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RogerDodger
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The Millennial Vault
“This is some gig huh?”
Breaker Fold turned slightly, sizing up the owner of the voice next to him. Dull green fur, waist-jacket and adorning the head - one slightly worn trilby. Almost certainly a unicorn, but Breaker wasn’t going to knock his hat off to check. Was he was certain of was the pony’s profession - a journalist, just like himself. Nothing obvious from the overall picture, but from the little details. The straightened posture, keen, hawkish eyes still evident behind a pair of ritzy glasses, clipboard poking up from his saddlebag, and as if that wasn’t enough, the camera strapped around his neck.
“It better be,” Breaker replied, starting to feel rather claustrophobic in the standing crowd. “My boss is gonna kill me if I don’t get at least three hundred words out of this thing.”
The journalist smiled. Breaker knew if he was any good at his job, he would’ve already made exactly the same impressions about him.
“Ink Stroke, The Canterlot Times,” his counterpart said, introducing himself with a raised hoof.
“Breaker Fold, Hayward Gazette.” Breaker completed the hoofbump after a microsecond of surprise. Perhaps all those rumours of everypony in Canterlot being a stuck-up busybody were unfounded after all.
“Hayward? Hayward-on-Sea? Isn’t that that small town on the coast to the west? What are you doing out here?” Ink half-raised an eyebrow.
“Well, Princess Twilight’s opening with the pre-speech, and I’ve never done a piece on royalty before. You wouldn’t believe how much people clamour for that kind of news when you’re as out in the sticks as we are. My boss practically begged me to make the trip.”
“Mm...makes sense I guess. In Canterlot, we have a whole division dedicated to the royal stuff. Say umm...I’m surprised. I mean don’t get me wrong but, it’s not often you see an earth pony doing our job.”
“Heh, I know.” Breaker had gotten this reaction a fair few times back home. “I did a special course in quill-writing. I’m probably almost as fast using my mouth here than you are with your magic.”
“Crikey,” Ink replied, genuinely impressed. “Might have to put that to the test in a minute.”
The murmurs from the crowd around them hushed suddenly, grabbing Breaker’s attention. A movement on the makeshift stage ahead absorbed the scrutiny of everypony around, before deflating into a ripple of disappointed sighs. Just a runner, apparently supplying the podium with a sheetload of notes.
“False alarm,” Breaker sighed. Growing up miles away from the nearest city hadn’t exactly prepared him well for the rigours of the present claustrophobic situation, and he shuffled awkwardly, trying to avoid bumping into the ponies around him.
“So uhm...you guys know anything about this thing that the common pony doesn’t?” Ink asked, straining to make himself heard above the general racket.
Breaker hesitated briefly. Sharing information between rival reporters was a particularly grey area in their industry. It might net you some more valuable gossip in return, but of course the opposing scenario was equally possible. Luckily in this case, he had an easy answer to make.
“Diddly squat,” he replied, scratching the silver fur on his side. “Heard the term ‘Time Capsule’ floating about but that’s just one of many rumours going around.”
“That’s my bet on what it is. This cave’s supposedly been shut off for over a hundred years. Some of my colleagues back home have different ideas, but why would they send Twilight out of the Princesses down here if that wasn’t the case? Everypony knows that schtick is right up her alley.”
Breaker coughed. “Some would say that’s a poor choice of words.”
“How do you mean?”
About to answer, Breaker caught sight of a flash of purple up ahead, beyond the sea of pony heads. And then there she was - Princess Twilight Sparkle on stage in the flesh, having emerged from the woodlands completely dominating the landscape. Only the large stone structure to the right of the stage provided a break from nature’s dominion here, what with it’s clear artificial origins.
Ink immediately brought up his camera and got a first flash away, while the crowd was still half-distracted. It took a very decent salary to be able to afford a luxury item as that, which said much about the unicorn’s capabilities. For Breaker, his edited notes would have to be enough.
Twilight approached the podium, gleaming at the crowd all the way. Breaker had almost expected her to be lacking on the confidence side, having not been a princess for terribly long, but she looked remarkably suited to the role. As she brought up the notes left for her, he started planning out the start of the article in his head.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, on her first solo royal outing, squashed all qualms about her confidence with a lively and engaging opening speech on the surprise unveiling of the mysterious “Time Capsule”...hmm...better not get ahead of myself.
