Jaxler woke up. He got up and looked around. He noticed it was dark and the only source of light was from a torch. He had woken up in the mines, again and had no memory of last night, again. He decided to walk around and found his crossbow a few feet away from him. He picked it up and scanned it for damage and sighed when he found it to be in unharmed. So he continued to walk around trying to figure his way out through the endless mazes of tunnels. After what seemed to be an eternity of wondering he saw a pony off in the distance. As he got closer he started to realize who it was. "Hay Flux"
'So this is where it begins...'
Flux gently run a hoof over the mine wall, tracing what he's pretty sure is a bit of iron. He jumps when he hears a voice behind him, surprised to find it's Jaxler.
"Oh, Jaxler! Um, hello. Why... are you in the mines?"
"To be honest, I ain't got the slightest clue"
Flux tilts his head, confused.
"You... don't know?"
"Uh yeah, what's so strange about me not knowing why I'm down here?"
'...What? He might as well ask why he's supposed to breathe..."
Flux decides to try to change the subject instead of answer.
"Uh, do you, um, come to the mines often? I've never been here before."
"Well I've been down here twice but I really don't know how to navigate this place"
"Um, do you go to the caves?"
"I really haven't made any sort of effort to go down into the caves, so no."
"Um, do you want to? After seeing the mines, I'd kinda like to look at the caverns too. But, um, I don't know if they're safe. Uh, especially after, um..."
"sure, I guess and if any monsters come out ya got me as backup"
Flux smiles in relief when Jaxler agrees to go with him.
"Thank you, Jaxler! Um, lets go, then?"
Flux prances a bit as he heads back up the stairs to the cavern entrance, happy to be able to explore the caverns for more ore to smelt. The caverns are nothing like he expected at all! He had thought they'd be like the mines: dark and bare stone. But they are lively! Large fungi and moss cover almost every surface, lighting them with soft bio-luminescence, and small critters scurry about.
"Oh wow! I thought this place would be barren, or hellish, but it's actually really nice!"
Flux settles down as he remember what else tends to live in this place, and quickly looks at the various walls to see what ores are around, trusting Jaxler to be able to handle anything that might show up.
Jaxler was awestruck by the beauty of the underground. The bluish glow of the earth and the multicolored trees, it was simply amazing. The landscape was also just astonishing; there where columns ringed with rainbows of crystals and endless expanses of color as far as the eye could see. It was simply awe-inspiring.
"Damn this place looks neat"
Flux absentmindedly nods in response, absorbed in trying to identify the metals in the walls.
'Hmm, that looks like gold, not just iron pyrite...'
His musings are interrupted by several high pitched screeches, as well as the sounds of heavy steps.
"Uh-oh..."
"BOOM, BOOM"
Jaxler's eyes widen, Jaxler had heard stories of the twisted abominations that resided in these lands, and he had been foalish enough to step hoof in a place that he didn't belong. He now set eyes upon what appeared to be 16 feet tall ogre, but this one was twisted and corrupted from eternities spent away from the sun. The very ground thundered with every step and body bulged with pure muscle. The creature spotted them and there was no doubt what would happen next. Jaxler put a bolt in his crossbow and pointed it at the monstrosity.
"Flux... get the buck out of here"
Jaxler fired a bolt hitting the Ogre, the sound of crossbow reverberated through the caves making a sickening echo followed by silence, and then the most horrifying sound one could imagine sang through the caves. "SQUAWK SQUAWK" followed by "ARGGGGGGG". Giant cave swallows had just joined the fight, an entire flock had come and now an angry ogre with a bolt in his shoulder was charging the two ponies. There was no chance of escape, they would haft to fight there way out of this.
"Flux, I have a quiver hidden under my left wing, grab a bolt and use it as a makeshift knife."
Shaking with raw terror, Flux gets behind Jaxler and covers his face with his hooves. When Jaxler tells him to grab a bolt, he nearly faints, but manages to keep it together enough to at least follow his instructions to grab a bolt.
"Wh-Wh-What n-n-now?"
"Good, now I expect you to run the moment I have all these monsters attacking me, and don't you DARE try to help at that point, only use that bolt if your getting followed. REMEMBER RUN the moment I've pulled these, I expect you to sit here until I've done that."
And with that Jaxler flew into the sky and started to fire his bolts. He rained down hell fire until his store of bolts ran out. Only 2 of the seven birds fell and the ogre on the other hand, it had 5 bolts in it and still stood tall, it didn't even flinch it even laughed at the feeble effort. At this point he was surrounded by birds and the ogre could care less about flux. So, Jaxler gave the command "RUN!" as his words rang out the orange stallion ran but one of the birds flew after him. Jaxler would have reacted but as finished yelling he felt a gush of wind fly past him, the ogre had thrown a half ton of stone and missed... barely.
Flux hesitates a moment before bolting when Jaxler tells him to run.
'But...! No, he's a fighter, he knows what he's doing, so run!'
He takes to my hooves as fast as he can, but can't seem to outrun the colossal bird thing coming after him. As the entrance comes back into view, Flux feels his hooves leave the ground as talons grip his sides. The monsterous beak comes down to slice his withers, and he screams in pain. Twisting around, he jams the bolt into the base of the wing, bringing both him and the monster tumbling to the ground. Flux pops free in the crash and manages to continue his dash for the surface and somepony who could help Jaxler, fighting the pain the entire time.
"Somepony! Anypony! Help! Jaxler is in the caverns and needs help!!"
