//------------------------------//
// And They Wept, Beneath The Earth 
// Story: Dearest Beloved 
// by BlackRoseRaven 
//------------------------------//

Chapter Eight: And They Wept, Beneath The Earth
~BlackRoseRaven

She heard someone crying.
The mare looked up tiredly, blinking away the blood from her eyes before she slowly hauled herself off the altar they had left her on. A stone altar, for a sacrifice... but the shape hadn't been interested in 'sacrifices,' not really. They thought it was, but they were stupid, self-centred, and they chose to believe what they read in old, musty books and heard in their screaming nightmares rather than the truth, which was right in front of their eyes.
But they probably had never loved someone who was poison to them. They had never suffered for someone, or felt so dearly, so needfully for someone, that even if that person hurt them every single day... it hurt more to go without them.
The entity wasn't like that, no. But nor was it malicious, trying to kill them, trying to feed off them. It was just so alien, so different, that their minds couldn't accept or cope with it for long periods of time. How could you fathom something so different, so complex, and so unlike whatever you had seen before?
But there were points of contact, all the same. Even they knew that, though, she thought, but because of their prejudices and fears, they only saw the negatives.
Hunger. Fear. Confusion. Pain. Anger.
There was more than that, though. There was... interest, and longing. Not love; it would crush them if they tried to hurt or threatened it. Yet she had sat with it, like a bird in the jaws of an alligator, and it had never tried to harm her.
She had hurt, all the same, but the way it burned her was like when she had sat alone, all those winters ago, waiting, waiting desperately for Last Call, terrified out of her mind. She had finally gone inside, frostbitten, frozen tears forming on her face. But she didn't blame the winter for hurting her, any more than she blamed Last Call. It wasn't their fault, that it was the way they were: it just was what it was. 
You couldn't hold something's nature against it.
She shook her head briefly as she stumbled a little on her way towards the faint, child-like crying. Her head hurt. Her whole body hurt. But her spirit was strong, and that was what mattered, what helped her to keep going, as she stopped just long enough to wipe some of the blood from her face before she pushed through the doors in front of her.
She stared down a long hallway beyond: seemingly endless, lined on either side with alien architecture and monstrous shapes. Her eyes roved back and forth along the walls: when she took her eyes off one thing, it was like it changed and became another: a blink, and she was seeing a dungeon full of corpses instead, many silently screaming, some still seemingly alive in states that they should have been able to exist in-
She closed her eyes, opened them again, and it was neither of those things: just a ratty corridor, with peeling wallpaper and cheap, warped wooden flooring, and the mare smiled faintly as she strode down this: that was part of the trick, she had learned. You didn't look at the things that made you afraid. Reality got itself twisted and tangled up into knots, but as long as you didn't panic, didn't accept it, you could change it, just a little bit. Just enough to make it possible to bear.
She stopped, watching silently as something unnameable twisted out of one of the walls and rushed immediately to the ceiling, vanishing in a puff through it, and then she shook her head before she turned back towards the loose doors at the end of the hall, and found herself face-to... to something, with the entity.
It hurt her mind to look at, but she smiled faintly before she took a slow breath and lowered her eyes, apologizing: “I'm sorry. I hate being so rude, but... I'm very tired.”
It asked her why they had hurt her so badly, in so many images and so few words.
“Because they're angry. Scared. I think, maybe... when you give some people the freedom to do things, they just have to do it, too. Maybe it's exciting for them. I hope not, though. I might just be angry.” She was quiet for a few moments, then she said softly: “I like to think that even when we hurt each other, we don't really mean to. If we could understand how much pain we were inflicting on others, it would make it different. Some ponies just... run away from that empathy.”
Empathy. It was interested in this concept. It told her a story that would take a hundred years for any pony to tell, but took the entity only a few moments, as an explosion of images and alien feelings rattled through her brain. It made her nauseated and shiver, almost falling over, and the entity... did it apologize?
“No, it's okay. I just... so much, so fast. I'm much weaker than you. I'm much... I don't think we process things as quickly as you do.” She whispered, as she touched her head, then absently wiped a trickle of blood away from one ear before she dared a glance up. And she thought she saw... a bit more of a shape in that cloud of darkness and shadow, maybe.
Then she rose her head slightly higher as she heard that sobbing again, asking: “Do you hear that? I want to... try and help them.”
The entity was curious. It said she was already hurt. It asked her why she would help something else when she was already injured. Shouldn't she focus on herself?
She opened her mouth, hesitated, then looked directly at the entity. The entity 'looked' back at her, and she felt it touch her mind. She showed it memories.
Strange, it did-not-say. Strange, how strange you are. You think I am strange, but to me, the strangeness of these races is far greater. Do you think the insects consider you hostile because you tread upon them unknowingly? Do the plants consider you hostile because you eat them to survive?
The mare shook her head, and then she murmured: “I know you're not. It's okay.”
