Three Little Fillies Jumping on the Bed
A Sound in the Dark
Static
A ragged unicorn, his face covered in dirt, sweat, and blood is moving his mouth. His words are lost in the background hiss. Once the hissing stops, the unicorn’s last words are just barely audible.
“…dead. All dead.” He coughs. The light from his horn is weak at best. It’s barely more than a pinprick of light in what appears to be a dark cave. Only the unicorn’s face and upper neck are visible, patches of blue fur covered in gore. His wide eyes scanned his surroundings.
“They are…coming.” His pupils have dilated until they are almost consumed by the white of his eyes. “I’m the last. They won’t stop until...until they get us all.” A mad smile comes to his face. “They’re back,” he wheezed. His next words are garbled up into something incomprehensible. The screen shakes, goes black, and focuses again, this time the unicorn is lying sideways, his strength spent.
“Can you hear them?” He asks aloud. Ear pressed to the floor, the half-mad unicorn shakes as if cold. “They are coming for me.” He gasps suddenly. Looks up. His eyes are fixed on something beyond view.
“Teeth in the night,” he whispers almost inaudibly. “Smiles in the dark.” Pressing his ear to the floor, the unicorn’s lower lip is trembling. He continues to smile though. “We shouldn’t have come.” His eyes open to the point where they’re about to fall right out of his head. “Sweet Celestia! Can you hear it? Can you hear them?” He looks up. “Teeth. By the spirits…I can see their teeth…oh…!”
Static
When the screen flickers to life, the dark cave is replaced by the image of a large, well-lit cavern that is bustling with activity. In the background, ponies are moving supplies, crates, and materials. Almost all of them wear some sort of climbing gear; harnesses, hammers, headlamps, pads, helmets, ropes, pulleys, the works.
“This is it,” says a well-educated voice off screen. The scene whirls around until a smiling orange-red unicorn with a short red beard is visible, a pair of bifocals leaning comfortably on the bridge of his snout. He dons a blue coverall with a crystal snowflake insignia on his chest. Surrounded by boxes, a backpack is leaning on a crate behind him. “Hello. As this is an historic moment for all Equestria, I felt it necessary to record it so that future generations will remember what we’ve accomplished. I must say, when I agreed to become royal crystaller I never thought I’d one day be leading such an important expedition. This is truly…”
“Leading the expedition?” Came a voice off to the side. The unicorn stepped away from the screen as a green earth pony mare wearing a brown coverall entered the shot. As she approached, she swung her headlight in his direction.
“Good heavens! Miss Xibalba, can you please turn that off?”
The mare was kind enough to comply and this time her face was mere inches from the unicorn. “Listen here, Sunburst, I’m the one with twenty-plus years of experience exploring caves, sunken cities, submerged temples, and every sort of underground setting you can think of. If any pony’s leading this little soirée, it’s me. Got it?”
Sunburst stepped back. “Of course. I didn’t mean…”
“What? To imply that just because you work for the royal family that you’re calling the shots? Hpmh!” She turned around, her brown tail whipping Sunburst in the face. “The prince and princess aren’t here to protect you, crystaller. You want to live, you do exactly as I say, when I say it. Understood?”
Sunburst fixed his glasses, having come undone when her tail hit him in the face. “Indeed, Miss Xibalba.”
She sighed. “Xiba will be fine. Honestly, if it weren’t for that royal decree I’d have left you back on the surface with the other…hey!” Xibalba’s attention moved to something off screen. Her nostrils flared. “Who taught you to stack crates? Those are our rations, moron!”
Once she was gone, Sunburst composed himself. “Ahem That was our esteemed spelunking expert, Miss Xibalba. She came highly recommended, though her manners could use some work.” He stopped himself. “I’ll have to edit that part out later. Now, I thought this would be an excellent time to introduce my latest invention.”
His horn lite up. A small green gem the size of an acorn flew out of his backpack. “This is a crystal camera. As you can see, they are far more user-friendly than those bulky monstrosities that are all the rage in Manehattan. Their compact size allows for simple transport and, unlike their analog cousins, can record sound and picture on a scale previously unheard of.”
He briefly loses himself as he looks at the crystal. Finally, as if waking from a dream, Sunburst regards his “audience.” “Without going into too much detail, I’ve used crystalline deposits that store memory spells. Each crystal can record everything a pony sees and hears with, well, crystal clarity. To you, the viewer, it will seem as if you are right there with us at every moment, as if you are part of the expedition. I’ve provided each pony with a crystal camera which will be attached to their headgear. What’s more, they are magically linked to a master crystal back at the palace. Each camera will periodically send their recordings to this master crystal, allowing for a steady stream of updates. Granted they won’t be in chronological order but I will see to that personally upon my return.”
Sunburst put the crystal gem away, tucking it safely in the bag. Lighting his horn, the screen shook and he disappeared as the view changed to take in the surroundings. Scores of ponies, all in colored coveralls, were busy in various stages of preparation. Xiba was yelling at some unfortunate earth pony beside a broken crate while above them a pair of pegasi were carrying a series of ropes across the cavern. Sunburst continues to pan the area until the camera stops to focus on a cave mouth. Beyond the well-lit scenery is a corridor of utter blackness, as if light itself refused to venture any further.
“This cavern was discovered just a few short weeks ago by surveyors looking for new gem deposits. What was believed to be a rich vein of diamonds and sapphires turned out to be the beginnings of a previously unknown cave system. The surveyors would have kept digging were it not for one major discovery.”
The shot widens. What at first appears to be a very unique rock formation turns out to be a giant equine face, its mouth serving as the entrance to the pitch-black corridor. “Extraordinary, isn’t it?” Sunburst’s voice narrates. “First reports believed it to have been made by an as of yet unknown pony civilization. Possibly the predecessors to the crystal ponies themselves.”
The camera turns back to Sunburst whose smile is as bright as his horn. “The origins of the crystal ponies are a mystery. There is very little on their prehistory even in the Crystal Library or the royal palace archives. How their people came to be, their diversion from the main body of ponies that fled south to avoid the Great Freeze, is lost to the mists of time. This new discovery might shed light on centuries of supposition and false conclusions. It took some effort, but I was finally able to convince Princess Cadence to fund an expedition.”
