Dangers of Cave exploration.
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Hope you like the chapter and like always EEEENJOY!!!
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Winter was passing by fairly peacefully...
It always made Starfall curious that this season was so lacking in excitement. Rarely ever any villain or any special event happened when white snow covered the busy streets of Ponyville. It was as if they all just went into hibernation...
Well...
Some of them certainly did... Thought Starfall while looking up at the entrance to the giant, gloomy cavern...
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//A few hours earlier//
"Steady...Steady... Perfect!" Exclaimed Starfall proudly as Twilight finished magically engraving runes on a small round crystal.
The purplish mare smiled at Starfall and present him the gemstone, which the stallion promptly lifted up with his magic and installed in a special slot on the ceiling.
"Ok, you can check if it works." He instructed, and Twilight quickly went towards the wall filled with excitement.
She gently touched a small extended panel with her hoof, and in the next moment, the crystal amongst a number of others placed alongside it, lit up in warm light that gave thetwo ponies the feeling of hot, summer sunlight.
Starfall cast a few diagnostic spells and examined the setup before smiling at Twilight.
"It looks fine to me Twily. Great work!" He said warmly, eliciting an excited squeal from the Unicorn Mare.
She tackled Starfall before kissing him with all her strength. It reminded him of the time they studied together in Canterlot... minus the intensive and prolonged kissing...
She was always so excited about her studies, he mused...
A moment later, Twilight finally calmed herself enough to look at Starfall.
"Do you think we can install the illusions next? I was hoping to bring the girls for some sunbathing by the "beach"..." She said looking to the side with a blush making Starfall laugh.
"Of course Twily, although let's do it sometime later. We've been working for six hours already. And unlike me who could go without sleep for hours, you're still not as magically augmented as me on the inside, and even I steel need to rest from time to time." He said with care in his voice.
"Can't you just use your Revitalising Spell on me?" She asked with a pout and Starfall rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"It's not a replacement for normal resting Twilight, and you know it. Just take a nap for now while I clean up this place...Pretty please?" He asked and Twilight sighed.
"Finnne..." She said, but then "eeped" when Starfall playfully slapped her on the rear.
"And no reading instead of sleeping or I'll know!" He called behind her with a smirk to which she gave him a stink eye, before faltering and shrugging with a helpless smile. She'd probably have done just that... He knew her so well...
Starfall looked at the doors closing behind Twilight and shook his head in fond exasperation. He really loved that girl...But sometimes she had to be reminded of how the world worked...
His memories suddenly churned as that simple trail of thoughts reminded him of a certain song...
He felt a slight shudder, not connected to his unstable magic, pass through his neck and body...
Damn, music really was ingrained into Pony nature, wasn't it?
That was his thought as he started to quietly hum the song while taking care of the cleaning. Second by second his voice grew louder as he was getting more into the song.
'Damn What's with me and those villain songs lately...' He thought in amusement as the words of the song finally left his mouth...
"♪It's time you learned a lesson, It's time that you understand!♪ Don't ever count on anybody else, in this or any other land!♪ I once hoped for friendship, to find a place among my kind!♪ But those were the childish wishes, of someone who was blind...♪" He was really getting into the song. His magic played to his tune as items fell into their proper places, be it tools, or trash left after Twilight's most recent project. He might not agree with the lyrics, but It doesn't mean he can't appreciate good music, right?
"♪OPEN UP YOUR EEEEYYYEEESSS! SEE THE WORLD FROM WHERE I STAND! ♪
♪ME AMONG THE MIGHTY! YOU CAGED AT MY COMAAAND!♪
♪OPEN UP YOUR EEEEYYYEEESSS! GIVE UP YOUR SWEET FANTASYLAND!♪
It's time to grow up, and get wise! Come now little one...Open up your eyes...
...
OPEN UP YOUR EEEEYYYEEESSS!♪"Intoned Starfall with a wide grin. Oh he was going to do his damn best so that Tempest had no occasion to sing that song...
He looked around the now tidy room and smiled. Even a villain song makes any work so much more efficient... He found it funny to think about.
Though as he reminisced the song, another interesting fragment of information tickled his curiosity...
