CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH
HELLHOUND
The slamming rumble of the passage sealing off rattled my bones and made the small river at my feet jump into the air. Almost immediately, I found myself heaving and and struggling against it with all my strength. The stone didn't budge, no matter how hard I tried to force it.
"What the hay was that?" Daring cried, from her position at the front of the line. The tunnel only allowed us to travel one by one, such was its size. She shoved past Disarray, who merely leaned against a wall as she blew around him. I was almost bowled over, and had to duck down low, clasping Ginger to my shoulder as she tore over us.
With her torch in hoof, she examined the solid sheet of stone that had formerly marked the entrance to the cavern. Considerably dark mutterings could be heard, and after a few moments, swearing that could have made a sailor blush like a schoolgirl.
"Well, I guess it's a one-way trip from here," the explorer bluntly stated. "Why does this always seem to happen to me? Every time - it's a trap, or an ambush, or some kind of hidden passage. It's always something."
"Probably for dramatic effect." Disarray's declaration did little to lighten the mood, but Daring snorted with amusement nonetheless.
"Either way. We need to move forward. That's the only way to go, after all." She resumed her position at the head of the line, and we began to travel down the tiny cave. I had to travel on all fours now, and Ginger ended up lying across my back, with enough room to raise her head and look around.
The four of us continued on in this way: the intrepid Daring Do in the lead, stepping lightly through the water that swirled down the path; Disarray nonchalantly strolling along with arms clasped behind his back, as if he were simply taking a short tour through a park; myself, lumbering along like a skinny version of a grizzly bear, armor gently rattling with every step, a rotting spear thunking against the floor every few seconds; and Ginger, who was silently perched between my shoulder blades, barely having said a word since we came down here, eyes narrowed in thought about one thing or another.
The tunnel reminded me of a rough sewer, like the ones you'd find in a city on Earth. It was oval, not perfectly round, and the sides were far from smooth. Jagged edges of rock would gasp and tear at my sides if I strayed too far from the center, where I had to straddle the thin but fast stream that ran into the blackness ahead.
Of course, the lack of wading through a river of shit made a big difference.
That evil scent was even more powerful down here. It didn't have any particular odor to it, no. It simply evoked a that primordial instinct that said: this is bad - get the hell away. I could see it affecting the others, too. Daring's ears were twitching madly at the slightest noise, her charcoal and black tail swishing in an almost catlike manner of agitation. Disarray, despite his calm demeanor, was walking stiffly, as if he were made of metal and couldn't move smoothly.
I'd never had a problem with the dark. Usually, I welcomed nightfall. There's just something about a clear starlit sky that the daytime can never replicate. Maybe it's because it gives you a peek at the universe beyond your own - of stars and galaxies and nebulae, of supernovas and black holes and icy, frigid worlds that have no (and will never have) names. It makes one feel very small, but very lucky at the same time.
I'd never minded tight spaces, either. Hell, I'd woken up in Eqestria in something that resembled a coffin, of all things. Occasionally I would find myself purposefully seeking out places where all four walls could be touched without moving. A closet, or a large cabinet under the stairs, maybe. Maybe it's because that somehow reminded me of the womb, the safest place a being could be.
But this was completely different.
The walls weren't closing in, and the darkness wasn't stifling. But regardless, it felt wrong. It wasn't something that you thought about, you just knew.
The running water was playing havoc with my senses. The noise bounced off the cave walls endlessly, creating the impression that instead of a small stream, one was in the presence of a roaring torrent, about to burst it's banks. And through the false rumbling of the river, I could imagine I was hearing other things, as well. A faint pattering of feet, like a rat. Or a solid crack of a pebble hitting the stone floor.
Or even worse, the sound of another set of paws coming from behind me.
I would glance over my shoulder every time I heard it. When I'd stop, it would stop as well. I judged it to merely be the sound of my own steps, simply bouncing off the walls to the point where it sounded like another body was present. That would reassure me a little. Imagine! Being afraid of my own namesake! Echo, afraid of an echo! I'd never hear the end of it.
But still. I would keep checking. After what was probably the twentieth time of me doing so, and subsequently bumping my head on the cave wall, Ginger finally had enough.