Taking a moment to gather himself, Sunburst cleared his throat. “It has always been an ambition of mine to undertake a mission such as this. I used to read about ponies who go on great adventures, never dreaming I’d have the chance to write one of my own. When I first came to the Crystal Empire I was content with having a job as chronicler at the Crystal Library. Now, not only am I royal crystaller to the heir of this magnificent kingdom, but I’m about to become a part of history.”
An outburst from Xibalba turned his attention elsewhere. “Dear me. That mare just enjoys making friends, doesn’t she?” There was a loud crash. Some pony cursed. Sunburst gave the recording an apologetic smile. “Forgive us, please. We’re still getting a few things in order before we set out. I guess I should see if I can go help. Don’t just want to be a spectator anymore, do I?” He smiled.
Static
Heavy breathing is heard as a pony is running through a corridor. There is a heavy grunt as the runner trips over something.
“No!” A pony comes up beside the runner. It’s a stallion, his white face even paler as the runner’s headlamp shines on him. Half his face is caked in dried blood and part of his left ear is missing. “Get up! We have to keep moving!”
“Is this the right way?” The runner asked. His voice rose and fell in sharp intervals.
“Just keep moving!” The stallion shoved the runner ahead of him. “Oh spirits! They’re right behind us.”
Sound and image began to blur. The runner said something inaudible to the stallion.
“Run! Don’t look back. Just…”
There was a click. A voice screamed...then all was silent.
Static
A group of ponies are all staring intently at the camera, though in truth they were actually staring at the pony beneath it.
“And so I said, ‘Oh yeah? How bout I knock ya one, ya feather-brained asshole!’?”
“And what’d he say, Cliffhanger?”
“He said nothin’. The wimp flew off once he saw me pull out these babies.” Two hooves, one black and the other white, rose within view. “Ebony and Ivory. These ladies always got my back.”
“Among other things,” a female unicorn said to the side. This caused a rowdy display of hoots and hollers to envelop the gathering. “Or is that giving you too much credit?”
“Up yours, Starling!” The viewer, Cliffhanger, said. “That’s not what you were saying last month. Remember, Las Pegasus?”
The aqua-marine unicorn said, “Hey, what happens in Las Pegasus, stays in Las Pegasus.”
This made the whole group laugh again. The camera slumped as Cliffhanger sat down, his lower legs stretching into view beneath the screen as he made himself comfortable. He was in the middle of a large group of ponies. They had set up camp in a cave. Flood lamps and light spheres provided illumination as the expedition settled in.
Cliffhanger looked down at his half-eaten sandwich. It disappeared beneath the camera, followed by a chomping sound. “Mmm. So how long we been down here?” He asked with his mouth full.
“Almost a week,” A brawny earth pony stallion answered. “Feels longer.”
“You lose all sense of time down here,” said an orange pegasus with blue stripes on his helmet. He had just drained half a water bottle and whipped his chin clean. “Just how far do these damn caves go?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” replied Starling. “The crystaller believes this to be where the crystal ponies first came to Equestria.”
“From underground?” Asked Cliffhanger. “So what? They were just living down here the whole time? Kind of a shitty place to live, if you ask me.”
“No pony asked you, Cliffhanger.”
“All I’m saying is,” Cliffhanger went on, “what were they doing here? There ain’t much space to begin with, never mind things like food, water,”
“Air,” some pony mentioned off-screen.
“My point exactly, Gray Wind. This ain’t no place for ponies. We ain’t meant to live underground.”
“I’m sure your ancestors felt the same way about the other tribes.” The new speaker was a crystal pony with shining teal fur. Her eyes were yellow and her sparkling green hair cropped short around her head and neck. She had a flower tattoo below her right ear. “Ponies aren’t meant to live in the clouds, or move objects with their minds.” She looked right at Cliffhanger, “or magically grow food from the dirt. We all have our mysteries. You southerners should not be too judgmental.”
Cliffhanger’s black and white hooves came up in a mollifying gesture. “Whoa! I didn’t mean it like that…uh…?”
“Silver Weave,” the crystal pony said.
“Right. All I meant was,”
“I know what you meant,” Silver Weave cut him off. “And believe me, I am as dumbfounded as the rest of you. This is my history we’re talking about. For centuries, our oldest stories recount our settling of the emerald plain beneath the Crystal Mountains. But where we came from, and why we broke off from the rest of pony kind, is a mystery. As next in line to be High Chronicler, it is my duty to uncover our hidden past so that future generations may know where we came from.”
“Why does your history cut off so suddenly?” Starling asked Silver Weave. “It’s like you crystal ponies just appeared one day.”
“That’s one of the many questions I intend to find out. Keep in mind,” Silver Weave addressed the gathering, “that this expedition is for the good of all Equestria. Much of our shared history was lost during the Great Freeze. Even the Crystal Empire, the oldest of the current equine civilizations, have very few records from that time period.” She glanced around. “We might be well on our way to uncovering the origins of our people.”
Cliffhanger chuckled. “Listen, Weave. I’m all for making history and everything, but my ancestors used to run through fields, not scurry in caves like bugs.”
“Are you implying that my ancestors were insects?” Silver Weave said indignantly.
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” he shot back at her. Somepony threw a half-eaten sandwich at him. The screen shook and tilted to one side. “Hey!” He cried. “Who threw that?”
“Must have been a bug,” A pony said in the crowd. Everyone started laughing. All but Silver Weave. She turned away as Cliffhanger began to shout obscenities at his fellows.
Static
Sunburst, Xiba, and an unnamed pegasus are leering over a table. A light sphere hangs over them as they survey a large map. Xiba is moving her mouth, her voice gradually becoming audible.
“…angers of pitfalls.” She looked to the pegasus. “Are you sure there’s no other way around them?”
“I’m afraid not.” The pegasus, his coat a deep mahogany and his hair cobalt blue, pointed to the map. “This entire section has caved in. Even if we had twice as many ponies it will take us months to clear them out. We don’t have enough provisions for an excavation of that length.”
“Where does this cave go?” Sunburst asked, tracing a line along the edge of the map.
