If I were to give any advice to a would-be hero-slash-adventurer, it would be to take some classes on cartography. Getting lost in a hostile place can be nerve wracking and make you feel like you've been at every intersection at least twenty times. Add onto that the ever present threat of being on an unknown time limit and you'll start losing your mind.
I passed tunnels that lead nowhere, intersections that looped back on themselves, and what appeared to be sleeping quarters multiple times. Almost to the point of being dizzy, I was starting to canter down the empty paths. It was ridiculous. How could I have not found anypony between the pony watching the foals and now? Where had Nightborne gone?
I sighed. If there were any time I needed a measure of luck it was right-
A series of rapid hoofbeats drew my attention and a cloaked figure darted down a tunnel just in front of me. This was getting... strangely predictable. Picking up the pace, I skidded around the corner and gave chase. If I were a betting stallion, this pony was on their way somewhere important.
I nearly lost them a few times, only catching glimpses of flapping cloak. Further and further into the mine we went at such a pace that I nearly missed how the lights had begun to change color. Pools of golden illumination gave way to silvery sheen and it became harder and harder to keep the pony in my sights.
Then I began to hear something that chilled my blood.
A deep, rhythmic chanting was beginning to fill the air. I could almost feel the steady beat in my bones as I slowed, checking to make sure that my cloak was in place as I rounded a final corner. In front of me, a large cavern opened up, the only natural looking formation I'd seen in this entire place. Roughly twenty yards separated me from a sudden plunge into nothingness.
Between myself and the fall, however, must have been roughly thirty cloaked ponies with their heads bowed. I wasn't sure what language they were speaking, but something about the way it hit my ears filled me with dread. My eyes roamed toward the front of the congregation and I felt my breath hitch.
What appeared to be an altar made from solid stone had been placed near the edge of the void, covered in strange glyphs that I'm not sure I would understand even if I'd been trained in magic. Just looking at them made my eyes cross. A single stallion stood next to the altar and even from here I could feel the weight of age around him.
Even his fur had grayed to a point of giving him an ancient feel... and he was currently conversing with a pony that seemed to be agitated. Movement from the altar drew my attention and my eyes widened. Silent Stroke had been strapped to the altar with enough rope to strange a hydra and I could see his amber eyes boring into the ponies around him.
...Well, I'd found my partner, now I just had to figure out how to get him out with all these ponies here.
“I know you're here, little pony.” came a voice that I could hear the dust in. Looking up, I noticed the elder stallion looking my way and in the limited light, his milky gaze was disturbing. The chanting came to a sudden halt at his voice, several eyes glancing about to try and find whom he was talking to.
“Come closer,” the only stallion not wearing a cloak said, “my eyes are not what they used to be, but I know the scents of my faithful. There are few among the daywalkers whom would brave this place, a haven of the nightborne.” Ok, so “Nightborne” was a title.
...Of course, the fact that he knew I was here was problematic.
Also the fact that I was now flat on the ground with one hoof being held firmly across my back in an uncomfortable position. The hood was ripped from my head, exposing me to those still struggling with the enchantment and I heard a series of murmurs spread through the group.
“Excellent work, Top Shot,” Grandpa Creepy stated as he began making his way toward us, “I knew better than to suspect a member of the sun tyrant's guard of cowardice. Unlike my juniors, I know the heart of your kind, foal. You feel that you are always in the right, even when you are firmly in the wrong...”
I wasn't sure what to say to that. I was currently gritting my teeth to keep from crying out in pain as my leg was forced higher across my back. I think Top Shot may have been ornery about the fact that I hadn't been where they wanted me to be. It was strange that I wasn't feeling crippled by fear. Maybe I had just been so scared today that I was getting numb to it.
Or, maybe the ache in my leg was pushing it to the back of my mind as I watched the time-lost stallion coming toward me. Something happening further back caught my eyes though as a pair of amber eyes met mine and Stroke's ears flicked rapidly. I blinked. Keep him talking.
Oh, my dear Silent Stroke, were you asking me to force the villain to monologue? Why would I? Why was Stroke now laying there with his mouth open.... wait....
I kept my inward grin off of my muzzle as I grunted, being hauled to my feet before what I could now identify as a unicorn. What was it with unicorns and being at the heart of weird things? I was beginning to think some of them had their horns on too tight and it was hurting their brains.