"Get a hold of yourself, you puppy," she muttered from her perch. "There's far worse to be afraid of down here than the sound of your own paws."
"Besides!" Disarray quipped from ahead. "It's always the funny ones that go first. Namely, me. But in all honesty, though - if we find even one Boo down here, you guys are on your own."
I silently snickered in response, and kept on, trying to ignore the peculiar sensation that something else was matching my stride not six feet behind me, that something was there in the cave aside from us. Every time I had looked, nothing was there. It was just my imagination, acting up as usual. Right? Right. Nothing down here but dust and rock.
After a solid hour of walking, the line came to a halt. Before Daring's hooves, wooden planking began covering the floor of the cave for several yards before abruptly ending The flow spilled over several of these planks before sinking down in-between the cracks to some unknown destination. The wood itself was even more rotten than my spear, covered in a strange, luminescent mold and large, pasty white mushrooms.
"Easy, here. We don't know what this is covering up. Step as lightly as you can." Daring tentatively set a hoof on the warped surface, wincing as it sunk into the fungus and slime. She gradually worked her way onto the boards, until all four hooves rested uneasily on the rotting deck.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Daring Do set off down the cave, keeping low to the ground so as to spread her mass evenly. The wood creaked and groaned under her weight - at one point, a sharp splintering noise made everyone freeze - but it held.
"Disarray, you're next! Keep it slow, try to step where I did!" she called from the far side.
The draconequus jumped into the air and assumed a lazy reclining pose, floating serenely above the rocky floor. "Really, all this fuss is all for nau-AUGH!" he yelped, as he suddenly plummeted and smacked into the stone. Disarray slowly pulled himself off his rear end and grimaced.
"Well. That's interesting." He frowned and snapped his fingers.
Nothing happened.
"That's very interesting." He turned to me after thinking for a moment. "Echo, could you let out some of those massive steak-knives you call claws?"
I obliged, flexing my fingers and feeling the familiar sensation of bone sliding out of the tips. My eyes widened in shock as I saw that they weren't glowing anymore - they were back to the same, deep black as my rear ones, as if the contact with Disarray's essence had never occurred. I extended all of them, both paws. The same sight greeted me. No glow, no contrail, no magic. Just plain claw. It seemed I was back to being a mute.
"Disarray, what's going on?" Daring asked, from where she was standing some distance away. "My wings feel funny! Heavier, like they're suddenly made of something else."
"I'm... not entirely sure. There must be something nearby that's affecting my power." He thoughtfully pulled on his mustache. "Miss Ginger! If you would be so kind as to make some light for us?"
I felt Ginger shuffle around on my back. "Yeah. Sure." There was a sparking noise, followed by the grinding of teeth and a grunt of exertion. Then, "Hey! What gives! I can't use any magic!"
Disarray simply shrugged. "We must be close to something powerful. Something capable of absorbing magic. That's all I can say."
"I think I heard something about this once," Ginger said softly. "Where magic won't work. But I can't remember where..." I could almost hear the gears turning inside her head.
Meanwhile, Disarray lowered himself down to all six appendages, for all the world looking like some kind of mutated crab. He scuttled across the boards without so much as a pause, although the creaking and groaning were substantially louder.
"Alright! Now Ginger's up next!" Daring Do announced.
Once he had crossed, I craned an arm around and gently pulled Ginger off my backside. The unicorn hobbled around unsteadily on three legs, the broken one clutched tight to her chest. "Why can't I stay up there?" she asked. "I can barely walk!"
"Because Echo's a fat bag of lard!" Disarray called from the other side. "Don't want to make him to fall through!"
Ha-ha! And when I get over there, I'm going to break your spine and use you as a jump-rope! Funny!
After smacking the back of Disarray's head, Daring explained herself, "He's right - you're the biggest one here. Ginger's weight on top of that might break the planks."
Ginger grimaced as she placed a wavering hoof onto the planking. "Blech." She awkwardly clambered up and stood, wavering a little. After nervously eyeing the walkway for a few moments she began to limp across, as smoothly as she could manage.
She was about halfway when I realized something: Daring was a pegasus, she was extremely light and built for flying; Disarray had spread his weight across six points, two more than normal. Ginger was a unicorn, that meant she was heavier - I would know, she was riding on me - and on top of that, she was only using three hooves, which meant...
