Dungeon Crawl
The three ponies were racing up into the darkening forest, Scootaloo above the tree-tops while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle forged their way through the trees below. Fortunately, the undergrowth wasn't thick, and there were plenty of ways to get through. They'd started along the same direction as the fleeing look-out, but now they were carrying on, hoping to find something.
"Are you sure you can't pull up some whammy to home in on them?"
Sweetie Belle shook her head at Apple Bloom's question, even as she tried to keep up. "You saw me try earlier. I just don't have the connection I did to Scootaloo."
"And that guy Scoots zapped was still unconscious when they got him on the cart." The earth pony picked her way through the twilight-lit undergrowth. "It's not your fault, it's just this is going to get tough. If we can't find some sort of tracks to follow, we could lose them. They're probably still moving and they've got to have covered up pretty well..."
"Uh, guys?" Scootaloo dropped down, skating along just overhead. "There's some sort of building in a clearing up ahead, and I can see lit fires."
"You're kidding!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, slowing down to a walk. "We can't have been going for more than half an hour. They must be crazy to hole up so close to the scene of the crime!"
"Maybe it's someone else's place." suggested Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah, like some random bunch of guys just decided to set up a house in the middle of nowhere," Scootaloo snarked. "I bet that creep I dropped a thunderstorm on was coming to tell them to make like cut hay and bail."
Apple Bloom decided to head off any argument. "The only way to find out for sure is to sneak up and take a look, just like we did when we snuck past Fluttershy to go hunting in the Everfree Forest."
"That's not exactly the best example, remember how that ended?" Scootaloo gave a snort.
"Well now we know better, and we're far more awesome and cool. Besides, I still have that pie tray, and I fixed up a hoof loop for it while I was redoing my harness. Any cockamamie cockatrice messes with us, I'll just show it it's own reflection. Instant statue. C'mon!"
The three moved forward more slowly, using the tree trunks as cover and staying close. As night proper fell, they came to a clear area, where a low hill several hundred feet around at the base rose up out of the surrounding forest. At the summit was a squared tower, rising fifty foot high to the crenellations on the roof.and thirty foot wide at the base, though it tapered inwards slightly towards the top.
Of more immediate interest was the fifteen foot high stone curtain wall that surrounded it, complete with with towers at each corner and a dry ditch running along the outside. A single wooden gate was set in it. currently swung open and showing the hundred foot square, unpaved courtyard inside and wooden walkways along the interior of the walls. Guys with mismatched armour and weapons patrolled these battlements.
Both moons were just up, and almost full, and their light was added to by the torches set at intervals along the walls, lighting up the surrounding open space of the hill as well as the walls themselves. Apple Bloom's keen eye noticed both curtain wall and tower showed some signs of disrepair, which had been recently and sloppily fixed up with old stone. There were signs of old walls and the foundations of buildings embedded in the hillside, which was probably where it had come from. The ground in front of the gate had been recently churned by a number of feet, coming from their direction. Most telling of all was the faint smell of fireworks.
"It's got to be them!" she whispered. "Oh, shoots! If only we could figure out where that Annette gal is."
"In the top of the tower?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What? It's where they always put a princess in filly tales."
"Okay, time to do my thing!" Scootaloo exclaimed, only to have her tail grabbed by Apple Bloom as she lifted off. She did her best to speak around a mouthful of tail. "Woah there! With all those guys and those lights, you could get spotted!"
The pegasus landed, but looked over her shoulder. "Spotting me is one thing, doing anything about it is another. Even if they have those bow things, I can dodge 'em."
"But you'll give away that someone's scouting them. It's not like we can turn you invisible or something."
"Um..." Sweetie Belle said, in a manner that caused both ponies to turn and look at her. "That's not entirely true."
"You have a spell for that?" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "When were you going to let the rest of us know?"
"It only just came to me!" Sweetie Belle said in a hurt tone. "Just when you said about turning invisible, a song to do it came into my head."
"I'm sorry." Apple Bloom put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "I was just worried, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. Y'know, these are serious bad guys, far worse than anyone we've ever seen, and I don't want anyone getting hurt. Anything that can help is important, and that sort of spell is just what we need."
Then she grinned. "Also, an invisibility spell? That's unbelievably cool!"
Scootaloo pawed the ground with a hoof. "Yeah, it's majorly awesome, but can we try it out now?"
Sweetie Belle nodded her head, but it was in time to a soft beat that sprung up around her. (Invisible Man – Queen's Greatest Hits)
"I'm the invisible pony, I'm the invisible pony, incredible how they only, see right through me!"
She shimmered and went translucent. "You're the invisible pony, you're the invisible pony, incredible how they only, see right through you!"
She touched her horn to Scootaloo, who went similarly translucent, before fading out entirely along with herself. A voice came from where the pegasus had stood. "Okay, I look sort of see-through. Weird, but cool!"
"You've both vanished as far as I can see." Apple Bloom replied, then started as someone touched her and Sweetie Belle reappeared. "I thought so! Scootaloo, don't touch anyone, or anything, if you do the spell ends."