The entity shifted maybe ever so slightly, and then it said something that she had not expected to her: it told her it did not want to be her enemy. It told her it did not come here, meaning to destroy. It told her... it was alone, and yet, it had been followed.
She nodded slowly, and the entity moved, both soundless and graceless, a swirling thrum of fog that puffed around behind her. She glanced back, and while it hurt her eyes to look into the empty space where she knew it was, all the same, she saw nothing there: the entity was both here and not, curious to watch.
She decided not to press the subject, turning her eyes forward: her body hurt, but it felt good to move. To have purpose again, as she pushed through the doors, wondering if their conversation had taken seconds or years as she strode into an abandoned, water-stained room. She looked back and forth before she smiled faintly as she approached a cradle in the centre of the room, where the faint sobbing was coming from.
She leaned over it, and reached down to gently touch the shape inside: a foal, she thought, but one that was twisted and warped, mutilated by circumstance. A foal that cried and looked up at her with cataract eyes before it faded from her sight, leaving only faint stains of blood and tar behind, and she lowered her head a little before she whispered: “It was nothing after all. Just reality, showing me... what we wanted. What we couldn't have.”
She touched her stomach for a moment, then she looked up uneasily as dust rattled down from the ceiling as the building shook. She looked around the octagonal room: at the stained and cracked and peeling and burnt walls, before she closed her eyes tightly and shook her head vehemently-
When she opened them, she was standing in another room. A forlorn, dusty dining room, cloth covers over the half-collapsed tables, clinging to them as if they could protect them from time and cruelty as well as dust. Rotten barrels full of rotten food sat in one corner, and plates were piled across a damaged countertop at the far end: a few had been shoved aside to make room for the books and the tools and the make-believe artifacts that one of the ponies had brought...
And there was a stallion behind the desk, frowning as he studied one of his books before he looked up and stared dumbly at her. He shouted angrily, and she flinched back as he ran around the table and bull-rushed her-
He stopped.
He was in the air, floating, weightless.
He screamed.
He was thrown down into the floor, with the force of a furious child flinging a toy that had displeased him.
There was blood, everywhere, and the mare shuddered as she leaned away in horror, breathing roughly in and out before she whispered: “D-Don't, please. I don't need you to protect me. They won't kill me.”
Why? It asked in her mind. Why protect them? They would hurt you. I stopped him, that is all. Why do you value their lives, hurt for them, when they care so little about yours? Or do you fail to understand how they see you? I can show you.
She didn't want to see.
She saw, anyway.
A bleating goat. A lamb, screaming. A slab of meat, poisoned, given to a hungry dragon. A gemstone that glittered in the middle of a trap, luring in diamond dogs.
Worse: mare-flesh. Lipstick. Crying in the dirt. Animal grunting. A smell. Musk. Used and discarded magazines with sticky pages.
Worse yet: nothing.
To some of them, she was nothing at all. Not a bait, not a toy: her life was valueless, meaningless, her existence futile, useless. They didn't care about her, whether she lived or died, whether she existed at all. They barely cared about themselves.
It hurt, but not in the way the entity thought at first. Did she feel surprise from it, as she wiped at her eyes slowly, trembling a little before she whispered: “Those poor ponies. I can't imagine living like that. I would rather hurt, and be afraid, and... suffer, than go through life feeling numb, feeling nothing. Imagine that, if you felt nothing... if instead of curious, or anything else, you only felt... empty, for all of your existence.”
The entity did not like that thought. She felt it shift through its memories, and caught glimmers and wisps of thoughts, before it drew back.
And yet even as it did, it stretched out, and suddenly, there was a pony standing in front of her, staring around wildly before he looked down at the blood, at all the blood around him, at the awful stains on the floor that had once been...
The stallion whimpered, pissing himself like a scared child, his whole body shaking violently as he mouthed wordlessly before he looked up in terror at the mare, but she only smiled faintly at him before she said finally: “I don't know how I got here. Reality...”
“Reality bends. What the hell do you think you're doing, Emptor? She wasn't trying to escape... were you, Miss?” asked another voice sharply, and the mare looked up at the stallion with the scarred face, who entered the room with two burly earth ponies on either side of him, one of them bandaged and bruised, the other staring at her with a hunger that made her skin crawl. “Take her back to her room. And don't touch her, idiots. The Kiz is interested in her. We need to figure out their connection before we... take any further measures.”
The mare smiled a bit, and then she nodded briefly once as the stallion looked around stupidly, fearfully, before he nodded and simply stared at her. But she preferred the company of the terrified stallion to the two giants, following him with her head down when he led her towards another set of doors.
It was hard to get back to her room: hard, because reality bent and changed around them, and the stallion was a mix of humiliated and frightened, which made his mind vulnerable to the twisting, the bending of the world. And minds influenced each other, as she had learned: it was hard to keep your own sanity when someone beside you was going mad. It was almost impossible to stop reality from twisting in ways you didn't want, from attracting the beasts and the fiends and the monsters, when someone else was all-but-screaming for them mentally...