“That leads to a dead end,” the pegasus replied.
“I see. And this one?”
“A sheer drop.”
“Ah.”
Xiba sighed. “Look, Sunburst, why don’t you let us plan the next route while you go read, or something?”
“But I’m part of the expedition.”
“Yes you are.” Xiba shooed him away. “Just go be a part of it somewhere else.”
The camera moves as Sunburst places the helmet on his head and begins to wander away from the meeting. Entering the adjacent cave, Sunburst glances briefly at the chamber he’d just left. “The nerve of some ponies,” he muttered before looking back. “Well, I know when I’m not appreciated. What say we have another look at those drawings?” He said to no pony in particular.
There was a skip to his step as Sunburst went through several more caves. He saw a pair of ponies talking softly amongst themselves, while another group was playing a card game by some flood lights. An earth pony carried several nets on his back and brushed past him before he turned a corner, left then right, until he finally reached a cave wall. The whole cave was dimly lit by a light sphere, kept at a low setting so as to not damage the find.
On the wall were a series of cave paintings depicting prehistoric ponies. He spotted a group of earth ponies running across a field. Another showed a herd of pegasi dashing across the sky. Beneath crudely-drawn trees, unicorns seemed to levitate fruit right off the branches. “So pastoral,” Sunburst mentioned. “Very reminiscent of the Altamare Cave paintings in my home province of Mustangnia. Now if you look here,” he looked to the right, “It shows what I believe to be a chronological history of ancient ponies. From our origins as a herd people to the beginnings of tribal society.”
Huts began to take shape. Abodes in the sky. Hovels in the mountains. “And here we have the beginnings of metallurgy.” The next series of paintings showed ponies working on forges, creating tools, jewelry and, unfortunately, weapons. A somberness entered Sunburst’s voice. “It seems we were quite gifted with war in those days.” Images of battle, dead bodies on the ground, spears and arrows being flung through the air, homes on fire…one could hear the heaviness in his steps.
“Here’s something we’re a bit more familiar with.” He raised a hoof. High above, the wall depicted great serpentine creatures blowing ice and wind down on the valley below. Ponies were freezing. Dying. “The Great Freeze.” He traced a hoof along the wall, showing an exodus of ponies. Sadly, the cave paintings ended abruptly, as if pony history finished then and there. To an onlooker from another species, one would think they had gone extinct.
Sunburst sighed. “We made it,” he told the ghosts of the wall. “We survived. We lived. Your sacrifices were not in vain.”
“There you are,” a voice called out all of a sudden.
Startled, Sunburst yelped. The camera swiveled and then cut to black.
Static
There was a shuffling of hooves. A headlamp flickered on at the exact moment a pony spoke.
“What is it?” asked some pony. Aside from the headlamps, the cave was completely dark. Three ponies, including the one recording the encounter, were huddling together, their faces vaguely visible.
A hoof lifted the object in question. “I think it’s an arrowhead,” the one holding it said. He touched it with his other hoof and winced. When he pulled back, there was blood on the appendage. “Damn that’s sharp!”
“Well what do you expect, moron? It’s an arrow!”
“I said I think it’s an arrow,” the wounded pony pulled his hoof up to his mouth to suck on the blood. “Sweet Celestia! I wouldn’t want to be the poor animal that got stuck with this thing.”
“Wait!” Said the third pony, a mare with a nasally voice. “Did you say animal? Do mean to tell me that ponies used to hunt things? As in…to eat them?”
“Who knows?” replied the second pony. “Maybe there wasn’t a lot of food back then. Pony’s got to eat.”
“That’s disgusting!”
The one holding the arrow turned it around. “Things were different back then. Who knows what they had to do in order to survive.”
“Hey, you guys found something?” Called a voice in the distance.
“Meatlug found an arrow!” The second pony said back.
“A what?” Said the distant voice.
Bringing his hooves up, the pony shouted back, “An ARROW!” His voice bounced off the walls like some mad harpy.
“Lower your voice!” The mare whispered harshly. The darkness seemed to deepen around them. “We’re in a cave!”
“Awe. Afwaid of the dark?” He cooed in a baby voice.
“Up yours!”
From off screen, a fourth pony joined them. “What are you three doing out here? You’re way beyond the perimeter. Do you want to get lost?”
Meatlug displayed the arrowhead. “Check it out.”
The fourth pony reached for it, cursed, and dropped the object. “Shit!”
“Should have told him it was sharp,” the second pony laughed.
“All hells, Meatlug!” The newcomer spat.
“Sorry, boss. If it makes you feel any better, I cut myself too.”
After nursing his wounded hoof, the new pony bent down to study the arrowhead. “Shit ‘Lug. You’re either blind or dumb.”
“Sir?”
The fourth pony, carefully this time, picked up the arrowhead for all to see. “This here is a tooth.”
Static
The camera focuses on a very tired face. Xiba seems unhappy. Very unhappy. “I am so freaking pissed off right now. Do ponies today have any sense? Does anyone listen to directions? I specifically gave orders that no pony was to go anywhere alone and what does some idiot do?” She began pacing. Behind her was a series of stacked crates. Light came off from somewhere off screen.
Xiba stopped. There were bags under her eyes, indicating she had not gotten much rest. She pinched her nose as if that would somehow help her relax. It didn’t. “One of the newer recruits, some mare by the name of Green Steps, has disappeared. She told the ponies with her that she’d heard something and went to investigate. When she didn’t return, the team leader and a couple of others went looking for her.” She looked up.
Xiba glanced sideways momentarily. “I’ve had team leaders organize search parties. Now instead of mapping out this cave system like we’re supposed to, we’re wasting valuable time and resources looking for…” she stopped herself. A sternness that stemmed from years of leadership roles settled over her hard features. “She shouldn’t have gone out on her own. Her stupidity has put a lot of ponies’ lives at risk.”
Voices spoke from beyond the crystal’s view. Xiba waited until they were gone before she continued. “These ponies. The crystaller…” She glowered, “they think this is all an adventure. Some game they can play without repercussion or serious injury. They have no idea how dangerous this is.”
