//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13 
// Story: Dungeons, Dragons, and a Little Friendship 
// by Lawrence Gander 
//------------------------------//


Dungeons, Dragons, and a Little Friendship
Chapter 13


“Cartanis. Cartanis quick, I think she’s waking up!”

The voice was familiar, but it sadly didn’t stop the ringing in her ears or the throbbing in her head. She opened her eyes to a friendly face thankfully.

The same voice spoke once more. “Are you alright dear? You’ve been out for a while now.”

“Rarity?” Her guest seemed rather excited to be named.

“Oh thank the stars! Your mind is still in one piece Twilight.”

Twilight looked about, unsure of her surroundings. “Where are we?”

The unicorn’s excitement seemed to have drained just as soon as it appeared. “Perhaps I spoke too soon.”

“Well well Miss Sparkle, it seems you’ve decided to finally wake.” 

Her attention gravitated to another familiar face, this one slightly blue. “Cartanis? What happened?”

“As I recall you tried to help out Ted with a matter involving a large object that wished to separate his head from his body. But your actions seem to have left you devoid of your own senses as a tradeoff it seems.”

She rubbed at her temples trying to dispel the pain. “I don’t remember doing that.”

“Getting knocked out cold can do that to you.” He chuckled slightly. “Trust me.”

Rarity spoke up. “How are you Twilight? You do still remember who you are? Do you not?”

“Right now I just wish I could forget this pain, ugh.” Then it hit her. “Wait a minute. We were on a bridge… and then.” She tried to sit up, only to get caught by Cartanis.

“Take it slow, you need to rest for a while yet.”

Her head was still spinning, not helped by the sudden rush from nearly sitting up. “W-where is everypony?”

“They’re fine Miss Sparkle, right now you just need to calm down.”

“Okay.” 

“Now please.” There seemed to be something odd about his voice as he said the next word. “Rest.”

Her body almost felt compelled to sleep, yet she didn’t feel drowsy. She slowly let herself drift back into her mind. The darkness filled with echoes, the endlessly drifting noise of fear, and the unwanted feeling of wind slapping across her face. It all formulated in a scream at the back of her mind, the sound of somepony screaming for the safety of one they had lost.


[/][/][1][/][/]


Cartanis let the young adventurer drift off into some form of sleep. She seemed less inclined to be in a completely comatose state as evidenced by her groans. He had other things to deal with at the moment, such as why his messenger’s book had decided to go haywire. It had been acting up not long after Ted had left to go after Rainbow Dash, but now it was in a full swing of whatever was causing to it act up. Words and characters that he couldn’t hope to decipher jumping to life across the blank space of the book.

“Cartanis?”

“Yes?” His attention quickly turned to that of the white unicorn that had been his sole and mostly silent companion for a last couple of hours.

“May I ask… why you decided to use magic on her?”

“Whatever gave you that idea Lady Rarity?”

“Cartanis, please. I may not be as magically inclined as Twilight, but I am not blind or should I say deaf. I know magic when I hear it.”

He groaned at her insistence, scolding himself for not choosing a less obvious form of incantation.

“So, is this going to be going anywhere. Or are we going to be under a civil agreement to never bring this up again?”

“She has to realize something, and hopefully she’ll be able to handle it better when she isn’t panicked and drained from whatever it is she did to herself.”

“Handle what exactly?”

“A question.”

“A question? What—”

He cleared his throat quite loudly. “It is nothing you need to concern yourself with. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some tests I need to run.”

Before Rarity could say another word the wizard disappeared inside his own hat. Leaving her alone with her friend who twisted about inside her own mind. For a time she just waited in that silence, wondering what the wizard meant. Her mind wandered though, and she soon found herself worried for another friend. They had no way of knowing that Applejack was alive, except for the boundless hope inside Dash’s claim, but that all seemed to be such a long time ago now. So Rarity did the only thing she could, she waited.


[/][/][2][/][/]


Rarity was alone for a time, most of it spent close to Twilight in case something would occur. She didn’t need to keep watch constantly, as Cartanis had them hole up in one of the walled off alcoves within the pit’s stripped surface. There were a few times though when she swore she saw something move, but without a light source she couldn’t hope to be sure. The wizard had been adamant they make do with as little as possible to avoid undue attention. 

Eventually Cartanis made his return. He arrived with as little ceremony as he had left with, that same somber look on his features. Rarity toyed with the idea of asking him what he had been up to, but she knew at best it would be a white lie. He had avoided her, to let his spell run its course without having to deal with any complaints from her, not that she was any good at complaining. All this meant was that Twilight would probably rouse soon, and they would need to be ready to move.

Much to her surprise, Cartanis chose to speak first.

“It seems that my messenger’s books have been rendered null.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, all my tests have shown that there is nothing wrong with them, but instead that something here in this place is preventing them from speaking to one another.”

“There is nothing you can do? Surely you’ve encountered something like this before.”

“There have been times when they were sabotaged, but that required a power of immense magnitude. This isn’t that, this is more along the lines of… interference. My spell within the book is being bounced around and garbled. All the static noise of the world is all they can hear instead.”

Rarity understood some of it, but simply took the bad news as is. They were flying blind, more so than before now that they couldn’t even know what their compatriots conditions were. All she could really do is hope they were alright, she worried dreadfully for Fluttershy. She was such a soft soul, and while she did have her moments this place was definitely something of a different caliber than the usual.

“So.” She started. “When will Twilight awaken?”

“Whenever she decides to, I don’t know.”

Was worth a shot at least, she thought to herself. “What are we going to say of Applejack.”

“The truth.”

“And what exactly is the truth?”

The wizard narrowed his gaze. “You honestly believed that stubborn mare?”

“You want to tell her that Applejack, her friend, is dead? When she very well may be alive.”

“I am not having this conversation a second time. I didn’t expect Rainbow Dash to listen to reason and logic, but you Rarity…”

“I what? Don’t jump to conclusions. We don’t know Cartanis, and we shouldn’t bring such news to her unless we are certain.”

