other side being wiped out.

The war had a name too. One decided at near the very start of it by both sides: The Mollusk War.

For the ones fighting this grand war were snails and slugs.

The snails resided in the big metropolis of “skyscrapers” and the slugs in the city of large domes. All of it of course only big by the standards of such small creatures. But it was their ancestral home that both species of mollusk had lived in for generations. They were happy with their snail and slug kingdoms but could not abide the existence of the other. High above the buildings the roof of the cave these dual kingdoms were in hung, bioluminescent moss criss-crossing all over it and bringing light to the mollusk world. Small caves led off elsewhere underground and rivers no larger than a tiny stream to ponies ran like veins throughout the grounds, the water that filled them came dripping down from various holes in the cavern walls. Besides the moss only leafy vines grew in the mollusk cavern. Their numbers were great though and they covered practically every rock outside of the cities as they were primarily what both snails and slugs used for food. It would’ve been a very nice and moist place for all the snails and slugs to live in if they weren’t fighting this war.

Unlike other parts of these caves there were no bats or bugs. The only living denizens were the snails and slugs, no one else came into their personal domain. Or if they did they didn’t stay very long.

The charge of the front lines from both sides (that had started two hours ago) was finally about to result in fighting as the snail and slug soldiers were at last almost close enough to meet. Naturally it took quite a long time for any pieces of the armies to get into place or perform any sort of tactics. Even just the distance of five feet took quite a long time to cover. The front lines had been “running” at each other for those two hours and still the fighting had not actually begun thanks to how slow they were.

This was the scene Fluttershy saw when she emerged from a tunnel to the south of the battlefield and both cities.

At first she was caught up in looking at the two cities, wondering if she had arrived in Moleville. After all these were the first real structures and buildings she had seen down here. But then she realized the scale was far too small and when she stepped closer she saw the very slow moving armies about to fight each other in the center of this massive cavern. Fluttershy was still immensely confused over just what she had stumbled across. What were all these snails and slugs doing? Did they live in these cities?

“They seem very busy right now… I wonder if they can talk like the mushrooms and flowers?” Fluttershy mused. They must be intelligent after all, what with how they were clearly doing something with purpose and how their cities took planning and intelligence to make. Fluttershy blinked and looked at some of the buildings again. “Well, beavers and termites are the same way...”

She looked back at the armies (still oblivious to the fact that they were two clashing armies about to fight) and wondered if she should just go up and talk to them.

Meanwhile, the generals of both the snails and slugs were leading their forces from the front lines…

“Go, you maggots! Leave none of them crawling!” The snail general yelled to his troops. His shell was decorated with medals and a spear was “glued” to its side with slime.

“Bash their shells in, you cowards!” The slug general yelled. A harness was strapped onto his back that carried a spear atop it.

Their forces yelled back in unison with both sides full of rage and fervor, all of the mollusks only moments from smashing into each other. The pegasus lightly flapping her wings above them went completely unnoticed for now. Each snail and slug soldier had their own weapon, mostly spears but some flails, maces, or even slings that could fire rocks. Somehow. Trails of slime were left on the ground, covering up older trails that were themselves on top of older ones, showing how many times armies like these had clashed. Inch by inch the battle lines drew closer across the dirt and pebbles. What would’ve been nothing more than an irrelevant patch of land to a pony army was the entire glorious battlefield to these snails and slugs.

A yelling slug and snail were the first ones who met in the middle of the battlefield, both had their spears ready and were slowly trying to angle their weapons correctly so they could impale the other. Everything about this battle was slow-motion. Their eyes saw what the other was trying to do but with their reflexes and bodies moving like a pony stepping through molasses it took a long time for them to react and try to dodge or parry the other. This was happening all down the front lines with the other snails and slugs that were getting close to each other. It might as well have been an army charging through pudding.

Which gave Fluttershy plenty of time to just hover over them and figure out what was going on. It looked very strange to her at first and she wasn’t entirely sure what was happening until she heard the high-pitched battlecries and saw the tiny weapons the mollusks wielded.

“Oh my!” She brought her hooves to her mouth in shock. “They’re fighting! But why?”

The first snails and slugs were now upon each other, trying to stab and pummel their enemies while basically crawling over atop each other at the same time too. It was quite a strange sight. Fluttershy was sadly no stranger to battle but this was quite a bit odder than any of the fights she had unfortunately found herself in. And now she was just an ignored spectator, unsure of what exactly to do or why the snails and slugs were fighting in the first place. But she knew for certain that she wanted them to stop. Whatever their reasons were, violence was never the answer.

“Take this, you scum!” A slug yelled as he flung his flail at the shell of a snail.

“For our fathers and sons!” A snail yelled as he jabbed his spear towards a slug.

“Don’t let up for a second! Attack!” The slug general commanded as he inched his way towards the snail general, the two of them preparing to fight each other directly.

“You foul slugs won’t be winning today! This is your end!” The snail general shouted back as he crawled along the ground.

“To battle!”

“For the kingdom!”

“Have at you!”

“You’ll get no mercy from me!”

“By my shell, you shall fall!”

Fluttershy’s jaw dropped in horror at how hateful the mollusks were to each other. Things were so heated and they were yelling so violently. How dreadful! She was so frozen in shock that she didn’t even think to go down there and stop them immediately, instead her eyes were glued open as the fighting truly began in earnest. Snails and slugs alike “trampled” over each other, weapons clashed, the battle lines smashed into each other and already the cavalry and reinforcements for both sides were on their way. It would take a very long time for them to arrive but they were indeed going as fast as possible. The front lines had become total chaos with mollusks all fighting like they were filled with rage. In fact, the lines pretty much didn’t exist anymore. It was nothing more than a melee, a few one on one fights alongside brawls between groups of soldiers. Some didn’t even have weapons anymore but were just bodyslamming their enemy instead and trying to overpower and knock them down like that.

“I think I’m going to be sick...” Fluttershy said to herself, and indeed she started to get green in the face. It was awful to see such poor creatures fighting like this. She knew all about the realities of the food chain and how predators needed to eat their prey but this wasn’t like that at all! This was two groups of intelligent creatures fighting a war! It was just too horrible.

And it had gotten to the point where her mind finally snapped back to reality and she realized that she could not let this continue one second longer.

Right as the two generals were getting ready to strike down the other (so Fluttershy still had about ten minutes to spare if she wanted) Fluttershy flew down from above and landed in the middle of the battlefield. Very carefully so as not to accidentally crush anyone. Her legs and wings were spread so she was exactly on half of each side of the battle and with her big green eyes she stared down at the two generals.

“STOP!” She yelled, truly yelled, with her voice echoing across the entire warzone and even reaching the two cities.

Seeing a gigantic creature that had never been seen before suddenly land in front of you and scream like that resulted in just the reaction Fluttershy wanted: everyone staring at her in stunned silence. Well, maybe not exactly. Being the center of attention of all these strangers quickly made her blush and get a little shy. She nervously brought her right wing up to partially block her face and cleared her throat.

“Ehem, thank you for listening to me...” Fluttershy said, much more quietly.

“W-What are you, strange giant?” The snail general asked her, the little eyes on the ends of his stalks blinking.

“A flying giant has graced the battlefield,” the slug general said in wonder.

During the pause in combat, the soldiers all murmured amongst themselves, joining back up with their comrades and watching Fluttershy to see what would happen next. This was a truly unprecedented event, none of them could recall ever hearing about a creature like this visiting their kingdoms. Sure everyone knew about the moles that came through every now and then but this creature was certainly no mole. A beautiful and sublime winged being was what Fluttershy appeared as to them. She was more colorful than any other creature, or pretty much thing in general, they were used to seeing. And her feathers, and her big, expressive eyes that seemed to swallow them up.

Now Fluttershy was truly embarrassed but considering the situation she couldn’t just leave and let them start to fight again. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and tucked her wings back in, trying to look as casual and nonthreatening as possible. If they knew her they would’ve already known she was the most nonthreatening of creatures they could’ve encountered but at this point they were still strangers.

Time to change that.

“Um… okay… my name is Fluttershy a-and it’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” she said, an awkward forced smile on her face.

“Pray tell, flying Fluttershy creature, why have you seen fit to enter our battle and stop us?” The snail general asked.

“Fool!” The slug general sneered at him. “Do not so rudely question such an angelic creature! She deserves far greater respect!” The slug then reverently looked up at her. “Is there anything you require, oh great Fluttershy?”

“Oh dear...” Fluttershy gulped. “Look, you really don’t need to treat me that way, I’m just a normal pony.”

“A pony? Is that what such magnificent creatures like yourself are to be called?” The slug general asked. “Truly you belong to a grand species, oh great Fluttershy.”

“Yes, you ponies must be spectacular if you would call yourself normal. No—I refuse to believe anyone so sweetly beautiful and kind could be normal, you must only be as humble as you are fetching!” The snail general said.

Fluttershy blushed harder and harder.

In the meantime, both armies had started coalescing around her. Hundreds of snails and slugs were now gathering in a wide circle around Fluttershy and the two generals. This was making her very nervous and stressed. She was better at dealing with the attention from animals than ponies but these snails and slugs were a little different and there were just so many of them, she couldn’t help but start to sweat a little. Not to mention she didn’t exactly like being revered or talked up so much. It was a tad embarrassing, especially for one with her self-esteem.

“L-Look, I’m really just a normal creature like you all are, just a little bigger,” Fluttershy tried to tell them.

“What do you require from us, big pony angel?” A random slug soldier asked, his voice soon joined by many others all asking the same thing.

Fluttershy grimaced, awkwardly looking all around her. “This is really unnecessary… you don’t need to treat me like this, in fact I’d prefer if you didn’t, and I don’t need anything from you. Well, I may have something to ask you later...”

“But if you don’t want or need anything from us, fair Fluttershy,” the snail general said. “Then may I ask again why you came to our battlefield and commanded us to stop?”

“Well I just wanted you to stop fighting,” Fluttershy simply said.

“Why?” The slug general asked, genuinely perplexed.

To Fluttershy it was so obvious and simple though that she was almost at a loss for words, instead her mouth merely fell agape before she shook her head and answered. “Because fighting is wrong! I couldn’t stand seeing all you poor snails and slugs fighting each other like that, it was horrible.”

“But this war has been going on for generations! We cannot simply stop fighting our hated enemy!” The snail general said.

“Exactly!” The slug general concurred. “This is not some silly conflict, this is the latest in a long line of battles stretching back years. The fighting must go on until one side is victorious! This world is not big enough for two mollusks!”

“But that’s just not right, you can’t tell me that this is the best way to go about solving your problems. Even if you do hate each other you should find a way to live peacefully together! Violence is not the answer,” Fluttershy told them. She somewhat unsurprisingly found herself sniffling a little. “It makes me so sad to think that you’ve been fighting for that long, all you poor snails and slugs, how many of you have had to fight in this war? And you’re just doing it because you don’t like each other?” She closed her eyes and looked down in sorrow, a few tears threatening to drip out. “That just sounds so awful, even worse than other reasons to fight...”

“Please! Do not cry, sweet angel!” The snail general said.

“Yes, do not worry yourself over us! It is simply the way of life here! We must fight!” The slug general said.

“But that’s just awful too...” Fluttershy shook her head.

“But it’s all for a good reason!” The slug general said. “Things will be so much better when there are only slugs around!”

“Hah! You’ve got that backwards! Things will be better when it is just us snails living here!” The snail general interjected.

“Chur! Your ugly buildings are a blight upon this land!”

“Oaf! Your pathetic domes are a mockery of a city!”

“I am not surprised such a pitiful opinion comes from a creature with an ugly shell upon their back!”

“Nor am I surprised that a vile non-shell like yourself cannot appreciate our metropolis!”

As the insults were volleyed back and forth by the two generals, Fluttershy could only stand there and bite her hooves in worry. The other soldiers were getting caught up in the conflagration too and started yelling across the lines at their foes. It looked like it was about to break out into violence again even with the “angelic” Fluttershy being right there and begging them to stop. Fluttershy had seen (and resolved) many feuds but the scale of this one was a little bigger than your average friendship problem despite the creatures involved being so small. However, this was essentially the same type of problem as far as she knew. Just another conflict between two groups that didn’t like each other at the moment. If she treated it like a friendship problem then just maybe she could solve it and get these snails and slugs to stop fighting.

“Stop, stop, please stop again!” Fluttershy said to all the mollusks, lifting her wings high to try and make herself appear as big as possible. “No fighting, I-I forbid it in my presence!”

If they were going to revere her so badly she might as well use it, right?

The mollusks stopped and the slug general gulped as he looked up at her. “Y-Yes, very well. There will be no fighting as long as you are here, great one.”

“I promise you as well,” the snail general said.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy let out a deep breath. She felt bad about using their misplaced worship of her like this but at least it was for a good cause. If she had to do it to keep them from savagely fighting right in front of her then she would make that trade.

“But um, what now?” The snail general asked while the slug general nodded along.

“Well...” Fluttershy fidgeted. “I’d really like to figure out how to get you all to stop fighting forever, even after I leave.” She saw both of the generals about to open their mouths so she raised a hoof to stop them. “I know you may think that’s impossible, and you may not even want peace, but that’s just how I am. I want to find a real solution to this problem, and first that means getting to the bottom of it. How did this war start in the first place? Why do you hate each other so much?”

“This war started ages and ages ago when-” the slug general started.

“Hey! I’m the one who’s going to tell her how the war started!” The snail general interrupted.

“My eyestalks you are!”

“By my shell I swear you-”

“Stop!” Fluttershy again commanded. “Please, just tell me how this happened?”

The two generals sneered at each other but begrudgingly decided to not displease the wondrous Fluttershy. There would be no more arguing or insults thrown for now. Seeing that things were calming down, Fluttershy took a seat. After checking to make sure she wasn’t going to sit on anyone.

“You see, long ago we mollusks first came upon this grand cavern together,” the slug general started.

“There was indeed a time when we were not at war,” the snail general nodded.

“But even back then we were not exactly friends. Snails stuck with snails and slugs stuck with slugs,” the slug general continued.

“Oh, I’m sorry it doesn’t sound like you ever got along that well...” Fluttershy sadly frowned.

“You’re not seeing me complaining,” the slug general groused.

“Anyways—that’s not particularly important,” the snail general cut in. “Our ancestors still shared this great place back when our populations were lower and it was easier to ignore each other.”

“That was before the cities were built,” the slug general said.

“Yes, our magnificent Snail City and their—ugh—Slugville.” The snail general said, grimacing.

“We separated entirely by east and west sides at that point,” the slug general explained. “For years our people had almost no contact with each other. We were no longer even begrudgingly part of one nation, we had become our own kingdoms. Mollusks we may be, but snails and slugs were we first.”

“Our cities and separate kingdoms grew and grew but the reason for our war was not over something as insignificant as resources,” the snail general said. “No, there was always plenty of food, water, and space for both snails and slugs.”

“Our reason for war, why this all started, is far more personal and cuts to the heart of all snails and slugs,” the slug general darkly agreed.

Fluttershy found herself leaning in, not excited but warily interested to hear what caused all this. Once she learned that she could work on fixing things between these mollusks. Both generals sucked in a deep breath and announced together:

“They refuse to see the beauty of our shells!”

“They refuse to see that we’re better without shells!”

Fluttershy blinked and tilted her head. “Um… what?”

“Snails act like they’re better than us because of their big ugly shells!”

“Slugs are always going on about how they’re better than us because they don’t have shells!”

“Eventually it got so bad that war broke out,” the slug general said. “Our ancestors vowed not to stop until we slugs had totally eradicated the shell-loving menace.”

“And our ancestors vowed that we wouldn’t let the slugs get their horrible way. Shells are the only way to go!” The snail general shouted.

The slug general snorted in annoyance. “Fool, can you slide into narrow spaces with those unwieldy things?”

“Hah! Can you curl up into your warm shell and defend yourself?” The snail general shot right back.

“W-Wait, hold on!” Fluttershy waved her hooves back and forth in front of herself. “This whole war started because snails have shells and slugs don’t?”

“Shells are pretty and wonderful!” The snail general said up to her.

“We are just as pretty and wonderful without them!” The slug general said.

Fluttershy felt a dizzy spell coming on as she held a hoof up to her forehead. “Hold on… I need a moment.”

“I can understand how you would feel sick after hearing about the slugs’ reason for going to war,” the snail general nodded.

“She’s obviously disgusted hearing about you!” The slug general shot right back.

“Wait, please, calm down again,” Fluttershy said as she rubbed her hoof in circles around her forehead. “So this is really why you’ve been fighting and warring for generations? Because you snails think shells are better and you slugs think you’re better without them?” She looked down at them with a frown. “That’s what this is all about?”

“Yes!” Both generals enthusiastically replied at once.

Fluttershy vacantly stared down at them.

“Now, oh sublime great one, now that you are here you can also lend your voice to us slugs. Please, tell us that slugs are better than snails! Let all hear the truth and then help us get rid of them!” The slug general asked of her.

“No!” The snail general shouted. “She obviously knows that we snails are the better mollusk! Clearly she will join us in eradicating you scourge!”

“I’ve always liked both.”

Both mollusk generals looked up at her with tiny mouths agape.

Fluttershy smiled gently at their surprise. “It’s true, I love snails and slugs equally. Always have. You’re both such wonderful little creatures, chugging along and living your lives in peace. At least that’s how I think you should be living. And I really appreciate both of your differences. The spiral shells of snails are so pretty and stylish looking, while the sleek backs of slugs are so smooth and soft. If you’re asking me to choose just one I really can’t! I’ve got enough room in my heart to love both of your species though, if you can accept that.”

All the snails and slugs on the battlefield were silent. Slowly the generals and some of the others looked over at each other.

And in short, peace was declared.

Fluttershy flew off to Snail City to get their President and then flew off to Slugville to get their King and both parties were brought together in the middle of the battlefield with the two armies. A celebration was had as the leaders were more than happy to listen to Fluttershy and stop the fighting. After all, such an angelic creature couldn’t be wrong, could she? Snails and slugs really were equally great. That was the prevailing sentiment now. All their silly conflict was thrown aside and good vibrations were to replace it.

“Oh, I’m so happy about all this!” Fluttershy said as she watched the snails and slugs merrily get along, the President and King sharing a drink together.

“It’s all thanks to you, wonderful Fluttershy!” The slug general said from right at her hooves.

“Yes, you have truly shown us the way,” the snail general said from right next to the slug general.

“You’re welcome, I’m just glad I could help,” Fluttershy smiled down at them. “Oh! But before I forget, have you seen any creatures called moles come through here lately? Or a white rabbit?”

“Moles?” The snail general said. “They come through here every now and then and I believe there were some here not too long ago. I’m not certain of any rabbit though.”

Fluttershy squeed in delight. “That’s still great news! Where can I go to find them?”

“There’s a small cave on the northeast side of the battlefield that the moles come in and out of. If you just head in that direction you can’t miss it,” the slug general told her.

“Oh thank you! Thank you both! I hope you snails and slugs have a wonderful time now, and please, don’t start fighting again!” Fluttershy flapped her wings to carry herself above the ground that was crawling with snails and slugs, waving one last time she headed off in the direction of the mentioned cave. The snails and slugs said their goodbyes to her as she went, thanking her for everything and promising that war would not come to this great cavern again.

Consideration of Claustrophobia

“I really wish I could just have something go easy for me for once...”

Fluttershy was stuck. After navigating her way into a small tunnel that she hoped would finally take her to Moleville, she found it getting increasingly narrower before she could no longer press forward. She thought though that she was taking it very well. Instead of screaming her head off and panicking she just felt a little bit upset. She was helped by the fact that her light was still on and she could see, and also by the fact that she wasn’t totally stuck. She could fidget and squirm to get a little movement going. If she worked hard enough she might be able to dig and push her way forward and get to a portion of the tunnel that was a little wider.

That still didn’t make her happy though.

She could feel her wings scraping along the wall, her extra appendages getting stuck on edges and making things a little more difficult. And Fluttershy was a very lithe pony already who didn’t take up too much space so this tunnel really wasn’t meant for her species. With a grunt of effort she dug her back hooves into the ground and tried to use them to push forward. Currently to no avail as she was still stuck in her spot.

“What do I do? I must be the only one who’d get stuck like this and not have anything to do about it,” Fluttershy pouted. Rainbow Dash would probably complain a lot about being stuck here too but she’d fight a lot harder to get out immediately. Fluttershy just wasn’t sure if she had the strength to do that.

“Hnngh!” Fluttershy grunted as she tried pulling herself through with her front hooves. There wasn’t anything to really grab onto though, she just had to brace her hooves against the tunnel and try to pull like that. She could feel her body straining and stretching a bit the more she pulled but the back half of her still wouldn’t budge. Even if she could get through now she was probably going to hurt her wings trying to.

Now she was starting to get a little nervous, and tired. If she tired herself out trying to get out of this tunnel while she didn’t have any water… that could be bad. But she didn’t know what else she could do right now. Maybe just wait and hope that some moles would come through here? That didn’t seem like a very good bet though. And she still wasn’t totally sure they would be friendly.

Fluttershy knew at least that the more time she just stayed here in her cloud of pessimistic worries the farther away Angel was getting. She could not spend a whole day stuck here.

It was kind of surprising that something like this hadn’t happened to her earlier. She was definitely bigger than most of the things that lived underground, she knew that for a fact. But traveling through the tunnels and caves had been easy so far as far as space was concerned. Aside from the very first “rabbit hole” she dug down through. Maybe her luck had just run out and now she was going to have to deal with more cramped tunnels like this? Maybe all of Moleville was very cramped? It’s possible it wasn’t even really a town at all in the way she would traditionally think of one. Wouldn’t it be normal if moles lived in a totally different way from ponies?

Well, she would’ve figured the same about snails and slugs but they had two pretty normal cities back there…

Though that kind of only added to the weirdness of what she had just been through with them.

Fluttershy’s mind was getting ahead of her again, she could think about that stuff when she wasn’t in a predicament right now! She needed less thinking (Twilight) and more doing (Rainbow Dash).

She tried flexing with her wings and pushing harder, trying to rotate herself and see if she could find maybe some slightly wider spot in the tunnel and slip on through it. All she ended up doing though was making herself feel like she was tumbling around in a washing machine. At least her hardhat kept her head safe as she scraped it along the edges of the tunnel. Though she didn’t feel like she was getting loose right now maybe she could disturb the earth enough or somehow scrape a little away to get on by. Not like she need much room. Just a millimeter or so and she bet she could finally pop her wings on through and get back on her way. She scrambled with her hooves behind her and did her best to gyrate and shift her body, trying every single angle she could and pushing and pulling to get out of being stuck.

“Come on, Fluttershy! Come on, you can do it!” She quietly cheered to herself. It made her feel better for some reason, especially when she visualized it was actually her friends cheering for her. “Grr!” She grunted as she made another turn and then flopped on her belly, panting in exhaustion. “I think… I don’t exercise as much as Rainbow Dash...”

Running around and taking care of all her animals certainly entailed a lot of exercise but it didn’t exactly build muscle. Her wings weren’t very strong either, maybe if they were she could actually push them through. But for now Fluttershy just had to glumly stare at the tunnel ahead, still lit up for a good dozen or so feet by her hardhat light.

Flicker~

A static buzzing sound came from right above her head.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened while her pupils shrank to pinpricks.

Flicker, flicker~

Staring up at the top of her head in horror, Fluttershy watched as the light on her hardhat started flickering on and off before finally turning off completely. Leaving her in total darkness.

“Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no.” Fluttershy quickly brought a hood up to the hardhat and started flicking the switch on and off but it didn’t even slightly turn on again, didn’t even give her a dim light to work with. The battery was dead and now she was stuck and blind. All that panic that she was a little proud for avoiding until now came rushing into her. Her heart raced and her hooves frantically scrambled and clawed as she tried to get herself out of here. Tears came to her eyes as Fluttershy began to hyperventilate once again.

“Why?! Why did it have to go out now, here of all places?!” She cried and pointlessly tried turning it off and on again.

But she was still stuck in pure darkness.

“Help!” She shouted. “Can anypony hear me?! Please help! I’m trapped in here and I need help!” Fluttershy repeatedly called for assistance but just like all the other times she shouted into these caves she didn’t get any answer. “No, no, no, no...” She whimpered a few more times while her wings beat and her hooves looked for any way to free her. Rational thought had left her mind and all concerns about saving her energy had disappeared. Fluttershy had to get out. Now.

Was the tunnel getting narrower? Were the walls closing in around her? That’s what it felt like. Fluttershy couldn’t shake those scary thoughts that the dark tunnel was now trying to swallow her up and she’d never get out. Her panicked cries echoed back and forth through the tunnel as she moved and clawed around like a drowning rate trying to save itself.

It was almost comical when due to her frantic movements she finally popped loose. Fluttershy tumbled forwards, faceplanting briefly onto the hard rock floor of the tunnel before picking herself up and crawling forward at full speed. Despite freeing herself she hadn’t even seemed to realize it, the terror was still inside her and everything was still dark around her. She had to get out of this tunnel at all costs. Fluttershy’s paranoia and her burgeoning claustrophobia were causing her panicked scrambling and amnesia of all safety concerns when it came to navigating these underground tunnels.

If only she could see ahead. If only Rarity’s gift just had a little bit of juice to even give her partial vision she could calm herself down. But for now she was still trapped in darkness and that was a very big problem for someone running through uncharted tunnels. Fluttershy’s mind couldn’t even comprehend that at the moment though.

What it could comprehend was that the tunnel actually got a little taller. Instead of closing in on her and becoming more difficult to traverse, Fluttershy was able to stop crawling and stand up. So long as she kept her head low, and run. Her breath still came out in terse and ragged pants and her jaw was clenched tightly shut but Fluttershy ran through the pitch black tunnel as fast as she could.

That ended very quickly though.

One second there was ground under her hooves and then the next there was only empty air and Fluttershy was falling. On reflex her wings shot open but they clipped the unseen rocks around her and made it impossible to fly or even glide. With a breathless gasp, Fluttershy collided with the hard ground some ten feet below.

And then she was out just like the light.

Mole Malarkey

Fluttershy woke up feeling rather woozy. Reaching a hoof to her head she realized two things: she wasn’t wearing her hardhat and she had a sizable and painful welt on her head.

“Ow!” Fluttershy winced as she accidentally ran her hoof over it. She frowned and sat where she was for a moment, still in darkness, and tried to collect herself. She remembered what had just happened but at least now she was a bit more calm since she wasn’t stuck. Although she still didn’t like not being able to see anything.

“Where’s the hardhat?” Fluttershy wondered as she began searching around the ground with her hooves. Even if the light was out she definitely still wanted it for her head. She carefully stood up and felt around to see how big the tunnel she was in was and was pleased to note that it was more than wide enough for her to walk easily in. The ceiling of it she wasn’t sure yet since she didn’t want to fly up, but she at least didn’t hit her head when standing so that was good enough for her for now.

It took her a bit of blindly flailing around but she did eventually find the hardhat. Unfortunately no matter how much she messed with the light it didn’t come back on. “Oh well...” Fluttershy sighed and put it on her head. Carefully since she didn’t want to nudge her bruise too badly.

Now she wasn’t sure if she was turned around either, so she had to figure out which way the air was flowing again. Sitting still she tested it again with a slightly saliva wetted hoof. Satisfied it was flowing in the direction she was facing, Fluttershy stood up and began slowly walking forward. Accidentally walking face first into a wall would not be pleasant. Because of that she really hoped another source of light would pop up for her soon. Whether it was some of that bioluminescent moss or otherwise. The air flow started to increase the further she walked, in a way where it actually felt a little windy and managed to make her mane blow around a bit. She was probably coming up to a large cavern where the air flowed much more freely.

To make sure she wasn’t just wandering off into a big open space, Fluttershy went over to the side of the tunnel and extended her wing, letting the feathers drag across the wall. With that and her hooves carefully feeling in front of her she at least knew she wasn’t going to fall off any treacherous cliff or anything like that. She kept her eyes wide open for any sign of light but for the moment it was still just utter blackness.

That’s when she felt the wall slightly curving at her feather tips. There was a turn in the tunnel.

“Good, please, please let me find something soon,” Fluttershy said to herself as she managed the curve.

And she was in luck. Dead ahead, maybe just a couple hundred feet at the most, was light. Now she was smart enough to not run directly at it but she still smiled widely and clasped her hooves to her chest for a moment. “Yay!”

Just knowing she actually had something to look forward to made her a lot happier. Knowing she wouldn’t be stuck in this dark cave forever was great. Fluttershy practically skipped along towards the light (but was still careful about where she stepped). When she got closer she saw the light split into a few different flickering points, and noticed the temperature was going up slightly. Flames? Closer still and she saw that the lights were a sequence of maybe about a dozen torches each lined up on both walls of the tunnel. Fluttershy withdrew her wing and walked into the center of the tunnel.

A different sort of sensation suddenly under her hooves caused her to look down. Instead of just the natural stone floor of the tunnel she was now walking across smooth cobblestone.

She had definitely come across something now.

And she could tell that the end of the tunnel was right beyond the last line of torches, it clearly opened up into a much larger cavern and Fluttershy was excited to see it. The snails and slugs had a real civilization down here but that was a bit miniature-sized for her. This was all looking more pony-sized. She didn’t know how big the moles were but she hoped this was their work she had stumbled upon.

Getting closer to exiting the tunnel, Fluttershy took a deep breath to steady herself. When that wasn’t enough she ended up stopping for a moment and taking a few more.

“Nothing to worry about, Fluttershy. The moles are going to be perfectly friendly. You’re going to find Angel and then you’re going to get out of here and go back home. Everything’s going to be okay,” she gulped. “I just wish my friends were here too right now.”

With a few more steps, Fluttershy stepped out of the tunnel and took a look around.

A cobblestone plaza spread out in front of her while buildings built on three different ascending levels lied to her right and left. Buildings may have been the wrong word though. It was more like the natural rock that had made up the cavern had been carved up, everything was still one big piece of rock, there just happened to be doors and windows, walking paths between the various levels, patios and balconies, and stairs going up and down them. Beyond this part of the “city”, past the plaza, she saw a large well in the center of the cavern that had multiple rope pulleys going into it, and past that on the far side of the cave were more carved out buildings and tunnels probably leading to more.

However there was something else. Fluttershy had to lean over a little bit to see it clearly past the well, but there was a structure built between the well and the far wall. Some kind of ziggurat by the looks of it. It was rectangular and rose up ten feet off the ground before sloping inwards and up ten more feet, leading to a flat top. There were large ceramic bowls placed at the four corners that had fires burning in them and a ramp leading from the bottom of the structure up to the very top. And at the very top of that structure there was a cage.

That had a little white figure inside it.

Fluttershy’s breath caught in her throat. “Angel!”

She ran now, ran across the cobblestone plaza, ran past the large well, ignoring everything else, and going straight for the ramp leading up the ziggurat. She looked up it and saw the most adorable and perfect rabbit friend staring at her from inside the cage and her face lit up with the biggest and warmest smile possible. Angel himself looked absolutely dumbstruck to see her here, his jaw dropped and he began trying to squeeze his way out of the cage.

“Don’t worry, Angel! I’m coming!” Fluttershy said and began to charge up the ramp.

“You may stop right zhere, creature!” A sharp and weaselly voice called out from behind her.

Fluttershy froze up and looked over her shoulder. Three creatures stood at the well, she hadn’t been able to see them from the other side. They were squat little things, squat and round and even though they stood on two legs they still weren’t as tall as Fluttershy. Two of them had short brown fur but the one in the middle had shaggy silver fur. And all three of them had beady little black eyes that did not look like they could see very well.

Naturally, Fluttershy thought they were kind of cute.

“Are you the moles? This is Moleville?” She asked them, fully turning to face them. She was doing her best to not let her natural shyness cripple her here. She had finally found Angel Bunny and she couldn’t fall apart now!

“Ve are, and you have zhe right of it,” the silver mole answered while his eyes narrowed at her. “And what are you?”

“Oh,” Fluttershy blinked, the accent he spoke with wasn’t too thick but it was still noticeable. “Well, I’m Fluttershy. A pony from Ponyville.”

“Fluttershy?”

“A pony from Ponyville?” The two other moles said to each other and then giggled.

Fluttershy didn’t frown, she smiled to show off her kindness. “Yes, that’s right.”

“And you vere about to steal zhe rabbit ve have captured,” the silver one said to her. “But, pony from Ponyville, ve knew you vere coming since before you entered our tunnel.”

He snapped his fingers and Fluttershy watched as all throughout Moleville, moles emerged from inside the carved out structures and homes. Dozens of them appeared on every level of the city, now all sticking their heads out and looking at her. And all around her on the plaza, stones on the ground slid away and moles came up from disguised holes. Forget dozens—there were hundreds of moles here now and all of them were watching Fluttershy.

“Oh dear...” Fluttershy gulped, a nervous and somewhat worried sweat breaking over her face. “There are a lot of you.”

“You are quite right about zhat. And yet you zhought you could just valk on in here and take our meal?” The silver one said.

“M-Meal?!” Fluttershy’s hooves shot up to her mouth in horror and she looked back up the ramp at the imprisoned Angel Bunny. “Y-You can’t possible mean-”

“Zhat is correct. Zhe rabbit shall soon become our food.”

“But why?! How could you do such a horrible and cruel thing! I know some animals and creatures need to eat meat but Angel is a thinking and feeling being! You can’t eat him! I know for a fact that moles like you are omnivores, you don’t need to do this!” Fluttershy wasn’t just afraid for her poor Angel Bunny, she was actually a little angry and she punctuated that with a hoof stomp on the ground.

“It’s none of your business! Ve have our reasons for vhy ve are eating that little rabbit you call Angel Bunny!” Silver Fur said.

Fluttershy grimaced and looked around at all the hundreds of moles that had emerged from the city. “But he’s just one rabbit, he can’t feed you all! What reason could you possibly have for eating my friend?”

“Bahahahaha!” Silver Fur laughed uproariously. “Foolish pony from Ponyville! Zhat rabbit will be made into rabbit stew! Our ceremonial feast vill commence vith him boiled and mixed in with a grand bowl of stew zhat shall feed every mole in Moleville!”

Fluttershy went green in the face and almost threw up. Up in the cage on top of the ziggurat, Angel’s ears drooped and he looked on with worry, hoping Fluttershy would save him somehow.

“T-There’s absolutely no way I can let you eat Angel,” Fluttershy said, finding her courage and shaking her head. “I-If you have some kind of big ceremony that you have to do well I’m sorry—you’re going to have to postpone it and find something else to eat.”

Up above, Angel enthusiastically nodded his head.

Silver Fur however was not so easily swayed. He and all the other moles Fluttershy could see shook their heads in unison.

