//------------------------------// // 64 vs. The Slava's Finale // Story: 64 vs. The Underground // by Jman9877 //------------------------------// 64 vs. The Slava’s Finale 3rd Person POV Ghost was now free from his shackles, ready to continue with his plan. He was now waiting for the arrival of another guard, ready to do what needed to be done to escape. Applebloom was still unconscious, but was now groaning a bit in her slumber. Ghost prepared himself by taking his hammer and using the chains from his shackles to create a sort of blunt whip, holding it in his hoof tightly. He gave a glance at Applebloom and sighed, hoping that she wouldn’t hate him for this. “Hey! Somepony help! Someone here fainted!” Ghost yelled, hiding around the corner of the door. He heard the patter of footsteps getting nearer, before he closed his eyes and prayed to Celestia for strength. “What the fuck is going on in here?” a Diamond Dog growled, walking into the cavern and seeing Applebloom unconscious on the floor. As he went to investigate, Ghost swung the hammer with everything he had at the back of the Diamond Dogs head, connecting with the base of his neck. The Dog fell forward onto the floor and spasmed twice, before going limp. Ghost went to make sure that the Dog was out of the fight, and when feeling for a pulse, he could feel the sure signs of a broken neck. “Celestia have mercy…” Ghost muttered, knowing that the loss of a life was a very serious matter. Searching the dog’s corpse, he found an entire ring of keys, and a rolled up paper mapping out the entire Mountain he was in. “Looks like we found the foreman of this section.” Continuing his search of the corpse, he found that the dog was wielding a very rusty machete which would be completely useless to him unless he could repair it. “Yo! Grisly?! What’s going on over there!?” A stallion’s voice called from outside of the cavern. Ghost looked up quickly and realized that his call might attract more than one guard. He looked towards the Machete and realized that it might not be as useless as he thought. 64 and Shining Armor were now in view of Smokey Mountain, so it was now time for 64 to drop. “Alright! Time for me to go! Good luck Shining!” 64 called out, dropping the rope down to the rocky hills below. “To you too! Get those kids out of there safely!” Shining Armor called out, as 64 lowered himself and rode along with the flying Chariot. When he felt he was a good distance away from the mountain, he let go of the rope and fell to the ground below. He steadied himself and looked up to the chariots slowly flying away, as two of them launched giant flaming boulders at the mountainside. “Time to get going.” He muttered, running towards the mountain. West of the mountain was an entrance to an abandoned mine, but with Shura Slava’s mining operations, it had a good chance of being active again. 64 found this entrance while making sure to hide behind a large boulder, and saw that there were two Gryphons stationed as sentries. He began to look around to see if there were any other hostiles to take care of before entering, but found none. Pulling the blowpipe on his back over his shoulder, he loaded a dart into the tube and quickly took aim. With a quick burst of air the dart was sent zipping towards the Gryphon and planted itself into his neck, causing him to wince painfully. “What’s wrong?” The other Gryphon asked, as he saw the dart implanted in his partner’s neck. “What is that?!” Another gust of air and a painful wince later, both of the Gryphons were unconscious and on the ground. 64 stepped out and checked the Gryphon’s for anything he might need, and found a small oil lamp. He remembered he wouldn’t be able to use his magic to enhance his vision, so he grabbed it and attached the strap to his hip. Staring into the dark path which led into the Mountain, 64 took a deep breath and walked into its gaping maw. Ghost now stood over the dead body of a Brown stallion, a machete lodged into his forehead. He threw it when he saw the stallion turn the corner, and he managed to get a lucky hit. Blood now was starting to pool on the floor, making Ghost cover his nose. “I was hoping to make this a bit cleaner…” Ghost whispered, looking towards Applebloom. She was now starting to wake up, groaning as she did so. “Wha… what happened…?” She asked, opening her eyes blearily and getting onto her hooves. She froze in shock as she saw the image in front of her. A bloodied stallion with a large machete protruding from his forehead, a dead Diamond Dog with his neck bent at a strange angle, and ghost standing between the both of them. Ghost’s eyes widened as he saw what she was about to do, and quickly lunged over and covered her mouth. She screamed into his hoof and began to punch at him to get him away, some actually hurting a bit. “Applebloom! Hush up! They were the bad guys, we have to get our hooves a little dirty if we have to try and get out of here!” Ghost harshly whispered, but Applebloom just continued to yell and scream into his hoof. She bit down onto his shell, trying to pull herself free form the Changeling’s grasp. “Applebloom! Please calm down!” Applebloom hushed up as she felt a tremor in the mountain, and a large commotion outside. Stallions were yelling something about Royal Guards, and Ghost’s ears perked up. “64 found us! We have to get all of the others out of here so we can get out of this mountain!” Ghost