But the pegasus was already lifting off with an almost noiseless sweep of her wings.
The two remaining ponies scanned the walls for signs of any alert, but they were clearly far enough away and the enemy camp was noisy enough that their discussion had gone un-noticed. Scootaloo was nowhere to be seen, which was good. The tension mounted as they waited silently for her return, which meant they both jumped when her voice spoke up.
"Looks like Sweetie Belle was right on the bits! There's a girl in the top floor room on the near side, crying her eyes out. Her mane and colour match the description, and her clothes are nice, or were once. I could see through the open window. Looks to be on her own too."
Apple Bloom held a hoof high. "Great, so we have a winner!"
The three high hoofed again, Scootaloo reappearing as soon as she touched hooves with the others.
Apple Bloom then turned to Scootaloo. "Okay Scoots, looks like you've got a long run ahead of you."
"One way to Duke's Haven, express air-mail!" The little pegasus grinned.
"Got the letter from Nerina for if you get there ahead of the caravan?"
"What do you mean, if?" The affronted tone she affected was rather spoiled by the smirk she wore. She tapped her saddle bag with a half folded wing-tip."Relax, I may not be Rainbow Dash, but I can out-run a bunch of cargo carts, even going the long way. I've got it right here."
Apple Bloom gave an approving nod. "We'll stay right here and keep watch."
"We will?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I don't fancy wandering back through that forest. It may not be the Everfree, but we should be safer hiding here, and I made a promise. Besides, when the Duke gets here we can tell him exactly what's going on."
"See you soon every-pony!" Scootaloo galloped off into the woods, cloak streaming behind her, to get to where she could take off without being seen.
The other two ponies settled down as best they could, which wasn't a great deal. They wrapped their newly repaired cloaks around them against the evening chill, and shared some of the spiced cheese pastries and dried fruit they'd picked up in Macklewheat. Lunch had been a long time ago, and in Apple Bloom's case was now decorating the roadside some distance away.
Apple Bloom noticed Sweetie Belle was uncharacteristically silent, and seemed unhappy.
"Hey, Sweetie Belle, what's wrong? We found the kidnapped girl, and we're all still safe. I'd call that a win."
"It's not that, I'm just thinking about all those poor people I couldn't help."
"You did whatever you could, and more than any of the rest of us. If you hadn't been there, I don't think any of them would have survived."
"But it was just so horrible! I really want to go home!" the little unicorn sniffled. "You and Scootaloo, you're good at this, being all brave and heroic and stuff. I get so scared, and home-sick and I miss mom and dad and my big sis so much. I try to be brave like you, but... I'm sorry for being so weak!"
She started crying, but quickly found her head resting on Apple Bloom's shoulder, and the earth pony's foreleg around hers.
"Sweetie Belle, I get that way too sometimes. I guess I'm just better at hiding it. I bet even Scootaloo does. As for being weak, who was the only one to keep their food inside them back there? Who went in even though she was sick and scared, and saved so many lives? That was at least as brave as diving into goblins or facing a storm. So don't _ever_ say you're weak!"
She gave Sweetie Belle a firm hug. "If it ever does get too much, do what I do. I think of you and Scootaloo, my friends. Even if you're not right there beside me, you're there in my heart, and even if I don't have the strength to carry on for myself, I can find it to protect you two. We're more than just three pony fillies, we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
That got a watery smile and a soft song. "... on a quest to find out who we are. And we will never stop the journey, even though we have our cutie marks."
"Exactly!" There was a loud clatter from up near the walls, and some raised voices. Apple Bloom frowned, trying to make out what was going on. "Huh? What's all the ruckus?"
"I think it's more of a fracas." Sweetie Belle had turned to look too. There was a lot of activity, but they were too far away to see.
"Whatever it is, we need to know about it." Apple Bloom decided. "Can you do that invisibility spell on us again?"
"But it'll only last a few minutes, and if we get much closer, I won't be able to recast it without them hearing us!"
"We only need a few minutes. I promise, we take a quick look and then we leave before the spell wears off. Can you tell how long that is?"
"Sort of..." Sweetie Belle considered, then nodded. "But do we have to?"
"It could be very important, in fact it could save more lives. And we'll stay hidden the whole time, so we're sticking to that promise."
"Then get ready..." The unicorn started singing softly, and both she and Apple Bloom faded out, though they could still see themselves as a sort of translucent shadow. They worked their way quickly up the hillside, until they got to a vantage point only a dozen pony-lengths from the gate. The low remains of a wall and a slight dip in the hill-side behind it made a good place to duck down. They could even see through the gaps where crumbling mortar had broken away without exposing themselves.
"Be careful you imbeciles! If one of those barrels explodes, it will blow you all to offal! Not that it would be any great loss, but you'd get me too!"
