//------------------------------// // Chapter Twelve: Incursion // Story: A Demon's Second Chance // by Perfectly Insane //------------------------------// I don’t even remember falling asleep; Fluttershy’s warm embrace in the otherwise cold room was the last thing that came to mind before everything went blank. The dull sunlight shining through the windows let me know that the sun is up and that it’s time for me to follow, though I found it somewhat unsettling since it’s not paired with the sound of birds chirping like I’d gotten used to.  Despite how gently I tried to get out of Fluttershy’s grip, she woke up soon after me. Rising out of the bed and stretching her arms and wings. My face was annoyingly sticky from last night, but my sleeves weren’t good enough to get rid of it. I’d have to find a bathroom soon, or it’d bother me all day.  “Good morning, Chara.” She said with a stretched out yawn.  I gripped the sides of the bed, trying to ignore the urge to say something about last night, which was coupled with the awkwardness of not knowing what to say. In a moment of weakness, I told her one of the worst things I’d ever done. I expected her to be horrified, to question why, maybe even some part of me expected her to ridicule me for it.  Instead, she forgave me.  Asriel, the sweetest soul I’d ever met, was the only one who I thought could forgive me. Not that I deserved it; I’m not even convinced I do now. My actions tore apart his family and all the underground. However, if I had told her all that, I’m certain her forgiveness wouldn’t have come so easily. “Chara?”  “...Thank you.” I sharply inhaled as I grasped my pendant. “For forgiving me. I think I needed it.”  She wrapped her arms around me, holding me to her chest and caressing me. Even after last night, I couldn’t help but flinch at the contact. As much as I trust her, that irrational part of my brain struggled to be ok with it. There’s a good chance I never really will be. “You’re welcome. I know there’s a lot you don’t want to tell me, but I promise I won’t judge you.” “It’s easy to say that, a lot harder to convince me it's true.” I whispered as I closed my eyes, trying to get my body to relax, even just a little. “I want to tell you some things, but I-”  A loud banging noise interrupted me as someone knocked on the door. I jumped in response, right out of Fluttershy’s arms and onto my feet.  “You guys up? Twilight’s got a plan, and she wants everyone here for it. There’s breakfast, but it’s…uh.” Rainbow made a gagging noise loud enough to hear from the other side of the door. “That rock soup stuff again. I can’t blame you if you don’t wanna eat it, it gave me the sh-”  “We’ll be out in a minute, Dash.” Fluttershy interrupted as she got out of the bed.  “Aight.”  Rainbow’s hoofsteps signaled her leaving. I took deep breaths as I tried to steady my heart beat, shuddering at the idea of putting that disgusting liquid in my mouth again. My backpack sitting in the corner reminded me of a delicious alternative that I brought from Ponyville.  With my back facing to Fluttershy and hiding my arm the best I could, I pulled the caramel cupcake out of my backpack through my inventory. The sheer deliciousness of it eliminated any leftover morning grogginess. The cupcake itself was perfectly soft, and the sweetness of the caramel mixed with the frosting would have been overpowering if not for the salt sprinkled in. Besides Toriel’s pie, it might have been the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.  “Chara, where did you have that cupcake?”  I froze, having completely forgotten that Fluttershy was there for a second. “My backpack.” I mumbled.  “Wouldn’t you have gotten frosting all over the inside?”   “I’m…” As tempting as it would be to tell her that my backpack also functioned as a pocket dimension, I couldn’t say if telling her about my abilities would be a good idea or not. At least, not until I have a better understanding of them. “Really careful?”  Of course, she didn’t believe me. Not that I actually expected her to. Thankfully, she didn’t ask me about it again as I finished it. I used some tissues resting on the nightstand to clean myself, and put my backpack on before going down to the living room with Fluttershy.  That familiar, creeping dread made itself known as we descended the stairs. I couldn’t say for sure how long we’d been asleep, but Twilight’s certainly spent most of that time wringing Igneous of everything information wise she could, Diamond Dogs or otherwise. The image I’ve formed didn’t exactly fill me with confidence in dealing with them. However, with what I’ve heard about Twilight’s magical feats, along with how physically strong Rainbow and AJ were, I stand a better chance now than I did with the timberwolves.  Twilight sat in the same spot I saw her last night, drinking from a steaming thermos I presumed was filled with coffee. A map with various markings sat on the table in front of her. Igneous and Cloudy weren’t here, they probably didn’t go to bed until after Twilight was done with them and were sleeping in longer than they usually would. Applejack and Limestone were having an arm wrestling contest with Rainbow as the referee, I couldn’t quite tell who was winning. Pinkie, Rarity, and Marble were in the corner talking about something just out of earshot. Judging from how they glanced at me when I came in and their expressions changed, it was probably related to me somehow.  I had a feeling Pinkie told Rarity about my ‘date’, likely during their truth or dare. Hopefully, that’s just my paranoia again.  “Oh, Chara. Good morning.” Twilight said as her horn enveloped in magic, lifting something on the ground beside her and began floating it towards me. “Pinkie’s mom finished this and told me to give it to you when you wake up.”  My eyes saw it for what it was, but my mind refused to process it. It’s a scarf, long enough to wrap around my neck once or twice with some left over. It’s also a shade of red, almost crimson like my eyes, but slightly darker. My hands shook as I reached out and grabbed it, the soft texture of it doing little to calm me down.  It looked just like… “That’s very nice of her. You should thank her when you see her next, Chara.”  Fluttershy’s words barely registered to me. I couldn’t relax my grip no matter how much I wanted to. The chances of her making a scarf that’s identical to one I was so familiar with were astronomical, but my life had been a string of coincidences recently. She made it for me, probably because it gets cold out there around winter time, and noticed I didn’t have fur like they did.  Even so…I don’t know if I can wear this. “Chara?” Fluttershy asked with an ounce of concern. “I…” the sharp pain from biting the inside of my cheeks did little to distract me from the growing weight in my chest. Pushing down the desire to throw up the cupcake I just ate didn’t help much either. “I’ll put it on later.”  Wearing that scarf would be beyond disrespectful, but not wearing it would also be disrespectful to Cloudy. She made this for me, because she’s proud and doesn’t enjoy accepting help without offering anything in return if I had to guess. I do have a strong dislike for the cold, but was that enough justification to wear a scarf almost identical to his? I shook my head and slipped the scarf into my backpack, which only made Fluttershy more concerned. Not to mention Twilight was watching me, my reaction couldn’t have helped her suspicions of me. I’m almost expecting her to corner me at some point and ask me whatever she was going to say before she was cut off on the train.  Which won’t happen if I just stay with Fluttershy the whole time we’re here. Probably. “Come on, AJ! You’ve got this!”  Rainbow shouted as Limestone began to win, trying to keep a smug smirk but was clearly struggling with her clenched jaw and visible veins. Applejack wasn’t trying to conceal her effort at all, gritting her teeth and not breaking eye contact for a second. I worried if the poor wooden table could take it.  My concern proved right as she pushed more into it and win against Limestone. The wood began to crack where their elbows were and the legs began to shake. Limestone let go and pulled her hand away, caring more about breaking furniture than winning.  “What in tarnation?! Just as ah was about ta win ya pull out? What, you that much of ah sore loser?”  “What? No way, I was just about to beat you!” Limestone said with heavy emphasis, rubbing her wrist. “I just don’t want to break this table. Cleaning it up is almost as much a pain in the ass as making one would be.”  Applejack scoffed in response. “That’s gotta be the poorest excuse ah’ve ever heard.”  “Hey, fuck you!” Limestone retorted as she stood up, slamming her hands against the table. Which turned out to be the last the table could handle as one leg snapped and the rest couldn’t support its weight, collapsing to the ground with a thud. In response, she let out a loud grunt and rubbed the sides of her head in frustration. “Shit, dad’s gonna make me fix that later.” “Girls, can we get started? The longer we’re here, the higher the chance that something will go wrong at Ponyville. We haven’t had our monster attack this month.”  For a second, I thought that was a joke. Then I remembered it was Twilight and her jokes were always terrible.  Fluttershy, Pinkie and I sat across from Twilight. Rarity and Applejack sat down beside her while Rainbow hovered like usual. Limestone was mumbling something to herself as she picked up what was left of the table and took it to the next room.  Marble just…kind of existed in the corner.  “Hey, Chara.” Pinkie leaned down to me, a tone in her voice I couldn’t quite recognize. “Sorry ahead of time. Rarity…squeezed it out of me and knows you were on a date the other night.” I bit the corner of my lip as I glanced at Rarity, who had a sparkle in her eyes that downright scared me.  “I’m guessing by ‘squeezed it out of you’, you mean she asked you something in truth or dare and you couldn’t lie, right?”  “Welllll, that and I’m horrible at lying.” I sighed as I fidgeted on the couch, and caught Fluttershy smiling out of the corner of my eye. “I should have made you Pinkie Promise then.”  She playfully hit herself on the side of the head and smiled with her tongue sticking out of her mouth, almost making me forgive her. Almost.  “From what I understand, the diamond dogs won’t go into the quarry or the crystal mine, or they at least haven’t been spotted there if they have.” Twilight explained, pointing at two spots on the map.  “Assuming they haven’t, that’s very peculiar, as they’re borderline obsessed with gems and pretty much anything shiny. If that’s what they’re here for, that should be their first target. Especially since there are no unicorns here for them to locate and find gems, which means they have to have some ulterior motive.”  “Darling, I don’t mean to interrupt, but that doesn’t sound right.” Rarity chimed in. “The Diamond Dogs I met didn’t care for anything other than gems. Even going so far as to neglect their hygiene, giving them their ghastly appearance!” “We get it, Rarity! They’re gross!