• Published 9th Dec 2012
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Hot Heads, Cold Hearts and Nerves of Steel - Trinary



AU Dashverse: The Crystal Empire has returned and the foals of Equestria have gone missing!

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Chapter 9

& & &

In the underbelly of Equestria, the foals were sleeping. Night and day had no meaning in barely illuminated caverns and there was no way to tell time. It was with a certain amount of practicality that the foals decided that the time to sleep was when they felt tired. They cuddled up together under a large carpet of moss they pulled off the wall and hid in a crevice.

To say it was an uncomfortable, fitful sleep would be an understatement. It was only the exhaustion of the previous day (night?) that finally allowed Alula, Dinky and Pipsqueak to fall asleep. When they stirred, they had no way of knowing how long they had been asleep or how long it had been since they were taken.

Pip was the first to awake. He groaned when he felt something hard poking him in the flank. It turned out to be Dinky’s horn. The light in the tunnels was so low that he wasn’t entirely sure at first if his eyes were open or not. He yawned and looked around as best he could from his position between the two bigger fillies.

Dinky mumbled in her sleep and shifted to jab Pip again. He gave a tiny yelp as he moved to rub his sore flank, which disturbed Alula in turn. She rolled a bit in her sleep, twitching her wing so that her feathers softly tickled Pip’s snout.

The young colt started to regret sleeping in the middle of a filly sandwich as he scrunched up his nose. “Aah...aah...achew!”

Alula jumped, woken up by the sound of Pip sneezing. “Wuzgoing on? Who’s...” she blinked a couple times as she fully awakens. “Huh? Nothing there.” Then she felt something wet on her wing. “Ew!”

Dinky wasn’t as fast to wake up “Humm? Momma?” She looked around. “Momma?”

The piebald pony rubbed his nose and sniffed, murmuring his apologies to Alula. “Ick.” She made a face at him. “Dummy.” She started cleaning her wing, still warily looking around the caves.

Pip decided to take the high road and not respond to her...beyond making a face and sticking out his tongue at her when her back was turned. Then he began gently nudging Dinky’s shoulder with his muzzle. “Hey Dinky. You ‘wake?”

She rolled over. “Five more minutes? ‘m tired, an’ my back doesn’t feel good.”

“Sorry Dinky...” He gave her a gentle nuzzle.

Alula yawned and stretched. “We need to get up, Dinky. Gotta keep moving, even if we’re tired and hungry and don’t feel good.”

The mention of food made Pipsqueak’s stomach growl rather loudly, given his rather small size. “Did ya haveta mention food? I’m so hungry....”

Dinky blinked and opened her eyes. “We’re...we’re here?” She sat up, realizing that it wasn’t a bad dream. “Dunwanna go, somepony’ll find us won’t they? We’re, we’re gonna--not be lost, right?” she started mildly panicky as she tried to look around the blackness of the tunnels.

Despite being scared too, Pip gave Dinky his most confident smile. “S’okay...I-I’ll protect you too, Dinky.” He gave her a patented get-better-hug. “My Da says that’s what big colt’s do.”

Alula stepped up and put her clean wing on Dinky’s withers. “Don’t worry Dinky, we’re gonna be okay. I’m not gonna let anything happen to us. I’ll protect both of you.”

Nervously, Dinky latched on to the two of them. “‘K-kay....but who’ll protect you?”

With a hint of nervous pride, Alula beamed. “Kickers protect themselves. So I don’t need anypony to protect me.” The lavender filly rocked herself in place, clearly not convinced and trying to create a substitute for her mother’s arms. Trying to hide her own fear, Alula extended her wing into giving Dinky a full-blown wing-hug “Look, we’re gonna be fine, okay? Nopony needs to be a ‘fraidypony. We just gotta get outta here and find an adult, and everything’ll be fine.”

Pip meanwhile put his own hooves around Dinky and hugged her. “It’ll be okay...”

Sniffling, Dinky held Pip and nuzzled Alula. “‘Kay. I wanna get outta here.” She gave a big gulp, trying to swallow her fear. “S’go.”

