“And your hands are clammy you bucking horseapples!” Vinyl yelled out through whatever hole in the wall she could find.
“Will you stop yelling already… ugh… I can't believe this happened.” Taran rested his head against his knees.
“That's because you decided to run ahead without a plan. Even I've been getting better about it.” Vinyl pointed out clearly annoyed at the chained cuffs around her forehooves. She glared at them even though she knew that she could take them off at any moment. The problem was more that she didn't know where she needed to go to escape the place and Taran wasn't privy to that information as well.
“What else did you expect me to do? Hen Wen was gonna be made into bacon.” Taran growled out causing her to grimace from the thought.
“Listen to us when we had a plan in the making, duh! They needed her to see the future apparently and if we did nothing they wouldn't have gotten anything at all.” Vinyl countered tension rising down the back of her neck.
“Ugh… “ Taran sighed, resting his head in his hands. His shoulder sagged as some weight pushed down on him.
“We need to get out of here… but I haven't been able to see a good way out of here.” Vinyl muttered.
“But we're chained up already. What can we do?” Taran groaned as he tried to move his legs faster only for the chains to rattle when he did so. Sighing, he let his legs curl up against his body and rested his head against his knees.
“I can get us out but only in the sense we won't have chains anymore dude.” Vinyl responded pulling at her chains in her magic. She was unsure whether or not to bring out her keyblade in case they were being watched.
“We could fight our way out?” Taran lifted his head seemingly raising his hopes.
“I can fight my way out. You don't have a weapon and they'll use you like bait if they see you. We need a better way to get out of here.” Vinyl summarized and lowered her shades. Her eyes had stung and she need to drown out the inefficient light from the sconces on the wall.
“Are you crying?” Taran wondered aloud since the shades over her eyes kept them hidden.
“Pshaw… I'm fine. Just tired is all. This has been a very long day.” Vinyl lowered her muzzle and looked away. She must have been more tired than she had once thought.
“Red… please… ugh… stop with the choking.”
I was coughing at this point since we had nearly reached the shore. She had been extremely anxious throughout the entire swim. Spitfire was very calm in contrast swimming besides me while we escaped from the fortress and the heartless. The tiny goblin had focused on the ones he did capture which meant that we had some time to get to safety.
I hated that we couldn't do anything yet. We had left Taran and Vinyl behind while the pig was close to us. Spitfire had picked her up on her back as we finally reached the shore. Red still wouldn't let go as we trotted back to our rendezvous point.
“Red… we're on land… stop… choking… me!”
Spitfire managed to get Redheart off of me prying her hooves from around my neck. It took a few moments before she could smell the dust she kicked up from beating at the dirt. I coughed slightly brushing my hoof through the air to clear away the small cloud she formed. Redheart stood with a sheepish grin on her face and cheeks fully flushed from embarrassment.
“Oh… we're on land. Yay… heh heh… “ Redheart pulled her little nurse cap over her face just to escape our gaze. I wouldn't needle her over this but I was certain Spitfire would.
“Let's get back to the others and from there we'll make a plan to get back Vinyl.”
“Jeez Red… you and me… we're gonna go swimming until you got it.” Spitfire muttered to Red while I pretended to tune them out.
“Can we not and say we did? I hate swimming.” Red protested trying to swerve the conversation away from water.
“No. C’mon mare, we need you to be prepared for anything. What if Gray wasn't here to save your flank? You could've drowned then.” Spitfire brought up though it sounded like she was channeling her drill sergeant nature.
“Buck that's horrifying. I don't want to think about it.” Redheart quivered as I turned to the pair and covered their mouths with my wings.
“Heartless in the area. Let's be silent so we could sneak around them.”
I lied as quickly as possible. While I was of the opinion that Redheart needed to learn to swim the conversation was going south with how pale she looked because of her encounter. Swimming could be brought up later. I would do it myself as well so I could ease the blow or be as blunt as possible if she tried to run away from it.
“There they are!” Octavia shouted as I saw her silhouette wave to us in the distance… which quickly shift to holding her hoof to her mouth.
We galloped over forcing Hen Wen to hold on to Spitfire’s back. A short rush to a very heavy silence followed suit as Octavia seemed horror struck when we did.
“Where’s Vinyl?” Octavia rounded on me first.
“Captured. I'll be heading back in to carve a path to her in a moment.”
“Not without me, you won't.” Octavia glared into my eyes which made me flinch. She was scary when mad.
“Wouldn't think of it any other way… “ I muttered before turning to Spitfire and Redheart. “Fill in Sunshower and Fresh Coat about what happened and we'll be right back with Vinyl and Taran.”
“You got it bosscolt.” Spitfire mock saluted me as she led a still shaken Redheart to the tent they had set up.
Apparently the other two had decided to take a nap in the interim. I couldn't blame them when this place was this peaceful. Though I couldn't think of that as Octavia climbed on my back urging me into the shadows.
“Ease up Tavi. She's tougher than she looks and we’ll get her back.”
