To say I was stunned would be an understatement. I had the mind of someone much older, but even I was still susceptible to shock and awe. The view before me was unlike anything I could have imagined being underneath the mountain except in something like a Lord Of The Rings movie. Only it was much bigger than anything depicted in those films.

The fact that Zecora and I were looking at a city was not in question. There were purple lights coming from what could only be windows. The nearest column showed that. I also caught a glimpse of motion in one of the nearby windows. There were large stone bridges connecting each column at various levels as well, and I saw lights moving back and forth on said bridges. Bright red lights, like torches being held. I also saw some flying creatures moving among the darkness being briefly illuminated by the purple light. I couldn’t tell what they were, but like other races in this world they had the basic anthropomorphic shape of others. There were massive platforms scattered throughout the city as well, with massive structures, mostly pyramid-shaped, sitting on top of them.

The cave itself seemed to go on forever. There were large swathes of light coming from the bottom and a few patches that reflected the light above. Lakes, I realized, or some kind of body of water. They almost all pooled around the massive waterfalls that came down from the high caverns. There was one near us that spilled out onto a larger body of water below us.

I was brought out of my reverie by someone clutching my arm tightly. Turning, I saw Zecora giving me a pleading and terrified look. “B-Blueblood?” she said, but with the sound of the roaring waterfall I couldn’t hear her. I could read her lips, however.

I put my hand over hers. “Try and relax!” I shouted above the din of the falls, “We’ll find a way out of this!” Of course, I was none too sure of this myself. I didn’t have any idea how we could escape this or even reach the bottom. The ledge we were one seemed secure enough for someone of our current weight, but it didn’t go out far on either side. It only went out maybe two feet at the most. I pointed back to the crevice we’d just come through. “Let’s go back there for a bit,” I said.

Once we were back through, Zecora sat against the wall, breathing deeply and with relief. “I hate heights,” she said.

“I don’t like them either,” I said, sitting next to her, “but there has to be a way down there. Aside from jumping.” I frowned and looked up at the ceiling. “I need to think…” Zecora’s ears flattened and she hugged her knees in front of her. I reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry. We’ll get out of this. Together. I promise.”

This seemed to placate her, and she somewhat relaxed. I, however, was going through many different scenarios. I had no idea just where we were or what kind of hole we’d fallen into. It was all so confusing even for an adult trapped in a kid’s body. I ran over any spell that I thought might help, but the only three spells that I figured would help seemed far beyond my reach. My teleportation magic was still short range despite practice. The second one was advanced telekinesis that could be cast on the body, leading to flight. I remember seeing Starlight Glimmer doing that in the show, and Sunset Shimmer had managed to figure it out during our magic sessions, but I was still having a hard time with it. I couldn’t last very long whenever I tried.

The only other spell I could think of was the wing spell, but I hadn’t yet tried that. I vaguely remembered the words to cast it in the Language of Magic, but magic cast like that was finicky. If I said the words wrong, things could go very wrong. Kneeling in the dirt, I began writing out the words that I knew were the ones used to create wings. Zecora saw me doing this and gave me a worried look. I looked back and tried to give her my best reassuring look. When that didn’t work, I said, “I’m trying to craft some temporary wings for myself so I can fly us down there.” I pointed to the hole, indicating the city beyond.

Zecora looked back at the hole nervously, then back at me. “What then?”

That was a good question. I honestly had no idea. Still, I reasoned that this city had come about by ponies from the surface coming down some time ago, meaning there had to be an exit. With a confident tone I didn’t feel, I said, “We look for an exit.”

“Shouldn’t we wait here?” Zecora asked. “Father always said that when I’m lost, stay where you are and wait.”

“I know,” I said, “but if this is underneath Canterlot, they’d have found us by now. No, I think whatever sucked us into that hole teleported us somewhere.” I finished the circle and stood. “Alright, I think I did it.”