A few more flashes erupted around as other journalists managed to get shots away. The whole crowd had almost silenced, and suddenly Breaker noticed he could hear the wind again, blowing through the trees. For some reason, the tension was quite palpable.
“Good day to you, everypony, and welcome to the Applewood Hills!” Twilight’s voice lit up the area like a match. Breaker felt the hairs on his neck prick up. “I understand many of you are still somewhat confused as to why you’ve been asked to travel out here, but rest assured I hope to answer most of your questions in the next few minutes.”
Breaker watched on already impressed, as the Princess left the podium and headed right, towards the edge of the stage. Cut into the mountain just beyond lay the obvious object of attention. “This - if the few records we have of this place are to be believed - is the Millennial Vault.” Twilight motioned with an outstretched hoof towards the fifteen foot-high outline, clearly depicting a set of stone doors. “To be rather brief about what we know, some unicorns living near here on this day a thousand years ago decided to bury something here with the intention of ponies like us in this time to re-discover it. Many historians - myself included - think the timing with Princess Luna’s...incident is too much of a coincidence, and so the likely theory is that much of what we’ll find will be mementoes to her isolation, along with general tokens and artifacts.”
“Pah, unlikely,” Ink whispered. “Don’t think Miss Night Princess was popular with anyone back then.”
“Hmm? Oh..sure.” Breaker only half-listened, already enraptured by Princess Twilight’s words. Clearly she was holding back on her enthusiasm for the finding as per protocol.
“...and on a personal note, I just want to say how excited I am to be here to see the vault’s unveiling,” Twilight continued. “Memories of this time period are understandably sensitive for my fellow Princesses, and they felt it was an ideal opportunity for me to handle this event on my own. So I thank you for your consideration, and hope you all will learn as much as I hope to from this discovery. If my calculations are correct, we should start seeing something as soon as sunset finishes.”
As Princess Twilight stopped, Breaker immediately became aware of how dark it had become. The sky had lost all traces of azure blue and the first starlight dots had already appeared faintly. The trees didn’t look nearly as beautiful now.
“Can you imagine if the maths is wrong? We could be stuck standing here like lemons in front of this thing for hours. Thank Celestia it isn’t winter.” Ink took a final photo of Twilight’s face before she turned to face the stone doors.
“Princess Twilight’s a genius, so I’ve heard. You don’t honestly think she could mess up on something like this?” Breaker said back.
“Oh well...sure, but I’m just saying. Don’t wanna be stuck out here for lo-”
A dim, almost buzzing like sensation suddenly throbbed all around, permeating the landscape. Through his hooves, Breaker could feel the earth beneath writhing and contorting. Ink could no doubt feel something similar in the surrounding magical field, judging by the look on his face.
“You feel that?” he yelled, above the immediate shills of the crowd.
“Yeah!” Breaker responded. A pair of royal guards from nowhere had leapt to the Princess’ side, but the mare herself hadn't moved.
“It’s moving! Collating towards the doors there!”
Breaker felt it, a pull of tension in the earth towards the vault. And then the stone carving glowed, fizzing with energy - the outline of the doors lit up like neon. More than one pony in the crowd looked on the verge of panic, but most stared forward enraptured by the sight. Ink furiously snapped up more pictures while he could.
“This is gold! Gold! Never seen anything like this in my career before!”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this!” Breaker yelled, all at once aware that ‘new’ most likely meant something dangerous. Or at the very least, unfamiliar.
“No...way!” Ink said, eye glued to the lens of his camera. Breaker looked again at the Vault, where the bright outlines had faded away, but the central vertical line has split right down the middle. Squinting in the lack of light, he could just make out a dark edge now separating each equal half. And with a low rumble, the set of doors started to move, the out edges acting like hinges as the black edge became a wider and wider abyss. The crackling of magic had ceased, as had all voice from the crowd. Only the growl of stone on stone tore through the air like thunder.