Octavia froze at mention of her nickname and buried her muzzle into my neck. She shook slightly but I couldn't tell whether or not she was crying or shaking in rage. I kept quiet and dove into the shadows taking her with me back into the fortress.
“Okay… so we can relax for a bit then?” Redheart looked to Spitfire who nodded and flopped down on one of the mats inside the tent.
“For now. We'll wait for a signal and then… then we'll make sure to get them out of there.” Spitfire yawned as she laid her head while Redheart found a spot and flopped down resting her body from the fear she was forced to face.
After making certain everything was clear Vinyl summoned her keyblade and tapped it against the locks releasing the two of them from their shackles. Taran rubbed his wrists as the red band around them chafed under the strain.
“Why didn't you do that earlier?” Taran groaned as he glowered at the small unicorn.
“Because we needed to not be watched. It's obvious that they would have stopped me too quickly if they noticed me doing anything. That sort of thing happens all the time… in films.” Vinyl coughed the last part out muffling it with her hoof.
“What was that?” Taran brought up, his suspicion rising.
“Nothing. Don't worry about it. Now let's get out of here.” Vinyl waved it off looking around the cell more clearly now that she was free from her bindings.
Before Taran could try to bring up her comment again the floor began to shift. Vinyl’s training took root forcing her stance low as her keyblade floated closely in her telekinetic hold. Taran picked up a nearby rock trying to look intimidating. A small little light flew from one of the holes on the floor surprising the two as Taran launched his rock at it. The rock harmlessly sailed through it.
“Stop panicking! We're fine!” Vinyl hissed as she watched the floor since the small bauble of light floated around.
Taran stopped flailing around as the floor opened up and a young woman with blonde hair and fair figure popped her head up. She looked around noticing the unicorn and she nearly squealed from the sight.
“Oh my! A unicorn!” The young woman climbed out of the hole startling Vinyl enough to drop her keyblade. Luckily, the lady merely snuggled into her giving her a great big hug.
“Hey! Look lady I don't know what you heard but this ain't college and I ain't experimenting anymore.” Vinyl belted out then covered her mouth.
“College? Is that a unicorn thing? Also did you just talk!?” The lady held Vinyl out at arm length, hands underneath her fore hooves.
“Oh look a distraction! That hole leads out of here right?” Vinyl quickly cried out but managed to reign in her volume before she broke the tough character she was trying to pull off.
“Huh? Oh yes I think so. I've been trying to find the right path for a while now and my little bauble here was leading me to the closest exit. I suppose I just got lucky and found some more captives at the very least. Come on let's head on out.” The young lady waved at the group to follow as she jumped back into the hole.
“Hey!? Wait a moment. At least tell us your name.” Taran called out as the second into the hole.
“Ah yes. Sorry about that. My name is Eilonwy.” She gave a polite bow. “I suppose you could call me a princess but please keep it casual. No need to go gloating about a title and such.”
“You're a princess? Huh… you got any magic?” Vinyl called out as she raised her hoof regaining her keyblade and followed after the other two into the catacombs beneath the fortress.
“I suppose I can cast a few spells. Mind you I never really fought anything and those shadow creatures are proving to be terrifying. I've never seen creatures like them either. They keep twisting the darkness and I think some of the Horned King’s guards were also killed when they tried to tame them.” Eilonwy muttered under her breath.
“Okay… well since I got the weapon right now I'll stick to the middle and Eilonwy will be up front lighting our way.” Vinyl ordered as Taran reluctantly took his position. This wasn't going to get him trained as a knight and he knew it.
We landed in the shadow of the fortress close to the water. I clung to one of the extensions while Octavia held on closely to me to not fall into the water. She watched for any heartless that might get too close though I had made sure to remain at the lowest possible place I could without touching the water. The flying heartless guards seemed to double since our escape but they kept up beyond the fortress parapets.
“I feel lightheaded… “ Octavia muttered since we were technically upside down.
“Sorry. We'll be inside in a bit.”
I dove back into the shadows keeping Octavia tightly in my grasp. For some reason every jump got me on the ceiling and she was looking uncomfortable from the constant defiance of gravity. Eventually we managed to find a safe spot within the fortress high above the dining hall. There were no guards within but the heartless had grown as several of the Bone Knights and Lancers were roaming the halls. I carefully placed her on one of the sturdier chandeliers making certain that the chains holding it up weren't likely to break except for the hardest blows.
“We won't be able to get anything out of these heartless Gray.” Octavia hissed out to me as I searched for any sign of the goblin, his master, Pete, or even the human guards.
“Yeah… even if we were to race through this place it's not like we'll find them like that. Especially if she decided to break out before we came.”
“You'd think she'd actually think this through though. I've known Vinyl almost all my life and while she has had that odd clever plan to get her out of trouble it never got this bad.” Octavia pondered as she noted that several of the heartless started to leave the room letting the human guards in.
“I think she'll be fine… let's listen for now.”
I didn't actually know if she would be but I needed to keep up a brave face regardless of what might have happened.
“I hate those creepy things… makes us look bad, I tell you what.” One guard muttered.