“All right, so...” the pegasus who had appointed herself in charge looked around, trying to remember which way they came from and which way they were going. “Um...” she trotted around. “Feels like this ways goin’ up a bit, so let’s go this way.”

Dinky looked around. “Where’d the glowy thing go?”

“I think ‘lula had it.” Pip answered as Alula looked around a bit, getting very worried before she finally discovered the glowing crystal was under her wing the whole time. A thought occurred to the lone colt. “Maybe we should...pretend this is like an a’venture or something. Nothin’ bad--nothing REALLY bad--happens in my a’venture stories.”

Dinky grumbled. “We shoulda left bread crumbs, that always works in Gramma’s stories.”

Alula clutched the crystal that was their sole source of light beneath her wing. “Okay, that’s a good idea Pip, but we don’t even have any bread, Dinky.”

“Thanks!” Pip beamed, not used to Alula saying nice things to him. His stomach growled again. “I really wish we had some bread...not for crumbs and stuff, but to eat.”

“It was jus’ an idea...” Dinky grumbled, huddling close to Alula when the light came out. “Cool, it’s still going!” She looked ahead, straining her eyes. “You remember the way?”

“Uh, we’re goin’ this way.” Alula pointed down the passage that she thought had a slight upward curve. “And keep an eye out for anythin’ we can eat. Um...I think I heard ponies can eat moss and some kindsa mushrooms.”

The idea made Dinky gag. “Eew! Moss is slimy, it’d be almost as bad as spinach! Mmm....” She grumbled, grudgingly keeping her eyes peeled.

From their tiny vantage point, everything loomed large over them. To their overactive imaginations, the stalactites and stalagmites formed massive teeth, waiting to chomp down and gnash them to bits. The dim light of Alula’s crystal cast shadows along the walls and ceiling that constantly shifted and moved.

The only sound was the faint echo of their own hoofsteps and the noise of water constantly dripping down around them. Drip....drip....drip...

Every so often an icy drop would splash on a pony’s nose or back, prompting a brief yelp followed by a swift hushing from his or her companions. Dinky let out a low moan at the constant dripping of water. “Oooh, shut up! Stoopid cave.”

“Sshhh! We’re s’posed to be quiet!” Alula hissed.

“I can’t help it.” Dinky whined, dancing a bit on her hooves. “I gotta go to the baffroom!”

Alula rolled her eyes. “Well we don’t have a bathroom around here. Just…I dunno. Go behind a rock or something.”

“Ew!” Dinky made a face. “That’s GROSS. We don’t have a toilet or anything!”

“Well, you gotta do something, even if it is gross. You can’t hold it forever.” Alula shrugged with Kicker pragmatism.

Dinky let out a whine as she looked this way and that. "F-fine...just..dun look!" She blushed.

"S'okay, I won't." Alula promised. "I'll make sure the dummy doesn't either."

Pip frowned at her. "Why would I want to?"

"Cuz colts are weird and gross." She shrugged evenly.

"Are not..." he grumbled under his breath. Dinky slowly trotted into a side cave as her friends turned their backs and looked away. After a brief silence he looked to Alula. "So...how long do you think we're gonna be down here?"

"Not long. I mean, those zombies only grabbed us a little while ago, right? We can't be that far from home."

"I guess...but what happens if we are down here for a long time? C-can we really go around eating moss a-and going behind rocks and sleeping in caves and stuff?"

Alula frowned at him. "Don't be a worrywort. My whole family's guardsponies and stuff. I've been out camping loads of times. This is just like camping...just, in a cave is all. A big cave." She added when Pip looked disbelievingly at her. "Nothin' bad will happen."

Dinky coughed. "Um...I'm done." She blushed. "C-can we get going?"

"Sure," Alula held out the glowing crystal with her wing. "Let's keep going." Her stomach growled. "An' remember, keep an eye out for mushrooms and moss and stuff." Dinky made a face but kept quiet, having already said her piece on the subject.

Pip sounded worried. “My Mum always said that I was so tiny that if I ever missed a meal I might disappear entirely!”

Alula rolled her eyes impatiently. “You’re not gonna disappear, dummy.”