Taking a deep breath, I chuckled, “I guess you got me,” I grunted as my hoof was twisted, “isn't this the part where you drone on about your self-importance?” My comment earned me a quirked eyebrow.
“You are rather chipper for having failed your mission, foal.”
“What can I say, failure is something that I'm used to, gramps.”
The elder stallion scoffed while Top Shot was doing their best to yank my leg out of its socket, “I suppose that would be true. You and yours have never been able to fully stomp out the truth of our immortal queen of the night. The pretender, Luna, was gifted beauty and power, the right to be her avatar, and now shivers in fear at its call. She was weak.”
“Well, I don't know about that,” I intoned sarcastically, hoping to infuriate the old coot, “I'd say getting blasted apart by the Elements of Harmony put Princess Luna as the victor.” Another firm yank at my leg.
“Watch your tongue, heretic.” Oh, so Top Shot was a mare. I bet she and Martial would get along just fine. Both of them seemed to take undue pleasure in causing me vast amount of pain. They just differed on mental versus physical.
“Now now, dear,” The lead cultist chided, “he is entitled to his opinion and being angry about it at the cusp of victory is beneath us. A pity,” he lamented, “had I found you under any other circumstance, I may have taken you in and... instructed you on your error. The only problem is,” he leaned in close, making me wrinkle my nose as his breath hit my nose, smelling of decay, “you've been meddling with my descendants...”
For an old bag of bones, he struck hard when he drew his hoof across my jaw. My ears were ringing a bit as Top Shot said something, forking over an object to grandpa cultist. When my eyes fell on it, I froze. The naked blade of my dagger glistened in the silvery light, looking for all the world like it was gloating.
“A remarkable blade for somepony as foolish as yourself. It's edge is so eager to taste blood... perhaps we should let it drink of yours,” he slid close to me, murmuring, “any last words, colt?”
Unfortunately for him, ringing my bell had shaken a few things loose. This included a stupid, reckless, half-flanked plan to stall for time. Top Shot had my hoofring of silence held firmly in place across my back, but I still had one trick up my sleeve... or rather, on my hoof.
So, I looked into his sightless eyes and grinned, “Sure, I'll humor you. Anyone got a light?” Twisting my free hoof slightly, I triggered my other hoofring. With an ear-splitting sizzle, a spark shot into the air of the cavern before exploding with yellow light. Bright yellow light. With my eyes closed, it didn't hit me near as hard as it hit the various cultists around me.
Shrieks of pain sounded throughout the group and Top Shot let go of my leg in order to shield her eyes. Old and Deathly had jumped back defensively from the noise, but he didn't have the judgment to stick the landing, winding up flat on the floor. I was left with a straight shot to the altar and I took it as fast as my injured leg would allow.
Reaching Stroke, I saw him looking at me with a stunned expression as I hurried to untie him. He continued to blink and stare as I finished freeing one of his legs, but that was the extent I managed. A few of the cultists, having recovered their senses, were quick to grab me and give me a firm beating for what I'd done, leaving me in a curled ball on the floor.
“Lucky Signs, cover your ears!”
Hey, if I had learned anything from my short time in training, it was to obey voices of authority. I clasped my hooves over my ears and not a moment later, I heard it through my hooves. It was the most banshee like shriek I'd ever heard in my life and it vibrated through the ground like a directed blast.
All around me, cultists fell the the ground, clasping their ears and crying out in pain. Through it all, I looked up at Stroke where he stood on the altar, apparently having taken the time to finish freeing himself, taking a deep breath. His jaws parted and the shriek filled the air again while he swept his head back and forth, the pressure of his shriek striking those around him like a hammer.
I might have been a little in awe of his power... or a little scared, considering the blood slowly matting the fur around the ears of the ponies closest to me. Truth be told, it was a miracle that his attack didn't bring the mine down around us. Of course, then he had to go and ruin it all by reading the cultists their rights as prisoners.
I mean, how did he think that the two of us were going to-
Marching hooves and flapping wings interrupted me as something around fifty ponies flooded into the cavern, the still burning light of my flare illuminating golden armor and plumed helms. Among them, a pony carrying a banner turned and revealed the great standard of Equestria and the princesses that ruled the land.
I had never been so happy to see Royal Guards before.
From within their midst, a voice rang out, sharp and clear, “In the name of Equestria, you are all under arrest!”
Despite this, I could still only wonder how Martial Cadence was going to take the news....