“No, no, no, no, pony and rabbit. Ve shall not be giving up our prize from above so easily.”

“Prize! Prize!” The other moles all chorused.

“The prize delivered to us from the above world!” Another mole yelled from the crowd.

“We can not forsake what has been given to us in our time of need!” Another shouted.

“We shall have our stew! Stew! Stew! Stew!”

Fluttershy looked around in a panic as the moles all joined in. They were very adamant about this.

She then frowned and looked back at Silver Fur. “Wait, how come none of them have the same accent as you?”

“I bit my tongue earlier today.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy blinked and then shook her head. “Oh, that’s not important right now!”

“It does not matter vhat you zhink is important,” Silver Fur chortled. “Zhat rabbit fell into our vorld, right into our grasp at zhe perfect time. Vhen ve vere in need ve vere given an answer! He shall be the perfect sacrifice zhat will fix all of our problems!”

Fluttershy gulped but thought at the same time. Sacrifice? Time of need? Whatever was going on with these moles clearly wasn’t normal. “Y-You all are obviously dealing with something very problematic for you… b-but I certainly can’t condone behavior like this!” She turned slightly and lifted a hoof to point at Angel. “That rabbit up there is my precious friend and I know he didn’t do anything to deserve this. And now I would very much like it if you freed him and let the two of us go on our way. E-Even if you don’t want to do that I would be happy to peacefully talk things out with you, so long as you stop threatening to put him in a stew.”

Waves of agitated grumbling swept over the moles, they kept shaking their heads and she could see Silver Fur and the others around him spitting “no” out between breaths. It grew louder and louder until deafening shouts of no boomed across all of Moleville. They all swayed from side to side like a metronome, possessed with the desire to turn Angel Bunny into rabbit stew and utterly refusing to see reason.

“Rabbit stew!” Silver Fur shouted.

“Rabbit stew!” The city chorused.

“Rabbit soup!” Silver Fur cried.

“Rabbit soup!” The city echoed.

Silver Fur raised his stubby little arms up towards the cage atop the ziggurat. “Our ceremony shall nooooot beeeee stoooooped!”

Fluttershy quickly glanced around as it suddenly sounded like music was now being played. “Oh, more singing? Well that’s okay I suppose.” She raised an eyebrow.

We are here today for our glorious feast! Nothing else in Moleville matters but what we will eat!~
A once in a lifetime ceremony that can’t be missed! Fortune favors us, or why else would we have received this gift?~

Silver Fur sang the first two lines before he was joined in by the chorus of every other mole in Moleville.

Rabbit Stew! Rabbit Soup!~
Rabbit Stew! Rabbit Soup!~
The sacrifice for us!~
The ceremony for us!~

Silver Fur then again took center stage, all the other moles bowing down around him to make sure he had the spotlight. He let out a surprisingly deep bellow and an operatic voice emerged from his throat:

That rabbit from above fell right into our hands and now will be the centerpiece to deliver us from disaster!~
All of our troubles will be a thing from the past as now we have found what will save us!~
This is not some simple food or feast, this is what our city truly needs!~
There is nothing to do but prepare the bowl and prepare the ingredients and prepare the rabbit that was given to us!~

For Rabbit Stew and Rabbit Soup!~
For our city!~
For our ceremony!~
And for us!~

The chorus quieted down as Silver Fur waltzed right up to Fluttershy.

Some pony from Ponyville will not take our prize, the thing given to us to help stop our demise!~
We will boil the rabbit, stir the rabbit, eat the rabbit, and Moleville will be saved!~

Fluttershy’s hooves were trembling, but much to her own surprise she didn’t back down. She couldn’t back down. With a single glance back at Angel Bunny she knew what she had to do. So she steeled herself and took a deep breath:

So you moles just won’t listen?~
No not one little bit?~
Well let me tell you why that isn’t going to fit!~

Fluttershy stomped a hoof down on the ground.

My name is Fluttershy from Ponyville and some call me a pushover~
But that doesn’t mean I would let anyone eat my friend~
So I’m taking Angel Bunny and that. Is. The end!~

“Bahahaha!” Silver Fur laughed. “You vish to challenge us zhrough song? Very vell, zhe mole ceremonial song battle shall now take place and to the vinner goes zhe rabbit!”

“Fine!” Fluttershy said. “We’ll settle this through song! If I win you’ll keep your promise and let me leave with Angel Bunny.”

“Yes, pony. Ve vill not go back on our word,” Silver Fur chuckled.

Fluttershy took another deep breath. “Then I’ll start.” She looked back at Angel Bunny and smiled. “Don’t worry, Angel, I’m going to rescue you.” She turned back around and faced Silver Fur and all the other moles, putting on her best serious face.

There’s just too many things wrong with eating my friend~
Whether you’re in trouble or not you can’t gobble him down~
It wouldn’t be right at all and on this I will not bend!~
So that’s why Fluttershy from Ponyville is putting her hoof… down~

Fluttershy gulped, knowing that wasn’t the best.

Silver Fur smiled and sinisterly spat on the ground. “Rhyming down vith down? I’m afraid you’ll have to do better zhan zhat. Now it’s our turn.”

This is our sacred ceremony that will only happen once!~
Food, food, and food for all to make our problems go away!~
Nothing like this in Moleville has happened before, this is no mere farce!~
Special rabbit stew made in a way to save the day, we pray~

Fluttershy bit her lip but continued on.

So that first verse may not have been great, I’ll admit to that indeed~
But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop anytime soon, you better believe!~
When it comes to my friends there’s nothing I won’t do~
So you moles will just have to see that for Angel Bunny I’ll never let you make rabbit stew~

Waves of murmurs went through the moles while Silver Fur frowned, but it wasn’t over yet.

Well what matters to the pony doesn’t matter to the moles~
Here you are in Moleville so we’ll make you live by our rules~
This is more important to us than you could possibly know~
We will not give up our rabbit stew so soon you just have to go!~

Fluttershy shook her head.

That won’t work on me, I know how to be stubborn~
I have my friends to teach me and think about all the time~
So when it comes to helping someone you’ll see how hot I can burn~
Fluttershy is not a pushover and to be one now would be a crime!~

She didn’t stop there either, going right into another verse.

Angel Bunny is a sweet thing even though sometimes he can be sour~
The thought of you eating my precious friend makes me very dour~
It’s obvious you have problems right now and I’m very sorry to hear
And while I can’t let this ceremony commence I would still love to lend an ear~

Silver Fur clenched his hands into fists and grit his teeth.

Now look right here you pony outsider our problems are not yours to fix!~
We know what we need to do and you’re just getting in our way!~
No matter how you sing, no matter what you say, you aren’t getting that rabbit, just read my lips!~
If you think you can stop us and our feast, you might find yourself boiling too someday!~

All the moles cheered in response and more choruses of “Rabbit Stew” rang out.

Fluttershy however just huffed and flapped her wings, rising above Silver Fur and the moles.

Maybe you’ve forgotten this or never really learned~
But a little bit of kindness can go quite a long ways~
If you just give me a chance I can help you with what has you so dismayed~
The only thing you need to do is free Angel Bunny from this cage today!~

Silver Fur tried to sing some more but Fluttershy cut him off. She smiled as she now flew all over the crowd and around the buildings and the rest of Moleville while the moles looked on in wonder, listening to her song.

Down here in Moleville it may be dark but that doesn’t mean it can’t be bright and warm in your hearts~
I can teach you, I can help you, there’s no need to be afraid! Perhaps I’m the real gift for your time of need~
Angel Bunny doesn’t deserve this, he’s far too kind and sweet, making rabbit stew can’t be the only way, so please let me play my part~
I’m sorry about your ceremony and I’m sorry about your plans, but I will surely fix things for you so please just have faith in meeee~

Fluttershy sand as she came to a rest before Silver Fur and right in front of the ziggurat. She smiled, genuinely, at him.

“Well, what do you say?” She asked.

Silver Fur glowered for a second, clenching and unclenching his fists and grinding his teeth, he tried to look everywhere but at Fluttershy before finally giving up and sighing in defeat. “Very vell… you vin pony. Zhe song battle is over. You may take your rabbit back...”

Fluttershy however didn’t fly up to Angel immediately, she stepped forward and put a hoof on Silver Fur’s shoulder. “That’s not what I asked. Will you let me help you too?”

Up above, Angel Bunny gawked in disbelief and started squeaking up a storm, but Fluttershy did her best to ignore his angry ranting for now.

“You… you vould truly help us after ve almost cooked and ate your friend?” Silver Fur asked.

“Well, I can tell you must be going through some big problems, and everyone makes mistakes. Right now I’m just happy I got here before that happened. So let’s consider it as water under the bridge,” she smiled brightly at him and all the other moles.

“You are too kind, Fluttershy from Ponyville. Go and retrieve your friend now. Ve can talk when zhe two of you have caught up. Zhe cage is unlocked, zhe top is just two heavy for him to lift.”

“Thank you!” Fluttershy beamed and turned to run up there, but paused for a brief second and looked back over her shoulder at him. “Oh, and what’s your name?”

“Silver Fur.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Oh, there’s a nice coincidence.”

She then ran up the ziggurat’s ramp, bounding along on her hooves with a huge smile on her face as she looked up at Angel, who was stretching his tiny little arms through the gaps in the cage. Finally she reached the cage and pressed her cheek right up against the bars where he was. “Angel! I’m so glad to finally find you! You just don’t know how happy I am to see that you’re okay!”

He rolled his eyes and stomped his big foot a few times, pointing up to the top of the cage.

“Oh, right, of course,” Fluttershy sheepishly blushed and reached up, lifting open the top of the cage upon which Angel Bunny finally leaped out and stood right next to her.

Well Fluttershy didn’t let him just stand there for long. With a giddy laugh she swept him up into a big hug. “I was so worried when I heard what happened!”

Angel Bunny gagged exaggeratedly and pushed his way out of her grip. Back on the top platform of the ziggurat he angrily stomped his foot again and pointed at the moles, then pointed up at the ceiling of the huge cavern.

Fluttershy shook her head, a sad frown on her face. “No, Angel. I’m sorry but we can’t leave yet.”

Angel’s jaw dropped and he started squeaking in annoyance, gesturing again at the moles.

“I said I would help them and I meant it.”

He threw his arms out wide and mimed them tying him up and then started chomping at empty air.

“I know they were going to eat you and that was wrong of them. But they were desperate, I don’t think they’re really bad creatures.”

Angel Bunny groaned and threw himself onto his back.

“Something bad has clearly happened to them here and I want to find out what. It’s the right thing to do, Angel. I’m sorry but you know me, I can’t just leave creatures in need like this. We’re going to still be in these caves for a little while longer.”

Angel leaned his head up and glared at her before jumping up onto her hardhat. He thumped it with his foot a few times before sliding down onto her back and folding his little arms.

“Ow… you don’t need to be like that. But fine, I know you’ve been through a lot so I’ll carry you for now at least. I need to talk to Silver Fur again.”

Fluttershy trotted back down the ramp with Angel on her back (the bunny giving the evil eye to every mole that happened to be around) in an effort to speak with Silver Fur. The mole looked very bashful and guilty, as did the rest of the denizens of Moleville. Fluttershy however did her best to keep her kindest and most understanding smile on her face. She cleared her throat once she got to him and waited until he had found the spirit to look her in the eye.

“Would you please tell me what’s happened to you moles? I forgive you for trying to eat Angel and now all I want to do is help.”

From on her back, Angel snorted in annoyance.

“Your kindness is a special zhing to vitness… truly ve do not deserve your forgiveness, but zhank you for it. Ve have vronged you and your friend and zhere is no way for us to make amends,” Silver Fur glumly responded.

Fluttershy frowned and again put a sympathetic hoof on his shoulder. “That’s okay, you just have to pay it forward one day in the future. Remember to be kind to others and you’ll have done more than enough.” She smiled. “Does that sound okay?”

For once, a true smile appeared on Silver Fur’s face. “Yes. I believe ve moles can do zhat.”

“Yes! Yes!” Waves of agreement spread through the other moles.

Fluttershy clapped her hooves together and giggled. “I’m so happy to hear that!”

Angel rolled his eyes.

“And now...” Silver Fur started. “I shall tell you vhy zhis has all started in zhe first place. Vhy ve vere putting on such a ceremony.”

A more serious look appeared on Fluttershy’s face and she made a small gulp. “Please.”

Silver Fur sighed deeply, staring at the ground for a moment before looking imploringly back into her eyes. “Our food is… gone. You vere right about us being omnivores. Ve moles had a large farm in another cavern past zhe tunnels at zhe ozher end of zhis one. But only a few days ago… zhe ground opened up beneath it. Everyzhing shook all over, huge fissures and cracks appeared and swallowed up our crops! Zhe entire farm was destroyed! So many moles vere zhere vhile it happened and almost got swallowed up too!”

Fluttershy gasped and clasped her hooves over her mouth. “But why? How did that happen?”

“Zhe moles zhat vere zhere said zhat… somezhing emerged from below.”

“Something?”

Silver Fur nodded. “Creatures made of rocks. Living, moving rocks zhat tore apart zhe ground and came from zhese new tunnels and fissures. Zhey destroyed zhe farm and left just as quickly vith no explanation. All zhe moles zhere said zhey said nozhing and took nozhing. Zhey only destroyed and left. Even vhen my fellow moles screamed in terror zhe rocks did not care and nozhing was left as it vas vhen zhey vere done. All of our crops vere destroyed and zhe farmlands so ruined nozhing else could be planted. Zhe new tunnels zhat vere made by zhe rock monsters all collapsed in on zhemselves save for one or two. But ve did not dare to go searching in after zhem.”

“I’m so sorry about your farms,” Fluttershy sadly looked around at the moles. “And you have no idea why those rock monsters appeared or where they even came from?”

Silver Fur shook his head. “No. Ve had no idea zhere vas anyzhing below us. Our own caves and tunnels run no deeper zhan zhis.” Silver Fur frowned. “Ve zhought ve vere at zhe bottom of zhe world.”

Fluttershy could understand that. She had already gone deeper underground than she ever could imagine. But it sounded like there were more things even deeper. And if she wanted to help these moles and do the right thing… she was going to have to go down there.

“And so because of all that you went searching for food? But I still don’t understand what was so special about Angel.”

“It vas a calamity unlike any ozher zhat had befallen us. Ve zhought it vas zhe end times!” Silver Fur exclaimed. “Ve gazhered all zhe little remaining food ve had and placed it in a gigantic bowl inside our temple.” He gestured to the ziggurat. Fluttershy hadn’t seen any door or any way inside it but it must’ve been on the other side or hidden somewhere. “Ve zhought a big enough ceremony vith enough vorship could bring us our fortune back. And if nozhing else it vould at least be a grand meal ve could all partake in...”

“But why Angel?” Fluttershy repeated again, still not getting it.

"Ve vent foraging zhroughout zhe caves, finding anyzhing ve could to eat and add to zhe bowl. Zhe feast needed to be special! Once in a lifetime! No normal meager ingredients vould suffice, ve needed somezhing special to sacrifice to appease vhatever forces of chaos ve had angered...”

“And then Angel...”

“It vas like a miracle! Out close to zhe surface zhat ve never dare venture to! Zhe rabbit fell right into our grasp,” Silver Fur explained. “Ve could not pass it up… he truly looked like a gift from above for us to use in zhe ceremony...”

Fluttershy put a hoof on her chest and gave a sigh of relief. “Well I’m glad I could at least change your mind about that. Oh—but now I’m worried! How much food do you have left to last all of you?”

Silver Fur looked despondent. “Only a few days if ve ration. Vater ve have plenty of, food is almost gone but ve perhaps can scrounge more from zhe caves...”

“Oh dear… I know there are things like moss down here… and a very large flower field up the way I came. But I don’t know if it will be enough to feed all of you moles,” Fluttershy sadly said as she looked around at them. She bit her lip and mulled the conundrum over before giving a small nod to herself. “I can still help you though. After I find out what those rock monsters were and why this happened, Angel and I will get out of these caves and I’ll go to my friend Twilight Sparkle for help.”

“Vhat vill one more pony do for us?” Silver Fur raised an uncertain eyebrow.

Fluttershy smiled. “Don’t you worry, Twilight can do anything. She’s a Princess up above where I come from and she can definitely find a way to get the food you need and I even bet fix up your farms too. Even before she became a Princess she could do anything. Trust me, I’ll get her help and then everything will be okay!”

Silver Fur still looked a little unsure but he nodded. “Ve vill trust you, pony. At zhis point ve have no reason not to. Zhank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Fluttershy beamed. She took another breath as she realized what she had to do now. Something that she didn’t exactly want to do. But it was her duty. It was what she needed to do as a good and kind pony because she couldn’t live with herself otherwise. “O-Okay… may you please direct me to where the farm was? I want to find these tunnels so I can follow the rock monsters.”

She almost fainted hearing herself speak those words and Angel angrily started tugging on her mane.

“Yes, Angel, I know. Stop it.”

Angel Bunny grumbled but complied.

“Zhe biggest tunnel at zhe end of our Moleville cave vill take you to our destroyed farm. I shall show it to you, but ve moles dare not travel to it ourselves anymore.”

At that, Angel started squeaking in annoyance again and pointing at the moles.

“It’s perfectly okay of them to not want to go back there,” Fluttershy said to him. “They’re just afraid, I understand.”

Angel thumped on her back.

“Of course I’m a little scared too, but we have to do this.”

Angel gave up, throwing his arms out in disbelief and collapsing, draping himself over her back. Fluttershy gave him a little smile and then looked back at Silver Fur. “Let’s go, I’ll help get to the bottom of this.”

Fluttershy stepped out from the large tunnel and into a disaster zone. Piles of broken apart rocks and shattered ground greeted her in every direction. The faintest colors of green, yellow, and red from former happily growing vegetables were scattered all over, mostly buried underneath rubble and sickly rotting away. What was once a wide open cavern with the even and dependable ground needed to grow crops on was now a tumultuous and chaotic mess. The hours and molepower it would take just to move all the rocks and get things back in order was immense. And even then the soil looked so destroyed and ripped apart that nothing would grow here easily again. The one thing in the entire cavern that wasn’t destroyed was a gigantic torch hanging from the ceiling that lit it all up for her. And that wouldn’t help her when she found the tunnel she needed to enter to go even deeper and follow the rock monsters that did all this.

Some more aggravated thumping on her back made Fluttershy roll her eyes. “Yes, Angel. We’re still going to help them. I know it looks bad in here but… from what Silver Fur told me I think it may have all been accidental.”

More thumping.

“No, I’m not basing that on anything. It’s just a hunch. And, well, you know me. I just want to believe the best of everyone. And that includes rock monsters.”

Angel Bunny blew a raspberry in her ear and went back to pouting.

Fluttershy sighed and started walking over the destroyed farm. “Let’s just find a tunnel going down.”

The problem was that most of the newly made fissures and everything had caved in on themselves. Everything was just covered in dirt and rocks and the one small tunnel she did see in the ground only went a few feet deep before it too had collapsed on the bottom. Fluttershy flew up a little and looked around the walls of the cavern. A lot of it seemed close to collapsing too, she wouldn’t have been surprised if this whole place had a big cave-in soon. But as long as she could safely get to the tunnels below here where the rock monsters first emerged from then she should be okay. This land below Equestria was already a whole new world for her and now here she was about to enter a whole new world even below this.

And now with a bit of a vantage point she could spy just what she needed. Fluttershy peered over the rocks and torn up farm to see a tunnel that still looked preserved and stable. It was nestled at the junction of floor and wall of the cavern on the far side of the farm and she flew over to it immediately. Plopping down on her hooves, she took a more detailed appraisal of it. Big enough where numerous ponies could walk side by side in, and thanks to the torchlight she could tell it definitely sloped down.

How safe was it though? If it was made by the rock monsters they had torn through quite a lot to make it. Unlike the other tunnels it hadn’t collapsed either, so maybe it was okay?

Fluttershy licked her hoof and held it up, sure enough, she could feel air flowing into the tunnel.

“I think this is where we need to go, Angel.” Fluttershy smiled.

Angel tugged on her mane a little and pointed at her hardhat, specifically the light on it.

“Umm… actually, the light is out of juice. It won’t turn on anymore.”

Angel started bapping her cheek with a vein popping out of his forehead.

“Ow! Stop that! I know I probably should have said something earlier but it wasn’t exactly on my mind… um, I’m not sure how we’re going to get through a deep dark cave like this now. Maybe we can ask the moles for a torch?”

Her bunny friend squeaked and squeaked as he tried to convince her to just give up and ditch these moles.

“No, Angel. And I’m not going to say it again,” she frowned at him. “Besides, the way the both of us came in collapsed. So I don’t know how we’ll get back to the surface right this moment anyways.”

Angel Bunny groaned and shook his head, rubbing his face in his hands.

“Look on the bright side, Angel. I finally found you and we’re both okay! We’re together and you know I’ll do anything to make sure the both of us stay safe and sound. Things are definitely looking up.”

The moment she said that a rumbling sound came from above. Fluttershy and Angel both looked up as slightly above and to the left of the tunnel they were getting ready to go down, the cavern wall of rock and dirt started to crack. A second later the wall broke apart and a volume of dirt and rocks shot out, followed by a white pony. She fell with a thud onto the ground and wheezed in pain but before she could get up, another pink pony came flying out of the hole and landed on her with an oomph, finally one more gray pony came shooting out and landed on the both of them, causing the pink and white pony to groan together.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy whispered while Angel gawked.

Slowly and methodically, the very familiar gray earth pony picked herself up and stood off to the side, dusting off the frock she wore.

After that, the somewhat familiar pink unicorn got off the white unicorn she had landed on and took a seat on the ground, rubbing her back.

And lastly, the unfamiliar white unicorn with a bright yellow mane and tail and a black bow on her head stood up on shaky legs, her eyes swimming about in her head.

“That could’ve gone so much better,” Amethyst Star said as she stood up and looked around. “Maud? Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Maud replied in her usual monotone.

“I’m fine too, but nobody bother asking me,” the white unicorn said as she groaned and dusted herself off.

“Sorry, Daylight,” Amethyst Star winced. “Must’ve been bad being on the bottom...”

“It was,” Daylight Gleam frowned at her. “Just one more annoying occurrence I can blame on you.”

Amethyst Star now frowned right back at her. “Hey! This whole thing is your fault you know?”

“I disagree on that.”

“Excuse me-,” Maud interrupted their argument. “But we have company. Hi, Fluttershy.”

The other two looked over at Fluttershy and Angel while the pegasus in question blushed and waved back at them.

“Hi Maud, and hi… Amethyst Star, right?” She asked and then looked over at the white unicorn. “And Amethyst said you were Daylight?”

“Fluttershy?!” Amethyst Star shouted and ran right up to her before Daylight could respond. “What in Celestia’s name are you doing down here?”

“It’s...” Fluttershy looked back at Angel and giggled. “It’s a bit of a long story.”

You Don't Wear Sunglasses at Night

A march through a tunnel turned into a climb down a very steep, almost vertical, cliff face. The only one who didn’t have any trouble navigating the treacherous hoofholds and outcroppings was Maud. Everyone else had to be careful where they stepped until they got to the bottom.

Upon which Daylight Gleam glanced over at Fluttershy and her wings.

“Uh… Fluttershy? Why didn’t you just fly down?” She asked.

“Hm?” Fluttershy blinked and then looked at her wings. “Oh! Well, I prefer to walk if I can. I like my hooves on the ground unless it’s really necessary or I’m stepping through something uncomfortable.”

“Couldn’t you have carried us down one at a time?” Amethyst Star now asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh… you’re probably right,” Fluttershy blushed. “I’m sorry, I guess I’m still not thinking like we’re a group now. And to be perfectly honest I’m usually the one who’s quiet and takes orders and suggestions during something like this… not the one making any of her own.”

“Don’t sell yourself short!” Amethyst Star grinned. “I bet you can really be a great leader! Better than me at least.”

“That’s an incredibly low bar,” Daylight Gleam muttered.

Amethyst Star rolled her eyes. “You can shut it.”

“Now, now, let’s be friendly,” Fluttershy giggled at the two unicorns. They may have still been trading barbs with each other but it wasn’t as mean-spirited as before.

“So where are we now, anyways?” Daylight Gleam asked as she looked around the bottom of the cliff and at what awaited them, shining her light all over the cave walls around them.

Fluttershy looked too, seeing mostly smooth black rock all over. It seemed like they had entered a new and different portion of the cave after coming down the long tunnel from the mole’s farm. There was almost no dirt around them, stone had taken the place of every surface and material that made up this subterranean world. Fluttershy and the others’ hooves clacked along the hard ground, Amethyst Star tapping it a few times just out of curiosity. Angel Bunny meanwhile was just looking around in total boredom. He was still too annoyed to walk on his own, instead choosing to be a grump and punishing Fluttershy. Daylight Gleam also dragged a hoof over the ground to feel how slick it was. Her eyes then lifted to Maud, who was standing still with a blank expression on her face in the middle of the group.

“Maud? What can you tell us about these caves?” She asked.

Maud blinked while the others all turned to look at her. Fluttershy was actually a little surprised she hadn’t said anything yet. Maud was reticent but very passionate about rocks and loved to explain them.

“My apologies. I was excited because we haven’t seen any rocks of this type down here yet,” Maud said with absolutely no excitement in her voice. “This black rock is obsidian. It looks like most of the cavern down here is made up of it. And granite. That’s what the non-obsidian portions of the cave are made of. Obsidian has several unique properties to it and-”

“Okay, thanks Maud. We can probably get moving now though, right?” Daylight said.

“Of course. There’s nothing dangerous about obsidian when it’s smooth and in this state. Although it indicates that at one point there was volcanic activity down here,” Maud said.

“Volcanic activity?” Fluttershy asked.

Maud nodded. “Yes. Obsidian is formed from rapidly cooled lava. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about though, even down this low ponies in Ponyville and elsewhere would’ve noticed if there was any recent volcanic or seismic activity. These obsidian caves were likely formed centuries ago.”

Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. “Well at least that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about.”

“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” Amethyst Star said as she grimaced at the walls of obsidian around them. “I don’t exactly like the idea of a volcano existing below Ponyville. Even if it was in the past.”

Angel squeaked out something that sounded suspiciously like “Good riddance” to Fluttershy.

“A volcanic eruption would be interesting to witness,” Maud said. “In fact it’s always been a desire of mine. Many types of rocks are only found due to volcanic activity, it often leads to a change in the landscape, and lava after all is nothing more than superheated molten rock. So you could say I’m passionate about it too.”

“Thank you for the information, Maud,” Fluttershy smiled to her. “But Daylight is right that we should get back to moving on through these caves. Don’t be afraid to share anything else you know about rocks while we’re down here though, you’re the only one of us who’s really in her element.”

“Ash can also lead to the creation of petrified wood, so I believe my boyfriend would also be interested in volcanoes.”

“-and that was what happened last time I was near a volcano. Practically the whole island was torn apart by the eruption. It was crazy,” Daylight Gleam said, relating an old story to the others in the group to pass the time as they walked.

“I don’t have any experience with volcanoes but I traveled over a pit of lava in a booby-trapped temple once,” Amethyst Star said.

Fluttershy looked over at her. “Your little sister told me you had gone out on some sort of an adventure once when she was in my class. How did that go?”

“Uhh...” Amethyst Star sweated and looked away. “Let’s uh—let’s just not talk about that. Like I said, adventures and I don’t mix and that sentiment should pretty much sum up how my adventure went for you. Also it’s just really embarrassing. I prefer the simple life in Ponyville now.”

Fluttershy nodded a few times. “I can really agree with that.”

“Heehee,” Amethyst Star giggled. “Hey, you remember when everyone in town was going crazy because of the friendship journal that Twilight gave out to everyone? Well I was one of your fans during it! So don’t worry, I’ve always really thought you were special and awesome all on your own. I even had a Fluttershy shirt and hat and everything!”

“Um, thanks,” Fluttershy smiled awkwardly and looked away. Amethyst Star didn’t seem to realize.

The five (six including Boulder) were walking through a cave of obsidian. There had been multiple caves and pathways they had seen after coming down that cliff, but Fluttershy made sure they were going in the same direction of the air. Maud also seemed to intrinsically know the best route. At the moment they had seen nothing new of note, with Daylight Gleam lighting the way and Amethyst Star saving her energy for now since there wasn’t as much space to light up. Maud was still looking around at the walls and inspecting the makeup of the obsidian. If she was looking for anything in particular when it came to the rock, Fluttershy couldn’t tell.

Angel had taken up residence sitting on top of her hardhat now instead of her back so he could look around better. Seemed he was getting bored.

Amethyst Star, after finishing talking to her, started tilting her head from side to side like she was thinking of a song. She absentmindedly looked over the walls but didn’t seem to have anything else to say.

When they had been walking for a few more minutes, the ground beneath their hooves started to change. And slowly so did the walls around them. From sleek black obsidian to a grainy granite, the entire tunnel had morphed. And widened up at the same time too with them now in a cavernous tunnel that could’ve fit multiple carriages.

“Is it normal for the mineral that makes up a cave to change so suddenly, Maud?” Daylight Gleam asked her.

“No, it’s not,” Maud said as she looked down at the granite ground while she walked. “I’m happy to have discovered something unusual.”

“I’d be happy if we could explain anything that was going on down here...” Amethyst Star frowned.

“From what Fluttershy told us about what she’s seen, I doubt we’re going to make sense of anything we trot upon,” Maud blinked at her.

“I just think we should be thankful this isn’t as crazy as some of the other things I’ve been through so far,” Fluttershy added.

“I guess,” Amethyst Star shrugged.

“Does anyone else hear that? Feel that?” Daylight Gleam suddenly said.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked, stepping right up beside her.

“It’s colder, and there’s a breeze coming from the opposite direction, further down the tunnel, and... I swear i can hear waves of water.” Daylight said.

“Waves? You don’t mean running water like a river?” Amethyst Star asked.

Daylight nodded. “Yeah. I’m telling you I hear what sounds like small waves breaking on a shore, listen.”

The four ponies and one rabbit stopped together, listening in to see if they could hear what Daylight thought was coming from further down. Since there was nothing else down here making any noise now, it was easier for them to make out the sounds that Daylight had described. The sloshing back and forth of water and the sounds of it breaking and crashing against rocks and each other. There was an oddness to it that Fluttershy felt in her gut, something telling her that the source of water was far larger than the small underground rivers and lakes she had already seen on her journey so far.

“It’s coming from a little far down but I can still hear it,” Daylight said, she then focused her horn forward and tried to illuminate as far down as she could. “I’ll get us there soon.”

“I’m not sure if there’s any reason to really hurry, let’s just be careful,” Fluttershy said.

“Right,” Daylight nodded.

The party then continued to progress through the wide cave with the light from the white unicorn providing more than enough to completely see around it. The sound, and smell, of water grew every minute, as did the cool breeze coming at them start to chill the air. The granite tunnel became wider and wider and eventually the gaping maw of its exit could be seen. Despite the light from Daylight’s horn reaching all across the stone walls of the tunnel, it couldn’t fully penetrate the darkness of the cavern beyond.

Fluttershy gulped while Angel Bunny clamped his hands on her head and stared. “I think we’re here.”

The group stepped out of the granite cave and onto a wide open shoreline of solid rock that stretched to their left and right a good two hundred feet each. A few dozen paces in front of them the rock ended in a slice and was replaced by black water that lazily beat up against the bank. When Fluttershy looked up she had to crane her head back to see just how high the ceiling went, the light from Daylight only barely being a strong enough source to dimly illuminate the top of the cavern. But that didn’t remotely tell them how big this place was. Darkness was all they could see if they tried to look out over the water. Even Daylight’s spell faded away before they could see the opposing shore. It was impossible to tell how big this underground lake was, and even just looking at it already it almost seemed more like an ocean than a lake to Fluttershy. Imposing, dark, cold, and surely deep.

“Well, this is something,” Amethyst Star said, rubbing her head.

Fluttershy nodded. “Mhm. I’ve seen plenty of water down here already but nothing like this.”

“It’s far too big of a chamber for me to light up completely,” Daylight said.

Meanwhile Maud was looking over at some large growths of rock coming out of the granite walls and shore. The growths were of a lighter color than the granite and stuck out like a sore hoof, but the others were too busy looking at the water to pay these other rocks any notice. Instead the three other ponies and one rabbit walked to the edge of the water and Daylight used her horn like a high-powered flashlight to see as far over the water as she could. Amethyst Star added her power as well and Fluttershy took to the air slightly to try and see anything from a higher vantage point.

But even with the extra light being focused across the water she couldn’t see far enough to make anything else out.

“I’m sorry, but it looks like it just keeps going and going,” Fluttershy said to the others.

“And I don’t think swimming across it will be remotely safe,” Daylight Gleam said.

“I could try flying across, but I could only carry one of you at a time with me, and without knowing how far it is to the other side I might get tired in the middle of the water and... well, that wouldn’t be a good thing,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah I really don’t feel like drowning,” Amethyst Star grimaced.

“Pumice,” Maud said.

“We don’t even know if there is another side,” Daylight Gleam said. “For all we know it could just be a big wall at the other end with nowhere to climb or go into.”

“Should we go up and down the shore here and check out to see if we can find any other tunnels?” Amethyst suggested.

“This other rock is pumice,” Maud said.

Fluttershy floated back down to the ground. “I’m a little scared but I think maybe the best thing to do would be for me to go flying a little more to see how big this ocean is.”

“Maybe... I could try lighting up as far ahead as possible for you, but after that it might get dangerous,” Daylight said.

Fluttershy was about to open her mouth again when she felt somepony tapping on her shoulder. She and the others looked to see Maud trying to get her attention.

“Um... yes, Maud?” Fluttershy asked.

The grey pony pointed over to one of the large boulders she had been inspecting while the others ignored her. “I’ve been trying to get your attention. That rock is pumice. It’s all pumice.”

"Pumice?” Daylight said and looked over to where Maud was pointing.

“Yes,” Maud nodded.

“Uhhh, so what?” Amethyst Star shrugged.

Maud’s blank eyes drifted over to her. “Pumice floats.”

“Uhhhh...” Amethyst Star continued.

“We use the pumice as a boat and float across the underground ocean. You two can propel and steer us with your magic,” Maud said, pointing at Amethyst and Daylight.

“Not that I think that’s a bad idea, Maud, but even if pumice floats it’s still just a bunch of big boulders of it stuck in the ground. We can’t use that as a boat,” Daylight said.

“I didn’t get my Rocktorate because I can shred on guitar like nopony else, or because I can shred rocks for that matter either, but I’m pretty good at that too,” Maud said as she turned around and walked to the nearest deposit of pumice.

