Cave Crawling

Deep Underground - Within Maud's Quarry

Twilight and Maud were both trapped underground in a collapsed tunnel. Twilight cast the light of her horn towards the pile of rocks blocking off their escape from the caves. Twilight looked down in frustration.

"Well, this is just great!" she said in annoyance.

"It seems that we're trapped four hundred and twenty seven feet underground," Maud noted in her usual flat tone.

"Wait, can't you punch through the rocks like you did that giant boulder?" Twilight asked.

"These rocks are all balanced together. If I make a wrong move, we're done for. If you try using your magic to move them, we're done for," Maud replied.

Both Twilight and Maud were exploring a new cave system Maud discovered while exploring her quarry. Maud invited Twilight to explore the caves with her since she would be curious about them. Twilight, taking this as much as an opportunity to bond with Maud as much as to satisfy her scientific mind, accepted her invitation.

The two ponies started exploring the caves the morning after. Twilight lit the way with her horn and Maud had a spelunker's helmet with a lamp attached. It was amazing down there. There were columns connecting stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Spiky stalagmites and stalactites dotted the cave in various sizes, making the ground similar to a forest of vertical formations. There were lifeforms down there that most would expect to find in a cave.

There was moss and various fungi growing in patches along the walls and floor. But there was more moss growing around the different pools the pony pair found while traversing the caverns. Both Twilight and Maud looked into the pools to see cave fish, cave crayfish, and blind salamanders swimming in the crystalline waters. Crawling along the floor were different insects and arthropods that made their homes in the underground.

But as the two were admiring the cave's ecosystem, a rock slide suddenly occurred and caused a cave-in. Now, the two unfortunate ponies were trapped deep underground with no feasible way of escape. But Twilight remembered something.

"Wait, I left a note for Spike explaining where I was heading. We just need to sit tight and wait for our friends to come here and rescue us. They're sure to notice a blocked cave entrance," Twilight said.

"Can't you use your magic to teleport us out of here?" Maud asked.

"I can't use that spell to teleport through obstacles. I need an unobstructed view of where I want to teleport," Twilight replied.

Seeing as how waiting was the best option, Maud sat next to a stalagmite. The two sat there for a good twenty minutes in total silence when they heard something coming from the deepest part of the cave.

A series of clicking and chittering sounds sounded from the part of the cave their lights couldn't reach. The two heard claws scuttling along the ground. These sounds seemed to come from the ground, the walls, and the ceiling. Twilight was visibly unnerved by the sounds while Maud... was Maud about it, but she did back away from the sounds.

Twilight increased the light output from her horn to see what was making the sounds. The two ponies were not prepared for what they saw.

Illuminated in lavender light was a horde of armed creatures looking at the pair. They were smaller than them, but there were a lot of them. They looked like large flightless bats, with torsos covered in dark fur and hairless arms and legs. Their thin arms and legs were proportioned in an ape-like fashion, with a slight membrane that stretched from their elbows to their waists. There faces were reminiscent of bats, with flat noses, dark eyes, and large pointed ears. Their mouths were fanged and snarling at the ponies. The creatures were all wearing armor and carrying weapons.

The two ponies recoiled from the creatures before them. The creatures, meanwhile, took their fear as their cue to rush them. The whole horde swarmed toward them like a living tsunami. Twilight tried to use an attack spell, but the creatures grabbed onto her with their claws. Maud tried to simply swing her helmet at them, but they knocked away the helmet and hog-tied her. Twilight felt something small and sharp dig into her neck.

She saw one of the creatures had a small dart dripping with a green fluid. In a matter of seconds, her magic became weak and her eyelids were growing ever heavier. The last thing she felt before slipping into unconsciousness was her being tied up and carried further into the cave.

Castle of Friendship - Surface

Starlight Glimmer was walking down the stairs of the castle to get to the kitchen for breakfast. It seemed like everything was going to be a normal day.

She went into the kitchen to see Spike eating breakfast, but no Twilight in sight. Normally, Twilight would beat everybody to breakfast, given how little she slept. But she wasn't there now.

"Hey, Spike, do you know where Twilight is?" she asked the small dragon.

"Twilight went with Maud to explore a new cave system Maud found in her quarry," Spike replied.

He handed Starlight the very letter that Twilight left for him. Starlight read the letter.

...

Dear Spike and Starlight,

I won't be home for at least two days. I'm exploring a new system of caverns Maud discovered. If something happens and I'm not back in two days, send help.

Love, Twilight Sparkle

...

Starlight ran things through in her head. It was already one day past when Twilight left, since she wasn't home last night. Perhaps she and Maud were still exploring the cave. But if Twilight and Maud were gone past two days, then Starlight would look for them.

