//------------------------------// // Forsaken Darkness // Story: Tales of the Battle Foals // by Sirdubya //------------------------------// Zebota’s head was pounding. His senses were going everywhere as everything seemed dark. “Z….a!” He could hear something calling out to him, but his consciousness was too rattled to clearly perceive it. Slowly but surely however, his senses were stabilizing. “Ze..ta!”…….“Zebota!” Zebota’s eyes shot awake as he heard his name be called out by a familiar voice. It was, of course, Quantum Tech. “Oh, thank goodness!” she whispered. “Huh?.....Quantum Tech?....Ugh…..What has happened?” Zebota asked as he staggered to his hooves. “Shhhh! Keep your voice down! They might hear us!” Quantum warned. It was too pitch-black to see, but Zebota could tell that Quantum was right next to him. “The floor collapsed beneath us, and we fell down! I’m without my mech suit, and the hole is far too small for Shrapnel to fit!” Zebota’s eyes widened in horror. Although he was capable of surviving with Shrapnel at his side, he had grown used to having his bestial companion. “Then….Then we must climb this hole back to him!” “I’m afraid that’s not possible. The hole caved in above us, and even it hadn’t, I’m far too physically frail to be able to endure such a grueling ascent.” Quantum said. “Curses!.....Where are we anyway?” Zebota asked. “Deep underground, obviously, but as for our exact location, I’m afraid I’m at a loss. However, my scanners show that we’re in a vast series of caverns. Surely there’s a discernable path we can take that would ascend back to that chamber.” Quantum answered. “Unless….perhaps there are nature spirits here that can guide us?” “Hmm….” Zebota concentrated his thoughts onto his brooch, and it dimly glowed. After a short moment, he stopped. “I am sorry, but wherever this place is, it is forsaken. What few spirits dwell here are in pain, but I do not know why. I will have to rely on my tools to fight back should we encounter those creatures again.” Quantum gasped. “And it looks like we might! Get down!” She and Zebota hit the deck as her glasses picked up a reading. Approaching them was one of the horrors they had encountered prior…..a pony. However, something was very wrong with her. She only made feral grunting and gurgling noises instead of speaking, her eyes were as blank as a sheet of paper, and she drooled what looked to be glowing saliva. The two foals sat completely still and silent as the twisted mare trudged in their direction. She sniffed around as she began walking around the two. How she couldn’t see them was unclear, but she was eventually right above them! She seemed to start to detect them as she started growling. Without any second thoughts, Zebota drew his bladed boomerang and shoved it right into her throat, killing her instantly with only muffled gurgles as her last words, and she crumbled to the ground. Quantum breathed a sigh of relief. “That was worthy of a nightmare…” She scanned around with her glasses, but could see that they were once again alone. She dimly lit her horn to inspect the corpse. “You poor dear….Whatever happened to you?” Looking closely, she could see that the mare was wearing some kind of tattered clothing. It was too ripped and dirty to discern the fashion, but it was clear that it was considerably old. Her eyes also caught Quantum’s interest. Upon closer inspection, they were completely clouded by….what could only be described as the worst cataracts in history, which could only mean….“She’s completely blind!” “What!?” Zebota whispered. “Her eyes have become totally opaque. It’s no wonder she didn’t see us right away….apart from the pitch-darkness, I suppose.” Quantum said. “Hmm….That does not surprise me. Creatures that survive in caves such as this lose their vision in exchange for heightening their other senses since there is no light for eyes to use.” Zebota said. “Yes, but it can take centuries, even millennium for sight to devolve! It’s ludicrous to think that these ponies have been down here for that long.” Quantum argued. “The proof is the ice cream, as they say.” Zebota said. “Ehh, that’s ‘pudding’, darling. But, I indeed see that. What befuddles me is….why did they come down here? How long ago did this happen? And more importantly, why is her saliva luminous?” Quantum said. “Perhaps they were running away from something much like we are.” Zebota said. “Well, we won’t attain any answers by standing here and speculating, nor will we find our friends.” Quantum said. Zebota nodded. “Then let us tread carefully. I’d rather avoid any further confrontations. We must remain silent so as not alert their hearing.” “Yes, but….surely their sense of smell is heightened as well. How to bypass that….” Quantum said. “I may have a solution.” Zebota