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I agree, it doesn’t sound right, but it’s what they seem to be doing.” Twilight said as she leaned forward, drawing circles around dots on the map that seemed random to us. “They’ve been seen on all four sides of the farm, sometimes in groups and other times one at a time. They never get too close, but always make sure they’ve been seen. If they just wanted to hurt Pinkie’s family, they would have done so already. I thought knowing how they’ve been moving and where they’ve been would tell me what they want, but it just further reinforced the conclusion I came to before; They’re waiting for something.”  “Do yuh think they might be waiting for more diamond dogs?” Applejack inquired.  “No, what would be the point?” Twilight responded with a dismissive shake of her head. “Igneous said that they rarely saw the same diamond dog twice, and that they have distinct enough features that they can make out different ones. They have little around a dozen at least, which is more than enough to attempt whatever they want to do. Waiting for others would be a waste, not to mention the possibility that they’ve been here longer than we thought and only just recently made themselves known for whatever reason.”  The growing frustration became more evident in her voice as she spoke, I didn’t even notice the bags under her eyes until she took a much longer sip from her thermos. I began to wonder if the Biphasic Sleep Schedule she’d been trying to get into was more trouble than it's worth. “Is it possible they just want help with something, but don’t know how to ask?” Fluttershy breathed. “Doubt it. Diamond dogs don’t like ponies at all for some reason, we’re the last ones they’d ask for help if they needed it. That, or what they require help with has made them so desperate that they have no one else to ask for but us. Which might just be even more worrying.” “Then…what can we do?” Pinkie whispered, the low tone and meekness of her voice similar to how it was when she came to Fluttershy. Just as unsettling now as it was then.  “Well,” Twilight drew big x’s on the map, one in each of the four directions. “There have been a few holes around the farm that weren’t there before, large enough for the diamond dogs to have made and for us to explore. Assuming they have a den like before, at least one of those tunnels would lead back to it. We have to at least try to establish contact with them, but if we all only go into one tunnel at a time, it could take days before we find them, especially if they don’t want us to find them. So,”  She pulled markers out of her satchel, drawing tally marks for the numbers one to four and different parts of the map for each direction. Each number was a different color.  “There’s nine of us in total, enough to split into three groups of three. There are four tunnels, and their den has to be in one of these four sections of the farm. If one group goes to one of them, then we’ll be able to search three of the four in one day. No matter what we find, we’ll learn either where they are, or where they aren’t. If we don’t find them in any of those, we’ll know for certain they’ll be in the last by process of elimination alone.”  “And…what happens if we do find them?” I asked, voicing the question I knew had to be on everyone’s mind. “Pummel them, obviously. I’m not cool with how they tried to ride us last time.” Rainbow offered while cracking her knuckles and scowling.  “First, we have to at least try to talk to them. As the elements of harmony, peace should always be our first option. In the scenario that they don’t want peace, we’ll have to force them to leave somehow. Although I’m hoping to avoid that. Violence should be the last resort.” Twilight said as she glared at Rainbow.  “I can try whining again, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work this time.” Rarity added. “Regardless, we should focus on finding them first, and how things go depends on how they respond.” her magic enveloped a coffee cup full of thin, wooden sticks with their tips highlighted in red. “If one of the groups finds the diamond dogs, they should come back here immediately, it’s too risky otherwise. Don’t go farther than you can trace back, Diamond Dogs are notorious for making complex tunnel systems. We should all meet back here before the sun goes down. Now,”  She hovered the cup in the center of the room, shaking it and stirring the sticks around. “I thought I would make this a little fun by having the groups be randomly selected. Pull a stick!”  Right as Rainbow was about to pull one, Twilight abruptly tugged the cup away as her eyes widened, causing Rainbow to let out an annoyed groan. “Oh! Last thing, I promise.” with the cup of sticks hovering just beside her, she used one of the markers to draw dozens of smaller circles on each section of the map. Only taking a minute before it looked like someone sneezed ink on it. “Strangely, there are way more tunnels than there really should be. From what we know about Diamond Dogs, they scarcely make more than a couple because they’re mostly for travel. Apparently they’re not a fan of the surface. So, then why would they dig so many tunnels? Are they…searching for something, but haven’t found it and that’s why they’re still here? I don’t get it.”  Her voice trailed off as she tapped the marker against her lips, staring blankly at the map and quickly becoming lost in thought.  “Oh my Celestia, can you get to the point egghead?” Rainbow groaned as she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sorry. Anyway, this farm is a lot bigger than it looks. Each section of it is more than large enough for their den to be just beneath it, so we have to check each one to find it. Statistically, we have a three in four chance of getting it today. The sooner we get started, the better.”  Her magic on the marker vanished as she dropped it back into her bag, gently placing the cup full of sticks onto the map. “This time, I really am done. Go ahead.” I nervously gulped as I watched the others pull one, some of them happy with what they got, others raising an eyebrow almost disapprovingly. Knowing Twilight, she probably put Fluttershy and I on one stick since she knew I wouldn’t exactly be able to handle being away from Fluttershy that well. It’s whoever the third’s going to be that I’m more worried about.  Even if Twilight wouldn’t confront me with Fluttershy around, there’s no way Fluttershy wouldn’t be able to notice the tension between us. Being in those tunnels, knowing that giant dog-like creatures could pounce out at us wouldn’t help, I don’t think I could handle it.  Rarity, while it would have been easier to tolerate her, I wouldn’t want to deal with either. I can’t be completely upset at Pinkie for telling, it’s not like I expected Rarity to never find out, knew that the moment I decided to go on that date with him. I don’t hate Rarity either, I just really don’t want to deal with all the questions I know she’s going to have when I’d barely had time to think about it myself.  All I can do is hope I luck out. ___ I didn’t.  I was right about Twilight putting Fluttershy and I on one stick, she’s a bit predictable for someone as smart as her. The problem was that I pulled Rarity’s stick. Some part of me suspected that Rarity had made a nefarious deal with Twilight to get me to pull her stick. Whether there was any truth to that or I was being paranoid again, I’ll likely never know.  After giving us a smaller version of the map, we split off into our separate groups after wishing each other safety. One team turned out to be Rainbow, Twilight, and Marble, which I pictured would be incredibly awkward. Pinkie, AJ, and Limestone were the leftovers and didn’t have to draw. Considering that Limestone was visibly still pissed about almost losing that arm wrestling contest and accidentally breaking that table, I felt a little bad for Pinkie having to mediate that. It was unfortunately colder outside than what I was expecting, not that Rarity and Fluttershy were bothered by it thanks to their fur. Fluttershy noticed and extended her wing, offering to embrace me in it for warmth. As tempting as that was, I couldn’t help but feel that would be too awkward, especially with Rarity there.  At first, I did my best to ignore it. The icy wind blowing against my face and the chilling sensation in my hands didn’t help, and I hated that I couldn’t stop shaking and chattering my teeth. With heavy reluctance, I pulled out the scarf and wrapped it around me the best I could, leaving just a bit of it dangling off my shoulder. It didn’t help too much with my hands, but it certainly made my neck and lower face warmer. I actually at first thought it would be too large, but Cloudy somehow made it exactly my size like she knew my measurements at first glance.  Yet, there was that part of me that remained unsettled the moment its soft fabric touched my skin. I had to keep telling myself it wasn’t his scarf. Just like Twilight told us, there were a good amount of holes to tunnels. Various sizing and all spread out, but impossible to tell the depth from just looking down at them. We picked one at random, and entered carefully. I was surprised that it curved rather than going straight down, though I really shouldn’t have been. It was kind of like the slide at the playground near the schoolhouse the CMC convinced me to go down when I told them I’d never been on one before, but a lot rougher until it straightened out. The silence didn’t last that long as Rarity practically bounced up to me, a light in her eyes that was identical to when Twilight first learned I could talk. “Sooo, what’s his name?” Rarity chimed, incapable of keeping her ecstatic excitement from filtering out.  I groaned, burying my face in my hands and rubbing my eyes. Even though I knew it was coming, that didn’t make me anymore prepared for it.  “Rarity, go easy on her.” Fluttershy said in a both serious and playful tone. “It was her first, and she was really nervous about it. I know you like to live through others' dating lives.” “I do not!” Rarity retorted, speaking in a more hushed tone as we entered the tunnel. “I assure you I’ve gone on many dates, just…not many that stuck, unfortunately.” The genuinely dejected tone in her voice shocked me, maybe the first time I’ve heard the elegance and energy not present in it. I glanced at her and saw she was sincerely frowning. Not in a pouty way like I’ve seen before, but sincerely sad.  I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but is Rarity really that bothered by being single? “I only want to guide others to a treasure I cannot currently possess, is that so wrong?”  With a bat of her eyes, her graceful exterior returned as she turned to me. We continued walking down the tunnel as we talked, which was lined with lanterns hanging from the wall and ceiling. They weren’t lit at all, and it was hard to tell if they had been lit recently. Luckily, Rarity’s horn could illuminate more than enough for us to see, though it wasn’t so dark that we couldn’t see in front of us without it, anyway.  “If Chara doesn’t want my advice, all she has to say is ‘no’, and that’d be the end of it.”  For a moment, I was tempted to just say no and dismiss the whole topic. After giving it a little thought, I realized that Rarity really might be my best option for romantic advice. The books clearly couldn’t tell me what I needed them to. Plus, even though Fluttershy rephrased it, the advice she gave me did come from Rarity.  At the very least, it’ll keep me distracted from how eerie the tunnel we’re in really was.  “His name is Dark Moon.” I said reluctantly, awkwardly rubbing my pendant as I tried to avoid eye contact with Rarity again. “He works at the observation tower; We met when I went to pick up some books for Twilight.”   “Dark Moon?” she paused, pursing her lips. “I don’t believe we’ve met. What is he like? Is he dashing?”  “I guess? I don’t really care that much about physical appearance.”  “That’s good, Chara; You shouldn’t. I’m proud of you.”  Hearing Fluttershy say she’s proud of me put a smile on my face, a euphoric tingling sensation spreading through me that was so potent I couldn’t help otherwise.  “While I agree, it can still be important for a partner. At the very least, their physical appearance can tell you how well they take care of themselves, and how well they’ll take care of you. A relationship is a two-way street after.” “He takes care of himself well enough for someone who lives by themselves and graduated college recently.” “Oh, so he’s a scholar! A stallion with intelligence, is he a scientist who studies the stars?”  “He’s….hm.” Scientist or scholar weren’t exactly words I’d used to describe him, even if they’re technically correct. Fluttershy seemed to agree from the way she giggled at Rarity’s questions. “Sure.”  I noticed that, unlike when I usually interact with others, I didn’t really feel that social anxiety I’d gotten increasingly used to. Sure, I couldn’t entirely relax because of where we were, but talking to Rarity wasn’t as nerve-wracking as it would normally be. Fluttershy being there helped, of course.  However, there’s been this cloud of relief hovering just in the back of my mind that’s been there ever since I confided in her last night. It eased my worries knowing despite what I said, she wouldn’t treat me any differently, and I just found it harder to stress out over everything like usual.  It won’t last. I’m sure I’ll be back to coming up with the worst-case scenario and hyper focusing on them before I know it. “And was he the one who approached you and asked you on a date? Did you bond over the stars and the romantic stories behind the constellations?”  “A little, but you’re making it out to be more than it was. It was just casual conversation, and he asked me out.” I muttered, purposely leaving out the part where he called me cute. I could already picture in my mind the squeal she would let out if I did, and I’d rather not hear it echo off the walls of this tunnel.  “You say that, but a couple months from now I’m sure you’ll see it as magical as it really was.” Rarity chimed in a sing-song voice, clearly struggling to keep her voice quiet. “What about the date itself? I’m sure with your…” she paused as she laced her fingers together, pursing her lips and humming like she was searching for the appropriate words to use. “troubles, it can’t have been easy for you in the first place.”  “It wasn’t, but I wanted to give it a try. He was nice and offered to show me the constellations in person, making it hard to say no. Plus, I’m… kind of the one who turned it into a date in the first place.” Rarity practically radiated glee at that, Fluttershy did little more than wear a patient smile and listen.  “I haven’t really gotten to think about the date itself, with everything going on. It was,” I hesitated to mention some of the things we talked about. Considering I didn’t even disclose that with Fluttershy because of my uncertainty about how she’d react, I couldn’t mention that just yet. “Fun. I liked it more than I thought I would.”  “Pray tell, what got you interested in dating at all? I mean no offense by this, but you seemed barely able to go to Ponyville by yourself. I thought dating would have been beyond you for quite a while.” “A couple of days ago, I would have agreed with you. That was before…” I trailed off as I debated bringing up the romance books I’d been reading. Rarity was a hopeless romantic, and so there was no doubt in my mind she’d read probably twice the amount of romance books as I had. After Twilight’s poor but well-meaning advice, Rarity’s the only one that came to mind that might understand. Fluttershy’s advice did come from her in the first place, even though Fluttershy herself didn’t have any dating experience. “I started reading-”  I cut myself off as my foot hit something other than a rock. As I reached forward, Rarity’s light illuminated the wall in front of us, showing that the tunnel had ended. I peered upward and saw that the last unlit lantern was right before it ended, like they intended for it to stop there as they made it.  “It stopped? That’s odd, the tunnels we went through last time were much longer. Twilight said they might be looking for something, maybe they found it?” Fluttershy asked out loud as her wings twitched.  “I suppose it could be that all the other tunnels were used to search for whatever it was, and we happened to pick out the one where they actually found it?” Rarity followed up as she crossed her arms.  I pressed my hands against the dirt wall, feeling for anything out of place or missing. But there was nothing, not even any holes where gems might have been. Some part of me wanted to dig through and see if they put up a fake wall to keep us out, though that would have been pointless if they did since they didn’t bother to fill all the other tunnels and just left them for us to find. “That would make us really lucky if so, or unlucky maybe.” I murmured as I backed away from it. “I guess all we can do is check a few more of the other tunnels.”  With a dread filled silence, we checked the others. The longer we did, the more tense we got. Rarity’s eagerness was quieted with uncertainty, much more reluctant to speak. Fluttershy hovered closer to me than before, no doubt feeling protective of the danger all of us feared we would run into at any moment.  None of us would say it, but we knew that any of these tunnels could end in us encountering the diamond dogs. I had a feeling that despite how they had tried to reassure each other before that they could handle them, that confidence wasn’t as prevalent when they were separated.  By the time we had decided to call it quits and head back to the farm, the sun had already reached its peak brightness for the day. It made it hard to tell if it was actually getting darker out, or there were so many clouds in the sky blanketing us from its light that it made it hard to tell how late it was.  Applejack’s group had already made it back before us, and seemed to have been waiting for a while. Limestone was pacing with her arms crossed in front of the house, biting her lips and quickly running out of patience. AJ sat on a chair, leaning over with her arms laying across her legs.  Pinkie looked the worst out of the three of them. The color from her had become so faded it was almost an entirely distinctly different  color, and her mane had lost any sign of its curliness. Fallen to completely straight like the curtains on the windows, along with the fact that she was sitting on the opposite side of the porch from AJ in the fetal position, it made it impossible to tell what expression she had. If her ears hadn’t flickered at the sound of us approaching, I would have presumed she had fallen asleep.  Limestone stopped where she was as soon as we entered, her head snapping towards us. She approached, peeking over us like she was looking for something. “Did you see Marble out there?”  “I’m…afraid not.” Rarity responded, her voice wavering.  “...fuck.” she muttered under her breath, slowly walking towards a few scattered rocks. Several of us jumped when she kicked a large one and shattered it, whispering what I was pretty certain was a string of expletives. “I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to split us up. Sparkle Butt just had to convince me that we’re the only fucking ones that can navigate this shithole, so it’d be better if we were in different groups in case they get lost. Now she’s stuck in some Celestia damn hole full of fucking mutts!”  Limestone was visibly straining as she clenched her teeth, hands tightly resting on her hips as she narrowed her eyes. I questioned for a moment why she was restraining herself, then I remembered that Igneous and Cloudy are probably awake and sitting inside. She doesn't want them worried. I tried my best to hide my physical flinch at her cursing, but Fluttershy noticed it again. She frowned and opened her mouth, but shook her head and turned to Limestone. “Maybe she just got lost?”  “Fucking doubt it. Marble has the best memory out of all of us, except for maybe Pinkie. She doesn’t get lost, she could navigate this entire farm with her eyes closed. Struggle a bit underground, maybe, but not lost.” “Not ta mention Twilight’s with’em. They shoulda’ gotten here before us, after both of us gets me worried something fierce. Especially with Rainbow Dash. The second something went wrong and she didn’t think they could handle it themselves or even found the den, Twi would have told her to come back here and bring us to help. The fact that she didn’t…” Applejack spoke up, voice trailing off as she stood up and clenched her fist. “For once, we agree buckeroo. We’re going to have to go find them. Sitting here bitching about what could have happened is stupid when we can go and find out.”  “I don’t mean to insult your navigation skills darling, but how are we supposed to do that? They could have gone in any number of tunnels.” Limestone scoffed in response, dusting off whatever pebbles remained of the rock she just demolished. “Don’t worry about that. Marble,” she paused as she straightened her back, trying to place her mane as much as she could behind her ears and blow the bangs out of her face. “Doesn’t really feel comfortable around anyone that isn’t family, she can’t even bring herself to speak most of the time. A few hours with strangers who are here to help us she can take, any longer than that her separation anxiety kicks in and she…doesn’t do too well.” I bit the inside of my cheek at the familiarity of what she was saying, her description just as easily fitting me as her. I’d even say that Marble sounds like what I’d turn into if I never got better, or if I just never left that village.  I’m not even sure how long I would have lived if I did stay, but certainly longer than if I hadn’t done what I did.  “In case something like this happened, I told her to put a crystal on the ground beside the last tunnel before she entered. So, she places it when she enters one, and picks it back up after leaving. We find the crystal, we find them and figure out why they haven’t come back yet.”  “Did me leaving…really affect Marble that much? She was fine when I was here and in her letters.” Pinkie croaked, her voice so brittle and meek I couldn’t even recognize it as hers.  “Yeah, it did.” Limestone retorted, but didn’t turn to face Pinkie even though she was speaking to her. “You were pretty much the only one who tried to encourage her out of her shell, when you left, she blamed herself. Marble receded even further and now it’s hard for her to talk to anyone, it got even worse after Maud went off to get her Rocktorate. If I wasn’t here, I don’t know what would happen to her.”  I just barely saw one of Pinkie’s eyes behind the curtain of her silk-like mane, still blue but nearly completely devoid of the light in it that was always present. It widened at Limestone’s words, and then squinted as a tear rolled down her cheek as she retreated further behind her mane.  “I’m sorry.”  The way her voice cracked as she apologized was painful to hear. Once again, I didn’t know how to help her. I wanted to tell her it wasn’t her fault, but I couldn’t honestly say it wasn’t because of how little I understood.  Not to mention I know what it's like to blame yourself for something, and no amount of ‘it’s not your fault’s' will really convince you. It’s never that easy. “I’m…not sure whether to praise you for planning ahead, or be offended at the distrust you have in my friends. We’ve dealt with them before, and I assure you we know how to handle them now.” Rarity said, likely just to fill the awkward silence and shift the topic back. “Look, princess!” Limestone stated as she pressed a finger against Rarity’s chest. “I don’t fucking trust you or any of your friends, and I don’t give a shit how you dealt with them then, only now. We’re going to go save my sister from whatever fucked mess they’re in, and we’re only going to be able to find them because I don’t trust you and your friends. So, we’re going to leave right now while they might still be ok. Got it?” Rarity gasped, pressing her hand against her chest after Limestone pulled her finger away and about to retort.  Then she glanced over at AJ, who shook her head back and forth as if telling her not to. The marshmallow diva took a deep breath, putting on a patient smile.  “Very well. Then we should go with haste.”  “Good.”  Limestone huffed and began walking toward where Twilight’s group went, slow enough for us to catch up with her. Pinkie begrudgingly got to her hooves, wiping her face and catching up to her sister, saying something to her just out of earshot.  “Try not to hold it against her Rarity. Her kin’s life could be at stake. The only reason ah’m not the same is because ah’ve got trust in Twilight and Rainbow to handle whatever happened. She’s right about us needing to hurry though. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get back, and the sooner you can take a bath. Ah’m sure you want to get that dirt out of your mane almost as much as I wanna get back to Ponyville.” Applejack said firmly.  Rarity’s eyes widened as she grabbed a braid of her hair, closing her mouth and letting out a muffled shriek as she tried to remove as much of it as she could. She gave up a few seconds later, letting out a dejected sigh.  “I know. I just wish she wasn’t so rude about it. The occasional swear is fine, doing so with such frequency is just…uncouth.” As we caught up with Limestone, I noticed Fluttershy watching me out of the corner of her eyes a couple of times. I’m sure it was because of how I reacted when Limestone swore a lot, and I can’t blame her. To most, it would seem like a very odd reaction to have, one that might even imply I dislike swearing as a whole.  Which was as true as it was false. I know why I do it, and I hate it just as much as I do everything else about myself. I’ll have to tell her about him at some point, just not now. Not anytime soon if I could help it.  It didn’t take us very long to get there, or to find the crystal poking out of the ground. It barely stuck out at all. If Limestone hadn’t been searching for it so feverishly, it would have been very easy to miss. The tunnel curved more too, taking a few seconds longer to straighten out. Whether or not that meant something was yet to be seen.  Most of us didn’t want to say anything, following Limestone who insisted on taking the lead without having to say anything. She brought a lantern from the house and lit it as soon as we entered the tunnel. I noticed it was similar to the ones already in the tunnels, where did the Diamond Dogs get them in the first place. The only ones who were talking were Rarity and Pinkie at the back, whispering so quietly it wouldn’t be audible if we weren’t in a tunnel void of anything but tense silence and lightless lanterns decorating the ceiling. I heard my name once or twice, along with Dark Moon’s. I’m guessing since Pinkie knows everyone in Ponyville, Rarity decided to learn what she could from her, both to sate her own curiosity and to try to cheer Pinkie up. Her color was gradually coming back and the tips of her mane were starting to curl, so it’s clearly working somewhat.  I just wish I could have done something myself.  “Hold up.”  