Rarity hoped that her words had meant something, but the unpleased grunt from the old stallion seemed to imply otherwise. Then she heard Twilight groan a bit more than usual, she turned to see that her friend had at last roused from her slumber.

“How long was I out?” Was the first groggy thing she managed to say.

“Three hours, maybe four.” Cartanis promptly responded. “And we have stayed in one spot long enough.”

Rarity quickly interrupted the wizard. “Do you feel well enough to travel Twilight?”

“Yeah, I can move.” She managed to get up, her body popping and creaking after being still for so long.

Cartanis began picking up the campsite as best he could. “Then we should get started.”

“Cartanis wait.”

The lone wizard stopped reluctantly.

“What happened to them?”

“Twilight, right now we need to move on. Whoever set that trap for us has already given us enough time to dally. We should take this chance to catch up to everyone.”

“So they’re all fine?”

The wizard sighed at her insistence. “I don’t want to repeat myself, we need to move.”

Rarity had enough, she raised her voice. “Cartanis. She deserves to know what happened.”

“We don’t have time for this—”

“If we didn’t then why did you cast that spell on her?”

“What?” Twilight interjected. “Rarity what do you… Cartanis what does she mean?”

He kept his gaze fixated on the white unicorn, who had an equally angry scowl. “I was trying to help her.”

“Then stop being such a brute and help her again.” She gestured Twilight’s way. “Tell her what happened.”

“Fine.” His impatience flared to a new target. “Applejack is dead.”

“Cartanis!” Rarity said with mild shock. “How dare you—”

But her words accomplished little, as the impatient wizard made his exit from their little cave. She tried to call after him, but she knew he was going to have none of it. Instead she turned to her friend. 

Seemingly struck by a force greater than her, Twilight sat from the sudden weight of the news. When Rarity approached all Twilight could do was bury herself into her mane, needing a friend now more than ever.


[/][/][3][/][/]


Cartanis kept his pace slow, it would be inevitable that they would follow, wishing to ‘speak’ with him. How long would it take for them to simply realize what they had gotten themselves into? Why did no one ever listen to him? It was taking everything in him to not treat them like the practical children they were. If it wasn’t for Rarity he may have very well treated Rainbow Dash in such a respect to prevent her from going on her little rescue mission. Which had probably already gotten her and Ted into trouble.

“There he is.”

It was Rarity, with Twilight close behind no doubt. He picked up his pace a tad as they got close, ready to move on as they should. He spared a quick glance Twilight’s way. Cartanis was no doctor, but the purple mare seemed good enough for the journey. So he continued, in silence, as did they. They continued as such to a path carved into the pit’s lower reaches, the only discernible way forward from their precarious position. 

“Are you sure about this Cartanis?”

It was Rarity, still seemingly hesitant of the current plan. “As I said before, this is the only path that leads to something. If you remember from Ted’s little scouting spree, every other hole in this pit is just a dead end.”

“No, I mean are you sure we should leave. Ted and Rainbow Dash could still—”

“If they were going to return it would’ve already happened. It doesn’t take that long to find a body.” He sighed at his choice of words, but nothing could take them back.

“You didn’t need to say that to her, she was a wreck. I thought somepony like you would know better.”

Cartanis knew what she meant, but he wasn’t about to believe some fanciful notion that an unaided pony had survived a dive straight off a cliff into a metal receptacle.

“She thought I was just trying to cater to her when I told her what we knew, what actually happened. Really Cartanis, You’re better than this angry old pony bit you have gotten yourself into.”

“Rarity…”

She had never heard him use that tone before, one so somber.

“I am old. I have seen far more of life and its sick twists than I hope you ever will... I begged Andur to make you all stay for this very reason.” He looked her way, an entire lifetime of hardship staring into her soul. “You are all still young, and think yourselves infallible, undefeatable. So when it actually happens you are either crushed, or dive headlong into denial.” He motioned Twilight’s way. “It is exactly that which I wish to prevent.”

“By blindsiding her with news of her friend’s death?”

“No, with the truth.” He sighed deeply. “Would Applejack mince words if she believed I was gone?”

“She would be herself, no matter how blunt.” Rarity then quickly added. “But she would’ve spared her friend’s feelings.”

He shook his head softly. “I didn’t mean that.”

“I’m not the one who needs to hear that.”

They both stopped, looking back to the trailing purple unicorn.

Feeling the eyes of a small crowd upon her Twilight decided to speak up. “So this path will take us back up to them?”

Cartanis was thankful she felt well enough to at least speak. “It might.”

“Shouldn’t we be trying to go up then? Because this path seems to go down…”

“Unless you wish to wait around in this pit until we starve, this is our only way to go. That is unless you feel well enough to take us up to where the bridge ended. 

“I could try.”

“Heavens no!” Rarity quickly interrupted. “You couldn’t even lift your saddle onto your back. How do you expect to teleport three ponies to the top of a cliff?”

“Maybe if I could—”

“No, under no circumstances are you to use your horn for anything. I don’t want a repeat of what happened after that incident with the Ursa Major.”

Cartanis just stood there perplexed, unsure of what they spoke about. “What do you mean?”

Twilight blushed. “Well, it wasn’t a Major, technically it was just a Minor.” She quickly cleared her throat and got to the point. “Anyway, I had basically drained myself to deal with it. For the next week I had to deal with a pretty severe case of dead horn.”

Cartanis grimaced at the name ‘dead horn’.

“Oh, it’s not really that bad. It was just an awkward week of me learning how to go about like I did before I knew about magic is all. I was just lucky I didn’t go and crack it, there’s no real way to recover from that fully. Well, that is until you. You’re probably the only pony I know of with a cracked horn that could teleport from Canterlot all the way to Ponyville in one go, that’s hard for practiced unicorns to do.” Then it hit Twilight. “Wait, Cartanis why don’t you just get us back to Andur and the others? It can’t be that hard now that you got the hang of it.”

Twilight noticed him kick at the dirt for a moment, before he said. “I can’t.”

“What? But… huh? Cartanis I thought the elements showed you how?”

“They did, and they saw fit to also take that knowledge back.”

