CLUNK
Somewhere, deep beneath Twilight’s castle, there was a soft click. The silence was broken as, under the cover of darkness, unseen mechanism creaked and groaned.
Gears whirred to life, the black stone walls shook, and a lone statue shuddered to life. It shifted in place, rising slowly, and then, in one fell swoop, it pitched back and spun, depositing three ponies and two packs in the middle of the passage.
“WHA—” Rainbow Dash yelped as she tumbled out of the wall, slamming face-down on the stone floor with a resounding smack. She was followed directly by Pinkie Pie, joining her in the fuzzy heap, and Fluttershy who gently fluttered down on top of them.
“Um...” Fluttershy glanced around meekly, looking unsure as she stared into the darkness. She folded her wings to her side, and brushed her mane back with a hoof. “I’m sorry, but wh—”
“Uuuugh,” Rainbow Dash groaned in agony. She rolled over and toppled Fluttershy, rising to her haunches, dizzy and wobbling as she looked around in the dark. “W—” she clasped a hoof to her head. “Where are we?”
“That’s what I—”
“I don’t know, Dashie,” Pinkie pie spoke. She slid sideways, and rolled off of the heap, bouncing back to her hooves as she glanced around, seemingly forgetting Fluttershy. “Last thing I remember is that we were with Twilight, and there was a bucket halfway up my—”
“Pinkie Pie!”
“Oh, sorry, right. Kids show.”
“No, I mean—” Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash slowly pulled herself up, shoving Fluttershy out of her way as she stood. She gestured with a hoof to their surroundings, and was about to continue when Pinkie’s words suddenly registered in her pounding head. She paused, turning to look to the pony proper. “...what?”
Pinkie Pie shrugged. She leaned against the wall and waved a hoof nonchalantly. “You know...”
Silence.
Rainbow’s frown deepened. She glanced to Fluttershy to find the mare looking back at her, just as confused.
“...”
Finally, deciding to ignore it, she continued, “...Okay,” and turned around to start trotting. “Let’s see if we can find a way out of here...”
~ ~ ~
Twilight Sparkle stood reared back, mane and fur matted with sweat, panting heavily. Her pack was humming and spluttering, throwing the occasional spark as she looked around her, teeth gritted, surveying the fallout.
Books.
Books everywhere.
Books of every possible shape and size—the bodies of the fallen—lay strewn across the floor forming a pile on which Twilight Sparkle was the victor.
Tears tugging at the corners of her eyes, she sniffed, and wiped her nose with a sweaty hoof. So many books had to die today, she silently mourned, Sombra, I’m going to kill you for this— She pause. —Again.
One last book, a tiny pink tome with a ratty cover shook to life. It flopped over, pulling free of the shelves, and took flight. The poor thing had barely gotten into the air when the space around it exploded, and it was rent apart by a swirling beam of harmony. It stopped cold, and dropped to the ground motionless, to joining the countless others.
Huffing, Twilight ground her teeth, and glared to the empty book shelves. “Anypony else want some!?” she snarled, her voice echoing into the heavens.
Silence.
Somewhere, far off in another part of the castle, there was a single, distant wail, like a ghost had just learned the true meaning of pure, unfiltered, hatred.
Nodding, Twilight holstered her nozzle. “I thought so.” She dropped to all fours and ran a hoof through her mane, putting most of the stray hairs back into place. She then turned her attention to the rest of the library.
Luckily for the princess, not much else had changed. Her desk was still the way she’d left it, albeit looking slightly more sinister. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it—maybe it was the way the lamp looked at her?
The lab was still there as well, luckily, and so she quickly set to work. Cantering through the piles of books, she carefully picked a clean path across the secret entrance, unlatching it with her magic.
She ducked inside, dropped her—now practically useless—pack to the ground, and made a beeline for the desk with the spares. Slipping on Applejack’s pack, she did up the straps before starting towards the exit. There was no way she was going to waste any time now. Twilight wanted to get back out there as quickly as possible, to exact her revenge on any being, dead or undead, who so much as dared to stand between her and King Sombra.