The mare reached for a canteen, drank, swallowed, and wiped her mouth clean. “The ponies I trained, those I’ve worked with on past explorations, they at least have the sense and professionalism to follow orders. They know what’s at stake. The others, though, I don’t know how I’m going to keep them alive. If they keep taking stupid risks like that…what was she thinking?”
She angrily corked the canteen. “Even a filly has enough sense not to wander away into the dark. She could be dead at the bottom of a pit somewhere. We haven’t mapped out a fraction of theses caves. We may never find her at all.”
More voices spoke over her monologue. Xiba looked beyond the camera. “Something’s going on. I’d better go take a look.” She picked up her helmet.
Static
There was darkness. Nothing but darkness.
Someone was breathing raggedly. Teeth were chattering.
“I-Is any pony out there?” The voice, small and weak, made it difficult to discern whether it was male or female. “C-Can any pony hear me?”
There was a clicking sound.
“Hello? The voice inhaled sharply.
Click-click.
Silence.
Static
“We can’t leave!” Sunburst protested. “Not if there’s a chance she’s still out there!”
He was arguing with Xiba, the two leaders exchanging harsh words and harsher criticisms.
“They’re at it again,” came the familiar voice of Starling the unicorn. The image turns to find her checking her gear as they prepare to move out. She looks right at the crystal filming her. “Who do you think is going to win?”
“I hardly think this is something worth betting on,” came the reply.
“Come on, Weave. You have to have some opinion.”
Silver Weave, the one filming, glanced back at the leaders. “Xibalba is right. We can’t stay here. Our supplies won’t last forever and we still have a long way to go.” She paused. “But on the other hoof, we can’t simply abandon Green Steps. If she’s alive…”
“If? IF?” Cliffhanger, the half-white, half-black earth pony, barreled into view. “It sounds to me like you’ve already given up on her.”
“I didn’t say that, Cliff.”
“She could be hurt!” He snapped. “Lying in the dark somewhere wondering why her friends haven’t come to rescue her. Well why haven’t we rescued her, Weave? Tell me why?”
“Lay off!” Starling came between them, her body momentarily blocking Cliffhanger from view. “Whatever your deal is, it’s not her fault.”
“You’re taking her side now?”
“I’m not on anypony’s side. All I’m saying is you’re angry and you’re taking it out on a pony who has nothing to do with it.”
Cliffhanger glared over Starling’s head at Silver Weave. “I may not have known Green Steps for long, but she’s still my friend. Would you abandon one of your friends?” He asked Weave. To Starling he said, “Would you?”
“I’d risk my life for any of you and you know that! Now stop being an ass and get back to work.”
“We have to find her.”
“And we will,” Starling said. “I know Xiba. She’d never leave a pony behind. She’s ex-military, remember?”
“Then why is she still talking it over?”
“Stop it! Both of you!” Silver Weave’s outburst caught both of them by surprise. “Whatever their decision, we cannot help our lost comrade if we are at each other’s throats. Who will save her then?” Her words seem to calm the two ponies. When a very large earth pony with an umber coat and green eyes walked up to them, Silver Weave turned to him immediately. “Hello there, Meatlug. Is everything alright?”
The massive pony looked between them, hesitant. He looked at Xiba and Sunburst, still arguing, before regarding them. “Guys. I think there’s something you should see.”
“Is it Green Steps?” Cliffhanger asked too hopefully.
Meatlug shook his head.
“What is it?” Starling asked.
“I’m not sure. It’s just…I don’t think we’re the only ones down here.”
The ominous silence that came over the trio was almost as loud as the heated argument between Sunburst and Xibalba. Finally, Silver Weave said, “Show us.”
Static
“Three little fillies jumping on the bed,” the voice was weak, hoarse. There wasn’t much life left in it. The camera showed a lone pony, a mare, huddled in a sleeping bag as she tried to rock herself to sleep.
“One fell off and now she’s dead.” She went on, oblivious or uncaring as to the fact that she was being filmed.
“Two little fillies jumping on the bed. One flew too high and hit her head.”
A small light sphere burned between them growing weaker with each passing moment.
“One little filly jumping on the bed.”
The voice coughed.
“They won’t catch me, the last one said.”
Somewhere out of sight, there came a clicking sound.
“No more fillies jumping on the bed…”
Static
“Extraordinary!” Sunburst exclaimed. He was closely examining an object on a table. “And you say you found this where?”
A unicorn station came into view. “We were searching for a shortcut through the cave walls. I had some of my ponies check to see how deep the water went. What they found was this,” he pointed to the object. “We thought you might find it interesting.”
“Interesting?” Sunburst almost squealed. “This is absolutely fantastic! You must show me this site!”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible, crystaller. It’s underwater. My guess is that the cave had been flooded a long time ago. The water washed away or destroyed most of anything that could be deemed valuable. We barely managed to bring this up intact.”
Sunburst focused his gaze on the object. It was a goblet of some sort, its surface faded with centuries, though bits of ancient script could just barely be made out. Sunburst leered at the writing. “It’s very old, pre-Equestrian, that’s for sure. The writing bares a small resemblance to Unus.”
“Unus?” The stallion repeated.
“The language of the ancient unicorns. Our ancestors, my friend.” Sunburst regarded the rest of the table which was littered with various finds from the underground cave. “Unicorns were master smiths even then. Their skills were sought after by all, even the legendary pegasus legions.”
The stallion’s chest swelled with pride. “I never knew.”
“Most ponies don’t. We like to forget the more colorful parts of our history, especially events which had us at each other’s throats. But to forget history is to be doomed to repeat it.” Using a magnifying glass, Sunburst studied an ancient helmet. “By Celestia! Look here.” He waited until the stallion was by his side. “Do you see these markings? There? Above the helm?”
“I…yes, crystaller.”
“Do you know what that is?”
After a moment, the unicorn shrugged.
“It’s a signature. Ancient Griffonian. Look at the design. Does it look like that would sit a pony’s head?” Sunburst stood back, flabbergasted. “This changes everything. It proves that our kin have had dealings with the griffons long before we thought. The pegasi were renowned traders. They no doubt bartered items they received from the unicorns and earth ponies to trade with other nations.” His eyes lit up. “That could help support the theory as to why pegasi are the most militant of the three tribes. Competing with rivals over trade no doubt nurtured a competitiveness that urged the pegasi to become more aggressive.”