“But… they gave you that knowledge. They can’t just do that, have you even tried?”

“I did Twilight, I did. But I can’t manage to lift a pebble more than a few inches without losing my lunch. I’m back to square one.”

“Why would they do that? Magic is a gift, it’s amazing, how could they do that to you after trusting you with it?”

“Perhaps the same reason they gave me this in the first place.” He tapped his broken horn. “Perhaps they looked at me, at the things I had done with my own magic. At all the secrets and things I should’ve never learned, and decided that I would do far too much harm with your world’s power. So they only gave me that knowledge when it suited them, when they needed me to know about it.”

“Cartanis… you can’t believe that. You’re not evil, you helped us out more times than not. I watched you race across a flaming stage to save Rarity’s life. You wouldn’t use that power for evil.”

“What do you know about me Twilight? I’ve been here not two weeks and you already consider me a friend?” His face took a grim look as he gazed upon her. “I’ve done things in the name of good that I will never be able to speak of. I Created atrocities that have killed thousands for the sake of an idea. I let war guide my hands as I followed a cause I barely believed in… There are some people you shouldn’t jump into trust with Miss Sparkle.”

“But you showed me who you are, your wife knew—”

“That was thirty years ago, I have no idea how long that is in pony years, but for a man… It’s more than enough time to be changed.”

With that he left them once more, down the only way out of the pit. All she could do was watch him slowly disappear into the darkness, as Rarity bid her onward to not be left behind.


[/][/][4][/][/]


They followed behind the old wizard, an orb of light floating at his side to light the way. The cave they had entered seemed to go on forever, the walls never changing from their strange smoothness. Only on occasion would they find a fork in their path, the best of which they did was choose a direction at random. Rarity looked toward Twilight, perhaps if she had been in a better mood she would be excited to find something like this. It seemed to be something out of one of her history books, but instead the purple unicorn just hung low while lost in thought. 

Rarity had enough of it, she had to do something about this. She picked up her pace, enough to catch up to Cartanis. He noticed her presence, but did not acknowledge it. Instead they trotted next to each other for a time in silence. Until…

“Cartanis.”

“Rarity.”

Both were cold in their statement, each indifferent to the other.

“So is this what you wanted?”

“What exactly do you think I wanted?” He snapped back. 

“I think you wanted to help her, but as it seems all you have done is make it worse. Did you really go to all that trouble to simply break her spirit?”

“You assume a great deal.”

“I don’t assume anything. Cartanis, you saved my life not too long ago. I know you’re a good pony at heart. So I don’t care what you say, if you won’t hold yourself to any value at least give Twilight some measure of worth. You obviously care about her and me, you want us to be safe or else you would’ve left us behind a long time ago.”

“What do you mares want from me?” He said with some mild annoyance. 

“I want you to explain yourself, you think we can’t understand. Why? What is there that we can’t hope to know or comprehend? You think us childish and incapable, so why not see if you’re right? At the very least apologize to Twilight for calling her a fool for thinking you her friend.”

Cartanis seemed to mull it over. Then, much to Rarity’s surprise, stopped on the spot. He turned toward Twilight, who seemed to have been caught off guard just as much as Rarity was. For a moment or two he was silent, seemingly reluctant to say anything as he scratched at the ground with an absent mind. It wasn’t until Twilight broke the silence that he seemed to be ready to speak.

“So… is Applejack really gone?”

“Perhaps.”

“Rarity said that—”

“That Rainbow Dash found a hair band, and then went off in search of her?”

“Basically, yeah…”

“You honestly believe that she survived that fall?”

Twilight was downtrodden at the thought of it, at the thought of everything that lead up to that event. “… I want to.”

“Don’t drag yourself down that path.”

“Cartanis…” She stifled a sob, and the wizard tried to comfort her. “It’s my fault she’s gone.” 

“Don’t start.”

“If I hadn’t passed out!”

“Twilight, I want you to listen to me.” He commanded her attention, lifting her chin up to look him in the eye. “Do you remember that memory we shared that night at the library?”

She blinked away the wetness in her eyes. “Yes.”

“Do you think I walked away from that with my head held high? Completely unfazed?”

Twilight knew little about him, but from what she did she felt as though he was capable of anything. Perhaps it was the way which he spoke, or the look in his eye. It showed something far more vulnerable than what she knew. “Did you?”

“No, I didn’t.” His voice took on a far more somber tone. “There were days where I wanted to break that promise I made her. Days where I would look upon the world from its greatest heights, and long to leap. Anything to be with her again, to feel the warmth of her one more time.” 

He could see the confusion in her eyes, asking why he was telling her this. So he continued.

“And it all started from one, poisonous, question. What if?” He then spoke a familiar phrase across his lips with a forgotten passion. “What if I was stronger that day? What if we had eloped that minute and left the university behind? What if, what if, what if?”

Twilight didn’t say a word. His eyes seemed to grow weary, and the signs of age upon his face seemed far greater than they were before. For a moment he seemed a far different pony than she had known, then in an instant he came back.

“You’ve asked yourself some of those haven’t you?”

“Yes… Is that why you used magic on me?”

“Correct, I thought they might return… so against my better judgment I decided to try and spare you the pain of knowing one of your friends was gone. So you wouldn’t have to mourn like this. I never wanted that to happen to Applejack, she deserved better. You deserve better.” He turned toward Rarity. “You both do. My world has no place here.”

Twilight grabbed his attention again. “What do you mean?”

The wizard was silent, his eyes traveling through memories of dark times. “You need to understand something… Where I am from, my world, this happens all too often. Sometimes the good one dies, the bag guy gets away, and the world falls apart into chaos. I watched cities burn, stood by as an army I could do nothing about ripped apart families. My world is nothing like yours, and now it has started to infect yours as well. It’s like a light hearted children’s fairytale was thrown into the darkest abyss, and we’re only starting to see the light fading.”

Rarity was slightly shaken by that and had to ask. “You think it’s going to get worse?”