“Okay everypony, this is it!” Princess Twilight said loudly, addressing the throng of ponies once more. “Nothing to worry about. This was a clearly timed spell designed to engage the door mechanism at precisely the right time. I will illuminate the path ahead and enter first with my guards. The archeologists present shall follow first, and if we then give the all clear, the rest of you can enter as well.”
With a loud boom, the stone doors finally collided with the walls, revealing a cave-like entrance of total blackness. Immediately, The Princess’s horn shimmered, and a resulting orb of lavender light burst into existence, floating over the threshold. Before Breaker could get any kind of view inside, the royal and her escorts followed suit, blocking his line of sight. Somewhat reluctantly, eight rather stiff and aging ponies approached the entrance - one or two hesitating to take closer looks at the doors before finally entering the blackness. By the time the last had disappeared from the light, no trace of Twilight’s light spell remained.
Ten minutes passed, and the air was unbelievably still.
“How long do you think they’ll be?” Breaker asked his companion. Every remaining pony had converged with associates, dotting the clearing with groups of three to six individuals. As every minute ticked by, more looks went over towards the Vault.
“Who knows?” Ink replied, already scribbling down notes on a notepad. “Could be anyone’s guess how long those old stuffers want to examine everything before they let us common riff-raff down there.”
An unease clawed away at Breaker. Maybe Ink couldn’t feel it, but earth ponies could sense if something underground nearby was amiss, and there was definitely something not right in the sensations underneath his hooves.
“I’m going in,” Breaker said, surprising himself with how quickly he had come to the decision.
“You what mate? It’s only been a short while. Don’t panic over nothing.”
“But that’s it! We’ve heard nothing! Surely one of them would’ve come back up by now?”
Ink sighed. “You wait, in about five minutes you’ll see em come back and-”
“There’s a Princess in there!” Breaker roared, far too loudly to not be heard by the entire clearing. Every head unsubtley turned towards him in jarring realisation. Ink took one look around, and clambered onto his feet hesitantly.
“Okay, okay, I’m in. But uhh...you first, if that’s okay with you.”
Nodding, Breaker immediately trotted over towards the gaping opening, determined not to look back. The fading light outside made it a little easier to see inside the cave, but not by much. He could only make out the further limits of the inside walls before they disappeared in the gloom.
“Come right back if you see anything suspicious, okay?” a mare nearby said.
“You got it. Don’t suppose anypony here knows a light spell like the Princess?” Ink asked.
Breaker took the ensuing silence as a negative. Just one step before walking inside, he stopped, and sniffed the air. He couldn’t place the smell, but whatever it was, it didn’t smell fresh.
“My camera’s got the flash. We can use that in an emergency,” Ink said, moving alongside him.
Breaker nodded, and taking a deep breath, stepped beyond the doors, into nothingness.
The cave took them at first through a couple of turns, before dipping slightly. Breaker half-expected to see stairs appear, but the angle so far had been comfortably shallow. Surprisingly, he could still see a few feet in front of him. Either his eyes had adjusted extremely well to the dark, or there was some faint source of light creeping in from somewhere.
“It’s too quiet. We should've heard them by now,” Ink said, the atmosphere having driven away his previous conviction totally.
“Mmm…” Breaker kept his ears faced forward, hoping to pick up the first hint of a voice. A cry for help. Anything.
“Why would the unicorns even dig out something this deep? This could go on for miles and-”
“Shhh!”
“What?”
“SHHHH!” Breaker thought he had missed it after a few seconds of silence, but somewhere deep ahead, he caught a faint cry. The same word repeated over and over again.
Run
“It’s them!” Breaker surged forwards, almost immediately colliding with the wall as the tunnel pitched leftwards.
“Slow down! I can’t see a damn thing!”
“Not risking it!” Breaker called back, galloping onwards, feeling with every sense he could muster towards the path ahead. With every step, the cries became louder.
Run!
“I can hear them! What’ll we do?” Ink yelled, panting just behind.
“I don’t know! Just run!” Breaker called back, quite happily substituting the lack of a plan for focusing on not crashing into any more obstacles. The tunnel was a long straight now, still dipping downwards into the deep earth.
“RUN!”
