//------------------------------// // Ch. 16; In The Depths Of Asphodel // Story: Star Wars: A Second Chance // by Dorath //------------------------------// Nausea and vertigo gripped Twilight Sparkle as she lay limply across the back of the dark green earth pony stallion as he plodded deeper into the Asphodel mine while the rest of her captors trudged alongside, helping along their wounded and carrying their dead. Physically, she was sick from the blow to her head that had laid the unicorn low, while the disorientation and sheer sense of wrongness caused by the magic inhibitor ring around her horn only served to further enhance her distress. Mentally, Twilight’s thoughts were a confused jumble, but for one thing: the overwhelming, soul-wracking grief of having seen one of her friends die before her eyes, killed while trying to defend her. ‘I failed her,’ the mare reproached herself, ‘Princess Celestia’s personal student, one of the most gifted unicorn’s of my generation, and I couldn’t protect Revan!’ A change in the echoes brought Twilight’s attention back to the world as the band entered a massive cavern with several tunnels leading out of it, ‘Probably the mine’s central chamber,’ noted the analytical part of her mind just before she was unceremoniously throw to the stone floor by the pony that had been carrying her. “You four,” barked the golden-headed gryphon who seemed to be in charge, “Head back down that tunnel and keep a watch out for the third one, the rest of you, bring in the other groups, when Dusk Crown arrives he’ll want to talk to everyone. And someone put some shackles on her,” he added, throwing a glare at the despondent librarian. ________________________________________ The grinding of stone on stone disturbed the silence of the ancient chamber as rocks shifted within the mound of debris created by the recent collapse of part of the ceiling. More and more rocks tumbled down the pile to clatter against the floor as something moved within the heap, until finally a mangled, cyan-skinned hand burst out from among the stones. The hand was soon followed by the badly ravaged form of a humanoid female that flopped onto the floor once she had escaped from her cairn. Faint, agonized wheezes of air leaked from her pulped lips as the slightest movement caused shattered bones to grind against each other and rip through the surrounding flesh. After several minutes had passed the broken woman raised her head to look around, her sole eye far sharper than it should have been, given her condition. Having found whatever trace or sign she sought, the woman pulled her lips away from broken teeth in a rictus grin as she began to slowly crawl her way across the floor towards a tunnel mouth, a trail of bloody smears left in her wake to mark her path. ________________________________________ “This whole job has gone to horseapples,” Sundancer grumbled to the earth pony mare beside him, “Eight of us dead and another dozen badly injured or crippled? This can’t have been part of Dusk Crown’s plan.” “You want to take it up with Thornclaw?” the changeling, Actias, snapped from where he was standing guard across the intersection, “No? Then keep your muzzle shut and your eyes and ears open.” “I was just saying,” the stallion muttered defensively, “Hey, where did Rex get off to?” “He went back down the tunnel towards where we had the fight,” Rose Charm answered, “Something about wanting to keep an eye out for the ‘fire demon’.” Actias shook his head in derision at the absent diamond dog’s superstitious behavior, “That weird biped? Yeah it was a nasty piece of work, but it’s nothing but worm fodder now. Rex needs to be concerned with the living, not wasting his time on ghoulies,” the two ponies nodded in agreement with the sour-tempered changeling and turned their attention back to the tunnel they were watching. Rose raised her head, her ears swiveling uneasily as she turned to take a step towards the tunnel Rex had vanished down, “Did either of you hear that?” Any reply her fellows might have made was interrupted by the bolt of lightning that streaked out of the tunnel to envelope the mare, the echoing boom of its thunder crack swallowed Rose’s dying scream, while lesser arcs of electricity knocked Sundancer to the ground and left him helpless as his muscles spasmed. Actias immediately whirled to flee down the tunnel and alert the rest of their crew, but after only a few steps, the changeling stumbled and fell, groaning in pain as he thrashed on the ground. A nightmare figure of torn flesh and splintered bones lurched out of the shadow-filled tunnel into the light of the guards’ lanterns, ‘No, it’s not possible, we saw it get crushed under that deadfall! It’s dead!’ Sundancer thought hysterically as the thing that had been accompanying two of the Elements of Harmony limped her way over to Actias, one mutilated hand outstretched in a loose fist as if she was somehow gripping the changeling. Looming over the prone changeling, the biped gave a gurgling laugh as she opened her hand and bathed him in red lightning. Sundancer scrambled back into a corner, ‘Rex was right, it is a demon!’ he gibbered in terror as Actias’ flesh withered away before the stallion’s eyes, even worse was the ecstatic moans coming from the demon as he could see her bones snap back into place and the skin and muscle flow back over her wounds. Turning away from the shriveled corpse at her feet, the restored demon smiled over at Sundancer as she pulled out her light sword, “I have some questions for you,” the pegasus whimpered as she crouched down beside him, “Where did you take Twilight Sparkle?” “Down there,” the stallion pointed desperately, “Four chambers down that tunnel!” “I see,” the demon nodded at Sundancer’s answer, making her blade hum and crackle as she idly swung it, “And did any of you hurt her?” “No! We just knocked her on the head and put an inhibitor ring on her horn, she’ll be fine, I swear!” “Last question, how many of you lot are down there?” “Maybe forty of us in good shape,” the pegasus nervously licked his lips as he blinked the fear-sweat out of his eyes, “Please, let me go …” The demon cocked her head to the side in confusion as she looked at Sundancer, “Who said anything about letting you go?” The stallion whimpered again as he squeezed his eyes shut … but the fatal blow never fell. After a few moments, he cracked one eye open, the demon was still crouched beside him, her blade raised and her face impassive, but the Pegasus could see emotions at war in her eye. After what felt like an eternity to the waiting pony, the light sword lashed out … to point down one of the other tunnels as the demon snarled “Run!” Not daring to question his sudden good fortune, Sundancer scrambled to his hooves and shot off down the tunnel as fast as his wings would carry him. ________________________________________ “Have you taken leave of your senses?!” Dusk Crown roared as he glared up at the gryphon, “I told you that they were coming so you could block the upper door and start closing down the operation, not so you could foalnap one of the Elements of bucking Harmony and kill one of her friends!” “Things got out of claw,” Thornclaw replied defensively, “You said they were already suspicious about how you diverted the gendarmes’ patrols.” With an irritated snort Dusk turned away, a flash of green fire burned away the shape he wore to reveal the changeling underneath as he walked over to Twilight, “You have my apologies for what has happened, Baroness Twilight, not that they will mean much to you right now.” ‘A changeling, I told a changeling what we were going to do and all of my theories, it really is all my fault,’ the unicorn did her best to mask her guilt-ridden thoughts as she glowered at Dusk, “So what does Chrysalis want with Asphodel?” “Really now, Baroness,” Dusk chided her, “Queen Chrysalis does not rule all the hives. We are just a simple group of mercenaries trying to fulfill our contract, a contract we’ll have to default on now,” he sighed, “Seeing as Rainbow Dash will probably be here with the gendarmes before nightfall, we’ll have to concentrate on our evacuation rather than getting out a last shipment.” “And what happens to me?” “Absolutely nothing,” Dusk smiled reassuringly down at her, “This entire nasty mess was a mistake, when your friend arrives with the gendarmes, you’ll be right here waiting for them and none the worse than you are now.” Twilight blinked at the changeling, “You will have to forgive me if I don’t particularly trust the word of foalnappers and murders.” “Perfectly understandable,” Dusk Crown nodded, “But in fairness, Baroness, I must point out that we are not the only ones with blood on our hooves.” The unicorn opened her mouth, but the boom of a thunderclap echoing down the tunnel cut off whatever retort she had intended to make. Thornclaw and Dusk Crown exchanged worried looks, then the changeling began to shout orders to his assembled followers, “All casualties head for the lower gate! Walking wounded help the others! Everyone else, prepare to repel invaders!” the motley horde quickly fell in, readying spears and swords, or snatching up picks and shovels, as they formed up around the tunnel mouth. As minutes slowly trickled by, the waiting mercenaries began to shift anxiously. “Maybe that wasn’t anything dangerous?” one of the changelings wondered, “Maybe it went down a different tunnel?” “Did that sound like something that wanted to invite us out to tea and cakes?” Thornclaw snapped, “Now shut your muzzle! I can smell it coming.” The gryphon’s words were punctuated by the lightning bolt that roared out of the tunnel, scattering the mercenaries before it shattered against the shields raised by a mixed squad of changelings and unicorns. Her ears ringing, Twilight blinked away the afterimages from the lightning strike to see a familiar figure stalking out of the tunnel mouth, a hungry grin on her lips and her lightsaber in her hand, “Revan!” the unicorn’s happy cry faded as she saw the aura of red light that writhed and coiled around her friend like a living thing. “I thought you said she was dead!” Dusk Crown shouted at Thornclaw. “Dead?” Revan laughed ominously in reply as her smile twisted, “You took Twilight! Did you think dying would keep me from coming for her?!” the twi’lek flung herself at the mercenaries, the echoes of her angry roar still ringing through the cavern, her saber already swinging while the aura that sheathed Revan lashed out to twist around those nearest her. Twilight watched in growing horror as Revan crashed into the gathered host, gone was the finesse the twi’lek had displayed in the previous fight or all of the times the unicorn had watched her spar, now she merely smashed through her opponents, brutally severing weapons and limbs, apparently heedless of the wounds she took in turn. Wounds that healed over almost as soon as they were inflicted as those mercenaries caught within her bloody aura shrieked in pain and wasted away before the unicorn’s eyes. Perhaps worst of all was the continuous stream of rapturous sighs and cheerful laughter pouring from the twi’lek as she butchered her way through the mercenaries. ________________________________________ Rainbow Dash was in a bad mood, what was supposed to be a few days of exploration and adventure with two of her friends had gone, ‘What is that term Revan likes to use? “Charlie Foxtrot”?’ now Twilight and Revan were missing, foalnapped by some horseapples-for-brains nags who thought she would just let them waltz off with her friends! And when she found them, by Celestia and Luna, she was going to buck them so hard they would hear it back in Ponyville! Rainbow darted along through the still air of the mine as she continued to follow the blood trail she had found, a trail that had grown fainter after it crossed paths with that weird diamond dog mummy that had been just lying in the tunnel, and now stopped completely. The weatherpony looked around the cavern, an angry growl building in her throat only to die unborn as she took in the corpses scattered about, and her mind finally registered the reek of burnt meat and tang of ozone that filled the air. The shriveled-up changeling was bad enough, but the sight of the flash-fried earth pony mare was almost enough to make Rainbow revisit her breakfast. She had seen the results of a wild-lightning strike before, back during weathercamp, but that had just been pictures … this was a pony right in front of her. ‘Well, that explains the thunder I heard,’ Rainbow though distractedly, as she forced her stomach back were it belonged, ‘Except it doesn’t, seeing as we’re underground!’ Rainbow’s ears swiveled as the faint sounds of a battle echoed down one of the tunnels, ‘Twilight and Revan are still fighting them! Just hold on, fillies, I’m coming!’ she thought as she shot off to seek her friends, her face fixed in a determined glower. ________________________________________ Twilight watched helplessly as the fight raged on. Faced with Revan’s brutality, lightsaber and necromancy, the mercenaries were growing desperate, their numbers ensured that the twi’lek had a ready supply of people to steal the life from as she rampaged through them, rather than allowing them to overwhelm her, while interfering with the aim of their changeling and unicorn members at the same time. As their ranks dwindled, with the wounded and dying falling only to be consumed by Revan’s murderous aura, the librarian could see the despair growing in Thornclaw’s and Dusk Crown’s eyes. “Get in her head!” Dusk Crown barked at two of his changelings who stood nearby, “Make her run, make her stop bothering with that damn aura, something!” “We’re trying!” the panicking changeling replied, “But everything we try just gets swallowed up in bloodlust and rage! We can’t influence her!” A prismatic streak and an angry shout announced Rainbow Dash’s entrance to the fray, as she swerved around the knot of struggling figures in the middle of the cavern and slammed directly into a mixed squad of unicorns and changelings that had been throwing up shields to protect their fellows engaged in the melee. Knocked sprawling at Twilight’s hooves by the impact of Rainbow’s arrival, Dusk Crown decided it was time to cut his losses, “Everyone fall back! Stand down! We surrender!” scrambling to his hooves, he sliced through the rusted chains of the shackles binding the unicorn with a burst of magic and then ripped the inhibitor ring off of Twilight’s horn as he shouted, “We surrender!” again. Rising to her hooves, Twilight looked gratefully at her friends as Rainbow reluctantly backed away from the retreating mercenaries and Revan merely watched them, her lips curled in a snarl. Twilight’s relieved breath caught in her throat as she desperately flung up a shield to block the tendril of power that whipped out at one of the mercenaries, “Revan, stop! They surrendered!” The unicorn gritted her teeth as she felt Revan’s necromancy gnawing away at her shield before, with a visible effort, the twi’lek pulled her aura back to little more than a red glow about her body. “What are you doing, Twilight?!” “It’s over, Revan,” the librarian stepped forward to put herself between her friend and the mercenaries, “We’ll take them back to Stalliongrad and turn them over to the gendarmes.” “But we can finish it, Twi’,” Revan cocked her head to the side as she grinned hungrily at the unicorn, her voice cajoling, “You, me and RD, we can end them.” Twilight felt sick as she looked into the twi’lek’s eagerly smiling face as her deadly aura began to expand again, ‘This isn’t the Revan I know, something, the necromancy, I don’t know, is changing her, twisting her,’ Twilight’s mouth hardened as she began to gather her magic, ‘I won’t lose her again, not like this.’ “Revan, do you trust me?” “Of course I trust you, Twi’,” the twi’lek replied gently as she furrowed her brow in confusion at the unicorn’s odd question. ‘She’s going to be so angry at me …’ “Then I need you to listen to me closely … Sleep!”