Speaker for the Silent

by NekroPony

15: Death, Endless Miner, and a Narrow Miss

Author's Note:

So I'm about halfway at this point, but getting my first dislike made me go back through the story. After a little reading I've come to the realization that I REALLY need to edit it. I have no idea how many people have got this far, but I think the bad grammar is quite obvious.

So this is gonna be the last chapter for a while, I might write some other short stories(Got a neat one about Lyra, and I want to write a short story about Gaeth and Olive Garden), but for now just gonna hold off.

If anyone wants to help edit or proofread my story send me a message, I expect I'll need to be going to the official group though.

Boom
Twilight narrowly ducks to the side as the cannonball buries it'self in the wall behind where her head was. Another bounces of the ground near her prone body. The cannon swivels chasing her, trying to hit her, firing almost 2 balls a second. The next one stops a hair away from her face, held still by Rarity's magic. Quickly she throws up a shield, the next few impacts jarring her, draining her fast.

She only has to hold it for a few moments through the cannon turns it's aim to target Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who have charge up to attack the Pony. Both of them have to jump nearly halfway across the room to avoid the deadly steel, and it again's turns to fire at Twilight. Less than a single shot hits her shield when her friends are again on the pony, snarling at her.

She looks calm as she forces them back, as if this is nothing more than a minor distraction, with a leap she land near on of the exits, bolting through it as fast as her legs can carry her "Damnit, and kaboom." she says obviously referring to the cannon, which explodes a heartbeat later. The ponies duck to the ground, the deadly shrapnel flying overhead.

"Anyone hurt?" asks Twilight as she stands, her wings spread authority radiating off her. The soldiers and the elements all stand all except one. The grey mare from earlier, the one who always seem'ed to be assisting Meyers, she lay clutching her throat, her eyes wide as she gurgles, a metal rod from the cannon pinning her to the ground. Meyers crys out and rushes to her side, wrapping his hoofs around her, tears already flowing.

Ever-pony other than the 2 of them share a look, and soon other than a few guards to protect the two, the squad plunges into the mines after the murderer. As they run Apple asks Twi, "Did you find out her name?" but goes quiet and back off seeing the dark expression on the Alicorn's face one that only darkens when...
A pick lances out of the dark, burying it'self in the orange ponies shoulder. A grinning skeleton pulls it back blood and a tuft of orange fur clinging to it. Another swing interrupted by a huge blast of purple magic that impales the wall behind it with shards of bone and steel. "You alright? asks one of the soldiers, helping Applejack to her feet "Yep, that confirms the connection at least, I'll be fine, been hurt worse on the farm, but I'll be limping from now on." She waves them on "I'll go back and stay with Meyers, don't want to slow y'all down."

The soldiers all look at Twilight, and she wonders for a moment when she suddenly became their leader. With a sigh she send Apple off and the group continues down the mine-shaft, more cautiously this time, now that it's not just a chase. A few other skeletons loom out as they proceed, easily dispatched since they seem distracted and only have pickaxes. Eventually they enter a larger area, dispatching a few of the skeletons labourers quickly before they can react. A shaft leading back to the surface, another delving deeper into the mountain. "Dammit which way did she go?" Rainbow snort angrily.Twilight looks around. "Rainbow Dash and I will check the surface, wings will let us scout it quickly. Since their are skeletons down here the rest of you stick together." With a few nods the groups separate.

The two of them jump up and fly quickly up the shaft, soon they emerge from the tunnel labelled 4. Quickly they trot to the exit and up ahead they hear voices. Twilight motions for Dash to be quiet, and they creep just close enough that they can see.

The Mare is up just outside the mine speaking to the bulky colt that they had left unconscious in front of the mine. "So they found out? is this gonna be a problem." He asks she shakes her head "we got the last few live miners out, but the two thousand skeletons will wipe them out." He looks upset at this "But what about?.." "Sorry, I know but your grandfathers gone, they got him while they were chasing me." He snorts in anger but stops when she hold her hand over his muzzle. "You think that's bad, they totalled my husband too, I don't even know how I'm gonna tell little Silent Gear about it, she was expecting something special for her birthday."

He sighs "Well let's blow the entrance then, hopefully we can brush it off as a mining accident in the reports. Least that Spawn is gonna die." He trots over to the plunger that had been set up since they had entered. Suddenly he falls as a rainbow smack into him and his ribs audibly crack. Twilight just has time to realize that Dash is no longer beside her as the mare receives a similar treatment. Twilight erupts out of cover rushing to the mares aid as Rainbow starts slamming her hoofs into her head. "No Rainbow we need her alive." She says tackling Rainbow off of her and snapping out of her blood-lust. Dash shakes it off and lets Twilight handle the now very unconscious mare. "Snot right, should have hit her at the start, then that soldier would be alive." she mutters glaring at the mine.

"Better get them out of there as soon as we can."