The speaker was a thin faced human with a widow's peak, and a fancy brocade doublet and hose. A berret-like cap with a feather sat on his head at a jaunty angle, and a set of fancy handled knives and pouches sat on his belt. He was standing just inside the gate, and it was clear now that he was directing the digging of a number of holes inside and outside the gates.
"Make those wells deep, and cover them up well. Duke Wilberis will almost certainly have mage support, and if they aren't well covered, a fireball to the gates could set them off prematurely!"
"Nobody said anything about magic, Mancetti!" One of the diggers exclaimed. "If they're throwing fireballs around, I don't think..."
"No you don't! That's my job!" Mancetti interrupted rudely. "We want them to take the gate! That's why I kept the girl alive. If the Duke hears her screaming and pleading up in the tower, he's going to attack right away in the hope of getting to her before anything happens to her. The last thing we want is for him to start thinking about how easy this place was to find."
"I don't understand." One of the other diggers replied.
"That's why you're digging a hole and I'm paying you." He sighed, but the ponies got the feeling he was only too glad to lecture them. "I'll explain again, and I'll use small words."
"As soon as someone finds the ambush site, what are they going to do?"
"Uh, go around it?"
"No! Well yes... They will get themselves to the Duke as fast as possible. I have someone watching the road, and they'll come and report as soon as that happens. In fact, I had hoped there'd be at least one caravan or group before nightfall. Not that it matters, we have plenty of time to prepare." He was gesturing with his hands as if moving things around on an invisible chess board.
"What if they come looking for us?"
"Inconceivable! I know all the troop movements for the next few days, and no merchant caravan will have a skilled ranger or heavy guard group this far from the borderlands. Any fighters they do have they'll keep close against us attacking them. Of course, if someone does get a sudden attack of bravery, my woodsrunner can deal with that too. I'm certainly paying him enough! When they reach the Duke, he will turn out every guard he's got and come after us as fast as possible. He should have no trouble finding the tracks we left after he gets off the road."
Several of the diggers looked aghast. One of them exclaimed. "We can't hold off the whole Duke's guard! We don't have anywhere near enough men."
"That's what this is for. We will man the walls, not heavily, just enough to make it look as if we intend to put up a defence. I want him to take casualties getting up here, but not heavy ones. When they start knocking down the gate and walls, the defenders will appear to panic and abandon them." His gesticulations were now somewhat frantic.
"They will assume we're massing to resist him inside, and bring up his forces to charge in as soon as the gate goes down. When they're straddling the gate, I trigger the charges, and destroy the main part of his force. The remainder will be demoralised, and we will have the tower and other walkways to stand on, so we can sweep them with arrows until they're destroyed.
"The Duke will die, and most of his armed forces with him. Some of you may die as well, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. The girl will then be of no further use, well, almost no further use." He chuckled evilly. "If you're all very good, I may let you all take a turn after me."
"I've had just about enough of you and your airs!" A burly half-orc with a rust splotched breast plate and a beard you could lose a badger in stopped digging and hefted his shovel. "What's to stop me from bashing your head in with this, taking the money, passing the girl around and getting gone before the duke even gets here?"
He stomped forward, almost eclipsing the smaller man, who suddenly moved like a striking snake, pulling a narrow dagger and darting forward. He sliced it across the half-orc's belt line just under the breast plate, before the half-orc could even start to swing his mattock in response.
Mancetti sidestepped his falling body, and the half-orc toppled and bled out on the dirt, arms trying to hold in his guts. Mancetti dropped down alongside him, and punched the narrow dagger into the half-orc's skull just behind the ear. The half-orc gave a choked gasp and slumped. Mancetti stood up and gave the other diggers a vicious grin. "Any other questions?"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had watched the whole thing with horrified fascination. The unicorn whispered. "ugh... he's a real monster!"
"but he just told us what we need to know. we've got to get away to tell the duke it's a trap."
"uhhh... small problem." Sweetie Belle pointed at Apple Bloom, and the earth pony realised two things. One, she could see Sweetie Belle pointing, and two she was pointing out the fact that Apple Bloom's invisibility had worn off too.
"horse-apples! well, we're just going to have to try and sneak away." Apple Bloom looked over at the extremely white and noticeable unicorn. "oh darn... let's get down to the lowest part of this dip, maybe we can find some mud to cover ourselves with."
"mud?" Sweetie Belle looked down at herself. "well, okay then."
At Apple Bloom's glance, she gave a quizzical expression. "what? it's my big sis who's got the thing about dirt. though i'm getting a major bath when we get out of this."
"y'know I don't think this dip is..." there was an unpleasant crunching sound as the ground gave way under Apple Bloom's hooves. She vanished down a half hidden culvert that had been partly blocked off by a rotten wooden board hidden under a growth of grass.
Apple Bloom gave a yelp, and Sweetie Belle squeaked in surprise. What was worse, the noise had clearly been heard by the workers, as there were raised voices that started to come closer.
"quick, follow me down!" Apple Bloom's harsh whisper floated up. "it's okay, there's some sort of tunnel down here!"