“Woah! Woah hey! It’s us!” Breaker shouted, suddenly aware the other ponies couldn’t be far in front of him.
“Move! We’ve got the Princess! Get the heck out of here!”
The voice slammed through Breaker like a shockwave, and he dived right just in time to avoid the onrush of a dozen ponies hurtling in the opposite direction. A startled yelp from behind him suggested Ink had just about managed to do the same in time.
“What happened!? What are you running from?” Breaker yelled to all of them.
“Just run!” somepony cried, and in that millisecond, Breaker caught a briefest flash of purple fur, suspended on the back of metallic armour. The last pony passed, leaving Breaker flustered, desperately trying to process every scrap of information flowing through his brain.
“What are you doing!?” Ink came up alongside him. “That looked like all of them, so why are you just standing there!?”
The rumbles of galloping hooves receded. But it wasn’t replaced by silence. Breaker couldn’t tell what the first thing he heard was, only that it sounded low, quiet...and alien.
Then the screaming. He had never heard screaming like that before in his life. It was as if a thousand ponies had decided all at once to wail their lungs out, but nopony he knew of screamed like that. It was high-pitched, chilling him to the core, and ever-increasing in volume.
“Breaker! Let’s GO!”
The two ponies hurtled back over the threshold, to a crowd of extremely worried ponies gathered in a huge huddle.
“Is that the Princess!?” Ink screamed, still breathing heavily from exertion.
“She fell unconscious. Something down there knocked her out, but she’s still breathing,” the nearest guard said, sweating protrously from his armour. “Please tell me you weren't followed.”
A chorus cry of howls emanated from the darkness behind, and all three ponies swiveled round in shock.
“Crap! You’re a unicorn! Close those doors!” Breaker bellowed at the guard.
“I can’t handle both! Look how heavy they are! If another could help me then maybe I could close one.”
“A time for heroes huh?” Ink lit up his horn. Breaker hadn’t even noticed he’d lost his hat somewhere behind.
Another much louder piercing scream erupted from the gloom, heard by all in the clearing. A few ponies were already scrambling away down the woodland trail back to civilization. Not hesitating, the two unicorns projected their magic onto each door.
“Gah! Hnnng! Ink visibly strained as the weight of the task hit him, while the guard didn’t fare much better. Very slowly, the doors came away from the walls.
Far too slowly. Breaker could feel the vibrations in the earth drumming louder. Whatever it was would be upon them before the doors would close.
“I need time! Give me your camera!” Breaker yelled to Ink.
“Fine! Take it! Lil busy here!” Ink’s eyes clenched shut as his dug his hooves right into the ground, sweat pouring off his head.
Rushing, Breaker gripped the strap with his teeth, and pulled the device completely off Ink. Clutching it with a hoof, he moved toward the entrance, right to the edge of darkness. Something rotten was flowing outwards into the world with the wind; the air stunk of age and sulphur.
“What are you doing!? Get back from there!” the guard shouted.
“Buying you time!” Breaker replied, not even knowing if this would have any effect at all. But something was better than nothing, and this situation looked like it could turn deadly if the latter happened. Maybe even world-threatening.
He raised the camera as every synapse in his head told him to move, to run, to get away from the doors. Every scream ploughed into him like a freight train, flushing his body with fear. But somehow, the signals to his feet to remain firm won out. Just as a shape in the darkness ahead took form, Breaker raised his right hoof, and hit the button on top of the camera.
And the flash illuminated everything.
"So...the Princess is in good health, Breaker?"
"Yes Chief. Supposedly she doesn't remember anything after entering the cave."
"Good...good. Well this security decree is going to make things difficult. The public will know eventually, they always do."
"I think the Princesses want to buy some time. Try and evaluate exactly what happened."
"Ha! After everything you've said, I don't think anypony will know exactly what the hay is down there."
"At least it's over now. Am I dismissed Chief? Kinda want to go home and see Sandy, haven't had time to pop back yet."
"Sure thing, oh, and let me know if any pictures made it out of there. Those'll be worth something in the near future, mark my words."
"..."
"Breaker?"
"I can tell you right now Chief, you won't be seeing any pictures."
"How come?"
