Twilight and the others finally arrived at the mountain with the entrance to the Lot D. They were under the shadows of a massive mountain. Grey and brown were the predominant tones around the area. There were trees around, but they were all dried, withered husks of dark bark and twisting branches. Even though it was daytime, the sky was grey and cloudy.
Everypony was shivering from the cold, damp air clinging to their fur. Rarity constantly waved her head around to get the bounce back into her mane. They had also convinced her to leave all of her stuff at home, something she resented doing. She kept the ruby necklace however.
Twilight twisted her head to get something out from her saddlebags. She nudged away the wrapped up Gem of Death and reached for the a silver liquid inside a vial. There was just enough for six doses, one for each pony.
Musky Brew had warned them that the potion would allow them to penetrate the veil protecting the entrance of Lot D, but only once. They could not leave for any reason until their mission was complete. Being an old mare, she was unable to handle the stress of Lot D, so the young ponies were on their own.
“Here.” Twilight looked up at giant spikes rising out from the ground. “This is as far as I got lost time. The entrance should be down here.”
Everyone stared up with mouths hanging open. There was a narrow and winding canyon within the mountain. Steep walls, threatening to crash down and bury whoever was foolish enough to be here, surrounded the path.
Twilight took a sip of the potion. Her body shuddered as spasms went through each part in turn. Her iris widened and shrank repeatedly. Color drained from her body, turning her fur into a paler shade. All the shaking caused the potion to fall out of her hoof. It was only Applejack’s close proximity that kept the rest of it from spilling onto the ground.
Fluttershy had been cowering on the ground. She lifted a hoof off her eye. “How do you feel, Twilight?”
“I’m okay, I think. Go on, drink up.”
“Me next!” Pinkie Pie dashed over and stole the vial.
“Remember, Pinkie, drink only a little bit. We need enough for everypony.” Twilight shot a warning glare to the oblivious pink pony.
“Okay.”
After taking a sip, Pinkie reacted even more violently. The large smile and wide eyes on her face were a good sign though. “Weeeeee!” she cheered as her body went off cartwheeling.
Applejack had to catch the vial again. “We ain’t going to make a habit out of this, are we?”
Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash all took a sip. When it came to Fluttershy’s turn though, the meek pony backed away. “I think you girls are fine here without me. It was very nice of you to bring me along, but I’ll be going back now.”
“Fluttershy,” Rarity said in a high pitched tone. The vial was floating next to her, suspended by unicorn magic. She placed her hooves on Fluttershy’s shoulder. Her sharp eyes were open wide and quivered under the light. “This is for Spike.”
Fluttershy turned her head down. When she looked up again, her normally soft expression had been replaced by a one of determination. Without saying a word, she grabbed the vial in her mouth to drink the last of the potion.
“Alright, come on,” Twilight said.
She took the first steps into the dark canyon. Wind, channeled through a such a narrow area, howled like lost spirits. Its biting force made her dark hair flutter wildly. The unicorn pressed on.
As the proceeded, signs of civilization became apparent. Torches, stuck into the stone wall, lit up with green flame as the ponies walked. The sickening green light casted flickering shadows on the walls. Columns were carved into the side of the mountain. Small alcoves had been hollowed out, only to be filled in with bones. Whether they were pony or something else, no pony in the group wanted to think about it. Everypony kept their heads facing forward.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive at a widened area. Four giant statues of ponies in rearing postures were arranged in a square, facing the way they had came in. They didn’t know if these statues were supposed to represent somepony or were just decorations.
The way ended at a cave. The opening slanted backwards. Massive spikes from the top and bottom made it look like the mouth of a great monster. Darkness from within seemed to reach out and create a gloom over the entire area. Chiseled along the top of the cave were the words, “Subterrania.”
“This is the right place I reckon,” Applejack said.
Twilight walked forward. “Let’s go.”
Stairs were located immediately inside the cave. The torches had ceased however, drowning the area in darkness. Not even Twilight, nor Rarity’s magic could brighten the area. They pushed on however, going by touch to know where to walk.
That plan worked fine right up until Twilight stepped off into nothing. She let out a scream as she fell onto what felt like a waterslide. Water was certainly rushing downward on all sides.
Everyone else, worried that Twilight had gotten hurt, rushed into the dark. One by one, they fell off. Pinkie reacted fast enough to grab onto Rainbow Dash. The pegasus tried to fly away, but she had already been pulled into the slide. Her wings extended only to hit against the walls.
