• Published 22nd Apr 2013
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Snickersnatch - SpiralWriter



Oddjob awakens to a much different Equestria . . .

  • ...
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XIX - Lost and Bound

[Snickersnatch]

By: Quisky


A C T F O U R


Chapter Nineteen:

Lost and Bound


Crack. A quick strike from the end of my stave sends one flying back, bowling over a group of them into a pile of hissing and flailing hooves. Smack. One that tried to fly overhead and attack from above was sent sprawling from a good old fashioned batter's swing, sending it crashing to the ground and hitting the earth with an audibly loud, if not slightly wet, thunk.

Despite my best efforts they still came in their many numbers, never ceasing, never ending. If I took out one, three would replace it, their multitude enough to fill the small marketplace and even the square area of the town to standing room, and yet they continued to pour in from the surrounding swamp. The worst part was that they wouldn't stay down. My usual brute force tactics that could render most unconscious only slowed them down slightly, the changelings showing no sign of pain nor discomfort, only that twitching and erratic movement. They seemed to be immune to blunt trauma.

"Umm, Penny, any plans ya got in that computerized head of yours that could help us?" I asked, slowly backing up, looking at the robotic mare beside me, glowing eyes peeking out from underneath my coat, calmly and almost analytically looking over the mass of changelings surrounding us. I briefly considered why she wasn't panicking like I was beginning to, but she was a machine. A machine with emotions it seemed mind you, but perhaps she saw this in a different light, one without fear. Eventually we had our backs pressed to one of the large, gnarled trees that overlooked the tiny town, its many twisting limbs offering a somewhat shaded protection from the onslaught of pouring rain, but sadly none from the encroaching swarm.

". . . Yes." She replied quietly, turning her head to look at me, the whit of gears in her neck creating a small clink. "Move a little to your right. The ground is a bit dryer."

"Uhhh, like this?" I asked curiously and followed her instruction, looking down just to see what she was talking about. In the patch of ground we stood it was only damp, the kind of wet, mushy grass and dirt from the rain, probably protected from the tree overhead. Outside of the general area in which we stood it was mud and puddles up to my ankles, which was saying something of the ceaseless torrent from the sky.

We get it. It's a swamp, the scene is meant to be scary, ease up nature.

"Perfect." Penny smiled, stepping forward in front of me, clanking in preparation, rearing up until she was at her full height, forelegs held in a bent position. In the brief moment before she slammed them down, I noted little sparks, trails of blue light zipping along on and around them, filling the air with static and a electric hum. With a giggle she brought her hooves down with a great crack, letting them meet the in-between area where our dryer ground ended and the puddle began.

Time seemed to momentarily pause, allowing my eyes to see the beginnings of the biggest bug roast ever. All at once it sped back up, a surging shockwave of blue lightning coursing throughout the surrounding area, every changeling standing in the water surrounding us getting quite the shock as electricity arced through all of them with rapid succession. It was really a sight to behold. The ones that were closest got the worst of it, their bodies almost exploding on sight, chunks of hardened chitin and melty goo flying through the air at hazardous speeds. Talk about your bug zapper. The ones that were further away met with a slightly less gruesome, if still not terrifyingly frying fate. The sizzle of burning bugs and their screams filled the air, Penny not letting up until every last one of them laid still on the ground, twitching their last as the jolts died down, the rain washing away most of what remained of the smoking bodies.

"Whooh." She shook her head, stepping back and removing her hooves from the water, turning off whatever electrical source she had in them. Penny had to take a moment to regain herself it seemed, looking as if she were about to topple over on her own from exhaustion, as if cold metal and wires could feel tired. Her eyes flickered slightly to a dim, dying low light before bursting back to life in their usual glow. "Batteries are a bit low, can't do that again any time soon."

I stood there briefly with my jaw agape, closing it slowly and bending down to poke one of the changelings, its body unmoving and its dead eyes staring into me. "Well . . . that . . . solved it. Thanks Penny. You good?"

With a quick nod she replied. "You're welcome! And I'm fine, really. I have good battery life, I won't need to recharge for a while." She pinged happily. "We should really find the others, this place is dangerous. Plus, we found the changelings you were looking for!!"

"Yeah . . ." I stood up, turning my gaze towards the Sleepyhead Inn, eyes narrowing. ". . . But first, we should have a chat with Ms. Creaks. We need to check out."