Zecora walked over and looked at the magic circle I’d formed in the dirt. I held out a hand to stop her from coming too close and disturbing the runes and circle patterns I’d formed. I still didn’t know too much about magic circles and runic magic, but I knew some basic things. One was that the patterns in the circle between the runes was important and if drawn wrong, it could be disastrous. I walked around the circle for a few minutes, looking at the runes and the patterns for any discrepancies. I couldn’t find anything wrong, so I took a giant step and moved into the exact center of the circle. I turned back to Zecora. “Step back.”

She did so, looking more scared now. “Blueblood…are you going to be okay?” she asked hesitantly.

I took a deep breath, not answering her question. Before I could chicken out, I extended my hands and they began to glow my signature color. Tendrils of magic reached down to the circle and flowed through the runes and lines like glowing water. As the flowing magic began to fill the crevices, I opened my mouth and spoke. “To soar through air is what I desire. Now come to me and wings shall I acquire,” I said in the Language of Magic, AKA English.

The magic circle beneath me flared brightly with the colors of the rainbow, making me almost close my eyes, but I forced myself to keep them open because I knew if I closed my eyes the magic might misfire. I felt the magic being drained from me as it flowed from my fingers down to the circle below. I forced myself to keep standing straight despite my weakness until eventually I felt the draining cease. I stopped casting my magic and looked down. The magic circle was a blinding blue glow and the outermost edge looked like it was growing. Zecora looked terrified, but I remembered this from the show. Rarity had been enveloped by solid light, so the same thing was probably happening here.

Eventually, the outermost light had surrounded me in a cone. I closed my eyes now and let the magic spell do its work. I could hear the sound of its musical chime increase around me as some light crept through my hands. There was a pop of air, and the magical chime stopped. Opening my eyes I saw that the magic circle beneath me was dark. I carefully stepped out of the magic circle and Zecora was looking at me with astonishment. She was by my side the moment I collapsed to my knees, holding me up as best she could. “That was…amazing!” she exclaimed as she reached down to touch something beside me. “How’d you make them look so real??”

Slowly I turned, half expecting to see the rainbow gossamer wings that formed during the spell (Aunt Celestia had shown Sunset and me this spell and it always formed the rainbow wings similar to the episode). However, what I saw caught me a bit off guard. The wings were there, but instead of glowing, they looked black and batlike. There were some small sparks of light from the wings like stars, but other than that the wings were inky black. They were eutherian wings.

Alarmed, I stood and reached out to touch one wing. When I did so, I felt a strange sensation. It was like I was touching a limb I’d never known existed. The wing itself felt silky smooth. I’d felt a eutherian wing before when I’d asked Crimson if I could touch his wings. I closed my eyes and tried to feel through my body for the muscle control that pegasi and eutherians both had. After a while, I began to feel it. I moved both wings experimentally, opening my eyes to watch my progress. I was rewarded when I saw them flapping slightly, but not enough to fly. I turned back to Zecora. “Give me some time to figure out how these work.”

A whole hour passed as I figured out how to flap the wings. I was falling from the air constantly, but not far enough to do any damage. Eventually, I managed to stay in the air for at least five minutes, flying around simply and learning how to turn. Once I had a hold on how they worked, I started lifting some small rocks to see how best to fly while carrying something. This took a while, but eventually I managed to learn the nuances of simple flight. I wasn’t looking for anything fancy, just enough to get us to wherever we decided to go.

Once I felt like I’d gotten the hang of things, I landed and made my way back over to the crevice. Zecora was right beside me in an instant as I peered through down at the massive cavernous city. I frowned and tried to find a place that could very well be an exit, but I found nothing obvious. I went through the various scenarios in my head. I had no idea why this city was here, wherever here was. I retreated back into the cave. I’d spotted a few sections of the city that seemed busier than normal but one ledge on a lower level seemed to be nearly empty of the city’s inhabitants. It was close to us, but I wasn’t sure if it was close enough. Still, I couldn’t see any other choice in the matter.

I turned back to Zecora. “I think I found a place where we can try and fly,” I said

She approached with a worried expression. “Where?”

