Comet's Tale

A Canterlot Wedding part 3

Consciousness returned to Comet Tail slowly, like distant stars appearing one by one in the evening sky. His head throbbed with a dull ache as he blinked in absolute darkness. For a moment, panic seized him—had he gone blind? Then his rational mind took over. No, just darkness. Complete, impenetrable darkness.

He lay motionless on what felt like cold stone, letting his memories gradually piece themselves together. The wedding preparations... searching for Twilight... confronting Princess Cadence in her chambers. Only it hadn't been Cadence at all. The horrifying transformation replayed in his mind—pink coat darkening to black chitin, elegant frame stretching into something alien and insectoid, holes appearing in those spindly legs. The creature's fanged smile as she encased him in that sickly green sphere. The sensation of sinking through solid marble as if it were nothing but water.

"Not exactly how I planned to spend the day before the wedding," Comet muttered to himself, his voice echoing slightly in the darkness.

Wherever he was, the acoustic properties suggested a large, open space. Carefully, he rose to his hooves, wincing at the stiffness in his joints. How long had he been unconscious?

Comet concentrated, his horn igniting with a soft blue glow. A simple illumination spell—one of the first any unicorn foal learns—but at that moment, it felt like the most important magic he'd ever performed.

The light revealed his surroundings, and Comet's eyes widened in astonishment. He stood in an immense cavern, its walls embedded with crystals of various sizes and colors. They reflected his magical light, multiplying it and sending prismatic patterns dancing across the rocky surfaces. Under different circumstances, the astronomical scholar in him would have been fascinated by the natural phenomenon.

"Incredible," he whispered, turning slowly to take in the full scope of the crystal cave. "These must be the old crystal mines beneath Canterlot."

He'd read about them in historical texts—abandoned centuries ago when the crystal veins had supposedly run dry. But clearly, that wasn't entirely accurate. The cavern stretched far beyond the reach of his light spell, disappearing into yawning darkness in multiple directions.

Comet enhanced his illumination spell, pushing more magic through his horn until the blue light brightened significantly. He began walking cautiously, his hoofsteps echoing against the crystalline walls. Each step sent small reverberations through the cavern, as if the very ground was responding to his presence.

"Hello?" he called out tentatively, immediately regretting it when his voice bounced back at him from multiple directions. If that insectoid queen had allies down here, he'd just announced his position.

He paused, holding his breath to listen more carefully. Water dripped somewhere in the distance, a steady, melodic plink. The subtle shifting of earth and stone—the mountain above breathing. And something else... a faint current of air suggested there might be an exit somewhere.

Comet moved deeper into the cavern network, careful to mark his path by magically etching small astronomical symbols into the rock at regular intervals. Getting lost down here would be a death sentence.

As he ventured further, the crystals grew larger and more numerous. Their facets caught his magical light and refracted it in complex patterns that reminded him of star charts. Despite his predicament, the astronomer in him couldn't help but appreciate the celestial parallel.

Then he heard it—so faint at first that he thought he might be imagining it. Voices. Two distinct voices engaged in hushed conversation, the words indistinguishable but the tones unmistakably female.

Comet froze, straining his ears. The voices continued, slightly louder now as he concentrated. Something about one of them pulled at his heart—a cadence, a rhythm so familiar that he'd recognize it anywhere.