"We burnt them. We burnt them all."
Breaker Fold turned slightly, sizing up the owner of the voice next to him. Dull green fur, waist-jacket and adorning the head - one slightly worn trilby. Almost certainly a unicorn, but Breaker wasn’t going to knock his hat off to check. Was he was certain of was the pony’s profession - a journalist, just like himself. Nothing obvious from the overall picture, but from the little details. The straightened posture, keen, hawkish eyes still evident behind a pair of ritzy glasses, clipboard poking up from his saddlebag, and as if that wasn’t enough, the camera strapped around his neck.
“It better be,” Breaker replied, starting to feel rather claustrophobic in the standing crowd. “My boss is gonna kill me if I don’t get at least three hundred words out of this thing.”
The journalist smiled. Breaker knew if he was any good at his job, he would’ve already made exactly the same impressions about him.
“Ink Stroke, The Canterlot Times,” his counterpart said, introducing himself with a raised hoof.
“Breaker Fold, Hayward Gazette.” Breaker completed the hoofbump after a microsecond of surprise. Perhaps all those rumours of everypony in Canterlot being a stuck-up busybody were unfounded after all.
“Hayward? Hayward-on-Sea? Isn’t that that small town on the coast to the west? What are you doing out here?” Ink half-raised an eyebrow.
“Well, Princess Twilight’s opening with the pre-speech, and I’ve never done a piece on royalty before. You wouldn’t believe how much people clamour for that kind of news when you’re as out in the sticks as we are. My boss practically begged me to make the trip.”
“Mm...makes sense I guess. In Canterlot, we have a whole division dedicated to the royal stuff. Say umm...I’m surprised. I mean don’t get me wrong but, it’s not often you see an earth pony doing our job.”
“Heh, I know.” Breaker had gotten this reaction a fair few times back home. “I did a special course in quill-writing. I’m probably almost as fast using my mouth here than you are with your magic.”
“Crikey,” Ink replied, genuinely impressed. “Might have to put that to the test in a minute.”
The murmurs from the crowd around them hushed suddenly, grabbing Breaker’s attention. A movement on the makeshift stage ahead absorbed the scrutiny of everypony around, before deflating into a ripple of disappointed sighs. Just a runner, apparently supplying the podium with a sheetload of notes.
“False alarm,” Breaker sighed. Growing up miles away from the nearest city hadn’t exactly prepared him well for the rigours of the present claustrophobic situation, and he shuffled awkwardly, trying to avoid bumping into the ponies around him.
“So uhm...you guys know anything about this thing that the common pony doesn’t?” Ink asked, straining to make himself heard above the general racket.
Breaker hesitated briefly. Sharing information between rival reporters was a particularly grey area in their industry. It might net you some more valuable gossip in return, but of course the opposing scenario was equally possible. Luckily in this case, he had an easy answer to make.
“Diddly squat,” he replied, scratching the silver fur on his side. “Heard the term ‘Time Capsule’ floating about but that’s just one of many rumours going around.”
“That’s my bet on what it is. This cave’s supposedly been shut off for over a hundred years. Some of my colleagues back home have different ideas, but why would they send Twilight out of the Princesses down here if that wasn’t the case? Everypony knows that schtick is right up her alley.”
Breaker coughed. “Some would say that’s a poor choice of words.”
“How do you mean?”
About to answer, Breaker caught sight of a flash of purple up ahead, beyond the sea of pony heads. And then there she was - Princess Twilight Sparkle on stage in the flesh, having emerged from the woodlands completely dominating the landscape. Only the large stone structure to the right of the stage provided a break from nature’s dominion here, what with it’s clear artificial origins.
Ink immediately brought up his camera and got a first flash away, while the crowd was still half-distracted. It took a very decent salary to be able to afford a luxury item as that, which said much about the unicorn’s capabilities. For Breaker, his edited notes would have to be enough.
Twilight approached the podium, gleaming at the crowd all the way. Breaker had almost expected her to be lacking on the confidence side, having not been a princess for terribly long, but she looked remarkably suited to the role. As she brought up the notes left for her, he started planning out the start of the article in his head.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, on her first solo royal outing, squashed all qualms about her confidence with a lively and engaging opening speech on the surprise unveiling of the mysterious “Time Capsule”...hmm...better not get ahead of myself.
