Big Thunder Mine was dank. And not in the cool weed way that Rainbow Dash definitely knew all about cuz she smoked drugs every day! She was best friends with Ford Twenty or whoever.
No, this was more of a creepy dank. The lower levels of the mine had been all but abandoned, and in the place of the miners was an eerie atmosphere and a sense of creeping dread.
It was dark too, but not so dark that it was impossible to see. Still though, Rainbow and Fluttershy agreed it’d be a bad situation for them to get separated, so as they crept through the mines, they held hands.
And Rainbow Dash was definitely not distracted at all by a beautiful woman holding her hand, or by the way Fluttershy’s eyes darted at every shadow on the wall cast by a flickering lantern around Rainbow’s neck, or the little gasps she made whenever any tiny sound occurred within earshot, or by wondering if it was bad that Rainbow thought Fluttershy’s little anxiety tics were really cute.
Nope, she wasn’t distracted at all. She was a capable multitasker, after all.
“You okay, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, squeezing Flutters’ hand a little tighter.
“Something is down here,” Fluttershy whispered, “and I don’t like it.”
“Should I be worried?” Rainbow chuckled. “That whatever’s down here is enough to scare a dragon?”
“If it were any other dragon than me, maybe,” Fluttershy giggled, and Rainbow could feel her soft fingers squeeze Rainbow’s just a little tighter, and it kinda ruled. “I’m practically afraid of my own shadow.”
“Any idea what it could be that’s down here?” Rainbow said.
“Um, I have a hunch, but, um,” Fluttershy bit her lip, and Rainbow stopped and grabbed Fluttershy’s other hand. “I don’t want to worry you for no reason. It’s only a gut feeling I have.”
“I trust your gut,” Rainbow said casually, cuz duh right?
“Okay, well,” Fluttershy took a deep breath and looked around suspiciously, “my gut says dragon.”
Damn. Rainbow’s gut was saying the same thing.
“Yeah, that’d figure, huh?” Rainbow chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck. “But it’s okay! No matter what, I’ll protect you. I promise.”
“And I’ll protect you,” Fluttershy responded with a sweet smile.
A thundering crack tore through the formerly quiet atmosphere as the ground shook beneath Rainbow and Fluttershy’s hooves. Before either could take off into the air, the earth opened up underneath Fluttershy, and she fell into the fissure, though Rainbow was still tightly holding onto her hands and refused to let go.
Rainbow flew up with Fluttershy to help her get her hooves back on solid ground, but as quickly as the fissure appeared, it began to seal up. Rainbow was forced to drop Fluttershy or else her hands would be sliced clean off, and she watched in horror as Fluttershy fell into the darkness before the earth sealed itself up and buried her.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow screamed, slamming her hands on the rocky ground. “FLUTTERSHY!”
Rainbow stood up and looked around for immediate danger, her ears twitching to try and pick up any sound. Something was nearby, maybe a group of ponies? That wasn’t quite right, but it sounded like a group of something slowly moving toward her from some nearby tunnels.
Rainbow took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. She was a Slayer, and she was trained to deal with situations just like this one. Whatever caused the earth to open up and swallow Fluttershy, it sure as hell wasn’t natural; it was magic. Whatever was lurking in the depths of the Big Thunder Mines, it knew Fluttershy and Rainbow were there, and it wasn’t friendly.
Rainbow would just need to soldier on, she supposed. She’d reconvene with Fluttershy on the level below this one, which happened to be the lowest level of the mine. Or at least Rainbow sure hoped it was the lowest level and there wasn’t some secret lower level that she needed to worry about.
For now, Rainbow decided to focus on whatever that sound was. It was faint; anyone with lesser hearing than Dash would’ve missed it entirely, and as she got closer to it, she detected something else with it. A gurgling, groaning noise.
Rainbow’s blood ran cold and her ears shot straight up. She had a bad feeling she knew what was waiting for her around the corner of the nearby tunnel, and it didn’t take long for them to turn the corner and show themselves.
It was indeed a group of ponies, about five of them, all dressed in the typical gear of a miner. Their skin was rotting, their fur was falling out in patches, and their bones were exposed in certain areas. Their eyes were hollowed out, empty portals into their skulls.
Ghouls.