said, tossing the Ring of Keys over to Applebloom who caught them in her mouth. “C’mon, we have to get moving.” Ghost laid out the map for the mountain onto the floor and took a quick look, remembering where the cavern he was assigned was. “A1-13… alright, we have 2 other caves on this floor, let’s go!” Applebloom and Ghost both began to run out of the cavern and through the walkways of the mountain. Wrapping the makeshift around his leg, Ghost saw thugs running up and down the caverns ahead him, each of them carrying saddlebags full of gems. “We got to get all of these gems out of here before Shura tans our hides!” “Are ya crazy?! There’s a shit ton of Royal Guards out there! They aren’t gonna let us out without a fight!” “Ah didn’t sign up for any of this!” The pair of foals both hid behind a rock and peeked around its corner, trying to see the positions of the thugs. The Changeling saw a Revolver in the holster of one of the thugs and knew it wouldn’t be a wise idea to confront them, but to their side was the entrance to Cavern B2-14, where more foals were being held. He looked towards Applebloom and sighed once, looking hopeful towards her. “Alright… I’m going to sneak a bit closer to them. When I give you the signal, you have to yell as loudly as possible. I’m gonna try and knock the one with the gun out first, then we’ll free the others in the cavern. Got it?” Ghost whispered, making Applebloom nod. “Ok… what’s the signal gonna be?” Ghost looked on the ground and found two small rocks, striking them together and causing a small spark. “Oh you’ll know.” 64 continued to run through the caverns but found no sign of anypony, guessing that they were corralling the children in one part of the mountain to ensure that none of them escaped in the confusion. “Dammit! Where the hell could they be?” 64 grunted, running through nothing but empty hallways and deserted mines. As he was running, he heard the crunch of broken glass under his shoes. “What the?” 64 moved his foot and found that he had stepped onto a photo frame. He slowly bent down to pick it up, and saw that it was actually a family photo of the Slavas. The two sons looked much younger, nearly 10. They were all sporting very genuine smiles, with Shura and Maxis in a loving embrace. “How the hell can a mare this batshit crazy?” 64 asked himself, as he heard faint hoofsteps in front of him. He pocketed the photo and looked up, seeing the faint outline of a stallion’s body ahead of him. Wings were spread to indicate that the stallion was a Pegasus. “You! Hold it right there!” 64 yelled, unsheathing his Skeleton Blades and marching forward towards the Pegasus. When approached, the Pegasus turned tail and began to run further into the caves, with 64 hot on his hooves. Ghost used his natural camouflage to blend into the darkness of the cave, and slowly approached the three panicking stallions. “Alright! Get them out of there! We gotta deliver them to Deimos so he can get in their minds. Guards outside aren’t gonna have a choice but to kill them after they go batshit crazy.” Ghost gasped at the exclamation, remembering what Deimos was capable of. He twisted minds to be malicious, unforgiving killing machines. If those colts and fillies got affected by him, then they would be as good as dead. Ghost’s face grew a look of determination as he continued to sneak past the stallions and into the cavern, where two fillies were busy cowering from the voices outside. “Crescent? A-Are we gonna be okay?!” one of them said, crying into the shoulder of the other filly in the mine. “Cardinal it’s gonna be okay, just keep your eyes shut.” The other filly said, identifying herself as Crescent. “Psst… hey you guys!” Ghost called out quietly, as Crescent’s eyes darted over to the bright icy blue ones of Ghost’s. She gripped Cardinal tightly as she scowled at Ghost, feebly trying to scare him off. “Wha-What do you want?” She whispered, as Ghost pointed to the wooden bucket next to them. “Just let me see that and I can bust you guys out!” Crescent nodded and pushed the bucket closer to Ghost, who took it and moved back towards the cavern entrance while the Stallions were still panicking. He set it onto the floor and quickly struck the two rocks in his hooves together, causing bright flames to dance out of the bucket. He took it and jumped up towards the armed stallion, slamming the bucket over his head and blinding him while burning him. “AHH! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!” The stallion yelled, as the two other stallion’s turned towards Ghost. A piercing scream from Applebloom caused them to lose concentration for a split second, giving Ghost enough time to unholster the stallion’s Revolver and fire 2 shots towards the other thugs, sending them to the floor. The Revolver then turned towards the burning and blind stallion, sending a bullet straight through the bucket and into his brain, causing blood to go spilling onto the floor. “D-done…” Ghost gasped nervously, never feeling the power of a firearm in his hooves before. He turned towards the fillies in the cave and saw their horrified reactions towards the dead bodies, especially at the changeling who was able to kill them. “You’re… you’re a Changeling! My momma told me about your kind!” Cardinal screamed, obviously scared out of her mind. “You snatch away babies and sacrifice them to your Queen!” Ghost sighed and dropped the Revolver, waving over at