“What does she mean by that?” Daylight turned to Fluttershy and asked.

Fluttershy merely smiled. “I think you’re about to see.”

Maud approached the pumice, a boulder the size of which that if it was made out of nearly any other type of rock would probably weigh a ton, and lifted her hoof. Both Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam watched in confusion before Maud rapidly began striking the pumice like a jackhammer, breaking off chunks and creating cracks all over it. The two gawked in disbelief as a cloud of dust was kicked up by Maud’s rock demolishing demonstration. When it was all over, the former boulder of pumice was gone and in its place was a rudimentary boat made of pumice. It was a little angular at places and looked rather uncomfortable to ride in. But it was indeed a boat.

“Let’s rock,” Maud monotoned.

“Hooray!” Fluttershy cheered and clapped her hooves together. “Thank you Maud!” She said as she gently trotted over to her before blushing slightly and looking at the ground. “And, um, sorry for accidentally ignoring you earlier. Usually I’m the one who gets ignored.”

“It’s alright. I’m used to it too.”

“So I guess we just push this thing into the water and hop in? Will it really work?” Daylight asked as she and Amethyst also followed over.

“It will stay afloat,” Maud said.

Angel Bunny squeaked and started shaking his head on top of Fluttershy.

“Oh, don’t worry Angel, just trust Maud. She knows what she’s doing,” Fluttershy tried to convince him.

Angel gulped.

Maud then carried the back end of the boat while Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam lifted the front with their magic. Fluttershy floated along and guided it to the shore, making sure they were putting it in a spot where the water was calm. Tossing it in, the ponies watched as it bobbed up a couple of times and then—floated. Safely.

“See?” Maud said. “I know my rocks.”

“And let’s see how it works with us all in it,” Daylight said and tentatively stepped in.

The pumice boat dipped slightly before righting itself again, other than that it seemed perfectly fine and didn’t struggle to carry Daylight’s extra weight as well. Fluttershy and Amethyst Star then stepped in (Angel clinging onto Fluttershy’s head for dear life) and lastly Maud stepped in and used her hoof to push the boat away from the shore and out into open water.

“This is going to be an event...” Amethyst Star muttered.

“I’m sure we’ll be alright,” Fluttershy smiled. “Um, Miss Daylight? You should keep using your light to let us see ahead. The rest of us can move the boat, Amethyst Star with her magic, me with my wings, and Maud can paddle.”

“Okay,” Daylight nodded and used the light from her horn like a searchlight, illuminating a huge slice of the ocean in front of them.

“Oh boy, not used to moving stuff this big but here goes,” Amethyst Star said as her purplish magic grasped the boat and tried to push it along.

Fluttershy and Maud got to the back on each side and Maud reached in a hoof to paddle while Fluttershy gave some wind by flapping her wings. And little by little their improvised pumice boat made its way over the water. The waves were very minor and the boat was only rocked slightly by them so far, the water lapping up against the porous rock. With them all working together it turned out to be a decently easy journey so far.

“Is the water cold, Maud?” Fluttershy asked.

“Very,” Maud curtly replied, but didn’t seem to be bothered at all.

“Hey just saying but I probably can’t keep doing this forever, might need a break at some point,” Amethyst said.

“That’s alright, the two of us can keep going. Maybe you can just try to steer the boat and make sure we’re always going straight?” Fluttershy said.

Amethyst nodded. “Okay, that sounds good to me.”

“And I don’t see anything yet,” Daylight chimed in. “Just water out there.”

“I’ve read about a number of underground lakes that can be found in Equestria, but this is far larger than any of those,” Maud said.

“Leave it to Ponyville to have something crazy under it,” Amethyst said.

Fluttershy actually smiled a little at that. She couldn’t deny all the strange occurrences and coincidences that seemed to center around Ponyville. It didn’t all just have to do with Twilight or her arrival in town either. Living in Ponyville the last few years wasn’t as quiet as it used to be, that was certainly true. She didn’t expect her life to get so noisy (and she certainly did complain about it) but Ponyville was still so nice and friendly she could live with it.

For a second, Daylight tilted her head up to check the ceiling of the mammoth cavern they were in. It was well over a hundred feet above them and Fluttershy could hardly see a slope to it at all. Maybe they were dead center under it. The black water of the ocean was still so imposing though. Fluttershy was almost afraid of it. She was very happy she didn’t have to swim in it.

Daylight then looked down instead, moving her light so it shined directly down into the water.

“I really can’t make out anything, this thing could easily be a thousand feet deep, even more,” she said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were extremely deep subterranean holes like this,” Maud said. “There are things called blue holes in the ocean that go straight down very far.”

Fluttershy looked over at Maud with a raised eyebrow.

“I studied underwater rock formations briefly when getting my Rocktorate,” Maud answered the unspoken question.

“Oh, that makes sense,” Fluttershy nodded.

Angel Bunny rolled his eyes and for the first time jumped off of Fluttershy’s back and into the middle of the pumice boat. Kicking back, he lied down in it and relaxed. Obviously annoyed with all the movement Fluttershy had been making lately. Fluttershy frowned at him but didn’t say anything. No need to make things worse.

“Well at least there aren’t any huge waves from nowhere and no crazy currents or whirlpools,” Amethyst Star said. “Little bored though. Would be nice to get across this ocean and find some food, you know?”

“Saying something like that is just asking for trouble,” Daylight Gleam frowned at her.

Amethyst merely rolled here eyes. “Oh come on, it’s nothing but water and it’s all placid and stuff. If there was something crazy going on in this ocean or whatever we would’ve had it happen to us by now, right?”

“Oh dear… I know it’s a little silly but I’m all too familiar with tempting fate...” Fluttershy grimaced.

“Well I’m really unlucky so something terrible would probably happen to me if I was alone, but I’m sure the luck of someone as important as you balances it out,” Amethyst Star smiled at Fluttershy. “When I try and do something big, and special, and adventurous, it blows up in my face. But you’re Fluttershy.”

“I have been very unlucky on this adventure so far...” Fluttershy whispered.

“I’m sure we’ll all be fine,” Amethyst Star shrugged. “Even if something bad seems like it’s about to happen I bet Rainbow Dash, or Twilight Sparkle, or even Princess Celestia herself will suddenly swoop in and save the day. Aint that how things usually go for you and your friends?”

Daylight Gleam groaned and dragged a hoof down her face. “Be quiet, Amethyst.”

“Well she’s not exactly wrong-” Fluttershy started but was cut off by a low rumbling sound that almost sounded like thunder.

The water suddenly got choppier all around them and Maud and Fluttershy both stopped trying to move their boat as they looked around to see what was happening. The pumice boat shook as the ponies and bunny crowded towards the middle of it while the formerly rather still water churned and dragged it around. A current was pulling it while waves started to break across the surface of the ocean, the boat going up and down over them. Amethyst Star and Daylight both switched to trying to keep it steady with their magic while Angel Bunny leaped into Fluttershy’s hooves for safety.

“Daylight, can you try and see what’s happening out there?” Fluttershy nearly screamed in terror.

“Yeah!” The white unicorn replied and grasped the edge of the boat with her hooves, directing her light out at the water even as they were tossed and turned over it.

The black water was spiraling around in this one spot, brackish and white-tipped waves going all in a circle and carrying their boat with it. At the center of this wild circle the water was being dragged down and down in a vortex.

Daylight Gleam gulped. “Maelstrom...”

“We should probably try fighting the current,” Maud suggested.

Fluttershy and Amethyst Star both frantically nodded and did just that, using their wings and magic to try and get the boat out of the whirlpool’s grip. But for all their power they couldn’t beat the strong currents even when Maud joined in and started paddling. They fully went over the lip of the whirlpool and started to careen round and round it, going deeper and deeper towards the center where their boat would inevitably capsize and the five of them would be dragged down into the depths.

“We have to try and get out of here!” Daylight yelled as their boat went in ever smaller circles as it approached the vortex’s center.

“Got any ideas for that?!” Amethyst yelled back at her.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy gulped as the pitch black center of the whirlpool got closer and closer. “E-Everyone hold on!”

Angel didn’t have to be told twice, his little bunny arms squeezed around her neck with almost enough strength to
accidentally choke her. Maud seemed just as stoic as ever but even she was still holding on tightly to the edge of her pumice boat. Fluttershy was shivering and begging fortune to go easy on them…

At last their boat spiraled into the maelstrom’s apex and the pumice craft was dragged down immediately, tossing all of the ponies (and bunny) off it and throwing them into the water as well. It felt like Fluttershy was being vacuumed downwards thanks to the powerful current, she held Angel Bunny tightly to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. The water was so cold and it was tossing and rolling her around like a leaf in a hurricane.

Taking a risk, she opened up one eye and saw her friends tumbling about in the water around her, Daylight’s horn was lit up and still providing enough light for her to see. Fluttershy wanted to scream but kept her mouth shut to avoid the water rushing into her lungs. She could see all the others doing their best to hold their breath as the powerful stream carried them through the ocean. Fluttershy didn’t know how this whirlpool came out of nowhere or where they were going to end up, she just prayed they would all be okay at the end of it.

She saw the water start to funnel around them all now. An even more powerful stream was enveloping them and taking them somewhere. Fluttershy had to close her eyes again because of the water’s power, and she felt herself almost running out of breath.

Just before she ran out of air she thought she could feel herself being shot up…

Four ponies and a rabbit panted and heaved on the rocks on the opposite side of the ocean. According to Maud they were shot up out of a waterspout and landed here together. Drenched. Soaked. Exhausted. But they were still together and okay. More or less.

Fluttershy wringed the water out of her mane as best she could before sitting down and trying to shake her feathers dry. Angel Bunny rested on his back, panting heavily.

Maud reached into her dress and pulled out a wet rock. “Boulder’s still here so it looks like we all made it.”

“Good… for Boulder...” Daylight Gleam panted.

“I guess we should be looking for another cave on this side...” Fluttershy said and sat up, first going over to check on Angel Bunny before looking for that cave.

Amethyst Star meanwhile was lying up against a rock and wringing out her tail. “Well… I was right, right? We’re all fine?” She weakly smiled to the others.

Angel and Daylight both glared at her.

“Shut up, Amethyst,” Daylight said.

Adventurers Still Take Breaks

A winding and cramped tunnel was soon found after they had begun exploring the shore on the other side of the underground ocean. Fluttershy directed them all to it, and after drying off for a few more minutes, the party started traveling down it. The floor of the tunnel was both wet and uneven and they all slipped and stumbled a few times going down it. No one was exactly in the mood for a song right now either. Too cold. Still too wet even after drying. Angel Bunny was back to riding on her back too, annoyed with Fluttershy and her new friends and making sure she knew it.

“This tunnel is basalt. Like obsidian it is also formed by the rapid cooling of lava,” Maud suddenly said, breaking the silence.

All the other ponies and Angel looked at her.

“I thought you would want to know.”

Fluttershy managed a smile. “Thank you, Maud. That’s very kind of you to keep us informed. It might be helpful to know in the future, so please, if you see anything interesting or unusual with the rocks around us, don’t hesitate to speak up again.”

“Okay,” Maud nodded.

Daylight Gleam took a deep breath and kept her light up, still being their living torch. “Anypony else getting hungry?”

“I had some flowers not that long ago but it was only just enough to fill my stomach,” Fluttershy said.

“I could eat a trough,” Amethyst Star grumbled.

“I wouldn’t mind some rock soup,” Maud said.

And Angel Bunny squeaked in Fluttershy’s ear to remind her of how much he wanted carrots right now.

“Well then maybe we’ll get lucky soon. Sounds like we could all use a bite to eat,” Daylight said.

“Just kept paving the way ahead with that light and we’re bound to come across something at least,” Amethyst Star said.

Daylight Gleam frowned at her. “You could always take up light duty you know?”

“You seem to have a knack for it,” Amethyst shrugged.

“Okay now,” Fluttershy cut in before the two could get back to their old selves. It’s not like they had said anything bad yet but they were going in that direction. Fluttershy had been around Rainbow Dash and Applejack enough to see that. “I think that’s enough. We’re all friends now, remember?”

Daylight ground her teeth a little bit but eventually relented and sighed. “Yeah, sorry.”

“And uh—I’m sorry too. My bad,” Amethyst Star said. “I can help with the lights.”

“Thanks,” Daylight smiled at her and the two unicorns joined up at the front, the both of them now illuminating the path for the others.

“You’re good at conflict mediation,” Maud said to Fluttershy. “Guess that makes sense considering who you are. And how you’re a teacher at the School of Friendship. And how Pinkie Pie tells me you’re repeatedly teacher of the month.”

Fluttershy increasingly grew redder as Maud continued to praise her. “P-Please, I’m really not that special. There’s nothing out of the norm about being a little kind like that.”

Maud raised an eyebrow at her. “Then why does it seem like it’s so difficult for so many ponies? I couldn’t do what you just did.”

“But Maud I know you’re very nice and well meaning too. You have your own way of being kind. Just like how I couldn’t do things my friends could doesn’t mean you should judge yourself based on what I do.”

“See? You’re doing it again,” Maud told her.

“Oh...” Fluttershy frowned and looked at the ground, embarrassed and unsure of what to say.

“Don’t feel bad. You’re just being kind. Sorry for making it awkward.”

Fluttershy looked back up at her and smiled. “It’s okay. I know you’re just trying your best too.”

Maud was silent for a bit longer (which wasn’t a surprise to Fluttershy, in fact she was more surprised that Maud was talking this much at all) before she opened her mouth. “When I first met you I was surprised at how well you got along with my sister. Since you’re so different. You’re very quiet, almost like me or Marble, and Pinkie is very, very, loud. But I got it later, you get along so well because you’re both very nice ponies that just want others to be happy.”

“Oh… thank you Maud,” Fluttershy gave her a quick hug that Maud only slightly murmured at while Angel rolled his eyes and gagged.

“Hey! I think we’re coming up on something!” Amethyst Star called from ahead.

Both Fluttershy and Maud looked, seeing the two unicorns inspecting a new narrow tunnel further down the tunnel. They hopped over the rocks to join them, the party of four now pausing just outside the tunnel. Fluttershy noticed that it was hardly the only way to go either. There were numerous branching paths and small holes going off everywhere now. All of them looked pretty dark and foreboding, just like this one, it was half collapsed by the look of things, a narrow triangle in shape with cracks spreading out at the top. The tunnel they were in was already cramped enough but in this one they’d have to go single-file for sure.

“Why this way? What’s special about it?” Fluttershy asked.

“Smell,” Daylight said and pointed at it.

Fluttershy stuck her head in the tunnel and took a whiff. Immediately she was bombarded with some very familiar smells. “Vegetation...” she whispered. “It smells like the forest.”

“Right? There has to be something to eat like flowers or moss or something down here,” Daylight said, smiling.

“Or it could be something really weird and crazy like a giant underground rose garden,” Amethyst Star said. She blinked a few times down the tunnel and then turned around to see everyone staring at her. “What? It could happen. Fluttershy’s seen weirder stuff than that down here.”

“Let’s just go find out,” Fluttershy said. “It doesn’t smell rotten or weird or anything, I think this is a good bet.”

“I’ll take point then since I can still light up the most,” Daylight Gleam said.

“Okay,” Fluttershy nodded and the rest of them got in a line behind Daylight. Fluttershy immediately behind her, with Angel on her back, Amethyst Star behind her, and Maud (and Boulder) bringing up the rear.

It really did start to smell more like a garden the further they went in. Pretty much the exact opposite of the powerful fungal smell Fluttershy remembered from when she came upon the Singing Mushroom Brothers. Fragrant, familiar, and inviting. For Fluttershy especially probably more than the others since she lived right at the edge of a forest.

At the front, Daylight only paid attention to the ground in front of her, not losing focus for a second to make sure this place was safe for everyone to travel through. You never knew when there could be a sudden drop off or pit or low hanging edge that you might accidentally walk smack into. Fluttershy was trying to be as calm and leaderlike as possible right behind her. Even though there were still things she wanted to panic over she was doing a decent job of avoiding that lately. Angel was sniffing in the hopes that he would smell the scent of carrots. Amethyst Star was staring off into space with the expression that said a tumbleweed was blowing through her mind. And lastly Maud was still looking around and feeling up the rock walls. Still basalt all around them.

“Hey, hold on! I think there’s light coming from up ahead!” Daylight suddenly said to the rest of them.

“Light? I wonder if it’s more biolumiscent fungus or something like that,” Fluttershy said, trying to peak past her shoulder.

“Oh! Maybe it’s sunlight from the surface that’s been reflected by crystals through holes thousands of feet deep until it gets to here!” Amethyst Star suggested.

Maud blinked. “It’s possible.”

“Whatever it is, we’re getting close.” Daylight said as she dimmed her horn a bit so the natural light could be more easily noticed. Fluttershy now saw ahead and found that a cracked exit to the tunnel awaited them, cloaked in bright light from outside of it.

Daylight took the first step to the outside, hopping onto a little ledge that was right below the tunnel’s exit. Fluttershy hovered above her to give the others some room so Amethyst and Maud could both stand on the ledge too. The ponies and rabbit looked around the new chamber they were in, all of them pretty darn happy with what they saw.

It wasn’t especially large, with a cracked ground and several treacherous crevices that went deeper, and rocks jutting out from the walls all over, with an uneven ceiling as well. But almost every last inch of unbroken ground was covered in green vegetation. There must have been a layer of soil over some of the rocks or some kind of nutrition that allowed all these plants to flourish. Some sprouted right out of little cracks in the walls too. Either way Fluttershy was greeted with the sight of leafy greens and vines and even a bed of grass or two in the chamber. All of it looked good to eat. It wasn’t quite the carrots or vegetables that Angel Bunny and them all would have really wanted, but it was still edible for them.

“Well this is something,” Amethyst Star said and stepped down further towards the plants.

“Careful where you step, there are a lot of cracks and holes in the ground,” Daylight said.

“I know, I know, I’m looking.”

Fluttershy floated down too and started walking beside her, Daylight and Maud following while Daylight turned off her spell completely since it wasn’t needed anymore. Fluttershy looked up to see what the source of light was down here, where was it coming from? There were a few shafts of light coming down from holes in the ceiling that answered her question. It wasn’t anything like torches or glowing fungus. Maybe Amethyst Star’s “theory” actually held some weight…

Taking a look around the rest of the small underground chamber she saw that there was another tunnel on the far end from where they had come in. That was going to be their next route no doubt. But for now the party was surely just going to eat for a little bit and maybe rest. After getting tossed around in that ocean they could use some rest. Maybe even some actual sleep. Fluttershy was briefly unconscious for a bit earlier today, but that was it. All of them might need to get a few hours of real shuteye.

“Hey! I almost don’t believe it, but this is parsley!” Amethyst Star said as she stood over the small leafy plant growing out of the ground. Without hesitation she leaned down and took a big chunk of it out with her teeth, swallowing it down. “Mmm! That’s good!”

“I found yarrow too,” Daylight said as she inspected the plant growing from a cracked boulder.

“Well I would have preferred some fruits or vegetables like carrots and lettuce, or hay too, but this will at least keep us from growing hungry,” Fluttershy said as she went down to eat some of the parsley too.

Angel Bunny sighed and hopped off her back, also looking for something tasty to eat.

“I don’t think we were ever going to find hay down here,” Daylight said. “Although who knows what with all the other craziness we’ve found.”

“Who cares, at least it’s food,” Amethyst said as she happily chomped on some more greens.

“Careful to not eat anything poisonous,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“This chamber was likely formed by an earthquake of some sort. It looks like parts of it collapsed, closed up, and opened all at once, allowing dirt and seeds to enter. Eventually leading to this,” Maud said as she started to nibble on the leafy frond of another plant.

Angel was chewing up the roots of something too, all of them quietly chowing down. Fluttershy smiled at it all. Just small moments like this were so pleasant, with everypony relaxed and nopony worried about anything. This was the kind of atmosphere she wished her whole life could be filled with, relaxing and having a good time with some of her friends. It was reminiscent of some of her more pleasant memories up above. Perhaps Fluttershy didn’t fully realize it until just now, but she was sincerely happy ever since finding Angel Bunny. Things were just so much better. Even with the unknown ahead of her she surprisingly wasn’t feeling down.

“What do you all say we take a break here?” Fluttershy asked the others.

“A break?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her. “Shouldn’t we keep moving?”

“Actually I think it’s better to rest. We can’t waste too much time but we need to make sure we don’t exhaust ourselves too. A nap will do us all some good, I want to make sure we’re all a-okay,” Fluttershy said.

“I guess so. I mean, even though the moles need food like you said, we’re not really in a huge race against time. And we don’t even really know how much further we have to go...” Daylight rubbed the back of her neck.

“It’s a good idea.” Maud said. “We wouldn’t want to overexert ourselves while spelunking. That leads to problems.”

“Works for me,” Amethyst shrugged and kept eating.

“Alright then… but after resting and before we leave we should definitely gather up some of this stuff and take it with us. We might need the food for later,” Daylight said.

Fluttershy smiled at her. “I agree.”

“Huh, after the ocean everything seems to be turning out pretty well,” Amethyst Star said. “Oh, wait—I should probably shut up to not jinx us again, right? I’ve got at least enough self-awareness for that.”

“Yes,” Daylight Gleam glared at her. Angel too.

Amethyst Star nervously chuckled and went right back to eating.

The whole group was having a good time, eating and sitting down together on one of the grassy patches of the chamber. Even Angel Bunny’s mood had improved considerably now that he had had something to eat. Maud was busy pressing some blades of grass up against Boulder… Fluttershy and the others chose to ignore that.

“Umm, does anyone have any stories to share or something to talk about?” Fluttershy asked, a small blush appearing on her cheeks. “Just to pass the time is all...”

“Not really,” Maud immediately said.

Which didn’t surprise Fluttershy.

“Naw, I only have really embarrassing stories to tell—so no thanks on those—or talking about my boring day to day life in Ponyville,” Amethyst Star said.

“I already told you some and while I have more to tell they aren’t exactly the kinds of stories to relate when we’re trying to relax,” Daylight Gleam shrugged.

“Oh, well that’s okay,” Fluttershy pawed at the ground, a little disappointed that her efforts to start up more conversation failed. She still didn’t know these three super well (except for Maud a little bit) so she wanted them to all get to know each other a little better.

Without her having to be the one to talk.

Although now that there was no choice… wasn’t this an excellent opportunity to work on her shyness? She certainly had loads and loads of stories to tell. She didn’t want to be the center of attention as she told them her stories but maybe that was a good thing? Doing something she didn’t want to do to try and overcome that part of herself. And she was supposedly the leader right now so maybe it was her duty.

“A-Actually,” Fluttershy gulped. “I have some stories I’d like to tell you all. T-They’re not about big adventures or anything, but they’re fun stories that are really important to me and, um, I think you’d like to hear about them.”

Maud blankly stared at her but didn’t say anything to refute her. Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam shared a look and then smiled at Fluttershy.

“That sounds really nice, I’d love to hear some stories from your life,” Daylight said.

Fluttershy positively beamed. “Okay! Well then, umm… let me tell you about the time a dragon took up residence right outside Ponyville...”

“And so I was finally able to put my hoof down in a good way and tell Iron Will that no, I wasn’t satisfied. I know that might sound a little silly but it was a very important for me.”

“It doesn’t sound silly at all,” Daylight shook her head with a smile on her face. “Obviously that took a lot of strength for you to do.”

“I remember when Iron Will came to Ponyville… that was, uh, not a good weekend,” Amethyst Star grimaced.

“Well I also wanted to tell that story to show that I haven’t been perfect either, I did some really mean things and said some really mean stuff to my friends.” She looked over at Maud briefly. “I don’t want someone to have the wrong opinion of me.”

Maud curtly nodded. “Understandable.”

“And I wanted to show that if even someone like me can be mean like that sometimes, then maybe ponies who are usually mean or uncaring have the ability to be nice in them too,” she blushed.

“Heh. Well I’m still a bit of a cynical pony but you may be right about that,” Daylight Gleam shrugged. “I used to be way more selfish and apathetic than I am now.”

Angel Bunny meanwhile was shyly looking away, remembering the part he played in the story Fluttershy just got finished telling.

Fluttershy took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, feeling sleepy. “Oh my, I think I just realized how tired I am. Now that we’ve all eaten and gotten to relax a little I feel like I need to take a nap.”

Amethyst Star yawned and lied back, putting her hooves behind her head. “I think I’m feeling the same way.”

“Are we really going to sleep? It could be late at night I suppose but I’m not sure I’m actually tired,” Daylight Gleam said.

“I’ve completely lost track of whether it’s daytime or nighttime but we’ve been up for at least twelve hours. Sleeping is a good choice,” Maud said.

“Yeah but like I said I think I’m too excited to sleep right now. Call it nerves, I guess,” Daylight said.

“Well um… I could try singing a lullaby,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Haha… ha… you’re serious?” Daylight laughed but stopped as soon as she saw the blush on Fluttershy’s face. Blushing in embarrassment herself at having laughed at Fluttershy’s suggestion, Daylight quickly apologized. “S-Sorry! I was just a little surprised...”

“Pff,” Amethyst Star snorted and smirked.

“Shut up,” Daylight frowned at her.

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy put a small smile on her face, managing to laugh a little bit herself. “It’s just sometimes a lot of the animals I take care of have trouble sleeping and a lullaby really helps them out. Right, Angel?”

Angel Bunny blushed and tugged his ears over his eyes.

“Now that’s another story I wouldn’t mind hearing at some point,” Daylight Gleam said as she grinned at the embarrassed rabbit.

“First of all though, let’s try getting some sleep. Maud? Are you tired enough to sleep too?” Fluttershy asked her.

Maud nodded.

“And Amethyst?” Fluttershy looked over at the other unicorn… and saw that she had already fallen asleep sometime within the last minute. “Oh. Well that’s one of us down.” Fluttershy then cleared her throat and wrapped Angel in a hug at the same time. “Everypony else just close your eyes and try to relax. You’ll be off to the land of dreams in no time.”

With closed eyes and a deep breath-

Sleep my little angels, don’t be afraid~
Fluttershy’s here to watch over you~
Just rest right now in the quiet shade~
Nothing to worry about, just sleep on through~
Sleep on through and rest up well~
Close those little eyes and drift away~
Fluttershy’s here to watch over you~

Her light voice was like sunshine and cotton candy in vocal form and once Fluttershy finished her little lullaby she opened up her eyes to see the other ponies and Angel Bunny all fast asleep. Fluttershy smiled, curling up on the grass with Angel and right between her friends, closing her eyes again and getting ready to join them in sleep. The gentle breathing of Amethyst Star and Maud, and the surprisingly loud snoring of Daylight Gleam, was all music to Fluttershy’s ears as she rested. Angel Bunny’s little heart beat against her chest, the feeling causing a warm smile to grow on her face. He was the reason she started this little misadventure in the first place and it filled her with joy to have and hold him like this.

With a content sigh, Fluttershy drifted off to sleep as well. Four friendly ponies, a rabbit, and a rock now rested peacefully in this underground chamber. They knew they would be busy again once they woke up, but for now that was all in the future.

Leaping Lizards

The spelunkers were doing their absolute best to travel down a very precarious hole. It wasn’t very stable looking and rocks and huge chunks of dirt were loose in the sides. If you stepped at the wrong place you were certainly going to knock a whole bunch out and possibly start a cave-in. They really didn’t need this thing to collapse on them. Unfortunately it was also the only way for them to go, they had looked around for a while and this was the only hole that went anywhere.

So despite Fluttershy’s reservations this is what they were doing. The hole wasn’t quite a vertical drop but it was close and it wasn’t remotely straight, with a lot of sudden turns and zig-zags. There were places they had to stop at and Maud had to direct them on where to put their hooves most of the time since she had an eye for what was stable and what wasn’t. Even then just the vibrations they sent through the ground each time they stepped somewhere was enough to shake off dust and make little clods of dirt fall off from the walls around them. The going was slow but they just couldn’t really do anything about that.

They also had to keep a little quiet since they didn’t want their voices causing any cave-ins either. Which was perfectly fine with Fluttershy.

“Maud? How long do you think this tunnel goes?” Fluttershy quietly whispered to the earth pony.

Maud slowly blinked once before answering, in her usual quiet and monotone voice. “An unstable tunnel like this probably isn’t very big or seismic events would’ve collapsed it earlier. I imagine we’ll reach the end soon.”

“Okay, well I hope we get out to somewhere safer soon,” Fluttershy said.

“Me too,” Amethyst Star said at her normal volume, making Fluttershy wince.

“I think we’re doing alright so long as nopony trips or some random earthquake happens,” Daylight Gleam said. “And by nopony tripping, I mean-”

“I know you mean me, you don’t need to finish that,” Amethyst Star frowned.

“Sorry, sorry,” Daylight smirked back at her.

“Shh,” Maud reminded them.

Angel Bunny meanwhile was right back to riding on Fluttershy’s back. This time though it was actually Fluttershy’s choice. She didn’t want him bouncing and jumping around in this tunnel while they needed to check for safe spots. He was liable to dislodge something and she didn’t want to worry about him. So Angel was once again getting the royal treatment he maybe didn’t deserve. Though Fluttershy was one of the few ponies who would say he indeed did.

Daylight shined her light on a tight curve and Maud directed them to step on a large slab of stone embedded into the ground one by one so they could safely get around it. Fluttershy noticed it wobbled slightly when she stepped on it and the momentary fear made her legs shake too. She was the last one in line right now and she was happy to follow the others off the rock and into the next part of the tunnel. Unfortunately it was still cramped and the dirt looked even more loose, but at least it seemed to no longer twist and turn so much. The tunnel was a straight, nearly vertical, line down into darkness. The light from Daylight’s horn illuminated enough to see that it was probably a good hundred feet longer or so until it ended. Not a small distance with the way they had to travel down it. Fluttershy just hoped nothing bad happened.

“Well Maud? How should we tackle this?” Daylight quietly asked the “expert”.

“Stay behind me and keep your horn lit up, I’ll make sure we take the right path, just all of you follow exactly where I step,” Maud told them and took the lead. “But that’s not a guarantee that the tunnel won’t start falling apart.”

Fluttershy gulped and got ready to descend down the tunnel. Slowly once more, they all had to brace themselves so as to not slip and tumble down the loose dirt. Gravity was working against them now and even though Fluttershy normally preferred to walk this was one of the times when she would’ve liked to be able to fly. From what Maud and the others had said earlier about their journey before finding Fluttershy, they had fallen down multiple tunnels and holes like this already. She sorely hoped that their bad luck had disappeared. After all despite briefly falling into a whirlpool things had generally been going quite nice in Fluttershy’s opinion ever since the groups had joined together.

Because she was lost in her thoughts she almost slipped on the dirt as she stepped directly where Daylight just had. Daylight’s step had dislodged some dirt and created a smooth hoof print that almost caused Fluttershy to crash into her. Luckily she was able to catch herself just before that happened. But that was a good reminder that she’d have to be careful. Even if they were following Maud’s directions and stepping on the safest spots that didn’t mean they couldn’t affect things for the pony following behind them.

“Um, sorry to interrupt when we’re all trying to be quiet, but I almost slipped. J-Just wanted to remind everypony to be extra careful,” Fluttershy whispered, blushing.

“Did you say something?” Amethyst Star asked. At her normal volume once again.

Fluttershy winced. “I-I was just saying how we need to be extra careful.”

“Oh, gotcha,” Amethyst Star grinned and nodded.

“Shh,” Maud once more had to shush them from the front.

“Sorry, Maud,” Amethyst Star said. This time finally whispering.

No matter what they did though they kept causing dirt to crumble and fall around them the more they stepped. Pebbles and rocks fell loose as the entire, already unstable, tunnel shook more. They were simply disturbing it too much but there was nothing they could do. Fluttershy wondered if this was another tunnel only just recently made by those living rock monsters. It would explain some things.

She hoped she got to the bottom of their mystery soon. Just as she hoped to get to the bottom of this tunnel soon.

Maud meanwhile had just stepped on top of a large rock that wobbled beneath her hoof before falling out of the ground and taking a large chunk of dirt with it. It tumbled and tumbled down, kicking up dust and creating divots in the ground with each hit. All around them now the rest of the tunnel kept shaking and Fluttershy could hear the shifting of earth from right behind the walls.

Maud calmly looked over her shoulder at the rest of them. “We should probably start running now.”

A split second later a stampede of hooves was barreling down the tunnel with absolutely no regard for safety as it all began collapsing around them. Fluttershy chanced a look behind her and saw the entire tunnel crashing to pieces as dirt and rocks caved all the walls in.

“Eek!” She yelped and tried to run faster, practically pushing right up against Daylight.

“How long do we have before the whole thing caves in?!” Daylight asked.

“I don’t know. Less than a minute give or take,” Maud responded.

She sounded a lot more relaxed about it than Fluttershy would have.

“Well how much longer does this dumb tunnel go for?” Amethyst Star asked.

“It should be ending soon,” Maud said.

“Hopefully it’s not a dead end...” Daylight muttered.

Angel Bunny tugged on tightly to Fluttershy’s neck and pressed his face up against the back of her hardhat. That was one rabbit that wasn’t going to get tossed off and left behind. Small hooffuls of dirt kept falling on them all as they ran, along with pebbles, and Fluttershy knew it was going to only be seconds before the whole ceiling collapsed on them.

“I see the exit,” Maud said from the front.

Fluttershy couldn’t see because of Daylight and Maud being in her way but she really hoped that meant the exit was right there. They were probably going to fly out and land rather uncomfortably, but it would beat being buried alive.

“Uh oh,” Maud monotoned. “Count to five and make sure you jump.”

“Why?!” Daylight shouted.

“Trust me.”

Perhaps not too smartly, Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut and mentally started to count. But she couldn’t help it! This was rather terrifying after all.

One… two… three… four… five! Fluttershy yelled and jumped, feeling the ground beneath her hooves disappear and hearing the entire tunnel collapse with a deafening roar behind her. She opened up her eyes to see mostly darkness with the faint glow of Daylight Gleam’s horn somewhere in her peripheral vision, but she didn’t have time to think about it since a moment later she slammed into a pile of hard dirt and pebbles and began to tumble down it.

“Ooph!”

That was the sound of Amethyst Star hitting it too. More crashing dirt and rocks came from behind them as parts of the tunnel also spilled out and landed with them. Before long Fluttershy landed on solid, even, ground and came to a stop, with Amethyst Star then landing right next to her and a shower of dirt coming right after. Fluttershy could feel dirt and pebbles hitting her hardhat and dust billowed around the two ponies, getting in her eyes and lungs and making her cough and tear up when she tried to stand.

“Is everypony alright?” The voice of Daylight Gleam called from somewhere else.