said. He used his boomerang to carefully slice off a scrap of the mare’s tattered clothing and rubbed it all over himself. “If we mask ourselves with their scent, perhaps they will mistake us as one of them…at least upon first glance.” Quantum grimaced. “Blech! That may work, but….getting out that repulsive smell will take forever.” “Do you want to increase your chances of becoming these creatures’ prey?” Zebota said. Knowing that he was right, Quantum sighed and gave in. “Alright….hand it here.” Zebota handed her the torn rag, and she began rubbing it all over herself. “This is so undignified….” Once she was done, Zebota took the scrap back from her, and put it in his bag. “I will keep this in case we need to renew our masked scents. I can do little to see in this darkness, so you must navigate.” Quantum was still shivering a little from having to run that cloth around herself, but calmed down. “Agreed. Stay right behind me, and tread slowly. We’re in a whole other domain down here.” With that, Zebota held onto Quantum’s shoulder as she switched her glasses to infrared mode. Seeing that coast was still clear, the two began their careful tread through the forsaken darkness. Through her thermal imaging, Quantum Tech could see the path before them and the caves that connected. She occasionally switched to x-ray imaging to see if she could detect possible movement behind any walls, and was successful in detecting another twisted pony a moment before it calm walking from around a corner towards them! The two immediately halted upon the encounter as they came face to face with the ‘creature’. This one was a stallion and didn’t seem to mind them as he passed by. He glanced at them for a brief moment, but it looked like Zebota made the right call as the twisted stallion waltzed right by them. “Phew…” Quantum whispered. “Do not lower your guard just yet. We are no near out of the woods….or cave in this case.” Zebota whispered. Quantum nodded, and they resumed their trek. Higher thermal readings began to appear on Quantum’s glasses as they went deeper. Much of it was residual from footsteps no doubt taken by the odd cave ponies, but there were also readings coming from the walls and ceiling. Moss was indeed growing, but Zebota could see more of the strange glowing. They eventually found themselves on a glowing spot on a wall right at their level and inspected it. It was…..some kind of bioluminescent secretion surrounded by the moss. Quantum used her glasses to examine it. “Hmm….interesting….” “What is it?” Zebota whispered. “I….I am unsure. Quite the peculiar substance….” Quantum replied. “I’m without any proper testing materials, so I’ll have to leave it alone for now. Let us continue.” “Agreed. At least these caves are beginning to become more lit.” Zebota said. Quantum switched her glasses to normal view to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, the series of little lights decorating the walls and ceiling of the cavern had lit just enough to the point where they could begin to make out their surroundings with the naked eye. “How convenient.” Quantum commented. Nevertheless, she used her x-ray and thermal scanners to detect anything that they might need to avoid or approach. A few more of the twisted cave ponies passed them by, further setting them on edge. It took a few moments for them to realize that they were happening upon them more frequently, causing the two to grow concerned. “Zebota, can you perhaps sense if Shrapnel is nearby? I can tell that you two are psychically connected to some degree.” Quantum asked. “He is far, but within these caverns. I should not try to call to him for the risk of drawing unwanted attention to ourselves.” Zebota whispered. Quantum sighed. “I was afraid you might say something to that effect. I suppose all we can do is just keep- ” Quantum was cut off when she and Zebota stumbled into a massive cavern big enough to house an entire city…..which it did! A vast ruin of an ancient-looking city spanned the enormous subterranean chamber with more of the bioluminescent substance lining the ceiling in abundance, lighting the room if only so much. “By the stars! What is this place!?” “A nest to these creatures, I would presume. Look.” Zebota pointed towards a road leading into the city to show that a group of the cave ponies were randomly limping and trudging about. Their ferality was made clear as they showed no sign of a civilized existence. Any sort of ancient technology present such as a wheelbarrow or farming tools were either tossed aside or used as a crude form of storage, housing, weapons, etc. “Wha…..What? What does this all mean? Surely these aren’t the actual residents of this city! It looks thousands of years old!” Quantum said. “This does not matter. We must