"Bloody . . . bucking . . . flying feathered no good . . ."

Agatha snarled, underlined by a guttural growl that belayed her lionlike nature. Turning a corner and running into another dead end, her eyes almost popped with anger as she gritted her fangs, feeling like punching the wall. So she did. Hard. Her clenched fist left a resounding echo in the tunnels, a bit of blood and crumbling rock falling to the ground once she removed it from where she had struck. 'Damn that felt good', she thought even as the dull throb of pain began to work its way through her shaking hand.

"I hate this place . . . c'mon! How do I get out of here?!" She groaned aloud to herself, turning around with a resigned, frustrated sigh, the occasional lion's growl and annoyed eagle screeh slipping into her voice. "The cat in me should lemme track the scent out of here . . . but all I can smell is shit and rocks! Rocks, rocks, rocks! Nothing but dirt and stupid stone! Ugh!!"

"Perhaps we can help."

The griffin nearly jumped out of her feathers from the voices calling from the dark. The tunnels were not illuminated very well, and even with her keen night vision granted by the feline portion of her blood it was still hard to see everything. A white figure approached her from the shadows, slipping into view and revealing Legion the Diamond Dog.

"Oh." Agatha huffed, coughing and readjusting herself, making it seem like it hadn't scared the Celestia outta her. "It's just you. Hey mutt, you're good with digging, mind showing me the way out of here?"

"Yes. We can do that, but first a question. How did you get down here? You and the gold guard were supposed to interrogate the old pony innkeep."

"We tried to. Something conked us out from behind and dragged us to what appears to be the inside of the earth's armpit."

"You would be quite correct in that comparison. This tunnel system is connected to Tartarus."

". . . By The Emperor's pompous arse . . ."

"You seem shocked. Understandable. Luckily we are only a few meters under the surface, this being one of the higher up underlying channels. Oddly enough, it shouldn't exist. It was freshly dug, this earth soft and rich, much like the mud of how a swamp should be. Something took advantage of the swamp's underside to dig this to access Tartarus. But why?"

"Well, I'm not sticking around to find out." She grunted. "Now, help me find my sword and a way outta here. Once that's done I'm flying the coop on your weird squad you got going on. The Talons are gonna have such a fun time picking you all off."

"Alpha Oddjob gave you a task. You are to complete it and report back." Legion replied in deadpan, the many voices as one echoing together in the still silence of the underground passage.

"Oh can it barkboy! Are ya gonna help me, or get in my way? I'm perfectly capable of seeing myself out."

The dog's eyes narrowed into slits, their eery milkiness only adding a sense of foreboding dread. "Dissidence within the pack is not allowed. It will not be tolerated."

"WHAT pack?! I'm not part of your ragtag team. If you don't remember, you all brought me along against my will."

"The pack must stay together."

"Alright," Agatha said dismissively, and in a show of manner aggressively shoved Legion aside, enough to send the vessel painfully thumping into the rock wall. Walking past but not getting very far, the diamond dog tackled her from behind, bearing down and pinning her against the ground in a predatory stance, hackles raised and fangs bared.

"The pack must stay together, and we will beat that into your head if we must." The legion's hot breath washed over her, giving a great reminder of why not brushing for a few centuries is a bad idea. Agatha growled back just as loudly, lifting her back paws up and kicking them off, jumping back up to a fighting stance herself. Legion landed with a small dog's whine, but immediately shot back up, bearing claws.

"Alright barkboy, if you want a fight, you got one." She hissed, the two beginning to circle one another.

"Gladly."


"Now just . . . wow, I forgot how tiring that was. Yeesh, it's been a while."

"Though . . . I COULD have just weaponcasted my sword and cut the ropes like that . . . "

"But it was dark and I might've cut myself. Yeah, shouldn't have risked it."

"Okay, I'm going to rest a bit, find my armor, switch back, get out of here and warn the others. That's a good plan-wait hey what's that?"

The voice talking to itself in the dark heard fighting, grunts and shouting amidst the the sounds of scuffling. Whatever could that be?


We barged right in, door kicked open and everything. The rafters shook with the impact, sending a new rain of old dust and debris down. "CREAKS!" I bellowed, voice echoing in the halls of the inn, my only reply its dying tone. "C'mon, she has to be here somewhere. The old hag couldn't have gotten very far."