“Oh shut it. They're fine. So long as you don't be stupid they don't attack. You be stupid then you deserve it ya right doff bastard.” Another guard chortled out.
“You lookin to fight there jackass.” The first guard replied getting up to his feet as he looked at the other.
“Well seeing as you ain't a woman… “ The other guard slyly held a finger to his chin before a fist slugged him down to the ground before they broke out into an outright brawl.
“Charming… “ Octavia glared at the scene before her.
“And we have no idea where we could looks for her.”
I locked my hooves into the ceiling surprisingly my internal magic allowed me to channel it into keeping hoof holds within the ceiling. I shook my head to Octavia as she slowly worked her way onto my stomach as I crawled along the ceiling and being a long and very arduous search for Vinyl.
Octavia kept her head across my shoulder as she kept watch for any anomalies. We weren't exactly in the best situation since I could only see so much from how I was positioned. I was forced to look ahead and the blood rushing to my head while mitigated by being a thestral, apparently which is something I need to look further into, I had to dodge any of the dividers and strange stonework on the ceiling.
“I didn't think ponies could do this outside of Pinkie Pie.” Octavia whispered to me as we entered another room.
“I think any pony can do this if they try it out. Magic can bridge the gap and make the impossible possible.”
“So we could learn to do this? I think that might be the craziest thing I've ever heard… then again I've also been to four other planets now so what do I know.” Octavia groused as she gripped my shoulder to make me stop. Several human guards were walking around at this point patrolling the halls.
In my time as a cop I had learned that people never looked more than forty five degrees up whenever they enter a room. During one of my cases one of the criminals had one of his associates hang in the corner to ambush us. One patrol officer had gone down because of that which hammered into me to always watch the corners including the ones near the ceiling.
“Gray… there’s a staircase over there maybe we should check the lower levels.” Octavia whispered as she pointed her hoof towards the right that led downwards. “Let's face it… she's probably in the dungeons.”
“Well this place is quite lively isn't it?” Vinyl deadpanned as they passed through more of the crypt. The dead were in full attendance even though she wasn't disc jockeying that evening and she doubted that the skeleton crew would be that open to joining them that night.
“Truthfully, I've been searching for a passage out but I didn't have the leverage to actually take them. Too many cast iron gates you see.” Eilonwy mentioned as she kept ahead of the pair and looked over the grand expanse of waterways that covered the catacombs. “This is where the first King was buried so long ago if I remember correctly. He united the people and when he died cut up the land between his heirs so each would rule a section in relative peace and stability.”
“That didn't last long.” Taran brought up as he noted several different crests that adorned the tombs that littered the wall.
Vinyl felt uncomfortable. Like most ponies, she had never dealt with death personally. Even during the trip to Atlantis, all the fallen had fallen when they weren't around. The Forest of Nibel was more pronounced but she hadn't been present within the Forlorn Ruins when the mass grave was uncovered.
“Let's just get out of here. We’ll have plenty to talk about when we find the others.” Vinyl lowered her shades again and trotted ahead of the light keeping an eye on her hoofsteps. The floor had proven to be a bit disturbing to look at at this point.
“Alright… sounds like you've got an entire group with you.” Eilonwy mentioned somewhat longingly at the thought.
“Yeah I do.” Vinyl muttered as she summoned her keyblade to her hoof and waded further into the darkness.
Taran, meanwhile, got distracted. Off on a large pedestal was a large bronze ritual pedestal covered in a mummified remains of what was most likely the most recently deceased king. Resting in his hands was a large sword with the word Dyrnwyn engraved in runes along the edge. Gingerly, Taran released the sword from the corpse’s grip and took it with him.
“I'll make sure to pull my own weight.” Taran muttered as he rushed after the bauble and the two ladies who were taking the lead.
“Gray? Couldn't we link with Vinyl telekinetically?” Octavia whispered into my ear as we searched yet another hall of the building to no avail.
“I've been trying for the past couple of rooms. Something has been blocking me from doing so and I'm not even sure if the others have been trying to reach us either.”
I had tried the moment we had entered the dining room because something had been kneeling against a small portion of my brain. It wasn't painful but it made itself known every time that I tried to call out to her. From that point I would attempt it again every room unless it was a hallway. Something was causing problems for me and I had no idea what was causing it in the first place.
“You wise guys got it? Keep up your hocus pocus while I keep an eye out for those pastel glue bottles.” Pete guffawed as his trio of wizard heartless connected their staves and channeled their magic into several runes.
Pete had gotten a few extra weapons on his side including his special knuckle dusting beaut. It was a boxing glove filled with iron and fashioned into an iron gauntlet. It would certainly give him a strong right. He had a need. A need to pay back some stuck up smart mouth ponies who thought they could pull a fast one over Good Ol’ Pete. His following laughter was ignored by the heartless who kept up their spell while he walked alongside the outskirts of the lake outside the fortress.
“Good thing those wyvern heartless saw that weird bat one somewhere near the edge of the water.” Pete mumbled as he wandered around the lake making certain to look for any sign of those interlopers that had tried to stop him earlier.