Cartanis cast his eyes elsewhere as dark thoughts permeated his mind. “I honestly don’t see any other direction for this to go. I’ll be surprised if the three of us make it to wherever Andur and the others have gone.”

The two ponies in his company seemed floored to hear such a thing, from the one they deemed their leader to say that was particularly disturbing. The seriousness of the situation seemed to finally hit home. Twilight and Rarity had always known what they would be getting themselves into, but at that moment it truly hit home. His words having taken their effect, the wizard once again was the first to speak.

“In short, I apologize for my actions.” He glanced Twilight’s way. “Can you forgive an old man and his foolish ways?”

“Well,” Twilight quickly dried her face of any tears she may have shed. “I suppose if our chances are as grim as you say, we can’t let our differences drag us down. So yeah, you’re okay in my book Cartanis.” She still had to ask though. “Is it really that hopeless for Applejack?”

“She may have… a slight chance. We gave each of you a powerful artifact, and magic can work in mysterious ways. It is slim but… there is hope.”

That seemed to be all Twilight had to hear, there was still worry in her, but now she had something to fight back with.

He turned toward the other unicorn in his company. “Lady Rarity?”

The pony of refined etiquette merely sighed as she retained her trained demeanor. “Yes. Although Cartanis, I implore you to not hide such things in the future. How are we a team if we treat each other in such a way?”

The voice of an old nobleman crossed his lips in return. “A fine point milady.”

Rarity smirked at the title she was given, but the expression soon faded as something disgusting decided to grace her sense of smell.

“Oh good heavens what is that?” She said with a hoof over her face to hide a gag. “It’s worse than the time I stuck my head in the trash, ugh!” 

Cartanis’ face scrunched at the thought of such a thing, especially by one such as Rarity.

Twilight spoke up. “Wait, do you both hear that?”

Rarity and Cartanis grew quiet, ears subconsciously swiveling about for a moment in the silence. Then they could hear it, laughter that teetered on the edge of sanity slowly getting closer.

“What is that?” Rarity said with some mild fear breaking through her trained demeanor

“Sh!”

Twilight kept swiveling her head about, trying to pinpoint the laughter as it echoed about the empty halls. “Where is it coming from?”

“If you’d both be quiet we might just figure that out before—”

A figure burst into the light from the orb, screaming at the top of its lungs. The group as a whole recoiled in fright at the sudden breach of their sanctuary, and before any had time to think it was on one of them.


[/][/][5][/][/]


Rarity squirmed as she was taken down to the ground. Whatever had grasped her neck held it so tightly she could barely breathe, and its proximity let loose a smell so horrid she couldn’t see from her eyes as they watered profusely. 

“Off!” She gagged as it squeezed tighter for a moment. “Get it off!”

“Mam, please just calm down!” 

Rarity recognized Twilight’s voice, but why was she calling her mam?

“I am calm just… get it off!” She said while barely holding together her demeanor.

“Miss, please get off our friend before I’m forced to make you.”

It was then that Rarity realized something. The thing that had hold of her was not cold like a cadaver, but was rather alive and noisy. In fact when she opened her eyes the form of her apparent attacker was revealed and it was indeed a living pony. Albeit a pony who seemed to be in desperate need of some cleaning supplies, as her mane and coat were an absolute mess. Thankfully the pony let go, just in time for Rarity to shudder as she realized just how unkempt the pony was.

“Sorry, sorry.” The mare began. “It’s just been so long since I’ve seen another pony and—”

She hugged the nearest one she could find, who happened to be Cartanis. He seemed equally perturbed by her disheveled state.

“— it’s just nice to know this is all over.”

“What do you mean ‘over’?” Cartanis said as he tried to gently coax her off of his person.

“You’re part of a rescue team right?” She slowly let go of him as a sort of fear seemed to take over her features. “Somepony sent you here after what happened at camp? To deal with those things, and get any survivors out, right?”

“Mam.” Twilight spoke up. “We’re not a rescue team. In fact we never knew you were down here.”

“What… But… You have to be. How can you unicorns all dress that weirdly and not be some crack team of magic commandos from Canterlot!”

“Excuse me?” Rarity exclaimed. “Weird? You call a design I worked tirelessly on for over a week weird? Surely you must be on the verge of exhaustion to think such a thing of one of my greatest creations.” She said with a flip of her hair and a turn of her chin.

Twilight cleared her throat to grab the strange mare’s attention. “I think what my friend meant to say was that we’re just some pony’s trying to find our way out of here. You wouldn’t happen to know that would you?”

“Sorry honey. I’ve mapped these tunnels for a few hours trot in every direction, and you either run into a dead end or a mess of trouble.” She pulled some of her dirty mane out of her face. “The name is Keystone, by the way.”

“Twilight.” She said back before motioning to her other friends. “Rarity is the one you scared half to death, and the stallion of the group is Cartanis.” 

“Cartanis?” Her gaze fell upon him once more. “An odd name for a pony. Are you from Stalliongrad?”

He chuckled. “A little farther than that I’m afraid.”

“Well wherever you’re from I must say you have some strange magic.” She gazed at the orb that still floated amongst the group. “I’ve never seen a unicorn use something besides his horn to light the way before.”

“Let us cut the subject before we go too far, we have more important things to discuss.”

“Like what? Why a couple of ponies who know nothing about spelunking are in a cave?”

Cartanis just raised a questionable eyebrow.

“Don’t give me that. Anypony who knows their stuff doesn’t go into a cave wearing…” She did her best to gesture at all the random assortment of doodads and bobbles hanging from his robes. 
“I assure you, these are all very important regardless of the situation.”

“Well why are you here? You’re not a rescue team, and you sure as hay aren’t hobbyists.”

There was a noise in the distance, but it was unheeded.

“Just suffice it to say we’re hunters, now what did you say about mapping this place?”

“The map doesn’t matter I already told you this place is a cluster of featherbrained idiocy, exactly what are you hunting?”

This time the noise was loud enough to grab some attention, but only just from those not in a heated argument.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you. Now let me see this map of yours, I might be able to make some use of it.”

“Won’t believe you? Try me, you’d be surprised at some of the stuff I’ve seen in the last couple of days.”