The stallion picked up an item as long as his arm. “What’s this?
“Aha! That is an atlatl.”
“A what?”
“Honestly. What do they teach in schools nowadays? It’s an ancient hunting weapon. Look, hunters would grip the handle on the end there—that’s the one—and attach a spear or rock on the socket at the other end. The hunter would then fling the object over great distances to kill the intended prey. The atlatl allows the hunter to fire at a much longer range and far faster than he would with, say, a spear.”
“But what would he be hunting?” The stallion’s voice quivered.
“Large predators, most likely. The earth ponies in particular would have had to rely on primitive weapons more so than the other tribes. There is evidence that large saber-toothed cats and polar bears once permeated the lands north of the Canterhorn. Ponies would need weapons like these to protect themselves.” Sunburst studied each recovered item in turn. Pots. Pans. Utensils. Helmets. Bracelets. Necklaces. Coins. Jewelry. All traces of a civilization long past.
“What I don’t get,” the stallion said, “is how all these trinkets from all three tribes wound up in the same cave so far below the earth.”
“Now you’re thinking like an archeologist, my friend. It is our task to uncover the mysteries of the past.”
“Crystaller!” A pair of ponies donning scuba gear came paddling into the cave. They placed an object wrapped in a tarp onto the table without regards to the other artifacts, to which Sunburst complained. “You have to see this.”
“What is it?” The unicorn stallion, curious, asked his fellows.
Sunburst hastily separated the artifacts from the tarp and moved closer to investigate.
“One of our guys found it in the same cave we found the helmet. Turns out there was a lot more underneath.”
Sunburst fixed his glasses. “Very well. Open it.”
One of the divers gently removed the tarp, the top unwrapping like some flower in bloom. What was underneath was far from sweet.
The unicorn stallion gagged. “Is that a…”
“A skull,” the first diver said.
Sunburst took a closer look. It was definitely a skull, equine in shape, with half its cranium missing. The surface was discolored, a rustic color that resembled old meat. Ther was moss coming out of the eye sockets. “Interesting.”
“If you say so, crystaller,” the second diver said. “I almost had a heart attack when I found it. Gave me the fright of my life, it did!”
“Can you tell what tribe it was from?” The unicorn asked.
“Hard to say.” Sunburst replied. “I’m no forensics expert.” Using the magnifying glass, Sunburst studied the skull. “Its wide jawbone and thick skull might indicate that it had been an earth pony before it died and…what?” He narrowed in on the jaw. “Curious.”
“Crystaller?” the first diver said.
“The teeth,” Sunburst began, “They’ve been sharpened.”
“What?” The three said in unison.
“They’ve been filed in the same manner a warrior would sharpen his sword with a whetstone.”
“What does that mean?” the unicorn stallion asked.
“I’m not sure.” Sunburst regarded the rest of the table. His brow furrowed. Then it hit him. “Didn’t a few of our explorers find a tooth a few days ago?”
Static
“Just a little further,” a shaky voice said. The image trembled as it focused on a rock wall. Heavy breathing was accompanied by grunting sounds. Moving up slightly, the crystal spotted a light in the distance. Sandwiched between the the two walls at a steep incline, its wearer groaned as if in pain.
“How you doing, buddy?” A distant voice called out.
“How you think I’m doing?” The trapped pony called back. “By Luna’s ink-soaked ass, why in Tartarus did I volunteer for this?” With hardly enough room to move, the pony leered downward. One of his back legs was twisted at an odd angle, the effect of some prior injury. His other leg feebly kicked at the wall closest to him as if that would somehow get him up faster. He looked up. “Get me out of here!”
“We’re working on it,” the voice behind the light said.
The injured pony cursed, most likely from a pain spasm stemming from his leg. “Damn, this hurts!” He heard rocks shuffling somewhere in the distance. This caused the camera to shift sideways as he turned his head. “The hell was that?”
The steep decline made it so that it was very hard to see in either direction, thus the ends were far beyond his range of view. His hearing worked well enough, though. “Hello?”
Up above, he heard voices, but all his attention was focused on the sounds coming from the dark corners of the walls. Something clicked. “Is some pony there?”
Nothing.
“I’ve got to get out of here.”
Click
The image shifted around so fast that it took a moment longer to focus on the adjacent wall. There was nothing to see but utter blackness. “W…Who’s there?” His voice trembled.
“We’re pulling you up!” The voice above yelled.
The pony clung tightly to the rope. “Hurry. I think there’s something down here.”
Click
The pony whimpered. “Oh, shit.”
Something scraped against the wall. Something sharp. The pony screamed as the rope suddenly gave and he plummeted into the darkness below.
Static
“Skin eaters,” Silver Weave said.
“Say what?” Starling’s voice asked. The crystal camera atop her helmet zeroed in on Silver Weave, the crystal pony slumping against the cave wall. “What did you say?”
“Skin eaters,” she repeated.
“What is that?”
Silver Weave glanced sideways as if hearing something. The two ponies were in a cave adjacent to a larger chamber. The cave was being used as storage as ponies walked past it from the “entrance.” It was just the two of them now. Starling raised a hoof to touch her friend on the shoulder. “Listen, if this is about Green Steps, I know how you feel. How can that happen to any pony? At least…at least we found her...what was left of....”
“She was…eaten,” Silver Weave, her body shaking, couldn’t look up as she spoke.
“I just hoped she was dead before whatever...”
But the crystal pony shook her head. She slapped Starling’s hoof of her shoulder as if it had somehow offended her. “No!” Her frantic eyes looked up. “It was them!”
“Who’s them?” Starling took a worried step back. “Weave, talk to me. You haven’t been right since we found her.”
“It was them! The teeth in the night. The sound in the darkness.”
“What are you talking about? Who are the skin eaters?”
Silver Weave hugged herself as if she was cold, or in dire need of solace. Perhaps both. “My grandmother used to tell me stories…of those who would take us away. They would drag ponies kicking and screaming into the darkness, never to be seen again.”
“You mean…like the Boogeymare?”
