“So what all happened while I was gone?” asked Applejack the next morning. The morning, however, was soon full of dread. The guys all buried Jeb’s body early in the morning and each said final rites to their friend. After they finally said goodbye to Jeb, the guys returned to the camp when the girls were beginning to awaken.
“Nothing really,” said Cannon. He looked around the countryside and sighed. “Except Rivs and Sticky died too.” The guys all looked sad again at the mention of their other dead friends.
“Oh, well I’m real sorry for that,” said Applejack sullenly.
The group sat at their camp for a few more hours, chatting away time, as if this whole situation was a nightmare. At about noon, they packed up their things and went back down the long, flat road they’ve been traveling for the past few days. Their travel was mostly silent, devoid of life. No one was in the mood of talking.
After what seemed like hours of walking, Patel noticed something in the far distance. “Hey, guys, do you see that?” he asked them pointing towards a faint outline of what looked like a building atop a small incline beside the road.
“Oh no,” said Poncho, “I’m not going back into a building after what we saw happened to Quantico.” Poncho was extra grumpy today, as his wound from the day before was still bothering him. Twilight used one of Rarity’s extra scarves to wrap it around his wound to stop the bleeding and protect it from infection, but no matter how bandaged it was, Poncho still bitched about it.
“Shut up, you sketch-bag,” said Cannon, “we’re going to take a gander. What else could go wrong?” His sarcasm made everyone want to punch him.
As they drew closer and closer to the building, a shock of horror surrounded them all. The building was a rancher it was worn down by age. The paint was chipped off the walls and the shingles were absent completely. The door had the same symbol that have been stalking them for the past days. The house was an exact copy of the house they found in the forest.
“You have to be fucking kidding me!!!” yelled Wahlburn, “looks like we are all going to die after all.” He continued his rant as the others went to the back of the house. What they saw there didn’t help their morale either.
In the backyard was a ten foot tall statue of a hooded pony. He was holding on to his face, the familiar mask that Phaselus Civilis members wore. Because of the mask, the sculpture only showed his captivating sinister smile. At the base of the statue was a plaque, inscribed with unique runes. Twilight pulled out a certain book and flipped through the pages. After she found a certain page, she walked up to the plaque and began to decipher the message. A few minutes laters, Twilight read aloud:
“Fabalis Rex
Our Great Savior
To Purge The World,
In Glory of Phaselus Civilis”
“Their leader?” asked Rainbow Dash, “he doesn’t look that tough. I bet we could take him if we came across him.” Applejack, Cannon, and Tyrone agreed with her.
“I’m guessing this building here is important due to the statue.” said Twilight, “we have to check inside there. Running only seems to get us in trouble.” The others were reluctant at first, but ultimately agreed with her. What other option was there at this point?
They all went back to the front door of the house and took a deep breath. Cannon opened the door and they all filed inside. The interior of the house, like its exterior counterpart, was the same as the house in the forest. The house layout was the same, same furniture, same door to basement. This time however, they decided to wander down into the basement. “Keep the doors open,” said Twilight to the others.
All of them slowly descended the staircase leading to the basement, with Cannon first and Poncho last. The basement was small but at the far corner was a table with a map on it. Beside the desk was a lone door. Twilight walked over to the desk and picked up the map. The map showed the county of which they were located in currently, along with random marked locations near roads going through the county. Twilight studied the map for a few more moments until she figured it out. She called everyone over and they all circled around the map.
“This map...,” she started, “this map and that door over there, shows a whole underground tunnel system. These 'X's show the different buildings, that we are in right now, and where to are located. That is how they keep catching up to us!”
“My, my, aren’t you a keen one?”
Everyone was stunned and looked up the staircase to the source of the voice. Atop the staircase, looking down at them, and the source of the voice, stood the lone figure of Xarlin.
“Y-You!” said Poncho nervously. “You were the one that killed our bus driver and our friends? I thought you were nice by helping me back at that town, but it was just a decoy?”
Xarlin grinned. “Now hold up, I can only take credit on one of your accusations, but yes, I did kill your bus driver.” He began his descend down the stairs. Behind him, stood a group of hooded figures that also walked down the stairs to the basement. “I had no involvement with the forest or road. We have many members, so I couldn’t tell you who did it.” He reached the base of the stairs while Poncho and the others backed up against the far wall with the door. The other hooded members joined Xarlin’s side and began a deadlock amongst everyone in the room.
“I have to give you credit though,” Xarlin said looking at Twilight,” you figured out our traveling system pretty quickly. I told the ponies in charge of that map to at least make it difficult to understand it, but they wouldn’t listen. Go fetch that map from them.” He hit the member beside him to tell him the order.
“Are you then, Fabalis Rex?” asked Twilight throwing the map at him so the grunt wouldn’t get close, “I mean, you sound like you have authority over these other members.”
Xarlin laughed, which sounded more baneful than anything. “Me? Fabalis Rex? Ha! You have got to be joking. However, I do see your point. I am more of a “wingman” than anything. Speaking of him, I think it’s high time you finally see our King.” He and the other members started to walk towards them.
“No!” said Wahlburn picking up a stone on the basement floor and stepping forward, ready to throw, “you’ll never take us!” As he said that a scream filled the room. Soon, multiple screams filled the room. He quickly turned around and saw members of the cult walking out from the wall with the door and grabbing the others from behind, and dragging them back through. “An illusion!!” Just then, he felt a massive blow to the back of his head. Unable to remain intact, he quickly passed out.
“Hmph. What do we have here,” said Xarlin sheathing back his hidden blunt object, “a defiler and hero. Looks like the King will have some fun tonight after all.” He tied Wahlburn’s limbs together and ordered a grunt to carry him. Xarlin and the grunts walked through the fake wall and met back up with Poncho and the others.
All of them were being forced to wear a collar, which all attached to a single chain, and forced to walk together. All the grunts took their bags and ventured further into the dark, barely lit, tunnel.
“I’ll be in charge of you folks until we get back to base.” Xarlin laughed again as he ordered the grunt carrying Wahlburn to drag him instead. “I hope you folks get comfortable, because no one escapes from Regnum Fabarum.”