“It's okay.” she said, when they rounded the same hallway for the thousandth time, and found themselves standing outside instead of in the mansion. The stallion looked at her, and the mare smiled faintly before she strode to the edge of the roof and gestured out. “It's not so bad, is it?”
The stallion stared at her, then he shook his head before he looked out over the sprawling and dark city. Grey skies swam above their heads, and the mix of constant fog and rain made it seem like the town was trapped beneath an endless, black sea: a town that sat outside of reality, upon a scar that only rose to the surface of Equestria every few years, for a brief, singular breath before it faded away.
“I hate it.” he whispered, and then he lowered his head before he asked weakly: “Can't you stop them? The boss says-”
“What he says and what the truth is are two different things. I'm sorry.” the mare said, and then she shook her head and added quietly: “If you stop being afraid, it won't be so bad. Everything hurts a lot more when you let it.”
The stallion looked at her silently for a few moments, and then he lowered his head and muttered: “Let's go. We... we need to go.”
The mare didn't argue, only nodding to him with a faint smile as she turned to follow him, lowering her head as she closed her eyes, and hoped with all her heart that wherever Last Call was, he was okay. 
She was trying her hardest to be the mare he had always pretended she was, after all.

“I guess we'll go past the museum for now and see if there's any clear route through the tunnels. We'll circle back and try to push through the museum if we run into a dead end.” Last Call said finally, shifting indecisively as he bit his lip. It just felt like there was no good plan: Furor said the museum was suicide, Pink said the tunnels were probably impossible to get through, but it wasn't like either of them was enthusiastic about their other choices.
Schmisse shrugged, although Last Call felt a hint of disapproval from him, and Pink scowled a bit, but then nodded once as she mumbled: “I guess there's worse ideas. I guess.”
Last Call grumbled a little to himself before he muttered: “Would be a lot easier if you guys would help me at all. I'm not much of a leader.”
“You're not much of a stallion, either. But leadership does not fall only on those ready for it or accepting of it. Do your duty, Last Call.” Schmisse said distastefully, and Last Call scowled at him before the unicorn glanced over at Furor and asked: “Or were you always secretly the leader of your little party?”
“Parties are more than two people, usually. But look, Call, if you really need someone to say it, I think the tunnels are a better idea. I mean, I could be wrong, but I know that the museum is bad. And I'll take what might be okay over what is definitely not okay any day of the week.” Furor said dryly as he gestured at the museum door with a grimace. 
Last Call sighed a little, nodding apprehensively once before he muttered: “Still feels like a mistake. But okay. Furor, Schmisse, does your magic-”
“You know I can't hold my magic for very long.” Furor said immediately, and Schmisse snorted at him, which only made Furor scowl. “What's your excuse?”
“Very well. Point taken.” Schmisse said dryly, before he shook his head and returned his eyes to Last Call. “It is better that we conserve our magic for when it is needed. This is not a movie, Last Call, where we never run out of energy.”
Last Call rolled his eyes, then he reached up and adjusted his flashlight before he turned and took the lead, muttering: “Fine. Pink, I need you up here with me, then. Let's... go.”
There wasn't really anything else to say, was there? If they stayed here much longer, there was little doubt the monsters would eventually sniff them out, after all:better that they kept moving and went on their way... even if that means we're going to run into trouble. At least it'll be... something.
Last Call snorted a little, then he shook his head when Pink looked at him oddly, before she grumbled and looked away as she muttered: “I hope we can trust you. You and that... weird little girl. How do you know she's not-”
“I know.” Last Call said forcefully, and then he quieted as he lowered his head a little, murmuring: “I just know.”
Pink shifted a little, then she nodded awkwardly as she glanced away. Last Call looked at her for a moment, then he turned his eyes back ahead: they were walking alongside the museum wall, still, and while for a moment Last Call hoped that they might be able to just circle around the structure, that hope was shattered when they hit a smooth stone wall that merged into the side of the museum.
“Someone took care of this, at least. Hopefully it means that they took care of the rest of the tunnels, too.” Pink said, although she didn't sound confident. Last Call couldn't really blame her, as he turned and shone his light around the small cavern they were in: there was a sort of natural archway leading down the tunnel system they would have to try and cut through, and it was half-blockaded by rickety boards and chains. I don't think they wanted anyone going past this point.
He walked over to the damaged, makeshift fencing, yanking a few of the chains loose with a grimace as Schmisse asked distastefully: “Is this kind of crudity common in Equestria?”
“The world is kind of screwed up right now, if you haven't noticed. Maybe it's a warning, though...” Furor said uneasily, and Pink snorted as she looked sourly over at the unicorn.
“You're the one who wanted to go through these tunnels. Changing your mind now?” she asked grouchily, and Furor scowled at her.
“I'm just saying we should be on our hooves, just in case-”
“Oh, yes. Because this has been a relaxing trek so far.” Schmisse said acerbically, and Furor gave him a dry look. “Tell me, is it habit for you to-”
“Guys, all of you, shut up.” Last Call said dryly, and when they all began to open their mouths, he simply clicked the flashlight off, leaving them in total darkness for a moment before he turned it back on.
