//------------------------------// // One year and Six months ago - The Dark Well Incident // Story: Happy Birthday Jackie // by Sipioc //------------------------------// The walls of the cavern held the memory of millennia. Carved out, through countless drops of water, eroding away at the rock, making it smooth as marble. Stones that been present for the rise and fall of empires, the countless births of rulers and ruled, slaves and free; eternally stock and still, unknowing, uncaring of the world above. Sunlight by the hand of nature or Goddess had never shone here, and would likely never will. The only sound heard by no ears was the dripping of water seeping through the soil above and the rapid rush of the under ground waterfall droning on with in its perpetual white nose. A new sound joined the tranquility of ages. A cacophony of racket made by those whose lives were as brief as the drops of water that fell to the cave floor. Two figures were running as fast as they dared in the pitch black, a ball of white light hovered near the head of one, glowing in tandem with the energy emitted from his horn. There steps were rushed and clumsy, tripping over rocks that had lain there for eons, heedless of the disturbance as they made there way through the testament of earth and time. They remained close together, enveloped in the bubble of luminescence, lest they dare be swallowed up by the darkness. "Did.... we.... lose 'em?" One spoke, in between breaths, her voice softly echoing from the high roof above. "I... I don' know." He spoke, out of breath himself, he dimmed the light and strained to hear for any sound that was behind them. The rush of the water made it difficult to pull out any other sound, and the pounding of his heart didn't help either. He took some time to catch his breath and to remove the one hindering sound he could control. She had come up with much of the same idea, allowing her own breath to slow while her ears twitched in different directions to detect any danger that may have pursued them. They themselves, where ponies; she a orange, sturdy earth pony, and he a medium built grey unicorn. Her blonde mane and tail tied in a ponytail held at bay by red bands, a Stetson cowpony hat her only piece of attire. He on the other hoof, was decked out in heavy navy blue armor that covered his body with a Corinthian style helmet that had a plume of light blue fur that adorned the headpiece. They were both, however, dirty and wet, mud smeared throughout there coats, mingling with bruises and blood they had received from there erratic stumbling through the darkness. "I've ne'er seen anythin' like that before." He spoke, risking the noise, eyes fixed in confusion at the way they came. "The barrier should'a held." He spoke softly, more to himself than to his companion. "Galea said it was 'reactin', even said it wer 'angry'. Do them things do that?" She said curiously, her voice as soft as his. "The relic was o'er a thousand years old, long enough for most of the bad aura ta dissipate." He paused, admitting to himself he was out of his depth. "But knowin' who that book belong to, I don't suppose a thousand years is long enough." Realization dawned on them, but she vocalized it first. "We've gotta git to the surface, warn everypony, get the princess ta help stop it. He nodded in agreement, but stopped as he picked out the distinct sound of wing beats echoing off the cave walls, only for it to stop suddenly. The rest was instinct, as he lunged forward and pulled the orange mare to the ground beneath him. From the corner of the dim light a winged figure swooped where she had been. It's hooves just scraping against the back of his armor making a terrible screeching noise. Wasting no time they returned to there hooves, in a defensive posture, side to side, looking in opposing directions. The unicorn soldier expanded his light to illuminate the cave, sacrificing stealth to stand a chance spotting there assailant. The attacker shielded her eyes from the light, then after a moment lowered her fore hooves and came down for a soft landing ten feet away from the mare and stallion she so nearly throttled. She wore the same armor as him, only lighter to accentuate her pegasus gift of flight. She lacked a helmet, allowing her face to be seen. She was disheveled to say the least, her mane tangled, her face dirty and scrunched up. Her mouth moved as if she was mutely arguing with someone, but her eyes belied the malignancy within as they were bloodshot red with white replacing the black of her iris's. "Hoplight!" Exclaimed the grey unicorn as he recognized his sister in arms, while at the same time positioning himself in front of his orange charge, ready to strike regardless of who she was. The orange mare stared into those possessed eyes and searched for any shred of familiarity. "Come on girl! Fight it!" She pleaded. Hoplight's face twitched and contorted, clawing its way back to sanity. Her eyes then bulged and her teeth clenched. "THEY'RE OVER HERE!"she shrieked, more beastly sounding then pony. A blast of green ethereal energy hit her square in the chest. She then crumpled to the floor, thrown back by the force of the unicorn's over powered stun spell. Without words or second glances, the pair retreated further into the labyrinth. Behind them came the growing sound of more hoof steps and wing beats. Those following on hoof fared little better then the unicorn and earth pony they sought, falling and bruising, gashing, and even breaking limbs in the dark uneven terrain. Their minds protested allowing pained howls and screeches to escape there lips, but there commandeered bodies refused to give up the chase, dragging them along. The pair made it deeper into the cave, the sound of the rushing underground river becoming a roar. The two stayed in the light, switching off looking over there shoulders with running, until the path they were on ended in a sheer drop off into blackness. In front of them was a white rushing torrent of water that cascaded down into the void. The mare stayed on the edge peering down into the black, while the soldier physically reeled away from the edge. He quickly regained his composure and positioned himself between the drop off and the direction they had come. His horned blazed with green fury as he took a threatening defensive position, prepared to blast anything that wandered into his sight into oblivion. The Stetson wearing mare quickly examined her