I took her back to the crevice and we both stuck our heads through. I pointed to the lower ledge. “See that smaller ledge? I think if we land there, we can at least be unnoticed.”

“But who lives here?” she asked.

That was the million dollar question, and I had no idea. It could be flying mole people for all I knew. I knew at least we’d stick out like a sore thumb, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do. A city meant they probably had a means of returning to the surface. I hadn’t heard of any kind of race that evolved underground this way, and if they had then they wouldn’t need the lights, especially purple ones. It stood to reason, then, that whoever lived here had either once lived on the surface or had access to the surface. It was possible they preferred the dark like bats or other nocturnal animals.

I sighed softly. “I wish I knew, Zecora,” I said, “but I don’t think we have any other option of getting out of here. Whatever brought us here wasn’t just a normal hole. We’d be dead if we fell so far down. It had to be some sort of magic that teleported us here.”

“Then can’t we go back and try and figure out how to use it?” Zecora asked.

I shook my head. “I might have some talent for magic, but I can’t teleport very well. I still have a lot to learn. Our best bet is looking for a way out through that city.”

Zecora still looked unsure, and I could hardly blame her. Fact of the matter was, I was unsure myself. Was it really the best idea to go down there and try to find a way out? I wracked my brain for any other ideas, using my own real world knowledge, but all I could think of was to try and find some way through the city and out of there. I knew I had to put on a brave face for Zecora, so I steeled myself and looked over at her. “Climb on my back. We’re gonna try flying around.”

This took another half hour to get a handle on, but with my new semi-mastery of flight, I eventually managed to hover above the ground for a good while. She clung to me with her arms and legs, which provided a challenge, but fortunately my temporary wings seemed to not be affected by her clinging. Finally, I felt ready enough, so we both crawled back through the crevice back to the ledge. The sound of the waterfall nearby was roaring in our ears once again, so I had to shout to make myself heard. “Climb on and hold on tight!” She did so, burying her face in my back. I turned to face the city once more.

Finding the edge of the city I was hoping to fly to, I spread my wings wide and began to flap them. Slowly, my feet left the ledge and I was hovering over many meters of air. I could feel Zecora clinging to me much more tightly than before, which I’d anticipated. To be truthful, I was terrified myself. I wasn’t sure if the large lake directly below me was shallow or deep, but I didn’t intend to find out.

As fast as I could muster, I flew towards the edge of the city. I was glad then that we were in a cave because there weren’t any winds to throw me off balance. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, we made our way closer to the large abandoned portion of the city. However, when we were only a few meters away, I felt the sensation of my wings start to fail. Startled, I took a look back to see what was happening. The wings, which had at one point been solid, were quickly starting to disappear.

“B-Blueblood? What’s happening?” Zecora asked.

“Hold on tightly,” was all I could say as I tried my best to flap the wings harder to increase speed. I was relieved to see that it was working, but my relief was short lived as we began to sink in the air again. I could see we were going to miss the ledge I was aiming for, so I frantically looked around to see if there was any other place to land. Unfortunately, the place I saw was a crowded marketplace full of people.

A marketplace full of eutherians and eutherians only.

Unfortunately, I knew we didn’t have much of a choice, so as we began falling I shouted to Zecora, “Hang on tight!” That was enough for the crowd of eutherians below to finally spot us. I saw a few of them looking up at us with curious glances. I waved my hands. “Move!”

We both crashed into a stall filled with some kind of dimly glowing green fruit, sending the produce scattering across the road. I heard someone shouting in alarm, but I was too dazed to understand what they’d said. Zecora and I tumbled until we hit a wall, knocking the breath out of us. Groaning, I slowly pushed myself up only to see I was covered in glowing green liquid. Zecora too was coated in the juice of whatever fruit we’d collided against. I crawled over to check on Zecora and my heart sank when I saw a cut on her left arm. I quickly tore off a bit of my shirt and wrapped it around her arm, stopping the bleeding. She winced but let me do what I needed to do.