“How d’you know?” Pip questioned.

“‘Cause Momma said the same thing about Sparky, but she’s still here. There. Home.” Dinky chewed her lip worriedly. “At least, I think she is...” she gulped. “Unless she was in another cart!”

“I didn’t see Sparkler in another cart, just little colts and fillies.” Alula shook her head.

Pip agreed “Yeah...I dun think Miss Sparkler would fit in those carts. She’s too big.”

Dinky let out a relieved sigh. “Good. So, if it’s just ponies like us, then…then there aren’t any grown-ups. So we can go find ‘em.”

Fidgeting worriedly, Pip looked to his companions. “D-do you think they get everypony our age? Even Snips and Snails and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and...and...”

“Dunno, but we can’t worry about all that.” Alula cut in blankly. “Just think about gettin’ home.” She regretted the fact that she was too scared to risk waking up any of the other kids in the carts. Her mom or Cloudy or Rainbow Dash would’ve saved everypony, but she was too much of a ‘fraidypony. That just meant she really had to make sure Dinky and Pipsqueak were okay.

Dinky nodded. “‘Kay. Let’s go, an’ find somepony.” She looked back over her shoulder. “They’ll be okay. Everything’s always okay after we find a grown-up.”

“Who do you think will be the best pony to find?” Pipsqueak wondered aloud.

“Momma.” Dinky instantly replied.

Alula answered just as quickly, “Sis or Mom or anypony from my clan. Your mom’s neat, but sis or my mom could kick those ugly zombie ponies in the flank!”

“I want my Mum and Da...but they aren’t really fighting ponies,” Pip sounded sad that his family couldn’t beat up zombie ponies too. “Ooh! What about Rainbow Dash? My Da says she’s really brash...that sounds like brave t’me. Only sometimes he says she’s not a good role model cuz I’m so impreshinnable. Whatever that means.”

For a change, Alula had no trouble agreeing with the small colt. “Yeah, Rainbow Dash would be cool too!”

“Totally cool!” Dinky chimed in. “She could kick those zombie ponies’ flanks and still get us outta here!”

“Yup!” The tiny pegasus filly fluttered her wings in excitement. “Rainbow Dash is the coolest non-Kicker pony there is!” She thought for a bit, then exclaimed “Hey! If Sis and Rainbow Dash got married, then she could be a Kicker! That would be the best thing ever!”

Dinky shook her head. “Nu-uh! She should marry my Mommy! Then she could be my mom AND my godmom! That’d be the best thing ever!”

“No way!” Alula argued. “You already have Rainbow Dash as a godmom! That’s practically like having her as an mom already! Wanting her to be your real mom is just greedy. I want Rainbow Dash in my family too!”

Dinky thought about it for a moment. “But you’re family’s, like, huge! It’s sooper-dooper big! Mine’s small and I dun’ even have a daddy. So I need Rainbow more!”

“But if Rainbow Dash became a Kicker, and she was your godmom, then you’re family would be like part of my clan! We’d be one big family!”

“Cool!” Dinky exclaimed.

As the two fillies talked about how awesome it would be for their families to become one super-family, Pipsqueak started to feel a little left out. All of his old chums were back in Trottingham and he was only just starting to make friends in Ponyville, chief among them being Dinky. But when Alula was around it was hard to be heard. She was rather boisterous (to use one of his Da’s words) and, well, loud. The lonely colt let out a sigh.

Dinky took a moment in discussing the plans for Dinky to join Alula in practicing wing-blades and how her mom would have to let her once they became sorta Kickers to look Pip’s way. She expected him to be as excited as she was at the prospect of learning how to fight with swords and stuff--she knew his love for stories about adventures and pirates and stuff--when she saw him looking all sad.

“Hey.” Pip looked up as Dinky walked over. She gave him a little nudge. “Ya know, even if me and Alula became cousins or something, we’d still wanna play with you. You’re fun!”

Pipsqueak started to smile. “R-really?”

“Yeah!” Dinky nodded. “You could teach us how to be pirates and stuff and we’d show you how to use real swords! And then, we’d be like, soldier-pirates or something.”