Sweetie Belle gave a glance at the wall, where lit torches could be seen approaching, and back at the uninviting hole, then gritted her teeth and jumped. The culvert wasn't quite vertical, and she slid down and in towards the centre of the hill. Under other circumstances, such as with light, a known destination and a lack of humans likely to chop her up at the top end, it might have been fun.
She thumped into a shallow pile of dry leaf mould about twenty feet down. She almost shrieked when something touched her, but Apple Bloom's voice calmed her. "Quick, use your telekinesis to shove that board back up!"
The urgency in her friend's voice stopped her asking questions, so she just looked back up at the glimmer of moonlight and reached out, pushing the broken board back as best she could in a faint glow of green telekinesis. In fact she overdid it, and several stones from the fallen wall collapsed on it, almost blocking the hole. She snatched her telekinesis away as the light from above turned ruddy and flickering.
"I think it came from over here! I thought I saw something glowing..."
"Hold that torch higher... there's no-one here, and no-one could have gotten out either side!"
"Hang on, right down at the bottom, is that a hole?" There was some tramping around and stumbling. "Watch it, you almost had me over!"
"So what made this mysterious noise you all heard?" Mancetti's voice was unmistakable.
"We didn't find anything sir." One voice said, then another exclaimed excitedly, "Wait! There's prints here, just by this hole, and the grass is disturbed, and there's blood!"
The two ponies' hearts froze, then there was a crack of fist meeting flesh, and Mancetti's voice exclaimed. "They're your own boot prints you incredible moron!"
"But the blood!" The other asked, and someone else said, "I heard that before this place was a watchtower, some crazy priests built some sort of temple here, that's what the ruins are from. Maybe it's some secret entrance to a treasure chamber!"
"And I think you're just spinning moonshine to get out of work!" Mancetti growled. "That hole is too small for most people, even a halfling couldn't get through it without dislodging things. Obviously it's just an animal hole, and something, maybe a fox or badger made a kill and then dived down it when they heard your great thundering boots coming. That accounts for the noises you heard, and the blood."
"There are some circular prints leading up to it too, almost like hooves but smaller..."
"Mountain goat, could have happened months ago! Unless you idiots want to claim you were keeping such a poor watch that some invisible horse sneaked up, made some strange noises and then vanished again! Enough, get back to work!"
The torch-lights moved away, and both ponies finally allowed themselves a sigh of relief. Sweetie Belle's horn lit up and bathed the area in a gentle light. She glared at Apple Bloom, who had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Oops! Uh, I guess, sorry doesn't quite cut it?"
"Nuh huh!" Sweetie Belle huffed. "We were safe at the bottom of the hill."
"But we did need to find that stuff out, and at least now we're far enough away from them that you can do your invisibility thing. We climb up, get out and away and warn the Duke when he gets here!"
Sweetie Belle pawed at the closely fitted stone work of the tunnel they'd fallen down. "Well that's not going to happen."
Closer inspection of the tunnel showed that iron staples had once been embedded in the stones, but they'd long since rusted away to useless stubs under a steady trickle of water from above, though at the moment the tunnel was dry. The stonework wasn't completely flush, but hooves just wouldn't get a grip.
"Okay then, new plan. Turn yourself invisible, levitate yourself up and those rocks out of the way, and get to safety."
"What about you?"
"It's my mistake, I can just sit here until you get some-pony to rescue me. But some-pony has to get out to be able to warn the Duke about the trap."
Sweetie Belle thought of Apple Bloom, down here in the cold and the dark once her horn-light was gone, and shivered. "That's not going to happen either. Besides, I touch something, my spell ends. Telekinesis is just another way of touching things."
"Then the only way out is in." Apple Bloom pointed to the horizontal corridor that led away from the shaft and deeper into the hill. It was barely tall and wide enough for them to walk down, or for a human on all fours, but made of the same closely fitted stonework. "Maybe we can find some other way out well away from those guys."
As she pointed, Sweetie Belle noticed a trickle of blood from a cut on her flank. "Apple Bloom! You're hurt!"
The earth-pony looked back as if she'd only just noticed her injury. "It's fine, I've done worse fixing up the tree-house."
"Well you're getting that fixed before we go any further!" She washed away the blood with a cloth and some water from a water-skin, then applied topical magic.
Apple Bloom flexed her leg. "Okay, now we go look for a way out."
Sweetie Belle shivered again and not just from the chill of the stones. "It's like something out of a Daring Doo book. We'll have to watch out for traps!"
Apple Bloom was looking around more critically. "We'll have to be careful, but not because of traps, not in the way you mean. I just wish I had more light up here, but I need to be out front to check things."
"That I can do!" Sweetie Belle's horn took on a green aura of telekinesis, and two of the horseshoes on Apple Bloom's harness floated back past her to the unicorn, who touched her horn to them. They immediately lit up with a white light, and she floated them back to their places on Apple Bloom's harness, where they acted as lanterns, casting light ahead of her.