It was then that I heard the murmuring of the crowd behind me. Slowly I turned to see a group of eutherians looking at us with wide eyed astonishment. Unlike the ones I’d seen above, these wore clothes that were actually quite lovely. Any eutherians I’d seen on the surface always wore functional clothing, even the guards when off duty. Other eutherians I’d seen wore poor clothes, dirty and sometimes scratched. Here, however, the clothes were quite sturdy and beautiful. Half of them wore less clothing than I expected. I saw several eutherian mares wearing a thin piece of fabric around their chests and the same around their waists. I also saw a few stallions wearing nothing but something like a toga around their waists. Others, however, were wearing clothes that covered more. I even saw some kids staring in.

One of the eutherian stallions pointed at me, or more specifically, my head. He said something in what sounded like a somewhat fearful tone. I couldn’t understand him, however, because he was speaking in the same language I’d heard other eutherians use. Or at least, it sounded like the same language.

The crowd followed his finger and backed away from me, their looks of confusion and surprise replaced by fear, and in some of their cases, anger. Others pointed at Zecora and I could hear their tone change to one of insult. Not wanting things to escalate, I stood as fast as I could despite the pain and said, “Does anyone here speak Equish?”

When I spoke, they stopped, staring at me in mute astonishment again. After a few moments, the murmurs started. A few of the outlying eutherians spread their wings and flew down the street but the others continued staring at us with mistrust in their eyes. I slowly made my way back to Zecora, helping her to her feet, then looking back at the crowd. “Can anyone here understand me?”

When nobody spoke, I heard Zecora say something in her own language to the crowd. That made them back away more. The zebra princess moved closer to me and asked with a trembling tone, “W-What are they g-gonna do w-with us?”

I didn’t have to answer because immediately after she asked I heard a commotion from the crowd behind me. They parted, and I saw what had to be a company of soldiers. Unlike the Solar Guard, these wore armor that seemed to glow with some runic symbols carved into them that were glowing deep purple. They reminded me a little bit of the shapes of the bat ponies seen in the episode Luna Eclipsed. When they saw us, the glared at us. One pointed at me and said, in a threatening manner, “Follow us.”

Zecora took my hand and squeezed it tightly. I squeezed back and looked at her. “Come on,” I said. “We’ve got no choice right now.”

We might have landed in the lower levels of the city, but that didn’t make them any less impressive. Every residence and more permanent building was built into the massive columns that stretched from ceiling to floor of the cavern. Now that we were closer, I could see that purple light wasn’t the only color of light there. I saw dark and light blues and even some pale whites, but the purple was more prevalent than most. As these guards walked us through the streets, we saw many other eutherians flying above them to gaze at us with mixtures of wonder, suspicion, and some hatred. Most of the latter two was directed at me.

The more eutherians I saw, the more I noticed how well fed and clothed they looked. When compared to the eutherians I’d seen living rather poorly in Canterlot, the ones here were living very well. All the while, I heard the same language being spoken among them, a language I knew I couldn’t speak because I didn’t have the necessary biological capacity to either speak it or hear the entirety of it.

When we reached a large area that resembled a town square with a large fountain sitting in the middle, the stallion who’d spoken to me, who I assumed was the leader of this company, turned. “We’re going to carry you two now,” he said. His accent was an unusual one, to say the least. I didn’t ever hear Shadow’s parents or any other eutherian with such an accent. “Spread your arms, both of you.”

I started to do so, but Zecora clung tighter to me. “N-No!” she shouted, “I wanna fly with him!”

The stallion glared at Zecora. “Let him go.”

“No!”

Before this guard could say anything, I turned to Zecora and gave her a reassuring look. “We can’t do anything,” I said, “so just listen to him, Zecora.”

“I don’t want to be alone.” Zecora gave me a pleading look. “Please…”

I pursed my lips and looked up at the guard, who had his arms crossed and was looking at me impatiently. “She’s scared,” I said, gesturing to the zebra. “Is there any way we can be flown up together?”

