//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Dig Down, Dig Deep // Story: Memories of the Stone // by WanderingPony //------------------------------// Deep (but unfortunately for Equestria, not too deep) below the capital of the Crystal Empire: The city where the once-and-future-King-in-his-head Sombra and now Princess Cadence rule is actually quite ancient, even taking into account the whole thousand year curse vacation. Parts of the city date back to ancient Roan, as many a local pony is wont to point out in the crystalline classical styles. This has led to King Sombra's army discovering a few things for which modern pony archeology has given words to in his long omission from the pages of history. The first is "Stratigraphy". The second is a completely different meaning for the word "tell" than the one you generally use when referring to what you're going to do to that stupid colt who put glue on your seat at school. "DIG ME A TUNNEL THROUGH SOMETHING SOLID, YOU MORONIC MINIONS!" Unfortunately for the evil stallion, His "stall" was the result as a layer of broken crystalline gravel, brick bits, and the detrius of urban life at roughly 4,000 BC (Before Celestia) buried the pack of tunneling nightmares, then swamped most of the front of his army for good measure. The Stadia Crystalleria had been built on a prime site in the middle of the city- which had also meant the highest spot, built layer by layer from the rubble of previous buildings and less impressive early pony hygeine. He'd woken faint and already grumpy to the gentle prodding of an imp, whose chittering voice could have been used for alarm clocks nothing sane would ignore (much less hit the snooze button). While less obvious to nice ponies, Sombra's temper tantrum was enough hate to attract every windigo for miles around. If he'd known, it'd likely have made him feel better, but... "GET THOSE PATHETIC EXCUSES FOR MONSTERS OUT OF MY WAY, I'LL DO THIS MYSELF." Pointing his horn at the ceiling, Sombra put his frustration to (de)constructive use. A solid pillar of flames punched into the sea of gravel, welding what didn't burn away into the sides of a new passage upwards. Half a dozen ahrimans and imps flapped to the front and joined in, flares of mystic power melting past what little remained to burrow further into the bowels of the city. One of the one-eyed fiends turned about to gibber in victory as Sombra's growl echoed through the new gap. Well, part of him growled, anyway. "Darkness below, I haven't eaten in a thousand and one years!", he thought. Not that a near-mindless cloud of shadows needed to eat, but he had a real body to consider here. He opened his mouth to utter words of black wisdom fit for such a situation. "DOES.....does anypony have a meal fit for a king?" The monstrous digging crew chose that moment to discover their next archeology lesson- the ancient sewers that kept the streets of the capital clean. Waste flowed underground, into channels that led to a proper magical recycling and purification station- before the purified waters were tornadoed up for the local pegasi cloud-makers. Legends told of an ancient breed of alligators that lived in the watery torrent...based on fact, as a matter of such. Thousands of gallons of dirty water, horseapples and filth began to roar down the tunnel, an occasional curious whitish-green reptilian head surfacing from the redirected sewage. Barely managing to put up a shield in time, the unicorn watched as demons and sewer denizens flowed by, bouncing off the magical protection as they tumbled into a pile of stinking flesh thousands of feet back. One tauri managed to get stuck on a rock, leaving an eddy of relative calm for a pack of sewer gators to latch on to a potentially tasty meal. Five curled around the monstrous claws on it's arms. One managed to latch all four paws onto the demon's tail, watching the bubble with a stare that said "Oh, if only I could join you for a bite!" as it scurried for a perch above the stream. Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Sombra's belly increased it's complaints. The flow of gunk decreased, leaving a dripping brown mix of demon and reptile thrashing in front of the unicorn. Finally, it reduced to a trickle as someone above realized that there'd been a blown pipe and redirected the flow along a different channel. He dropped the shield. The gators made disgusting sucking noises as they attempted to gum the demon they were attached to. Reviving from the therapeutic massage, the tauri shook itself like an large dog, splattering globs of fetid gak across it's master. Then it turned and, crushing three of the gators in each fist...offered them to his master and made a "nom nom nom" sound, grinning broadly enough to swallow at least one handful whole. Which it did, crunching down with innocent (for a nightmare-spawned hellbeast) delight. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH! *FABOOM!* A stinking, starving and furious Sombra crisped the entire mess of monster and beasts. Stalking through an ashen cloud of scorched bones, he climbed up the now-empty pipe. Behind the furious evil leader straggled his sodden army, following a trail of cracked hoofprints. Sombra punctuated his ascent with a single shriek of humiliated rage and disgust. The almost girlish shreik shook the sewer system, echoing as a rumble through the stadium grates and into the city beyond. In the Royal Box, Applejack's ears pricked. "Hey, anypony else hearin' that rumblin'?" Pinkie Pie's doozy-fit chose to follow up that statement with a frosting-scented belch that cracked the viewing window. "Aw, never mind. Excuse YOU, sugarcube."