find a way back to the others before we are discovered.” Zebota said. “Are you quite mad!? This is HUGE discovery! I would not dare let an opportunity like this pass!” Quantum said. “I think it is you who is mad, Quantum Tech. The longer we stay here, the more we are in danger of these creatures.” Zebota said. “Ehh….y-yes….Of course….” Quantum used her x-ray and MRI scanners to see if she could observe the layout of the ancient city. There unfortunately weren’t any other caves nearby for them to travel through, so it looked like traversing the treacherous ruins was their only option if they wanted to find an exit. “Let us continue as we have. I’ll keep a sharp eye out for any other caves.” “Agreed, but let me renew our disguised scent first, just in case. The higher population of these twisted ponyfolk will be our most challenging obstacle.” Zebota whispered. Quantum sighed. “Oh, if we must….” She reluctantly ran the torn cloth around herself once more after Zebota before the two snuck towards the ancient city. Zebota had his tomahawk drawn. As they snuck through the ruins past the cave ponies, Quantum took the time to observe the city itself as she scanned around for a possible exit. The stone architecture seemed to date as far back as just about any temple one would read about in a Daring Do book, but unlike said temples, it was clear just from the layout of the streets and buildings that this was a once a bustling city. A commercial district was discernable just by the presence of crates filled with rotted produce and pottery laid around as though they were being displayed for the eyes of potential buyers. Much to Quantum’s interest, there were even what could be described as street lamps. Though most of them were unlit, tall poles with torch-like structures at their tops lined the sidewalks; the few that were still burning had an odd azure hue to their flames reminiscent of the glowing secretion they observed earlier. It took her a short while afterward to notice, but it seemed that this civilization had a surprisingly high level of technology. Metal constructs that closely resembled modern day cranes could be seen around an incomplete building. Small carriages with wing-like features littered the street, which upon closer inspection showed to have series of mechanisms that Quantum believed were designed to give it thrust, allowing the craft to hover off of the ground. Unfortunately, it needed a power source to function and magic strangely wasn’t it. “Fascinating….” “We do not have time to tinker with these devices, Quantum Tech!” Zebota said. “I know, I know. Sorry.” Quantum said. Their activity with the hover carriage attracted the attention of a couple cave ponies. The two foals held totally still as the feral ponies trudged over and inspected them, even getting right in their faces! After a few pulse-pounding moments that felt like an eternity, the twisted forms were fooled by Zebota’s clever scent mask and left them alone. The two breathed a sigh of relief before resuming their treacherous stroll through the forsaken city. Upon closer observation, the city streets were also littered with rotting corpses of ponies wearing the same clothing as the feral ponies they were avoiding, meaning that they were indeed of the same culture….or what was now left of it. “I don’t understand. Have these ponies truly been preserved for the countless centuries that these ruins have existed? And if so, how? But why not all of them? What happened here?” Quantum wondered. “We can worry about that when we find our friends. Now stop getting distracted!” Zebota said. “Zebota, don’t be so hasty. By observing this place, we might be able to find a way to escape it effectively.” “Yes, but do not let your curiosity get the better of you. We are in mortal danger here and must focus on not falling prey to this dark place.” “Yes…Yes you’re right. Forgive me if feel like I must immerse myself completely in this environment.” “And forgive my impatience. I am….worried about Shrapnel….” “I’m sure he’s worried for you too, Zebota. He and the others are probably hiking down here for us as we speak.” A few close encounters with the feral kind later, the two suddenly came across a huge chasm in the middle of the city. There was a drawbridge system in place, but when Quantum inspected it, she discovered that it was devoid of power and couldn’t be activated by mere unicorn magic much like the hover carriages. “Oh bother…” she muttered. “What is wrong?” Zebota asked. “Well, it looks like if we want to cross this chasm, we’ll need to figure out what these ponies used to power their technology.” Quantum answered. “I think my scanners are detecting a cave on the other side.” Zebota sighed. “We are, as they say, in a cucumber, yes?” “Close enough...”