“Boogeymare?” Silver Weave said.
“A creature that would eat foals. We have similar stories down south. My brother used to scare me about it when I was a filly. Used to say that if I didn’t stop bothering him and his friends, the Boogeymare would come out of the closet late at night…” She stopped when she saw how terrified Silver Weave had become. “They’re just stories, Weave. They’re not real.”
“All stories,” the crystal mare began, “come from truth.”
“Honestly, Weave. I’ve read your dossier and you don’t seem like the type of pony to scare easily.”
“Three little fillies…jumping on the bed,” Weave’s words were low, full of fearful reverence as if paying homage to some dreadful god. Her arms were crossed as if in supplication to something that only she could see. “One fell off and now she’s dead.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“My grandmother’s grandmother used to tell her of the olden times. She’d seen horrible things. She’d witnessed the wars that drove the tribes to the brink of extinction. She’d seen things so terrible, things no pony should have to see.” Silver Weave lowered her voice, “But as bad as they were, the one thing she remembered above all else, what she kept warning my grandmother about over and over, was the skin eaters.”
“You mean like…what? Large predators?”
“Monsters.”
Starling scoffed. “An Old Mare’s tale. My grandma used to tell spooky stories too.”
“Our history is longer than yours, Equestrian!” Silver Weave spat. “We remember things your southerners chose to forget. You forgot because it was too frightening to you. But we couldn’t forget. We couldn’t forget because we had to live with the horrors.”
“The horrors of spooky stories? Grow up, Weave! Things are bad enough without you…”
Silver Weave shoved her face in front of the camera. “What do you think killed Green Steps? Huh? Tell me, Starling.”
Starling backed away. “I don’t know…a scavenger?”
Her eyes frantic, Silver Weave’s breath was hot on Starling’s face. “Then perhaps you can tell me what sort of scavenger devours the skin only to leave the head of its prey intact?”
Starling said nothing.
“It was said that they left the faces alone, the skin eaters, so that they could relish the look on their victims’ faces as they ate them. That’s how I know it’s them. No hunter, no carnivore would render flesh from bone and leave all that meat behind. Do you remember her face, Starling?” Silver Weave began to cry. “The look in her eyes, I will remember it the rest of my days.”
She stepped back finally. “They haven’t been seen in the Crystal Empire for a long time. Even in my grandmother’s day they were more legend than fact. But their legacy is carried on a rhyme. My grandmother told it to me only once before she died. But I will never forget. It was the scariest thing I ever heard in my life.”
She collapsed against the wall. Off to the side, some pony was calling Starling’s name.
“Three little fillies jumping on the bed.”
“Starling? Starling, you in there?” The voice called.
“One fell off and now she’s dead.”
Static
The screen shifted to show a very ragged Xiba with a bandage wrapped around her head. Her coveralls were ripped in several places. She had wounds on her exposed hooves. Her hair was ragged with sweat, blood, and tears.
Trembling, she looked up at the camera, recording. “I…I don’t know if I’ll survive this.” She was in some kind of rocky alcove, a space barely big enough for her to fit in. Brief flashes flickered off screen to the left. There was that clicking. Ponies screaming.
“Most of my people are dead,” the distraught leader said. “They came…out of the stone. They were all around us. Suddenly…ponies were dropping…being taken away…being skinned alive. They like the skin. I saw Starling,” she gulped. “We’ve been working together for years and…I couldn’t do anything. They just…oh Celesita, right in front of me. The bastards!”
Xiba fought back tears. “They’ll find me. I know it.” Reaching down, she pulled out a knife. “They won’t take me without a fight. I swear it!” She gulped. “They’re all dead because of me. Because I couldn’t say no to just ONE-MORE-JOB!”
The clicks were becoming raucous. It was almost too hard to hear her. “Well fuck it. I’m not leaving here with out my ponies. I guess…that means I’m not leaving here at all.” She smiled darkly. “Maybe the crystaller escaped, him and that marefriend of his. I bought them some time. They can tell the others what happened here. Then maybe I won’t have died for nothing.”
Taking a deep breath, the earth pony held the knife close. “Mom, Dad, I love you guys. Huna…be strong for me okay? Know that your big sister didn’t go down easy. I’m going to kill as many of them as I can…for you.”
Click-click.
“See ya.”
Static
There was panting. The camera bounced as a head collapsed against a wall. Sunburst Radiant, his white trimmed hoof clutching the wall for leverage, groaned. His horn light flickered so often it was hard to make out anything in the darkness. The clicking sound was distant, but it was hard to gauge how far. Sound bounced off the walls so often that the thing he was running from could easily be in the next chamber…or right behind him.
Lucky for Sunburst, the only thing behind him was Silver Weave. The crystal pony, her right foreleg wrapped in a sling, stumbled next to the crystaller. Her face was a look of sad resignation. She looked once in the distance, staring at something, then turned back to Sunburst. “We’re not going to make it.”
“Damn you, Silver Weave!” Sunburst struggled to his hooves. “We have to escape! We have to…”
“Crystaller…Sunburst,” sitting down, she gently raised her one good hoof to caress his face. “You did everything you could. This is not your fault.”
“I led them down here.” Sunburst was sniffling, fighting back tears. “I brought them to this evil place. I should have seen the signs—the warnings.”
“How could you have known?” Silver Weave asked him. “Even I didn’t want to believe it. The truth was right in front of me. The cave paintings. The skulls. Green’s body. I’ve heard the poem a hundred times in my head. I tried to ignore the truth, but some things refuse to remain in our nightmares where they belong. This is one of them.”
“No.” Using the wall as leverage, Sunburst half-crawled, half-walked, “I won’t let it end like this. Xibalba, Starling, Star Beacon…that wonderful stallion who gave his life…I didn’t even know his name.” Slowly, he began to slide against the wall. “It will mean nothing if we don’t warn the Crystal Empire. Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, they must know what’s coming.”
“They will soon enough.” A shrill clicking filled the caves. It sounded like a hunting call. Silver Weave kept staring into the dark. “Though I don’t think anything can prepare them.” Her gaze fell downward. “Everypony is so concerned with what’s in front of them. No pony bothers to look down anymore.”
