Arkane Vander looked over the large mountain.  His only thought was exploration.  He looked over to his companion, who slowly hiked up the mountain.  Sisalee was a good hearted pony, but absolutely hated the outdoors.  She was more of an inside pony, but she didn’t mind a camping trip here and there.  The kind of outside she preferred was the crystal empire square.  She was a crystal pony, of course.  Arkane met her when he first went to the empire.  She ran away with him, longing for a new life.  

"This hike is killing me," Sisalee complained.

“Oh, you'll get used to it.”  Arkane smiled down at his companion.  She didn’t smile back.  “Besides, a good hike can always do some good.  It works out those legs.”  He jumped up and down, making a few small rocks fall crumble down the side of the mountain.  

“Would you be more careful!  You can start an avalanche like that.”  

“That’s just an old wives tale,”  Arkane said.  Sisalee glared at him.  “Let’s get on it then, shall we.”  Arkane started to trek up the mountain.  Sisalee groaned.  

After twenty minutes of hiking and whining, they reached their destination.  Celestia’s Mouth.  “Hurry on up here, I found the cave.”  Arkane shouted down to Sisalee.  

“I’m sorry if I’m running a little late, my feet are about to commit suicide,”  she whined.

“Stop whining and get up here.”  She picked up her pace, but only slightly.

“Celestia’s mouth.”  

“I wonder where Celestia’s anus is.”  She chuckled at her own joke.  Arkane just stared at her menacingly.  “Anyway, what are the rumors about this place.”

“Some say that this place is haunted, others say it’s just a normal cave.  What say you?”

“I’ve never heard about it before.”  

"How could you have never heard of it before?  You know, Celestia's mouth, where nopony has come out of."

"Look, I am apart of a civilization that had disappeared, and then reappeared.  It's been a long while, so I haven't heard any kind of myths."

"Oh... right."  He had forgotten about the Crystal Empire.  I guess having an actual crystal pony wasn't enough for him to remember.  "Are you ready?"  

She nodded.  Arkane clapped a friendly hoof on her back.  The inside was not unlike the preview he had glimpsed outside with the light of his horn. Dark, dismal, and endlessly black. It seemed to stretch endlessly, no matter how he positioned his horn. The rocky terrain was damp and imposing. The last natural light slowly disappeared behind Sisalee and him as they made their way deeper and deeper. Arkane found it strange how soft and compelling the world around him now appeared, despite the stalactites, stalagmites, and other various rocky formations being so jagged. It seemed that even amongst the pointed teeth of Celestia, he could lay down and rest there forever. It was comfortable.

Apparently Sisalee didn’t agree. She shivered uncomfortably under his hoof. He raised his eyebrows. “Need your coat?” he asked. Arkane tried to look at her and make non-verbal communication as explicit as possible until he realized that they were lost in the inky blackness of the Mouth. He bit his lip and waited, but she didn’t respond. For a couple minutes they walked in silence. She stopped and stood motionless. He stopped, too.

“Why the hay are we even in here?” she said. She sounded irritated. Arkane shrugged – more to appease himself than her – and made himself illuminate.  Bladed shadows obscured half his face, the other half illuminated in a wretched mask. “Spooky!” he cried, chuckling. She didn’t move.

Arkane sighed. “I thought you wanted to go,” he said.  He noticed how his voice echoed against the cave walls at any volume. “I mean,” he began again, scratching at his chin, “You did say you wanted to go see some nature for our vacation. And you did sound impressed when I told you about my visit to Griffon Caves a couple years back. So…” His voice trailed off.  He could still sense her irritation.

“No,” she said.  Arkane frowned. “No, you wanted to go here. I wanted to go to a beach or something. But no, a cave. A cave, Vander!” She sounded more like a Big Bad Wolf now. “I know that you have this weird fetish for spelunking or something, but I don’t really want to be dragged in to it. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to go on a trip and get into nature and fresh air, but this,” I could hear her arms flail and gesture about in the thick air. “This is cave air, not fresh air. This air is practically fermenting! Plus, isn’t this illegal? Can we please just leave?”

They both stood there. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of magic in the air being stifled and smothered by the damp atmosphere. Finally, Arkane began to walk. He didn’t hear Sisalee follow him, but he kept moving forward. Then, “Vander,” she said, “Stop. Please stop.” So he stopped.