C-C-CRACK!
The board under Ginger's front hoof suddenly gave out, disintegrating into a mass of crumbling pulp and ooze. The mare's leg slipped through the gap, and she grunted in pain as she crashed into the decking, her free leg dangling through the gap. She struggled, but with her other forelimb broken, she was immobilized, stuck lying on her belly in the filth.
Daring sprang into action, cautiously stepping onto the boards in an attempt to save her.
SNAP! ERRRRRRRRRK!
The explorer tactfully retreated, grimacing and lashing her tail in agitation and helplessness. I saw her eyes widen with the light of an idea, and she whipped around to furiously rummage through her bags again.
"H-help!" Ginger cried, panic in her voice as she violently thrashed about, trying to free herself. All around her, the planks were suddenly sagging, bending as they warped under the frantic motions. The wood groaned as if it were alive.
My heart pounded a powerful tattoo into the inside of my skull. No time to think. Act!
I leaped out as far as I could, swatting Ginger towards the far side just as the planks finally gave way. I blew through the rotting wreckage like a wrecking ball, but somehow stopped myself from falling further by putting out my arms and and sinking my claws into the rock wall on either side of the gap. The spear I'd carried plummeted into the abyss, vanishing from sight. I now hung, arms straight out to either side, just barely able to put enough pressure on the walls to keep myself still.
Ginger rolled several feet, the wood collapsing all around her. She began to fall through once again when a violent wssh-crack! boomed through the cave. Daring's whip was now wrapped around her good foreleg, and she was dangling over the blackness of what looked to be a free fall. The explorer was standing on the edge of the hole, her whip held firmly through gritted teeth as she braced herself against the weight.
I slid down several inches, my claws losing purchase on the stone. I surprised myself by letting out a strangled, hoarse whine, the most my throat was capable of making. Daring strained an held fast, her face frozen in a scowl of determination. Abruptly, the boards under her hooves began to crumble, and she fell forward, slamming her stomach onto the lip, causing her to open her mouth to cry in pain. Disarray lunged and caught her tail, preventing her from falling any further.
Ginger plummeted like a rock, Daring's whip still lashed about her foreleg. I caught Daring's eye for another split second. Weirdly, I could see my own reflection in them.
My reflection gave me a reassuring look - and then let go.
I suddenly found myself falling into darkness. Before me, I could faintly see Ginger's form, silently spinning through the air. Assuming a diving position, I rocketed after her, catching up and swallowing her in a protective bear hug, before slamming into a sloped surface, which I violently bounced off, teeth rattling in my mouth, before roughly sliding down a rocky plane, my armor plates sparking and screeching against it like a train with bad brakes. I hit an outcropping, and went limp with shock. I felt my stomach in my mouth as I tumbled down the face, end over end, a sudden sensation of free fall, and then I impacted onto something very hard, every bone in my body suddenly singing out with pain.
I was dazed for a moment. I shook my head wearily, trying to take in my surroundings-
WHUMP!
-and then Ginger landed on top of me, knocking the air out of my already half-deflated lungs with a whoosh and a pained wheeze. Her weight rolled off my stomach, and she collapsed onto the ground next to me, laying on her side, breathing almost as hard as I was.
We lay like that for a while, side by side in the murky gloom, each jarred and rattled by the fall. My ears rang with bells, and my vision pulsed in and out of focus with my heartbeat. I must have hit my head pretty hard.
"You... tried to save me," she finally panted. "Again. Why! Why do you keep doing that?"
I extended my claws to respond, and then I recalled I couldn't answer her. I wearily sighed, before simply reaching over and offering my paw and trying to smile in the least non-threatening way I could manage.
Ginger looked like she was going to smack it away for a moment, then weakly met it with her good leg. I held it as gently as possible, as if it were made of glass.
"I'm sorry."
I gave her a questioning look, before coughing violently.
"Before - I didn't really mean it then. It's just... this is the second time in a single day that my life has been in trouble, and you stuck your own neck out for me." She sighed again. "And I've been nothing but horrible to you since, well, literally the moment you got here. And every time you just brushed it off like it was nothing. And now this."
