“Gaah!” Basso stumbled against the doorframe at the base of the stone stairwell. Pebbles and chunks of rock fell around him from the Hold’s latest tremor. “By the Spark! That last one was intense!”
“R-really?” Rainbow Dash hissed as she struggled to cling to his thick backside. “I couldn’t tell!”
“I think part of the compartment collapsed ahead of us!” the stallion said.
“Allow me to look.” Nightshade slithered around him and squinted into the blackness. Her eyes narrowed, then narrowed harder. “Shine your light,” she commanded.
With a slight shiver, the bulky pony did as ordered. The tip of his horn strobed, casting a pale blue aura over the lengths of the chamber. Before them, at about twenty meters’ distance, a veritable avalanche of stones and craggy rocks formed a brittle pile. Dust was still settling across the far end of the room as the three ponies’ gaze swam anxiously over the sight.
“Wow…” Basso uttered with a blink. “You don’t supposed anypony was on the other side of that collapse, do ya?”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
“Miss Dash…?”
“I… I feel…” Rainbow grimaced as her voice weakly cracked, “I feel the book’s presence from just beyond the pile of rocks.”
Nigthshade’s eyes twitched.
“Wait… for real?” Basso breathlessly stammered as he glanced back at the limp pegasus on his back. “In the rubble? You sure?”
“Nnnngh…” Rainbow Dash rubbed her aching head as the next words limped out of her. “Pretty sure…”
“Then… that means…”
Nightshade gritted her teeth together. “Brainless savages…” She seethed. “If I could break every one of those wretch’s horns, I would.”
“Now who sounds like a warmonger?” Rainbow rasped.
“Now is hardly the time, my little pony.”
“Don’t you friggin’ call me--”
“Wait!” Basso gasped, pointing with his muscular forelimb. “Look!”
Both mares gasped. A tiny patch of rock was shifting slightly from atop the massive pile of fallen chunks.
“Good heavens…” Nightshade exhaled, eyes wide. “She may still be alive!”
“Kera!” Rainbow squeaked.
Nightshade galloped forward, motioning at Basso. “Come! Come quick! Surely you may be strong enough to move most of this rubble!”
At that moment, however, Basso’s eyes were jerking from side to side. He gasped and raised his hoof. “No! Wait!”
“We cannot tarry!” Nightshade spat, flashing a frantic glance back. “Every second we wait suffocates… the child…. of oxygen…” Her words dissolved in her muzzle.
The pale light of Basso’s horn was being drowned out by the amber hue of a dozen torches. Xonan guards came rushing in, muttering to one another in Second Born tongue. All thirty regally armored warriors came to a scuffling stop, gasping in horror. Their wide eyes regarded the desecrated entrance to their divine Goddess’ Sanctum. Then, like clockwork, they swiveled their heads until they saw three strange ponies standing at the scene of the crime.
With snarling expressions, they unsheathed a flurry of scimitars, poleaxes, spears, and staves--all glowing with ethereal gray chaos energy.
“Rakhar drenna dremmun, Ledomulien Trentte!”
“Well, if that isn’t charming,” Nightshade muttered.
“Basso!” Rainbow Dash grunted. “Buck mode! Activate!”
“B-b-b-but Miss Dash!” Basso stammered as he backtrotted from the menacing phalanx of blades. “They outnumber us ten to one!”
“Yeah? And you’re a Celestia-damned tank!” Rainbow swiveled her rear leg and swatted him firmly above the tail. “Roll with it!”
“Gaaaah!” With a nigh-mechanical whinnying sound, Basso thundered forward. His charge was so swift that Rainbow literally rolled off of him and fell like a limp bag of meat across the stone floor.
“Oooof!” Luna’s midnight satchel flew open, and the hoof bracelet featuring the rune of Odrsjot rolled loose. As it rattled to a stop several feet away, Rainbow tried getting up, only to fall in a breathy slump as the proximity of the book took hold of her. She quivered all over, rolling into a fetal position and resisting the urge to vomit.
Meanwhile, Basso had stumbled neck-deep into the screaming pit of armored warriors. No less than ten of them flew back instantly, clambering over their shields and weaponry.
“Oh jeez! Did something crack?!” Basso winced, his ears folding. “I-I swear I heard something crack! I’m sorry about that, buddy--”
“Raaaaaaugh!” A viciously tattooed stallion mounted him from behind, twirled a pair of floating scimitars, and prepared to sab meat-deep into his shoulders. “Raak’suun blenna drendar, thiulen Nagu’n--”
Basso’s ears flicked.