The guard had an exasperated look on his face. “You either fly together separately or we walk up several thousand steps. Your choice.”

Even I knew that wouldn’t be fun for either of us. I turned back to Zecora. “We should do what he says,” was all I could say. “Please trust me.”

She looked unsure and took some time to think about it. After a while, she slowly nodded. “Okay…”

The leader sighed and pointed to two of the other guards and gave them an order. I felt myself being roughly grabbed and hoisted to my feet. Zecora was treated no better as she was flung over the shoulder of one guard while the same was done to me. I could hear Zecora start to whimper, but thankfully not much else. Suddenly I saw the ground falling away and we were flying.

From the air around us, the city was a marvel. Even Canterlot couldn’t compare. What I thought at first were uneven columns were more organized than I thought. They were natural columns, of course, but most had been carved out to become houses and mansions. There were some large platforms built on the sides of these columns, some of which held gardens, much to my surprise. I tried to look up, but with the angle I was being held at I couldn’t see too much. As we continued flying higher, the buildings built into the columns seemed to become more ornate. There were many different marketplaces and other types of buildings on larger platforms that were built between columns. The platforms grew bigger as we flew up as well, and I could have sworn I saw a small forest on one.

Finally I could see the columns start to expand, indicating we were starting to reach the ceiling. We’d been flying for what seemed like a few minutes. Part of me, the curious mind, wondered just how old this cavern was, but the majority of me realized that I needed to focus on our predicament.

After a few more minutes, we reached a large platform and we landed. I was roughly placed on the ground and was almost immediately found by Zecora, who reached me and gripped my shoulder. We weren’t given much time to recover before they were pulled apart by the guards and pulled towards a massive building. I looked up and almost gaped in shock. We were being led to a massive palace that looked identical to Serene Castle. I tried to get a better look at the castle but I was still too small to look over the guards.

We were led inside none too gently and taken through several corridors, all lit with torches and lanterns. Finally, we reached a large set of double doors. The lead guard said something to the guards at the door, then the latter entered the room beyond. The lead guard came back and glared down at us. “When you both see the queen, keep your eyes averted from her,” he ordered. “None but other royalty can look at her.”

“B-Blueblood…” Zecora whimpered in terror.

The lead guard now with some recognition. “Blueblood? As in Prince Blueblood of Canterlot?”

I had been planning on keeping my identity a secret but I had no opportunity to tell Zecora. Now that the secret was out, I stood up straighter and gave the guard an even gaze. “Correct. You are speaking to Prince Blueblood of Canterlot,” I said.

“And who’s this, then? Your servant?” the guard sneered, gesturing to Zecora.

I gave him a cold glare. “She’s not my servant. She’s my friend.”

The guard simply laughed at me. “I’m sure she is,” he said. Just then the door guard came back and said something to the lead guard. After a brief conversation, the latter turned to me. “Follow.” He turned and the guards at the door opened it. Immediately, our eyes were assaulted with bright purple and yellow light. We were both pulled in and taken forward down a carpeted walkway. After a while, the guards all knelt towards someone, and this gave me a view of who we were seeing.

The eutherian mare sitting on the singular throne on the upper dais before us couldn’t be more than twelve or thirteen. Her clothes were a dark royal purple with golden trim and glowing swirling patterns sewn in. The glowing patterns resembled closely packed stars. Her crown was a dark black circlet with a silver glowing ring in the center and a crescent moon carved above the circlet. She was a dark purple mare with black mane and slitted dark gray eyes. I saw a cutie mark patch on her chest which was a pair of swords crossing each other.

Beside her stood an older eutherian stallion with dark green fur and a dim yellow mane and tail, the former showing signs of balding. His eyes were a dark orange. He wore simple black robes with glowing silver pinpricks of light scattered on it which mimicked the night sky. There was a silver sash tied around his waist. In his right hand he held a dark silver staff with a glowing conical gem sitting on top of it.