Applebloom to bring the keys over to him. She was slightly shaking at the extreme act of violence the he had just performed, but came over nonetheless. He took the keys from her and started on the shackles of the terrified fillies, who were trying to back away. Ghost sighed, “I’m not here to hurt you, and I’m not like most Changelings. Just stay still and I can unlock your chains.” Ghost explained, calming the two fillies enough where they didn’t cower in fear. Once they were unlocked, Ghost began to take another look at his map. “Alright, we just gotta head up. We’re actually underneath the mountain itself, so if we head up then we can get to this exit right here.” Ghost whispered, pointing to an old mineshaft exit on the West end of the mountain. “But won’t that be where all of the ponies in here will be evacuatin’? Ah mean it’s the closest exit ta us.” Applebloom thought, but Ghost shook his head. “Guards like this will probably head to where the head honcho is to protect them. If the head dies, then they won’t get paid. They’ll be heading towards the top exits.” “how… how do you know all of this stuff?” Cardinal asked, as Ghost simply smirked at her. “I have a good teacher.” 64 POV I kept on chasing this Pegasus down, but every time I came close to catching up with him he made a turn and I lost him for a bit. By the time I did end up finding him he was way ahead of me, and the chase began again. I could feel that he was leading me upwards, because we were running at an incline. As we ran I looked left and right at the caverns, finding more and more empty caves. I hadn’t seen a single foal here yet, and it was starting to make me anxious. “You continue to chase although you have no chance!” The Pegasus mocked me, as we both entered a very large cavern. Once the Pegasus reached the other side of the cave, he turned towards me and gave a glare with his piercing yellow eyes. “Persist no longer!” He bucked the cave wall as a heavy tremor began to quake, causing rocks and boulders to come crashing down towards me. I dove out of the way and looked towards the exit where the Pegasus had ran, but saw that it was now blocked of by 3 ton boulders. “Son of a bitch… no magic…” I muttered, walking up to the boulders and placing my hand on them. The few explosives I had weren’t going to be enough to blow through it, meaning I was stuck here unless I doubled back. “Feeling lost are ya buddy?” A voice said behind me. I turned with my Skeleton blades extended and saw Dust Charmer standing behind me, barely illuminated by the Oil Lamp on my hip. “This place is a maze with no end unless you know how to navigate it with a map. So unless you want to run around like a chicken without its head, I would find a map.” I wasted no time in rushing towards him, as he pulled a Sabre out of a sheathe on his side. I swung my Wrist at him as if I was swinging a right hook, causing him to jump back and plant himself firmly to the ground. He sped forward as a sickly green magic wrapped around his horn. My eyes widened at his use of magic, as I closed my eyes and waited for the blast to bring the mountain to the ground. Instead of explosions riddling the mountain to pieces, I felt two hooves smash into my chest and send me towards the rocky wall. I exploded in yellow shards of magic as my shield collapsed around me, allowing me to get up onto my feet without pain. “Organic Shield huh? Smart move. Anything magical woulda sent this tub of gems onto your head.” Dust commented, as I pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You just used magic to speed yourself up though, what’s going on here?!” I accused, as Dsut simply scoffed and shook his head. “Alicorn Magic is much more different than Harmonious Magic now isn’t it?” His horn continued to glow a demented green color, sending 4 blasts of Kinetic Magic towards me. Slicing at them with the Skeleton Blades, I sent them splitting in half, causing them to duplicate and smashing into the wall behind me. I rushed forward to try and catch Dust off guard, but he brought his sword up and began to block both of my blades with an incredible speed. I dropped to the ground and swept his hooves from underneath him, pinning him to the ground by his neck. “Where are you keeping all of the foals!? Talk dammit!” I interrogated, holding my right blade at his neck menacingly. He simply chuckled as he tried to catch me on the stomach with his sword, but using my right hand and grabbed the blade and crushed it, casing his eyes to widen. “Stubbornite Weapons may be sharp, but they are incredibly brittle in anything that isn’t armor. You better start talking before I give you a tracheotomy for free.” “I’d rather swallow my own tongue before I tell you… so you better try harder than that…” Dust whispered, as I saw one of his teeth come off when he brought his tongue over it. I then heard a crunching noise as hit bit down on something, and my eyes widened when I realized what it was. “You’ll never stop her… she’s fucking mad…” Dust’s mouth began to foam as the cyanide pill he had taken began to take effect, causing him to spasm and shake uncontrollably. I got off of him as I stared with a wretched fascination, never actually seeing somepony devoted to their cause that they would commit suicide like at. Eventually he stopped spasming and shaking, leaving nothing but a now cold corpse on the rocky ground. I sighed and shook my head, looking towards