“Y-Yes!” Fluttershy coughed, trying to open up her eyes just the tiniest amount to see, though it didn’t help much yet.

“I’m okay...” Amethyst Star’s voice was dizzy but she didn’t sound too bad.

“Maud’s fine too, we’re in a new chamber and it looks stable according to her,” Daylight said as she walked over, Fluttershy could hear her hooves. “My head got stuck in a pile of dirt when we got out of that tunnel though. Blech.”

Fluttershy lifted up her hooves to her eyes and rubbed them to clear away the dirt. Blinking a few times she was finally able to see. “That’s better...” Her eyes then suddenly shot open all the way. “Angel! Where’s Angel!” She looked around the new chamber, seeing a decently large stone cavern with a few separate tunnels leading elsewhere, before looking behind her at the large mound of dirt and rocks she had just finished bouncing down.

A couple of white bunny ears were sticking up out of the dirt.

“Ahhh!” Fluttershy screeched and ran right up to the buried rabbit, frantically digging to try and get him out.

Angel Bunny then managed to poke his head out on his own and started coughing, then grimaced in pain when Fluttershy grabbed him by the head and forcefully pulled him out the rest of the way.

“Oh thank goodness! Thank goodness, thank goodness!” Fluttershy repeated as she hugged and patted him on the back.

“Well I guess we can start moving again,” Daylight said.

“Take a rest on my back again, Angel,” Fluttershy smiled and deposited him there, walking down the dirt pile and joining the others. Except for Maud who was busy examining some of the rock that made up this new chamber.

“There’s garnet in these rocks. We’re getting deeper,” Maud said.

“I don’t think we needed an expert to tell us that,” Amethyst Star snorted.

“Let’s just figure out which tunnel we need to go down...” Daylight said.

Angel Bunny coughed on Fluttershy’s back and she frowned, looking back at him. “I’m sorry, Angel. I wish I had some water to give you...” She then went to stand in the middle of some of the tunnels before checking the air flow, only to find it evenly divided in multiple directions. “Oh dear...”

“Well I think something like this was bound to happen eventually. Especially with the way we just came in totally blocked off now,” Daylight said as she looked up at their collapsed entrance.

“Do we just pick one at random?” Amethyst Star asked.

“Let’s defer to the expert,” Daylight said and glanced at Maud.

Maud was already busy glancing over the tunnels and Fluttershy and the others were waiting patiently for her to make a decision. Finally she lifted a hoof and pointed at a crooked one on the opposite side of the chamber from where they had come in. “This one. I think.”

“You think?” Amethyst Star raised an eyebrow.

“I think.”

Fluttershy walked up to it and looked in, it definitely went pretty deep and it was wider than most of the others so it was probably the biggest tunnel leading off from this chamber. But she couldn’t tell for sure if there was an unbroken air current going in and out of it. Still, it seemed like their best choice.

“Alright, let’s go. At least we can all walk together in this one and don’t have to worry about it falling on us...” Fluttershy said.

Amethyst Star frowned at Daylight Gleam. “If I said that you would’ve said I was jinxing us.”

“Yes. I would have,” Daylight nodded and walked right by her without saying anything else.

Amethyst Star snorted and followed along, the whole party now beginning to venture into the new tunnel.

Little did they know that they were being watched. As soon as the ponies (and one rabbit and pet rock) went into the tunnel, creatures emerged from hiding inside the chamber. They came out of tunnels in the walls, in the ground, emerged from trapdoors and appeared from camouflaged spots on the walls. Large, sloped back, bipedal lizards with huge frills at their necks. They crawled across the walls and ground and gathered up together at the dirt pile the ponies had just recently fallen down. Some of them were green, others yellow or orange, but they all had deadly looking claws and huge fangs with long whip-like tongues. A green one dug through the dirt as if looking for something before finally pulling out a small object.

The green lizard looked down the tunnel the ponies had gone into, the rest following his gaze. With a low shriek the scaled creature ran in after them. The other lizards joined him in a chorus of shrieks before running in as well.

“F-Fluttershy! You’re good with animals right? S-So do you think you can help us out here?!” A terrified Amethyst Star asked as all of the ponies ran as quickly as they could down the tunnel while being chased by a hoard of lizard creatures.

The lizards were shrieking constantly the entire time too, their loud noises nearly drowning out all other noise

Fluttershy’s face was also locked in a terrified visage as she ran. “T-They’re not animals! I can understand what animals are saying but those aren’t animal noises! It’s a language, they’re intelligent creatures like you and me and I can’t understand what they’re saying!”

“That’s great!” Amethyst Star yelled.

“Just keep running!” Daylight Gleam called out. “There’s way too many of them for us to do anything!”

She was right, there was well over a dozen of the large lizards and they were all bounding after Fluttershy and her group. While some of them ran like normal, others got down on all fours and leaped after them, while some even clambered across the walls and ceiling of the tunnel, their claws and strong limbs giving them all the purchase they needed. At the forefront was a large green lizard with his frill open wide, he was shrieking the loudest of them all.

“We’re not food, we’re ponies!” Fluttershy cried out to them.

“I think ponies are food to them!” Daylight yelled.

“Seriously, look at those teeth!” Amethyst Star said.

“It does seem likely that they’re trying to eat us,” Maud said. Her eyes then glanced to the white rabbit on Fluttershy’s back. “And Angel too.”

Angel Bunny blanched and held even tighter onto Fluttershy. He shivered as he looked back at the lizards and saw their big dinner knife teeth and gaping maws. One of those things could probably swallow him whole.

“Well let’s not let that happen! We’ll just have to outrun them!” Daylight said.

“Can we?! They’re really fast! And they totally live down here so don’t they know this place and these tunnels way better than us? We don’t even know if we’re going the right way!” Amethyst Star said.

“Hm,” Maud grunted.

“That’s not reassuring, Maud!”

Fluttershy was already starting to sweat from running so hard. If worst came to worst she could probably fly off with Angel but she couldn’t leave her friends behind and she didn’t know if she’d really even be able to fly for that long down here. They just had to stick together and hope against hope that they’d be able to lose these lizards. But Amethyst was right, where were they even running to? And soon Fluttershy’s body would be protesting against her running it ragged, this wasn’t good…

Kreeeeee! The big green lizard at the forefront yelled loudly, making all the ponies wince.

“Ugh! What I wouldn’t give for earplugs right now!” Daylight complained.

Kra kra kra kra kra! All of the other lizards started chattering in unison.

“I bet that means food!” Amethyst said.

They kept running and running onwards—right up until Daylight Gleam saw something ahead of them that made her blood run cold.

“Um, Maud? I don’t think this was the right tunnel...” She pushed some more power into her horn to better illuminate what she had seen for everyone.

“Oh no,” Fluttershy whispered at the dead end straight ahead of them.

“W-What do we do?!” Amethyst Star panicked.

“My bad,” Maud said.

“W-We have to turn and fight! That’s our only option!” Daylight said.

“B-But-” Fluttershy tried to speak against that, for a multitude of reasons, but she couldn’t find the words. She was too scared and too nervous.

“There’s nothing else to do! Maybe I can distract them with my magic, or we can try and turn and break past them once we hit the dead end!” Daylight said to her.

“I hope they take a small bite and realize pony doesn’t taste good...” Amethyst Star said.

Fluttershy felt so awful about all of this. Did they have to fight? Was there no way to communicate with the lizard creatures and try to reason with them. With the moles and mollusks earlier she had done an excellent job of solving problems peacefully on her journey and she really didn’t want to stop that now! A little kindness can go a long way. That was practically her motto! She wasn’t so naive to think it could always work out so simply, but she wanted to at least try it.

Buuut… their teeth were really big and sharp.

No matter what they were doing the dead end was closely approaching so they were going to be forced into action one way or another.

“They’re probably not used to really bright lights so I bet I can temporarily blind them with a burst of light from my horn!” Daylight suggested. “Then we can all run past them!”

“That’s just a delay at best!” Amethyst yelled.

“Do you have a better idea?!”

“We have to stop,” Maud said as they reached the wall.

Fluttershy and the others all skidded to a screeching halt and turned around to face the pursuing lizards. Angel Bunny bit his lip and looked at the back of her head, wondering what she was going to do. Daylight Gleam had her horn well lit up, waiting for any kind of signal or go ahead to use her magic to try and deal with these lizards. Amethyst Star was a sweating mess. And Maud had only the smallest hint of a worried look on her face as she backed up against the wall.

The lizards were just about upon them, coming from all over the walls while they continued to shriek and growl.

Daylight Gleam stepped forward-

And Fluttershy jumped in front of her. “STOOOOOOP!!!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, shaking the entire tunnel.

The other ponies (and Angel) all looked at her in surprise and much to the shock of them all, the lizards did indeed stop in their tracks. The ones on the walls and ceiling of the tunnel detaching themselves and dropping to the ground. The two groups now faced off eye to eye with each other, the ponies’ hearts were pounding hard and they weren’t sure what was going to happen next, but Fluttershy took a deep steadying breath and stepped forward.

“H-Hello. N-Nice to meet you,” she said, holding a hoof out to the big green lizard.

“Fluttershy, are you crazy!” Daylight yelled, grasping Fluttershy with her magic and pulling her back.

“Stop, Daylight, we can talk to them!”

“They want to eat us!”

“If they stopped then we can reason with them!”

“We-”

“Uh, guys?” Amethyst Star interrupted. “I think this whole thing is a big misunderstanding.”

The two ponies looked over at the unicorn to see her pointing at the green lizard. When their eyes followed along they saw the big lizard holding his hand out towards Daylight and Fluttershy, his palm was open and in-between his claws was a tiny black bow.

Daylight and Fluttershy’s jaws dropped and Daylight reached up a hoof and started patting her head that was currently missing a certain accessory. “M-My bow? Is that my bow?”

“It must’ve fallen off when we fell into that dirt pile earlier,” Maud said. “Sorry for not noticing.”

Daylight looked down at the bow and then up at the lizard’s face. “You were just trying to return this to me?”

The lizard obviously didn’t understand her words but he was able to comprehend the message nonetheless. “Kra, kra, kra!” He eagerly nodded and handed the bow out to her.

“T-Thank you...” Daylight blushed in shame and embarrassment and levitated it out of his hand, putting it right back where it belonged on her head. “This is an important gift from a friend of mine.”

Fluttershy meanwhile smiled in glee. “Ohhh! This is so nice! See everypony, things have turned out so well. You can find kindness anywhere!”

“Kreeeee!” All the lizards started hollering, their large frills vibrating in some kind of celebratory cry.

“Yeah this is… wonderful. I guess,” Amethyst Star scratched her head.

“I’ll admit to being both surprised and happy,” Maud said.

“So what now?” A still embarrassed Daylight Gleam asked.

“Um, well, we’re still lost and stuck in a dead end aren’t we? Maybe the lizards know where to find a tunnel that goes down?” Fluttershy said.

“Do you think they’ll understand what we’re asking?” Amethyst Star asked.

“Well there’s only one way to find out,” Fluttershy said and stepped up to the big green lizard at the front. “Um, excuse me?” When he heard her speak to him he stopped cheering and looked at her, the rest of the lizards soon noticing and following suit. “Oh, thank you… um, we’re trying to go deeper underground, do you know any tunnels that go down?”

The green lizard tilted his head at her, tongue licking out past his lips. “Kraaaa?”

“Down,” Fluttershy repeated, slower, and gestured at her friends. “We. Want to go.” She pointed her hoof at the ground. “Down.”

The lizard’s eyes lit up and he reached down to the ground, his claws digging out big chunks of dirt and making a small hole. When he was done he looked up at Fluttershy and pointed down his newly made hole.

Fluttershy smiled. “I think we’re getting somewhere.”

Worm World

It had taken some time and patience but Fluttershy and the other ponies were now being safely led by the lizard creatures into a deep cavern that supposedly led to other tunnels and chambers far below where the lizards lived. They had proven themselves to be unfailingly polite and helpful, something Fluttershy would surely relate to Twilight. When it came to more complex things (like if they knew about the rock monsters or what else might be down below) they unfortunately weren’t able to really get the message across. But this was still a pretty good turn of events in Fluttershy’s opinion. All of the others were pretty happy that the lizards turned out friendly too, none more than Angel Bunny, who had been worried the most about getting eaten.

The lizards seemed pretty appreciative of the light Daylight could generate from her horn too. Unlike what Fluttershy would’ve thought about subterranean creatures like this, their eyes didn’t seem bothered by the light at all.

And it wasn’t much longer at all that the lizards dropped them off before the gaping maw of a huge tunnel that sloped downwards. Gaping maw was indeed an apt description too as it had stalactites and stalagmites all around its edge that made it look like the jaws of some fierce beast. The lizards stopped in front of it and started pointing first down the tunnel and then down at the ground. Fluttershy understood that message fairly easily.

“Thank you all so much, you’ve been a huge help,” she said and held her hooves to her chest, right above her heart, hoping that would help get her message across too.

From the happy faces of the lizards, she would say it did.

“Kreeee!” All the lizards screeched in unison and danced up and down on their limber legs.

Daylight Gleam, Amethyst Star, and Angel Bunny still seemed pretty put off by the lizards but the first two of them at least managed to put strained smiles on their faces. Maud was pretty much as unreadable as always.

When the lizards were done with their shrieking they started to turn and leave, waving goodbye to the ponies and crawling up along the walls and ceilings, back to wherever they lived.

“Goodbye!” Fluttershy said, waving after them until they were all gone from sight.

“Am I the only one a little nervous that they wouldn’t take us any further than this?” Daylight Gleam raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sure it’s nothing like that,” Fluttershy smiled at her. “They probably just have lives of their own to get back to. They didn’t seem scared of the tunnel or anything, maybe they just have no reason to ever travel down it?”

“I guess,” Daylight shrugged.

“Well I for one just want us to get a move on and finish this adventure as quickly as possible. The longer this goes the longer the possibility that I do something really stupid and mess things up for everyone,” Amethyst Star said and started walking on into the tunnel.

“She… she does have a point,” Daylight said and walked in after her, again turning up the light on her horn.

Fluttershy giggled and glanced at Maud. “Well?”

“Coming,” Maud replied.

Angel Bunny too also hopped off of Fluttershy’s back and started walking on his own. Seemed he wanted a change of pace. And so they all started on the next leg of their misadventure.

They could all tell that the tunnel went in a long descending spiral almost like a spiral staircase. There was just enough of a curve to it that they could see it happening while they walked down it. Thankfully the actual slope of it was very gentle and the ground was nothing but solid rock. So while their hooves were a little sore from walking on it so much they didn’t have to worry about falling down or slipping anywhere.

While the tunnel was pretty much bare of anything interesting to most of the spelunkers, Maud was unusually preoccupied with the walls of it. She stayed close to them as she walked and dragged her hoof across them with each step.

“Maud?” Fluttershy questioned her. “Is there something wrong?”

Maud shook her head. “Not wrong. Just interesting. These cave walls are unnaturally smooth, they didn’t end up this way from normal geological activity. Something either sculpted or created them like this.”

“Well it was probably the lizards, wasn’t it?” Amethyst Star offered. “Or the rock monster things.

Maud nodded. “Probably. I’m just curious. This kind of thing is kind of my passion.”

“You don’t say...” Amethyst Star muttered under her breath.

“If I’m being honest I just want to get to the bottom of this tunnel already. We haven’t seen hide nor hair of these so called “rock monsters” since starting our search for them. It would really be nice if we could get some clues soon,” Daylight said.

While Daylight was a bit more impatient than her, Fluttershy still had to agree. The sooner they figured out the problem of the rock monsters the sooner they could help the moles. And the sooner she could get out of here and safely return home. They were already miles underground right now (at least she was guessing they were that deep) it just wasn’t possible that they would have to travel that much farther.

Oh, I really shouldn’t think things like that. I’m going to jinx us… Fluttershy bit her lip.

She should know from all her crazy adventures with her friends that “impossible” wasn’t a word. Speaking of them, why couldn’t Twilight be here to explain everything and Rainbow Dash be here to defend her?

And furthermore, something that had been nagging at the back of her mind from the very start, where exactly was Discord? He had to know she had been missing for days now. Was he just messing around? She knew it was wrong to just rely on him for everything but she at least figured he would lend his help to her when she was in danger. Angel Bunny was probably going to want to have some words with him once they were out of here too.

“Hey, hold on, I think we’re actually getting to the bottom of this spiral tunnel. It looks like it levels out just ahead now,” Daylight Gleam said, her light showing the way.

“Thank Celestia. Let’s hope we find some more plants to eat or some nice cold water to drink,” Amethyst Star said.

Angel Bunny grumbled in agreement and Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle.

Up ahead, Fluttershy could now see the tunnel both straighten out and stop descending. It looked like it led to a new chamber, she could see the smooth and perfectly round exit cloaked in shadows from beyond. It was actually somewhat foreboding but she tried to not let it get to her. Keyword being tried, she still felt a drop of sweat drip down the side of her head.

When they finally got to the end of the tunnel and could see out into the new chamber, Fluttershy realized it was far too big for the light just from Daylight’s horn to illuminate it all. But what she could tell was that they were standing atop a tall cliff that fell straight down into an abyss right below their hooves. Amethyst Star saw it and her jaw clenched in fright, slowly backing away from it.

“We almost walked right off into that!” She said.

“It seems we’ve found another huge chamber, just like with that ocean,” Daylight said. A smirk then graced her face. “Now though, I’ve gotten an idea for how we might be able to see it all better.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at her.

“Just a new spell I’ve been thinking of after our unfortunate outing on the ocean,” Daylight said and charged her horn with power. It first glowed powder blue before turning white hot, bright enough that Fluttershy and the others had to look away. “Hrrrrrk!” Daylight strained and then shot the powerful ball of light off her horn and into the air. It arced across the huge cavern like a flare gun, illuminating far off distances for them to see.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy held a hoof up to her mouth as she looked.

They had entered a mammoth cavern that extended far in the direction they were facing. While not particularly wide it looked incredibly deep—so deep that they couldn’t see the bottom even when Daylight’s flare began its descent. Bridges and arches of stone criss-crossed the entire thing, treacherous narrow pathways looked like they lined the walls of the cliffs, a few plateaus and landings jutted out of the walls in places, and dozens of perfectly smooth and circular holes like the one they had just walked out of were also scattered about the walls.

Amethyst Star gulped. “I guess we’re gonna be making the slow way down...”

“It’s not so bad. If any of us slip, Fluttershy will surely catch us,” Maud said.

Fluttershy bit her tongue, not liking that sort of pressure.

Daylight sighed. “Let’s just find a way to get to one of those paths and start going. I think we’re going to be in this chamber for a very long time. But looking at how deep it goes… I think there’s a good chance our goal is at the bottom of it.”

“I hope so,” Fluttershy said.

Together all five of them searched around their cliff before finding a path that skirted the walls of the chamber. It was narrow, and there was no safety rail or anything so they had to keep themselves pressed against the wall as they trotted, but soon enough they were making the long trip down.

“Hey Maud? How is a cave like this made anyways?” Amethyst Star asked as they walked.

“Through moving water over time. The same as any other cave. Not counting volcanic activity or sudden upheavals of the earth through earthquakes,” Maud replied.

“Wow...” Amethyst Star stared around in wonder. “It must’ve been like, a lot of water and a lot of time to make this.”

Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes. “Yes, Amethyst. That’s how this kind of thing works. Even I know that. We’re talking millions and millions of years, that’s how big canyons form too, ages and ages of time, water, and the slow movement of rocks.”

“Oooh, look at the scholar,” Amethyst sarcastically said.

“Girls, please, we really need to focus on where we’re walking. This is no time for that kind of thing,” Fluttershy admonished them.

“Sorry, Fluttershy.”

“Sorry.”

“That’s better,” Fluttershy smiled at the two of them. “I think we can still talk but… oh, maybe do it carefully.” She said as she looked at the edge of the narrow path she was walking on. Even for a creature who could fly, a dark abyss like that was pretty scary.

Angel Bunny was surprisingly doing pretty good right now walking on his own though. Maybe he wasn’t as worried because with his smaller body he could walk safely down the path without having to either skirt the ledge or press up against the wall. Either way Fluttershy was at least happy to be able to look down and keep an eye on him as he walked right in front of her. Fluttershy herself was picking up the rear, since that way she could see and react immediately in case anyone did actually slip and fall.

As she was walking, something else came to mind, based on all that Maud had said about how caves formed and what she said about the tunnel they had come from to get into this chamber. What was up with all those other identical holes? They obviously weren’t made by natural streams of flowing water. They were too perfect. Why were there so many of them?

“Maud?” Fluttershy spoke up. “You were probably already wondering the same thing, but where do you think all those perfectly circular holes came from?”

“I don’t-” Maud was about to answer when a rumbling shook not only the path they were walking on but the entire chamber.

“W-What’s going on?!” Amethyst Star shouted as she hugged the wall for support.

“I don’t know! Maybe it’s an earthquake!” Fluttershy said, she hunkered down low and held onto Angel.

It didn’t actually feel like an earthquake though, the rumbling was coming from past the wall of stone and rock they were walking by. It was more like that rumbling you felt when standing at the train station when the train was rolling in. Something moving was making this grand commotion and Fluttershy sorely hoped they wouldn’t have to find out what.

Almost as soon as it started though the rumbling stopped. The ponies looked each over to make sure they were okay and got back to walking.

“Whatever that was, it at least didn’t damage the path or anything. I think it’s as sturdy as ever,” Daylight said, she was in the front again to give them the best vision.

“Well then let’s keep going and hope we get out of here before another one of those starts,” Amethyst Star said.

Something was bothering Fluttershy as they walked though and by the look of things, Maud was also slightly perturbed if the barely furrowed brow was any indication. She couldn’t help but have the suspicion that the holes had something to do with that rumbling. And lo and behold did it just so happen that shortly up ahead did their path take them directly beneath one of those holes. Fluttershy didn’t want to voice her fears and come off like some paranoid scaredy-cat in case she was wrong. But…

Nope, time to believe in herself and be a little assertive. The safety of others depended on her right now after all.

“Um, c-can we all wait up just a second?” Her voice came out in a slightly squeaky whisper.

The others looked back at her, and Angel Bunny paused right in front of her, looking up with a confused expression on his face.

“What is it?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

“I just think that um, maybe, that the hole we’re about to pass by isn’t totally safe,” Fluttershy said.

Daylight and Amethyst looked towards it while Maud kept her stony face on Fluttershy.

“I don’t get it?” Daylight shrugged. “It’s just one of a bunch of these holes in here. They all look the same, don’t they?”

“It’s just a feeling I have,” Fluttershy pawed at the ground a little, her eyes shyly dipping down. “Sometimes my feelings are totally wrong and I get scared over nothing. But other times I’m exactly right to be worried about something. I think this is one of those times where I’m right to be worried.” She looked up to see Maud’s face, the earth pony giving an appreciative nod to her. “I’m not saying we should stop or turn back, but I think I should fly ahead and make sure things are safe.”

“Wait,” Amethyst Star held up a hoof. “So that means you’re going to put yourself into potential danger? That’s what you’re saying?”

Fluttershy took a little breath and nodded. “Um, yes. To make sure the rest of you are safe I can do that. I’m the only one who can do it after all.”

“Just what do you expect to find?” Daylight asked her.

Fluttershy briefly glanced at Maud. “I think something made all these holes and I think it’s still around here right now. That’s what the rumbling earlier was, we were hearing and feeling it move around past these walls.”

Daylight Gleam grimaced and looked to the walls. “Well, uh, no offense but I hope you’re wrong.”

“Me too. Or if I’m right I hope I can talk with whatever it is,” Fluttershy said and flapped her wings to take off the from the ledge. She looked back down at Angel Bunny. “Now you stay back here and be safe with everyone, okay?”

Angel Bunny frowned up at her, not happy at all with her doing this.

Fluttershy smiled at him. “I’ll be fine, okay?” She then flew ahead of the group, keeping herself out away from the wall a good deal and above the dark pit of the cavern.

“I’m going to keep my horn lit as much as possible for you!” Daylight Gleam said as Fluttershy flew by.

“Thank you!” Fluttershy replied and made her way to the hole.

It was just like the long spiral tunnel they had traveled down to get here in the first place. The same size, the same perfect circular shape with unnaturally smooth walls. Fluttershy hovered in front of it and gulped, trying to swallow her fear. She was flying about twenty feet away from the hole’s entrance and staring down into its dark interior. She couldn’t see anything just yet but it probably went very far in.

Fluttershy took a calming breath and then a much deeper breath. “Helloooo? Is there anything in there?”

“That’s your plan?!” Daylight Gleam yelled from off to the side.

Fluttershy ignored her and waited for any sort of response. Her voice echoed down the dark tunnel repeatedly until it became only a whisper to Fluttershy’s ears. After that all was silent in the cavern as the ponies and rabbit made sure to keep quiet just in case there was something. They all patiently stayed still while Fluttershy continued to hover right outside the dark hole, all of them wondering if anything was actually going to happen or not.

And just as suddenly again—the whole cavern began to rumble.

“Uh, F-Fluttershy?” Daylight Gleam asked as she and the others were shaken up on the ledge. It was easy to tell now that the rumbling was coming from the same side of the cavern they were on. And not only that it was getting closer and much more powerful.

“Was this a good idea?” Amethyst Star wondered aloud while Angel Bunny fervently shook his head.

Only Maud kept her cool, a single “Mm” being the only thing to escape her lips.

Fluttershy meanwhile decided she need to back further away from the hole. With a few flaps of her wings she got a good fifty feet away from it, now hovering in the middle of the large pit. “Everypony just hang on! Something’s coming out!” She couldn’t see it yet but she knew it was true. The sound was getting closer every second.

Finally she actually could see something coming from deeper in the hole.

Something kind of pink.

“Is that what I think it is?” Fluttershy gasped.

“What?” Daylight asked her.

The rumbling reached its apex as the creature from within the hole rapidly approached Fluttershy. It was shooting forward at great speed and Fluttershy had barely enough time to fly out of the way of the hole entirely before it emerged. The great cavern shook once more as a gargantuan worm burst from the hole, instantly several hundred feet shot out like some kind of endless rope. It curled and twisted in the cavern, blind head twitching about as it looked for whatever had made that noise earlier.

“Is that a giant worm?!” Amethyst Star screamed in a mixture of fright and surprise

And of course that got the behemoth invertebrate's attention. Its head swiveled about and “stared” at the group of ponies and rabbit on the ledge right outside its hole. Inch by inch it started to slither through the air towards them while most of its huge body still anchored it inside the hole.

“F-Fluttershy...” Daylight Gleam’s teeth were chattering as the worm approached. “What do we do?”

“I don’t think we have to do anything,” Maud said.

“What do you mean?” Daylight looked over at her, only to then have Angel jump on her back and grab the sides of her head, forcing her to look back up towards the head of the worm and a certain pegasus flying right beside it.

Fluttershy had a happy smile on her face as she floated by the worm’s side. “Hello there, Mr. Worm. How are you doing today?”

Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam (not for the first time lately) felt their jaws drop again.

“She’s not… is she really?” Amethyst Star asked no one in particular.

The worm immediately swiveled its head to face Fluttershy and it even tilted it slightly as if it actually somewhat understood what Fluttershy had said. And considering this was Fluttershy, it probably actually did. While Fluttershy was basically a gnat in size compared to the worm, she wasn’t scared in the slightest. Nope. Not one bit. Cause after all this wasn’t some monster, or scary villain, or any other creepy thing, this worm was just a big animal. And she loved animals.

“My name is Fluttershy, I’m very happy to meet you. You’re a very big worm,” she said without a hint of irony or humor.

The worm’s head tilted back and forth before it actually nodded. A few strange grunts and gestures came from it and Fluttershy giggled back.

“That sounds very nice, I’m glad you’re so friendly. So you really were the one who made all these holes? That’s so impressive! I’m astonished.”

The worm undulated a bit more, the powerful muscles that made up its body all tensing and relaxing in order.

“Oh, us? We’re down here looking for something. Do you perhaps know about any living rock creatures and where to find them?”

The worm nodded once more, much to Fluttershy’s delight.

“You do? Can you show us the way?” She clasped her hooves in front of her chest as she brightly smiled at the worm.

More of the worm’s body extended out from the hole as it brought its head closer to the wall of the cave, right by the ledge where the others were. They were all a bit confused until Fluttershy flew down to them.

“Don’t worry, he’s giving us a ride!” Fluttershy told them.

“A ride?” Daylight gawked.

“Yes! He says the living rock creatures are from the bottom of this cave. He says we can hop on his back and he’ll take us down there right now!”

The others all looked at the worm’s large body. They weren’t quite as excited about this as Fluttershy but in the end they did trust her. With a shrug, they all carefully got onto the massive worm’s back and Fluttershy flew back to his head to get the party started. Maud, Daylight, Amethyst, and Angel Bunny were all lying flush up against the worm’s flesh, holding on as best they could. The worm express was about to take off.

“Okay! We’re ready to go! And thank you so much again, Mr. Worm.” Fluttershy told the huge creature.

The worm’s head undulated and without a moment to spare it started to extend further and further down into the chasm. It slid over the rock bridges and down the walls, never seeming to run out of length and be in worry of falling.

“This is pretty strange, gotta admit,” Amethyst Star said.

“Agreed,” Daylight nodded.

Angel Bunny nodded along too.

“It’s strange, but Fluttershy wouldn’t let us do something unsafe. Trust her,” Maud said.

And Fluttershy was calmly flying by the head of the worm with a friendly smile on her face. It sure felt good to make new friends.

Toxicology Testing

Fluttershy pleasantly hummed to herself the entire time she flew down beside the worm as it took her and her friends to the bottom of this impressively deep cavern. Her friends didn’t exactly seem to be having as much fun as her when it came to riding but she didn’t exactly blame them. The worm was pretty incredible and it made sure to keep them steady on its back while it descended, the thing just never seemed to run out of length at all. And before too long the bottom of the cavern approached, with the light from Daylight’s horn giving the ponies and Angel enough illumination to see it.

While Fluttershy was kind of hoping to see direct evidence of the living rock creatures they were searching for, instead she just saw an empty bottom of the cavern. Despite the worm saying that the rock creatures were pretty much right down here. She didn’t say anything though since the worm had been so helpful and friendly.

Fluttershy’s hooves landed daintily on the rocky bottom of the cavern and she glanced up with a friendly little smile to see the worm lowering to its belly so her friends could just slide right off it without any trouble. Something they all did immediately. Angel Bunny then quickly came hopping up to her and hugged her legs, making Fluttershy giggle and affectionately rub his head.

“That was a… different experience. And not one I would care to repeat,” Daylight Gleam said while her hooves shook.

“I’ll agree with you on that one,” Amethyst Star said.

“I’m fine,” Maud said, walking between the two of them to Fluttershy.

Once the worm felt everyone was off its back it shifted its head until it was facing Fluttershy. With a few undulations and strange squeaky noises coming from it, it began speaking to her again. She nodded along pleasantly, only occasionally cutting in with an “Oh” or “Okay” as the worm spoke to her. Lastly it shook its head repeatedly and then started to recoil, sliding and slithering all the way back up to the top of the cave.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Worm!” Fluttershy waved goodbye to him. “You were a huge help to my friends and I!”

“Was he? Weren’t the rock monsters supposed to be here?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

Fluttershy smiled back at her. “That’s what we were just talking about.” Fluttershy pointed off at the side of the cavern. “Shine your light over there, please.”

With a shrug, Daylight did so, the powerful light from her horn illuminating nearly the entire wall of the cavern, as well as the dark archway of another cave leading out of it.

“Mr. Worm said that if we go through that cave that in just a short distance we’ll come across a small forest and then right after that forest is where the rock creatures live,” Fluttershy explained.

“Small forest?” Amethyst Star repeated.

Fluttershy nodded. “I’m not sure exactly how that works down here either—but after everything else we’ve all seen...

“It’s probably relatively normal,” Daylight Gleam snorted in bemusement.

“Whatever,” Amethyst shrugged. “Let’s get going then.”

“There was one other thing though too,” Fluttershy said, raising her hoof to get the rest of the group’s attention. “Mr. Worm said not to touch, smell, or taste anything we see in the forest.”

“Why?” Daylight asked.

This time it was Fluttershy’s turn to shrug. “He didn’t say.”

“Guess we’ll find out on our own then,” Daylight sighed.

“It’s probably nothing. Like always I’m sure we’ll be okay down here as long as none of us do something stupid,” Maud said and began walking towards the cave.

At the same time, both Daylight Gleam and Angel Bunny glanced over at Amethyst Star, who angrily glared at them.

The cave was nothing more than a wide and short semi-circle in shape with nothing hanging down from the ceiling nor any branching paths leading from it that they could see. It made for an easy place to walk through and all four of the ponies stood side by side together as they made the journey while Angel Bunny hopped slightly in front of Fluttershy’s hooves. The cave truly was only a short little jaunt though, just as the worm had said. It was only about five minutes in that they saw light coming from the end of it.

“Is that fire?” Amethyst Star asked.

Daylight Gleam shook her head. “No, it’s not the right kind of glow for fire. And we would probably feel the heat by now if it was. Right now it’s still just really humid.”

Fluttershy thought about what Daylight had just said. It wasn’t really humid, it was exceptionally humid. The air was wet and their manes and tails were all starting to cling together because of the moisture. “Daylight? Can you turn off the light from your horn? I want to see how strong this other light is.”

“Of course,” Daylight complied and canceled her spell. Instantly things became dark in the cave but not pitch black. More like a dark night where the moon was still out and you could at least see other ponies’ faces.

Up ahead now the light glowed a pale white and it got stronger every passing second. Whatever the next chamber was, Fluttershy was guessing it was going to be lit up like a sunny day. Angel Bunny sniffed at the air and smelled something he didn’t like, sticking his tongue out, and Fluttershy remembered the worm’s warning. They weren’t in any forest yet though but it was still making Fluttershy a bit nervous. Nervous was kind of just her thing as much as she tried to shake it. The other three seemed much calmer than Fluttershy. Or at least Maud seemed calm as per usual. Daylight had her face set in a serious frown and Amethyst Star was wiping her sweaty forehead and just seemed annoyed.

“Here we are,” Daylight said, snapping Fluttershy out of her thoughts.

A ray of light from above temporarily made Fluttershy close her eyes as she stepped out of the cave. When she opened them again she saw a large circular chamber covered in green trees, bushes, and flowering plants of all types and colors. It was like they had walked out into some kind of botanical garden. She used her wing for a little cover and looked up to see where the light was coming from and much to her unsurprise she saw a large bed of glowing crystals embedded in the ceiling. Just like the ones above the strange flower garden she had seen much earlier in her adventure down here. These did not faintly glow red though but were a pure white, bringing with them heat and life to the plants below.