The three looked at him grouchily, but he thought he saw an odd sort of smile playing along Schmisse's face as Furor rubbed at the back of his head and Pink mumbled an apology. Last Call nodded, then he took a slow breath before he said quietly: “Listen. We're all stressed out, and this is... getting to all of us, I know. But I promise, all of you... I'm going to do everything I can to keep us safe. To get us through this, and get us out in one piece.”
There was silence for a few moments, and Last Call smiled awkwardly before he turned around and removed the last of the chains, saying after a moment: “Let's go.”
They fell in around him in silence, but for the moment at least, Last Call was grateful: the last thing they needed was another argument. Everyone was stretched thin... even Schmisse, he thought. Maybe especially Schmisse... who knew what the hell was going on in his head, after all.
The tunnel, at first, seemed promising: it sloped gently downward, and while the walls were rugged and jagged, the ramping floor beneath their hooves was smooth, marked here and there only by the passage of hooves.
But at the bottom of the slope, Last Call could tell things were already going wrong even without Pink's help: the tunnel walls rapidly narrowed and the high ceiling dropped dangerously low above their heads, and every surface seemed to hungrily stretch towards them, like the rocks were eager to bite into their flesh.
They squished closer, then fell into single file, and Last Call swore under his breath as eventually he was forced to crouch a little. Even Furor had to duck his head a little as they made their way down the cramped tunnel, until Pink suddenly blurted out: “Wait!”
Last Call halted and began to glance back, then instead looked sharply down as he heard a crunching under his hoof, and Pink said nervously: “That rock is brittle and thin. It's more like shale than actual stone. If... if this tunnel hasn't been used in a while – and I'm guessing it hasn't – and we walk over a place where the rock beneath has shifted but the veil of shale hasn't...”
“Alle kinder setzen sich.” Schmisse said wryly, before he shook his head and said after a moment: “I will trust your judgment, Last Call. But of course, I am more willing to trust as you are far more likely to fall before I am.”
“Thanks, Schmisse, you're a real ray of sunshine.” Last Call muttered, and he nervously tested the shale plating, feeling it crack slightly before he settled his weight a little further on, moving-
The ground beneath him cracked, and Last Call flinched and tried to jerk back even as he fell forward, resulting only in him whacking the back of his head painfully off the ceiling before he stumbled forwards anyway, his hooves plunging a few inches through thin stone to painfully slam down in a shallow hole. He swore in pain as his ankle twisted, shaking his head violently as stars danced in front of his eyes before he grabbed at his head, feeling a bruise throbbing on one hoof as he growled: “Goddammit!”
He heard the others shift behind him, and Last Call sighed, chewing on his lip for a moment before he said finally: “We better turn back. I hate to say it, but this route-”
“What, it's too dangerous? Call, I'll go first if I have to. You don't understand, we can't go back through that museum, it's-”
“Quiet, Furor. Do not be a foal.” snapped Schmisse, before he added in a lower voice, surprisingly tactful: “We do not pick and choose our responsibilities. If you are so afraid of the beasts in the museum, then I would suggest you prepare us as best you can for them. But if the tunnel is too unstable and you die in the collapse, then we will have to go through that museum anyway, and our only source of information will be gone.”
Furor snorted at this, and then he nodded almost grudgingly before Call said finally: “It's too narrow for me to turn around. Schmisse, can you...”
There was a faint grunting, a short swear, and then Schmisse muttered: “Yes. And...”
A crack, and red light filled the tunnel as Schmisse lit a flare, the tube trembling faintly in his telekinetic grip as he grumbled: “This should at least mark our route, just in case. But if we are forced to double back yet again, I may question your leadership, Last Call.”
“You're more than welcome to it.” Last Call grumbled as the line of ponies began to shuffle backward: Schmisse moved them at a slower pace back out of the narrow tunnel, until all of the ponies were able to turn around, and once it widened enough, they reshuffled themselves so Last Call was in the lead, Schmisse carrying the flare a dozen or so more feet before he tossed it down at the entrance to the bottleneck.
They headed back down the tunnel in silence to the museum, Last Call feeling a worm of dread twisting through his stomach as he lowered his head a little. And what if the museum was too difficult to pass through? What if the monsters were too dangerous, or someone got injured? They were all getting tired, and he was at his limit, physically and mentally... Horses of Heaven, how had he been so stupid to get them all into this?
Where was Silent Wish? He needed her help. Where was his wife? He just wanted to find her and leave. Where the hell even were they? The mountains shouldn't be this deep, the caverns so vast, the tunnels so twisted, so turned, so warped and distorted...
Last Call grimaced as he shone his flashlight ahead, before he suddenly stumbled to a halt as they reached the archway leading back into the museum area: he had seen eyes in the darkness, glinting. He gestured back at the others before he reached up to quickly cover his flashlight with a hoof, breathing slowly before he winced as Pink asked worriedly: “What is it?”