surroundings, looking at the rushing water and about the cave as far as the orb of light would allow her to see. "Where are we?" She asked firmly. "What!?" The stallion exclaimed, his eyes temporarily gravitating towards her voice only to return to the sound of there enthralled pursuers growing louder over the noise of the water. "Ah mean, where are we? What's above us, right here?" She said clarifying, having her own theory working in her mind. The stallion thought deeply despite the dire straights they were in. Taking into account which direction they ran from the containment area, the distance they traveled from there, the maps he had committed to memory. "Above us should be the eastern part of the Everfree. Nearest the river, judgin' by the abundance of all this Celestia forsak'n water!" He said angrily as the stress of the situation was apparently getting to him. She thought for brief moment, a shot rang out as the stallion blasted another possessed pegasus soldier, into a catatonic stupor. "Take off yer armor." She almost calmly said as she looked down the stream of falling water. This time he managed to tear his gaze completely away from the blackened corridor. "What are yah...?" He paused as he saw where she was looking, putting the pieces together. "No." He stated flatly, returning his focus to the bottle neck they had made for their attackers to come at them. "We ain't got no other choice." She said. "If this is where ah think it is, we can jump in and ride this current all the way till it opens up to the mouth of the Ponyville River." The stallion, turned his head. His eyes darted from the mare, to the water, to the drop off, back to her. He turned back to the bottle neck, outlines of the slower going pursuers now vaguely visible in the dim light. "You go! I'll hold them off, buy ya some time." He ordered, firing off another shot of green magic in to the darkness. The mare stepped forward "Ah ain't leavin' you behind here, Lieutenant!" She responded indignantly, approaching the soldier who had fired another spell, hitting a charging earth pony right between his crazed red eyes. "I'll just slow yah down. GO!" He said in a voice that started weak but regained its regular command. "It'll be a cold day in Tartarus before that'll happin. Take. Yer. Buckin'. Armor. Off!" She firmly stated each word and punctuated it with a stamp of her hoof. Another shot from the grey unicorn took down a flying manic soldier. He turned to face the orange mare. Her expression changed as she took in his features. Her jade eyes looked into his bright orange and saw something that the Lieutenant had controlled up to now: shear...terror. "Applejack...I can't swim." The tremble was evident in his voice, despite his body language still stalwartly maintained its proud dignity. All the training, physical and mental, strategic planning and tactics, and all of that meant nothing in the face of the thing he didn't know how to do, the thing he couldn't do. Applejack nearly scoffed in his face. " Pride of the Navy you are." Giving him a sympathetic grin. "The Aeronautical Navy." He correct with a chuckle. "And let the record show that I offered to let you get away, so I could stay 'n get ripped apart." He said adding a nervous grin. From the darkness a screeching earth pony came bounding toward the Lieutenant. He snapped his attention toward the oncoming opponent only for a pair of peach colored hind hooves to connect with the Centurion's head. 'Thank Celestia you wore your helmet, Halberd.' The grey pony thought to himself, cringing at the Apple-buckers devastating blow. "Ain't got anymore time ta debate it, sugarcube." She said removing her lariat from her hat, which she then proceeded to tie around herself, the hat to was secured in the loops; no way was she gonna lose it. "Now or never!" The unicorn weighed his options. He had already taken down four assailants, the fifth, that she had so expertly bucked, lay drooling at his hooves, red eyes half lidded. That still left a dozen others to deal with including the other unicorns of the team, who had been strangely absent thus far. He thought briefly of using his magic and simply pushing her off to the 'safety' below, continuing with the plan he had originally come up with. One fact prevented him from doing this. 'I don' want ta die here.' He thought, ' or worse.' He looked into the unconscious face of the soldier before him, his subordinate, his brother in arms. He looked to the drop off that lead to the embodiment of his greatest fear. He came to a quick decision as his magic engulfed his armor. Each piece fell to the wayside, save for his helmet, which he gently placed in front of Halberd. "I'm comin' back fer that!" He said to the dazed pony, but more to reassure himself. Applejack wasted no time as she went about tying the other end of the rope around the unicorn's midsection. She sured up the knot and they both stepped to the edge. He looked down and regretted it instantly. "This is a really stupid idea" he breathed indignantly. "They'd be really stupid to try and follow us." She chucked, the gravity of what they were preparing to do settling in as there hooves came to the edge. "I-I don' think I can do this Jacki....Applejack." He said breathlessly, all valor and pride gone from him. "Quill..." She shocked him by calling him by his given name, then proceeded to shock him further by wrapping her hooves around him, nuzzling her head into his neck. "Ya can call me 'Jackie'." She practically whispered, holding him tightly to her. All other sound became lost after that, save for the rush of the water. He brought his hooves around her, and held his body to hers. The next thing they knew, the world was turning, shifting away as the stone ledge left there hooves. The sound of the falls drowned out all else as three heads peered over the edge after them, their crazed eyes not believing the crazier act the two had just committed. The light flickered, but remained as the blackness surrounded them. He felt her heart pounding in her chest, and held tighter. She felt his heart racing in his own, and nuzzled in closer. Later in their lives, they would reflect back on this moment, saying that they came to a new realization about themselves and the pony they held in that desperate freefall. The heartbeats they felt in the other, beat as one the instant before they hit the water. With a splash unheard over the roaring of the falls, the white light snuffed out.