"That's a pretty slick trick!"
The little unicorn beamed at the complement, but waved it off. "Those horse-shoes already have some of my magic in them, remember? Adding some more, especially a simple light spell isn't hard. Though it won't last forever."
"Then we'd better get going." Apple Bloom started moving forward, carefully examining the stones as they went. The passageway was cool and surprisingly dry, but cobwebbed at the corners and slightly dusty. Apple Bloom quickly rigged up some cloth masks to protect themselves from the dust.
After a moment of silence Sweetie Belle asked, "Uh, what did you mean about not the sort of traps I was thinking of?"
"I love the Daring Doo books too, but ceiling alligators? Really?" She gave a chuckle. "What would they eat? And some of the other things are way too complicated to just work after a thousand years of neglect. Besides, most of those things were designed as a gauntlet, to test if someone was worthy of whatever treasure they were guarding. Look at the three challenges in the Griffon's Goblet.
"You know what I think this place was? A secret way out, just big enough for people to escape through. I'm betting that top end was far better concealed when it was built. You wouldn't build triggered traps into somewhere like that. If you used it, you'd be in a hurry, and wouldn't want to have to remember where not to step."
"So why the caution?"
"Because I would put in a way to stop anyone following me. Look at the slabs overhead, and the walls, fitted stone. Load bearing, like a lintel. This tunnel is dug through earth, not stone. I'd rig a way to knock out some wall supports behind me, and bring a whole section of tunnel down. It won't be concealed, you'd want to find it quickly, and you wouldn't want to set it off by accident."
Only a few dozen pony-lengths further on, she saw a big iron lever bolted to the floor and a iron chain attached near the base, leading off into the darkness beyond Apple Bloom's shoe-lights. "See? Haul on that lever, the chain goes taut and pulls out the supports."
"Wow! How did you know about that?" Sweetie Belle sounded impressed.
"I just figured how I'd do it. My cutie-mark is about fixing things, remember?" Apple Bloom grinned. "We should be okay as long as we don't touch anything. I'm more worried by the fact that this whole set up is old, and has got to be delicately balanced."
"Not going near it!" Sweetie Belle said with feeling as they passed one of the support sections clearly designed to break away. Two sections of pillar had a metal plate between them, the chain attached to it and another chain leading on to the next one. Sweetie Belle edged away to hug the other side of the passage. That turned out to be a mistake, as she swept down some cobwebs and a sack of small spiders that landed in her hair.
She shrieked and stumbled, shaking her head and flailing her fore-hooves frantically. In the process, one hoof caught on the chain and pulled on it. There was a creak of ancient stone, and a cracking sound that stopped her in mid shriek, just as her telekinesis blasted the webbing and spiders off in all directions.
Apple Bloom had seen what was happening, but couldn't turn around in the narrow corridor to stop it. She saw the pivot plate moving, and the supports twisting out of line, and just yelled, "Run!"
The two of them suited actions to words and they pelted down the tunnel, which started to collapse behind them. A cloud of dust chased Sweetie Belle's tail, as the collapsing earth caused a chain reaction. Suddenly up ahead was a solid stone slab, blocking off the way. For a second Apple Bloom despaired, then she saw the circular scrape marks in the stone walls.
"It pivots, slide for it like a hoof ball game!" As she approached it, she jumped, sliding on her belly with her hooves out. As she hoped, the slab pivoted about two-thirds of the way up and was pushed out of the way. She flew out the other side and fell twice her own height onto more stone slabs. A few seconds later, Sweetie Belle shot out in a cloud of dust and landed on top of her. "Whoof!"
The little unicorn, who hadn't felt so little when she landed, rolled off her and stood up a little unsteadily. "Um... Oops?"
Apple Bloom tried to glare, but Sweetie Belle just looked so woebegone, even behind her mask, that she just couldn't help but start to giggle. It turned into a full fledged laugh as she rolled around on the floor. "Yeah! Oops is right!"
Sweetie Belle looked surprised at first, but then couldn't help but join in.
As her giggles died down, Apple Bloom pulled herself up. "Okay, that was an adventure. I'm just glad we didn't end up in the main barracks for those goons or something."
Sweetie Belle looked around and gulped, her horn adding to Apple Bloom's shoe-lights. "I don't know that this is much better, I think this is a tomb..."
The room they were in was about thirty feet square, with simple pillars and vaulting every ten feet square. There was a stone door on the far side, and horizontal stone caskets lining the walls to either side. There were also sealed off alcoves built into the wall, several layers high.
Right by where they'd come in there was also an altar which had been destroyed, parts of a wooden shield with markings on still visible on the floor. The whole effect was creepy as Nightmare Night, especially as their moving light sources made the shadows seem to creep around.
Apple Bloom gave a nervous look around, then straightened up. "Well, the only door I can see is that one at the far end. Let's hope it leads up somewhere we can get out from. We'll check it, and use your invisibility spell before we sneak through anywhere else."