Starlight ate breakfast with her current goals in mind. Today, she was supposed to be helping Trixie test out a new cannon she bought for her newest magic trick. Trixie needed Starlight's help lugging the massive thing to the rock fields outside of town to test it safely. She also needed Starlight to fire the cannon.

Once she was finished with breakfast, Starlight left the castle to find Trixie's cart.

Deep Underground

Twilight woke up to find herself and Maud trapped in a form of cage. Both she and Maud were both muzzled and tied up like pigs. The cage they were trapped in was being carried by the very same creatures that attacked them.

Twilight tried to cast magic, but a small woven charm was tied to her horn, preventing her from using her magic. This caught Twilight by surprise.

They're able to prevent me from using magic?! she thought.

A swirl of questions were swimming in Twilight's mind. What were these creatures? How were they able to disable magic? How long have they been living here? Hopefully, she'd be able to get answers while getting both Maud and herself back to the surface. But right now, she had to focus on where these creatures were taking them.

A cacophony of clicks and chitters sounded in their ears endlessly. Twilight hypothesized that these creatures use echolocation like bats to navigate the tunnels down here. Suddenly, the creatures seemed to stop in front of a large boulder in front of the cave wall. Twilight heard some of the creatures moving the boulder out of the way of another entrance. Both Twilight and Maud were astonished by what they saw beyond the boulder door.

The cave chambers beyond the boulder were filled with soft light. Lights of different colors flooded the chamber. It was as if a rainbow had gotten trapped in the deepest abysses of the earth, and was constantly blessing the pits with its light.

The lights were being thrown by different bioluminescent fungi and glowing moss. Large crystal formations grew in sparse patches to give off soft light. It was an amazing sight to behold.

A jolt of the cage brought Maud and Twilight out of their stupor. The creatures were carrying the cage down a slope that led into the chamber, which looked like it stretched on for miles.

The deeper into the chamber they went, both Maud and Twilight could see countless structures built into the surrounding formations. From the looks of them, these structures were homes for these creatures.

Speaking of the creatures, there was a growing crowd of them coming to greet their returning warriors and gawk at the two caged ponies they brought with them. There were differences between the creatures, too. There were some that had large eyes and foxlike faces, there were some that had flattened noses and had large fangs, and some that were white and had yellow ears and nose leaves. It was as if these creatures were derived from different bat species.

The apparent leader of the armed creatures spoke to a few other warriors in their native language. The ones the leader was speaking to pointed upward to the ceiling of the tall chamber, where there were a few structures built into the ceiling and stalactites.

The cage was brought to what looked like a simple pulley system with rope and hooks attached. Maud and Twilight were literally dragged out of the cage and had their restraints hanging on the built-in hooks in the ropes.

As much as Twilight wanted to try to get herself Maud out of this predicament, she had a feeling that it would be a bad idea to try to do so. Besides, she had a feeling these creatures had no ill intentions.

The ropes pulled both of them higher and higher above the chamber floor to reach a series of homes interconnected by bridges. Upon their arrival, a group of warriors grabbed them with their clawed hands and were dragging them to a particularly large structure affixed to the ceiling.

This structure was large, around the size of the Crystal Empire's sports arena, and had several armed warriors glaring at them. Twilight and Maud were brought into the building and dropped onto the floor of some form of meeting hall surrounded by different species of these creatures.

But these creatures were different from the ones below. They all wore a kind of robe with a kind of crest sewn into them. The crest was a stylized picture of a bat in flight with crescent moons flanking the bat. Twilight guessed that these creatures were there versions of government officials for them.

Among them was one creature that stood out among them. From the shape of her physique, she was female. Her fur was pure white and her eyes were beads of red, indicating her as an albino. She sat in the middle of the other officials with a smile on her face. This female reached over to Twilight and removed the charm on her horn.

Before Twilight could do anything, the female produced a spell in her claw and drew what Twilight could feel was a rune on her cheek. She then signaled for the warriors to remove their restraints.

Once their restraints and muzzles were removed, the female creature smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head.

"I'm so sorry about your treatment by our warriors. Most of us tend to be a bit protective of our civilization," she said with a sweet voice that could rival even Fluttershy's.

Both Maud and Twilight were shocked. Whenever they heard these beings speak before, they couldn't understand a single thing they said. But now, they could swear she was speaking the same language as them.

"Oh, I gave you both a magic rune that allows us to communicate with each other. I hope you weren't hurt," the creature said.

The two ponies were still stuck in a state of shock.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Penumbra, the Queen of the Chiropterans," the white creature replied. "And welcome to the Underhollow".