Forbidden Land

by Mane-Shaker

23 Something Wicked in The Halls

Mane closed the book, Pinkamena sitting against the other wall next to the one where the door was. He took his hand to his forehead and let out a small hiss.

"Something wrong?" Pinkamena asked.

"I've been using my magic light and the translation spell too many times." Mane rubbed his eyes with an expression of annoyance. "My head hurts."

"We still have water." She informed grabbing her backpack next to her.

"There's no point searching..." Mane sighed tired. "...you won't find It."

"Why?"

And the lights got out. They remained in the darkness of the mushroom farm they were, with Mane slowly letting his head fall to the side and close his eyes while his head hurting from the extensive use of magic. Pinkamena tried to call him back to reality by repeating his name and pocking his legs with her hooves.

"Wake up!" She demanded, but he only answered a mumble. "Mane! Come on! Pull yourself together!"

"Wha..?" He whispered. "Mah head hurts..." Mane mumbled.

"If I don't have any light, I can't find the water or maybe a pill for you." Pinka searched for him in the dark, groping the walls and air. She found his hair and then his horn, and he waved in the air trying to get her hands out of him. "Hey! I'm just trying to find you."

"Don't touch..." Mane mumbled.

"I'm not touching your jacket, silly."

"No. You can't simply touch a unicorn's horn. Not only a sensitive area but also personal." He grumbled, trying to stay awake.

"Whatever. Come on, stay with me." She gave very gentle slaps on him.

"I just need a rest." Mane stopped her hands. "Let me sit here for some moments."

"Fine. Try to rest faster, we can't stay here for the rest of the day... or night. I don't even know what time It is." She looked at the emptiness in the dark. "For how long have we been here?"

"Don't ask me. Just let me rest." Mane closed his eyes and fell asleep in an instant.

---

After around twenty minutes, Pinkamena searched his pockets, both backpacks in the dark. There was no lighter or anything that would make a spark of light. Even the mushrooms in the farm weren't the one kind that glowed in the dark, only found in the deepest caves.
She didn't dare to leaver her spot next to Mane, afraid she would hit a wall or trip in something.
Diane's hears started to tingle, with her sixth sense coming alive, the psychopath sense detecting something in the halls of StoneHammer.
It was something big, something she couldn't fight alone if It would find them. The floor trembled for a bit, and every five seconds It would get stronger. She remained in silence with a hand in Manes's shoulder just in case. The tremors got stronger, as if whatever It would be was walking right by the other side of the door.
Mane started snoring quietly and started to get loud. Pinkamena covered his mouth in attempts to silence him, but the air kept passing through her fingers.

"Mane." She whispered, starting to shake him. "Wake up." But he kept sleeping. "Mane Shaker. Wake the fuck up." She insisted between her teeth. "Something is going on outside."

"*Zzzzz*... hm..." He mumbled very silently.

"Wake up." Pinkamena insisted.

"Wha..? Let me sleee..." He begged in a whisper.

*CLAP!*

She located his face in the dark and threw a strong slap on his cheek, making Mane wake up in a hustle of surprise and confusion.

"Wake the hell up!" She hissed.

"The heck is wrong with you?" He asked with an yawn in an angry way.

"Shut up. Shut up." She insisted. "There's something on the halls..."

"What is It?" He asked worried. "Wha... why is It so dark?" He looked around even if he couldn't see anything.

"Are you stupid? We have been here for around one hour, more or less." She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "You got tired from using magic for too long and fell asleep." She stopped agitating him. "How do you feel?"

"Still tired. Head still hurts but less." Mane stretched his arms. "Is It gone?"

Pinkamena remained silent letting her sixth sense scan the area for a moment. It was gone. Vanished like a breeze of wind.

"It's not here anymore..." Pinkamena informed with a suspicious tone.

"Was It big?"

"The floor quaked when It was behind the door."

"We need to get out of here." Mane got up but soon stopped. "Help..." He whispered.

"What is It now?" Pinkamena rolled her eyes in the dark, trying to find the location of his voice.

"The dark... It... It is looking at me." Mane whispered again in fear.