They made their way to the other end of the room, feeling as of invisible eyes were watching them. Sweetie Belle glanced around nervously. "This is really creepy!"
Apple Bloom tried to reassure her, though she wasn't feeling particularly brave herself. "It's just a place where a lot of dead humans are buried. It's the live ones up ahead I'm worried about... wait, that didn't come out right!"
"It's just I can't help remembering some of the scary stories Rainbow Dash told on that journey to Winsome Falls."
"Those were stories, stupid stories! We've got enough real things to be scared of around here that we don't need to invent monsters... y'know, I think just I'll shut up now."
She quickly turned her attention to the stone door in front of her, a double stone door. It was unadorned but well made, very well made, with barely a black line to indicate the crack between the two doors. It was also not moving despite her best efforts to push it.
"Rrrrgh!" She put her full strength against the door, and finally heard a stony grating noise, though she didn't actually feel the doors move. "I think I got a reaction!"
"You did, but not from the door!" Sweetie Belle was looking back along the length of the crypt, her horn illuminating it, and pointing a shaking hoof. One of the casket lids was moving, and a bony arm covered with taut parchment-like skin was scrabbling at the edge.
It wasn't the only one, casket after casket was starting to shake, and one lid after another crashed to the floor as things rose, human once, but clad in tatters and skeletal with only a shrunken on layer of mummified flesh. In their skull-like eye-sockets twin red points of light burned.
"Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom turned to face the zombie humans. She didn't really know what she'd been about to ask, but glancing sideways noticed the unicorn was frozen in place, terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought. Not that Apple Bloom blamed her, she was ready to gibber herself as all the most horrible nightmare night stories came to life.
But through the terror that was overwhelming her, another emotion was struggling, anger. This was so miserably unfair! What had they done to deserve this? They were just passing through, had no interest in this smelly old crypt! (Actually the only scent was of old stone and cold, but the adjective was more emotional than descriptive).
She grabbed onto that anger like a life-preserver, letting it fill her and push away the fear. She set her sights on the nearest zombie and grated out, "Okay mister! If there's any brains in this outfit, they're Sweetie Belle's, but if you want them,you'll have to get through me!"
She charged forward, hoping that those hours spent with Jace figuring out how best to use her moves to take down a human would pay off. Temple Fortress would have warned her against using anger to fuel her fighting, but it was either that or curl up in a ball and wait to be ripped to shreds.
She spun and lashed out with both hooves as she got within striking distance, landing a perfect double hoof strike in it's abdomen, which crumpled like paper mache. In return she got a stinging blow across her back as one of it's fists slammed into her. But earth ponies were tough, and surrounded by stone she had a lot of power to draw on.
She ducked under the follow-up and smashed it's knee cap, breaking it's leg in two. It flailed as it toppled, but she dived out of the way, and then quickly stomped on it's head until there was nothing but shards. It was hollow, and dusty and horrible, but she saw the red light in its eye sockets flicker out.
Unfortunately, that had given time for three more to reach grappling range, and they came at her from three sides, trying to bear down on her. She frantically tried to back up, just as a wave of green energy hurled the trio back, bowling several others over.
"I won't let you hurt Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle's voice was fierce, and her horn glowed like a beacon. A casket lid lifted up on a wave of power, and was flung at the zombies, catching one and spinning him to topple to the floor, while another was caught head on and smashed between it and the back wall. When the lid fell away there were only crumpled shards of skin and bone.
Sweetie Belle had seen Apple Bloom charge the zombies, shouting about protecting her, and she'd remembered the earth-pony's earlier words. If ever there was a time and place where she couldn't go on, where it was all just too much, this was it. But even if she'd given up on herself, Apple Bloom hadn't and she wouldn't give up on Apple Bloom. If she couldn't find the strength to help herself, she would find it to help her friends! That had broken her paralysis and ended in a zombie being introduced to a casket lid face first.
For a moment hope burned in Apple Bloom alongside her anger. They could be destroyed! She slammed into another and flung it to one side, accepting the hit it got in return. There were only ten left, and some of them were damaged. It wouldn't be easy, but if they could hold them away long enough, she could smash them to pieces. Then the alcoves in the walls started crumbling, and dozens more started to emerge.
Sweetie Belle was feeling the same way as she watched Apple Bloom fight the zombies, and tried to throw them all back with her telekinesis. But she couldn't grab more than two of three at once without her grip failing. She did her best to keep zombies off Apple Bloom's back, but there were just too many, and some of them were bypassing the beleaguered earth pony to head for her.
If only there was some way to hold them all, but her telekinesis just wasn't up to it. Then a pained cry from Apple Bloom sparked a memory. "Apple Bloom, to me!"
The earth pony had a spilt lip, a closed black eye and multiple bruises, and she was favouring her left fore-leg in a way Sweetie Belle didn't like. Her horn glowed golden as she sang the healing spell that fixed it, but Apple Bloom managed to say, "I don't think that's going to be enough."
"If I can hold them in place, you can take them down?"