Twilight tried to break into their conversation. They heard none of it.

“There is a very serious matter going on in this place, and anything you could do to help the fate of your world would be welcome.”

“So, what you’re all some group of chosen on a quest to save Equestria now? Get your story straight.”

Rarity quickly bellowed. “Would you two quit thrashing your egos at one another and pay attention!”

The two arguing ponies finally stopped and gazed at whatever they spoke about. What they could see beyond the light of the orb struck fear into them. For as the abyss was black beyond the scope of the light, what stared back was an immeasurable number of eyes whose presence was only made known by a thousand tiny star-like reflections. It seemed that their time for talk was done.


[/][/][6][/][/]


Twilight kept an eye on them, they seemed just as reluctant to move as they were. She cast a quick glance to her friends. Rarity held an expression that seemed more befitting a trained soldier than a lady, and her horn glowed with magic as something beneath her robes glowed as well. She couldn’t make out the shape, but whatever it was Rarity seemed sure to have a fine grip on it with her magic. Twilight didn’t turn around to see what Cartanis or Keystroke were up to, but she could definitely hear the wizard chanting something under his breath. 

As for herself she had never defended herself with anything except her own magic before, and the idea of using her more sorcerous powers put an unwelcome unease in her. She had no idea what the dangers of her power were when within an actual life or death situation, she barely understood how to use them to begin with. 

It seemed that she would have no time to think, as a fireball was launched well over her head into the stumbling horde.  Its fire washed over a handful of them, its light casting a red shade across the dead host’s entirety to reveal its ghastly form.

“Run!” Was all the wizard had to say.

Twilight turned away from burning mass and began to gallop, she caught a glimpse of Cartanis as he stayed behind to finish some form of etching on the ground. She didn’t stop, instead following their latest edition to the group. Keystroke had almost disappeared into the darkness, but a small portion of her remained in sight. Suddenly she turned down a new corridor into pure blackness.

“This way!” Was all she said to them.

Twilight felt no need to argue as she heard a third set of hooves join her and Rarity’s flight. It was not long after they had made that corner that she felt her breath chill. Everything seemed to have a frosty sheen to it as Cartanis and his light finally rounded the turn as well. She paused for a moment to look back, only to see the Wizard dawn a rather worried expression.

“Don’t Stop!” 

Just as his warning ended Twilight saw one of the undead break around the corner, only for the world itself to seemingly freeze. Frost appeared upon the things flesh, slowly encompassing the thing in a still frame as a glint of ice slowly molded over it. Then there was an explosion of force, and a chill ran through her body as cold air surged down the path they had chosen. When the sting of cold finally settled she gazed at where the pony had stood, only to see four stumps sticking out of the ground frozen in place. What little remained of the body looked to be a scattered pile of broken glass, the rest blasted away farther down another path.

“Twilight!” She snapped out of her fixation as the wizard once again shouted at her to get moving.

“Cartanis, what did you do?” She asked back.

“Just something to delay them, but we should really figure out where we’re going.” His eyes turned toward their prospective leader, who seemed far more lost than they were.

Keystone stopped dead in her tracks, the others soon followed suit. She frantically peered down a set of corridors they had come across, lost in thought about their predicament.

Suddenly she shouted. “Put out that light!”

“What!?” Cartanis shouted back.

“Look I don’t care why you’re down here right now, if you don’t want to get caught just put out that light.”

He seemed reluctant. Two narrowed expressions daring the other down, but at the sound of a lifeless host beckoning from where they came the wizard relented. In an instant they were swallowed by the cave’s darkness, and all they could do was listen to the sound of their breathing as the undead closed in. 

As it all began to seem pointless a soft blue light slowly enveloped them. Its source sprang to life along the walls as the group began to see familiar shapes appear. Most notably was a large character scribbled along one of the walls they were near. To which one of them reacted to with glee.

“Alright, this way!”

Keystone once again charged off ahead of the group. They all followed her, almost losing her at times in the dim lighting provided by the strange blue lichen. At regular intervals they would find another crossroad, to which there would be another scrawled character upon one of the walls. Each time she would look at it, and as though its meaning were clear as day she would herd them along a new path. She never faltered in her mad dash through the tunnels, until something was amiss at their next junction.

“Where is it?” She said franticly.

“What are you talking about?” Cartanis shouted as he finally caught up to where she had stopped.

“The path is gone!”

“What?” The group almost said unanimously.

“The last path, it was straight ahead and now it’s gone!” She looked about in a slight panic at the walls that surrounded her. “Maybe we took a wrong turn, quick we should retrace our—” But her words were interrupted as a hundred dying mouths cried out for their flesh.

Twilight was almost in disbelief, they had been at a gallop nearly the entire time they were on the run. How these things managed to keep up was beyond her.

“Something’s wrong here.”

The group’s attention fell to the wizard who had spoken.

“Undead are not athletes, they’re lucky enough to crawl out of their graves in one piece.” His eyes shifted about. “Keep your eyes open.” He turned to Keystone. “You’re sure this is the right path?”

“Well, yeah pretty sure. I mean we might’ve taken a left back when we needed to take a right but… You don’t think they started messing with my signs do you?”

The wizard seemed slightly grim in his analysis, “Twilight, Rarity. Keep on your guard, I need to check something.” He ran over to their dead end, pressing his hooves against it, muttering something under his breath.

Without much hesitation Twilight took up a spot next to Rarity, between the rest of the group and the horde that approached. She cast a glance over to her friend, who once again had something in a magical grip under her robes. Suddenly her friend spoke up.

“Are you ready for this Twilight?”

Twilight ground her hooves at the dirt, the bracer she had been given burned slightly alongside her unease. “We’ll see I guess.”

“Don’t worry.” Suddenly she unsheathed the object from where she had it hidden. “They’ll have to get through me.” 

She brandished a rapier that was perhaps the only thing that Twilight had ever seen that could match her elegance. Even in such dim lighting it seemed to shine just as brightly as if in the noon day sun. The way she held it with her magic seemed to portray a well practiced finesse, it seemed her friend still held some surprises.