the blocked off exit to the cavern. Guess I had to go back the way I came… Ghost POV After freeing Cardinal and Crescent Rose, our group began to make our way towards the Western Mineshaft Entrance. They were still silent at my acts of violence, obviously being sheltered from most of the horrors that the world had to offer. They often stumbled and tripped over rocks and other debris as we made our way through the dark tunnels, not having the near night vision abilities I had from living in a cave for most of my life. We came across a small table with many broken mining tools, including a broken oil lamp. I picked it up and tried shaking it, feeling some oil still in the lamp. “We need to find a source of light so we can move quicker… do you two have any sort of cloth or something?” I asked, seeing the handle from a broken hammer on the ground and picking it up. Neither Cardinal nor Crescent said anything, so I sighed and was going to drop the handle. “Ah… ah still have some of mah bow left.” Applebloom confessed, feeling for the piece of red cloth on her head. “It won’t do me any good to keep wearin’ it in here.” I blinked and nodded, stepping closer to her and undoing the bow with one pull of cloth with my mouth. When I looked back at her face, I saw that there were tinges of crimson staining her tan cheeks. “Thanks Applebloom…” I replied, quickly wrapping the piece of cloth around the top of the handle and grabbing the oil lamp. I opened the fuel line and drenched the old bow in the oil, before using the same tactic of striking two rocks together to light the makeshift torch. “Alright… now you guys can see!” “What’s making all of the commotion outside? There’s a lot of rumbling!” Crescent commented, as we felt the vibrations of the mountain trembling beneath out hooves. “It must be the Royal Guards trying to break in through the mountain from outside. If we move quickly we can give them this map so they can move quicker through the mountain to save the rest of the foals.” Crescent nodded at my explanation as we continued to walk, nearing the exit quicker than I thought we would. “Move quick! Shura says we gotta sweep up for stragglers!” A gruff voice said ahead of us, as we all stopped in our tracks. I looked around to see if there were any hiding places for the fillies, when I saw a few empty barrels on the side of the tunnels used for holding the Enchanted Gems we mined. “Hide in there! There’s only enough room for the 3 of you!” I ordered in a hushed tone, making Crescent and Cardinal follow my command without question. Applebloom on the other hoof stayed rooted to the ground with a scared look on her face. “What are you doing? Move!” She grew a panicked look on her face, but did as I asked of her, diving into one of the 3 barrels there. I held the torch and waited for whoever came, before my eyes widened and an idea formed in my head. I poked my head into the barrel that Applebloom had dived into, before tossing in the map inside. “What are ya doin’? This is yers!” She whispered, but I shook my head. “I’m gonna lead them away from you guys! Just follow this tunnel until you find the exit! Easy as pie! Good luck!” “Ghost no!” I planted the torch in a crack in the wall, before calling out. “HEY GUYS! COME AND GET ME! LITTLE CHANGELING CREATURE THAT YOU MISSED OVER HERE!” “What the fuck? Let’s go!” The pounding of hoofsteps became apparent as they began to rush in our direction, so I turned tail and began to run down the tunnel in the opposite direction. I gave one last look behind me as I ran, and the last thing I saw was Applebloom peeking out of her barrel, giving me a worried look. 64 POV “Get ‘im! Don’t let him get to Shura!” A Gryphon yelled out before I plunged my Skeleton Blade into his neck. Shura was apparently sending her goons after me now, with dozens of them suddenly starting to flood the tunnels. I felt a stallion trying to get a lucky hit in at the back of my head, so I turned around and grabbed the club he was holding out of his mouth, before bring it smashing onto his head. I grabbed his unconscious body and flung it around, sending it towards a group wielding bows that had their sights trained on me. Bows were great for ranged combat, but in a closed quarters fight like this, they were a death wish. Using their confusion for a moment, I pulled out my blowpipe and shot 4 darts into their necks, rendering them unconscious in a matter of seconds. “Wasting my time with this… I have to go up!” I yelled, running down the tunnels in the direction the goons were coming from. Still no signs of the foals, and I was starting to become worried that we might have had the wrong location. “Still running are we? I thought I told you, persisting will only yield terrible results!” The Pegasus yelled, all of a sudden running alongside me. The momentary shock of his voice was enough to make me trip and stumble, but as he began to run ahead I got back up and chased him down again. “GET BACK HERE! WHERE ARE THE FOALS!?” I cried out, not expecting an actual reply. “Many of them are accounted for at the cavern at the top of the mountain! Only 4 managed to escape through the tunnels!” I didn’t stop chasing him down as I began to think. What were they going to do at the top of the mountain? “Why did you tell me that?” I called out, my instincts telling me that it was obviously a trap. “Because, you will not make it there!” A sudden blast of magic caused