Their shrieks overpowered the sound of gushing water as they spiraled lower and lower into the earth.
Inside a gigantic cavern within the ground, a shadow coated pony was sitting on a throne of gold. There was a rush of activity as several ponies wearing gold plated armor rushed around.
One of them approached the throne. With head bowed, he said, “Princess Terranea. Living creatures has somehow gotten into Lot D.”
“Is that so?” the pony on the throne said. Her voice was quiet now. The sweet tones slipped in between the bone joints and slithered through the body from the inside.
A momentary glow lit the throne as a stone basin, filled with water slid in front of the princess. An image of the ponies sliding ever downward was reflected on the surface.
“Guardians,” she called out.
Four shadows slid across the room. Each of them stopped in front of the princess and formed into a pony. Their features were still hidden by darkness.
“Why are there only four of you? Where is Lace?”
“Lace is probably lost again, wandering the halls,” one of the guardians said. “You know how Lace can be, Princess Terranea. Don’t worry, I’ll relay your orders.”
The princess looked into the pool again. “We have guests from Equestria.”
“We’ll get rid of them,” another guardian said.
Princess Terranea’s shadowy face remained emotionless. “Wait at your posts. When they arrive, you may do with these ponies as you see fit.”
“Princess?” one of the guardians said with a curiously opened eye.
“I leave it to you to judge the best course of action,” the princess said. Her red eyes widened. “Go.”
“Not to worry, I’ll muscle out these intruders.”
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
“Stopping ponies isn’t really my thing so....”
“I’ll grind them into dust. You won’t even be able to tell them from the dirt.”
All four ponies bowed. Without lifting their head, they sank into shadow.
“Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Terranea returned her attention to the rippling water. She watched the lavender unicorn in particular. “How interesting for you to visit here.”
Twilight and the others had finally fallen out from the slide. There were five splashes as they fell into a pool of water down below. Rainbow Dash had managed to fly at the last moment, spraying droplets of water everywhere as her wings shot out.
The five ponies swam to the nearest shore they could find. The chilly air made their bones ache. Fluttershy was shaking so much, she couldn’t climb out on her own. Pinkie Pie and Applejack had to help her out.
After shaking dry, everypony made sure that all of their belongings were still there. Gem of Death, check. Emergency medical supplies, wet but check.
“Is this it?” Twilight asked. “Is this Lot D?”
The six were inside a large, damp cavern. The shimmering blue stone were smooth from many years of erosion. Water dripped constantly from the ceiling. Looking up, there was a dizzying amount of potentially pony piercing stalactites hanging up there. More green fire provided light. A small river flowed from the pool they had landed in into a much larger river, one that flowed slowly. The water was so dark that they couldn’t see just how deep it was. A cobblestone path led deeper into the foreboding place.
Twilight raised a hoof towards the cobblestone road. “Let’s follow the path I guess.” It went upwards, towards an archway.
As they got near, a shriek echoed out from the next area. Everypony rushed forward to see what was happening. They came to a long corridor lined with torches. The green light bounced off veins of gold and silver running all through the walls creating wave like patterns everywhere.
A filly, there was a filly here. She was being chased by two black plated scorpions that were larger than even adult ponies. The many legs of the monstrous arachnids clicked along the ground. Every sound felt like something was crawling up the base of their necks.
“No!” Fluttershy exclaimed. She flew forward and put herself in between the filly and the scorpions. “Bad. You do not chase defenseless little fillies. Do you hear me?” Her brows arched downward menacingly. “You are larger, there are more of you, you do not have any reason to be chasing a this pony.”
The scorpions actually stopped in their tracks. One of them snapped their claws, but that only caused Fluttershy to glare harder. If scorpions could sweat, they would be filling buckets right about now. Looking at one another, the scorpions decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble. They turned to leave, disappearing into a hole within the wall.
“Whoa, how’d you do that, dame?” the young filly asked.
“Oh, it was nothing.” Fluttershy looked down. “I’m glad you aren’t hurt.”
“A pretty dame like you didn’t need to go through the trouble of helping me. I would have been alright.”
Twilight and the others walked over to greet the filly as well. It was then they noticed how odd the young pony’s mane and tail looked.