“Shush.” Schmisse hissed, before the stallion frowned uneasily in the muffled glow, the shadows twisting across his face making him look gaunter, ghoulish. “Wait...”
“Something worse than anger.” Furor muttered, and in the darkness, he looked like a frightened animal, Last Call though, his eyes frightened and low, his shadow a twisted, humped thing in the reflected light. “Hate? Blind, stupid hate?”
Last Call began to reach up his other hoof to turn the flashlight off, before his eyes widened as a voice jeered: “I know you are there, Last Call! I am surprised to see you here... and is that you, little brother? Ever the hoof-polisher, aren't you?”
“Do not antagonize him, but you must not show fear to him, either. Bruder is a hyena: he will pounce on an exposed back, but cannot fight what dares face him.” muttered Schmisse almost urgently, before he rose his head and called back through the darkness: “And I am surprised that you are still here yourself, considering how eager you seemed to be to slink off by yourself. Have you been following me, dear bruder?” 
Toadsfall laughed loudly in the darkness, before he mocked: “I do not believe in these... fairy tales and silly stories about monsters. They are nothing more than ponies, that is all I see. Ponies, and they are easily broken. It is the war all over again, Schmisse...”
Last Call uncovered his flashlight, and then he reared back in horror as Toadsfall loomed out of the darkness and into the light, his teeth bared in a grin that made his face look like a stretched mask, his eyes glowing with a fervent, sickening madness, his body unkempt and shaking. Stained hooves crushed against the ground, pawing at it eagerly as his nostrils flared, his head cocking slightly to the side as he greeted: “Well, good greetings to you all!”
“Grüß Gott.” Schmisse said ironically, and Toadsfall lunged forward in an instant, shoving Last Call aside to seize his brother by the mane, nearly shoving their faces together as he snarled in fury. 
“There is no God.” Toadsfall hissed, before he smiled suddenly, shoving Schmisse back as he stepped back and brushed at himself: his suit was gone, Last Call noted, and he couldn't help but draw his eyes across the scars and strange tattoos over Toadsfall's body- “Admiring me, are you? Your poor wife! No wonder she never resists the other stallions. But I am certain that you do not either, do you?”
Toadsfall laughed, but Last Call didn't allow him to bait him, taking a slow breath before he said as steadily as he could: “We're in danger here. You're more than welcome to join us-”
“No, I have no interest in playing your silly little games, Last Call.” Toadsfall snorted in contempt, eyes narrowing as he studied Last Call for a few moments before he glanced over at the museum door, asking distastefully: “What are you doing here? It is idiocy to wander around in these tunnels. Why are you heading towards the summit?”
“My wife is up there. I am going to save her.” Last Call said quietly, and Toadsfall smiled in amusement at him.
“Your wife is dead.” he said casually, and Last Call gritted his teeth. “You know it and I know it. We all do. There's nothing you can do to save her.”
“I'm going to save her.” Last Call said icily, and Toadsfall laughed loudly.
“Fine! Then we head to the summit. Why are you waiting around here, wasting time? Having a little tour then? Do you even know what waits above? I do, Last Call. It is not shadows or bogeys or fairy-tale monsters, but very real ponies, waiting to prey upon the weak-minded like yourself.”
“Guess that explains why you've gone nuts.” Furor muttered, and Toadsfall turned towards him, cocked his head like a bird for a moment, and then suddenly stepped forwards and savagely punched the stallion, striking so hard that Furor was knocked sprawling in a burst of blood.
Last Call shouted as he jumped forward, but Toadsfall seized him with telekinesis and slammed him down to the ground before he simply snorted and slapped Pink across the face when she shouted and automatically began to shift forward.
“Leave them alone. They are weak. They do not need your bullying.” Schmisse said contemptibly, and Toadsfall laughed loudly at this. “And keep your voice down, you-”
“I what? I what?” mocked Toadsfall, before he grabbed Schmisse by the face and tilted his head roughly back and forth: Schmisse didn't move, but also didn't take his eyes away from Toadsfall, even as the larger unicorn mocked: “Isn't this always like little Schmissy? Stepping in for the weak, the poor, the whores?”
“Your actions measure your worth, Todesfall. You at least used to believe that.” Schmisse retaliated, but Toadsfall only snorted in contempt, rolling his eyes in disgust.
“Yes, perhaps they do. And all of you are beneath me. Not even stallions, but colts, and a mare? Mares are worthless meat to be bred and to serve stallion.” Toadsfall eyed Pink for a moment, licking his lips briefly as she shuddered on the ground and glared up at him defiantly, but then he simply snorted before spitting on her and saying disgustedly: “This one? Nothing. But your wife, Last Call... oh, she was pliant, and supple, and how I-”
“You shut the hell up about my wife!” shouted Last Call as he shoved himself to his hooves with a snarl, but Furor grabbed him, even as Toadsfall grinned... in excitement, in entertainment, Last Call thought with disgust.