Limestone’s sudden voice halted whatever gossiping they were doing. Fluttershy’s wings flicked again, reaching out towards me for a moment before receding back, looking uncomfortably rigid. It couldn’t be more obvious that she wanted to protect me under her wing, her body language all but screaming it.  It made me wonder if the embarrassment of letting her embrace me in her wing was worse than not doing so when she so obviously wants me to, and I admittedly would appreciate the feeling of safety it would give me. Even though I was aware it would be false and Fluttershy could do little to actually protect me if something went really wrong, a fact I’m sure she was aware of. “There was a scuffle here.” she murmured as she crouched down. “And it didn’t end well for someone.”  I peeked over her shoulder to see what she was talking about, my heart freezing at the sight of blood. It wasn’t a lot, some on the ground and splattered on the wall, but it was more than enough to push our worries into full on panic. Rarity’s efforts to cheer up Pinkie proved futile when the brief color faded once again and her mane flopped. She actually somehow looked worse than before.  “Are they…” Applejack’s voice was low but strong, speaking when the rest of us were too afraid to. “Alive?”  “I can’t tell. I’m not a detective or anything, all I can see is that someone got hit big time and that they went deeper in. If it was Marble…”  I could tell just from looking at her how much she wanted to run deeper into the tunnel to find her sister, or at least scream and let out a chorus of curses. The only thing stopping her was us; she couldn’t just abandon us like that, no matter how much she wanted to. Instead, she clenched her fist so tightly her knuckles went white.  “Like you said before, ain’t nothin’ gonna get done standing here.” Applejack said solemnly as she stepped forward, patting Limestone’s shoulder. “We gotta go now. Ah’m sure Rainbow’s getting tired waiting for us.”  She made a rough growling noise, then cleared her throat and stood up; Wiping something from her mouth and extending her arm that held the lantern. “I’m telling you right now; I don’t give a donkey’s tail if you guys are the Elements of Harmony or whatever. If there’s a single scratch on her, you’ll have a tough time talking to them when they’ll have to eat through a straw.”  Fluttershy looked like she wanted to say something, probably about how the diamond dogs are protecting their territory and are just scared, but decided against it.  We went on, the thickness of heavy foreboding weighing down on all of us. No one dared to say anything, the only sound being the echo of our steps. I found it hard just to breathe, the tension in the air filling every inch of my body. I couldn’t say how much longer I’d be able to take it, I almost wanted something to happen.  “Wait.”  We stopped at Limestone’s command without a second thought. She raised her head, appearing to be searching the ceiling for something. Slowly, she placed the lantern on the ground, getting on her hands and knees as she placed her ear against the ground.  “What…is that?” she muttered, closing her eyes and scowling. “I think something’s coming, but I can’t tell what it is. It’s like an earthquake, yet…”  As she said that, the ground beneath us began to vibrate. I’d only ever experienced a minor earthquake before, this felt similar to it at first. Then, as it grew more intense, I could tell the difference. The earthquake didn’t have a source or any area where the shaking was particularly strong, this one grew by the second and even seemed to come from a direction. It increased to such an intensity I struggled to keep my balance.  Limestone’s eyes snapped open as she jumped to her hooves. “Move!”  I didn’t get to hear anything afterwards as the ground in front of me exploded, something moving out of it faster then I could see. There was barely any time for me to react as a large object jutted towards me, piercing straight through my torso with terrifying ease. I barely even noticed it come out of my back, so swift and efficient that I didn’t have time to process what happened.  There was screaming, all their voices so loud they overlapped and I couldn’t distinguish between them, though I’m certain at least one of them was my name. The thing that stabbed me was what I at first thought was some kind of metallic pillar, gray and maybe even larger than my entire body. Then I realized it was an arm from the hair on it, and the veins I could see on the grotesque muscles. The arm was so large that I hung a few feet off the ground; it was holding me there with such effortlessness that it was like I was a stuffed doll.  Moving was almost impossible. I could hardly bring my arms up, scratching the limb that penetrated me, as pointless as I knew that was. Blood began seeping out of my mouth, down my chin, and dripping onto the ground. Surely the same could be said about the hole in my chest, if it wasn’t mostly plugged up by the extension of this creature.  My vision started getting darker. Whether that was because something happened to Limestone and Rarity, or I was blacking out, I had no idea. I couldn’t look down, but I’m sure from how rapidly my strength was leaving that I’m losing enough blood to be unconscious any second now.  Strangely, I didn’t feel afraid like with The Hydra. In fact, I didn’t feel much of anything. No pain, which I’m sure was a blessing. Nor could I feel the skin of the arm, or it protruding from my back. So lacking in strength I couldn’t even talk if I wanted to, or move my head to see if the others were ok. As life seeped from me and I died, I just felt… Cold.