“Well it’s pretty nice looking at least,” Amethyst Star said.

“Mm, yeah.” Fluttershy nodded but she wasn’t very enthusiastic. There was definitely something wrong with this forest.

“Let’s head on through it already then? I’d like this little subterranean adventure of ours to be over and done with,” Daylight Gleam said and started walking for the trees.

Fluttershy, Amethyst, Angel, and Maud followed her. All of the trees here looked to be of the same type, not especially big, leafy green with generally thin branches and trunks compared to something like an oak or redwood tree. They even had fruit on them that looked like small green apples.

“Well if anyone’s hungry it looks like there’s plenty of fruit here,” Daylight said, her horn glowing as a powder blue aura firmly grasped one of the fruits.

Fruit… small green apples… the worm’s warning… Fluttershy thought. She then sucked in a sharp breath of air and her eyes went wide as she lunged for Daylight Gleam. She grabbed the white unicorn and clapped her hooves around her horn. “Stop!”

“Gah!” Daylight yelped in pain and annoyance. “Fluttershy, what’s the big deal?!”

“It’s poisonous! Don’t touch that tree and definitely don’t eat that fruit. It’s all poison!” Fluttershy yelled. She let go of Daylight’s horn and gulped while Amethyst, Maud, and Angel came over to her. Looking up at the tree, Fluttershy explained: “This is called a manchineel tree. Its fruit, sap, everything about it is toxic.” Realization hit her as she then looked around the rest of the forest and carefully checked out the other plants.

She pointed to a flowering white plant. “Hemlock.” A green shrub. “Poison Sumac.” To another plant with bell-shaped white flowers. “Lily of the Valley.” Over to a group of trees different from the manchineels. “Yews.” A group of pretty pink looking flowers. “Oleander.” And then finally to a leafy green plant that Amethyst Star was standing right next to. “Deadly Nightshade.”

Fluttershy gulped. “E-Every single plant in this whole forest is poisonous. Deadly poisonous.” She looked around some more between most of the big groups of poisonous plants. “There’s also poison ivy and oak growing all over the ground. So touching that wouldn’t be a fun experience either.”

“Okay—this place is now officially creeping me out,” Amethyst Star said, backing away from all the plants around her.

“I didn’t know you knew so much about poisonous plants,” Maud said to Fluttershy.

“Well, I’m not a plant expert or anything, but taking care of so many animals, wild and ones that just live outside, I need to know about what dangerous things they could possibly eat. So knowing about things like this is just part of animal care to me,” Fluttershy said. “Also I was probably just scared of accidentally eating or touching some of these myself on accident. Even if it’s a very unlikely danger you still know how I can get.”

“I think we should walk through here as quickly—but carefully—as we can,” Daylight suggested, also wincing away from the nearest plants.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Fluttershy nodded. “Just the scent and vapors from all these poisonous plants together makes breathing here for too long a little dangerous.” She looked down at Angel. “Angel? I want you to hop up on my back so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

Angel didn’t need to be told twice. The rabbit hopped right up on her and clutched at her shoulders.

And very carefully the ponies all walked together through the deadly forest. Fluttershy pointed out that most of the plants and trees were alright to at least touch, but you just shouldn’t smell or taste them. Otherwise it would be near impossible to get through here without at least brushing up against something. There were several things that would cause itchiness or a rash to break out if you touched them, like the poison oak, so the ponies had to do their best to hop over or avoid that. Even if it meant getting near something potentially much more dangerous like a hemlock plant.

“This is just crazy,” Daylight Gleam muttered. “I’ve seen plenty of poisonous plants and stuff before in my life, but never so many together like this.”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but go into a temporary “Twilight mode” each time she saw a plant she actually recognized. “Oh! See those two?” She pointed to get the attention of the others. “Those are the plants that strychnine and ricin come from. And that pretty one over there is called foxglove.”

“It looks like something I would eat on accident if I was walking through a forest,” Amethyst Star gulped.

“I could definitely see you doing that,” Daylight Gleam nodded.

Amethyst Star rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, we all know I’m the most likely one to brush up against something poisonous down here or take a big sniff of oleander. You don’t have to keep reminding me.”

The group pushed through a copse of lily of the valley bushes and now found themselves before a large group of trees that were taller than the manchineels and yews. They were a little weird looking too, with spikes going up and down their trunks.

“Fluttershy? Got any info on these?” Daylight asked.

“Mhm,” Fluttershy nodded. “These are sandbox trees. Careful not to touch them, and not just because of the spikes, the sap is poisonous too. Also the fruit explodes.”

“Oh, well, that’s lovely. Let’s scoot through these then,” Daylight said.

“Suck in your guts...” Amethyst added.

“It’s a shame, so many of these plants are so pretty. I would love to plant some of them around my cottage if I could,” Fluttershy said.

“Mudbriar would be happy to be here right now,” Maud said. “It’s too bad he’s not. He’s going to be very jealous when I tell him about this part of our journey.”

“That’s right, Mudbriar loves trees and wood doesn’t he? Maybe you can get him a plant for a gift when we get back to the surface?” Fluttershy suggested.

“He might like that,” Maud accepted.

“You’re probably still really looking forward to when we find the rock monsters, right?” Amethyst said to Maud.

“I can barely hold back my excitement.”

Fluttershy giggled at the contrast between Maud’s words and how she said them. “Well, I’m excited for that too, but more so we can figure out what’s been happening down here and then we can try and get food for the moles.”

“I think first we have to focus on getting through this forest. It’d certainly be bad to accidentally walk up against something you shouldn’t,” Daylight said as she navigated between the trees.

Another thing that was making them want to get out of here quickly was the humidity. It was still so dang wet in the air inside this forest. And it got practically unmanageable the further they went in. The ponies and rabbit were now all sweating buckets and looking like they had just come out of a sauna. It was affecting their need to focus on all the dangerous plants around them too. Fluttershy looked up at the glowing crystals in the ceiling and wondered if they had something to do with the unnatural humidity.

“How much longer is it going to be before we’re out of here?” Amethyst Star asked. She panted with each breath and had her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

“I don’t think we have that much more of the forest to get through,” Fluttershy said. “Judging by the size of the chamber and all.”

“Good,” Amethyst Star panted.

“I just hope there’s a very clear and obvious tunnel on the other side,” Daylight Gleam said.

“There should be. I don’t think Mr. Worm would’ve just let us off like this otherwise,” Fluttershy said.

“Boulder is getting wet,” Maud announced. “So he’d like to get out of here too.”

Angel Bunny then took the opportunity to flop over and lie across Fluttershy’s back. He clearly had had enough of the heat and humidity. Even though he had been getting a free ride the whole time.

Eventually they got out of the large group of sandbox trees and came face to face with a thick wall of bushes, plants, and miniature trees that allowed no path between them. So they were going to have to walk through this whether they liked it or not. Fluttershy noticed lots of nightshade grouped together—very poisonous to ingest but not so bad to brush against as long as they didn’t have any cuts. If they had to force their way through it might as well be there. Better than brushing against the hemlock or hogweed at least.

“Ick, I’m gonna have nightmares about this place,” Amethyst Star said. “Every time I go buy something from Roseluck, Daisy and Lily I’m going to be wondering if it might kill me.”

“I don’t think they sell anything like this… although some are perfectly safe to have and grow around your house. As long as nopony eats them,” Fluttershy said.

“Then remind me not to go eating random flowers out of somepony else’s garden...”

“You shouldn’t be doing that in the first place,” Daylight Gleam said. And then narrowed her eyes at Amethyst. “Have you done something like that?”

“Uhh...”

Daylight Gleam snorted in annoyance and rolled her eyes. “Whatever, let’s just hurry up and get out of here.”

Angel Bunny tiredly nodded in agreement from his prone position.

“No need to worry about that, I think we’re almost through,” Fluttershy said, carefully pushing aside the safer leaves and plants that she could with her wings.

Her words turned out to be correct as there were only a few more plants in the way and through their branches and leaves the ponies could now see the cave wall on the other end. Fluttershy made sure they weren’t about to walk over poison oak or do something dumb like that right at the end and then gave the go ahead for everyone else to follow her. Carefully, but speedily and happily, the ponies all left the small poison forest.

And came face to face with another cave.

“I swear, this had better be the last cave we have to go through,” Daylight Gleam glared in annoyance at the geological creation.

“Amen to that,” Amethyst Star nodded.

“I have a feeling it is,” Fluttershy said. “Call it a sixth sense but I also just want to believe in our worm friend.”

“I would trust your sense anyways,” Maud said. “You’re a very reliable pony.”

Fluttershy smiled at her. “Thank you, Maud.”

“Well, I trust you too and all but let’s hurry up? I want to get somewhere where I don’t feel like I’m sweating off all my body wight,” Amethyst Star said.

Some more tired nodding came from Angel Bunny at that.

“The further down we go the hotter and muggier it will get,” Maud said.

“Wonderful,” Amethyst groaned, shaking her head.

Flutteshy giggled and took a step into the cave. “Come on—there’s no time to waste!”

Earth Miser

A cave was a cave was a cave. And this cave was no different.

The ponies walked through its rocky interior while Daylight lit it up with her horn, guiding them. It was a straight walk the whole way through so far though and the ponies were keeping focused on what was directly ahead of them. They were looking forward to getting out of here and finally finding the lair of the rock monsters. After a couple of minutes of walking down this cave, Angel hopped off Fluttershy’s back and started walking on his own again too. This cave was still pretty hot but it wasn’t near as humid as the poison forest had been.

It sloped down slightly the further they went—which seemed almost ridiculous to Fluttershy. After all, with how deep they had gone they must practically be at the center of the world by now.

Amethyst Star’s stomach grumbled while they walked and all the others looked over at her.

A blush spread on the unicorn’s face as she held a hoof to her stomach. “I think I’m hungry.”

“None of us have had anything to eat or drink today, and after going through the forest I think we’re all even more thirsty and famished than normal,” Fluttershy said.

Angel Bunny grumbled from by her hooves, she knew he really wanted some carrots.

“Well if we’re lucky then maybe the rock monsters will have food and water for us. Or better yet, they’ll have some real sandwiches and tea,” Daylight sarcastically said.

“You never know,” Maud said.

“You never know?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

“They could be good hosts,” Maud plainly said back.

“Yeah after demolishing the mole’s farm and doing who knows what else I’m sure they’re just a blast to get along with,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“Actually I don’t think there’s any reason to be so negative either,” Fluttershy quietly cut in. “We should be willing to give the rock creatures a chance. They might prove to be much more friendly than we think. I’ve met a lot of groups and creatures that just needed to be given a chance, and they’ve shown how good they can be.”

“I’m with Fluttershy on this one again,” Amethyst Star said, raising a hoof. “I was there when Discord first came to Ponyville and comparing that to now, well… Fluttershy’s kind of a miracle worker when it comes to this stuff.”

Daylight Gleam shrugged. “I’m not doubting her or anything, I’d just like to say that I think I’m looking at things from a more realistic perspective.”

“Realistic doesn’t have much meaning to me,” Maud said. “Not when I’ve seen with my own eyes what a rainbow made of friendship can do.”

“Fair point,” Daylight allowed.

“Also, the tunnel is getting wider. We’re coming to the end.”

The others all looked around after hearing Maud’s words, and it was clear that the tunnel was indeed about to open up completely and drop them off somewhere else. The ponies and rabbit stepped out of the tunnel and into a large cavern that stretched a fair distance ahead before turning off to the right. They could see that not only because of Daylight’s illumination, but because of a large burning torch in the ground right at the turn.

“That’s something at least,” Amethyst Star said.

Fluttershy silently nodded and started walking towards it, the others following along with her. It was a sign that there was something down here besides just rocks, dirt, and plants. Meanwhile Maud had been totally enraptured by the stone walls of the cavern, her brow actually slightly knitted in confusion—practically the most emotion she would ever show.

“Is something wrong, Maud?” Fluttershy asked.

“This cave doesn’t make any sense.”

“Huh?”

“The rocks. Its makeup. Look,” Maud pointed across the walls.

Fluttershy followed and saw that the cave they were now in was hardly uniform. In fact it was the opposite of that. All kinds of different rocks and stone made up the cavern walls, all pressed and stuck together in a way that even Fluttershy could tell was odd. The color, the texture of them, there were so many different varieties it was just plain weird.

“Sandstone, marble, granite, obsidian, gypsum, talc. Not only multiple different rocks in a sequence they shouldn’t be in, but all different categories are represented too. Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. A cave like this shouldn’t exist,” Maud said. It sounded like her voice was halfway between wonder and frustration. Her love of rocks and discovering something new involving them clashing with her sensibilities and knowledge.

“I thought you didn’t care about things being realistic?” Daylight Gleam asked her.

“Perhaps it’s affecting me more because rocks are kind of my thing.” She went to point out some more. “Slate, limestone, quartz, rhyolite, flint, shale.”

“We get it,” Daylight put her hoof over Maud’s mouth. “This place is a rock museum.”

“Not really the type of museum I would normally visit,” Amethyst Star rubbed her head.

“Let’s just go to that torch and see what comes next, okay?” Fluttershy said.

The others nodded and they renewed their walk to the torch and the turn in the cavern. All the while Maud kept looking around and pointing out either deposits or shelves of rocks in the cave that shouldn’t belong. It was clearly bothering her at this point. Once they got to the large torch they inspected it together, noticing that it was quite tall, about a dozen feet, and burning with straw on top. It was propped up on bottom by a circle of polished rocks and while most of it was wooden, the top was ringed in granite to keep the fire from spreading down.

And as they left this torch behind and turned the corner they saw more torches in the distance. Lighting the way for them.

And they heard something now too.

“What is that?” Amethyst Star asked, turning her head as the steady rhythmic beating came down from further in the cave.

“It sounds like “pounding” or something,” Daylight Gleam said. “There’s something hitting up and down consistently. Like a hammer against rock? Maybe?”

“It’s definitely rock hitting rock. I can tell,” Maud said.

“Let’s go see what it is,” Fluttershy said. “I really hope this is one case of curiosity not killing the pony...”

The ponies and rabbit renewed their walk down the cave, towards the next torch and then the next one, the sound growing louder with each torch they passed and soon it became joined by other sounds. It was a symphony of beats, rock hitting rock in a rhythmic fashion, almost like a group of drums being played. Symphony was right, it really started to sound like actual music the closer they got. There was a real tune being played and a steady beat to the music. Whatever was the source of it was clearly making music on purpose and not just hitting rocks on the ground.

Fluttershy gulped in trepidation, despite being the most eager and optimistic of them she also couldn’t really ignore her own paranoia and irrational fears. Something was about to happen.

They passed between the last two torches that sat at opposite ends of the cavern and reached what looked like a dead end at first. But as Maud pressed her hoof against the wall they all saw how smooth it was. Clearly something that had been carved and sculpted out of the stone here.

“This is a door, isn’t it?” Daylight Gleam said.

“I believe so,” Maud nodded in agreement. “We just need to find where it opens up.”

“The music sounds like it’s really loud on the other side...” Amethyst Star said as she pressed an ear against the door.

She was right, it was already pretty boisterous over here. If they opened up the door it might sound like they were inside a concert or music hall. And they still really had no idea just what this “music” was. But there was nothing else they could do, they needed to push on, so each pony went searching over the rock door to find where it might open up.

“Wait, I think I found a crease,” Daylight Gleam said, running her hoof up a line of the door.

“I found another,” Maud said from about ten feet away from her.

“Me too,” Fluttershy said from right in between them.

Daylight Gleam rubbed her chin as she inspected the door. “A double door huh? So it should open up right where Fluttershy is standing? Let’s get on either side of her and see if we can push it open.”

“It looks like it’s going to be really heavy,” Fluttershy said.

“That’s what I’m here for then,” Maud said.

“Don’t knock our unicorn magic either,” Daylight Gleam smirked and shot a glance to Amethyst Star.

“Yeah!” Amethyst Star confidently nodded.

Angel Bunny thumped his foot a few times and pressed his tiny little arms up against the door too, giving Fluttershy a thumbs up from below.

Fluttershy smiled at him and nodded. “Okay, then let’s do this!”

All together the five of them pushed as one. Fluttershy, Maud, and Angel used their muscles while Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam pitched in with their magic. As was expected, it was a really heavy door. Possibly hundreds of pounds of stone. But at the very least it was still a door that was made to be opened and the five of them could feel it just barely sliding over the ground. At first it was only an almost imperceptible crack in the middle of it where Fluttershy was standing, but that grew and grew as inch by inch the door opened up. It became easier the further they went along too, as if it was just a little rusty and only needed some work.

“Almost there...” Fluttershy grit her teeth and put all her strength in the last few inches they needed.

The doors opened up and all of the ponies and Angels stumbled on through, accidentally tripping over each other and landing as a heap on the ground.

Ba-rump Ba-rump Ba-da-da-rump!

Pow! Pow! P-P-Pow!

Ba-rump Ba-rump Ba-da-da-rump!

Their eyes looked up together to see what the source of the strange rocky music was.

And not twenty feet in front of them was a stone stage raised off the ground, hanging torches acting as stage lights stood above it and a “curtain” made of moss and sticks laid at the back. On either side of the stage were pits where strange creatures sat in, playing instruments. Although creatures and instruments may not have been the correct word. They had an appearance close to that of ponies but they were all made from rocks and pebbles fitted together with nothing discernible actually holding them in place. Their eye holes were filled with nothing more than spherical bits of coal as well. And the so-called instruments were just rocks shaped like drums, cymbals, xylophones, and somehow a piano.

Either way these were certainly the rock monsters the moles had mentioned. And this was certainly music of some sort. Though Fluttershy had no idea how they were making such sounds with just rocks.

“Are those guests out there I sense walking on my ground?” A large booming voice came from behind the curtain.

“Eep!” Fluttershy shot up in fright and the others scrambled to their hooves as well.

Except for Maud who appeared to be totally enraptured by the living rocks. She lied on the ground with her mouth slightly ajar and made no motion to get up until Fluttershy pulled her up.

“Pinch me, Fluttershy. I think I’m dreaming. Or I’ve died and gone to paradise,” Maud said.

“I-I don’t think we have time for that, Maud...”

Amethyst Star fervently nodded. “What Fluttershy said. Just what the hay was that voice?”

“What am I, you ask?” The booming voice called out again and Amethyst’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. “BAHAHAHA! Allow me to tell you!”

The music the rock creatures were playing changed to a more bass tune, it sounded slow and plodding but still somehow upbeat. And then the curtain was drawn back and out from the shadows lumbered another creature, many times larger than the others. He was pony-shaped like the others but he stood easily ten feet tall and had a massive body. All of it made up of dirt and rocks stuck together. The other one big difference was that he had actual eyes compared to the smaller rock creatures. They roamed over the ponies with an intelligent brightness and an honest warmth emanating from them.

Each step he took shook the entire cavern until he made it to the center of the stage and his mouth split open in a wide grin.

“You want to know who I am? Weeeellll-”

They call me Earth Miser, cause I’m Mr. Rock and Dirt~
Down here deep in the earth, I’m the very first~
And everything I touch~

He reached up and grabbed one of the torches above the stage and it crumbled into dust almost instantly.

Turns to dust in my clutch~
Haha, I’m too much!~

As all the ponies (and Angel again) watched with wide open mouths of astonishment—even Maud—some of the smaller rock creatures came up on stage and started dancing and singing as well.

He’s Mr. Earth Miser, he’s Mr. Dirt~
He’s Mr. Boulder, he’s Mr. Ten Miles Deep~
And everything he touches, turns to dust in his clutch~
He’s too much!~

“Hahahahaha!” Earth Miser laughed as he bounced back and forth between left and right legs, dancing and jigging around on stage. “I’m too much!”

“Welp,” Daylight Gleam said with a blank expression. “This is officially the strangest thing I’ve seen in my life. And that’s not an easy competition to win.”

“Ehhh, it’s definitely up there for me but I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff in Ponyville. So I’d have to think about it a little,” Amethyst Star said.

They call me Earth Miser~
And I never see the sun~
Cause I never go above~
I’m always in the dirt, just deeper and deeper~

Earth Miser continued his loud bellowing song, obviously not done yet.

I love my rocks and boulders oh yes indeed~
They make my body and my friends and my home, I decree~
I don’t ever want to be some place without solid ground beneath me~
I’d rather have dirt and stone and earth for me!~

The smaller rock creatures chorused in again in a new verse:

Because he’s Mr. Earth Miser, he’s Mr. Dirt!~
He’s Mr. Boulder, he’s Mr. Ten Miles Deep!~

And then Earth Miser cut in for the finish-

And everything I touch~
Turns to dust in my clutch~

He reached back and turned the curtain of moss to dirt.

I’m too much!~

“Bahahahaha!” Earth Miser laughed as he finished his song and all the smaller rock creatures took a bow.

Fluttershy started clapping and shot a few nervous glances at the others to make sure they got the idea. Soon the whole group was clapping along with her.

“T-That was a very nice song,” Fluttershy said. “Thank you for the pleasant introduction Mr—uh, Earth Miser?”

“That’s right!” The very large Earth Miser grinned. “Come closer and say hello! Just who might you ponies be?”

Amethyst Star leaned in to whisper in Fluttershy’s ear. “This guy kind of creeps me out...”

“I think he’s nice, just a little strange,” Fluttershy whispered back. “Let’s give him a chance, okay?”

“If I didn’t have a boyfriend I know who I’d be going after right now,” Maud said as she stared up at Earth Miser.

“Eyuck!” Daylight Gleam retched.

The five of them still walked up to the stage all the same while Earth Miser and the other rocks stood above them.

“Umm, h-hello,” Fluttershy shyly waved up at them. “My name is Fluttershy.” She reached down and patted Angel on the head. “And this is Angel Bunny.”

“I’m Daylight Gleam. Hello, Earth Miser,” Daylight said, a kind of confused expression on her face the entire time.

“I’m Amethyst Star,” Amethyst greeted.

“My name is Maud,” Maud said, slowly blinking. “And I’m very happy to meet you and your friends.”

“Bahahaha! I hardly ever have guests so the pleasure is all mine.” Earth Miser then seemed to notice that the ponies and rabbit had no place to sit. “Ah, hold on just one second.”

Earth Miser tapped a heavy hoof on the stage and the ground beneath the ponies began to shift and change. Chairs and tables of rocks and dirt erupted up from the ground around the ponies, they slid around the ground and molded like clay to perfectly fit the ponies’ shapes as they pushed themselves behind and under the ponies to force them to sit down. Then the table came sliding over in front of them, with another little booster seat coming out of the ground and propping Angel up as well. The ponies and rabbit were left blinking in surprise as they sat in front of the stage, witnesses to Earth Miser’s ability to control and move earth and stone.

“That’s better! I would never let any guests of mine lack for comfort.”

As he said that, numerous little rock creatures all came over to the table, setting down blocks of stone of various shapes and sizes before the ponies.

“Hungry? Thirsty?” Earth Miser asked and stomped his hoof again. The blocks changed shape, morphing right in front of their eyes into utensils, plates, bowls, teacups, and a teapot. Another stomp of his hoof and holes opened up in the ceiling that water and a thick green liquid poured down from, into the cups and bowls respectively. Then another light tap and crystals dropped out onto the plates. “Water to drink, rock soup to drink, and crystal candy to eat!”

“Just like mother makes,” Maud said and grabbed a spoon, taking a spoonful of rock soup up to her lips and drinking it down while the others watched on.

“I-Is it safe to eat?” Daylight asked. Obviously she was very concerned.

Fluttershy watched as Maud went back for seconds. “Um, looks like it.”

Amethyst Star had already grabbed a crystal candy and put it in her mouth, biting down on it and shattering it between her teeth. She winced but swallowed the remaining bits. “Well it tastes good but I almost felt like my teeth were about to break for a moment there.”

“Have as much as you want! I’m your host and it’s all on me!” Earth Miser bellowed.

“Thank you, Mr. Earth Miser. You’re very generous,” Fluttershy smiled and started drinking up some soup. It did surprisingly taste pretty good despite oozing out from a hole in the ceiling. Fluttershy did her best not to think about that part.

“But of course! You’re the first guests I’ve had in ages! Please, tell me what brings you down here?” Earth Miser smiled.

The ponies (except for the busily eating Maud) nervously glanced between each other. He seemed very nice and friendly right now but would he be so happy to hear them accuse him of destroying the moles’ farm and basically ruining their city? And what if he did that on purpose for some reason? Angering him seemed like a really bad idea. But it was still their duty to get to the bottom of things and make sure the moles wouldn’t be harmed by these rock creatures or Earth Miser again.

Fluttershy’s eyes glanced to some of the rock creatures now standing slightly away from their table after bringing out the rocks that transformed into their plates and utensils. She noticed how they didn’t move or speak at all now after their little chorus in the song was over. And their “eyes” weren’t even focused on the ponies. “Umm, Mr. Earth Miser? Are your friends here… alive?”

Earth Miser raised an eyebrow while a grin came to his face and glanced down at the smaller rock creatures. “Aha, I see you’ve noticed. I’m afraid not, Fluttershy. You see these are just dolls I’ve created with my power. I always keep some around for company and to help with things.” Earth Miser tapped a hoof on the ground and all the rock creatures fell apart into piles of dirt and rocks before coalescing together into one big pile and then separating again and reforming into individual “dolls”.

“Even though they can’t speak or do much without me I like having some other faces to look at.”

“I understand,” Fluttershy smiled. “It does seem like it might be a little lonely down here...”

“Hahaha, I get by. I talk with the worm, but even the stones and soil themselves all have voices for me to listen to. This has been my home for a long time and I haven’t gotten bored of it yet.”

Daylight Gleam nudged Fluttershy under the table and nodded towards Earth Miser, asking Fluttershy to bring up the subject of the moles already.

“Mr. Earth Miser? I have a question to ask,” Fluttershy said as she raised her hoof. “It has to do with why we’re here.”

“Oh? Then ask away, please!” The friendly Earth Miser responded.

“Well, um, we came from quite a bit above here and the reason we’ve traveled so far is that we’re trying to figure something out. You see… I kind of came across a city of moles and they said their farm where they grew all their food was destroyed.” She gulped and shyly looked up at Earth Miser. “By rock monsters. Rock monsters that, um, sound a lot like the ones you make.” Fluttershy giggled nervously. “Ehehe, not that I’m accusing you or anything. Just trying to figure things out!”

Earth Miser was silent as he looked down at Fluttershy and the others. The smile had left his face.

Fluttershy bit her lip. “Mr Earth Miser?”

“I was worried something bad might have happened,” Earth Miser sighed and sat down, his massive flank causing the whole chamber to shake.

“So, wait-” Daylight Gleam furrowed her brow. “You are responsible for what those rock monsters did? And you knew about it?”

“Unfortunately yes but I did not mean for anything bad to have come from it. And I was unaware that I had harmed them so much. What has happened to the moles?” Earth Miser asked.

“Well they’re in a really bad spot actually,” Fluttershy tapped her hooves together. “They’re totally out of food and they can’t grow anymore because the ground they farmed on has all been destroyed. They’re close to starving and they’re very desperate. I promised to help them by figuring out where the, um, rock creatures came from and why, and then getting food for them when I got back to the surface.”

“So why’d you send your rock monster minion things up so far from your home?” Amethyst Star asked.

“I was searching for a new home.”

“A new home?” Daylight Gleam narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m sorry, Earth Miser, but that isn’t adding up for me. You just said you’ve been down here for ages and have never gotten bored of your home. And to be honest you seem to love it down here quite a bit. Why were your minions really up there?”

Earth Miser shook his big head. “It was in case I needed it. Not to move to just because.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened slightly. “Did… did something down here happen to you too?”

“Yes. Sadly something that worried me enough to think I may have to forever leave this place if it happened again,” Earth Miser said. “Because of it I sent my rock dolls all throughout this subterranean world, searching for an uninhabited place that I could call home. My dolls found several for me… but as you know they also came across places like where the moles lived. I did not intend for them to do such damage and harm. It simply naturally happened from the way they traveled through the ground and open up new tunnels and passages. If I could I would apologize to the moles with all my rocky heart.”

“Well we still need to find food for them… how much of that water and rock soup do you have anyways?” Daylight Gleam looked up at the ceiling.

“Not enough for a whole city but I’ll do what I can. It won’t be difficult for me with my power to get up there and feed them.”

“That should at least give us enough time until I can talk to Twilight and have her help the moles out,” Fluttershy sighed in relief.

“So is that it then? Problem solved?” Amethyst Star shrugged. “Pretty easy.”

“I guess we can start looking for a way up and out of here now. Thank heavens,” Daylight Gleam took a drink of water.

“No!” Fluttershy slammed her hoof on the table, startling the others.

Amethyst Star jolted up and looked over at her. “Fluttershy? What’s up?”

She looked right up at the sorrowful Earth Miser. “Mr. Earth Miser, what happened that scared you and started all of this in the first place? Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Oh no...” Daylight Gleam sighed and facehooved.

“If somepony’s in need we can’t just leave them be. It’s our duty to help,” Fluttershy said.

“I guess we’re not getting out of here anytime soon then,” Amethyst Star said, cracking another crystal candy in her mouth.

“Fine by me,” Maud said. “I wouldn’t mind staying here with Earth Miser another day even.”

“Bahahaha! You really love rocks don’t you?” Earth Miser grinned at Maud.

“They rock my world,” Maud said, a faint smile on her lips. “I’d love to study you and your home more.”

“Maybe if we had a little more time, Maud. But I think we need to keep moving as much as we can after learning what happened here,” Fluttershy patted her shoulder a few times.

Maud shrugged. “I can always come back on my own.”

“That’s the spirit,” Fluttershy giggled.

“Okay, so then if we’re doing this, what actually happened?” Daylight Gleam asked.

“Yeah, seriously. What scared you?” Amethyst Star raised an eyebrow at Earth Miser. “You’re like… big. And intimidating. And you’ve got these magical rock manipulating powers.”

Earth Miser stood up and tapped his hoof on the stage, the front of it shifting and molding into a set of stairs he could walk down so he wasn’t quite towering over them as much anymore. Now on “equal” footing he cleared his throat. “Not long ago my home was almost completely destroyed. The ground was shaking and tearing apart from an earthquake through no work of my own. And then...”

Fluttershy gulped. “What happened?”

“It was an eruption. Lava burst from even deeper within the earth than we already are. Geysers of molten rock started pouring out from below, covering everything, flowing seemingly endlessly. They threatened to reshape and melt my caverns and all my rock dolls. So much of my home fell into chaos and disappeared down a gigantic chasm that first opened up in the middle of my domain. When I looked into it I saw bubbling lava deep below. I thought it was all going to come up and make an even grander eruption than before, but instead over time the lava went back down like a draining lake and disappeared into darkness. And I was left with my half-destroyed home.” Earth Miser paused and then looked behind the stage. “I can show you what happened if you’ll follow me inside.”

He walked back up the steps and as he did so the rock walls behind the stage slid apart, making way to a new part of Earth Miser’s home. Torches lit up the interior and the gang of ponies could hear more shifting and sliding as the whole place seemed to be rearranging itself just for them.

The others turned to Fluttershy and while she was a bit nervous she also trusted Earth Miser.

“L-Let’s go,” the pegasus said and began walking up the steps, the others following her lead.

As Earth Miser led them through the inner circle of his home, the ponies and Angel all noticed that a lot of the rocks and ground here looked like they had been damaged recently. Melted. So what Earth Miser had told them was likely true about the lava erupting into his home. Though what led to that was still a mystery, as well as its sudden disappearance. Maud in particular was able to point out a lot of melted spots and fresh holes where lava had poured from, and bits of recently created obsidian and other cooled off stones born from lava. Earth Miser obviously had no problems with it lying around.

“There’s not much in this world that bothers me but magma is one of those things. Liquefied melted rock, even I wouldn’t be able to do much of anything if a volcano erupted in my home again.” Earth Miser said.

“Hopefully we can figure this all out and make sure that doesn’t happen,” Fluttershy said.

“I thank you for that. My fear of the magma is what kept me from trying to discover its source in the first place. All this time I never thought there could be anything beneath me.”

“Aside from the molten core of the planet I would’ve said you were correct in that assumption as well with how deep we already are,” Maud said. “I doubt any living creatures actually live below this part of the world. If the lava isn’t a purely natural event, which it sounds like it isn’t, it’s likely the result of some sort of magical calamity or monster.”

“Oh, well that’s wonderful,” Daylight Gleam sarcastically said.

“Yep. This is why I hate adventures,” Amethyst Star nodded.

“Bahahaha, I believe you are right, Maud! I thought I was far too old and knowing of the subterranean world to be surprised by anything. But whatever the source of this volcanic activity is may be even older and grander than myself! What’s deeper than deep? The bottom of the deep!” Earth Miser laughed uproariously.

“And I would like to discover and research the rocks that can be found at the bottom of the world,” Maud smiled.

Fluttershy shot a surprised glance at her. “You’re very into this Maud.”

“Magma is just molten rock after all. I think I was made for this journey,” she glanced at Fluttershy. “But you’re still the leader who will really figure things out and make sure we’re all okay.”

“Well I’m still not too sure about that but I appreciate your confidence...”

As soon as she said that, Angel Bunny frowned and pinched her.

“Ow!” Fluttershy looked down at him in confusion and saw him glaring up at her with his arms folded and his foot thumping up and down. The message to not look down on herself was clear.

“So you said there was one big chasm that appeared in the middle of your home, Earth Miser?” Daylight asked their host and guide.

Earth Miser’s big head nodded. “That is correct. The floor of my home caved in and what was there in its place was a deep hole with a pool of magma at the bottom. Shortly after that happened though the eruptions stopped and the magma sunk away.”

“Would you have been able to tell if that magma was normally there? Just out of sight on a level below you?” Daylight asked.

“Of course. I’m not Mr. Rock and Dirt for nothing. If there was magma in a chamber so close beneath me I could tell. It only very recently appeared there and disappeared just as quick.”

They walked through the torch lit caverns that made up Earth Miser’s home only for about a minute longer until they reached a large wall. At first Fluttershy thought it was simple granite but as she looked harder she saw that it was numerous interlocked pieces of stone more like a gigantic brick or cement block wall. Earth Miser tapped his hoof against it and with a low rumbling several of the stones depressed and turned on their side before the entire wall pulled away to the sides like a curtain.

“I had sealed this up just in case. But rest assured there’s no danger now.”

The ponies and Angel followed Earth Miser as he stepped past the door and into a circular room that looked like it was at one point a large amphitheater. The stage that would’ve taken up the middle was gone though, replaced by a dark hole that might as well have been a bottomless pit.