She was just about to cross the threshold, when there was a glint that caught her eye. She paused, backed up slightly, and trotted over to the ‘experimental’ desk to look over the thing that had caught her eye.
Twilight gingerly levitated the pack’s handle at her side. “Hm...” She glanced to it, and then down at the desk. Her mouth turned up slightly, curling into a smirk as she considered the options.
At length, Twilight caved.
“Eh, sure, why not?” she unscrewed the old nozzle, discarded it and affixed the new one in its place. It was slightly heavier, with a larger focusing gem, and a new mechanism that theoretically allowed for a denser beam.
It wasn’t something she’d intended to use, or even considered remotely ready, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She just had to hope it wouldn’t explode in her face.
~ ~ ~
Pinkie Pie bounced cheerfully through the darkened hallways, the sounds of her hooves clattering on the cobblestone floor echoing around her with every landing, and a soft sprung as she leapt into the air. Her back was bare, the pack left behind to preserve energy, and a small flashlight that hung from the tip of her mane lighting the way.
With every hop, skip and jump, the beam of light swayed and jerked, bouncing from the walls, to the ceiling, to the floor, and only occasionally revealing the way ahead. Every now and then it would catch a glint of metal in the darkness, the reflections off rusted bars, and Pinkie would count off the cells as they passed.
“Fifty-eight,” she chirped between bounces, “Fifty-nine, si—”
Suddenly, Pinkie ground to a halt. She stopped mid-air, hanging for a second, before dropping back to the ground with a frown. “Oh shoot.” She tapped her chin with a hoof, glancing to the nearest cell, and then behind her as she muttered, “I lost count.”
Then, just as quickly, her mood turned, ears pricking to something new. “Hey—” She paused, brow furrowing in thought. “You don’t think it’s weird that Twilight has a dungeon? I mean, what does the princess of Friendship need with a dungeon?” Her frown deepened, as she started to pace. “Unless—” She gasped. –“Ooh! Maybe it’s a friendship dungeon and this is where she keeps all of her bad friends who can’t keep a Twilight Sparkle Promise? A bit like what I have in my—”
“Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash’s voice groaned out of the darkness, accompanied by the clopping of hooves from behind as she cut Pinkie’s thoughts short.
Pinkie perked, grinning, “Yeah?” and spun around to meet the other mares.
As she turned, the flashlight went with her. It flickered across something in the shadows. “Gah!” Rainbow Dash gasped as both she and Fluttershy, lugging two packs behind them, were blinded. They recoiled, flinching, and hurried to shield their eyes with their wings.
“S-sorry!” Pinkie yelped, and again, “Sorry!” as she scrambled to grab the light from her mane. She pulled it free and quickly hid it behind her back, grinning from ear to ear as the light continued to illuminate her eerily from behind.
“Ugh,” Rainbow groaned. Still rubbing her eyes with one hoof, she gestured with the other ahead of them. “Just—” Her good eye blinked, looking to Pinkie. “Just keep looking. There has to be a stairwell, a dumbwaiter—“
“A slide!?” Pinkie cut in, grinning enthusiastically.
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow nodded. “’A slide’,” she continued, “Anything we can use to get back to ground level.”
“Oui, Capitan Dash!” Saluting, Pinkie put on her serious face and spun around. She returned the torch to her mane, and resumed bounding ahead down the passage.
Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, continued to rub her sore eyes, when she was prodded softly in the side. She paused, and looked up to see Fluttershy staring at her intently. “Um...” Fluttershy leaned closer, her voice barely above a whisper, “A-Are you all right?” as she inspected the mare with a look of concern.
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. She waved her free hoof. “She just shone that thing right in my—“
“N-No!” Fluttershy squeaked, slightly more forcefully than before. She almost took it back as she shrunk below Rainbow’s eye-level. “It’s just...” She glanced away, blushing, and then raised a hoof and leaned into Rainbow’s ear to whisper. “...You’re pink.”
Rainbow Dash paused, turning sideways to look Fluttershy straight on with a face that clearly read ‘what?’, the kind that included a raised eyebrow, and a general scrunching of the entire face like she’d been sucking a lemon. She then looked to herself, staring at her hooves in a mix of realisation and horror, focusing in particular on the mix of pink splotches currently plaguing her coat. And then it clicked.