“Make me.” Toadsfall said, before he scowled when Schmisse grasped his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at him. “Unhoof me.”
Schmisse only continued to look coldly at his brother until Toadsfall finally violently shrugged his hoof off, turning his attention back to him. He was like a rabid dog, Last Call thought with both fear and loathing, shrugging Furor off but nodding shortly to him to show he was okay, as Schmisse said in a low voice: “We must work together, Todesfall, if we want to survive. You say you know what is above. Well, what has your genius intellect deduced? That there are ponies? We know there are ponies. We know-”
“You know nothing. What do you know, but of the worms crawling inside you, little brother?” Toadsfall snorted in contempt, stepping back before he added casually to Last Call: “This one? This one is even weaker than you, Last Call. At least you hop to the defence of your whore. This one was not able to defend his. Why don't you surrender to the worms and die, little brother? Do us all a favour and rid us of your dead weight.”
Schmisse was silent, but Last Call could tell it hurt him, and Toadsfall smiled as he clearly saw it too, leaning in and whispering: “You think you're brave, isn't that it? Strong. But you are not. And in your heart, you know that you are not a brave little soldier, but a stallion made of tin. Less than that. What do the doctors say? One year, two? And I will make every single moment that you are alive hell, dear bruder. So why not surrender?”
“Because, bruder, I still have things to do. And no matter how great the pain is, the pleasure of owning you is great enough to compel me to stay alive.” Schmisse said coldly and calmly, and Toadsfall snarled before he suddenly slapped Schmisse across the face.
The younger stallion stumbled, and they both looked surprised for a moment, before Schmisse began to turn-
A hoof smashed into his face, and Schmisse was crushed down to the ground before Toadsfall stomped on him again, and again, a maddened grin spreading over his face before Last Call tackled him. They rolled together, but Toadsfall was on top in moments, slamming punches back and forth across his face as he snarled: “Poor little maus, so weak, so tiny! You-”
A rock slammed into the side of Toadsfall's head, knocking him off Last Call, but the unicorn rolled quickly to his hooves with a snarl as Schmisse steadied himself, glaring at him as his horn glowed. He began to lean forward, but then Toadsfall grinned as he flicked his own head sharply, and Pink gasped as she was jerked off her hooves and over to him.
He caught her in his strong forelegs, crushing her, his tongue sliding out to lick slowly up along her throat as he whispered: “I will kill her unless you do what I say. And you know that I will, darling little bruder. Now, get to your hooves, my three little colts. Don't make me ruin the pleasure-meat.”
“You son of a bitch!” Furor burst out, snarling, but there was fear in his eyes as his body shook violently, and Last Call could swear that it was almost like Furor had gotten a little smaller, like his coat had darkened slightly. 
Schmisse only lowered his head, clenching slowly into the ground and trembling, and Last Call closed his eyes before he took a slow breath as he straightened up, saying quietly: “Don't hurt her. Look. We'll do whatever you want, but leave her alone.”
“Now I want to kill her even more.” For a moment, Toadsfall looked indecisive, but then he snorted and flung Pink down to the ground, and the mare gasped before she scrabbled away, glaring over her shoulder at him even as her body shook and tears rolled down her cheeks. “Oh, do not look at me so longingly. Make yourself prettier and then I'll consider putting you to use.”
Pink swore at him, but Toadsfall didn't even seem to register it: was he off in his own little world? Had something happened to him in the darkness? Last Call didn't know, but he flinched as Toadsfall approached the museum door suddenly, blurting out: “No, there's monsters-”
“There are no monsters.” mocked Toadsfall, before he laughed as he approached the door and yanked it open, asking contemptibly: “There, look! Nothing!”
Last Call stared in horror as Toadsfall grinned over his shoulder at them, oblivious to the three horrific, half-melted pony-things that all looked up the moment the door opened. Then Toadsfall turned and looked into the hall, and to Last Call's further confusion, remarked: “What, are you afraid of a bit of darkness?”
Toadsfall stepped into the hall, and Last Call's eyes widened and Furor's jaw dropped as he carelessly strode towards the rotten, warped beasts: the creatures fearfully scrabbled away from Toadsfall into the darkness, and Schmisse shook his head in disbelief as Toadsfall sniffed disdainfully, then turned around and walked out, saying contemptibly: “Here is what we are going to do. If you are so eager to reach the summit, then I shall bring you there. There is a cult who paid me handsomely to use the ruins there. I desire to pay them a visit, anyway, and you will be the honey to lure out the bears, whom I shall then kill. One by one, I will kill them all... do you understand me, my soldiers?”
Toadsfall studied them, then he snarled: “I asked you a question! Answer me!”
“Yes. We understand.” Schmisse said quietly, and Toadsfall snorted in contempt before he tapped moodily on his chin.
“Not good enough. I cannot trust you yet. You must understand there are consequences for insubordination. You must know...”