I gave her hoof a small, reassuring squeeze.
"We're probably going to die down here."
Eeyup.
"But I think if there's anything I can say before I do, it's that my father was wrong. Diamond Dogs aren't evil, treacherous scum. Well, at least one of them isn't." She chuckled a little at this, the sound of her armor rasping over the stone floor sounding loudly over the ringing in my ears. "You know, it's stupid. I was afraid of you, when you first came here. But after all this, I think that's like saying I'm afraid of myself. Hay, I think I'm scared of my own father more than I am of you." She faded off for a few moments before mumbling, "So yeah. Sorry. And stuff. I guess."
I snorted with amusement. Even here, Ginger was still Ginger. Blunt and prideful.
Rolling over, I managed to heave myself up to all fours, plopping down on my haunches once I was steady. Now upright, I could observe our surroundings much better than from lying on my back.
The meeting-cavern we'd traversed to come here was truly pathetic in comparison to the space before me. We were on a broad shelf of rock, next to a wide, swift river. The cave ceiling looked hundreds of feet above my head, and surprisingly, it was studded with dimly glowing gems, red and pink and orange. It looked like the night sky, in a twisted sort of way. The massive cavern stretched far off into the distance on every side. Mighty stone pillars, once spire thin, were now the size of skyscrapers, stretching from floor all the way up to the starry roof. I cannot emphasize the sheer scale of the place - it was like an underground version of the Grand Canyon. One would be able to fly a jumbo jet in here, with room to spare.
I turned around, to find that we were next to a small mountain of sorts. That must have been what we slid down. High, high above, there was a black gash in the ceiling where we'd fallen through. I could just barely make out movement in it. Daring and Disarray were still there, probably trying to figure out where we went.
I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled as loudly and as shrilly as I could. Ginger winced where she lay, and my own ears snapped down against my head.
One of the tiny blobs moved around frantically for a moment. On the faintest edge of my hearing, I heard an answering whistle. Good. They knew we were all right.
The spear was lying some distance away, the rotted haft now completely shattered and crooked. It was half submerged in the edge of the river, lying precariously on the edge. I quickly went over to it, and with a brisk movement, broke the spearhead off by bringing the weapon down over my knee. Stuffing the head into the folds of my toga, I went back to Ginger and propped her up onto her stomach.
She looked around in awe and a little bit of trepidation. "Why do I get the feeling that I've heard about this place before?" she asked me. At my shrug, she frowned and tensed herself - a few small green sparks glittered into existence around her horn, and then winked away. "No magic. No sun. No clouds. Might as well be a prison."
Now I was getting the feeling that this place was familiar. Why?
I shrugged again, and gently got her to her hooves. I removed Daring's whip from her leg, and looped it around my waist for safekeeping. We went to the stream, a dark, swift body of water that for all the world resembled liquid shadow. We were both tired, battered and sore. We needed something to refresh us. I tentatively stuck a paw in - it was cold and wet, just like water should be. With that, I dunked my entire head into the drink, Ginger doing the same, and took an enormous gulp.
Immediately, my body was filled with pins and needles of sharp, spiking pain. It started in my throat, then spread to every extremity. I thrashed and clawed at myself in agony as I rolled to and fro on the shore. I was dimply aware of a broken, cracked, dreadful howling, accompanied by what must have been Ginger screaming bloody murder.
I'm not sure how long it lasted, but suddenly, something was being forced into my mouth, something cool and sweet, causing the torture to end instantaneously. It was water! Real, precious water! My eyes flickered open to find Daring Do looking at me from where I was lying, concern in her wide, magenta eyes.
She turned to the side. "He's awake!"
I felt groggy and weak, as though I'd just recovered from a sickness. I once again pried myself off the floor and swayed into a sitting position.
Ginger was lying nearby, looking as exhausted as I was. "That stuff had a bit more kick than I'm used to," she finally slurred.
Did Ginger just crack a joke? Damn, she must be really out of it!
"You're both lucky to be alive."
I turned to see Disarray standing off to the side, facing the river with his paws and claws on his hips, a stony look on his face. "Only one river in Equestria will do that to a pony - or a Diamond Dog, for that matter - and that just makes things a whole lot more fun for us, doesn't it?"