"Yes, I think so, but how?"
Sweetie Belle's reply was a set of electric organ notes that started up, with a rock beat followed by a musical phrase that any pony their age knew instantly. Moonwalker had been a purple earth pony, a singer and performer without compare, and incredibly innovative. One of his greatest triumphs had been to release one of his songs, not simply as a record, but as a mini-movie, using the new techniques for synchronising sound to a film track.
Even Apple Bloom had seen it in the cinema a couple of times, and Sweetie Belle must have seen it far more. It had been a hit of hits, praised and derided by critics, and while others had done it since, no-one would ever forget it's most iconic scene where Moonwalker led a group of zombie ponies in a body-popping dance sequence. (Thriller – Michael Jackson)
"It's close to midnight, Something evil's lurking in the dark,
And in the dim light, you see something that almost stops your heart!
You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it,
You have to fight, go look that terror right in the eyes,
no matter the size!"
Turning her back on the approaching zombies had to have been one of the hardest things she'd ever done, but Sweetie Belle could feel the magic spreading out to enfold them. But it wouldn't quite connect. She started to move in the well remembered dance moves she'd seen so many times. She wasn't as skilled as Scootaloo or even Apple Bloom, but she was letting the music move her. Why wasn't it working? Then the reason hit her, so simple, and she went up on her hind legs to do a two legged version, and that's when it clicked.
"'Cause this is Nightmare, Nightmare Night!
And no-one knows what lurks in shadows beyond Luna's light!
Yes this is Nightmare, Nightmare Night!
You're fighting for your life inside a killer, chiller tonight!"
Apple Bloom watched astonished as the zombies stopped in their tracks and started moving in time to the music, even following Sweetie Belle's dance moves. She looked hollow eyed and sallow, almost zombie-like herself, but her voice was clear and strong. She tweaked the lyrics to be more about fighting than running, but the music didn't suffer. Her horn was still glowing, but it was somehow illuminating the entire area despite it being dimmer than before.
She wasted no time in taking the hint and piled into the nearest zombie. It tried to attack her, but it was constrained by Sweetie Belle's dance moves and couldn't even dodge effectively. She smashed it as fast as she could, she remembered the song was quite long, but she was fairly sure that Sweetie Belle's control wouldn't last past the end of it, and there were a lot of zombies.
She found she could anticipate the pattern as she grew more familiar with it, time her moves with the music to minimise any risk of counter-attack. It became less like a fight for her life, and more like demolishing animated training dummies. She couldn't avoid all damage, but she managed to minimise any that got through.
She failed, not by much, but there were still half a dozen upright as Sweetie Belle went into her coda, but as the last chords played, the little unicorn gave a howl that matched any Moonwalker had ever made and slammed her fore-hooves down, sending a wave of green energy that blasted out in all directions, washing over and healing Apple bloom, but flinging the remaining zombies back against pillars and walls.
Apple Bloom's hooves and a few judicious casket lids made short work of the remaining zombies, all of whom were more or less damaged already. As the last of them fell, Apple Bloom gasped for air, then turned to Sweetie Belle. "Ha, ha, we did it! You were incredible!"
She was answered by a two hoofed glomp from the unicorn. "What about you? I'd never have gotten up the courage to fight back if I hadn't seen you do it."
"That wasn't courage, that was annoyance!" Apple Bloom admitted, sheepishly. "I was just so mad at them, it wasn't like we were doing anything to them!"
"Well whatever it was, it worked!" Sweetie Belle sighed happily. "Uh oh..."
Apple Bloom disengaged herself and turned to see what had caused the change in the unicorn's tone. It wasn't hard, blue lights were rising from the destroyed corpses to hover above them. One expanded and resolved itself into a glowing blue effigy of a male human, balding and thin, with a neat white beard and wiry arms and legs. He wore a simple tunic and short trousers. He clearly saw them, in fact those eyes seemed to look deep inside them, but he showed no surprise at their nature.
"I thank you, strangers, for releasing us from our prison. We had feared that we would be bound here forever. Your outward form is surprising, but I sense great courage and compassion within you."
Apple Bloom had been brought up to be polite. "Glad to oblige, but why did you attack us in the first place?"
"That was not by our own wills. I am, or rather was master of this temple. Our founders built it long ago as a place to train our bodies and minds in order to perfect our spirits and defend the innocent against evil. We studied fighting, both with weapons and our bodies, and learned crafts and accumulated knowledge. Some of us found paths to magic, and created items of power, while others were entrusted to us by kindred spirits.
"That was our downfall. A necromancer of great power coveted the items we protected and assailed us with a vast army of undead. We fought, and many had a chance to escape, but those you fought stayed to cover the escape. Ultimately, we died fighting and the temple was razed to the ground. However, the necromancer raised us, demanding to know the locations of the treasures she sought. Our spirits were strong, and she did not get her answers, so in a fury she bound us here, in the crypt where we buried our most honoured dead.