Toadsfall looked between them, before he smiled as his eyes settled on Last Call, licking his lips slowly. Call looked back at him uneasily, before Toadsfall opened his mouth... then he suddenly looked at Furor, whispering: “Come here.”
“Leave him alone.” Last Call growled, stepping forward, and Toadsfall cocked his head in that curious, bird-like way again-
A moment later, Last Call was on his back, a hoof smashing down into his face again and again until Schmisse and Furor managed to wrestle the unicorn backwards. But Schmisse was slapped down before Toadsfall cruelly stomped on one his ankles, his brother crying out in pain before the unicorn rounded on Furor, seizing him and shoving him back against the wall.
Pink tried to lunge forward, but Toadsfall caught her in the air and flung her cruelly face-first into the ground with telekinesis, stunning her. He turned his cruel grin back to Furor as he rasped: “Little, like a filly. How cute you are. We should fix that. I do not want to think of you the next time I enjoy the veal of marekind.”
“What are y-” Furor didn't get any further as Toadsfall grabbed him by the throat, forcing his head back before he leaned in and bit savagely into his ear. Furor screamed, then clenched his eyes shut in agony as Toadsfall twisted, ripping Furor's ear off and spitting it aside before he snarled in surprise as he flung Furor to the ground, stepping back as his eyes widened in disgust.
“Bug.” he growled, as Furor covered his face, trembling in terror before he gasped in agony as Toadsfall stepped forward and began to kick him viciously again and again, screaming: “Bug! Bug! Bug! Bug! Stupid insect!”
Last Call had no idea what was going on, not until he stumbled up to his hooves, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw Furor was no longer the unicorn he'd known and half-befriended: instead, it was a changeling on the ground, sobbing quietly in his hooves, bleeding from the side of his head and covered in bruises, ribs broken, body shaking helplessly as Toadsfall loomed over him with a snarl. But then, as suddenly as his rage had come, the unicorn stepped back and laughed loudly, rounding on Last Call to ask cheerfully: “And what about you? Are you a worthless bug as well? Either way, it is fitting that your only friend in the world is nothing but a lie!”
Toadsfall laughed as he sauntered towards the doorway, before he glared suddenly back over his shoulder and hissed: “All of you, drop your packs, now.”
Last Call stared for a moment, but when Toadsfall began to turn, the stallion hurriedly nodded before he almost flung off his satchel. Pink and Schmisse both did the same, and Toadsfall levitated all three before upending them, his eyes darting back and forth through their supplies before he growled in disgust. “Not a single weapon! Not a single useful... fine. We will make do. Last Call... tie this around your precious friend's throat.”
“I... what?” Last Call stared in disbelief as rope floated over to him, and Toadsfall snorted in disgust, glaring at him angrily. “No, you nearly killed him, he's-”
“Fine. Carry your precious little pet. In fact, I like that idea. You can carry the bug and walk up front with him, be our living shield. Tie the rope around your own throat so I may guide you like the dog you are.” Toadsfall said contemptibly.
There was no point in arguing, Last Call thought, and he nodded after a moment, slipping the rope around his own neck and grimacing as he made a rough knot with it. He flinched when Toadsfall jerked on it, and the unicorn snorted before he said distastefully: “It will do. But as with all things, I see you have failed to meet my expectations. I would have preferred a noose.”
“Believe me, bruder. We would all prefer you tie yourself a noose.” Schmisse muttered, and Toadsfall glared at him for a moment, but then only smiled.
“I suppose that makes sense. At the moment, the only hoof that could possibly take my life is my own.” Toadsfall said, before he sniffed disdainfully as he watched Last Call struggle to get Furor onto his back and lift him up,  breathing hard and grimacing a bit as he wiped blood from his torn lip and nostril. “I will not wait for you forever.”
Last Call bit back a retort, only nodding as he turned and headed carefully over to him, and Toadsfall eyed him critically for a few moments before he jerked his head towards the open doorway. “Go.”
Last Call didn't argue, striding into the museum even as Furor rasped weakly into his ear: “It's... dangerous.”
“It's more dangerous out here.” muttered Last Call, and Furor laughed faintly.
“Sorry.” he whispered, and Last Call simply gave a brief smile.
“I think you probably paid for it.” he murmured in return, before he flinched when he felt a jerk on the rope leash.
“Stop sharing romance with your little boyfriend, Last Call. Mare, you go next. Schmisse, follow behind me, just as you always have.” ordered Toadsfall, and Pink cursed at him, but then gasped when Toadsfall slammed his foreleg into her as she began to walk by, pinning her by the throat against the side of the door, her eyes wide with shock before he leaned in and whispered: “Talk back to me again, and I will tear the flapping tongue out of your face, do you understand?”
Pink whimpered and nodded weakly, and then she stumbled hurriedly into the museum, staggering up beside Last Call and cursing under her breath before she flinched as she looked ahead down the corridor.