He thoughtfully spat, a flaming glob of dragon-saliva, and spun around on one foot, spreading his arms wide, as if delivering a speech to a crowd of thousands. A manically cheerful grin lit up his face.
"Ladies and germs, I give you - The River Styx!"
Ginger's pupils immediately shrunk. "Oh, no. No-no-no-no! We're in Tartarus!" Her breathing became sharp and panicked. "Oh, Celestia, I knew there was something wrong about this place!" She tried to get up, but immediately collapsed onto her face, scrabbling awkwardly on the ground like a worm with it's head cut off. "We need to get out of here! We're all gonna die! We're all gonna die! We need to - OOF!"
Ginger stopped and blinked, rubbing the side of her face with her good foreleg. Daring stood over her, blowing on a hoof as if it were the smoking muzzle of a gun.
"I needed that." Ginger stated blankly, now extremely calm.
Daring shrugged. "It worked on Fluffy, too."
I absently rubbed my jaw, remembering when I'd first woken up in the treehouse and had a panic attack. Oh, it had definitely worked, all right. Maybe knocked a tooth loose, as well, and - hey! Dammit, she called me Fluffy again!
"Ginger's right, though. Tartarus is no place for us to be. There's all kinds of monsters down here. The worst kind, I might add."
"Let me guess - you've been here before on one of your heroic adventures?" Disarray asked, somewhat sarcastically.
"Actually, no. This is the first time I've been here, and I'd like to make it my last." The explorer came over to me and removed her whip from around my waist, giving it an experimental swish before looping it around her own. "Whatever's down here is here for good reason. There's monsters in Tartarus that will make your hydras up above look like playful kittens." She paused, before adding, "Kittens without any teeth or claws."
On Earth, Tartarus had been the pit that into which the Greek god Zeus had thrown his titan father, Kronos, after overthrowing him and chopping him into little tiny pieces. It served as a prison from him, and much worse. I guess the same applies to the Equestrian version, minus the corpse of a titan overlord who ended up in the slice-and-dicer.
Hopefully.
"Pity, I was wondering if I could stop by and chat with some of them. I'm sure they've come up with some excellent jokes while they've been down here. But you're right. We should go. We're being affected by their dark presence as it is. Too long and we might start tearing each other's hearts out."
Wait... if the corruption from Tartarus would do that to us... then that meant... I glanced up at the ceiling again, eyeing the crack with renewed interest.
An idea came to be, as sudden as a bolt of lightning.
Frost Snap and Mosspaw must have unintentionally dug too deep and been exposed to Tartarus. Of course, brief exposure wouldn't do much, but they'd been meeting in that tunnel for years! They'd been corrupted... and then, thanks to Tartarus' proximity to the den, it spread to the rest of the Greenclaws. There must have been infighting. And when Frost came for his wife, and been finally pushed over the edge by her death, he'd simply wiped out the few that remained. And the hydras! By the gods, they might have been affected by the breach as as well! As the corruption steadily leaks out of here, it could spread even further than the nest. It could even overtake Wethoof, if left unchecked.
There were still pieces to fit together. Some parts of this puzzle made no sense. Why had Frost's wife been kidnapped? Why had the Greenclaws exhausted their supply of gems? Why didn't they know any better? I had a rough idea. It made the most sense so far, at least.
I heard someone call my name a few times. I snapped out of my train of thought to hear, "Echo, you all right there? You looked a little distant for a moment." Daring was speaking to me.
I nodded in reply. Once we were far enough away, I could tell them everything. But we had to get back to the surface, or end up like Frost and Mosspaw. I pointed upwards and looked at her questioningly. How were we going to do that, anyway?
Sharp as ever, she quickly responded. "We set up some ropes on the way down, as fast as we could. It's a good thing, too, because if we hadn't hurried, you might have... you know. Died."
I winced at this, and finally raised myself back up. Sure enough, there was a single rope trailing down the mountainside, tied to the protrusion of rock I'd hit before. Another one was tied off even further, and a final rope was dangling from the crack in the ceiling.