“Just don’t get yourself hurt.” She said with some confidence. “Cartanis will get us out of this.” Rarity then planted her last sun rod into the ground near them, the golden crystal bathing the tunnel in its light.

For a time they waited. The growing growl of the horde matched only by the frustrated show put on by the lone stallion of the group. Twilight could feel her heart race, she knew what would happen eventually. But having a friend there, standing with her gave that feeling pause. So long as Rarity was there, with her presence that commanded fear to silence itself, she could stand against the sea if that’s what came for them. Then there was only silence, punctuated by the continued ravings of a confounded wizard.  

They waited in that silence, a small hope in the back of their minds that the danger had passed. When even that small impossibility seemed to have come to pass, the situation changed. A lone undead pony dared charge into the light, all of its decrepit glory on display. Twilight stood slightly frozen, she had seen terrible things before, but the sight of something dead move still haunted her.  

Rarity however was not so phased. In a single stride she closed the distance between her and the monster. With a mastered thrust she planted her rapier between its eyes. A sickening noise gurgled up from its throat before the body fell limp. She quickly retracted her blade from the beast before it hit the ground. At which the remainder of the horde seemed spurred into a charge.

Twilight knew that the magic of her world was still lost to her, but she still had access to that other source. She had only used it in practice, but regardless of that she knew how to call it. That power of the Dungeon Master’s world was a strange thing, even Cartanis who was wise to the workings of it still said he would not be able to explain it clearly to her. As it was that her power was different from his, something only the sorceress or sorcerer themselves would know once they used it to its full extent. He only said to be careful, because from that day forward she would have a hungry force living within her.

She didn’t have time to contemplate the entirety of the warning. Rarity was already dealing with two more. Her disciplined strikes kept them at bay, but far more were coming. Twilight searched for that well within her, where the power of sorcery slept separate from her unicorn heritage. In a moment the spark was lit, all across her body she could feel a coal of power being stoked. It wished to burn, and she obliged.

She cast out the power the only way she knew how. The air before her face warped at the sudden presence of intense heat, her horn seemed like it may melt at any moment as the air hissed at its presence. She shouted a warning before the fire sprang to life, hoping that Rarity would avoid the power she barely understood. 

When the burning force finally slammed into her target, Twilight was overwhelmed by a new sensation. She could feel the flesh burning. Not as though she was burning her own skin, instead it was as though she could feel the fire ravaging the undead flesh. To have something that felt to be a part of her used in such a manner was a strange feeling indeed, but there was something else to it. It wasn’t a voice, it was more of a hunger. It wanted more, not for fuel to burn but for something else. All she knew is that she wanted it too, she wanted… more. 

In an instance the fire that had been controlled and throttled to a single location exploded in size. It curled through the air, clinging to everything that it could. In an instant the halls sprang to life with the cries of fire searing flesh, burning away the dead into harmless ashen piles. All the while Twilight could hear a crazy cackle in the back of her mind, the feeling of the power being lifted to such an extreme was a rush like she had never felt before. There was a scream in the distance, something like shouting but the fire roared louder, it wanted her to give more. It wanted her to be at one with it.

Before she could entertain the idea something like a latch slammed around her wrist, a feeling akin to pain struck her. The fire was choked in an instant, leaving behind the glowing charcoaled bodies that had once moved with life. She followed where her body said the pain lay. She was gazing upon the armored bracer on one of her front legs, the rubies within gleaming brightly like fire. Twilight was furious with it, she wanted to rip it off and go back to the fire, to be with it again.

Then reality hit her. 

What was she thinking? What did she even mean by that? She could still feel the heat of the fire on her face, it had been a miracle she didn’t ignite herself. Then suddenly the screams and shouts of others filled her mind, a great horror crippled her senses for a brief instance.

“Twilight.” She turned to look at Rarity, a part of her mane slightly charred. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She couldn’t even remember what she burned, only that she had. “…fine.”

“Holy cow kid, where did that come from?” She turned to Miss Keystone, only to see something that made her heart stop.

Twilight shouted a warning to her, panic almost overcoming her at the sight of it. All she could see was a set of floating teeth within inches of Keystone’s body, like needles drenched in viscous ooze. They were attached to something, a shape that wasn’t quite there, and they seemed poised to snap her head right off. Keystone seemed to move so slowly to the warning. Her eyes shriveled into pinpricks as she fell over at the sight of hungry teeth ready to dig out chunks of her vulnerable flesh. But not before it had already begun its attack.

Suddenly there was a flash of blinding light, moments before the teeth had a chance to scour their prey. There was a screech, like something from a nightmare that pierced the silence alongside an audible snap. Twilight could feel her hair stand on end as another flash of light rocked her senses. When the light finally faded she could see the floating shape more clearly, as arcs of electricity jumped between spaces where it was.

“Burn it!”

Suddenly time seemed to catch back up, the wizard’s orders blaring loudly again.

“Burn it now!”

Twilight reached for her power, but she froze. Keystone was still within easy reach of the beast, so close to what the fire would cling to. All Twilight’s mind could see was Rarity’s charred mane, except far worse. Then the beast bolted, barreling straight toward her. Those teeth still the only thing she could see.


[/][/][7][/][/]


Rarity could see her friend, the panic overwhelm her. She leapt between them, rapier at the ready, but instead of a careful cut she opted for something else. She whispered something under her breath, a key set of words she did her best to learn. They rang with a sense of purpose and a small wisp out light shot from the end of her weapon straight into the beast. It seemed to lose its balance, the head long charge falling apart into a foal’s attempt at trotting for the first time.

She took her chance. With the end of her blade she sliced for its face, sadly all she managed to do was cut along the barely visible surface. It did not matter to her, she quickly adjusted. She knew it was almost past her already, she kicked out with her back leg at where its front legs should be. The blow connected to something, and the creatures gait was all but ruined. As it fell forward past them Rarity did one last thing, she aimed for the body, the only thing she could see for sure. Her blade impaled deeply, and before it had time to get caught on anything she quickly retracted it. Such a strike had taken more than a little luck to perform while she was still so rusty with her old weapon, but it would hopefully pay off.