A few more flashes erupted around as other journalists managed to get shots away. The whole crowd had almost silenced, and suddenly Breaker noticed he could hear the wind again, blowing through the trees. For some reason, the tension was quite palpable.
“Good day to you, everypony, and welcome to the Applewood Hills!” Twilight’s voice lit up the area like a match. Breaker felt the hairs on his neck prick up. “I understand many of you are still somewhat confused as to why you’ve been asked to travel out here, but rest assured I hope to answer most of your questions in the next few minutes.”
Breaker watched on already impressed, as the Princess left the podium and headed right, towards the edge of the stage. Cut into the mountain just beyond lay the obvious object of attention. “This - if the few records we have of this place are to be believed - is the Millennial Vault.” Twilight motioned with an outstretched hoof towards the fifteen foot-high outline, clearly depicting a set of stone doors. “To be rather brief about what we know, some unicorns living near here on this day a thousand years ago decided to bury something here with the intention of ponies like us in this time to re-discover it. Many historians - myself included - think the timing with Princess Luna’s...incident is too much of a coincidence, and so the likely theory is that much of what we’ll find will be mementoes to her isolation, along with general tokens and artifacts.”
“Pah, unlikely,” Ink whispered. “Don’t think Miss Night Princess was popular with anyone back then.”
“Hmm? Oh..sure.” Breaker only half-listened, already enraptured by Princess Twilight’s words. Clearly she was holding back on her enthusiasm for the finding as per protocol.
“...and on a personal note, I just want to say how excited I am to be here to see the vault’s unveiling,” Twilight continued. “Memories of this time period are understandably sensitive for my fellow Princesses, and they felt it was an ideal opportunity for me to handle this event on my own. So I thank you for your consideration, and hope you all will learn as much as I hope to from this discovery. If my calculations are correct, we should start seeing something as soon as sunset finishes.”
As Princess Twilight stopped, Breaker immediately became aware of how dark it had become. The sky had lost all traces of azure blue and the first starlight dots had already appeared faintly. The trees didn’t look nearly as beautiful now.
“Can you imagine if the maths is wrong? We could be stuck standing here like lemons in front of this thing for hours. Thank Celestia it isn’t winter.” Ink took a final photo of Twilight’s face before she turned to face the stone doors.
“Princess Twilight’s a genius, so I’ve heard. You don’t honestly think she could mess up on something like this?” Breaker said back.
“Oh well...sure, but I’m just saying. Don’t wanna be stuck out here for lo-”
A dim, almost buzzing like sensation suddenly throbbed all around, permeating the landscape. Through his hooves, Breaker could feel the earth beneath writhing and contorting. Ink could no doubt feel something similar in the surrounding magical field, judging by the look on his face.
“You feel that?” he yelled, above the immediate shills of the crowd.
“Yeah!” Breaker responded. A pair of royal guards from nowhere had leapt to the Princess’ side, but the mare herself hadn't moved.
“It’s moving! Collating towards the doors there!”
Breaker felt it, a pull of tension in the earth towards the vault. And then the stone carving glowed, fizzing with energy - the outline of the doors lit up like neon. More than one pony in the crowd looked on the verge of panic, but most stared forward enraptured by the sight. Ink furiously snapped up more pictures while he could.
“This is gold! Gold! Never seen anything like this in my career before!”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this!” Breaker yelled, all at once aware that ‘new’ most likely meant something dangerous. Or at the very least, unfamiliar.
“No...way!” Ink said, eye glued to the lens of his camera. Breaker looked again at the Vault, where the bright outlines had faded away, but the central vertical line has split right down the middle. Squinting in the lack of light, he could just make out a dark edge now separating each equal half. And with a low rumble, the set of doors started to move, the out edges acting like hinges as the black edge became a wider and wider abyss. The crackling of magic had ceased, as had all voice from the crowd. Only the growl of stone on stone tore through the air like thunder.