The young pony had a dark blue fur and a blank flank. Her mane and tail were neatly combed straight. Long bangs fringed her face. As for their color, it was more of a pattern. A painting of waves with thick black outlines was on her mane and tail. As she walked around, looking at everyone, the pattern never moved. It was as if her mane and tail were portals that allowed ponies to see into a pattern universe or a clipping mask over a picture.
Her innocent eyes were still wide with amazement at Fluttershy’s feat.
“Wait a second. You ponies have weird manes.” She circled around Fluttershy. “Wings that give hope of flying away from a dark city, but you never do, due to too much old baggage.” She turned to Twilight. “And those horns, ready to pierce into the darkness only to find that the veil is impossible to break through. Are you dames from Equestria?”
“Yes,” Fluttershy said. She leaned down to be eye level with the small filly. “What’s your name?”
“Ferry Merry.” The filly jumped up and down excitedly. “Wow, you guys are still alive. I haven’t seen a living pony, pegasus or unicorn ever.” She had grabbed onto Fluttershy’s long, pink mane and was moving it around. “Weird,” she muttered with wide eyes. “Your mane is so strange.”
“What are you?” Rainbow Dash asked. One hoof was raised suspiciously.
“If you mean what race I am, I’m an under pony.”
“Are you dead, squirt?”
“No, don’t be silly.” Ferry wagged her hoof arrogantly. “We of the Dod only work with dead souls. All under ponies are alive.”
Twilight suddenly spoke up, her voice was a higher octave than normal, “Under ponies! I read about them during my research. You ponies haven’t been seen in over a thousand years. I didn’t even think you were around anymore.”
Without any prompting, she went on into more explanations. “You, under ponies, can glide across the earth in a shadowy form. You ponies work the ground, creating gemstones and precious metals.”
“Er,” Ferry leaned back away from the overeager unicorn’s bright eyes, “I know that already seeing as I am an under pony myself. This dame has brains bigger than her head.”
Fluttershy waved to catch the filly’s attention again. “I’m Fluttershy. These are my friends.” The yellow pegasus introduced everypony with a sweeping motion of her hoof. “Do you think you can help us out?”
“For the dame with the killer hair? Sure. What do you need?”
Well, you see....” Fluttershy began to explain their situation. By the end of the tale, both of them were crying loudly.
“Your story cut through the cold, frozen night like a heated iron slug.” Ferry put a hoof on her chest. “I will help you guys get your friend back. Besides,” her tone of voice was suddenly joyous again, “if this Spike character really is only mostly dead, we might be able to convince the princess to let him go. It’s all or nothing.”
Fluttershy wiped the tears off her cheeks. She nodded happily towards the young filly.
“How should we go about getting Spike back?” Twilight asked.
“Talk to Princess Terranea. She is the one in charge of the place.”
“And where is she?”
“Hmm, here.” Ferry shuffled over to one of the torches.
Everypony watched in bemusement. They had heard Twilight say under ponies could turn into shadow but seeing it first hoof made their eyes widen. Ferry had transformed her hooves into shadow and slid up the wall to grab the torch with her mouth. The flame went out by itself when the torch was removed.
She popped off the wall. There was enough loose dirt on the ground to draw with. Ferry started making a very crude map. The basic shape was that of a spiral. Five lines that intersected in the shape of a lopsided pentagon were overlayed on top. The lines extended past the spiral.
“This is about what the Dod looks like. Here.” Ferry jabbed the center of the spiral. “This is the throne room and central administration chamber. This is where all the bosses work, see? The princess is there too.”
She traced the pentagon shape that ran along the spiral path. “The fastest and safest way to get there is to take the boats. They’ll go along the five rivers, and they’ll take you straight to the center. Be careful you don’t fall into the rivers, or you’ll be sleeping with the fishes, permanently.”
“How do we get one of these boats?” Fluttershy asked.
“Ooh, ooh.” Ferry hopped up and down again. “I got one. It’s a small little thing, like a dainty shot glass compared to a full mug. Higgs Boatswain has the largerest ship but he’s busy right now. So, let me take you?”
“I don’t know. It might be dangerous.”
“Come on, Fluttershy. It’s less dangerous for me than it is for you living dames. I am a river guide in training I’ll have you know.”
The pink haired pegasus looked back to her friends. They didn’t really have a unified response and were shaking their heads in all directions. Pinkie even went back to front, whatever that meant.
“Okay?” a confused Fluttershy said.
“Coolboss,” Ferry said. “Let’s go.” She shuffled off, her hoofsteps echoed in the long, downward tunnel.