“Oh my… do you have any idea how deep it goes?” Fluttershy asked as she stared down it.

“I can feel it goes down over 1,000 feet. After that it gets foggy to my senses,” Earth Miser said.

Maud was looking at the edges of the hole and the sides of it as it went down, taking note of how smooth they were and the obvious lava damage the place had taken.

“That’s really deep. How are we supposed to get down there?” Daylight Gleam mused.

“Can’t really expect Fluttershy to carry us one by one, can we? It would take too long,” Amethyst said.

“You may leave the way down to me,” Earth Miser said. He stomped a hoof on the edge of the hole and the entire room started to shake. Then from the very top of the hole a rectangular piece of stone shot out, then another one beneath and in front of it, then another and another. Rapidly the steps appeared from the side of the hole, all of them spiraling down in sequence like a gigantic staircase descending into the darkness.

“That will take you as far down as I can sense,” Earth Miser said as the steps finished up. “I wish you good luck in figuring out the source of my troubles.” He sighed. “And meanwhile I will help makeup for the troubles I have caused.”

“Thank you, Earth Miser,” Fluttershy smiled up at him, also walking over and affectionately laying a hoof against his leg. “The moles really need your help so I’m glad you’re doing this.”

“From what you’ve said there is no time to waste either. I will keep my home completely open for you in case you come back up this way. And now I shall depart for above,” Earth Miser bowed to the ponies and turned, walking back to head out of his home and help the moles.

“And that leaves us with the long walk down,” Daylight Gleam gulped as she looked at the stairs.

“They’re sturdy and won’t break. I can guarantee that,” Maud said as she tapped the first one.

“Still not looking forward to it,” Daylight said.

“Neither am I, but we have to go down there,” Fluttershy said. “I’m sorry I’m dragging you along with me again but more problems will arise in this underground world if we don’t solve them now. Maybe I don’t need to do this but well… I need to. It’s just right. I couldn’t live with myself otherwise.”

“We get it, Fluttershy. You don’t need to explain it to us. That’s just how you are, as you and as one of Twilight’s friends,” Amethyst Star shrugged.

“Agreed,” Maud nodded.

“Yeah, you’re cool in my book, so you can just ignore my whining,” Daylight winked.

Angel Bunny patted her leg and gave her a thumbs up.

Fluttershy blushed from all the attention and praise and had to take a fairly deep breath to calm herself. “T-Thank you. Let’s get going now and find out what’s going on down here.” And she took the first dainty step down into the hole.

Dark Digging

While the ponies and one rabbit trotted down the long and winding staircase, a ball of light floated down the middle of the hole as well to keep things lit up for them. It was created and levitated by Daylight’s magic and it was doing a good job of keeping them safe. Earth Miser’s stairs however were just as good as he and Maud guaranteed. There wasn’t a single step missing and not one of them so much as wobbled or cracked. It would’ve been nice if he made a railing for them too but oh well.

“Do you think we’re almost at the bottom?” Amethyst Star asked.

“I’d say we’re close to where the stairs end at least. But that doesn’t mean the bottom of the hole necessarily,” Daylight said.

“I might have to fly us down to somewhere safe depending on where we end up when the stairs stop,” Fluttershy said.

Maud meanwhile was dragging a hoof along the wall as she walked by, feeling the recently melted rock and taking note of anything that stood out. The shape of the hole became slightly more warped and less perfectly circular the deeper they went. But Earth Miser’s stairs still stayed uniform.

“I’m still a little worried that lava might suddenly rush up and… you know. After all we know it’s been here before,” Daylight said.

“Guess we gotta hope for the best. Earth Miser guy said it was quick but also totally random and something that never happened before? So it’s probably unlikely that it’ll happen again while we’re going down here, right?” Amethyst Star said.

“Normally I would agree with you but the more you say stuff like that I think the more likely it is that something bad actually will happen,” Daylight frowned at her.

“Well… maybe yeah,” Amethyst Star nervously rubbed the back of her neck.

Fluttershy didn’t feel like adding to the pessimism so she kept her eyes down to the bottom of the hole as she traveled the stairs. The further they went and she started to see cracks and missing pieces in the walls and even more melted away parts. But no sign of any actual lava yet, nor the bottom.

“Daylight?” Fluttershy said. “Can you levitate your ball of light deeper? I want to see if we can see the bottom from here.”

“Sure. I was going to anyways but I didn’t want it to be too far away from us,” Daylight answered and put some more energy into her horn. The faint powder blue glow from it became stronger and the ball of light that had been floating with them shot down a hundred feet at once.

At first it just showed off the last few areas of the hole and the final stairs made by Earth Miser but as it lowered a bit more the sides of the hole fell away and the stairs disappeared entirely. They couldn’t make out things in detail but it was clear the bottom of the hole opened up into a larger chamber. When the ball descended a bit more they were able to finally see the ground down there. An uneven ground made of jagged black volcanic rocks.

“It looks like an empty magma chamber,” Maud said.

“That’s probably the bubbling pool Earth Miser mentioned. Or where it started at least before it started climbing up more and then going back down,” Daylight said.

“It’s possible we’re looking at a caldera. There may be a lot of volcanic activity just below this and out of sight,” Maud continued.

“Is that dangerous?” Amethyst Star worriedly asked.

“Potentially. But it doesn’t automatically mean there will be an eruption either.”

“At least it isn’t too far down from where the stairs end,” Fluttershy said. “I can carry us down one by one from there.”

“It’s possible there won’t be a way out. Multiple lava tubes and veins likely fed into it at one point but they may all be collapsed now,” Maud said.

“Then one way or another we’ll find a way through it,” Daylight shrugged.

Fluttershy nodded. “I had to get through some very cramped and uncomfortable places before this, and figure out some weird things, but I managed somehow. Even if all the tunnels have collapsed we’ll just dig until we can travel down them again.”

“Sounds fine to me. I have no problem digging through rocks with my bare hooves,” Maud said.

“I do. But I’ll keep the whining to a minimum,” Amethyst Star said.

While Daylight Gleam kept the ball of light hovering past the bottom of the hole, the group made the rest of the descending journey to the bottom of the stairs. Earth Miser’s last step stopped right where the bottom of the hole broke apart and merged into the magma chamber. Fluttershy had everyone stop there and then with Angel Bunny on her back she grabbed Maud and carried her to the floor of the empty magma chamber. It took a while before they found a safe place to land among the sharp and jagged rocks but once her hooves were on the ground, Maud started pulverizing a lot of them to give them a better place to stand.

Fluttershy then went up and retrieved Amethyst Star, before bringing Daylight Gleam in last. Once the white unicorn was down there she deactivated the floating ball of light and started using her horn as a powerful directed flashlight again. In short order the ponies all looked around to see if there was anywhere to go but all Fluttershy could see was a dome-shaped room full of rocks.

“I guess this is where I come in,” Maud said, pushing over a big boulder of obsidian and clearing a path for them to one of the walls.

“Do you think you can find us a safe way out of here?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes. A safe way that leads to where we want to go? Might take a little more time,” Maud answered.

“Well I think that’s the best we can do right now… just ask if any of us can help.”

“Mm,” Maud nodded and got to work.

Daylight Gleam kept the light on them as they followed Maud’s path until she got to the wall and started feeling around it for any collapsed passages. Maud worked silently and so Fluttershy, Angel, and Amethyst Star pretty much had nothing to do for the moment.

“It’s not as hot here as I was expecting,” Amethyst Star suddenly said, breaking the silence either intentionally or not. “I mean, it’s still pretty darn hot, but it’s not boiling you know? I figured our hooves would be burning or something from standing around inside an old lava chamber cauldron thing.”

“Caldera,” Daylight corrected.

“Whatever. I’m just saying that things aren’t any hotter than up at Earth Miser’s place, and we’re supposed to be on the search for lava aren’t we?”

“Earth Miser did say that there usually isn’t any lava here. The source of it is probably far deeper. I don’t know how fast lava cools but once it does it’s just rocks again,” Fluttershy said. “Right Maud?”

“That is correct,” Maud answered as she continued tapping away at the walls of the defunct magma chamber.

The rock-obsessed pony then came to a section of the chamber that looked like it once led to a cave or another tunnel but had collapsed recently. Rocks laid in a pile all around it and the ponies could still make out cracks and gaps in the wall. Maud knocked one of the rocks down and checked the stability of the pile. Dirt fell down with it and she held a hoof under her chin, knocking down a few more pebbles.

Finally she looked back at the others. “We dig here.”

“Awesome,” Amethyst Star flatly responded.

Daylight Gleam sighed and dimmed her light by a bit, using telekinesis to move a few smaller boulders out of the way. “No time to waste...”

“There really isn’t,” Fluttershy said and got started on the pile as well. She didn’t have the capability to dig like the others but she was going to be putting her all towards it. Angel Bunny also finally hopped off her back and did his small part too, carrying away the pebbles that he could.

“Do we got any songs for digging?” Amethyst Star asked. “That would make this go by way easier.”

“Um, I can’t really think of one off the top of my head. Usually when I’m in the mood to sing it all just kind of comes naturally,” Fluttershy said.

“You two seem to know a lot more about spontaneous songs than me,” Daylight muttered.

“It’s just something you get used to in Ponyville,” Amethyst Star shrugged.

“A lot of that is thanks to Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said.

“But we always sing for Winter Wrap-Up too. And other stuff.”

“That’s true. In fact just the morning where I noticed Angel had gone missing and came down here searching for him I woke up and started singing about what a beautiful day it was.”

“Maybe there’s something in the water.”

“I would say that Ponyville just has that kind of special quality… that sounds a lot nicer.”

“As nice as it is to hear you two talk about singing, can we please put that energy towards digging instead?” An exasperated Daylight Gleam asked.

“Right, right,” Amethyst Star said and levitated some boulders away.

“Of course,” Fluttershy said and tossed a bowling ball sized rock off the pile.

Maud continued to do most of the heavy lifting, clearing out and destroying lots of the rocks blocking off the tunnel. Piece by piece the caved in tunnel slowly revealed more of itself. Slowly being the keyword. It was still a tough and arduous task and with how quiet things were the atmosphere was a little chilly. Which made things seem like they were going even slower. It was way easier to do something like this if you were somehow able to have fun doing it.

The two Ponyville natives glanced at each other and grinned.

Tunnel Dig-Up~
Tunnel Dig-Up~

Cause soon we’ll be out of here~

“Oh, so this is happening again,” Daylight raised an eyebrow at them while Maud continued to dig.

Oh it might be dark and boring in this cave~
But soon we’ll be right on our way~

Cause it’s-

Tunnel Dig-Up~
Tunnel Dig-Up~

Moving all these rocks and boulders~
Getting the dirt out of the way~
Making headway to go deep below~
And figure out the truth of things~

But all of that comes later~

Cause right now it’s-

Tunnel Dig-Up~
Tunnel Dig-Up~

Not a very fun thing~
But it’s easier with friends~
And it has to be done~
So get down in the dirt and open up that tunnel~

Cause it’s-

Tunnel Dig-Up~
Tunnel Dig-Up~

And soon we’ll be right out of here!~

“Yeah!” Amethyst Star and Fluttershy clapped their hooves together and laughed.

“We’re still only about halfway done,” Maud reminded them and pointed at the still mostly buried tunnel. “The song helped though.”

Fluttershy blushed. “Sorry, we’ll keep working.”

“Maybe we just needed a longer song...” Amethyst Star mused.

“No. Please. I’m sure the length of the song was fine,” Daylight Gleam said. She looked very exasperated.

“Then we probably should’ve repeated the lyrics some more or sang it a second time,” Amethyst Star said to Fluttershy, completely oblivious to Daylight’s feelings.

“Maybe,” Fluttershy honestly considered.

“The singing is fine. I was humming along to it,” Maud said.

“Really?” Fluttershy was surprised.

“No. But I almost did.”

Amethyst Star rubbed her chin as she levitated another rock away. “Since we’re halfway done now, if we work while singing it again will we be finished when the song is over?”

Fluttershy reached down and patted Angel Bunny. “Do you want to join in too?”

“W-Wait, we can just dig up the tunnel like normal...” Daylight said.

“Oh don’t be like that!” Amethyst Star smiled at the other unicorn. “You can join in too this time, now that you know the words!” She glanced over at Fluttershy. “From the top?”

Fluttershy nodded. “From the top!”

Cannibals or Not

The unlikely group of adventurers had now stumbled upon perhaps their most flummoxing of dilemmas and finds.

They sat at a crossroads. A tunnel that went left and right with no idea which one to choose. They looked the same. The air flowed down them the same. Maud had no thoughts to give on which might be the better choice. And a sign was put up in the middle of the intersection that (while on the surface was very helpful) was causing them quite a bit of concern.

First of all, who in the hay even made the sign? Fluttershy had no idea.

Second of all, whoever made it was either very kind, had a bad sense of humor, or had a very nefarious purpose. And the group honestly couldn’t figure out which one. They had nothing else to go on and each scenario was just as likely to them.

As they stared at the sign in confusion, Fluttershy took another deep breath and sighed.

A simple wooden post with one arrow pointing down the left tunnel that read “Cannibals” and one arrow pointing down the right tunnel that read “No Cannibals”.

Fluttershy was understandably startled when they first came across the sign. And it was still making her just a little bit queasy.

“So um… how do we go about this?” Daylight Gleam asked.

“I think we’re just overthinking this,” Amethyst Star said. “Like—wouldn’t we be idiots for not going down the right tunnel?” She pointed.

“I think we’d be bigger idiots if it was a trap and we fell for such an obvious one,” Daylight frowned.

“But who would put a trap like this down here? It must be like centuries since anypony even stumbled on it,” Amethyst Star said.

Maud reached forward and tapped the wooden signpost. “It’s not totally rotted but it’s falling apart a bit. I’m sorry Mudbriar isn’t here, he’d be able to date it.”

“I just don’t trust this one bit, it has to be a trap,” Daylight shook her head.

“Well my instincts are telling me to not look a gift horse in the mouth. Let’s just listen to the sign and take the obvious route,” Amethyst Star frowned.

“If your instincts are telling you to do something then we should do the exact opposite,” Daylight flatly looked at her.

“I… I can’t exactly disagree with that sentiment,” Amethyst Star bit her lip and rubbed her head. She hated to admit that Daylight was probably right about that.

Angel Bunny snored from his spot on Fluttershy’s back.

Fluttershy glanced worriedly down each tunnel. “Oh—we really don’t have time for something like this! I’m, um, very scared about running into c-cannibals of all things but we need to hurry up and keep moving. M-Maybe the whole thing is just a prank and there aren’t any cannibals at all? I don’t think Pinkie would ever make a prank like this, but Rainbow Dash might.”

“Can we take that risk?” Daylight asked.

“We’re taking a risk already no matter what tunnel we choose,” Amethyst Star said. “It’s basically the same no matter what we do.”

Daylight Gleam sighed and nodded. “Either a trap and we look like idiots mo matter which tunnel we choose to go down or we end up okay.”

“I kind of want to believe that whoever set up a sign like this was doing it out of kindness and honestly wanted to help whoever came down here,” Fluttershy pawed at the ground. “So with that being said I think we should go down the right tunnel too.” She then grimaced. “Oh, but if it turns out to be a trick then I think I would feel even worse about it.”

Daylight Gleam dragged an exasperated hoof down her face. “So we’re still stuck.”

“Well if the tunnels aren’t that long maybe we can just scout out one of them for a bit and if we see anything bad we can just run back here?” Amethyst suggested.

“Maybe. Or just I or you can go since we’re the only ones who can illuminate things, no sense putting us all in danger,” Daylight said.

“I can guarantee that I would somehow screw something up and put us in danger if I was sent off alone,” Amethyst Star said, absolutely no hesitation in her voice. “I’m not even trying to get out of doing it. I’m just saying that’s what would happen.”

Fluttershy was a little too nice to voice her agreement on that but Daylight had no problem. “Yeah, that’s actually probably true.”

“Maybe two of us can go down the right tunnel and the other two can stay here?” Amethyst suggested.

“Maybe...” Daylight considered.

“I-I-I really don’t know if splitting up is a good idea,” Fluttershy said, a frightened expression frozen on her face. “That just sounds scary. In stories doesn’t something bad happen in scary situations like this whenever ponies split up?”

“I don’t know if I’d really call this a scary situation. More like a potentially scary one,” Daylight said.

“Well Fluttershy is afraid of tape measurers so I’m not surprised she’s scared right now too,” Amethyst Star said.

Fluttershy frowned. “Only the metal ones...”

“At this point I suggest we just pick a tunnel at random and go down it,” Maud said. “We’ve already been here long enough.”

“Well we don’t have a coin to flip,” Daylight said.

“I could spin around in a circle until I get dizzy and whichever tunnel I end up pointing at we can go down?” Amethyst shrugged.

Daylight groaned. “Look—I was only joking. I don’t think such an idiotic thing should be used to decide where we’re going. We should think about this more, use our heads. This sign is here for a reason and I think it’s because it’s a trap. We should go where it obviously is telling us we shouldn’t go.”

“But you don’t know it’s here for a reason at all!” Amethyst challenged.

Angel Bunny was briefly woken up by their arguing. He tilted his head up to see what the commotion was, frowned, and then went back to sleeping.

Maud meanwhile didn’t seem to really be paying attention at all anymore. She only stared down the right tunnel and occasionally tapped on some of the rocks.

And so Fluttershy—despite really not wanting to be in this position—knew she was the one who had to decide. She was the “leader” after all. It was her adventure and she was the reason they were down here and in front of this sign in the first place. But she was scared. Even though she was being optimistic about the sign’s meaning, she was scared at just the mention and possibility of cannibals. Although since they might not be pony cannibals maybe they weren’t actually in that much danger? She hadn’t seen any ponies down here after all. Well now she was kind of overthinking things too. She couldn’t exactly imagine cannibals were friendly though, even if ponies like them weren’t on the menu.

There were just other things they had to deal with right now. One big thing as it happens. And Fluttershy didn’t care if it was a trap or a trick but she was going to do her best to avoid any cannibals. So they were going to do the obvious thing. Even if it may have been so obvious that it was stupid.

“Enough!” Fluttershy stomped her hoof on the ground, gaining the attention of not just Amethyst and Daylight but Maud and a freshly startled awake Angel Bunny as well. She blushed in embarrassment at her mild outburst but quickly got control of herself. “Sorry, but we need to get a move on. I understand we’re all worried over this sign and what it could mean for us, but we have something very important to do. Even if we make the wrong choice and run into some c-cannibals we’ll just have to overcome that too.” She took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of the other three ponies one by one. “We’re going to go down the right tunnel that says “No Cannibals”, okay?”

“Roger that!” Amethyst Star smiled widely and saluted.

“Got it,” Maud nodded.

“I’m… yeah. Let’s go,” Daylight was hesitant at first but then smiled at Fluttershy.

“Good,” Fluttershy smiled. “I know we might have some differences in opinion and everything but I’m glad we can still work together and put those differences aside to make sure we do what we need to. That’s harmony.”

“You’re sounding a little like Twilight,” Maud said.

Fluttershy blushed. “Um, I-I don’t think I’m quite at that level of friendship speech yet. I just think it’s really wonderful when different ponies can come together for a common cause. It’s beautiful in a way.”

Maud nodded stoically. “I agree.”

“Uh, so are we actually moving now?” Amethyst Star asked and pointed down the right tunnel.

“Oh! Yes, yes, let’s go as quickly as we can—but still watch out and be careful,” Fluttershy said.

“I’ll light the way like always,” Daylight Gleam said and walked in front, the powerful light from her horn illuminating the tunnel. “And no need to worry, like this we’ll see any cannibals coming if they’re there.” She chuckled and winked back at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gulped. “Oh dear...”

Hot Enough to Fry an Egg

There had been several times in their journey deep below the surface of the earth that it had been very hot. The poison forest was one example of that, where it was very hot and humid. And ever since meeting Earth Miser and leaving his domain things had been steadily increasing in heat. But that still wasn’t enough to prepare the ponies for the sheer boiling heat of where they were traveling now. Sweat? What was sweat? They didn’t have any more liquid in their bodies to sweat out anymore. It was a painfully dry heat all around them that left them parched and desiccated. It was good they had gotten water not too long ago from Earth Miser or they’d likely be completely dehydrated and unable to move on.

The caves they were traveling through were black craggy rock all around them. No pathway was straight or even, they traveled down jagged tunnels full of stalactites, stalagmites, arches, pillars, ledges, pits, and every other geological feature. Some were big enough for them to easily trot through together, others they had to squeeze through one by one. And all were hot, hot, hot. The black rock seemed to absorb the light from Daylight’s horn, making things darker than they should be, while also burning hot under their hooves and making travel over them painful at this point. Fluttershy knew that if she looked at the bottom of her hooves they’d be red.

And still they trudged on through this boiling oven of a cave. Through this inferno that baked their bodies. Fluttershy remembered the time she and her friends walked through the desert to Klugetown. How she wished she could be back in that desert right now. Amethyst Star, Daylight Gleam, and Angel Bunny were feeling the heat just as much as her, their dried out bodies moving like zombies through the caves. Their mouths hung open with their tongues hanging down out of them, too tired to pant. Maud, to Fluttershy’s astonishment and worry, was still wearing her frock despite the fact she was obviously feeling the effects of the heat as well. She must have been burning up inside it but refused to take it off.

Just another Maud mystery.

“I-I don’t know about you guys, but I’m about to collapse,” Amethyst Star said.

“Do that and you’ll… you’ll become a cooked pony in an hour,” Daylight Gleam said.

“That’s… already… happening,” Amethyst Star struggled with each breath.

“S-Serious though… lying down on this hot rock… you’ll get burned up,” Daylight Gleam said. “I-It’s already happening with our hooves… if we stood in one place too long… the rock would cook them.”

“I think… mine are already steaming,” Amethyst Star said.

Angel Bunny squeaked out an uncomfortable groan from where he was on Fluttershy’s back. As soon as the rock started getting hot to the touch he had jumped on her. No way was he walking his sensitive feet over these rocks. It still didn’t help him much though as he boiled and overheated just as bad from lying on her.

“We have to keep going,” Fluttershy said. “I-I’m hot too, very hot, and lightheaded, but we need to go deeper.”

“This heat is a good thing,” Maud said. Somehow she only seemed slightly strained. “It means we’re getting closer to the lava that pooled below Earth Miser’s home. Probably.”

Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes. “Probably she says...”

“I think it’s the case too,” Fluttershy said.

“W-What else could it be? We have to be getting close to the lava or whatever. What else could be heating the caves up like this?” Amethyst Star said.

“I just wish we knew how much deeper we had to go...” Fluttershy said, the burning sensation on her hooves actually starting to make them go numb.

Maybe numb was the wrong word. It was more like they had been burned enough that she lost feeling in them. Fluttershy wondered if it was just semantics, but numb made her think of cold things. This was like frequent pain that burned away her nerves or had finally made her gotten used to it after walking over the rocks for so long. Fluttershy winced, she made that sound a little more gruesome than she wanted.

The group found their way to a pit that snaked down into the darkness at not quite a vertical drop but it would be troublesome to go down it regardless. Daylight’s light shown in and at least revealed a number of ledges and places to put their hooves but the heat coming up from the pit was nearly unbearable. Fluttershy was almost surprised that steam wasn’t billowing up from it. The girls all stared down into it together and winced.

“A-Are we going to be able to make it through this?” Amethyst Star asked. “We’re not going to burn up or spontaneously combust?”

“I uh… I’m also worried about our ability to make it through here without collapsing for good,” Daylight Gleam said.

Fluttershy looked around the rough and broken crag they were in. “Is there any other way to go?”

“Not that I’ve seen,” Maud said. “Not that goes where we need to go.”

“You ever have grilled pineapple? I could grill pineapple on the rocks down here,” Amethyst Star said.

“Or fry an egg on them,” Daylight winced.

Fluttershy frowned, knowing that they were only barely able to deal with the heat now. If it got worse then they would likely pass out from heat stroke and exhaustion. And then probably not wake up. What could they do to deal with the heat? It was practically overpowering just standing here and Fluttershy’s mind was starting to melt.

She put a burnt up hoof on her forehead and tried to think.

Her forehead…

Fluttershy blinked and looked over at Daylight Gleam and Amethyst Star. More specifically the two horns on their heads.

“Um, Amethyst? Miss Daylight? I know this might be a lot to ask but… can you make a bubble with your magic that blocks the heat?” She immediately blushed. “Um, sorry if that’s just silly and it doesn’t work that way, I-I know must unicorns can only really do magic relating to their special talent and some things, but I’ve just been around Twilight and Starlight so long that-”

“Whoa, you can stop right there!” Daylight Gleam said and tried to offer a weak smile to her. “Unicorns can move stuff with our magic and create fields around it to do that, but yeah, actually blocking heat with a magic shield is a little different.”

“I’m not very good with using my magic for anything other than rudimentary stuff...” Amethyst Star said, looking at the ground with downcast eyes.

“So we can’t do it?” Fluttershy asked.

“I could… try. But I’ll have to exert myself for it. I’m decent enough when it comes to making your ordinary magic shields, but one that’s specifically made to block out heat will be tougher to concentrate on,” Daylight said.

“Speaking from experience as a fellow unicorn, she could accidentally knock herself out what with how hot it is already down here. The heat and strain might make her pass out,” Amethyst said.

Fluttershy grimaced. “Then I don’t think we should-”

“I’ll do it,” Daylight said.

The others looked at her, Fluttershy shook her head a few times. “No, it sounds too dangerous. I don’t want you to do something like that to yourself.”

“Fluttershy, what other options do we have? We have to go down here. We have to figure out where the lava is. And we have to figure out why its become so active lately,” Daylight said with a serious look etched on her face. “So the way I see it, it’s this or nothing. We’d either have to get through this hot zone and have our bodies acclimate to the heat or use a magic spell to try and negate or weaken the heat’s effect on us. It’s clear we can’t force our way further naturally so option number two is what we have to work with.”

“But-” Fluttershy tried to say but found herself cut off by Angel this time. The tiny bunny tugging on her mane and frowning at her, telling her to just let the unicorn do what she wanted to do.

“It’s not something just Daylight has to do either,” Amethyst Star said. “I uh, I don’t have a lot of power and there’s no way I have the finesse or skills to perform the spell myself or anything, but I’ve still got some power in this horn. I can pour what I’ve got into Daylight and give her a boost.”

“And I’ll carry you,” Maud said.

Daylight’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait, you don’t need to do anything like that, you’re already hotter than any of us thanks to your clothes.”

“I want to be able to help too. And I’m strong, it won’t be much more effort to have a pony on my back. That way you can completely focus on your spell and magic. It will be good for all of us,” Maud said.

Daylight Gleam smiled at her and nodded after a moment’s hesitation. “Heh, alright, thanks Maud.”

“And I’ll be moral support!” Fluttershy cheered, to her own degree.

“Then we better get this started before we lose even more energy,” Daylight said as she stared down at the pit and then to the others. “Okay, I’m going to cover all of us in a field of magic first. Just to get used to the effort it takes to make sure all of us are covered. And then I’ll actually turn it all into protective shielding… and who knows? Light and heat go together so maybe I’ll find it easier than I think.”

“I guess I’ll give you some extra juice right from the start,” Amethyst Star said and walked up to Daylight. She lit her horn up till it was pulsing magenta magic and then tapped the tip of her horn to Daylight’s. “Hng!” Amethyst Star grunted and transferred the magical energy straight into Daylight Gleam.

Daylight squeezed her eyes shut as the magic flowed into her, feeling like she had just gotten a big recharge in her horn. Taking a deep breath she then put as much power as she could into her horn, creating a strong powder blue glow from it. She kept her eyes shut and didn’t say or do anything else to ruin her concentration as the blue glow expanded out like a bubble and enveloped the other ponies and rabbit. At first it was just a big sphere around them but then it contracted, shrinking down and conforming to just their shapes until it was more like a skintight suit each one of them wore. Daylight winced as she tried to keep the shield’s form, tried to get used to the effort it took. Fluttershy and the others stayed still to make it as easy as possible for her.

Speaking of them, they didn’t really feel any change so far. Maybe a strange sensation of something rubbing them but the heat wasn’t blocked out yet at all.

“I… I think I have the form down,” Daylight Gleam panted after a minute and opened her eyes. “M-Maud… can you come over here so I can lean on you?”

Wordlessly, Maud stepped right beside Daylight Gleam and helped the white unicorn drape herself over her body.

“T-Thanks… okay… now I’m going to activate the second part of the spell and see if the heat lets up a little bit,” Daylight closed her eyes again and put more power into her horn, grunting in exertion and biting her lip. The powder blue aura from her horn turned into a bright white—as did the magic all around the others.

Fluttershy had to close her eyes from the powerful shine, spots showing behind her eyelids when she did so. After a second she was able to blearily open them back up and see clearly again after some blinking. Everypony was now encased in just the slightest of shimmering auras that were only barely visible. In fact they probably wouldn’t be visible at all if it wasn’t for how they contrasted with the darkness around them.

And the heat… it was still really bad but it didn’t feel like they were about to walk into a bonfire either. It actually felt like they might be able to manage it.

“T-There… that should do it,” Daylight said in her slumped over form on Maud’s back, her eyes were bloodshot and the tip of her horn glowed with a powerful white light.

“A-Are you okay?!” Fluttershy asked, running up to her.

Daylight weakly nodded. “Yes… just can’t really move. And I can’t keep this up for long. We need to get out of here and solve this lava problem quickly.”

“Yeah I’m a little beat from pumping that magic into her too,” Amethyst Star said, holding a hoof to her forehead.

“T-Then let’s go on...” Fluttershy gulped down a worried breath and walked back to the pit. It was hot staring into it and they would still practically melt going down it. But they could do it now. And the lava that had brought them here couldn’t be much further on. Fluttershy was sure that was what this inferno meant.

Magman

The pit went down a steep slope for a while before leveling off for a few feet and then leading to another slope. This was how it was time after time as Fluttershy and the others went down it. It was crooked too, never quite actually turning or circling around but rarely being totally straight either. The heat was bad and still pretty painful for all of them but they were at least able to make their way through it thanks to the extra protection of Daylight’s magic. The white unicorn was still practically immobile and lying across Maud’s back. Maud didn’t look like the extra weight affected her at all and Amethyst Star only occasionally rubbed at her forehead to complain about a burgeoning headache. Angel Bunny continued his ride on Fluttershy’s back to avoid direct contact with the heated rocks.

“Maud? Do you think we’re coming close to the lava chamber?” Fluttershy asked her.

“I would say so. Based on how deep we already are and the increasing heat. We may technically already be inside what could be considered as an underground volcano,” Maud said. “Meaning the central magma chamber can only be so far away.”

“Is it magma or lava?” Amethyst Star asked. “Cause I’ve kind of been using both. I think we all have.”

“Since we’re underground it should technically always be called magma, even though it’s been flowing and erupting in other places, it’s still magma since it’s underground,” Maud said.

“Good to know. I mean, I hope I never have to deal with magma and volcanoes ever again after this, but it’s the principle of the matter,” Amethyst Star said.

“Same with me… although I visit the Dragon Lands every now and then and there are a lot of lava pools there,” Fluttershy said.

“I like magma in its own way. It’s just another state of rock,” Maud said.

“Ungh, c-can we be a little quieter?” Daylight Gleam asked through gritted teeth. “Hard to keep this up already...”

Fluttershy smiled apologetically and rubbed her hoof in circular motions on the other mare’s shoulder to try and relax her. “Sorry, Daylight. We’re just trying to pass the time.”

“Yeah I’ve got a headache but you don’t see me complaining,” Amethyst Star said.

Angel Bunny reached over and slapped her.

“Ow!”

“Let’s just keep walking. It’s getting hotter even through the shields again,” Maud said.

Maud was right and as they went down another slope the powerful heat coming from the air and straight up through the rocks was starting to become overwhelming despite Daylight’s magic. The air shimmered and wavered like a dragon was getting ready to breathe fire in their faces and the rocks felt like walking over a grill. That wasn’t going to dissuade them any longer though. Heat or no heat they were going to make it through this tunnel and find the true magma chamber.

It didn’t take more than a few more jagged slopes before Fluttershy saw a glowing orange light at the end of the tunnel.

“I-I think this is it...” she said.

They slid down the last bit of sloped, scalding rocks and walked towards the light. It was a fearsome light, scary and hot. Not warm and inviting like the sun or a flashlight in a dark forest. Fluttershy found herself shaking with each step she took closer to it despite all her efforts not to and everything else she had already been through down here. This was it. It for real. The light pouring in from just outside the tunnel got more powerful, tinged with deep reds and bright yellow beams. And the heat that came along with it made Fluttershy’s frightened mind leap to comparisons of crematoriums.

Everypony was silent as they walked into the light and exited the tunnel.

They appeared at a ledge on the wall of a massive cavern, it was circular in form with walls shooting up several hundred feet, pillars of stone also dotted the cavern to hold up the ceiling while natural bridges and walkways spanned much of it, almost forming circles and rings around the cavern to get to practically any part. Giant spikes of stone protruded up from the floor and hung from the ceiling while a huge hole in the middle of the ceiling that the mares couldn’t fully see into penetrated the cavern and the subterranean realms above.

And of course, the “floor” of the cavern wasn’t really a floor at all. It was a gigantic, bubbling, red hot pool of magma. It covered the entire bottom of the cavern, hissing and oozing, crackling and slooshing while sitting there. It was just magma, it didn’t think or feel but it somehow appeared so malevolent just looking at it. Who knew how deep that pool was and how much magma was really down there. It could probably bury all of Ponyville if it erupted right underneath it. Bubbles of the hot liquid popped and splattered magma against the rocks while the pool churned.

That wasn’t the only thing about the magma and this chamber it resided in though. In the center of the chamber—directly beneath the hole above—the great form of something rose out of the magma.

It was huge, rising up and up till the dome of its head almost touched the ceiling. It looked like it was totally made out of magma and connected to the deep pool below, with it having a massive upper body and two powerful looking arms that ended in big hands and thick fingers that almost hung low enough to dip into the pool but a waist that got narrower and narrower as it went down until it tapered off into the pool of magma itself. The magma avatar’s head was big and egg-shaped almost like a gorilla’s with a squat nose on its face and a huge lower jaw that jutted out over its chest.

Fluttershy could safely say that even if it wasn’t a giant made of magma that she had never seen anything remotely close to looking like it.

And it had eyes too. Real actual eyes that were a surprisingly deep and expressive blue. Fluttershy almost felt herself mesmerized looking at them.