“Okay everypony, this is it!” Princess Twilight said loudly, addressing the throng of ponies once more. “Nothing to worry about. This was a clearly timed spell designed to engage the door mechanism at precisely the right time. I will illuminate the path ahead and enter first with my guards. The archeologists present shall follow first, and if we then give the all clear, the rest of you can enter as well.”
With a loud boom, the stone doors finally collided with the walls, revealing a cave-like entrance of total blackness. Immediately, The Princess’s horn shimmered, and a resulting orb of lavender light burst into existence, floating over the threshold. Before Breaker could get any kind of view inside, the royal and her escorts followed suit, blocking his line of sight. Somewhat reluctantly, eight rather stiff and aging ponies approached the entrance - one or two hesitating to take closer looks at the doors before finally entering the blackness. By the time the last had disappeared from the light, no trace of Twilight’s light spell remained.
Ten minutes passed, and the air was unbelievably still.
“How long do you think they’ll be?” Breaker asked his companion. Every remaining pony had converged with associates, dotting the clearing with groups of three to six individuals. As every minute ticked by, more looks went over towards the Vault.
“Who knows?” Ink replied, already scribbling down notes on a notepad. “Could be anyone’s guess how long those old stuffers want to examine everything before they let us common riff-raff down there.”
An unease clawed away at Breaker. Maybe Ink couldn’t feel it, but earth ponies could sense if something underground nearby was amiss, and there was definitely something not right in the sensations underneath his hooves.
“I’m going in,” Breaker said, surprising himself with how quickly he had come to the decision.
“You what mate? It’s only been a short while. Don’t panic over nothing.”
“But that’s it! We’ve heard nothing! Surely one of them would’ve come back up by now?”
Ink sighed. “You wait, in about five minutes you’ll see em come back and-”
“There’s a Princess in there!” Breaker roared, far too loudly to not be heard by the entire clearing. Every head unsubtley turned towards him in jarring realisation. Ink took one look around, and clambered onto his feet hesitantly.
“Okay, okay, I’m in. But uhh...you first, if that’s okay with you.”
Nodding, Breaker immediately trotted over towards the gaping opening, determined not to look back. The fading light outside made it a little easier to see inside the cave, but not by much. He could only make out the further limits of the inside walls before they disappeared in the gloom.
“Come right back if you see anything suspicious, okay?” a mare nearby said.
“You got it. Don’t suppose anypony here knows a light spell like the Princess?” Ink asked.
Breaker took the ensuing silence as a negative. Just one step before walking inside, he stopped, and sniffed the air. He couldn’t place the smell, but whatever it was, it didn’t smell fresh.
“My camera’s got the flash. We can use that in an emergency,” Ink said, moving alongside him.
Breaker nodded, and taking a deep breath, stepped beyond the doors, into nothingness.
The cave took them at first through a couple of turns, before dipping slightly. Breaker half-expected to see stairs appear, but the angle so far had been comfortably shallow. Surprisingly, he could still see a few feet in front of him. Either his eyes had adjusted extremely well to the dark, or there was some faint source of light creeping in from somewhere.
“It’s too quiet. We should've heard them by now,” Ink said, the atmosphere having driven away his previous conviction totally.
“Mmm…” Breaker kept his ears faced forward, hoping to pick up the first hint of a voice. A cry for help. Anything.
“Why would the unicorns even dig out something this deep? This could go on for miles and-”
“Shhh!”
“What?”
“SHHHH!” Breaker thought he had missed it after a few seconds of silence, but somewhere deep ahead, he caught a faint cry. The same word repeated over and over again.
Run
“It’s them!” Breaker surged forwards, almost immediately colliding with the wall as the tunnel pitched leftwards.
“Slow down! I can’t see a damn thing!”
“Not risking it!” Breaker called back, galloping onwards, feeling with every sense he could muster towards the path ahead. With every step, the cries became louder.
Run!
“I can hear them! What’ll we do?” Ink yelled, panting just behind.
“I don’t know! Just run!” Breaker called back, quite happily substituting the lack of a plan for focusing on not crashing into any more obstacles. The tunnel was a long straight now, still dipping downwards into the deep earth.
“RUN!”