"All you can do is kill me"
Jaxler knew at this had become more or less a suicide mission. So, Jaxler charged the closest swallow and bashed it head with his crossbow, if the brain damage didn't kill it the fall surely did considering that when it hit the ground it made a splat. But as he moved in for a second attack he felt a sharp pain in his back leg. A cave swallow had flew from behind and cut his leg, badly. He flung his crossbow around and hit it's head, killing it on impact. Jaxler still was bleeding; the swallow had cut a vein. He was having a hard time flying straight, and just as things were looking grim a boulder flew through the air clipping his wing. He fell around 25 feet and broke his front legs upon impact and his crossbow fell around 5 feet to his left. He was in unimaginable pain but still managed to force himself up on all fours when the ogre walked up. It cocked back his huge hand and flung him ten feet into the wall. He was now sitting in a pool of his own blood with a gargantuan monster laughing as it thought of ways to mangle its prey.
"Buck... off"
"Flux? Jaxler? The caves!"
Stiletto charged out from behind the ballista and swings around to see the cave swallow Flux had struck to the ground. Her charge didn't slow, and in an instant her hoof was covered in feathers and blood, the cave swallow was pulverized. With mad speed she pushed into the cavern where Jaxler was fighting.
'keine Zeit!'
Her axe flew from her mouth guided by her magic struck the cave ogre in the chest and lodged itself deep into the sternum. Stiletto grabbed her shield as it fell to the ground. With her wings spread wide, Stiletto flew over Jaxler and smash a cave sparrow in the head, bashing the bone into the brain. The sparrows were surprised by the ferocity of her attack. Her neck twisted around smacked another bird to the left sending it flying into a wall. Finally her shield came down pinning a third cave sparrow to the ground. She let go of her shield.
"Jaxler! Run!"
"I can't *cough cough*" Jaxler felt blood trickle out of his mouth, but he still tired in vein to lift himself of the ground, but the moment he tried to lift himself he only coughed up more blood. the pain he was in was unfathomable, too much even.
"Let... me... die..."
"Not even if you where the one I hated most in this world!"
Stiletto leaps over to the cave Ogre and bucked him the pelvis, shattering the bone. Her magic ripped the axe from its' place in the Ogres' chest, tearing flesh as it came free from the wound. It spun through the air and sliced deep into its' guts. The Ogre vomited on Stiletto as its' intestines fell to the cavern floor. Stiletto grabbed her axe with her mouth and with final swing sent the beasts' head sailing off in an arc.
"You are not allowed to die here! Jaxler you hear me!"
Her magic lifted the injured Pegasus and placed him on her wide back. With careful concentration on her magic, Stiletto held Jaxler stable on her back as she flew to the hospital at full clip. She almost knocked the door off its' hinges.
"Panacea! Wounded!"
"you don't give me ord..." Jaxler's consciousness left him, the only thing he felt now was weightlessness.
Panacea looks up from Flux, who she was tending to up to that moment. His wounds weren't that bad, but he'd need a few stitches. The new arrivals were a different matter. "Stiletto? What...?"
She sees the bloody mess hanging off her back and her jaw drops. "Get him onto one of the beds." She trots off to one of the chests and begins rummaging for materials. "And somepony go find Wool. I could use his help right now..."
Flux trys to lay still on the cot, hoping to not reopen any of his wounds.
'Ooowww, why did nopony tell me being injured hurt so much?'
Stiletto places Jaxler down on the closest bed and then moves over to Flux
"You can help him? please tell me a was not to slow this time."
Panacea looks at the badly wounded pony before her and fights to keep her face straight. He was in very bad shape. She didn't honestly know if he would live. "Let me check him..."
The blood collecting in the corners of his mouth was a very bad sign. He might have a punctured lung, or maybe if they were lucky a cut in his mouth. She wasn't holding her breath. Two broken legs, and a very bad cut on his leg. At least it wasn't his femoral artery. If it was he'd be dead already. His wing looked broken too, and he had enough small cuts and contusions to last a lifetime.
She silently steps back, frowns slightly and grabs her supplies before setting to work. First things first... control the bleeding. She needed Wool for the internal bleeding, if there was any. She wasn't much of a surgeon and she'd probably kill him trying to fix it the old fashioned way.
Jaxler was waking, and had a horrible ringing in his ears. His stomach felt uneasy and his body still felt broken. He was on what appeared to be a cold stone table in a pool of blood surrounded by horrible looking instruments of evisceration. He tried to resist but was strapped down and couldn't move an inch. He moved his eye's up and saw a figure but couldn't make it out due to a bright light burning his face. As a scalpel got withing an inch of his chest he finally became lucid enough to speak.
"Shit... I always knew I'd end up in hell."
Panacea halts as Jaxler begins to wake. Not good... "Wool, he's waking up, could you help?" The unicorn steps over and does what is needed: cast a sleeping spell on the badly wounded pegasus. "Thank you."
As Jaxler drifts back to unconsciousness, she carefully sets to work with Wool's help. He was still a bit fresh as a doctor, but as a unicorn he was invaluable. She knew that medical spellbook would come in handy. With his help the bleeding had been all but halted, and she was able to work on his torn lung with relative safety. She slowly pieces the shattered ribs back together as best her meager surgical skills allow.
After nearly two hours of painstaking work, Jaxler has been sewn up and sutured everwhere needed. He was in bad shape, but would recover with a little luck.