“Oh.” She repeated again, louder, “Oh!” and facehoofed. “I completely forgot about that...”
“You forgot?” This time it was Fluttershy’s turn to look confused. “How could you—”
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded, cutting the mare off. “You know—” She waved a hoof in the air, averting her eyes as she tried to hide her reddening cheeks. “It’s like—You just kind of...” At a loss for words to explain it, she shrugged, grinning. “Get used to it?”
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy deadpanned, “You could have just washed it off at my—”
“Hey!” Pinkie Pie butted in, seemingly out of nowhere as she squeezed between them. She glared at each pony in turn as she prodded their chest with an accusing hoof. “Don’t you go knocking pink!” she shouted into each of their ears, “It’s an absolutely positively awesome colour!”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, suddenly feeling a certain kinship with Twilight. “We’re not ‘knocking pink’, Pinkie Pie.”
“Mhm.” Fluttershy nodded. “It’s just—“
CRASH
The three were jolted to attention as something crashed to the ground. There was a resounding boom that rolled through the catacombs, like somepony had thrown a stone, followed by the shrill clatter of chains scraping stone.
“Eep!” Fluttershy squealed, almost knocking Rainbow Dash over as she retreated behind Pinkie Pie, latching onto Rainbow in a tight, vice-like embrace. “Wh-w-wh—”
They had their attention rapt, staring into the darkness with wide eyes. Pinkie was the first to speak, glancing to her friends. “What was...”
“...that?” Rainbow Dash finished. She and Pinkie shared a brief glance, and Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. She flicked a wingtip against the switch on her pack, prompting it to burst back to life.
It filled the space with a soft, almost soothing, humming as its gems lit up, bathing them in a shimmering rainbow glow. Dash flicked the nozzle off its holster and caught it in her hoof before nodding to Pinkie.
“Fluttershy,” she whispered over her shoulder, “You stay here.”
“Y-e—Y—No problem, Rainbow.” Fluttershy squeaked, barely audible over the chattering of her own teeth. She happily complied, standing back whilst Rainbow and Pinkie forged ahead into the unknown.
~ ~ ~
The cell was empty when they got there, not the faintest sign of life—or unlife as it were. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie peeked around the corner, huddling at the entrance to get a view of what was inside, the former poised with her pack ready for any signs of hostility.
They’d come there expecting some kind of ghoulish monstrosity. Instead, they had found something much, much worse: nothing.
The room was utterly dark, a pitch black that retreated from their lights, revealing in its wake just the bare cobbles before them as they stepped into the doorway.
A stiff breeze blew from inside, whistling a sad tune as it passed, hairs bristling on the backs of their necks. Rainbow Dash shivered slightly. “S-s-so,” she stuttered, and looked to Pinkie Pie, “I suppose we should...”
“Go inside?” Pinkie offered.
“Y-Yeah,” Rainbow whispered, nodding slowly in agreement.
They lapsed back into silence, the two simply stared ahead, both too afraid to enter of what might happen if they did.
At length, when it seemed like neither of them were going to budge, Rainbow took a deep breath. Wordlessly, she stepped forth, trotting into the room.
The two split ways, and the room echoed with the sounds of their hoofsteps ringing out on the stone floor as they entered. With each step, Rainbow could hear the crushing silence closing in around her. She kept her ears tuned around her, whilst she quickly glanced around, distinctly aware of her surroundings, and how little she could see.
Other than the brief flicker of Pinkie’s torch behind her, she was alone, trapped in the dark with nothing but the dull light of her pack to guide her, a tiny island of sanity in the vast ocean of the abyss.
As she trotted further in and away from her friend’s stomping hooves, the room started to grow less silent. Rainbow’s ears began to prick at the slightest noise—the distant patter of water droplets falling—the soft, rhythmic humming of her pack. Even her own heartbeat— thump, thump, thump, thump— a loud din to her ears.
However, below all that, there was one sound that stood out.