"She could have wobbled into the swamp, but that'd be dangerous. There's quicksand and bogbeasts and crocogators and . . ."

I let Penny ramble on as I searched, looking behind the desk and not seeing much. Just a few pens, the guest check-in book, and oh guess what, more dust. The upkeep of this place was terrible, and the service lousy. One star on yelp.

The two of us began to scour the small building all over, checking each room, finding something very odd. Most of them were empty, and looked like they hadn't been occupied in years. The only ones with furniture were the ones where we had stayed, talk about creepy. After going twiceover in every corner, we met back up in the front entrance, my annoyance almost as permeable as the muggy atmosphere.

"Uuuuugh. Where could she be?!"

"I'm sorry we can't find her." Penny frowned, removing my coat and handing it back to me. I slipped it back on with a defeated hunch, hearing Barry squeak in annoyance from being disturbed.

"It's okay . . . not your fault." I groaned, slouching over the desk. "But there's something going on, and she's a key to it, I feel it in. I'm just . . . uuugh! We got duped! I feel so stupid."

"You're not stupid." She beeped assuredly. "Just the little old lady pony seemed to be clever."

"I feel like breaking something."

"Go ahead, no judgement here. It's good to let your aggressions out every now and then."

"You''re really helpful, y'know that?"

"I come installed with several hundred articles on therapy. Just in case I was bought to aid somepony in that respect."

"Thanks Penny." I smiled at her before raised a clenched fist and slamming it down onto the bell sitting on the desk, a sharp ring following. I repeated this several times over, not satisfied until the bell was a crumpled piece of metal deeply embedded into the cracked wood of the desk's surface. "Ahhh . . . " I sighed in satisfied manner, briefly pausing afterwards. ". . . Just one more."

I raised my fist high once more, then slammed it down with the intent to break the desk itself into smithereens. I did that, but did not expect to fall right through a hidden compartment in the floor. I yelped slightly as I tumbled down through the woodwork, stumbling down a flight of stairs, hitting the bottom with a rough "Ouch!"

Looking up, I could see that a mechanism connected to the desk could allow a panel underneath it to slide open, revealing the staircase I had just taken a fall down. Penny's frame appeared above, digitized eyes illuminated in curiosity. "Hooray, you solved the thing!" She exclaimed cheerily, raising her hooves in a celebratory manner and eliciting a small, familiar tone of victory.

"Well, looks like I did, unexpectedly." I stood back up and brushed myself off, Penny clunking down the stairs to my side, the two of us staring down the darkness that purveyed whatever we were about to get into. Hidden stairs leading into the dark never go anywhere good kiddies, take some advice from me.

"Here, I come with a flashlight feature. Let's see what's down in this nasty old darkness . . . " Penny opened her mouth as wide as possible, a bright beam of yellow piercing the veil and illuminating what once before had went unseen. I wished it had stayed that way.

Hundreds of changelings heads jerked in our direction, filling a vast cavern.


They both clashed fairly evenly, Legion's experience matched by Agatha's own ferocity and willingness to take damage in turn for giving it. The two beasts circled one another much more slowly now that they had gotten a feel for one another, Legion having a few bloody chunks torn out of their fur, while Agatha had three long, thin, razor deep gashes running down the side of her body. While the griffin was panting, the dog showed controlled, if not slightly shaky, breathing.

"You're good barkboy, I'll give you that." She spat out, eyes still showing murderous intent behind them.

"As are you. But we have not come this far just to be bested in some tun-" Legion paused the sentence abruptly, turning from Agatha with head raised and ears sharply perked. Sniff. Chitin. Sniff. Familiar? Sniff.

"Hey!" Agatha snapped. "We're fighting here, or do you want me to rip your throat out-"

"Silence." Legion spoke. "There is changeling nearby."

". . ." Even she had to pause for that. This is what they had been looking for, right? Maybe now the mutt would let her go and she could be free to get the Talons on these suckers. Ooh, she would relish it so. Definitely get Bruiser to crush the royal guard like a grape, and maybe have Fangface rip the dragon wannabe a new one.

Soft, pattering hoofsteps could be heard making their way across the rock. Both turned their heads in the direction of the sound beginning to rebound against the echoing tunnel. A figure came into view. "Legion, Agatha! Am I so glad to see you two . . . oh. Wait."

". . ."

". . ."

"I probably messed up."

". . ."

". . ."

"There's a lot of explaining to do, I know."