“We face imminent death and you choose this moment to become philosophical?”
Her head shot up, eyes wide. “No. I choose to be observant.”
“What are…” But when Sunburst followed her gaze, the light of his horn close enough to the ground to reveal the hidden message the darkness had concealed, what he had missed upon his first analysis of the cave wall. His voice began to whimper. “By the spirits…”
Silver Weave said, “We made too much noise and we woke them up. We forgot about them, but they didn’t forget about us. They are us.”
On the floor of the cavern, a gaping maw was painted across the surface. It coalesced with the paintings depicting the ancient ponies’ exodus, only this was a part of that history that he hadn’t seen because, as Silver Weave had said, he hadn’t bothered to look down. Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies fell screaming, pulled into the grasping teeth of the skin eaters. At the very center of copious circle of horror were the heads of all the victims they’d eaten, their mouths twisted in pain and in horror.
Silver Weave muttered, “The skin eaters are smiling red.”
Static
It was like something from out of a Nightmare Night story—the worst kind.
“Crystaller, what is this?” Came Xiba’s disturbed voice.
The camera panned out to reveal a cavern of bones. They were scattered, discarded like refuse, their surfaces picked clean, even the hollow groves where the marrow would had been sucked dry. There was nothing left of what were once living creatures. That were once ponies.
“There must be…thousands of them,” Xibalba, horrified, said. Sunburst walked into view of the camera. It zeroed in on Sunburst, the crystaller observing the grotesque scene with more than a hint of disgust. “What happened here?” The experienced spelunker asked him.
“What do you think happened?” Another pony, Gray Wind, asked, his headlamp scanning the monstrous vista.
“They were eaten.” The large earth pony, Meatlug, stomped into view. “Something ate these ponies. Something big.”
“But so many?” Gray Wind asked.
“Or something many,” Sunburst stated. “Look at them, Meatlug.”
“I really don’t want to, crystaller.”
“I mean the bones. The teeth marks. They’re too small to have been a large predator.”
“Then what ate them?” Meatlug asked.
“I should think that would be obvious.” Sunburst turned to regard the rest of the group. “It was us.”
“What are you talking about?” Starling, who until then had been watching silently from the shadows of the cave entrance, said. “We didn’t do this. We can’t.”
“Can’t we, Starling?” Sunburst, his face grim, fixed his glasses. Sweat beaded off his forehead in the cavern’s humidity. “Think about it, we’ve seen signs of it all along. The broken skull, the sharpened teeth, the discarded weapons, the artifacts. These ponies, they were refugees, yes, but not from one of the original tribes. They are a fourth tribe; a lost tribe, if you will..” He took a moment to let that sink in.
“Here’s what I think: during the Great Freeze, they sought refuge from the snow. Perhaps they were stragglers, ponies who held out longer than others but were then forced to move south when the snows became too great. They tried to escape the ancient valley of our ancestors, but when the passes became blocked, they were trapped. With nowhere else to go, and with certain death awaiting them, they sought refuge. They went down.”
“I’ve never heard of a tribe being left behind,” said the unicorn stallion who had been with Sunburst upon discovery of the skull. “It was just the three: earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn.”
“That is what we believed, Star Beacon” Sunburst went on. “However, we came on this expedition to learn the truth. Well…” he motioned to one of the bones, “here it is. The result of our ignorance.”
“Did they all die?” Starling asked. “Is this all that’s left of them?”
“Hard to say,” Sunburst looked around. “Think about it, Starling. I know it’s difficult to imagine, but we must face the facts. These ponies, these refugees, were trapped when the snows fell. They thought these caves would be a place of refuge. Instead it became their tomb. Starving, they turned on the only source of sustenance left to them.” Sunburst did not need to go on. Or perhaps, he could not.
Her voice shaking, Starling said, “You mean…they ate…each other?”
“Desperate ponies will do anything to survive.”
“But that’s horrible! It’s not natural!” She argued.
The crystaller went on. “Death or survival.”
“But they killed each other!” Star Beacon exclaimed. “They became monsters!”
“They had no choice,” Sunburst said, his voice low.
Starling wouldn’t hear it. “Ponies always have a choice! They could have gone back. They could have looked harder for a way out. They could have left with all the other ponies before the passes froze over. Why didn’t they? Why were they forced to do this?” Tears filled her eyes. “Why couldn’t they have found another way?”
“Fate forced their hoof,” Xiba said.
Starling wouldn’t stop. “But if they ate each other then they would all die. They had to know that.”
“Look at them all,” Meatlug said. “It looks like an entire generation died here.”
“So many,” Xibalba said, panning the area. “There are so many.”
“Yes.” Sunburst’s eyes narrowed. “There are.” His horn lit up as he approached the nearest stack of bones. With one hoof covering his nose, he began to study them. “Too many.”
“Crystaller?” Xiba asked. “What is it?”
Using his magic, the Sunburst began to pick up a few bones. “Strange. There are no children’s bones.” He looked some more. “They no doubt would have had foals with them when they entered the caves. Yet, all these bones are from adult ponies.”
“What does that mean?” Meatlug asked.
“I’m not sure. It’s possible that the children died first. But if so, where are the bodies? Where are the graves? It’s unlikely they began eating each other in the beginning. No doubt they went through their provisions first before making that macabre decision to feast on their fellows.”
Sunburst paused momentarily, his brilliant mind puzzling it all out. “Let’s assume for a moment that they did eat their remaining children first before turning on each other. Their entire group would have eventually eaten themselves to extinction. However, we’ve seen clear signs of prolonged inhabitation, as per our archeological discovery in the underground lake.” He glanced sideways at Star Beacone when he said that. “Elements of a society developing in these caves leads me to believe that they at least made an attempt to survive, to make a new home for themselves, which means that eating their children wouldn’t have been a viable survival option.”
“So what are you trying to say?” Xiba pressed him. Her voice was tense as if she did not want to know the answer.
“I’m only speculating, but perhaps these ponies did not turn on each other in the beginning. They survived on another source of sustenance, perhaps feeding on lichen and mushrooms, or on the denizen population of bats, rats, and whatever else crawls around here.”
“We haven’t seen much of those,” Gray Wind said.