“Ooof!” The stallion’s skull suffered whiplash when one of the fuzzy lobes upercutted his muzzle. He spat out a chunk of a tooth and fell like an anvil to the floor. This didn’t stop three more stallions from pouncing on Basso’s backside and struggling to force the giant equine down. Panicking, Basso spun in a virtual circle, causing more and more armored Xonans to fly into one another, filling the air with the sound of metallic coconuts.
“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”
“Oh for the love of--” Rainbow Dash threw every muscle into the act of rolling over She looked past her spilled stachel and shouted. “Nightshade! Hurry, gosh darn it! Get ‘er out of there!”
“What does it look like I’m doing?!” Nightshade growled back. She mounted the rubble pile on dirtied knees and began clawing her way through the top layer of rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Several of them took the dainty unicorn several seconds to lift and roll aside. She panted heavily, her ears ringing with the increasingly cacophonous grunts and cries of Basso in the background. The chamber around her flickered with a deathly dance of magical light.
At last, after several palpitating battles with the rock, Nightshade felt warm air rushing up against her fetlocks in rapid bursts. She gasped, pausing to lean her ear towards the hollow pocket within the rubble beneath her.
She heard a voice, faint and desperate. It was close by, and breathing on her.
“Hold on!” she grunted, lifting the next slab of rock with extreme gusto. “Do not worry, child! I shall have you out of there!”
It took half a minute of struggle, but Nightshade finally managed to roll the last round slab away. Like street urchins hidden beneath a sewer lid, two equine shapes were revealed. Dalen gazed up, huddling at the top of a long vertical passage that led to pitch blackness. He was using his lower body strength to plant a pair of strong legs against the walls of the unnatural chute. His forelimbs were cradling Kera. At the sight of their surprise rescuer, both Xonans blinked in shock.
“You…?”
“No time to explain,” Nightshade stammered. “I need to get you out of here.”
“But… b-but…” Kera gulped, her tear-stained face craning to see beyond the dust and debris. “Rainbow? Where is--”
The Hold shook, sending sharm tremors down the crackling walls. Dalen slid down by an inch and a half, causing Kera to shriek in his grip.
“Nnnngh… Xon-Nagu’n…” he hissed, his face taut with strain. He gazed up with diamond-hard eyes. “Take the child! Quickly!”
Nightshade didn’t waste any time arguing. “Here!” She slumped down on her chest and reached both hooves down into the chute. “Float her up to me!”
“I-I think I can m-manage!” He said, though his horn was glowing. With a grunt, he flexed his forward muscles and lifted her up… up. His lower legs quivered, slick with sweat. It was around this point that Nightshade saw the lavender tome floating just beside his muzzle. She was almost deaf to his cries when he exclaimed, “Here! Take her!”
“I’ve got you!” Nightshade grasped Kera and rolled back. She placed the foal down on the sloping hill of rubble.
Wheezing, Kera slid, rolled, and slid some more until she was at the base of the pile. Her voice coughed and sputtered as she struggled to exhale all the soot and dust in her lungs. With thin eyes, she gawked at Basso’s furious struggle.
“Lessuul menno rastama…” Dalen exhaled with relief, though his muscles still struggled. “Now, please, help me next!”
“Give me the book!” Nightshade exclaimed.
Dalen did a double-take, his bloodshot eyes blinking. “But… but I’ve got it--”
“You know as well as I do what’s at stake if we lose it!” Nightshade shouted as she reached her hoof deeper, motioning upwards. “Give me the book and then I will pull you up!”
Dalen blinked… then slowly, slowly nodded. “Dreit… b-but of course…” He gritted his teeth, struggling to hoist the magical tome ceilingward with fading magic. “For the glory of Nagu’n…” His teeth showed in a painful grimace as his horn began to short out. “Must… g-give this to Austraeoh…”
Nightshade reached… reached… then finally grasped the book. She stood up straight, breathing heavily as she hugged the thing to her chest. She closed her eyes tightly, inhaling, then relaxing her tense body.
“Messuul rettrenehm, trenna taan!” Dalen hissed, his hooves slipping again. He fumbled to grasp onto the walls of the chute with his upper body, but his legs were already quivering like they were suspended on sliced marionette strings. He gave way one inch at a time. “Now help me up!”
Nightshade was silent.
“Please… I… I b-beg of you!”
Slowly, Nightshade reopened her eyes. She looked down at the tattooed pony. She scowled.
Dalen’s pupils instantly shrank. His muzzle quivered as he stammered. “Minnote… minnote lithen saalasem. Haiste. Haiste ruruuna!.”
Nightshade’s jaw grew tight. She lifted one of her lower legs… and slapped it fiercely down at the roof of the rubble.
The vibrations shot down like an earthquake. Dalen lost his grip before he could even scream. His horn sparked once or twice--followed by a stream of ghostly tattoos--and then he was swallowed by the darkness below.
Nightshade trotted away.