"What the fuck, dude..." Pinkamena got up too and searched for him in the dark. "Aren't you nephew of King Sombra? My biggest question about you is how you are afraid of the dark."

"Diane... It's not funny." He trembled. "Help."

"It's alright... as soon I find you." She found his arm and his back. "Ah. There you are, silly."

"Please... take me out of here. I don't like this pitch black place." Mane begged, still frozen by his fear.

"Don't fret. I'm here." Pinkamena grabbed his arm with one hand and searched the door with he other. "Try to find our backpacks. Don't mind the dark."

"I-I can try..." Mane leaned down palpating the floor of rock and mud. "I think I got them."

"Okay, I found the door. Try to make some light, will you?"

"My head still hurts. Sorry..." Mane apologized.

"Well shit Mane. We can't go around in the complete darkness. We may even fall in a pit." Pinkamena grabbed her backpack from Mane's hand. "The medicine I brought was all for pains. Give me a moment."

Pinkamena let go Mane's arm and opened her backpack, searching for the little box containing the pills made of plant extracts and other ingredients. She found It, opened and passed one to Mane's hand holding It so he wouldn't let It fall. Then she passed a half filled bottle of water, and Mane took with a loud gulp.

"Takes some time to make effect." Pinkamena informed getting back up. "Let's leave the farm while we wait for It."

The pink mare grabbed his hand and guided him outside in the dark. The underground river next to the farm could be heard in the right, so left was the correct path. A loud step was heard making them stop dead in their tracks, and It sounded far away.
Mane shivered and gave a step back but stopped by a forced pull from his partner.

"Man up!" Pinkamena snarled. "You hunt, kill and get in constant danger for a living."

"I'm not going there with something lurking in the dark." Mane murmured nervously.

The steps sounded closer and they stopped while those two kept walking slowly in the dark. Sometimes the loud mysterious steps would come back and stop for a moment before returning. Pinkamena slowly started to grow worried, and Mane started to hear screams on his mind as if they were coming from all the halls in the dark. Agony and fear in the ancient dead language, screaming things he could never understand. Looking around in the dark touching the walls and walking with careful steps, feeling the moss and tiny plants that grew out of the moist in the place. The pink mare started to have cold sweats and her stomach starting to hurt the more they lurked in the dark.
Mane forced his hand out of hers, and stumbled backwards against a wall and sat on the mossy rock floor.

"I can't." He cried with a whisper. "I'm sorry, Diane. But I can't take this anymore..."

"Mane? Where are you?" She searched him in the dark. "Don't leave me here, please."

"I'm sitting here. Follow my voice." Mane sobbed while a tear started forming in his right eye and he tried to contain It. "I'm a coward. I can't stand in the dark. I hate It. I'm afraid of It."

"Found you." She touched his messy hair. "It's just air and walls. There's nothing to be afraid of." Pinka tried to comfort him.

"It's not the darkness Itself Diane!" He cried. "It's what lurks on It! There's something big following us! I can tell!"

"Keep It down!" Pinkamena took her hands to his mouth. "If there's something, don't let It know where we are."

"Diane..." He took her hands out of his muzzle. "Why does It smell... like a rotting corpse?"

"Yeah... *sniff sniff* now that you speak of It, It's really strong. It's even affecting my stomach." The pink mare took a hand to Mane's forehead. "How is your head?"

"From the headache, better. From the point of sanity, not so good." Mane shivered.

"Can you use your magic again?" She asked in happy hopes.

"Let me see..." Mane forced his brain into a light spell, but instead turned into a night vision spell on his eyes, and they glowed a greenish teal in the dark, allowing Pinkamena to see them too. "Not what I asked for, but works."

"Okay." Pinkamena whispered nervously. "See anything?"

"Oh no." Mane's pupils shrunk in his glowing eyes under the spell, while looking into the deepest hall from where they were coming from, seeing a familiar shape with a long snout, big thin ears and menacing two big pointy ivory tusks. "I see death Itself." Mane whimpered as if he was gonna start crying for real.

"What is It?!" Pinka asked in a panicky tone.

"Take my hand and run!" Mane grabbed her hand and started running with her trying to follow him without stumbling, in his turn to guide her in the dark being only him now able to see in the dark.