Last Call had already seen them, lingering at the edge of the light, but they didn't seem to be coming any closer: the mutant, warped ponies shifted nervously back and forth near the bend of the corridor, but not like they were trying to ambush them: almost like they were trying to hide from them. No. Not us. Toadsfall. “So those things...”
“Chased me.” confirmed Furor, before he laughed faintly. “Guess I... I just...”
“Not your fault. Doubt they'd hesitate to attack us. But...” Last Call didn't have to say anything else, the others nodded before Last Call grimaced when a hoof slapped roughly against his rump.
“Move. We are heading to the east wing.” ordered Toadsfall, and Last Call simply nodded, starting forward.
He could hear the monsters, crawling in the walls, scurrying across the floor ahead, but rarely staying in sight for more than a moment, unless they were forced into a corner. Once, as Last Call shouldered through a door, he found himself almost face-to-face with one of the monstrous ponies in a cul-de-sac, which squished itself into a corner with a loud hiss, but even though he and Furor both flinched, Toadsfall only angrily snapped the rope and growled: “Stop jumping at shadows, cowards!”
Pink clung to the far wall to avoid going near the monster as they made their way out of the nook, but Toadsfall didn't seem to either see or hear it, even though the thing all-but-screamed when Toadsfall passed within a foot of it. Last Call winced, and wished Silent Wish was here to tell him what the hell that meant: did it have something to do with the way that reality had warped, and in return, bent and twisted them all?
Toadsfall, after all, he had never seen like this. Sadistic, ruthless, cruel, sure, but this was a whole new level of murderous, like Toadsfall couldn't stop himself anymore, couldn't hide his misogyny or how... how much of a freaking psychopath he is.
He half-glanced back at the unicorn, then he gasped as he felt the rope jerk sharply, Toadsfall saying contemptibly: “Eyes front, dog. We are marching into enemy territory-”
“You never saw real war. All your medals came from the rear. Which is I'm sure what you gave to the other officers for all your commendations.” Schmisse said contemptibly, and then he gasped as Toadsfall seized him by the face and slammed him viciously into a display case, cracking the inch-thick glass.
There was silence for a moment, and then Toadsfall whispered: “They called me Nebelwerfer.”
“Yes. There is great bravery in serving as magic artillery, burning foals and hospitals. They did not call you that because they respected you.” Schmisse glared at Toadsfall, ignoring the cuts over his face, the blood spilling down his cheeks as broken glass bit into him. “They feared you. They hated you.”
“Good.” Toadsfall turned, jerking Schmisse around and flinging him to the ground of the display room they had come to an undignified halt in. “That is better than respect.”
Schmisse laid on the ground, then he looked away with disgust when Toadsfall leaned down over him, saying softly: “Now get up, dear bruder. I want you to see what lies ahead. I want you to see the summit. I want you to see what I have achieved.”
“I did not know you had decided to lead a cult.” Schmisse said dryly, and Toadsfall laughed before he grasped his brother by the mane, rudely yanking him back to his hooves before he snapped the rope leash roughly, making Last Call flinch and face forward again, heading to the other side of the display room and doing his best to face forward, even as he listened intently.
“No. That would be idiotic. But they were a useful investment. I don't believe in any of the things they do, but they have brought... well, I will show you. And now that they have turned on me, I will kill them all, and take all their precious spoils, their treasures, their weapons.” Toadsfall said, and he sounded almost like he was dreaming, staring up at the ceiling even as he walked along, half-guiding them even as he followed behind with a strange smile on his face. “War, Schmisse. I will go back to war. I will go back to the killing fields, and I will sleep again.”
The group was silent as they made their way onward, and it was a strangely uneventful journey through the museum until they reached the eastern wing and one of the large galleries. Toadsfall shoved one of the art displays rudely over to get to the far wall, heading to a door lit by a red emergency light and shoving it roughly open before he paused, then said calmly, without looking back: “We are moving too slowly. We have to drop some dead weight.”
Toadsfall smiled as he turned around, saying coldly: “Leave the bug.”
“N-No... please, oh God no. Don't leave me in here. You don't understand... they're all so angry. They're scared, but they're angry, and...” Furor swallowed thickly as he helplessly clutched on to Last Call. “You don't understand.”
“Leave the bug willingly, Last Call, or I will kill that mare, beat you senseless, and have Schmisse drag your carcass to the summit.” Toadsfall snarled.
Furor shook his head weakly, and Last Call could swear that he could see the awful, hideous ponies beginning to swarm in on all sides. Toadsfall stood in the doorway, glaring at them, barring the only exit. What choice did he have, really? 
But Furor was almost crying, beaten, completely unable to defend himself. Pink was shivering, bleeding, staring desperately, and Last Call's own body was at its limit, every part of him aching. Schmisse was only staring at the ground, and for all the fight he had given so far... did he have any strength left to resist Toadsfall, and Toadsfall's seemingly-endless cruelty?
“I'm waiting!” snapped Toadsfall, and Last Call knew he had no choice.
He had to make a decision.