me to go smashing through a rock wall and into a large cavern, my shield shattering around me. “You nearly caught up to him! Very impressive 64. But as we learned in the Everfree Forest, you have a nasty habit of getting sidetracked when chasing somepony.” A new voice said, but I recognized it immediately. I grabbed a large rock in my hand and launched it towards Duplex, but he just puffed into smoke when it connected. “Try harder 64! Nearly had me that time!” A cacophony of voices reverberated through the cave, as a dozen Duplex’s stepped out of the shadows, surrounding 64 on all sides. “Looks like I’ll just have to take pleasure in killing you a dozen times over!” I yelled, already launching myself towards the first of the clones. Connecting with a right hook, the doppelganger burst into a cloud of smoke, but the others all came rushing at me with fury, all carrying Crooked Daggers. Using my now armored palms, I began to grab and pull away blades, before throwing them at other aggressors. Puff after puff of smoke clouded my vision, and it seemed like for every clone I disintegrated, 3 more took its place. I began to feel small knicks and cuts from their attacks, and I realized that I was now being closed in on. A clone tackled me to the ground as other piled on top of him, pinning me to the ground with the sheer amount of weight on my back. “Well if it isn’t the Bipedal Blight of Equestria… you know the night that you tricked us into going to meet Shura at that shady bar we were going to establish what city I would target to foalnap a child. Thankfully… Red Wing was there to break us out of prison…” the Real Duplex said, revealing himself to me finally, coming of out the shadows. “Who the fuck is Red Wing? That Pegasus out there?” I questioned, still not stopping my struggling. “Correct. He came into the picture a few weeks before father got himself arrested. He quickly became one of our most trusted mercenaries, what with his incredible skill in using his Wing Blades.” I was able to wring one of my arms loose as I brought it out in front of me, retracting the blade to hide it from Duplex. I quickly got to work trying to bring my other arm forward as well. “So he busted you out? Sounds pretty skilled, I might want to put my skills to the test then.” I grunted, still fighting off the weight on my back. “Oh, I’m afraid you won’t get that chance…” Duplex growled sinisterly, pulling out his own Crooked Dagger. He began to advance towards me menacingly, as I increased my efforts tenfold. “I will put this blade through your eyesockets… then I will I will put it through your temple. I’m afraid this will be your last fight…” Duplex was now standing over me, the blade wrapped in the same sickly green magic that Dust was using. I finally wrenched my left arm free and quickly reached for the Skeleton Blade on my right arm, pulling it out and throwing it at Duplex. His eyes widened at the advancing blade, before they went devoid of life. The 8 inch blade was now embedded in Duplex’s forehead, and his horn faintly flashed with light before it fizzled, dropping the Dagger and dispelling every single clone off of me. I slowly got to my feet and sighed, cracking my neck a few times and walking over to Duplex’s now dead body. I pulled my Skeleton Blade from his forehead and reattached it to my arm, retracting it back into its case. “That’s 2 son’s down… where’s Deimos?” Ghost POV My chest was beginning to burn as 2 Stallions and a Diamond Dog began to catch up to me, the Diamond Dog having an easier time navigating the dark tunnels and caverns. In my mouth I held the makeshift whip I made, which I had an urge to use. “C’mon y-you bug! G-Give it up!” A stallion yelled, sounding more tired than I was. I was trying my best to try and find a way to go back towards the Western Exit, but without a map, this place became a huge maze with no end. It was at times like this I would ask myself ‘what would 64 do?’, but then I would remember that he would burn them alive, and that wasn’t really an option I had right now. I decided I was going to set a trap, which would hopefully slow them down enough where I could catch my breath. Acting quickly I took the hammer end of my whip and struck the claw end into the rocky wall, pulling on it to make sure it would hold. When I was sure it was ok, I went to the other side of the tunnel and held the chain taut, making a trip wire trap. “Over here! He went over here!” The growling voice of the Diamond Dog said, getting closer. I held the chain tight as I felt him approaching, and eventually felt something trip over the chain. The Diamond Dog was on the ground, dazed from the tumble he had taken, so I took the advantage of his colleagues being farther down the tunnel and wrapped the chain around his neck. “Argh! Grr!” The Dog choked as I continued to pull on the chain, trying to choke the life out of him. I felt hoofsteps coming from behind me, and quickly turned around to see the 2 other stallions rushing at me. I released the chain and jumped over the Diamond Dog, as the stallions both tripped over it. The resulting crash caused a large tremor to shake throughout the tunnel, and the ground beneath the group of thugs began to crack and break. “Oh shit!” Was all the stallions on the ground had to say before the ground completely opened up, sending them crashing toward the ground below. 