“When we reach the surface, you will take your orders directly from me.” Roughneck ordered, flipping switches on the control panels as the submarine drifted down half-drowned corridors and back toward the ruined entrance of Tali. A short submarine ride later, the battered hull of the sub re-emerged from the icy waters of the Olenian Ocean. Rain hammered down from an inky sky, and waves smashed the sides of the cargo ship. The ship’s crane was lowered down, the chains attached, and the sub was lifted on-deck. But as the metal hull collided with the deck, Dust and the group were planning their insurrection. As they were led out onto the deck, they took note of two armed changeling guards assisting the transportation of the Key. The dagger had since been wrapped in a cloth and kept in a small sealed metal container, and it was now handed over to a changeling officer. As it was being carried off toward the senior officer’s quarters, Dust saw her chance. She dove sideways, rolling behind a cargo container. Immediately, a firefight broke out on-deck. Fortunately for Dust, the terrible weather conditions meant that the changelings couldn’t fly above to ambush her. But that didn’t stop them from fighting her. Automatic gunfire ricocheted across the metal crates, smashing holes and dents in anything and everything. Pulling her mother’s pistol from her saddlebags, she readied herself and then jumped out into the open. A crack of gunfire, and the first changeling dropped dead. A machine-gun rattled across the floor toward her, dropped by the deceased enemy.
“Get to somewhere safe.. I’ll be back.” She uttered to the group, dashing off.
Soon, Dust was fighting her way across the deck of the ship as it rocked and heaved in the storm. Foam and brine sprayed over the sides, drenching all in its path. Having grabbed the machine-gun, she fired off round after round at her rivals while running the length of the ship. Caught up in the heat of battle, she seemed to have succumbed to a bloodlust, cutting down every changeling in her way. The combat high waned as she reached her goal. Stooping down, she plucked the boxed artefact from the saddlebags of the changeling officer. A strange feeling washed over her as she prised the small box open, looking upon the strange dagger once again. Some near-imperceptible warmth radiated from the slightly curved weapon, and it glowed gently with that weird, dull blue light. Grasping the hilt in her hoof, she swung it curiously. Dust had not guessed at the odd power that the thing possessed, for she jumped at the next moment. The blade had been angled toward one of the cargo containers when she swung it tentatively. But now, as she leapt in shock, she saw a glistening, glowing gash slice its way down the container’s side, ripped open without so much as a touch from the blade of the Key.
“Put it down.” Roughneck’s voice called out from somewhere. Dust whipped around. She could hardly see in the weather conditions. In all honesty, her success in the insurrection of the cargo ship so far had been down to sheer luck and a constant stream of hot lead. But now, even with a machine-gun, a pistol and a strangely powerful dagger, she felt helpless before the unseen foe. In a flash, Roughneck swooped down from somewhere above. Discarding safety, he grabbed the Key in a talon and turned, dropping to the deck before her. Dust cocked the machine-gun, but Roughneck raised the dagger. “You try anything funny, and I slash your head off with this thing.” Apparently, he had seen the demonstration of the Key’s power. Undeterred, Dust raised the weapon, readying to fire.
“If I die here, mother and our friends will still win.” She spoke with conviction.
“As you wish.” Roughneck smirked, raising the dagger up.
There was a loud bang.
Roughneck stopped, looking down at his chest. A burning sensation, mixed with a cold, clammy grasping at his heart. Blood trickled from his breast, and soon, it dribbled from his beak too. He turned, and Dust’s eyes lit up. Behind him, holding a smoking pistol, was Daring Do. She grabbed the dying villain, pulling him close.
“No-one threatens my daughter.” She uttered coldly, grabbing the Key from his talons and then shoving him away. Dripping blood across the deck, Roughneck stumbled backward toward the edge. But as he was about to drop into the Olenian.. Something emerged from the water. A long, pale, quivering tentacle. It wrapped around the dying griffin, pulling him slowly down into the stormy waves.
“Something tells me that we didn’t quite destroy Morlyir Bae.” Dust concluded, before turning and reaching out her arms in a tentative hug. Daring welcomed the unexpected action. Her daughter actually loved her. Despite the problems that had arisen, the events of the last day or so had brought mother and daughter back together. And that was a fantastic feeling.
“So, we have the Key back.” Captain Rhododendron stated, once the group had rejoined each other. Huddled together in an engine room, they planned their next move as the remainders of the changeling crew began an extensive search of the entire ship. “I suggest we take the ship through stealthy tactics, we pick off the crew piece by piece, and then we set sail back to the mainland and hole up in the Crystal Empire while we transl-” She was cut off as the engine room door slammed open, a handful of changeling officers rushing in holding guns. Dust pulled the pistol, hitting the trigger. There was a click, and no blaze of gunfire. Out of ammunition. Not only that, but the glowing form of the Key lay over in the far corner, in its crate.
“Oh, for the love of..” She uttered, dropping it to the floor as the changelings surrounded the group, smirking and chattering with insectoid laughter.
The ship sailed across the Olenian then, with the team returned to their comrades in the brig as the voyage continued toward an island port off the mainland known as Linlam Bay. The cargo ship pulled into dock, and transport of crew and vehicles onto land began immediately. The original crew of the Daring were taken via cargo truck to a costal fort on the cliffs; Fort Fallen Moon. The huge wooden gates were pushed open, guns trained on the trucks and armoured cars as they rolled into the courtyard and halted. Eventually, the crew were escorted to the prisons – or dungeons, to use a more accurate term – of the fort. It took two days of interrogations and forced translation to ascertain the location of the Underworld and its entrance.
“There.. I’ve got it!” Dust called out, turning the final turn of the makeshift translation wheel she had made. “It says, ‘The Gate into the Underworld is shrouded in the Eye of the Timber Wolf. Within the eye, you will find the Pit, and in the Pit, the Source of Undeath.’ The Eye of the Timber Wolf.. That’s a lake on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, just outside of Ponyville..” With this observation taken by the changeling commanders, transportation was arranged to the mainland. Dust, however, was transferred back to the dungeons. Sitting in a wide, large barred cell, she conversed with the remaining survivors about their predicament.
“So what do we do when we find the lake?” One of the crew asked, stepping forward.
“We follow the instructions set for us.” Daring cut in, interrupting her daughter before she managed to answer. “In my journal, there is a section of a translated manuscript written by a Sir Finstream of the Redblood Order, back in the Second Solar Empire. He and his comrades followed the same quest we follow today; they searched for the Cask to revive the Baron of their territory before the war was lost. Sir Finstream left precise instructions for how to reach the underworld once at the Eye of the Timber Wolf. But according to their manuscript, they turned back and fled the Underworld when they saw what lay inside.” The group watched, wide-eyed in fear.
Another day, and the team were back on dry land after transportation by ship. Another storm had kicked up, the epicentre strangely drifting above the ship for a good few hours before the storm had fizzled out. When the expedition vehicles reached the outskirts of the forest, the team continued on foot toward the lake known as the Eye of the Timber Wolf.