One sound that didn’t belong...
Rainbow’s ears pricked to the sound of a soft, almost inaudible, dragging of something metallic across the floor.
It rattled through the air, like daggers through the night, growing louder with every step she took.
She could feel her heart pounding faster, racing as the sound drew close. Gulping, Rainbow pulled her nozzle close, holding it at the ready. She steadied her nerves, staying her chattering teeth as she readied herself for whatever was to come.
A few more steps and, finally, the source revealed itself. A small object appeared at the edge of her vision, and then came into the light as Rainbow happened upon it.
Leaning in closer, Rainbow Dash frowned. “Wh—?”
A small dish scuttled across the floor. Rusted and dented, it rattled loudly as it rolled, circling on the spot as it came to a rest at her hooves.
Is— Rainbow Dash paused. She dropped her stance and holstered her pack, a slight smirk starting at the corner of her mouth as she picked up the dish. Really? she thought to herself. Rainbow turned the dish over, inspecting it in the light Was that it? An old dish?
Her smirk broke into a full grin and Rainbow tossed the bowl to the ground. She breathed a long, happy sigh, almost giggling at her own stupidity. “To think,” Rainbow began, rolling her eyes, “I was actually sca—”
“Hey!” Just as she was turning to leave, Rainbow was jolted to attention by a shout beside her. “Dashie, there’s nothing here!”
“Yah!” Rainbow yelped, her voice breaking several octaves as she took flight. Her wings sprung on reflex and she almost slammed into the ceiling, missing it by an inch before crashing headlong into the rear wall of the cell.
There was a loud crack as Rainbow’s head made contact with the wall, and she slumped backwards, dazed, on the ground.
Pinkie Pie poked her head in, staring down at Rainbow with a look of concern. She held the ghost detector in her hooves whilst the flashlight, still hooked in her mane, danced across the wall. “Are you okay?” she asked, glancing up and down Rainbow’s body.
“Ugh...” Rainbow Dash groaned. She pressed a hoof to her head, rubbing it gently, as her eyes narrowed. “Pinkie Pie...” Taking a deep breath, she dragged herself to her hooves, still rubbing her head, and gave the mare a glare as she grumbled. “...You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry!” Pinkie quickly shouted, her ears drooping as she jumped back to give the mare room to breathe. She actually seemed ashamed of herself as she averted her eyes, glancing to the ground. “Sorry, Dashie,” she repeated and then, pulling the detector out, she held it up for Rainbow Dash to see. “But there’s nothing here.”
“I heard you the first time,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. She glanced around in the darkness, and felt a slight pit in her stomach as something—possibly nothing—whistled in the dark. “But,” she dragged on the word, looking over to Pinkie Pie, “This place gives me the creeps.”
As she said that, almost as if to prove her point, a cold wind blew through the chamber, causing them to shiver. “I know what you mean,” Pinkie agreed. She gestured to her ears and tail. “My tail’s been twitching since we got here, and my ears have been flippity-flopping all over the place.” She flapped her ears to illustrate. There’s some bad juju in here.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. She turned to start trotting towards the exit. “We should—” She paused as something cold grabbed her by the back leg. Her fur bristled and suddenly, her ears were pounding as her heart began to race. Rainbow Dash almost panicked on the spot. Almost. “Uh... Pinkie Pie?” she said, deadpanned, “Please let go of my leg.”
“Um, Dashie?” Pinkie Pie spoke up beside her and the mare trotted into view, both hooves free. “That wasn’t me.”
Rainbow Dash turned pale. Her blood ran cold as her chills returned in full force, a shiver running all the way up her spine. “Th-then,” she stuttered as she slowly turned, quaking as she did so, “Who’s...?”
Her fears—both of their fears, actually—were confirmed as Rainbow Dash set eyes on the mystery pony. At that exact moment, Pinkie’s detector lit up, emitting a loud bzzzzzt-bzzzzt into the darkness as it shook.
Neither pony paid it any heed, as they both stared, eyes wide and jaws gaping, at what lay behind them.