2 cracks signaled the end of another 2 stallion’s lives. The Diamond Dog on the other hoof still had the chain wrapped around his neck, and was hung over the edge of the hole, his neck bent at an awkward angle. I stared down at the dead stallions, briefly muttering a prayer to Celestia. Now with the large hole standing between me and the way back, there was no way I was going to be able to get to the Western Exit with Applebloom. I had to go forward to go back, so I had to start pressing on. Even with a semi full stomach of love I was still feeling the fatigue of trying to escape, so I decided to just take a breath and close my eyes. I wish 64 was here. 64 POV I really wish I wasn’t here right now. I was nearing the top of the mountain, and the only way I knew was because I began to feel cold air seep into the caverns. Deimos was my next target, with Shura being last on the list. It had been about an hour since the assault started, and I was wondering how long Shining Armor would be able to hold his position. The reason I didn’t want to be here was because of how cold it was getting at the top of this mountain. I was really conflicted about the feeling of being cold. Sometimes it felt good because sometimes I need to cool down, especially if I had just been a good fight and the magic inside of me began to boil. Other times it felt terrible on my skin, conflicting terribly with the warm feeling of magic inside of me. I still hadn’t seen the Pegasus known as Red Wing since Duplex kicked the bucket, so I was walking slowly to try and see if I could hear him walking through the tunnels. He wouldn’t be able to fly considering that if he did the Mountain would blow, but any other Unicorn that I encountered would be able to use Dark Magic against me. “You continue to persist… foolish… yet honorable… I’m guessing Duplex Slava will now be depriving us of his company?” Red Wing asked, his voice reverberating off of the walls. I couldn’t see him, but I knew if he wanted to try and kill me he would have made a move already. “You would be correct in your guess. But don’t worry, you’ll be joining him very soon.” I threatened, continuing to walk through the tunnels with my guard up. “I see your confidence hasn’t wavered in the slightest. This reminds me of a passage in a very eye opening book I read. ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil’. Even in a territory where you have no advantage against your enemy except your brute strength, you still hold the illusion of optimism. Allow us to see if you truly are worthy of leaving this mountain alive…” All of a sudden the mountain suddenly illuminated, Enchanted Gems on the ceiling suddenly lighting up with bright lights to guide me through the dark caves. “Follow the light Project 64… meet your maker…” “Sorry, I’ve already met her and she’s kind of a bitch.” 3rd Person POV Applebloom and her group managed to find the Western Exit, and were incredibly relieved to find that it was unguarded by any of the Thugs. “Alright, let’s go and see if we can find any Royal Guards outside! We can give them the map and they can go in and save Ghost!” Applebloom said happily, as the fillies began to run as fast as they could towards the large tunnel of sunlight. As they finally ran out of the cave and were showered in the warm rays of sunlight, Crescent Rose and Cardinal Berry began to sob into each other fur, joyful that they were finally free from the nightmare. Or so they thought. 2 unconscious Gryphons were just coming to, each of them plucking a dart out of their feathers. “Hey! What the fuck are you 3 doing out here?!” A dark brown Gryphon screamed, pulling out a dagger from a sheathe on his hip. The other followed suit as they bore down menacingly on the fillies, who began to back away into the cave again. Applebloom’s eyes widened as she tried to remember what Ghost would do it a situation like this, her eyes scanning the two Gryphons in front of her. The dark brown Gryphon had a bigger blade and was closer to them, meaning that she was a bigger threat than the black Gryphon with a smaller dagger. She would be able to take one hit before it actually taking any damage, meaning if she used that time wisely, she could at least try and hit the Gryphon once and getting a lucky hit in. She charged forward and ducked under the swipe the dark brown Gryphon gave with his dagger, before bucking his left leg with all she had. It bent backwards with a sickly crack, making the Gryphon drop the dagger and cry out in pain. “ARGH! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!” He yelled, swiping at Applebloom with his good leg. Applebloom only had time to run underneath his legs and pick up the knife in her mouth, before turning around and closing her eyes. She lunged forward to try and tackle the Gryphon down, but when she felt something warm and wet in her mouth, she slowly opened her eyes. The blade in her mouth was now plunged to the hilt in the Gryphon’s side, and blood was rushing out at an alarming rate. She slowly backed up at the sight of the gore, her eyes slowly widening as she realized what she had just done. The Gryphon’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell with a thud onto the ground, blood continuing to pool around his body. The other Gryphon began to shake and stare at Applebloom, who with the bloody muzzle looked as if she had taken a chomp out of his friend’s side. “HOLY SHIT YOU’RE CRAZY! I’M OUT OF HERE!” The black Gryphon yelled, flying