Much to Rarity’s surprise though, the beast seemed to continue moving unabated. Its tumble across the floor doing little more than hamper it for but a moment. She couldn’t quite understand how it could still move, such a wound should kill almost anything she could imagine. It would take a careful eye to see it, but her calm demeanor was slightly rattled as she realized what that meant. Whether or not it was dead didn’t seem to matter, it still retreated and Twilight still seemed rattled. Her friend came first in her eyes.

“Are you alright Twilight?”

“I’ll be fine.” She seemed to realize just how hard she was breathing. “Thanks, Rarity.”

“A lady always looks out for her friends.” 

She quickly inspected her blade. It had been coated in many things in the fight, but now it was almost exclusively overwritten with a black substance. She could guess at what that meant about what she attacked. Regardless of what that thing was she quickly cleaned her blade with magic, before returning it to the scabbard beneath her robes.

“Rarity, Twilight. We need to get moving.”

They turned to look at Cartanis, who seemed to have already tended to a somewhat shaken Keystone. More stunning to them however was the lack of a wall where there had been one. They had little time to gawk at the sight, as the sound of another horde of undead greeted them from behind.

“It’s not far, let’s hurry.” They wasted little time, leaving the already dying sunrod behind.

“What isn’t far?” Cartanis asked as they caught up to Keystone.

“Where I’ve been hiding from these things.”

There was one more crossroad, at which Keystone didn’t even hesitate. They followed her down one last corridor, and somewhere along the line she stopped. Her hooves shot to the wall and searched for something.

“Don’t tell me you got lost.” The wizard chimed in.

“Just calm down, I almost got it.” Finally her hoof seemed to slip inside something. “Aha, here it is.”

With one hoof on whatever she had found the other disappeared into her untidy mane, grasping at something near her ears. She pulled out a small glowing purple crystal and attempted to fit it into what was under her other hoof. There was a very audible click as the crystal fell into place.

“Got it.” 

Had there been enough light, the other ponies may have seen her smug smile. As it was however, they could only see the striations of colored lines the same as the crystal begin to sprout out from the place Keystone had placed it. The striations quickly formed a rough shape of a square just large enough to fit that of a tall pony. Then the wall seemed to give way and split, opening the shape that had seemingly cut a way through the rock. The crystal that was used to open the way floating gently where it had been placed all the while. 

Keystone quickly snatched it out of the air before shouting. “Hurry.”

The other ponies didn’t argue as the doorway shut behind them, leaving no trace of their arrival.


[/][/][8][/][/]


With the danger of the undead behind them they proceeded at a slower pace. Cartanis followed Keystone as best he could, but the tunnel they had entered was not only cramped but truly dark. He wondered if he should light the way, but he had only himself to thank for being unable to muster enough power to do that. His own failures aside he had to begin a rather unwanted task.

“How much farther to this ‘hideout’ of yours?”

“Not much, and you don’t need to worry about it. Those things never found out how to get in here, and they’ve never broken through that door.” 

“So they know where you hide?”

“No…” 

Her answer wasn’t exactly that confident, and she could tell the wizard picked up on that. 

“Well maybe. On the second day, probably the second day I can’t tell anymore… Anyway, I was down here and I heard a bunch of banging on the other side.” She gave a short nervous laugh. “I never got any sleep that night, or day, I don’t know anymore.” 

Cartanis flinched as he nearly bumped into her face. She apparently decided she had to ask him something face to face.

“Do you know any way back to the surface?”

He was slightly confused and taken back by her question. “You don’t?”

“Would I ask for any other reason?”

He just shrugged. “I had assumed the only problem was the undead hounding you. I hoped that my group and I could deal with them if you knew a way out.”

“Trust me, this place… it’s not built right at all. I mapped most of it, I think, and I either wind up at a dead end or looking out over a cavern with no way down that doesn’t involve breaking my legs. No wings or magic to help little old me.”

“So there’s no way out of this place?”

“Not unless you three opened up some passage I never noticed.”

The wizard had to flatly reply. “No, we got lost down a pit. We were split off from the rest of our group, and we are not sure how well our friend’s fair.” He hoped that those he could not protect were still well, but he still feared for them.

“Oh.” She quickly disappeared from his limited range of sight. “Sorry I asked.”

The rest of the long walk was spent in silence. What the others thought of he did not know, but he was rested squarely upon a troubling problem. How were they going to get out of this place? An experienced pony who knew much about caves and exploration of them was locked within this rat’s maze. What chance did they have by themselves without her? He had to admit to himself that he was always the least when it came to living anywhere outside a well stocked inn. At best he could light the party’s campfires. There seemed to be no other option, he had to secure her help. No matter what.

Suddenly Cartanis realized that he wasn’t in such a confined space. The walls felt like they had moved away, and when he heard the leader trot off at a much brisker pace he figured his hunch was correct. He saw the crystal that Keystone had used earlier make an appearance in the distance.

“Shield your eyes.”

Her warning came, but it did not register fast enough for the wizard. He was almost immediately blinded as a rather strong light source clicked to life overhead.

“Well I tried to warn you.”

Cartanis could hear two other ponies groan in a similar fashion that he had. Eventually the glare passed, and he gazed upon a dusty room with a single large light hanging from the ceiling. That however was the least prodigious thing about the room. He was rendered somewhat speechless as he gazed upon the walls. Each stone that made up their room bore a slight unnatural glow, leaving everything in a slightly blue hue. The only thing that did not bare this trait was the floor, but even it was strangely fashioned compared to what he had seen before in this world.

“What is this?” Is about all he could muster to say. Even Rarity and Twilight seemed slightly taken aback at what they had seen.

“It’s called Harmonic Crystal-Crete, or Glowstone. Whatever you prefer to say.”

The group looked to Keystone.

“What? You thought an archeologist wouldn’t know her pre-banishment technology?” 

Suddenly some things started to click for Cartanis, her mentioning of a campsite, the length of time that she mentioned being lost down here. He hated to, but he had to bring it up.