Five ghouls versus one Rainbow Dash wasn’t an impossible battle for Rainbow to win, but the odds weren’t good, and Fluttershy was kinda sorta counting on Rainbow to stay alive, so she decided to just bolt in the opposite direction from those monsters instead.
Ghouls were some of the most dangerous creatures a Slayer could face; nearly indestructible golems of flesh that would lock onto an enemy and wouldn’t stop unless the enemy was killed, or the ghoul was burnt to ashes or otherwise completely obliterated.
They were slow and clumsy though, so one of them was no problem. Two even was pretty easy. Three was a bit of a challenge, and four was not a great situation to be in. Five was straight out of the question.
Which is why Rainbow’s stomach turned when she ran away from the ghouls, only to encounter a group of three more, similarly dressed in miner’s garb.
Welp, Rainbow found out what was happening to the miners at least. Though it did cross her mind that at least eight people died before the Slayers were called in to do something, and it was only because Rainbow answered a bulletin on the Green Neigh corkboard.
The mine wasn’t even shut down, the miners themselves had simply had enough of the dangerous conditions and went on strike. How many people was this mining operation willing to sacrifice to keep from shutting down?
Oh well, didn’t matter right now; Rainbow needed to focus or die. Unfortunately, her gear was tailored more toward dealing with dragons and beasts, so she was at a disadvantage against undead enemies. Damn she sure wished she’d taken Twilight up on that kiss now before she left.
Rainbow cut all the fingers but the thumbs off the first ghoul with two quick strikes, then jumped into the air and buffeted the three monsters with a gust of wind to stun them. She figured if she stayed airborne, she could avoid most of their attacks, cuz if one of their attacks landed, the battle would snowball pretty quickly out of Rainbow’s control.
What Rainbow wasn’t expecting though was for a stalactite to come outta the ceiling and gore her in the back, Rainbow screaming in pain before being slammed into the ground by a protruding stone pillar. Apparently whatever was lurking on the lower level wasn’t intent on just forgetting about Rainbow, and if it could manipulate the formation of the mines so easily… what the hell kind of magic was it using?
No time to get distracted! Rainbow got back on her hooves and found herself backing herself up against a wall as the three ghouls clambered toward her. She looked to her left to check how close the other five were, but she couldn’t see them.
Wait, what? She was sure that they were—
A stream of flame tore through the tunnels, incinerating the three ghouls in front of Rainbow, not even leaving ashes in their place.
Was that Fluttershy? No, she didn’t breathe fire, did she? And if she did, that was way more power than Rainbow expected from her.
No, wait… Rainbow recognized those flames. Only one person in Equestria had power like that, and just as Rainbow put those two dots together, the woman stepped into Rainbow’s view. Rainbow was shocked to see her, and that she managed to basically sneak up on Rainbow without her noticing.
A giant alicorn in gleaming golden armor, her mane billowing behind her even deep underground like a heavenly aurora, splendid white wings half-splayed behind her as four golden swords hovered in a yellow aura around her body.
“Celestia!” Rainbow called out in shock.
“Rainbow Dash?” Celestia looked over at Rainbow and her eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”
“On a mission,” Rainbow said, scurrying up to Celestia. “Was trying to figure out what was killing miners in this here mine, turned out to be a lot more dangerous than I thought.”
“Where’s Rarity?” Celestia asked sternly. “You aren’t here alone, are you?”
“No, I’m not!” Rainbow said. “Rarity wasn’t with me, but one of our other friends was. We got separated when the ground suddenly opened up and swallowed her.”
Shit.
Rainbow couldn’t believe she just said that; if Celestia came face to face with Fluttershy, she would see right through the dragon’s disguise and that would ruin everything that Rainbow and the girls had worked so hard for!
“I see,” Celestia said, her voice soft and kind, which was kinda hard to hear knowing how much Celestia hated some of the people that Rainbow cared for most in the whole world. “You should stick with me then, Rainbow Dash. Whatever creature is lurking in this mine is using magic to warp the very earth itself. My magic is still stronger though, so I’ll protect you and we can find your friend together. How does that sound?”
“That sounds great,” Rainbow gave a shaky smile and she felt like she was gonna be sick. “Thanks, Celestia.”