Approaching Ginger, I lowered myself back down to all fours and dipped a shoulder. She took the message and hopped on my back, once again wrapping a leg around my neck, albeit a little weakly. I frowned. She wouldn't be able to hold on with her strength. I took the edge of my toga and cut off a thick strip, twisting it around until I had a small rope of my own, and tossed it over her, before tying it off on my stomach. I stood up on two legs. Ginger yelped in surprise - but stayed put.
"Well aren't you just the most ingenious little bugger!" Disarray commented from where he was now standing at the base of the slope. Daring was somewhat-cradled in his lobster claw arms, which were clasped behind his back, creating a platform for her to brace herself against. His free pair of limbs, the muscular white bear arms, were gripping the rope easily.
I gave him the finger, and waved my paw at him, telling him to step on it. He laughed and easily began to scramble up the surface.
"Wait until we reach the next rope before going up!" Daring called down from her perch. "It won't hold us both!"
" 'Cause you're fat!" Disarray added, and shouted in pain as he received yet another bonk on the head. "OW! Hey! What's with you and hitting? Come on, everypony's a critic..."
As they receded into the distance, something flickered on the edge of my vision. I craned my head. For an absolute instant, I saw something duck around a nearby corner.
"Did you see that?" Ginger whispered.
I nodded, my hackles rising unbidden. Time to go!
Completely ignoring the rope, I leaped up onto the mountainside, which was roughly at a seventy degree slope. My claws sank into the stone, and I paused for a moment, attached to the stone like a barnacle on the face of a great whale. Again, something passed the corner of my eye. I growled hoarsely and began to scale the stone.
Spiderman can suck my big, doggy di-
"Easy there! You're going to make me slip out of this thing!" grumbled Ginger as I hauled myself ever upwards.
I reluctantly obliged. We were making good time, regardless. In fact, we caught up to Disarray at the top of the first rope. "Show-off," he grumbled as we passed him. Daring was busy hauling in the rope to store in her saddlebags, and merely waved with a free wing, her mouth and hooves currently occupied.
Paw over paw, I ascended the slope. I fell into a rythym of motion. Right paw, right leg, left paw, left leg. Climbing lessons from long ago days spent at a YMCA trickled back from whatever corners of my brain they'd been hiding in. Don't climb with your arms - climb with your legs. Don't overuse your grip strength, or you'll tire quickly. Right paw, right leg, left paw, left leg. Keep aware of your surroundings. Feel out a hand-hold before you use it. Test everything at least once. Right paw, right leg, left paw, left leg. Take your time. Trust your legs. Think before you climb. Right paw, right leg, left paw, left leg.
Lather, rinse, and repeat.
We arrived at the summit, a jagged, pointy crest of gravel and cracked stone. The water from the tunnel splattered onto a small pool that had formed at the very tip. Dangling not two feet away was the rope. I stood under the water for a moment, drinking my fill and then bending forward so Ginger could drink hers. I still felt rather queer from drinking from the Styx, and this cleansing downpour helped immensely.
I took hold of the rope and set off, not even bothering to use my legs for support. Climbing something that's completely free-hanging is quite different than a solid My arms, backed by solid muscle and an iron resolve, were strong enough to haul myself up to the great crack. We dangled there for a moment, admiring the view. For all the wrongness this place emitted, it looked pretty far-out.
"Let's get out of here," Ginger finally said.
I couldn't agree more.
With a grunt, I heaved myself up the last few feet and into the tunnel, on the far side of the gap that'd originally caused us so much trouble. There were no boards left covering the hole, only broken stumps of decay and fungus. I untied Ginger from me and set her down on the floor, wearily slumping down next to the opposing wall.
After a few minutes, Disarray popped out of the hole, Daring in tow. I rose from my position to greet them. The explorer hopped off her ride, bearing a toothy grin. "Come on, then!" she chirped. "We're close to the end now - I can feel it!"
"A warm bed and some hot cider sounds just perfect right about now," murmured Ginger from the floor.
Daring was about to set off down the tunnel when I stopped her, firmly setting a paw over her withers and locking her into place. "What's the matter now?" she groaned.
I pointed to the hole in the floor, and the drew a finger across my neck. I mimed laying something over it, pounding my fist into my palm to emphasize my point. That hole needed to be sealed up, and pronto.