“Maybe that’s because they ate them all.” Sunburst stepped back. “And that’s when they had to make a choice. Eat, or die.”
“So they did destroy themselves,” Starling said.
Sunburst shook his head. “But that brings me back to my original query. You see, there are no children’s bones here.”
“Maybe they ate the adults?” Meatlug offered, which earned him a sharp glare from Starling.
“Perhaps. However, I think I’ve deduced another possibility.” He turned to them. “Think on this: your food source has declined and there’s no chance of moving on to another location. You are forced to turn to cannibalism to survive. How do you ensure that that food supply lasts?” When no answer came forth, Sunburst said, “By making sure there’s an ample supply.”
“Then they did eat the children,” Star Beacon stuttered.
Sunburst said, “I believe they turned their mares into food production lines. They produced children, some of which they raised as food. It’s likely they chose the strongest ones to serve in other capacities, perhaps acolytes, while the rest were raised as food stock. That way, they always had enough meat.”
“That’s horrible!” Starling exclaimed, almost shrieking.
“Yes. But the evidence seems to be leaning that way.” Pausing, Sunburst glanced at the bones. “But that also brings up a disturbing possibility. If the ponies managed to sustain this way of life in the years following the Great Freeze, proceeding generations could have lasted a long time.”
“So they might still be around?” Gray Wind asked Sunburst.
“I’m not sure. I hope not but…”
“Skin eaters!” A shrill voice shocked them all and they turned to find a crystal pony trembling at the entrance to the cave.
“Silver Weave!” Starling said.
“It’s them! By the spirits, it’s them!” She turned and ran out the cave.
“Wait!” Starling chased after her.
The camera shook as Xiba went after them. “Hold it! Don’t go off alone! Remember what happened to Green Steps!”
Static
“Three little fillies jumping on the bed.” Silver Weave, her voice weak, trembled beside the camera. The camera rested presumably beside her head. Across from her, sitting on the other side of a small light sphere, Sunburst was leaning against the cave wall depicting the downfall of the ancient ponies.
The crystaller was muttering to himself. “…in the dark…cannot see…” he said. Even in this distance, his eyes were clearly frantic. Spittle began to form on his lips as they flapped incessantly. “…evolved in the dark…eyes useless…yet they know…they always know…how do they know?” He went on.
“One fell off and now she’s dead,” Silver Weave coughed. Somewhere, she could hear them clicking. Click-Click. Click-Click.
“…Click! That insufferable clicking!” Sunburst shook his head so violently it looked like he meant to shake it right off his shoulders. “….damn it all…but that clicking…how I hate it so! I hate it so! I hate it so!” He was half mad. Covering his ears, the crystaller went on. “…fled into the ground…avoid the Freeze…but the dark ate them instead…so they ate their own…they ate their young…they ate anything…!” He chuckled. “He-He…yes…we taste good.”
“Two little fillies jumping on the bed.”
Oblivious to Silver Weave, Sunburst’s rambling intensified. “…yes…that is how they hear us…we make too much noise.” He glanced briefly at Silver Weave.
“One jumped too high and hit her head.”
“Heads!” Sunburst exclaimed. “…head…skin…eat the skin…leave the head…they were once ponies…they want to be ponies…but they can’t…they forgot how…so they take what they don’t have…they take us…they eat us…we’re delicious (snicker)…take our skin…our faces…”
“One little filly jumping on the bed.”
Click.
The sound was drawing closer.
Click-Click. Click. Click-Click. Click. CLICK!
They were close. They were everywhere. They were here.
“They won’t get me the last one said,” Silver Weave whispered.
Shadows moved on the walls. They came from the side. They came from above. They came from below. “…echolocation…that’s it…that’s how they see…haha…see I figured it out at last…I knew I would…we have to tell them…Silver Weave…we have to tell them…did you hear me?”
“No more fillies jumping on the bed.”
Click.
The shadows stopped just short of Sunburst. Pausing in his crazed spasms, the crystaller regarded the faces around him…and smiled. “Xiba, Cliffhanger, Green Steps,” his voice had slowed…void of any hope. “You’re here. Good.” Slowly, he looked right at Silver Weave and said, “We can all go home now.”
“The skin eaters are smiling red.”
CLICK!
Static
The recording ends.
Sitting before the master crystal on the table, Prince Shining Armor, his throat dry after reviewing each and every entry, had almost forgotten how to breathe. “Is this all?” He asked. His voice barely registered in the grand room where he would hold council with all his aides. As of the moment, only he and one guard, a rising star named Flash Sentry, were occupying the elaborate space.
“Yes, sire,” the pegasus captain replied. “Those are all the transmissions we’ve received from the lost expedition.”
Distraught, Prince Shining Armor collapsed in his chair. When news that the expedition was beyond its return date had reached him, he had dispatched search teams to scour the upper caves. They’d recovered bits and pieces belonging to the expedition: a used crate here, a magazine there, some cooking pots, climbing gear, but nothing of the ponies themselves.
They didn’t now. How could they know?
“Celestia…” Shining muttered.
“Prince?” Flash Sentry began. He had been standing guard by the door, not once viewing any of the things the prince had seen. “Is there something wrong?”
“Call them back,” he whispered.
“I’m sorry?”
“I said call them back!” This time his voice rang with a frantic urgency. “Recall all survey and rescue teams. I want those caves quarantined and sealed off immediately!”
“But, sire, the expedition,”
“They’re not coming back.” Shining slammed a hoof on the crystal table. “You have your orders, Captain Sentry! Now carry them out!”
“At once, sire!” Flash Sentry rushed out the room, leaving the prince alone with the realization of his actions.
“Sunburst…sweet goddesses! What have we done? What have we unleashed?”
Outside, night had fallen over the Crystal Empire. A gentle breeze carried with it the scent of death and carnage through the air. If one listened carefully, they could just make out the sound of clicking on the wind—the sound of a thousand hungry souls damned to devour their own kind for eternity.
The crystal ponies believed they were safe, their eyes ever fixed towards the horizon. If only they cared to look down, they might see them, the teeth in the night, the smiles in the darkness.
Nopony ever looked down.
But they are always looking up.
End