“Woah! Woah hey! It’s us!” Breaker shouted, suddenly aware the other ponies couldn’t be far in front of him.
“Move! We’ve got the Princess! Get the heck out of here!”
The voice slammed through Breaker like a shockwave, and he dived right just in time to avoid the onrush of a dozen ponies hurtling in the opposite direction. A startled yelp from behind him suggested Ink had just about managed to do the same in time.
“What happened!? What are you running from?” Breaker yelled to all of them.
“Just run!” somepony cried, and in that millisecond, Breaker caught a briefest flash of purple fur, suspended on the back of metallic armour. The last pony passed, leaving Breaker flustered, desperately trying to process every scrap of information flowing through his brain.
“What are you doing!?” Ink came up alongside him. “That looked like all of them, so why are you just standing there!?”
The rumbles of galloping hooves receded. But it wasn’t replaced by silence. Breaker couldn’t tell what the first thing he heard was, only that it sounded low, quiet...and alien.
Then the screaming. He had never heard screaming like that before in his life. It was as if a thousand ponies had decided all at once to wail their lungs out, but nopony he knew of screamed like that. It was high-pitched, chilling him to the core, and ever-increasing in volume.
“Breaker! Let’s GO!”
The two ponies hurtled back over the threshold, to a crowd of extremely worried ponies gathered in a huge huddle.
“Is that the Princess!?” Ink screamed, still breathing heavily from exertion.
“She fell unconscious. Something down there knocked her out, but she’s still breathing,” the nearest guard said, sweating protrously from his armour. “Please tell me you weren't followed.”
A chorus cry of howls emanated from the darkness behind, and all three ponies swiveled round in shock.
“Crap! You’re a unicorn! Close those doors!” Breaker bellowed at the guard.
“I can’t handle both! Look how heavy they are! If another could help me then maybe I could close one.”
“A time for heroes huh?” Ink lit up his horn. Breaker hadn’t even noticed he’d lost his hat somewhere behind.
Another much louder piercing scream erupted from the gloom, heard by all in the clearing. A few ponies were already scrambling away down the woodland trail back to civilization. Not hesitating, the two unicorns projected their magic onto each door.
“Gah! Hnnng! Ink visibly strained as the weight of the task hit him, while the guard didn’t fare much better. Very slowly, the doors came away from the walls.
Far too slowly. Breaker could feel the vibrations in the earth drumming louder. Whatever it was would be upon them before the doors would close.
“I need time! Give me your camera!” Breaker yelled to Ink.
“Fine! Take it! Lil busy here!” Ink’s eyes clenched shut as his dug his hooves right into the ground, sweat pouring off his head.
Rushing, Breaker gripped the strap with his teeth, and pulled the device completely off Ink. Clutching it with a hoof, he moved toward the entrance, right to the edge of darkness. Something rotten was flowing outwards into the world with the wind; the air stunk of age and sulphur.
“What are you doing!? Get back from there!” the guard shouted.
“Buying you time!” Breaker replied, not even knowing if this would have any effect at all. But something was better than nothing, and this situation looked like it could turn deadly if the latter happened. Maybe even world-threatening.
He raised the camera as every synapse in his head told him to move, to run, to get away from the doors. Every scream ploughed into him like a freight train, flushing his body with fear. But somehow, the signals to his feet to remain firm won out. Just as a shape in the darkness ahead took form, Breaker raised his right hoof, and hit the button on top of the camera.
And the flash illuminated everything.
"So...the Princess is in good health, Breaker?"
"Yes Chief. Supposedly she doesn't remember anything after entering the cave."
"Good...good. Well this security decree is going to make things difficult. The public will know eventually, they always do."
"I think the Princesses want to buy some time. Try and evaluate exactly what happened."
"Ha! After everything you've said, I don't think anypony will know exactly what the hay is down there."
"At least it's over now. Am I dismissed Chief? Kinda want to go home and see Sandy, haven't had time to pop back yet."
"Sure thing, oh, and let me know if any pictures made it out of there. Those'll be worth something in the near future, mark my words."
"..."
"Breaker?"
"I can tell you right now Chief, you won't be seeing any pictures."
"How come?"
"We burnt them. We burnt them all."