She thought for a moment, brushing a wayward strand of mane out of her eyes. Then, her face lit up like the night sky on the Fourth of July. "I think I might have something for just that..." She craned her neck around and removed a long, red tube from her saddlebags. A small, black piece of string sprouted from the tip. My eyes widened in recognition.
Dynamite!?
"What? A mare's got to be ready for the worst!" Daring joked at my expression, before taking out a box of matches. I quickly picked up Ginger and got ready to run like the wind.
Holding the stick of TNT in her wingtips, Daring Do struck the match and lit it. She then tossed it into the air, pivoted gracefully, and bucked the thing away. The lit explosive sailed forward, before bouncing off a jutting crest of rock... and landing not two feet away from where it originally began.
"That was the worst throw ever. Of all time," Disarray deadpanned.
Daring quickly slapped the stick away to the hole, and took off down the tunnel. "RUN!"
KRUMP!
We were in hot pursuit, and not five seconds later, a massive thunderstrike shook the tunnel. I glanced back to see it cave in over the hole, burying the gateway to Tartarus under a hundred tons of earth. That brought a genuine smile to my face. Scratch one up for me.
The rest of the trip was a blur. Tired and sore and still wonky from the Styx, not to mention the hydra chase, the tunnel melded together into a seamless stretch of time. After what must have been twenty minutes or twenty hours, the tunnel sharply sloped upwards, and began to corkscrew towards the surface. Finally!
Ginger had fallen asleep. Despite everything, I was somewhat glad to have earned her trust. I needed her help, after all, despite how she tended to act. The prickly mare was obnoxiously proud at times, but she had good reason to be. She was quite a powerful unicorn, I could tell. Hopefully that pride had been mellowed out a little from today. Oh, well. At least she doesn't hate me anymore. That's always a plus - people not hating you.
The tunnel suddenly came to an end. We were in a very small, shallow, bowl shaped space, and above looked to be solid stone, with a hole bored through it, capped with what seemed to be a lid made out of similar material, probably to disguise the entrance.
Disarray stretched and yawned. "Well, then. It's been fun, everypony, but I think I'll be going now. I have some excellent clop-fiction to catch up on!" With a wink and a clack of a lobster claw, he was gone.
"I'll get the lid," I told Daring. It felt good to be able to speak again. We'd passed out of Tartarus' magic-sapping influence long ago. Once again placing Ginger on the ground, I rose up to two legs, easily entering the hole and met it with my paws. I pushed, and with a soft grinding rumble, it lifted. Cool, fresh air flooded the tunnel. I took a deep breath. Such sweetness, such simple pleasure.
Sliding the lid to the side revealed gentle darkness. It must be night out. I reached back down into the cave and lifted Ginger up and over the edge, where she unceremoniously rolled onto her side. I gripped with two paws and hauled myself out. Daring shot up through the gap with a single pump of the wing, landing gracefully next to me. Once the stone lid had been lifted back into place, I turned to assess my surroundings.
It was very dark, and as I turned, my rear paw knocked up against something that wobbled around, before crashing to the ground with a earsplitting clatter. There was a flurry of motion to my left, and something large and feathery slammed into my side. I abruptly found myself flying through the air, passing through something like canvas, and landing again on grass and packed earth. The stars were now shining above me. There was a large number of tents surrounding me, several with lit campfires and ponies sitting at them, who were now staring at me with utter confusion.
I looked back to find that I'd been thrown through the side of one of such tents. I must have come up underneath it.
The thing that had hit me tore out from the tent, pouncing on me with frightening agility. It was a gryphon, surprisingly; the first one I'd ever seen. It was holding a monstrous sword with its eagle talons, the lion's paws planted firmly on top of me as it glared down with suspicion. The sword was pointed straight at my throat.
"You've got exactly ten seconds to tell me what the flying feather you were doing in my tent, friend, or I'll make sure it'll be your last." It growled. I stared back, helplessly. It was standing on my paws. I could do nothing but lie there.
"Whoa! Calm down, there!" Daring came out of the tent now, followed by a sleepy and hobbling Ginger.
The gryphon pointed the massive weapon at her now. "Oy! You as well! I'm just trying to get some shuteye, and you three barge in and start breaking stuff! Start talking. Now."
