A booming crack echoed through the cavern as the hooves of the two stallions met in battle. Saliva foamed at their muzzles from rage as they struck at each other with deadly intent. One for the right to his home and family, the other for his right to take them for himself. In a far corner of the cave watched a mare with her foal. In her wanderings through the eternal caverns she had met him here. A strong and capable stallion with his own home, a hidden lake filled with food for the young he could give her.
Another crack echoed loudly through the space as the intruders back hooves met stone, narrowly missing her mates skull. Her foal twitched at her side from the noise, he was shaking with fear as he had been since the intruder arrived. Even as young as he was the foal knew that the consequences for him would be terrible should his sire lose the fight, even if his young mind did not know what those consequences would be.
The mare, turning away from the battle that would decide her future made crooning noises to her foal. Wrapping him in the embrace of her forelegs she nuzzled his stringy mane with her hairless muzzle, blind eyes resting on his head. ‘You are safe, love’ her ministrations spoke to her foal.
The battle had turned in favor of the sire, his hooves struck the thick hide of the intruder, pushing him toward the surface of the cold underground lake. His foal looked on with sudden glee as he felt their movements through the vibrations in the earth. Every inch of the cavern, every movement of those within resonated through his hooves as the two stallions fought for their lives. His father was winning! Soon the scary stallion would be gone and the silence of the caverns would return, gone would be the loud and discordant noises.
The sire stood over the prone body of the intruder, steam rising from his flared nostrils as he panted in rage. The intruder knew he was defeated, he would pay the price for his attempt to take a mate for his own.
Just as the sire rose to his rear hooves to deliver the final crushing blow to his enemy the cavern rumbled. The crystals in the walls suddenly gave off a blaze of heat as they resonated with magical energy. Could the stallion have seen with his milky white eyes he would have witnessed a blinding spectrum of light shine from the crystals embedded in the rock all around him turning the cave into an unexpected light show.
The rumble from the cave floor caught the sire off guard, causing him to stumble back toward the lake. The intruder saw his doom turn into a last chance at victory and scrambled out from under the sire. The mare paid careful attention to the change in the fight as her foal’s breath caught in his throat.
With the sire still teetering on the edge of the lake, the intruder rose on his forelegs and with a mighty buck struck the sire in the center of his forehead with his rear hooves. There was a final crack as the hooves smashed into the sires skull followed by a splash from the sire’s body hitting the water.
All was quiet for a time, only the breathing of the three remaining ponies could be heard. The beating of their hearts, the tremble of their bodies on the rock the only signs of movement and life. Nothing rose from the water, no sudden gasp for breath as the sire rose from the depths to fight again. The intruder had won.
The intruder made his way over to the mare on the far end of the cavern and stood before her expectantly, he had won so all that was the sires was now his. The mare saw this and approved, the combat had been fair and this stallion had come out the victor. Her mate had been weak but now she would have a strong stallion to give her young and provide for her.
The mare stood and stepped up to her new stallion as they embraced each other with their necks. The foal, left on the ground did not like this, not at all. Every instinct he had was screaming that this was trouble and he was in danger. The little colt knew what to do though when he sensed danger, just like when the things with claws and teeth would come his mother would protect him.
Pushing his fear aside the colt scurried to his mothers underside, hiding among the safety of her strong legs. The colt gasped in shock when his mother, his guardian, violently stepped aside and left him vulnerable. Trying to return to safety he scurried back to his mother only to be struck in the face and knocked aside by the natural beads running through his mothers stringy tail.
Before the colt could rise and process what had just happened the stallion’s hooves pounded the ground in front of him. The colt could feel his mother distancing herself from him as she took her place behind the stallion, her new mate.
“Out!” Growled the stallion with a voice like gravel churning. “Not your home! Leave, or I kill!”
The colt made a mewling noise to call to his mother, he was scared and this stallion was mean, why did she not help. The colt made a move to run around the stallion to his mother but received a kick to the side for his trouble. The blow knocked the air from the colts lungs as he was launched in the air and struck the ground several meters away. The stallion had not struck with full strength and the strong bones and hairless hide of the colt had protected him from getting more than bruises. The stallion knew that the colt must be allowed to flee, it was not the way to kill a foal that did not need to be killed....not outright.
The colt rose to his feet, confused, scared, and now hurting. Why did she not help...what did he do?
“OUT!” roared the stallion, punctuating his exclamation with a strike of his hooves to the stone floor.
The colt ran as fast has his hooves could take him from the lake into the winding endless caverns beyond. The last he felt of his mother through the rocks touching his hooves was her turning from the new stallion and waiting for the usurpers touch. The stallion had a lake, his mother had a new mate, and the little colt...was alone in the caves.
Meanwhile
Far, far above the battle in the deep caves, soaring through the skies with a city made of clouds, flew a small rainbow haired pegasus filly. In defense of a friend the filly took on her enemies in a race through the skies. Diving past her last adversary to a cloud hoop close to the ground the filly pushed against a barrier forming to block her descent. She crashed through the barrier, going faster than anypony ever had before and making a breakneck turn through the hoop. Following her burst of speed a boom followed by a ring shaped blast of every spectrum of visible light flew across the land.
Little did the loyal little filly know that her actions that day changed the lives of five other fillies, binding them together by destiny. Little did the filly know, the effect she had on one little colt...far, far under the ground.
Born of earth