All the others were just as quiet as she had been—plainly shocked to come out here and see this… thing. Whatever it was. It was so absolutely giant that it practically filled up the entire chamber, bigger than all but the biggest of dragons and other creatures that Fluttershy had ever seen. Was it intelligent like Earth Miser or was it some kind of mindless magma monster? The magma that made up its body constantly flowed and roiled about, bubbling and dripping down. It seemed like just whatever this magma being was hadn’t noticed them at all either. Not exactly surprising how tiny they were compared to it.

“W-What do we do?” Amethyst Star asked, a frightened grimace frozen on her face as she stared at the magma giant.

Fluttershy shook her head. “At this point I’m not so sure.” She was definitely feeling a little afraid too.

“At least it isn’t… trying to melt us...” Daylight Gleam said.

“I really want to talk to it and ask what melted rocks it’s comprised of,” Maud said.

“Um, well speaking of talking...” Fluttershy bit her lip. “That probably is the best way to go about this. I-I can fly up to his face and say hello. I’m sure he’s friendly.”

“You don’t seem to believe that,” Amethyst Star said.

“I want to believe it. And um, it’s my way of doing things. Be kind and be genuine and you’ll definitely get some kindness back in return. If I just politely ask him about who he is and if he has anything to do with the recent eruptions we’ll resolve things down here quickly, calmly, and peacefully,” Fluttershy smiled.

“I can safely say I don’t share your optimism right now.”

Angel Bunny reached over and slapped her again.

“Ow!”

“That huge thing is just sitting there… standing there… in the magma pool,” Daylight Gleam said. “Is it even really alive? And if you get close to it it might burn you up, Fluttershy.”

“Well what else can we do?” Fluttershy asked.

“I still think we should be a little more quiet for a while and just watch it,” Amethyst Star said.

“For once… I agree with Amethyst,” Daylight said.

Fluttershy looked to Maud. “Maud? What about you?”

“I’m also worried for your safety but I have faith in you. I’m well aware of your exploits,” Maud said.

“Well that settles it for me,” Fluttershy resolutely said. “I want you to stay here and out of sight just in case but I’m going to go fly up to him and see what I can learn. Angel? Can you please go with Miss Amethyst Star for now? I don’t want you to be in any danger either.”

Angel Bunny frowned up at her and for a moment Fluttershy thought he would refuse. But after a quick hug to her head he hopped off her back and onto Amethyst’s, where the two proceeded to glare at each other. Now that it seemed everypony (and rabbit and pet rock) were ready, Fluttershy extended her wings and prepared to fly up to face the magma being.

When a gigantic sigh left its lips and the shoulders of magma slumped.

Fluttershy and the others paused and looked up at him in confusion while the magma being looked down at the huge pool of magma, his eyes were half-closed and he appeared to be deep in thought and quite upset about something. The entire body of magma shuddered and rippled, causing more ripples to radiate out of the pool and make it all bubble more fiercely. The magma being balled his hands into fists and then looked up at the ceiling—directly into the large hole leading above.

“OOOOHHHHH~” A deep hollering moan came from his mouth that shook the entire chamber. His bass voice reverberated in here as if it was the perfect sound stage.

Fluttershy’s jaw dropped at the emotional wailing and she and the others had a good feeling of what was coming next.

“Is this really about to happen? Is this real life?” Daylight asked.

“I think it is,” Amethyst Star said, her expression one of a very weirded out pony.

“I’m excited,” Maud said.

The magma being raised his arms, holding them wide so that they almost touched the walls of the chamber.

And began to sing.

Ooooohhhh what another ordinary day~
The same as any old I’m sad to say~
Just quiet and lonely deep down here~
I still haven’t found any friends I fear~

The magma entity let out a deep sigh after this verse and glumly stared back down at the magma pool. His melody was flat and slow and Fluttershy could almost visualize the tubas and heavy drums that would’ve gone along with it.

What a lonely place this has always been~
And to find some friends I don’t know where to begin~
I just wish I could do something to brighten my mood~
But those happy feelings continue to elude~

Just stuck down here with nothing to do~
Always alone with no one to talk to~
I try and try my best but it’s no good~
There’s no way to make any friends here, who could?~

“Oh… he’s so lonely,” Fluttershy whispered as she listened to him sing, she clasped her hooves under her chin as he continued on.

Yes it’s lonely here, oh it’s so lonely here~
I’ve always been alone as far as I can remember~
Despite my efforts I can’t do anything, so I’ve learned~
Oh yes it’s lonely here down in the center of the Woooooooorld!~

“OHHHHHH!~” He hung onto the last note for an outrageously long time, whatever passed for his lungs must’ve been quite robust, and it was so loud too that all the ponies and rabbit had to cover their ears. The chamber shook and dust fell from the ceiling while the rocks vibrated.

When he was done he let out another deep sigh and slumped over, looking utterly defeated and empty.

Fluttershy found tears building up in her eyes. “I know exactly how he feels. Oh, this has definitely been a mistake just like with Earth Miser! He just wants some friends.”

“I mean, yeah that’s what the song said and all, but do we really know how he’ll react to seeing us?” Amethyst Star said. “He might not even know what ponies are.”

“You do… you...” Daylight Gleam said. “I’m too weirded out to try and talk you out of anything anymore. I somehow get the feeling that anything logical or smart I think of isn’t going to apply here.”

Fluttershy nodded and turned back to look at the magma being. “Then I’m going.”

She put her hoof at the edge of the ledge they were on—and accidentally kicked a pebble off it that went falling to one of the rock bridges below that spanned the chamber. The pebble hit it with a loud clatter that echoed each time it bounced, loud enough to get the attention of anything in here. Fluttershy and the others winced with each loud sound and glanced up at the magma entity.

He had heard it too and when he looked over his eyes finally found the interlopers. His wide mouth and big eyes were both open in surprise as he stared at them.

“I am honestly surprised it wasn’t me who did that,” Amethyst Star said.

Fluttershy now shyly blushed and smiled up at the magma being. “Um, hello.” She waved.

The magma being’s whole body boiled and bubbled, whether from embarrassment or anger it was impossible to tell, and he drew himself up to his full height while holding his balled up fists in front of his chest. “WHO DARES ENTER THE LAIR OF MAGMAN?!”

“I’m Fluttershy, and these are my friends, it’s nice to meet you, Magman.” Fluttershy said, sweating. “I-I really liked your song. It was very heartfelt.”

Magman’s eyes opened even wider. “S-SONG?! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!”

Fluttershy frowned. “But you were singing just now, we all heard it, it was lovely. It really resonated with me.”

“Fluttershy...” Daylight Gleam warned.

“I DIDN’T SING! AND I CERTAINLY DIDN’T SING ABOUT WANTING FRIENDS!” Magman yelled.

“But no one mentioned you singing about wanting friends,” Amethyst Star said.

“Oh no...” Daylight muttered.

“AND I-I DIDN’T, WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYI—HOW DARE YOU!” Magman roared and lifted up one of his long and powerful arms.

“Uh oh,” Maud blinked.

Magman’s big palm came down right at their location, the red hot magma hand threatening to smother, melt, and crush them all at once.

“Jump!” Fluttershy yelled and jumped off the ledge to the rock bridge below. The others followed right after her, Maud jumping with Daylight on her back and Amethyst with Angel Bunny.

They landed with a crash on the bridge while Magman’s hand swatted against the wall and ledge where they had just been standing. His magma hand smeared against the rock, leaving a red hot trail behind as the wall partially melted.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT BRINGS YOU INTRUDERS HERE BUT YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE ME!” Magman roared.

Fluttershy looked over at the melting wall and then frowned up at Magman. “Now hold on one second! You’re not being very nice right now!”

“NICE? NICE?! YOU COME TO MY HOME UNINVITED TO EAVESDROP ON ME AND THEN LIE TO MY FACE! YOU DON’T DESERVE NICE!” Magman’s body blistered and bubbled, turning even redder.

But Fluttershy wasn’t dissuaded despite the fear rolling off her friends. “Y-You listen here, okay! E-Even if you’re embarrassed about us hearing your song, this is no way to act!” She clenched her hoof in front of her chest. “We didn’t mean to eavesdrop and I’m sorry about that but we’re trying to be friendly here. And we aren’t lying and you know it, s-so don’t lie to yourself either, cause attacking us won’t help you. Um, it will probably just make you feel worse actually.”

“LIARS!” The furious Magman roared and brought his hand down towards them again.

“Run!” Amethyst Star yelled this time and the whole group sped off down the bridge.

Magman’s hand landed right behind them, smashing through the rock and shaking the entire rest of the bridge. Cracks shot through it and now the entire thing threatened to break apart after Magman’s powerful blow shattered and melted a good portion of it in the middle. The ponies were all thrown to the ground and landed in a heap on the shaking bridge. Fluttershy looked down to see pieces of rock breaking off and falling into the blistering magma pool, where they disappeared with a ploop.

“I AM NOT EMBARRASSED ABOUT ANYTHING! I AM THE MIGHTY MAGMAN! I CERTAINLY DID NOT SING ABOUT HOW LONELY I AM AND HOW MUCH I WISH I COULD HAVE FRIENDS! DO NOT SPEAK ANOTHER WORD OF SUCH A THING!” Magman shook his fists and shouted, his voice echoing around the entire chamber and making it all shake as well.

Amethyst Star shook in fear, holding herself while Angel Bunny hugged tightly to her back. Maud looked slightly worried now as well, though it might have just been concern for the others. Daylight Gleam looked close to passing out, her eyes half-lidded as she breathed hard and stared up at Magman.

And Fluttershy? Fluttershy was mad.

She stood up tall and fiercely stared into Magman’s eyes, not scared at all by his shouting or display. “Now you look here!” She said, stomping a hoof down and flaring open her wings. “With the way you’ve been acting, even if there were others for you to meet, nopony would want to be your friend anyways!”

Magman’s jaw dropped, Angel Bunny’s jaw dropped, Amethyst Star’s jaw dropped, Daylight Gleam’s jaw dropped.

Maud’s jaw dropped.

“Fl-Fluttershy?” Amethyst Star tilted her head.

Fluttershy didn’t answer her as she flew up and away from the bridge—straight towards Magman’s face.

The giant magma being shrunk back away from her, his lip quivering as the frowning pegasus got right up in front of him.

“Okay, you! It was wrong of us to eavesdrop like that and I can certainly understand feeling shy and embarrassed because it’s happened to me many, many, times in my life! But we apologized! So there’s no reason to be a big, unfair, violent meanie!” Fluttershy admonished him. “Do you have any idea how happy I was when we got in here and I heard your song? I was happy because I could feel so much genuine emotion coming from you, I could feel your pain and sorrow and I knew that it meant you were a good magma being because nopony evil could sing a song like that! And I knew exactly what had happened that made us come down here. You were looking for friends.” She held up a hoof to silence any retort from Magman. “And don’t you dare deny it! You were scared, tired, sad, and lonely, and all you were doing was trying to find more friends or get out of this place so you wouldn’t have to be alone anymore. However, if you think acting out like this is okay then you’re wrong. You may have a lot of pride but that doesn’t make it okay to attack others in your moment of weakness. Especially when we just came here to help and I was fully willing to be your friend. If you gave me the chance.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then smiled warmly at Magman. “Would you still like to be friends?”

Magman’s lip quivered some more as whining noises emerged from his throat. The ponies watched in confusion and worry up until the magma being threw his head back and opened up his mouth, wailing and crying up at the ceiling.

“WAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Magman cried loudly, shaking the entire chamber again. “WAAAAAAA!”

Big tears of magma rolled from his eyes, falling down his cheeks and then into the pool. He lifted his hands to try and rub his eyes and stop the flow of “tears” but it was to no avail. Magman kept crying and crying with his tears dropping into the pool of magma, making the whole thing bubble and sizzle some more. In fact the entire magma pool was rippling and bubbling with more ferocity, like a pot of water that had been left on boiling for too long. It was making Fluttershy and the other ponies a little worried.

“Oh dear...” Fluttershy grimaced and held a hoof up to her mouth. “Um, M-Magman, I really didn’t mean to be so mean, I just needed you to see-” He kept crying and crying, not even hearing her. “I think I overdid it…”

“F-Fluttershy! You’ve got to make him stop!” Amethyst Star shouted up at her.

“This bridge is collapsing. As is most of the rest of the chamber,” Maud said.

“Magman, please! There’s no need to cry anymore!” Fluttershy tried to consul him.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Fluttershy had to cover her ears thanks to his wailing and she looked back down at the bridge to see her friends and beloved Angel Bunny barely hanging on as it rocked. “Ohhhh...” Fluttershy grit her teeth and then looked at Magman with a steely gaze. “Mr. Magman! Stop this crying AT ONCE!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.

Magman was startled out of his crying, tilting his head down and fearfully looking at Fluttershy.

“I-I-I know what it’s like to want to cry… and to have others shout at you and say mean things. So I’m very sorry I had to be a little harsh with you but I did it for a reason,” Fluttershy said and took another breath. “It’s because I care. About my friends and about you—even though we just met. Sometimes being kind can take a lot of different forms. Just like how being lonely and sad can.”

Magman sniffled and looked down in shame.

“Would you um, care to tell me how you’re feeling?” Fluttershy asked.

One last big magma teardrop rolled off of Magman’s face into the pool below before he nodded and shyly looked up at her. “MAGMAN HAS ALWAYS BEEN ALONE. BUT I HAVE ALWAYS TOLD MYSELF THAT I’M STRONG. I… I DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU CAME HERE AND STARTED SAYING SUCH THINGS. M-MY SINGING IS SHAMEFUL… I WAS JUST SO LONELY.”

“Oh Magman,” Fluttershy smiled comfortingly at him. “There’s nothing shameful about anything you were singing about. You’ve obviously been here a very long time, who could blame you for wanting some friends?”

“I-I AM SORRY FOR ATTACKING YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS. I WAS SCARED… AND TOO PROUD TO ADMIT THAT I WAS LONELY,” Magman said. “DO YOU HAVE MANY FRIENDS?”

“Yes, I do,” Fluttershy nodded. “And some of those friendships started out rocky, some of them have had tough times, and besides the ones I’ve been directly involved in I’ve seen many rough friendships. And I’ve seen many ponies and creatures who didn’t have any friends make their very first ones. And it’s beautiful. If you let me, Magman, I’d love to help you make your first friends too.”

“R-REALLY?” Magman looked hopeful as he leaned in.

Fluttershy giggled. “Well… you’ve already made your first friend.”

Magman’s head tilted in confusion. “WHO?”

“Me of course,” Fluttershy said. She then looked down at her friends and pointed to them. “And I’m sure my other friends here would love to become your friends too.”

Magman looked down at them with stars practically in his eyes. “WOULD THEY REALLY? IS IT TRUE WHAT THE ONE CALLED FLUTTERSHY SPEAKS?”

“Yes.” Maud instantly responded, getting surprised looks from the others. “I would love to be your friend. By any chance, do you happen to know just what molten rocks compose your body? If that’s too personal of a question for friends who just met then I can understand.”

“OOOOHHH...” Magman sniffled, lifting up a hand to wipe away at his eyes again thanks to being overwhelmed by Fluttershy and Maud’s friendliness.

“I… have made lots… of unusual friends,” Daylight Gleam panted. “I wouldn’t mind making one more. Hello… Magman. My name is… Daylight Gleam.”

“I-IT’S NICE TO MEET YOU!” Magman said.

“Uh and I kind of live right above you so I guess we’re already technically neighbors,” Amethyst Star shrugged. “So sure, being friends sounds pretty cool. Definitely going to be a surprise to my other friends back in Ponyville.”

“NEIGHBOR? I HAVE A NEIGHBOR?” Magman sounded genuinely happy.

Fluttershy then looked down at Angel Bunny and frowned at him.

The rabbit huffed and rolled his eyes, but waved up at Magman anyways.

“And Angel Bunny says he wants to be friends too,” Fluttershy said to Magman. “Look at all the new friends you’ve just made, Magman!”

“I-I CAN’T BELIEVE IT. I WOKE UP TODAY THINKING IT WOULD BE THE SAME SAD AND LONELY DAY AS ALWAYS BUT NOW...” Magman’s lip quivered as he came close to crying again.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy winced and waved her hooves about. “No need to cry! This is a happy occasion!”

“THANK YOU SO MUCH! I WISH I COULD JUST HUG YOU!”

“Oh, um, I wish you could too but… I don’t think that would end well,” Fluttershy gulped.

Magman shrunk down slightky. “Y-YES, I WOULDN’T WANT TO BURN ONE OF MY NEW FRIENDS.” He looked down at the others. “BUT THE HEAT IN HERE… YOU ARE ALL FINE?”

Fluttershy smiled. “That would be thanks to my—our—friend Daylight. She’s using a spell to block most of the heat from hurting us. But it’s taking a lot out of her...”

“OHHHH,” Magman nodded and squinted at the exhausted pony atop Maud’s back. “HERE, ALLOW ME TO CHANGE THAT FOR YOU!” Magman lifted up his big right hand and snapped his fingers, instantly the temperature in the chamber dropped and suddenly Fluttershy felt like she was simply out under the sun on a normal day. “NOTHING THAT I CAN’T HANDLE!”

Amethyst Star blinked a few times as she felt far more comfortable too. She lifted a hoof and walked around a little, practically feeling like the air was cool. “Huh, that’s pretty awesome.” She glanced over at Daylight. “I think you can turn off your spell now. Magman’s taken care of it.”

“A-Agreed...” Daylight Gleam concentrated and canceled the spell with a feeling of relief almost instantly washing over her. “Oooooh, that’s much better.” She slipped off of Maud’s back and took a seat on the ground.

Angel Bunny too jumped right off of Amethyst Star’s back and stretched before looking up at Fluttershy to see how she was doing.

“This is so nice! Thank you, Magman!” Fluttershy smiled at him.

“I MUST MAKE MY NEW FRIENDS COMFORTABLE AFTER ALL… RIGHT?” Magman asked.

“As long as it isn’t any detriment to you, then yes, it’s wonderful to be so considerate. Just make sure you don’t go too far—I have a certain friend who made that mistake once,” Fluttershy giggled.

“Fluttershy!” Daylight called up to her. “There’s something else you need to talk to him about, remember?”

“Oh, yes.” Fluttershy blushed and then a more serious expression came over her face as she looked at Magman. “Um, Magman? We need to talk about what you’ve been doing lately. With, um, your “eruptions” and sending lava up higher through the ground.”

“Magma,” Maud corrected.

“Anyways-” Fluttershy continued. “You did a lot of damage to someone’s home and scared them quite a bit. I’m not blaming you! Or even angry with you at all, but you just can’t do that anymore. There’s so much you could accidentally destroy or put in danger with your magma.”

Magman glumly looked down. “I-I KNOW. I WAS JUST SO LONELY AND FRUSTRATED, EVEN MORE LATELY, AND SO I TRIED TO FIND FRIENDS OR SOMEWHERE NEW. I WASN’T THINKING ABOUT ALL THE DESTRUCTION MY MAGMA WOULD CAUSE. PLEASE FORGIVE ME, FLUTTERSHY.”

“It’s okay, I already forgive you,” Fluttershy said. “And thank you so much for being understanding! I’m so happy to have met you.” The smile on her face grew a little sad as she briefly looked down at her friends and then back at Magman. “But now… we all have to get going.”

Magman’s jaw dropped. He looked so depressed once more. “YOU’RE LEAVING?”

“I’m sorry, Magman, but we can’t stay here,” Fluttershy shook her head. “We have homes and families up above, back on the surface. And we couldn’t exactly live forever in your magma chamber in the first place.”

“I UNDERSTAND… BUT… I’M SAD THAT MY NEW FRIENDS HAVE TO LEAVE SO SOON AND I’M GOING TO BE ALONE AGAIN,” a fresh round of magma tears started building at his eyes.

“We’ll come back and visit, I promise!” Fluttershy said.

“We will?” Amethyst Star raised an eyebrow.

Angel Bunny smacked her.

“Ow! I mean, yes, we totally will!” Amethyst Star fervently nodded. “I probably won’t come on my own though since I would definitely get lost but if Maud is ever coming down to visit you then I guess I wouldn’t mind joining her.”

“And I plan on visiting many more times,” Maud said.

“I’m not often in the area, but if I ever am I’ll come back down here too,” Daylight Gleam said.

“And as soon as I take care of a few things when I get back home I’ll immediately come back down here to say hi again. We can have a tea party! If you can drink tea...” Fluttershy said.

Magman sniffled loudly and a wide smile broke across his face. “I WOULD… I WOULD LOVE THAT! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!”

Fluttershy clasped her hooves in front of her chest and positively lit up, looking with bright eyes towards the ceiling of the chamber. “This has been such an amazing journey and everything has turned out so well and so happy. I’ve met so many new friends, it’s just magical!”

Up, Up and Away

“This has been very nice but I think now we need to start our climb back to the surface,” Fluttershy said. “We’ve all been gone so long and I know the rest of my animals and my friends are going to be so worried.”

She and the others were now standing on a new ledge on the opposite side of Magman’s chamber. It was a much safer place to be than the partially destroyed bridge. All of them were in great condition now that Magman had helped them with the temperature too. No more sweating their tails off or panting their lungs out thanks to the heavy heat. And it was done. They could really finally relax now that their journey was over and they had discovered the source of all the turbulence in the subterranean world. And of course solve the problems in the first place so that they wouldn’t happen again.

“You say that but what exactly is the plan?” Daylight Gleam asked, raising an eyebrow at Fluttershy.

“Yeah I’m with the grump over here,” Amethyst Star pointed a hoof at Daylight. “How are we supposed to get back to the surface? A lot of the tunnels and paths we used to get down here have collapsed. And we didn’t exactly leave a string of yarn to show us the way back.”

“I memorized our steps but it’s true that the same path we took to get here would be impossible to go back up,” Maud said.

“I know, and we should also try to make it back up much faster than how long it took us to get down here since we still need to make sure the moles are okay. I’m so happy we have Earth Miser temporarily helping us out, otherwise… oh dear.” Fluttershy gulped.

“So we’re still stuck without knowing how to get out of this crazy place and do it in a timely way,” Daylight sighed.

“Seems like it,” Amethyst Star shrugged. “If we could mass teleport or open up portals that would be a different matter. But that’s like, a Twilight Sparkle level thing.”

Fluttershy bit her lip. “Either way, sitting around here talking isn’t going to help anypony. We need to get back up to the surface and we need to do it now.”

Angel Bunny nodded. Though he wasn’t thinking about the moles, (for obvious reasons he still didn’t like them) he just wanted carrots.

“UMMM...”

Fluttershy and all the others looked up to see Magman nonchalantly pushing his fingers together.

“I MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP YOU GET BACK TO THE SURFACE WORLD,” Magman said.

“You can help us?” How?” Fluttershy asked him.

Magman smiled and pointed up at the big hole right above his head. “THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO I ERUPTED FOR THE FIRST TIME AND MADE THIS HOLE! MY MAGMA RUSHED ALL THE WAY TO THE SURFACE AND EXPLODED, POURING LAVA AND ASH INTO THE WORLD ABOVE. I CAN SEND YOU BACK UP THIS HOLE STRAIGHT TO THE SURFACE FOR SURE!”

“Wait—but—that doesn’t sound totally safe for us,” Daylight Gleam frowned and rubbed her head.

“HAHAHAHA! DO NOT WORRY, MY NEW FRIENDS, I KNOW YOU CAN NOT SIMPLY RIDE MY MAGMA UP,” Magman grinned and reached one of his huge hands over to the wall of his chamber.

While the ponies watched he dug his red hot fingers into the rock and melted through the top layer, then rotated his hand until he had created a perfect burning hot circle in the wall. It was like he was carving something out but using the power of heat instead of a chisel. Finally Magman pulled a large slab of rock from the wall in the shape of a circle. As it was still burning white and pliable thanks to the heat, he began to mold it with his hands into a bowl-like shape. As soon as he was done he snapped his fingers with the other hand not holding it and the bowl cooled down and solidified almost immediately.

Magman then brought it over to the ledge and held it out to them. “HOP ON IN! YOUR CARRIAGE AWAITS!”

“Well will you look at that!” Amethyst Star grinned and jumped right into the bowl. “An expressway straight to home! Not the nicest thing I’ve ever traveled in but it beats walking.”

“Considering how it’s made out of rock I enjoy it quite a bit,” Maud said and hopped in after her.

Fluttershy lifted up Angel Bunny in her hooves and flapped her wings to carry them both into the bowl. “Thank you so much, Magman!”

“I suppose we definitely need a fast way out of here after all,” Daylight Gleam shrugged and jumped in as well.

“I’m going to fly straight to Twilight’s castle once we’re back on the surface,” Fluttershy said.

Angel Bunny glared at her.

“…but first I’ll make a stop at Golden Harvest’s place to pick up some carrots.”

Amethyst Star sat down with a smile and folded her hooves in front of her chest. “I’m going to go home and do nothing!”

“I’m going to get some things together and prepare for a return journey,” Maud said.

“And I’m going to grab a bite to eat and then head out,” Daylight Gleam said. “Ponyville isn’t my home after all.”

“DON’T GO TOO FAR WHEREVER IT IS ANY OF YOU GO!” Magman smiled at them as he lifted the bowl up to his chest. “BE SURE TO COME BACK SOON!”

“We will!” Fluttershy waved to him.

Magman laughed before quieting down and looking at his friends longingly, his lip quivering and tears of happiness this time threatening to come out. But he managed to gain control of himself this time and let out a big breath instead. “I’LL HAVE YOU GO ON YOUR WAY NOW THEN. JUST LET ME MAKE SURE THINGS ARE SAFE FOR YOU.”

Saying that, he then melted out another slab of rock from his walls and fashioned it into another bowl. But unlike the first one he burned a hole in the bottom of this one and turned it upside-down. “IF YOU HIT ANYTHING, THIS WILL PROTECT YOU. BUT STILL LET YOU BREATHE AT THE SAME TIME TOO.”

Magman put the other half of the bowl on top of the one Fluttershy and the others were sitting in. It mostly went dark for them now aside from the little bit of light they could see out of the hole in the top. Magman then dragged his finger around the edge where the two halves met and melted them together. “OKAY! ALL DONE! PREPARE FOR AN ERUPTION!” He hefted the bowl above his head and placed it directly under the hole leading up and out of his home.

Fluttershy, Angel Bunny, Maud, Amethyst Star, and Daylight Gleam all looked up towards the hole and then into the hole in the ceiling of the magma chamber beyond it. Now directly beneath it they could see how incredibly high it stretched. Far higher than the hole they had traveled down from Earth Miser’s domain, far higher than even the cavern the worm brought them down. But what they certainly didn’t see was any light at the end of the tunnel up there.

“Um...” Daylight Gleam bit her lip. “I’m beginning to think we didn’t actually think this through at all.”

“Yeah hold on. He said an eruption. Does that mean a volcano is about to erupt in the middle of Ponyville?” Amethyst Star said.

Fluttershy gulped. “Oh dear, you may be right. Um, Magman? Can you-”

“BYE BYE, FRIENDS!” Magman roared as their bowl shook all over. Outside in the chamber, the huge pool of magma started to fiercely bubble and ripple, as did Magman’s entire body. He grew and grew as if he was a big magma-filled balloon until he pressed right up against the edge of the hole and could go no further. The bowl was now the recipient of a ton of pressure and force that had nowhere to go as Magman’s body started to shine and get even hotter. “UP, UP AND AWAY! ERUPTIOOOOOOOON!”

With an explosive sound, the magma chamber erupted and the bowl carrying the ponies and the rabbit shot upwards at dizzyingly impossible speeds. All of the riders inside found themselves flattened to the floor of it thanks to the incredible force. There was no way for them to move or do anything as the bowl rocketed up the volcano throat. At this point they were just along for the ride and wherever it was they ended up.

And hopefully everypony ended up okay.

“And so ya see here, this is an ancient rock formation caused by volcanic activity, just right here in the Everfree Forest!” Applejack explained to the group of students from the School of Friendship as they explored a remote section of the forest. “It goes to show that once a very long time ago things looked quite a bit different. Cause as we all know, there aint any volcanoes near Ponyville or the Everfree nowadays.”

“And thank heavens for that,” Rarity nodded. “Can you imagine what it would be like to have all that ash and smoke around?” She coughed. “Ahem, no offense, Smolder.”

“Eh, none taken,” the dragon shrugged.

“Good, so how are you all enjoying the nature retreat? A bit of a change in schedule, we know, but Applejack and I thought it would be a good little outing for you students,” Rarity asked.

Gallus raised his claw.

“Yes, Gallus?” Rarity smiled brightly at him.

“Yeah, uh, you say all that but isn’t the only reason we’re doing this because Miss Fluttershy, Guidance Counselor Glimmer and Spike are all still missing and the Headmistress is way too busy dealing with that to come up with new lesson plans?” The griffon raised an eyebrow.

Rarity immediately began sweating as the smile quickly became forced on her face while her eyes darted around. “Nooooo?”

Applejack cleared her throat and attempted to change the subject. “Twilight’s got that under control and all, uh, definitely. She’s definitely one-hundred percent got that under control. So, um, let’s look at these rocks and plants some more!”

“You’re terrible at this,” Rarity whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

“Give me a break! None of us are exactly at our best right now...” Applejack frowned and whispered back to her.

“Yona is worried about her friends,” the “little” yak said.

“Hey I’m sure they’re fine,” Sandbar said as he put a comforting hoof on her. “Let’s just try and enjoy this nature retreat for now.”

“Yes! What Sandbar said,” Applejack smiled awkwardly. “That’ll take mine and Rarity’s mind off of things we’d like to be able to deal with too.”

“Applejack, for the love of Celestia keep that to yourself, you’ll worry the students,” Rarity frowned.

Before Applejack could respond, the ground began to rumble beneath their hooves… and feet and claws including some of the students.

“Whoa there! What’s going on?” Applejack said as she looked around.

“Is it an earthquake?” Rarity asked.

Some of the students were worried too, with Gallus and Smolder hovering above the ground to avoid the shaking and Yona looking around in a panic. Sandbar was scratching his head in confusion. After all, when was the last time there was an earthquake around Ponyville? As the rumbling grew stronger they could all tell that it seemed centered beneath the rocks Applejack had pointed out just earlier.

“Uh, Misses Applejack and Rarity? W-What if it’s not an earthquake? What if it’s an eruption?” Sandbar asked.

“Don’t be silly now,” Applejack tried to reassure him. “There’s no way a volcano can erupt here after all this time. That’s just plum crazy.”

“Uh, actually,” Smolder raised a clawed hand. “Take it from a dragon—this is definitely a volcanic eruption.”

“Oh,” Applejack flatly looked back at the rock formation as it shook harder and the rumbling sound became louder and more violent. The ground was expanding out as if something was pushing against it and it was only a matter of time before it all exploded. “Run for cover, y'all!”

Pony, griffon, dragon, yak, and what have you all ran screaming from the rocks right as it finally erupted. But surprisingly no lava came shooting out. Instead there was a cannon blast sound as all the rocks exploded outwards, blown to pieces, and a ton of other rocks from below came shooting up into the air with them. Along with some other things from below that were screaming their heads off.

The bowl had been demolished once it collided with the rocks right below the surface of the ground and all of the riders found themselves blown free of it when they erupted above ground. Fluttershy had Angel Bunny gripped in her hooves as she tumbled through the air, flapping her wings and trying to gain control of herself. Amethyst Star went flying right into a tree. Daylight Gleam collided head first with Applejack when the farmer stopped to see just what was happening. And Maud was falling right towards Rarity when the unicorn managed to just barely catch the earth pony in her telekinesis on time.

“Ack!” Rarity winced, her eyes shut firmly for a second while her horn was alight with magic. Noticing she hadn’t gotten crushed she opened them up to see Maud safely being levitated right above her, courtesy of her own magic. “Oh, hello Maud.”

“Hi, Rarity.”

“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” Fluttershy repeatedly murmured as she continued to tumble towards the ground, stuck in a tailspin despite the best effort of her wings to stop her descent. “Oh please, oh please, oh please.”

Finally at the last second she managed to right herself and pulled up just enough to glide right over the grass and come to a safe stop right in-between her friends.

“Whoo!” Fluttershy sighed in relief and let Angel Bunny jump to the ground where he quickly wiped his brow of sweat.

Meanwhile Amethyst Star hung upside-down in the tree, thoroughly forgotten. And thoroughly okay with that.

“Fluttershy?! Is that you?” Applejack yelled as she picked herself off the ground while Daylight dizzily stood up behind her.

“Fluttershy!” Rarity smiled brightly, putting Maud down and quickly trotting over.

But Fluttershy held up a hoof to stop them. “Wait! I’m very, very happy to see you both again but I need to fly straight to Twilight’s castle and take care of something first!” Her eyes then widened as she realized something important. “Oh, wait! Applejack you’re perfect!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow and shared a confused glance with Rarity. “Uh, perfect for what, sugarcube? You alright?”

“Yes! But I’ll explain later, right now I want you to go back to Sweet Apple Acres and get all the apples and other food and water you have and get it all together. Please, as fast as you can! And if you see Pinkie Pie on the way, tell her to do the same thing with Sugarcube Corner!” Fluttershy then winked down at Angel, lowering her body so he could hope on her back, and spread her wings, taking to the air.

“Wha—Fluttershy?!” Rarity called after her. “Just what’s all this about?”

As she flew off to Ponyville and the castle, Fluttershy looked back at her with a smile. “We’ve just got some new friends to help out!”

Tomorrow morning Fluttershy woke up to a happy and full cottage. The adventure was over, all of her friends were okay, the moles had been saved, and Fluttershy already had plans to visit Earth Miser and Magman again. And Angel Bunny was also just now waking up with her too. Since of course she made sure he was sleeping in her cottage with her. As she opened up her curtains to gaze outside, she realized she didn’t regret the journey she had taken at all, but she was happy to be back home living her (mostly) peaceful life with her animal friends.

In fact, as she grabbed Angel Bunny and put the grumpy just-woken-up rabbit on her back, this whole beautiful and happy morning really made her want to-

Morning in my cottage is wonderful~
Morning with my animal frieeeends~
Morning with every creature I care for~

Fluttershy trotted down the steps of her home with a smile on her face, while Angel Bunny rolled his eyes before smiling along with her.

Oh yes this morning at my cottage shimmers~
This bright and happy morning shiiiiines~
And with my animals here with me~
I’ve got a feeling~
Yes I’ve got a feeling~
That everything’s going to be fine~

Author's Note

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Dawn broke out over Ponyville with Celestia’s timely raising of the sun. The warm rays of sunlight spread over each and every home and treetop of the wonderful little town. On the far edge of this town, far removed from the hustle and bustle (relatively speaking), sat a small cottage near the forest. A quaint thing that looked like it came right out a storybook, with its roof of grass and the birdhouses all over it, a small stream with a cute little bridge spanning it. A slice of paradise this little cottage was. Especially to the pony living in it and all the pets she took care of.