A green, translucent hoof shimmered in the light, casting a green hue in the darkness as it emerged from the ground to wrap itself tightly around the back of Rainbow’s fetlock. All around it, the ground began to glow, illuminating the whole room in its sickly hue as several, dozens, more ghostly apparitions emerged from the woodwork.
Translucent hooves sprouted from the ground, the moans of the many filling the room as they grasped for anything within their reach. One grabbed the dish from earlier whilst many more rose to shoulder height around the shocked ponies.
“Ya—” Rainbow Dash yelled, rearing up together with Pinkie, too afraid to do anything as they dodged the grasping hooves. They shared a single distraught, panic-ridden, glance. “Panic?” Rainbow Dash offered.
“Panic.” Pinkie Pie confirmed, and they both let loose a blood-curdling scream and beat a hasty retreat.
“AAAAAHHHHH!!”
~ ~ ~
Fluttershy was still standing in the darkness outside, humming a sweet melody to herself and putting on a brave face as she waited. It had been several minutes since her friends had left her and she was beginning to worry. She fiddled with the straps on Pinkie’s pack, trying to keep her mind preoccupied as she focused on keeping it from tugging against her mane.
“AAAAHHHEEEEE!”
Fluttershy almost jumped when she heard the scream, high-pitched and terrified as it echoed out from the darkness. She squealed, letting out a tiny “eep!” and had to catch herself from stumbling when Pinkie and Rainbow came running.
“Wh-what’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, looking frantically to a startled Pinkie Pie as she ran past.
“Panic!” she replied, to which Rainbow Dash immediately followed up with “Run!” and grabbed Fluttershy by the hoof.
Before she could so much as ask what they were running from, the three were, off, galloping down the passageway as fast as they could.
The change was almost immediate as they fled. The dark passage began to warp around them; darkness broken by a dim, throbbing, green hue from behind, and the silence shattered by a constant, ever-increasing moan as it grew closer—turning more into a roar with every step.
Fluttershy stumbled across the uneven cobbles, panting and flapping her wings to try desperately to keep up with Rainbow Dash. She risked a glance over her shoulder, and immediately regretted it as she beheld the horrors to come.
The passages seemed to warp, convulsing to life as the stone bricks broke apart. A green glow and rumble roared from between them as they shifted over and among themselves.
Not far behind, and quickly approaching—Fluttershy gulped—was a massive wall of slime. A mass of undulating arms and limbs, thrashing and moaning as it barrelled towards them, reaching out as it drew nearer.
“Uh...” Suddenly paler than before, Fluttershy turned back to Dash, her eyes wide and voice trembling as she spoke. “D-D-Dash?” she cried.
“I know.” Rainbow Dash shouted back, her voice resolute as she picked up her hooves and took flight.
“D-Da-DASH!” Fluttershy screamed again, trembling as she grabbed her friend into a tight hug, unable to speak anything other her friends name as she dug her face into her mane.
“I know!” she repeated, gritting her teeth. With a beat of her wings, they slightly picked up pace, catching up with Pinkie Pie as they flew down the passages.
Under the din came a low rumble. The castle around them seemed to shake to life as some unknown mechanism shuddered into motion.
Far ahead, there was the flitter of motion, and the walls began to shift. They both could’ve sworn they saw Sombra’s face, a snarling maw—almost like the King himself was there with them—as the end of the passage began to narrow. Trap walls shuddered and shook, inching their way out from their hiding place, closing in to cut off their escape.
“We’re not going to make it!” Fluttershy screamed, her voice found. “I can’t look,” she whimpered, as she hid her face behind her hooves.
“Oh yes we are!” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. Holding Fluttershy close, she put on one last burst of speed. The air sparked around her, and a rainbow contrail spread from behind her as she kicked away from the mountains of hooves lapping behind them. She barrelled into Pinkie Pie, scooping the mare up in her wake, and tore through the narrowing passage towards their exit.
With just meters left, she crouched and covered her face, pushed her two friends ahead, and readied for the worst as they passed the final opening.
There was a resounding boom, and the shaking of rock as the doors slammed shut, biting off but a tuft of Rainbow hair before the ghosts were upon it, blazing and screaming, as they pounded on the stone wall.