“I’m sorry,” she said. I could hear her moving closer to me. “I’m tired and I’m not used to running and climbing around and the like. I’m just tired.”

“It’s okay,” he said. She got in close to him. “Really. It’s fine.” He shook his head. “Which way is out? I don’t remember.” he could feel Sisalee physically pause. Neither of them could remember. Somehow, in the confusion of the argument, Arkane forgotten which way we had been moving. Idiot, he thought to himself, I should have brought a rope or something to trail from the entrance of the cave. He had to take action, so without much thought, he turned 180 degrees and said, “This way.”

They walked for what seemed to be hours. His hooves were tired and sore, and he could hear Sisalee's groans from behind him. She scooted in close to him. He felt terrible. This was his fault.

Then he froze. “Hey. Hey,” Arkane said, “Put your hoof out. Feel this rock.” he could hear Sisalee's hoof press against the stone. “Isn’t this, like…abnormally warm?” Arkane said. She didn’t say anything. He began to work his way along the wall, feeling it as he went, shining his horn in front of him. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his head as the ceiling of Celestia’s Mouth met with his scalp.

“Ow!” Arkane shouted.

“Oh, Arkane, are you okay?” Sisalee asked. She seemed on the verge of panic now.

“I’m fine,” Arkane said. “Please, calm down. We’ll get out of here soon, I promise.”

He started again, pointing his horn upwards now to see the ceiling above him. It seemed to be getting narrower. That was strange. “Listen, uh, Sisalee,” Arkane said through clenched teeth, “I think we gotta turn around.” Sisalee sighed next to me.

Again, we walked for a decent length. Arkane kept his horn pointed upwards this time. Sure enough, the space in the cave seemed to become smaller and smaller. If there was any resonating light left in Celestia's Mouth aside from his horn, I’m sure Sisalee would have been able to see the whites of his eyes, spreading in panic. They were completely lost.

He seperated from Sisalee and began to feverishly feel his way along the walls. “No, Arkane!” He heard her shout. He kept going. They had to get out. If they were lost, nopony would be able to find them.

I kept feeling along the wall until I abruptly hit a corner. "Buck!" I said aloud. "Sisalee, this seems to be a dead end.” He spun around. “Sisalee?” No answer.

He began to repeat his process again, almost running as he felt the wall run past my hooves. Cool, damp rocks and jagged spears. Suddenly, he found myself at a corner again.  “Sisalee!” He was belting her name out now. In the corner of the cave’s maw where he had been thwarted so many times already, he heard a noise. It sounded like muffled static from a television. He pressed his ear against the rock. It seemed to be getting even warmer now. I heard the faint sounds of Sisalee on the other side of the rock. She was screaming.

“No no no,” Arkane said. “No no no no no.” He began running haphazardly into the walls around him. With dawning realization came a wave of sheer horror. There was no entrance. There was no exit. Only these four corners and him.  Until...

"Sisalee, I found the exit."  The hole where he had come from was found.  He began to race towards it.

He could feel blood begin to trickle from the cut he managed to get by bashing his body into the cave’s walls. They were closing in on him somehow. They were coming in for the kill, and soon they would be pressing in on his skull and crushing his rib cage.  As he got closer to the hole, he hit his head on the ceiling.  His horn came off.  "AAAHH!"  Arkane exclaimed.  He turned around.  He saw his companion racing towards him.  

He almost cried tears of joy, but they turned into tears of sorrow.  The ceiling was collapsing on them, and he couldn't pull her out of there in time.  "Go, get out of here!"  she screamed.  

"I can't just leave you here!"  Arkane yelled back.

"Go!  Just go!  Please!"  Arkane didn't want to argue with her.  He turned around and ran out of the cave.  

When he was out, he saw Sisalee an leg lengths away.  He reached out his hoof.  She grabbed it.  He pulled with all of his strength, but to no avail.  The cave closed on her.  Her hoof was the only thing that got out of the cave.  It was twitching, until a sickening crunch filled Arkane's ears.  Jagged teeth fell like a guillotine on the calf of the hoof.  The hoof was bitten off the rest of the body.  Arkane still held on tight to the hoof.  He stared in disbelief at what used to be a cave.  Now there was jagged teeth blocking the hole.  He watched as Celestia's mouth chewed its latest meal.  And he did nothing to stop it.