From birds, to raccoons, to otters, to mice, to bears, and of course, rabbits, Fluttershy’s cottage was just as much of a sanctuary as the actual animal sanctuary she had built not too long ago. She truly wouldn’t have it any other way. As shy and reserved as she was around ponies and other talking creatures, she was just the opposite with her pets and any other animals she had to take care of. Barring a few exceptions. But she had always been trying her best to overcome these things and improve. She just took it a little slower than some ponies.

While dawn had just broke, a number of animals were awake even before sunrise and the nocturnal ones were just now going to sleep. When a crack of sunlight came in through her window, the sole pony occupant of the cottage slowly fluttered her eyes open as she awoke. Fluttershy took a great big yawn and stretch to greet the morning before smiling and gently rolling the comforter of the bed off her body. On hooves light as feathers she trotted to the window and spread open the curtains to look outside. Things were already quite lively out there in the early morning outside her cottage. She saw hummingbirds and butterflies floating by, and a frog taking a dive into the creek. It really was wonderful.

Fluttershy opened up the window and stuck her head outside, wiggling her ears to listen to all the noises from the animals. On a day like this it just made her want to… want to…

She took a deep breath and-

Ohhhh, what a beautiful day!~
I look outside to see all my animal friends~
And up in the sky the sun shines with its brilliant rays~
Just with a glimpse I know a happy day porteeeends~

Fluttershy giggled and drew herself back into her bedroom, then practically skipped down the stairs to the first floor of her cottage as she called out to all the animals still asleep or that lived down here. “Wake up everyone, it’s time for breakfast!”

All of her friends who lived inside the cozy cottage and just outside it practically came running when they heard her charming voice. Including Harry. Fluttershy started getting everyone’s bowls and meals ready, once she was done with breakfast here she’d take a short little trip over to the animal sanctuary and see how everyone there was doing.

In such a good mood she couldn’t help but sing a little more.

Morning in my cottage is wonderful~
Morning with my animal frieeeends~
Morning with everyone I care for~

Fluttershy spun around and patted some of the heads of her animal friends.

There’s every lovely little guest in here~
From my raccoon buddies to Harry the bear~
Swallows, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, and cuckoos~
And of course my favorite Angel Bunny too~

Fluttershy paused in mid-step and looked down at a plate with an untouched carrot on the floor. “Angel?”

She blinked at the plate in confusion before looking over her roomy cottage’s living room. There was no sign of Angel anywhere. “That’s strange, Angel is usually the quickest to come get his food.” Fluttershy rubbed a hoof under her chin as she thought about where he could be. She looked over inquisitively at Harry. “Harry? Have you seen Angel Bunny this morning? Have any of you?”

The bear looked thoughtful for a second, looking up at the ceiling with a claw pointed up under his chin, before he looked at her and shrugged. No sign of him. The other animals weren’t anymore helpful, it seemed none of them had seen Angel Bunny this morning. Apparently the last any of them could remember seeing Angel Bunny was sometime last night. Which was a bit concerning for Fluttershy. Last night she hadn’t been home at all so she really had no idea how long Angel Bunny might’ve been missing. She had been at a party for Applejack over at Sweet Apple Acres and she didn’t get back from it until close to midnight.

A sudden thought came to her and Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, maybe he was just meeting up with Miss Bunny at the sanctuary! If he isn’t here to get breakfast he must’ve spent the night with her there. Maybe Doctor Fauna is there too and had breakfast ready for some of the animals?”

There was no way Angel Bunny would miss a meal so that had to be it. Fluttershy made sure everyone at her cottage got breakfast and was taken care of this morning before waving goodbye to all her sweet and lovely pets and taking the short little hike it took to get to the animal sanctuary. For who knows how many times she thanked the sanctuary again for being there. It really was a Princess-send. She had put so much hard work into making it the perfect place where all sorts of animals could enjoy. After all, as much as she tried and wanted to, she just didn’t have all the space she needed back at her cottage.

As she made her walk to the sanctuary she looked around and really took in just how beautiful of a day it was. Not only did she hear the chirping of birds all around her but she could hear the voices of happy ponies carried on the wind coming from town. Flowers were blooming all over too and the pegasi had done a wonderful job of keeping the sky clear. She had to stop and say hello to every little animal that crossed her path but eventually she did make it to the sanctuary.

“Hello, everyone!” Fluttershy called out as she walked through the little meadow that led up to the pond and waved to all the animals that were here.

Naturally many of them came up to greet her and Fluttershy giggled while giving them plenty of petting and attention. She normally would have really loved this and spent more time with everyone but she had a certain bunny to look for and unfortunately he wasn’t one of the animals that had come running to her. A quick look around showed her no Doctor Fauna either so she’d have to start with asking some of the other animals here.

“Have any of you seen Angel Bunny this morning or maybe last night?” She asked them all.

A series of chirps and squeaks as they talked amongst themselves or tried to answer immediately were their responses. But nothing she heard was a “Yes”. Seems like none of the sanctuary animals had seen him around either.

“Oh my...” A twinge of worry hit Fluttershy as her mouth pulled downwards. “None of you have seen him at all?” She looked at Antoine the snake. “Antoine? You didn’t see him yesterday? Or try to eat him?”

The snake shook his head and flickered out his tongue.

“Muriel?” Fluttershy asked the elephant.

The elephant also shook her head and trumpeted in the negative.

“Oh dear, Angel is… is… missing!” Fluttershy cried in horror. “I have to find him right away! Where could he be?”

She practically started to panic and hyperventilate all at once. A habit she had been trying to kick for ages but this was a really serious situation! Her dear sweet Angel Bunny was missing and none of her other pets or animal friends knew where he was. She tried to calm herself down a little and think on what she should do next. Go into town and tell Twilight? Or Doctor Fauna? Go see if Zecora knew anything? It was possible Angel had gotten into the Everfree. Unfortunately being plagued with all these possible choices at once just made Fluttershy panic and hesitate more. She liked it a lot more when someone else was telling her what to do.

Fluttershy blinked and caught her breath. “Hold on, I can’t just stay here like this while Angel might be in danger, he’s my pet and I have to find him!”

Someone telling her what to do was all well and good but sometimes Fluttershy really did need to bring her assertive self out. She knew Angel best, she knew the area best, and the other animals best, so she would be the best possible pony to find him. Of course first she needed to stop her legs from shaking and get her head into the game. This was still stressing the poor pony out and she had a tendency to really imagine the worst in situations like this.

“Calm down, Fluttershy. Take a few deep breaths and think,” she said, following her advice and standing still for a second in the sanctuary while the other animals looked on in concern. “There can only be so many places he could have gotten to. I saw him yesterday before Applejack’s party after all.”

Fluttershy smiled. “And who said I have to look for him all on my own?” She looked at the other animals and leaned her head down to better look the critters in the eyes. “Oh, will you all please, please help me search for Angel Bunny? You can get to places that I can’t and you probably know about any hidden burrows or nests.” Another thought came to her. “And see if you can find Angel’s lady bunny friend! Maybe she knows where he is.”

No animal could resist Fluttershy’s pleading and her soft eyes. Snakes slithered, birds flew, frogs hopped, and bugs buzzed as they all spread out from the sanctuary to go find Angel Bunny. Fluttershy took a big sigh of relief and sat down, her heart was still beating a little hard and she was worried but she also had faith in her friends. She wasn’t going to just sit around doing nothing herself though. Soon after making sure she wasn’t going to faint, she headed back to her cottage. It was possible Angel had already come back on his own, and even if he hadn’t yet that was still the most likely place he would show up. Fluttershy managed to keep a smile on her face and stay positive as she made it back to her cottage, things were certainly going to turn out alright.

After all it was such a beautiful day, how could anything bad happen on a day like this?

“I’ll even make Angel an extra-special breakfast when I get back, not just a carrot. He’ll be so happy and he’ll see how much he means to me,” Fluttershy giggled.

Things were a little hectic in and around her cottage since her animal friends were still looking for Angel and trying to help her but Fluttershy had them calm down too. Everyone was going to get lots of love today. Especially once Angel got back, Fluttershy would just be so happy that maybe she’d do something special for all her pets. Once she got settled down back in her cottage she grabbed some tea from her shelf and put a pot of water on the stove. This would help her relax her last few nerves. She hummed to herself and sung a little tune inside her head while waiting for the water to boil and her tea to finish. The pleasant aroma coming up from it relaxed her already and she took a deep breath of the sweet air inside her cottage. Some early morning tea was just what she needed right now.

Pounding on her door brought Fluttershy out of her reverie and almost made her drop the tea spoon she had been using to mix the tea. “Oh my! Is it the animals?”

She quickly trotted over and opened up the door to see a bunny but not her bunny.

“Miss Bunny? Did my friends find you?” Fluttershy asked, looking out the door and seeing a number of her friends from the sanctuary standing there with sad looks on their faces. Oh dear, that didn’t bode well.

Squeak squeak squeak! Miss Bunny said to Fluttershy while frantically throwing her tiny little bunny arms around the air.

“Slow down, please!” Fluttershy said. “You know where Angel is?”

Squeak squeak squeak!

“You were with each other in your burrow in the forest last night? What were you doing?”

Squeak.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy blushed. “Well what happened next?”

Squeak squeak squeak!

Fluttershy gasped and clasped her hooves to her mouth. “T-The ground opened up beneath you two and Angel Bunny fell in?! B-But where did he fall? How far?”

Miss Bunny shook her head, little tears falling down her cheeks. Squeak squeak squeak!

“You don’t know? It was so dark you couldn’t see? Oh no, this is terrible!” Fluttershy screeched in terror. From what Miss Bunny had told her, one of the tunnels in her burrow had opened up like a sinkhole and Angel fell in. She almost fell in too but managed to save herself. Once the tunnel had gotten stable again she had looked in and saw nothing but a deep, deep hole. She had tried calling out for Angel but there was no response and she was too afraid to go in after him. Miss Bunny had been panicking and worried the whole time since until Fluttershy’s animal friends found her.

“Please, take me there right away! I have to see what happened!” Fluttershy said.

Fluttershy followed Miss Bunny as she led her to her home in a panicked gallop. A number of other animals from the cottage came following Fluttershy too. She was so worried for Angel, she just wouldn’t know what she would do if he was hurt! Miss Bunny’s burrow wasn’t that deep in the forest so they got to it pretty quickly. That was when they hit the first problem: Fluttershy was just a mite bit too big to fit into the rabbit hole.

“I can only fit my head in,” Fluttershy said as she looked at the entrance to the rabbit’s home. She looked at the other animals that had come with her and spotted a friendly badger she knew. “Miss Bunny, I’m sorry that we might have to wreck part of your home but I Pinkie Promise that I’ll make it up to you.”

Squeak squeak?

“Mr. Badger?” Fluttershy asked as she walked up to the creature. “Can you please dig a hole right above the tunnel where Angel Bunny fell down?”

The badger saluted and Fluttershy had Miss Bunny direct them to the right spot. She wasn’t exactly happy that her home was going to be torn up like this (even more than it already had been), but Miss Bunny knew finding Angel was more important. Luckily the badger made quick work of the top soil and the tunnel system was opened up. They still needed to dig a little deeper to find the correct tunnel and hole but they were getting closer. Fluttershy was biting her lip and sweating in anticipation the whole time. The hole the badger was making was only just big enough for her to squeeze into too, it would still be tough to get down there and see what was going on.

Finally his claws broke through another layer of dirt and the entire roof of the bottom tunnel collapsed inwards, revealing the deep, dark hole that had apparently swallowed Angel Bunny. Mr. Badger crawled out of the hole he had made while Fluttershy and Miss Bunny both looked down into it.

“Angel! Can you hear me?” Fluttershy called out into it—still fairly quiet but it was most certainly a yell for her.

Squeak squeak squeak!

Sadly there was no response and the hole, barely big enough for Fluttershy to fit into if she wanted to, just menacingly sat there. It really was totally pitch black, almost like it swallowed light. She had no idea how deep it went or what it was like past the rim. Fluttershy gulped and dropped down all the way to it, sticking her head into the darkness.

“Aaaaaangellllll!” She called out again.

But there wasn’t even an echo.

“Oh no...” She whimpered as she pulled her head out of the hole, tears beginning to gather at her eyes. “I-I have to find him! I have to do something!” Her mind was going a million miles at once, she wanted to fly off and find someone to help her, Twilight probably, but what if Angel was hurt and needed help right now? Fluttershy shook her head, she couldn’t spend too much time thinking now, she had to act.

And she knew what she had to do.

“Don’t worry, Angel! If you can hear me I’m coming for you!” Fluttershy said into the hole again before pulling back and gulping. “B-But it’s totally dark a-and narrow. Ohhh, what am I going to do?” Fluttershy nervously dithered as her many fears were keeping her from immediately charging ahead like she felt like she should.

“How can I rescue Angel if I can’t see anything?...” Fluttershy felt a tear roll down her cheek.

Suddenly, a light-bulb turned on above her head. “Oh, wait! That’s it!”

Fluttershy flapped her wings and floated out of the newly excavated hole and back onto the ground. She then ran back through the forest while Miss Bunny squeaked in confusion. But Fluttershy ignored her now, she had to be as fast as possible and there was no time to waste.

Soon she got to her cottage and opened up the door, going directly to the closet she kept her various items and tools for taking care of her animals in. There were numerous overflowing shelves and boxes all stacked within, she had really wanted to tidy up some time ago but she never found the opportunity. As she dug through it all she whimpered: “Oh, I should’ve just told Twilight I had a closet to organize, she would’ve loved fixing it for me.”

She had to shove a few boxes out of the way and made a right mess of her living room but eventually she found what she was looking for.

“Aha!” Fluttershy squeaked with joy when she found the yellow hardhat buried at the bottom of her closet. She hugged it tightly to her chest and smiled. “Oh thank you so much, Rarity!”

The hardhat was a birthday gift received a couple of years ago from Rarity, it had a light on the front and a blue bow on the back, it was just like one Rarity used when she was spelunking for gems in the caves under and around Ponyville. Rarity had given it to her because she knew some of the animals, like bats, that Fluttershy took care of lived in dark caves. Fluttershy hadn’t had many opportunities to use it but now it was going to more than make up for how many bits it had cost Rarity to buy it and pretty it up. Fluttershy flipped the switch for the light and was happy to see that it lit up just as brightly as it should. With a satisfied nod she put it on her head and ran back out the front door.

Three seconds later she ran back in, grabbed a paper bag from a kitchen cabinet, and breathed into it several times over.

Finishing, she put the bag down and took a deep breath. “Okay, you can do this, Fluttershy. For Angel.”

Having now psyched herself up she left her cottage again and ran back as fast as she could to Miss Bunny’s home and the deep hole that had appeared at the bottom of it. More animals had gathered around it, waiting for Fluttershy’s return and trying to console Miss Bunny at the same time. When Harry saw her he tried to stop her from going in the hole after Angel, worried for her. But Fluttershy had to tell him that she needed to do this and rescue Angel.

“Thank you, all of you, for your help. And don’t you worry about anything because I’m definitely going to rescue Angel!” Fluttershy said to the assorted critters.

Of course they were far more concerned about something happening to Fluttershy than to Angel. Aside from Miss Bunny. Fluttershy was a bit more popular with the other animals than Angel was. Just a bit.

A tiny bit.

Fluttershy took another deep breath as she looked down at the hole from the ground above it. As she stared at it a cold pit formed in her stomach and she almost felt a sense of vertigo. It was scary. It was really scary! Her legs started shaking despite her best effort to control herself and her teeth chattered. What was she thinking? Was she really going to go dive into some underground tunnel without any help when who knew what could be down there? Not to mention just how impossible to navigate it could be. She could get stuck, or lost, or, or—any other number of things! Down in whatever sort of cave this led to she probably couldn’t fly either, even though she preferred to walk in the first place she still liked the safety of having her wings too. She’d be like an earthworm. She admired earthworms for all the hard work they did but Fluttershy was a little too claustrophobic to want to be like that.

Trying to swallow her fear she flipped on the light on her hardhat and watched it illuminate the entrance to the mysterious hole. The light didn’t penetrate far at all but it did show the hole went down at a bit of a slant instead of straight down. So at least she would have an easier time crawling down it than if it was vertical. If it was like that she’d be so worried about falling and falling. As she dropped down into Miss Bunny’s tunnels she angle her head and the light to see as far as she could into the tunnel that had swallowed Angel. It still didn’t show her much but she knew it was going to be a tight fit for a while. She might have to hunker down and crawl for a decent ways down until the tunnel opened up.

If it opened up.

Again she felt that fear, hesitation, and doubt start to take root in her body. This wasn’t exactly a very Fluttershy thing to do, that’s what the voice in the back of her head was saying. Telling her to go home and get someone else. But Fluttershy had to ignore that, she had to be assertive to herself, and rescue Angel Bunny. Because she was the one here now and he was her pet. Angel Bunny was important to her and if he was hurt or lost and scared then she needed to be there for him no matter what.

“You can do this, Fluttershy,” she said to herself again. “You can do this, you can do this. If Rainbow Dash was here she’d reassure me and say I could do it too. So would Twilight, and Applejack, and everyone else, they’d all believe in me. So I’ve gotta believe in me too!”

She looked up at the animals crowding around and gave them a warm smile. “I’ll be back in a jiffy, but until then you’ll have to look out for each other, okay? Doctor Fauna will still take good care of you. If you can, try and tell her what happened.”

Fluttershy then looked back at the hole and lowered her head, getting down low and pushing her way down into it as she dug below Ponyville to wherever it was that Angel Bunny had gotten to. This day had certainly not turned out to be as wonderful of a day as she had expected.

“Don’t worry, Angel! I’m coming!”

Spelunkers Not By Trade

“And that’s what I’m doing here now. But what about the three of you? How did you all end up down here too?” Fluttershy asked the three ponies.

“You’ve certainly been through a far stranger sequence of events than we have,” Daylight Gleam said. “And-”

“We’ve pretty much just been getting lost in and falling through a bunch of tunnels!” Amethyst Star brightly exclaimed.

“Yes, and as I was going to say before I was rudely interrupted,” Daylight Gleam glared at Amethyst. “My whole name is Daylight Gleam and we’ve pretty much been stumbling around blindly underground for a few days now.”

Fluttershy tilted her head at the white unicorn. “Do I know you? You seem a little familiar to me.”

“Actually I believe we met a few nights ago at Applejack’s party,” Daylight Gleam smiled. “You must be a friend of hers, right?”

Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “Oh yes, Applejack is one of my best friends.”

“Well any friend of hers is a friend of mine,” Daylight winked.

“What about me?” Amethyst Star raised an eyebrow. “I’m friends with both of them, to a degree at least.”

Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but you’re also a bother. And you’re why we’re stuck down here.”

“No I’m not!” Amethyst Star stomped a hoof down. “I’m willing to admit when I’ve screwed up but this is totally your fault!”

Fluttershy grimaced as Angel Bunny breathed disinterestedly out his nose. She then walked over to Maud, who was just stoically standing around like her usual self. “Um, Maud? Can you explain what happened?”

Maud blinked and looked at her and for a minute Fluttershy wasn’t sure if she was going to say anything or not. But Maud soon opened up her mouth and began speaking. “You know I don’t like parties. So I wasn’t at Applejack’s like all of you were. I was in my home in the cavern Starlight and I found a while back that night. It was just me and boulder.”

Fluttershy was listening in intently and nodding along. Already this was just about more than she had ever heard Maud speak at one time.

“Then these two came in,” Maud’s eyes drifted over to Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam. “The pink one was chasing the white one and they were arguing. They’ve been arguing a lot. Much like what they’re doing right now.”

Fluttershy looked over at the two unicorns still in a rather heated conversation. “What were they arguing about? And how did they end up down in your home to begin with?”

“It would be best to ask them,” Maud plainly replied.

Not the answer Fluttershy exactly wanted to hear but Maud was kind of right about that. Fluttershy gulped and walked up to the two unicorns, Amethyst Star she at least knew fairly well but Daylight Gleam was still a bit too much of a stranger for Fluttershy’s tastes. Of course she couldn’t really afford to be shy right now. But then again she couldn’t exactly willingly turn off that shyness whenever she wanted either. That’s not how it worked. She just had to try and get through it as best she could sometimes.

“Um, excuse me?” Fluttershy said to the two of them.

“And just so you know, I’ve changed a lot since we last met!” Amethyst yelled at Daylight.

“If anything you seem even more obnoxious,” Daylight frowned at her.

“You’re just a grump who sees the worst in ponies!”

“Am not! You’ve just never given me a reason to see anything good in you!”

“Excuse me!” Fluttershy said, much more loudly, finally getting both of the unicorns’ attention.

Their surprised faces swung over to Fluttershy and she had to blush, stepping back a little and hiding her face behind her mane momentarily. “Umm, I just had a couple of questions...”

“Sorry, we kind of got a little carried away,” Daylight said, grinning apologetically.

“Yeah, sorry Fluttershy,” Amethyst Star chuckled a little and rubbed the back of her head.

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy smiled. “I just wanted to ask you some questions.”

“What?” Daylight Gleam raised an eyebrow.

“Well...” Fluttershy looked back and forth between the two of them. “What are you arguing about? Maud said you two somehow ended up in her underground home but then how did you manage to get all the way down here? Did you two know each other from before Applejack’s party?”

Before Daylight could open her mouth, Amethyst cut in. “Look! I want to say this before she says anything and poisons your opinion about me. All I wanted was to apologize. That’s all I was trying to do but she wouldn’t have none of it!”

Daylight rolled her eyes. “After the last time we met maybe you can understand my apprehensiveness and lack of wanting to reunite with you.”

“So you two do know each other?” Fluttershy frowned worriedly between them.

“We met once a little while ago. It didn’t go well and I didn’t really want to speak to her again,” Daylight shrugged.

“And I just wanted to apologize and explain that I’ve changed. But you never even gave me the chance!” Amethyst Star pointed a hoof at her.

“And so you decided to harangue and chase after me all through the night,” Daylight Gleam slowly clapped her hooves together. “Bravo, that’s really something that would get me to accept your apology.”

“You could have just not been a jerk about it, you know?” Amethyst Star glared at her. “How difficult is it to just talk with somepony? But noooo, you had to run off like I was a monster chasing you.”

“All the monsters I’ve dealt with in my life haven’t been half as annoying as you.”

“Well no one forced you to be such a disagreeable grump. And if you had just talked to me back at Applejack’s party or anywhere else we wouldn’t have fallen down into Maud’s home and then we wouldn’t have fallen down that old collapsed tunnel either. It is so totally not my fault that this happened!”

“The two of you just accidentally fell down here?” Fluttershy asked, kind of confused.

Amethyst Star sheepishly looked away, wincing. “I kind of sort of chased her into the Everfree Forest and into the caves… but still! No one forced her to be so unfriendly!”

“No one forced you to chase after me!” Daylight Gleam glared at her before looking back over at Fluttershy. “And yes, we ended up where that pony lives.” She nodded back at Maud. “And the three of us essentially ended up running into each other and fell into an old, unstable, tunnel. We went tumbling for quite a while and it all collapsed and closed up above us. We couldn’t find a way back to the surface and we’ve been lost ever since, occasionally falling down some more and just ending up going deeper and further away from the surface...”

“There are a lot of subterranean caves and tunnels in this part of the world. Many are unstable and go quite deep,” Maud emotionlessly added in. “We have been unfortunate with getting repeatedly lost in them. But I’ve also enjoyed getting to study the geological makeup of the caverns down here.”

Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam both rolled their eyes.

“It’s been… it’s been kind of stressful being stuck down here,” Amethyst Star said, dragging a hoof down her face.

“I envy your lack of company while you’ve been down here,” Daylight Gleam said.

Fluttershy grimaced and shared an uncertain look with Angel. These two were obviously not getting along well and Fluttershy felt she had to do something about that. I mean, it was a friendship problem after all, wasn’t it? Just the kind of thing she should be solving whenever she could.

“Well… now that things have settled down a bit, maybe the two of you can reconcile?” Fluttershy suggested.

Amethyst Star looked down sadly. “I don’t-”

“Now, now,” Fluttershy walked up and patted her on the shoulder. “You may find it surprising coming from me, but let’s try and not be too negative.” She took a deep breath and tilted Amethyst’s chin up so she could look the pink unicorn in the eyes. “Amethyst, it was very nice of you to want to apologize and makeup with Miss Daylight Gleam for whatever you did in the past. But at the same time you should’ve respected her boundaries and wishes. If she didn’t want to talk, then that’s okay, that’s her prerogative. You shouldn’t have kept chasing after and bothering her. In fact, I think you have something new to apologize to her for.”

Amethyst Star bit her lip and glanced down, clearly embarrassed and a little ashamed. Finally she lifted her gaze and looked at Daylight Gleam. “Uh… I’m sorry. For bothering you. Again. I didn’t really mean for something like this to happen.”

Daylight Gleam shrugged, also looking away a little and kind of embarrassed. “I mean, that’s okay...”

“She’s not the only one I have to talk to,” Fluttershy said and walked up to Daylight Gleam now. “Now, I don’t know what Amethyst Star did to make you dislike her in the past, but it’s clear she was earnestly and genuinely trying to apologize and makeup with you. You also could’ve been nicer and at least have heard her out.”

“I-I know… I’m sorry too. I just-” Daylight Gleam sighed. “I’m sorry, I don’t really have an excuse for the way I acted. I was just being a jerk.”

Fluttershy smiled. “That’s okay, we all have times like that. But how about you two makeup now? Does that sound okay?”

Daylight Gleam and Amethyst Star both looked at each other and then back at Fluttershy.

Amethyst Star nodded. “Yeah, yeah that sounds pretty good actually.”

“I’d be happy with that,” Daylight Gleam smiled.

“Good!” Fluttershy giggled and clapped her hooves together. “Go and hug each other.”

“Hehe,” Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam both blushed in embarrassment but did as Fluttershy asked. The two unicorns gave each other a warm hug before separating and fully apologized.

“Sorry.”

“I’m hoping you both can get along now,” Fluttershy said.

“You’re very talented at this, Fluttershy,” Maud droned. “May I also join in on the hugging?”

Amethyst Star and Daylight Gleam both weirdly looked at Maud but Fluttershy only giggled some more.

“It’s okay you two, that was just one of Maud’s jokes. She’s a big comedian.”

“I get more laughs than a dentist,” Maud said.

“Riiiight,” Daylight Gleam raised an eyebrow and then coughed into her hoof. “Anyways, what now?”

Angel Bunny thumped on Fluttershy’s back a few times and pointed up at the hole the three other ponies had come out of.

Fluttershy frowned at him. “No, Angel. I still have to go figure out what’s going on down here.”

“So you really are going to go looking for those rock monsters?” Amethyst Star asked, a hesitant and worried look on her face.

“Are you sure about that?” Daylight Gleam also asked.

Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, it’s just the right thing to do.”

“Despite our previous goal being to find a way back to the surface, I would like to start accompanying you now, Fluttershy.” Maud said, blinking slowly. “I would really like to see these living rock monsters if they’re real.” Her voice may have had the barest hint of emotion to it when she said that.

“And we certainly weren’t getting anywhere anyways…” Daylight Gleam muttered and then shrugged. “Do you mind if I come with you too? I’d say exploring and looking for an answer to this rock monster question sounds a lot better than what we were doing, and now you’ll have some more company.”

Fluttershy smiled. “I don’t mind at all!”

All eyes then turned to Amethyst Star.

The pink unicorn gulped and started frantically waving her hooves in front of her face. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second. Exploring deep underground caves that nopony has ever been in before? Looking for living rock monster things that could be dangerous? Going somewhere where there’s almost definitely going to be some crazy stuff none of us are expecting?” Amethyst Star shook her head. “No way, absolutely no way. That sounds like an adventure. And I learned my lesson. Me and adventures don’t mix.” She pointed up at the hole. “Sorry, but I’m going to just try and get back to the surface and to Ponyville and sit in my house where I belong.”

“Alone?” Daylight Gleam raised an eyebrow at her. “The three of us working together were still lost but you’re saying you want to go searching your way through these caves all by yourself now?”

“Uhh...”

“Don’t worry, Amethyst. I don’t think I’m suited for adventures either but now with all of us together I’m sure it’ll be okay. With friends around everything is better,” Fluttershy reassured her.

“I’m being reassured by Fluttershy now of all ponies?” The fact was not lost on Amethyst Star. She bit her lip and thought for a moment longer, looking between the other ponies. “Uh, well, I guess you’re right. I’d probably be safer and closer to getting home by sticking with all of you. And I know you’ve saved the day plenty of times, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy blushed. “Not all on my own or anything though, it’s usually my friends who do that.”

“Can we get to the living rocks now?” Maud asked. “I assume we’re heading down this big tunnel?”

“Yes, we should start going soon,” Fluttershy said. Angel started yapping in her ear about just ditching the moles again but Fluttershy calmed him down with a few headpats. “I promise you I’ll get you the best carrots you’ve ever had once we get home, okay?”

Angel Bunny continued to grumble a little but he at least stopped harassing her for now.

“You gonna lead the way with that hardhat light?” Amethyst Star asked as she stared into the dark tunnel.

“Oh. Well, actually it’s out of power. I forgot that I was just thinking about that,” Fluttershy said as she too looked into the tunnel.

“Well that’s no problem at all,” Daylight Gleam said as she focused a little magic into her horn. At first a powder blue aura lit up around it before a glowing ball of light appeared at the end, acting like a lantern. “My specialty is light when it comes to magic but I’m sure even Amethyst Star can do a simple spell like this too.”

“Sure can!” Amethyst Star stated with a smug smile.

That then quickly fell off her face. “Hey wait-”

“Anyways,” Daylight Gleam chuckled. “Light won’t be a problem for us.”

Amethyst Star snorted but lit up her horn as well, she couldn’t create a little mini-light in the same way as Daylight could but the glow from her horn still provided a lot of illumination. Now the group was ready to go. Fluttershy had to admit though, as she stood before the tunnel, that even with having some real company she was still a little worried. After all you didn’t conquer your fears just like that. It felt good to have Angel and Maud around especially, since Fluttershy knew them well, but she’d feel even better if Twilight or Rainbow Dash was here too.

But they weren’t. And as strange as it seemed, Fluttershy felt like she had kind of been thrust into the leadership position of this little group of ponies. It was her adventure after all. She was the one who said she would help the moles and she was the one who wanted to discover what was up with the rock monsters. So as much as she thought it didn’t fit her, here she was leading things along.

“I suppose we can go in there now. I checked how the air was flowing down here and it seems to breeze right in,” Fluttershy said.

“Are we sure the tunnel actually goes down though?” Daylight Gleam asked as she stepped up to its mouth.

“Yes,” Maud answered. “The slight curvature in the tunnel’s walls tells me that it angels down to at least a small degree. It likely gets steeper at some point or will lead to other tunnels and holes that go straight down. That’s my observation from what I’ve seen from the rest of this subterranean area.”

“Well if that’s what Maud says...” Amethyst Star shrugged and started walking in, and then stopped. “Wait—hold on. I shouldn’t go first. I’m the type that would fall down a hole or walk right into something. I know that from experience. Can someone else go first? Or at least walk right next to me?”

Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes. “Let’s just walk together then, the tunnel is wide enough for all four of us to go side by side.”

“That sounds perfect to me,” Fluttershy smiled and walked on in, Angel Bunny sighing in annoyance on her back and Maud coming along too.

“Maybe Angel would like to hang out with Boulder? Do you think that would fix his mood?” Maud asked with a raised eyebrow as she walked next to Fluttershy. “I’m carrying Boulder in my pocket right now.”

“Umm… I think Angel would just like to ride on my back by himself right now,” Fluttershy grinned nervously. If Maud tried to get Angel to be friends with her pet rock he was liable to toss him somewhere, he was not exactly in such a friendly mood right now.

“Okay, just remember that Boulder is always up for making friends,” Maud said and returned her eyes to looking forward.

Angel Bunny snorted.

The group now all walked together into the dark tunnel. It was kind of quiet now that their introductions with each other were over and they didn’t have much else to talk about. The twin lights from the unicorns lit up everything ahead of them better than Fluttershy’s hardhat light could’ve done. It showed a mostly brown dirt and rock tunnel that Maud was carefully examining, although since she didn’t say anything Fluttershy assumed there was nothing special about the sediment around them. Daylight Gleam was focused on looking ahead for any holes or obstruction in the ground so they could avoid it and Amethyst Star was kind of blankly staring off into the distance. Fluttershy couldn’t tell what was going through her head, if anything at all.

It was kind of… not a very fun group right now. Despite Fluttershy’s belief that having all this company would make their adventuring so much better, no one really seemed like they wanted to talk or lighten the mood.

So Fluttershy decided to take that responsibility on her shoulders.

“Does anyone have anything they’d like to talk about while we walk?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not really,” Daylight Gleam said, a serious look still on her face.

“Eh,” Amethyst Star shrugged.

And Maud was silent while Angel Bunny still fumed.

“Well…” Fluttershy grimaced before getting a little more courage to speak up. “How about a song? If we sing it’ll pass the time and be a lot of fun too.”

“A song?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m sorry but I don’t think singing is really my thing.”

“Yeah I don’t know about that,” Amethyst Star nodded. “I just can’t picture us all singing a song down here right now.”

Two minutes later…

And so we’re off!~
Through the tunnel of friendship!~
Just some spelunkers having fun!~

“I never thought I’d be singing a song, it really aint my thing!~” Daylight Gleam said.

But that’s okay!~
We’re on an adventure!~
So why not do something new?~

“Like have a big sing-along with three other ponies you barely know?” Amethyst Star smiled.

Cause we’re friends now!~
Friends on an adventure~
No more dark tunnels and doubts for us!~

“This is the kind of thing that really helps with my insecurities and fears you know?” Fluttershy giggled.

Even Maud can’t stay quiet for long~

“I don’t sing. But when you’re done I would be happy to share some of my spoken word poetry with you.”

And that’s okay!~
Cause that’s just part of having fun too!~
Down here far below the ground!~

The three other ponies all chorused in unison.

Angel Bunny won’t be a grump all day either!~
There’s surely fun to come for him too!~
So stop pouting!~
And just have fun!
Down in this tunnel of friendship!~
All five of us friends spelunking!~

“Boulder is here too.”

Make that six!~
Six spelunkers who are just having fun!~
We’re not professionals!~
We’re not doing it by choice!~
But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it!~

Cause we’re all together!~
Together as a new group of friends!~