away from the group of fillies as fast as he could. Applebloom simply stood there and began to silently cry as tears rolled down her cheeks, but her expression remained unchanged, a horrified stare on her face. “HELP! HELP US! HELP!” Applebloom began to cry frantically, looking around with a terrified look on her face. “HELP US PLEASE!” Two Pegasi guards swooped down to the Cave exit and saw the scene, both of them wide eyed at the bloody filly and Gryphon in front of them. “Get a Code 3 Medical Team over here, Psych Treatment necessary.” Ghost POV The sudden change of light in the tunnels nearly blinded me, sending me tumbling to the ground in a fit of pain. “Argh… who turned on the lights?” I groaned, squinting to try and adjust my eyes. When the stinging pain became bearable, I noticed that not all of the lights tunnels were illuminated. As I studied the lights further, I realized that they created a sort of path, as if telling me where to go. “Why do I get the feeling 64 has something to do with this?” I began to run faster following the path of light, wanting to catch up to whatever was causing the light’s to change. I came across a cavern that had a dead Unicorn on the ground, and when I got closer, I realized that it was actually Dust Charmer. His mouth was foaming, and his lips had begun to turn blue. “Cyanide poisoning? But… why? Unless…” I looked towards the neck of Dust and saw a very small knick along his neck, as if somepony was holding a knife to his neck. “He took the easy way out… 64 was here…” I whispered, running out of the cavern and continuing to run faster following the illuminated path. I was a bit faster than 64 when navigating narrow tunnels like this, meaning that if he wasn’t too far ahead, I would be able to catch up to him. 64 POV I began to feel gusts of wind through the tunnels, and the smallest rays of sunlight began to crack through the caves. I was getting closer, which meant I was closer to destroying the Slava family. I finally saw a large cavern with an huge opening to the outside, and looking out of it, I saw I was at the top of the mountain. “Look who showed up!” A female voice said, as I saw 3 flashes of Kinetic blasts head in my direction. I rolled out of the way to see Deimos Slava standing across from me, his white fur shining in the sunlight. “I will end you 64! For killing my brothers!” He screamed, as I looked towards the cages on the side of the cave, and saw dozens of scared colts and fillies. “Get him Mr. Human! He’s not that tough!” A colt yelled, who I recognized as Stomper Leaf. I looked around and saw that there were also dozens of Goons armed with weapons blunt and sharp alike, all ready to attack me. Deimos’s magic shot out towards every single one of the goons, who all grew crazed grins and bloodshot eyes. “KILL HIM! I WANT HIS BLOOD SPLATTERED ONTO THE GROUND!” Deimos screamed, as I was rushed by the crazed goons. I jumped back as a few of them tried to tackle me to the ground, before unsheathing my Skeleton Blades and stabbing an Earth Pony mare who had tried to bash me over the head with a nail board. I sent her body flying towards another cluster of goons who simply trampled over her, dead set on getting to me. I gave a roundhouse to a unicorn trying to stab me with a piece of a metal bar, breaking his horn and sending him to the ground. Another group of goons started to throw sharpened pieces of glass at me, which ricocheted off of my shield and broke on the ground harmlessly. I rushed them and spun around giving one of the stallions my right elbow, grabbing his head and throwing him over my shoulder by his neck. The others tried to stab me with sharpened pikes of wood, so I grabbed them in my hands and crushed them, throwing the pieces of splintered wood into their eyes. When they were blinded, I grabbed the back of their heads and smashed their head together, knocking them both out. I looked back up to the rest of my aggressors, and saw I was nowhere near done. Deimos himself was now under the effects of his spell, his mane now more shaggier and his eyes bloodshot. “KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!” He screamed, as an absolute wave of crazed goons rushed towards me. I planted my feet in the ground and prepared to take them on, when all of a sudden, they just stopped. All of them had just stopped in their tracks, all wearing expressions of shock and pain. I relaxed a little bit and looked around in confusion, wondering what the hell had just happened. An earth pony stallion that was near me took a final gasp, when all of a sudden his head just slid off of his neck, a clean cut severing it. All of the other followed suit, pieces of their heads just sliding off of their bodies in a bloody pile. When they were all dead, Deimos stood there, his face showing the same expression as all others. “gr…uh… wha…” Was all he had to say, before the right side of his head slowly slid off the rest of his body, and he fell to the ground in a heap, his fur now stained a crimson red. I stared in shock at the gore in front of me, wondering what the hell had just done it. “Deimos… I told you… he will die by my own hooves…” Red Wing said, dropping from the ceiling. His wings were covered in blood, before he flapped them twice to wipe a bit of the blood off. “Poor fool never followed my orders…” “You would kill your own allies, just to get to me?” I said in disbelief. “Who the fuck