"I wonder..." He mused as the warm clothes hanging by the entrance slowly flew onto his body alongside with a few magical trinkets he was designing in his free time, that appeared from a secret compartment as he walked through the corridor of the Lab...
He needed to be prepared since even if "They" are asleep, there was no telling what would happen if "They" were to wake up...
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//few hours later//
Starfall looked up at the huge cave with a hint of apprehension...Was that really a good idea?
The stallion steeled his resolve. there was no better time to test his conjecture.
If he wanted to look for "It", he needed to go during winter...
His hooves slowly pushed him forward. He disregarded the slight fear he felt at the idea of walking inside, and pushed forth, his magical trinkets lighting up to life as his body slowly turned transparent, odourless, and etc.
He could have casted those spells on his own, but he found the idea of splitting his focus on casting support spells to be a particularly stupid idea during a dangerous situation.
Starfall slowly turned on his mage sight and quickly winced, instantly meeting with the sight of a literal mountain of magically conductive purple hair.
The mountain in question, to be precise, was a castle-sized monstrosity of a half-transparent purple bear with a star mark on its forehead, sleeping in the large cavern, while cradling a smaller, bluish, half-transparent bear pup with a similar mark, which easily made Starfall sweat-drop, as he remembered that Ursa Minor, the smaller bear pup, was actually the size of a house the last time they met...
And while at that time he easily took care of the younger bear, he wasn't sure if he could do much against the big one...
Well, he could probably figure something out if the need arises, but he was very much hoping that it didn't come to it...
He slowly traversed the cave, which considering it's size, was probably dug up by the Ursa Major herself in the side of a mountain, since there was no way a cave capable to house both the humongous bears could have been formed naturally.
'Where could it be...' He thought to himself while casting some detection spells. He didn't know if it was even the same cave, but there was only so many Ursa's living in the world, so it was quite likely...
It was only after an hour of fruitless search that the Stallion finally found his target, laying broken with a few smaller pieces scattered here and there, and covered in dirt. Had he not been using his spells in conjunction with his mage sight, he'd have been unable to notice it amongst all the rocks and common gemstones native to the Equestrian underground.
Feeling relieved to finally be done with the stressful search, Starfall quickly pushed away the rocks and picked up all the pieces into a container in his saddlebag. He was going to research them closer as soon as he's back in the Lab and away from the...Ursa...
Starfall slowly became rigid. The silence surrounding him, suddenly made him realise that something was not entirely right...
He slowly looked up, only to realise that a pair of huge fierce yellow eyes with red pupils was currently staring straight at him...
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"Come on Spike! You can do it!" Called out Sweetie Bell cheering on the struggling dragon.
"*huff* I'm trying! This... thing must weight... a tone though!" He groaned out while pushing a huge Snowball onto another one using a snow ramp.
"Why won't you help him Sweetie?" Asked Apple Bloom confused, while Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.
"Umm...Hello!? Do you expect me to push that thing?" She asked, eliciting exasperated expressions from the other two fillies.
"Of course not! Your a unicorn! Use magic!" Apple Bloom said causing Sweetie Belle to blush in realisation.
"Oh right... I forgot, Haha!" She laughed to mask her embarrassment and focused to try and help Spikey, who despite his recent jump in strength, still couldn't push up the giant Snowball...
But despite their struggle, soon enough the sphere landed in its place and the giant snowpony was all ready for the final touches.
But before they could even think about finishing their creation, a small, unexpected earthquake, almost costed them a few hours of work, and only through the quick reaction of Scootalo and Sweetie Belle, with the addition of the sheer size of the Snowpony, were they able to stop it from crumbling down.
"Woah! What happened! Was that an earthquake?! Should we go hide somewhere" Asked Spike while looking around in worry.
"I think it passed..." Apple Bloom said unsure.
They stood there for a moment, but since no further tremor happened, they quickly forgot about the mysterious earthquake and went back to suiting up the snow sculpture, quickly forgetting about the tremor...
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Twilight laid in her bed snuggling into a plushie in the shape of a certain stallion.
Her breathing was steady and calm, a testament of the cute mare having fallen asleep...
So It was not surprising that when the lamp hanging from the ceiling slightly trembled, she didn't notice a thing...
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