---

"Shiny MARBLES!" cries Rarity diving to the ground and rolling, five pickaxes plunging into the ground where she had been standing. and she's not the only one. Pinkie currently kicking a skeleton that had crawled out of a hole, and the soldiers are fighting dearly, barely holding the ground they stand on.

It's not that the skeletons are hard to fight or anything, but their are just so many of them, another dozen emerging from the tunnels and rushing them. A soldier goes down, the injury to her head instantly lethal.

Pinkie Pie kick another one off her and comes to Rarity aid, shattering one of the skeletons with a powerful kick, giving the soldiers a few second to clear a few more. Just up ahead they can see the shaft, leading up to wherever Twilight and Dash went. "It's not much farther." The pink one says helping a wounded soldier get back before a skeleton manages to drag him away. Rarity uses her magic to pick up a half dozen of the weapons and starts flinging them through the horde of skeletons, covering their retreat.

A few skeletons start running from the room where Applejack and Meyers were presumably. Rarity and Pinkie just look at each other, partly in grief for their friend, party worried about being cut off.

---

"Yehaw I've got more holed in me legs than a changeling!" cheers Applejack as she bucks a skeleton into powder, her heavily injured legs speaking true. "Meyers, was it wise drugging her? sure she can't feel it now, but..." Meyers hold up a hoof at the medic, spearing another skeleton with his spear "You keep hitting us with it, if you stop we all die."

Almost half way back up the shaft, the remaining members of their squad were impressively still alive, mostly because of the large amounts of drugs that the medic had been injecting them with. One of the soldiers didn't even have skin on a patch of his head anymore, and was spearing skeletons with his own bone visible.

They take a few more steps, seeing the upper door, the only unhurt pony, the medic helping them each. She squeal in pain as a pick digs deep into her needle shaped cutie mark, a skeleton hiding beyond the door attacking her.

---

Pinkies hair had recovered, Rarity noted, she smiles at the ironic development. Up above Rainbow Dash fly down from the tunnel up, screaming as she witnesses the same thing.

For somehow managing to grip a pick in both hoofs Pinkie jumps into the middle of the horde her axes swinging, screaming at the top of her lungs. Rarity ushers the soldiers up ahead of her, half limping the other half stumbling incoherently. The skeletons all appear to have focused their attacks on Pinkie. "Dash, be a dear and when she's done bring her up." says Rarity, looking more than a little worried.

Dash hovers over Pinkie, letting her distract the skeletons. Pinkie... well she appears to be winning, slamming left and right already standing on a decent pile of skeletons already. But even as she watches Pinkie takes a hit, she fights wildly without care, fighting recklessly. Dash reaches to pull her out, but glancing at the injured pones climbing out and pauses, giving them just a little more time.

"OK that's high enough." she drops reaching for Pinkie. A shocking pain hits her as one of Pinkies swings take a chunk out of her hoof, pulling back her eyes widen as she sees foam dripping from Pinkies lips. "Crap." Being more careful this time she reaches down avoiding the random swinging axes and grabs Pinkie and with a flap of her wings takes off bursting up towards her friends.

---

Holding the mare Twilight notices her friends arriving, climbing out one by one, fewer soldier than she remembers. First comes Rarity, stumbling out holding one of the soldiers, nursing a broken horn. Rainbow Dash emerges next, dragging Pinkie Pie, assisted by a couple of soldiers, Twilight stands looking worried, especially once she notes that Pinkie is fighting and biting them. Dash groans "Pinkie went crazier than usual, was ripping those skeletons apart with her hoofs."

"I can fix that." says another pony emerging from the cave, as the little medic drags an unconscious Meyers behind her, "Got some drugs that will help just give me a moment." A couple of really badly injured soldiers emerge and help her bring Meyers to all the others. "Where's Applejack." asks Rarity a little panic in her voice. The medic injects something into Pinkie calming her as she speaks "I'm sorry, when the skeletons started attacking me Applejack charged them, so I could drag out wounded away, she didn't make it out."

Rarity bursts into tears falling to the ground "NO! She can't be gone, we were just..." She sobs covering her eyes "Fluttershy, now Applejack..." Each of the ponies look at her with sadness in their eyes, glancing back at the cave, the maw of it feeling unnaturally dark, as if it wanted to consume them all.

"Applejack what?" comes from the darkness, and slowly she puts one foot in front of the other, emerging, looking honestly, rather horrid. She stumbles out, as red as her brother her fur matted with blood, so many holes in her body she looks not unlike a changeling. A pick hangs from her side discarded by a skeletons, her hat is gone as well likely stolen by the same skeletons. She manages to get up to the group, looking at their astonished faces "What?" she looks down at her body "Rotting Cores, that explains the dizziness." moments before she collapses she mutters "I lost my hat."

The little medic pony rushes to her side, already unfurling bandages. Twilight looks down at the mare that has caused all this trouble "Better start moving, need to get her out of this valley before the locals notice us."