"She determined that if she could not have our treasures, no-one would, so she set us to attack any who trespassed. But you by destroying the bodies we were bound into, have freed us to go on, to continue on to the journey of enlightenment we were denied. Thank you, both of you."
Apple Bloom pawed the ground with her hoof in embarrassment, while Sweetie Belle blushed. The earth pony said, "Aw, we were just defending ourselves. It ain't fair to pretend we were doing it for you guys."
"An honest spirit, as well as a courageous one. I forsee many trials ahead for you, and we would wish to give you aid, as you have aided us."
"Can you give us a way to get home?" Sweetie Belle asked eagerly, but Apple Bloom waved her quiet. "Wouldn't be any use unless Scootaloo was here."
"I am afraid knowledge of you homeland is beyond me, but we can assist you in other ways. Go over to the altar, and restore the symbol of Kord to it. The shield was broken, but I know you have the skills to repair it."
Apple Bloom pieced together the broken wooden shield, which had the symbol of an eight way cross. Sweetie Belle helped with judicious use of sticking charms to hold it together, and to place it back on it's place in the altar. They spun it back and forth in the pattern the glowing ghost described, and a silvery mirror formed on it's surface.
"This is the place the necromancer could never find, the resting place of the items we guarded. Now reach in, and draw forth one most suited to you."
Apple Bloom reached out, somewhat gingerly and saw her hoof sink into the silver surface which rippled outwards. She felt something on her hoof and brought out a simple looking cloth belt.
"I thought as much!" The ghost smiled. "You are a kindred spirit to us, who strives to improve her body and soul and defend the weak with her strength and skills. I sense you are particularly attuned to earth chi. That belt will greatly enhance your fighting abilities, and aid you as you train. Ultimately those skills will become your own, not the belt's."
"Wow, I mean thank you!" Apple Bloom gasped. She could feel the power in it, and couldn't wait to put it on.
Sweetie Belle reached in more confidently, and retrieved a silver headband elaborately chased in gold. A purple gem was embedded in it, forming a diadem. It shaped itself to fit on her head as she held it.
"You bring happiness and craft your magic through performance. That headband's virtue is too increase your charisma and allow you to do so more effectively."
Sweetie Belle lost no time putting it on. She examined it in the mirror surface and gave a little gasp of amazement. The trek, and the fight had not been kind to her, but somehow she suddenly looked far more, well just far more than she had before. "Oh my! That is lovely!"
Apple Bloom hesitated, then asked, "Uh, I'm sorry to ask anything else of you all when you've been so generous, but there's a third member of our group, a pegasus named Scootaloo. She'd have been down here fighting alongside us, but she went to fetch help..."
She explained the situation to the ghost, who mused for a moment, then nodded. "She seems worthy of one of our items. Both of you, place your hooves in the mirror, and think or your friend as hard as possible."
They withdrew a pair of boots, which morphed as they watched into a pair of leather greaves suitable for a pair of hind-legs.
"Your friend desires above all else to fly far and fast, and move like lightning. Those greaves will allow her to double her speed and react in an instant for a hundred heartbeats every day."
The mirror vanished, and the wooden shield returned in it's place. The other blue lights were floating upwards now, and the figure started to shrink back into one. "And now we must go. I wish you luck in your quest, and your future endeavours."
Suddenly Apple Bloom thought of something. "Wait, how do we open the doors? We're trapped in here! I tried to move them but I couldn't get them to budge!"
The light floated upwards after the others, but a whispered echo of a voice called down. "Try pulling on them."
Apple Bloom face hooved to the accompaniment of Sweetie Belle's laughter.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Nice magic items, I can't wait to see Scoots try out her new bracers. But what if she gets a set of real bracers eventually? I would suggest changing them from bracers to greaves so if Scoots get a traditional hand slot item she can use it as well.
Good fight, I wouldn't mind seeing the Duke's daughter cuddling with the crusaders after everything is said and done. She'll have been scared, and three cuddly little ponies hugging her will make her feel better.
4426302 I did publish this on fanfiction.net already, so you may have seen it there. As for sneaking into people's rooms... that's utterly ridiculous! (Hides set of Masterwork Thieves Tools)
4427217 Thanks for the suggestion. As you can see, I took it. As to the comforting properties of ponies, I agree. However, they have to rescue her first.
Ouch. Apple Bloom got screwed on hers. +1 effective AC and average damage is NOT worth it for the price. Monks' belts are for non-monks with high Wisdom scores, who get the full benefits, not monks, who barely get anything from them.
The others have some nice gifts, however.
"Inconceivable!" And now I imagine Mancetti sounding like Vizzini from "The Princess Bride."
Love the image of Sweetie and AB acting out "Thriller."
I usually play the songs so that I can get invested in the story some more. But instead of putting on Michael Jackson's Thriller, I put in somepony else's Thriller.
4593459 Apple Bloom also gets the +10 ft movement speed boost. I know they're not awesome magic items, any of them, but they are still relatively low level adventurers.