The mare didn’t take her eyes off me as the lead guard spoke to her and the stallion standing next to her in their language. She waved him off, then turned to the stallion. The two spoke briefly, the mare looking over at me and Zecora occasionally. When the conversation was over she stood and spread her batlike wings. “So,” she said with a haughty air of authority, “you’re Prince Blueblood of Canterlot.”

I stood straighter. “I am Prince Blueblood, nephew of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

She gave me a quick and hard glare and took a single step towards me. “Be careful who you speak to, colt,” the lead guard said with a cold tone. “You speak to Queen Dawn Star of the Silver Sanctum.”

Silver Sanctum. So that was where I was. I turned back to the now named Dawn Star. “Queen Dawn Star,” I said while inclining my head slightly.

The queen seemed satisfied with this and returned to her throne, sitting down with regality. “Tell me how you came here,” she commanded. “You and Princess Zecora there.”

My eyes shot open wider. “How did you know who she was?” I asked.

Now it was the stallion’s turn to speak. He stepped forward and said, “We may be underground, young prince, but we aren’t ignorant. We know things that would surprise you. Now tell us how you came here, and no lies. If you lie, this orb will turn red.” He pointed to a large opaque orb sitting on a small table beside the queen’s throne.

Despite my surprise, this gave me hope of finding a way to the surface. I decided to play it a bit more calmly. I took a breath and began. “Princess Zecora and I were walking together when we found a part of the pathway had a hole in it. We were curious and we started looking at it. The ground gave way and I passed out. I woke up in an abandoned mineshaft.”

The orb didn’t glow, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I guess the orb only glowed if I made an overt lie, not withholding information. The queen looked at it, then back at me. “Continue.”

I nodded and did so. “We were wandering around in those old mineshafts for a while until we found a ledge overlooking the edge of the city, then I tried casting a spell to give myself wings to fly down to the city so Princess Zecora and I could try and find a way back to the surface.”

Once more the orb remained dark. The queen frowned and looked up at the stallion beside her. They spoke briefly before she turned back and leaned forward. “Are you hiding something from me?”

I thought of an answer quickly, having somewhat anticipated this. “Everything I’ve told you is the truth,” I said, not taking my eyes off of her.

“That wasn’t what the queen asked,” the stallion said. “Now answer the question. Yes or no, young colt.”

I knew I was fucked. Zecora clung tightly to me as I scoured my brain for a way to answer that wouldn’t set off whatever that magical orb could detect. I decided to stall for time and said, “All we want to do is to get back home. If you know who Princess Zecora and I both are, then I guess you know a way back to the surface. If you think we came here to harm you, you’re wrong.”

“Stop stalling and tell us the truth,” the stallion said. “Tell us where you found this hole and we’ll take you back to the surface.”

Before I could answer, Zecora blurted out, “Canterlot!”

That did it. There was silence in the room for a few seconds before the queen turned to the stallion and the two spoke in a worryingly excited tone. After a while, she turned back and pointed at me and Zecora. She gave a command, then in Equish she said, “Thank you for your cooperation. Unfortunately, you can’t leave here.”

Zecora looked stunned as she was grabbed by two guards. “No! You promised! You said we could go home!” She resisted the guards, but they were stronger than she was. “You promiiiiised!” she screamed as she was taken away.

I didn’t resist as I was taken away. Still, I kept my eyes locked with the queen, who gave me a self satisfied smirk as we left the throne room and the doors were closed behind us.

The two of us were led down several flights of stairs to a dark corridor, dimly lit but surprisingly clean. Zecora and I were separated and put into small dungeon cells which were also rather clean. The moment I was put in the cell, the head guard removed the ring from my horn, but warned me that the cell was made of the same material so my magic wouldn’t work. There was a small bed in my cell with a thick coarse looking blanket on top of it and a pillow at its head. In a corner I saw a covered hole which was probably used as a toilet. The room had a sink, a barrel of water with a clay cup on top of it, a chair and table in another corner, and a large glowing crystal lantern hanging from the center of the ceiling.