“That campsite above ground, by the entrance…”

She lost some of the pride she had in her stance, her gaze growing far more sullen in a matter of moments. “…I don’t suppose you met anypony there?”

He didn’t have the heart to say it, but she could read his face clearly enough.

“Or on the way down?”

There was no change in his sullen sympathy upon his face.

She just gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Stupid to hope for such a miracle anyway.”

Cartanis heard Rarity speak up. “I’m truly sorry Miss Keystone.” 

For a time she just sat, her breath heavy and slow. There were obviously some old wounds in her that had yet to fully heal. Cartanis felt that he should no longer pry at the issue, he knew of such things well.

“You said you were hunters.” She began “Were you serious?” She looked up to him, eyes reddened with the thoughts of the past.

“Yes, we are here to deal with a monster that is a danger to many.”

She seemed to drift away into another place. Pain and anger brooding upon her face. “He’s missing half his face. Has one good eye and another… not an eye… thing? Dresses weird like all of you do?”

“Yes.”

“What is he?” There was a tinge of fear in her voice.

“Something with enough power to ignore death when it called for him.”

She shifted about uncomfortably. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“I apologize for even bringing it up mam.”

“No, no, it’s alright no need to get all formal on me.” She wiped away at the wetness on her face. “I just don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that day.” She started laughing, but it quickly grew hollow. “Just ask me about this place or something already. It’ll get me out of this funk. Heh, Batter always knew how to…” She cleared her throat quickly to hide her voice’s choke and stopped talking.

There was a moment of silence, but at least one purple unicorn had enough curiosity to speak.

“How is that light working? It doesn’t look like a normal sprite bulb.”

Keystone looked up at the single source of light that spanned the ceiling. “It’s powered by magic actually.” She had a smile on her face. “So that means that somewhere down here is a very old, very well put together, Harmonic generator. Maybe even a reactor.” 

She could see her words fell somewhat flat on her audience, so she prepared to explain.

“You see, there has never been a discovery of a working one before. It could be one of the biggest things to happen in Equestrian history. A technological renaissance like we’ve never seen since coal power.” She finally seemed lost in happier thoughts.

Cartanis interrupted her daydream. “So this ‘pre-banishment’ technology was better than what ponies use today?”

“Oh you’d be surprised what the ponies of old had available to them. It would take me far too long to discuss everything they had, there are a few books I could point you toward if we ever get out of here.”

“It isn’t like we don’t have to the time to listen.”

“It’s not that… just that I’m not really good at explaining it all.” She shrugged. “I was better at finding things and exploring, Goldenfield was the stallion who wouldn’t shut up about the stuff.” 

She looked slightly downtrodden again, but some slight hope seemed to spark in the back of her mind. 

“You’re sure you didn’t see anypony else down here? Before you all got separated?”

Cartanis answered as respectfully as he could. “No, we did not.”

“Yeah, silly of me to ask that twice.”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking.” Cartanis began. “But how did you end up down here? We saw no sign of other ponies on our way down, and there seemed to only be one path to get down this far.”

“Let’s just say that when you’ve been in as many caves as I have, you start to find ways to get around.” She shifted about uncomfortably. “Lots of squeezing between cracks in rocks, and crawling for hours on end, let’s put it like that. I’m pretty sure running for my life didn’t help much either, sometimes I forget how good of an idea it is to pay attention to where I’m going. Although all the… things chasing me didn’t help much.”

“So you truly are lost down here?”

She shrugged to the wizard’s question. “More or less.”

“Is there any other way out of this room?”

“Well… kind of, but I’m hesitant to use it.”

“Why would you not take another way out? It could be our way out of here.” He began looking about at the walls, seeing no clear sign of another exit.

“Let’s just say that pre-banishment Equestria was rather strict about breaking the law… really strict about it.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“The other way out of here is locked.”

“And your little… crystal key thing can’t open it?”

“It can only open one of the locks. The second one I’m a little more scared of tampering with.”

“I think I’ll want to have a look at it all the same.”

“Cartanis?”

The wizard looked back to his other compatriots.

Twilight spoke up once more. “Would it be alright if we took a break before we did anything else?”

Rarity chimed in appropriately. “I second the notion. We have a chance to recuperate in the safety of this place. We should take this opportunity before we start trying to get ourselves into danger again.”

The wizard considered their words for a time, he had his reasons for attempting to hasten their progress, but they had a well made point. “I suppose we should.”

Keystone shrugged. “Well I can’t say no to that idea, I’ve run for my life long enough for one day.”

“Wouldn’t hurt for myself to take some time toward some much needed respite.” He turned toward his more familiar acquaintances. “I don’t think a few hours are out of the question, but we shouldn’t stay here more than what it’ll take me to prepare a few spells.”

“How long is that exactly.”

“You have more than enough time Rarity. I also wished to have a word with both of you afterwards anyway, so it leaves plenty of rest for the both of you.” He let them be and headed off for his own place. However, he made a detour toward Keystone, a more private question in mind.

“Excuse me Keystone.” She looked up to him. “Would it be too much to ask about what happened exactly at the campsite.”

She seemed rather reluctant to even begin thinking about that day. “Is it really that important?”

“If it can give me even a clue as to why that monster is down here we could all be better off in the future.” There was still some reluctance in her posture. “Please.”

She sighed in defeat. “Not now, I need some time to gather my thoughts. Before we check out the lock, I promise.”

He took her words as best he could before trotting off to leave her alone. His mind wandered to the affairs of the other two mares in this little ragtag group. It seemed they found their own spot to lay down, grateful to have the thought of danger flee their minds for at least a brief moment. Although there still seemed to be some worry between them. 

He knew they cared for each other, but what they had seen was something they had never known each other capable of. Even Twilight seemed to be weighed down with worry from what had happened. Whatever the case, Rarity would be there for her, even if he could not. It was the least a friend could do, what one should do. So long as they were together, they would be fine. This he knew without a doubt, and hoped would ring true if he were ever to be taken from them.




End of Chapter 13