~ ~ ~
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”
On the far side of the wall, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie tumbled to the ground, still shaken after their last experience. They bolted upright, hearts pounding, and slapping hooves over ears as they looked to each other. “There’s screaming,” Pinkie Pie shouted, barely able to be heard over the noise, “Why is there screaming?!”
Fluttershy glanced to Pinkie. Hooves still pressed to her ears, she shrugged. “Why are you looking at me?”
There was a brief pause, and both mares looked down, angling their gaze lower to the mare sitting between them. “AAAAAAAAAAH”— Rainbow Dash was lying on the ground, eyes screwed shut, and mouth wide open, screaming a terrified, girly scream at the top of her voice as she held her hooves around herself for dear life.
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy shouted, half out of shock and half out of relief.
They both shoved their hooves into her mouth, silencing the mare as Pinkie Pie whined. “It’s over, Rainbow!”
Instantly, Rainbow Dash stopped. She cracked an eye open and glanced between her two friends, glaring down at her—one concerned, one smirking.
She blushed slightly, mumbling as the hooves were removed. “Oh, uh...” Her blush deepened, stuttering as she tried to retain her cool. “I-I- I knew that,” she said then crossed her hooves, and stuck up her nose.
Silence; the combined glares of both her friends was answer enough. “I—” she scrunched—“Promise me you won’t tell anypony about this?”
Still more silence.
Eventually, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie stood, leaving Dash behind as they stumbled to their hooves and went to inspect the wall.
The stones still rumbled with the banging of hooves, and the muffled moans of ghosts on the far side. The stones glowed brightly from between the gaps, a sign their pursuer wasn’t going anywhere.
“So, um...” Fluttershy leaned closer to Pinkie’s ear, her eyes still glued to the wall. They both watched with rapt attention; the flickering lights as they danced across the surface. “H-How long do you think it’ll hold?” she whispered.
Pinkie simply shrugged, shaking her head, and looked back to Rainbow for a possible answer.
“I’d... rather not stay to find out,” Rainbow Dash whispered. Pulling herself to her hooves, she tentatively stepped away from the wall. Putting distance between herself and it, she began to forge a path into the darkness, calling to Pinkie Pie as she trotted. “Pinkie Pie, did you have any luck finding—”
“Rainbow Dash!”
Before she could utter another word, Rainbow was cut off by a mare’s voice, wobbly and uncertain, distant yet somehow familiar as it echoed from nowhere. There was a flash flash and the space was illuminated with a dim blue glow as something emerged from the walls, wrapping Rainbow Dash into a tight hug.
“Oh thank Celestia I finally found you!” the ghost screamed.
“Urk—“ Rainbow Dash gulped, as she was almost glomped to the ground, a pair of translucent grey hooves squeezing around her barrel, forcing the air out of her lungs. “D-Ditzy?” she was able to rasp out, and moved to pull away from the mare’s death-grip. “Is that you?”
Still sceptical, she looked the mare up and down. Besides missing a lower torso, the upper part fit the description of the mare to the T. There was no mistaking that wall-eyed gaze, or that happy-go-lucky grin in the face of literal death. “Mhm,” she nodded, floating back slightly to give both Rainbow and Pinkie Pie enough room to breathe. “You won’t believe”—she rolled her eyes—“what I had to go through to get ba—”
As she said this, there was another, slightly different flash of light. Ditzy was cut off as a beam of magic cut through the air, barely missing Rainbow’s head and ripping straight through Ditzy’s remaining torso.
Neither of them, especially Ditzy, had the chance to move a muscle before the ghost burst like a grape, coating the room and everypony present in a thin coating of green slime.
“Uh... oops,” a shy voice whispered from over Rainbow’s shoulder. Mouths gaping and eyes wide, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie mirrored each other perfectly as they both looked over their shoulders.
Standing directly behind them, with the smoking nozzle of Pinkie’s pack balanced precariously on the tips of her wings, Fluttershy blushed as she retreated behind her mane. “S-sorry,” she whispered, smiling awkwardly, “It slipped.”