After the guards were gone, I went to the cell door and climbed up to look out of the small barred opening. I stuck my hand through and tried to cast magic. My horn lit up, but my hand didn’t. I sighed in defeat and looked around. Listening, I could hear the sobs coming from Zecora’s cell, which was on the opposite wall and a few doors down. Holding onto the bars to keep myself up, I called out, “Zecora?”

I heard a sniffing sound coming from her cell. “B-Blueblood?”

“I’m here, I’m here,” I promised. “Are you alright? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

“N-No, I didn’t get hurt,” she said. I couldn’t see her but I could hear her voice. The poor girl was terrified out of her mind. “I wanna go home…”

“I know, I do too,” I said, trying to sound as reassuring as I could. “Everything will be okay, I promise.”

“But why did they do this to us?” Zecora asked. “It’s not our fault we’re here. We didn’t come here on purpose. Why did they lie?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. I wasn’t too sure what was going on in this place, wherever this place was. “I’ll think of a way out of here,” I said, trying to sound confident. “Just lie down and rest, okay?”

“Okay,” she said quietly. I heard her moving and then there was some rustling sounds from her cell.

I lowered myself down and went to sit on the edge of my new bed, trying hard to think of a way to get out of here. Nothing about this situation made sense. Who were these eutherians? What were they after? Why did they want to know where the exit location was? Obviously they thought we knew something more, especially me, but even with my mind being older than my body, I knew Aunt Celestia hadn’t told me certain things about the security of the kingdom. She’d even fully admitted it to me when I’d asked. What else did they expect me to know?

My thoughts were interrupted by a small shuffle of feet. However, it seemed to come from another cell altogether. “H…Hello…?” a weak sounding voice called out from the cell next to me. The voice sounded young. Too young to be in a cell.

I stood and ran to the door, leaping up and grabbing the bars to get a hold of it. My youthful stamina helped me stay in position, hanging from the bar windows as I tried to look out. “Yes? I’m here,” I said.

I saw a small hand waving through the barred window on the door next to my cell. A bright pinkish hand. I knew that whoever this was couldn’t be a eutherian. Their coats were always dark. The hand was also too small to belong to an adult. “Can you see me?” the childish voice called out. The voice sounded like a filly’s voice.

“Yeah, yeah I can see you,” I said, waving my own hand. “Can you see me?”

“Yeah, I can see you,” the voice said.

I could hear the flapping of wings from their cell, so I asked, “Wait, are you a pegasus?”

“Yes,” was all the voice said. The hand vanished and the sound of the wings did too.

“How long have you been in here?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know.

“I don’t know…” the pegasus replied.

“Sorry for asking, but how did you end up here?” I asked.

The pegasus paused before continuing. “I was walking home after my birthday party when me, my parents and older brother fell into a hole,” she began. “When I woke up…my…” the filly stopped talking and I could hear her starting to sniff.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I said, backpedaling fast. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No…it’s okay,” she said, regaining herself before she continued. “The eutherian guards found me and…the bodies…and took me to ask me how I got here after promising to take me to the surface. I told them, but they lied and put me in here.”

I frowned and leaned against my door, thinking. The queen and that stallion, who I guessed was some sort of court advisor, had asked me where I’d come from before Zecora had answered. Obviously the location of these doors to the surface was important, but why? Invasion, perhaps? It was possible. If that was the case, then Zecora and I had just become hostages. I cursed myself for being so stupid. I was so desperate to get out of here that I’d gotten myself captured. Worse, I’d gotten Zecora captured.

Still, I had to try and find a way out of this place with Zecora and this newcomer. Which made me realize that I didn’t know her name. I jumped back up, grabbed the bars and pulled myself back up to look out of the cell again. “Hey, what’s your name?”

This was when I got the shock of a lifetime. “I-I’m Cadenza Mi Amore,” the pegasus said, “but y-you can call me Cadance.”

Author's Note

Been a while. Sorry about that. I couldn't think of what to write, but inspiration struck me recently so I finished. Hope you enjoy!