"Oh, we're at fault? You're the one waving a bucking sword around like it's a toy! You attack Echo, threaten him, then threaten somepony else?" Ginger was fully awake now, and she was pissed. "You point that thing at any of us one more time, and I swear to Celestia, I will cut your wings off, pluck your feathers, spit-roast you with the thing and then feed you to your own family!"
The gryphon was momentarily dumbstruck, as was everypony watching the spectacle.
Note to self: DON'T EVER GET HER ANGRY! EVER.
It took a full ten seconds before somepony said anything. "Uh, Grif, I think you're standing on top of that Diamond Dog that the captain was talking about," one of the bystanders said.
"Indeed you are." Captain Tythus' voice broke through the silence like an icebreaker through the arctic sea. He strode to us from a group of ponies he must have been conversing with. "If you'd kindly remove yourself from your position of power, mercenary, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this."
The gryphon scowled, but stepped off me, cocking his weapon over one shoulder and taking a few paces back. I stood up, and enjoyed the look of suprise in his eyes as I towered a good two feet over his feathered head. I gazed around, taking in the scene.
I was in Wethoof, in the space between the wall and the town. Tents stretched in every direction, dotted here and there with scattered campfires, twinkling like stars. Ponies of all kinds, some armored, some not, strode here and there with military swagger. And above the town, anchored securely to the belltower on the barracks, was an enormous, silver airship, with six engine pods and an oversize undercarriage, which was studded with what looked to be cannon holes, and a golden sun emblazoned on its dorsal fins. The thing must have spanned the length of several football fields. It floated serenely above the earth, like a majestic whale swimming in the sky.
Looks like the reinforcements are here. And they brought some toys with them!
The captain turned to Ginger, who still looked somewhat ticked. "Ginger. Could you give me an explanation for what I'm seeing here? How did you manage to re-enter Wethoof without passing through the gates? I've had sentries on it all night, and patrols scouring the flats, looking for you."
And so, with the reinforcements gathered around, and a ruffled-looking gryphon mercenary standing skeptically to the side, Ginger told them what had happened after the gates had been closed behind us. She started with how we'd intercepted and lured away Big Momma, (conveniently leaving out how I'd saved her ass) how we ended up at the old Greenclaw den, and the use of the now-sealed off passage (again conveniently leaving out how I'd saved her ass again), the discovery of the breach in Tartarus, and our subsequent surfacing from underneath the gryphon's tent.
Tythus listened intently, adding in a few intelligent questions here or there, before finally nodding, satisfied with our report. He graciously thanked Daring Do for her assistance in closing the rift, and told her that she would always be welcome in the barracks.
"Now, then. With all that cleared up, I assume we can call this an honest accident?" Tythus addressed the gryphon, who simply shrugged at this, while intently looking at me with an unreadable expression. "Good." He turned to us. "Ginger, you are to go to the medical tent to get that leg fixed up, at once. There are some excellent medics there - you should be as right as rain with half a night's work. Once they've discharged you, report to the barracks with all due haste." He paused and turned to me. "And Echo, you are to get a good night's rest. You've earned it, without question. Take the rest of the day tomorrow to recuperate and organize your equipment."
He made and about-face, shifting his head back the slightest degree to give us an almost mischievous wink.
"We attack at sunset. Good night, everypony."
Authour: Tartarus! I know, right? WOW! Even I didn't see that one coming, and I write this stupid thing!
Anyway! I have an important announcement! I have applied to become a volunteer firefighter at the local station. That being said, I will have to go through some basic training, and afterwards will be spending some periods on call. This means that updates to the Ballad will not be as frequent. Week-long gaps or longer are possible. I am sorry for this, but I do have a life outside of fanfiction, and I do like to enjoy it.
To make up for this, have some fan art, by the amazingly supercalafragalisticexpealadocious Andthoro, from right here on FIMfiction! Give this guy some love, because Echo is best comic book D-Dog.
Oh, and apparently, some whimsical fan made a voice recording of the first few chapters! Shoutout to EchoTheMasterOfTime from youtube.com! Dude, you made my day when I found this! You made it twice.
Find it here ----> GIGGITY-GIGGITY-GOO!