are you?!” “I. Am Red Wing. And you will fear me…” “64… did you think that Maxis was the only one fooling around behind the curtains? I was honored to have the comfort of Red Wing shortly before Maxis’ affair became news to me, which gave me all more reason to get him out of the way. Red Wing is a much better lover than he ever was…” Shura said seductively, walking over to Red Wing and draping her foreleg over his shoulder. “So you were fooling around too? Why am I not surprised?” I said sarcastically, making Shura growl. I looked over to all of the foals still locked in their cages, ad wondered how the hell I would be able to get them all out and fight Red Wing at the same time. “So 64… why don’t you lie down onto your belly and allow me to end you quickly…” Red Wing growled, getting into a combat stance. “Not a chance in Tartarus…” “64!” A familiar voice yelled, nearly breaking my concentration. I knew who it was and was incredibly relieved to hear that Ghost wasn’t trapped in the cages, but was actually free and trying to escape the mountain. I was pissed at him now because I was about to face down an incredibly dangerous opponent. “Ghost! Stay out of the way! Get the foals free and take this! Light it on the cliff of the cavern, it’ll alert the Guards to advance to the caves!” I yelled, throwing a Red Flare and a lockpick over to Ghost’s voice. He ran over to the cages and got to work, as I continued with my stare down against Red Wing. “Time to end this!” Red Wing yelled, rushing over to me with incredible speeds. His wings were spread horizontally try to cleave me in half, but I rolled underneath the bladed wings and spun around to slice Red Wing in his right Rearleg, causing him wince in pain and turn around to me. He whipped his wings at me and sent bladed feathers in my direction, causing a few to smash against my shield and actually shatter it. I made it a point to start dodging the feathers as they came towards me, ducking and sidestepping to avoid getting sliced. I charged towards Red Wing and started to exchange blows, with me blocking his Bladed Wings with my hands and him blocking my Skeleton Blades. When sending a wing to try and cleave my arm from my shoulder, I grabbed the wing and spun around, launching Red Wing towards the wall. He smashed against it and took a moment to get up, before looking at me and growling. He flicked his wings once and caused more blades to come out of them, making me gulp nervously. He spun around quickly and sent whole blades shooting towards me, causing me to deflect them out of the air as he charged towards me. His right wing sliced against my chest and caused my shield to explode, sending me towards the wall and causing a few stalactites on the roof to come down and nearly impale me. I grabbed the javelin like rock and sent it hurtling towards Red Wing, who put his nearly completely metal wings in front of him, giving him a shield. I used the momentary loss of sight to my advantage, lunging forward and stabbing my blades at his wings. When the Skeleton Blades connected with the metallic wings, I felt them simply reflect off, not doing a bit of damage. I stared wide eyed as Red Wing grinned, before spinning around and bucking me in my unprotected chest. “Your little Ice Picks are no match for my Wings! Prepare to die 64!” Red wing screamed, lunging towards me. I quickly reached into my Satchel Pocket and pulled out the Explosive Charges I had, getting up and sidestepping Red Wing’s attack. I wrapped the strap of charges around Red Wings neck, making sure to clip it shut and lock it before jumping backwards onto my back. I reached into my Pocket again and pressed the Detonator button, as a red beeping light ignited on the charges. Red wing realized what I had done and started to struggle to get the Charges off, but it was far too late for him. “Say hello to Shura’s sons when you get there!” I taunted, as the charges exploded in a burst of blood and gore, removing Red Wing’s head from his body. I took in a few deep breaths and got up, feeling a sharp pain in my chest. I felt around and felt a few ribs broken, but I could get those fixed easily. “Ghost, almost done there?” I asked, turning around and seeing Shura with knife to Ghost’s neck, but all of the cages were opened and the foals were all cowering against the wall. Ghost had a deadpanned look as if he was bored, and I realized that he totally had this covered. “Y-You stay back! Or the bug gets his throat sliced!” Shura weakly threatened, as Ghost grabbed the hoof hold the knife and twisted it out of Shura’s grip, causing it to clatter harmlessly onto the ground. He twisted her forelegs behind her back and looked up towards me, as I threw him a pair of hoofcuffs. “Shura Slava, you are under arrest for so many charges I don’t even want to list them. Let’s go nice and easy now.” Ghost said, throwing her body over his back and winking at me. I looked at the foals and counted them, noticing that out of the 21 that were stolen not including Ghost, 3 were missing. “Wait, where’s Applebloom, Crescent Rose and Cardinal Berry?” I asked, doing a recount and making sure I didn’t count wrong. “I managed to get them to the Western entrance, so they were able to escape. They might already be in Royal Guard custody.” Ghost explained, handing the flare back over to me. I took it and walked outside of the cave, light it and holding it in the air. We had won this day.