“Awesome!” The colt grinned, his spirits restored.

The foals talked and chatted as they continued their dark trek through the bowels of Equestria. Their child-like imaginations and often short attention spans could only distract them from their present situation for so long. The tunnel was long and dark and the air, while flowing, wasn't exactly fresh. As the trio of little ponies went further, they began to notice something. There was a rotten, foul smell in the air. Alula, being in front, noticed first. She wrinkled her nose as she gagged. “Ew! Pip farted!”

“Huh?” Pipsqueak looked confused then the smell hit him and Dinky too. “Blech!” He spat.

“Dumb stinky colt.” Alula buzzed her wings, trying to waft the smell away. “Why’d you go and do that?”

“What? I didn’t do that!” Pip defended himself. “You did!”

“Did not! It was you!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Uh-huh!”

Dinky sighed as she heard her friend start to argue again. She looked up to put in her two cents when she felt her sink into something gooey…and REALLY smelly. “EEEEWWWWW!” She squealed as she lifted her hoof. “I stepped in doodie!” Panicked she shuffled her hooves, trying to shake it off. “Ewewewewewew! It’s stuck in the frog!”

From Dinky’s disgusted cry came a series of high, piping shrieks from the ceiling. Alula held the glowing crystal up with her wings, revealing that the ceiling was coated with flapping, wriggling, squawking bats. “Aaaaaahhh!!” All three foals shouted, scaring the bats into taking flight, swooping down just above their heads.

“Ack!” Pip ducked down besides Dinky.

The frightened unicorn tucked her tail and shined her horn weakly. “AAAAA! Go away, go awa---ICKY, it landed on me!” She complained.

Alula leapt in front of Dinky and flared wings protectively, ending up with guano on her hooves for her trouble. “Go away you big nasty jerks!” She reared up and lashed wildly with her forehooves. “Leave us alone!”

“Yeah, go away!” Pipsqueak agreed as he picked up a rock—at least, he hoped it was a rock—and flung it upwards.

“GOAWAY!!!!” Dinky shouted again, her fear and panic sparking a bright flash from her horn. Though it quickly faded, it apparently did the trick. In a panicked flurry of motion, the bat colony flew off down the tunnels, leaving only echoed shrieks and more guano.

Pip blinked at his unicorn companion. “Whoa…that was so cool! You scared ‘em off!”

Alula looked her friend over. “Dinky! You okay?” Without thinking she brought up a single guano-covered hoof up to Dinky’s face.

“Yeah,” Dinky nodded. “I—” her nostrils flared as Alula’s hoof came close and when she felt it against her cheek a moment later she squealed. “EEEEWW!!!!”

Pip stuck out his tongue. “Ugh! Alula’s covered in bat poop!”

That only served to set Dinky off further. “Aaaack!” She shook her hoof furiously and rubbed her cheek, trying to get it off.

The pegasus filly give Dinky a sheepish grin before looking herself over. “Ew. I think we needta find some water.”

“Eeeww...‘lula! you got it on me!” Dinky complained.

Alula hung her head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to...”

“’Sokay, it was an accident.” Dinky nuzzled her forgivingly, making Alula smile. She liked Dinky, especially her bright cheerfulness and upbeat attitude. Dinky widely grinned back at Alula, which confused for a moment until she realized that Dinky had nuzzled her with her dirty cheek. Making a face, she trotted over to Pip and nuzzled him to transfer the guano off her.

Pip gagged, first at being nuzzled by a filly (and Alula to boot!) and then for having bat poop on him. “Uuuugh!! What’d you do that for?”

“You’re a colt.” Alula stated matter of factly, as if that explained everything. And in a way, it did. “You’re supposed to like having icky stuff on you.” Having explained that, she reached out her dirty hooves to start wiping them off on him. “You’re coat’s already spotty and dirty. A little more won’t hurt.”

Taking a quick hop backwards, Pipsqueak stuck out his tongue on her. “Well, not poop! And my coat makes me special, so nyah!”

“‘LULA!” Dinky raised her voice. “Quit bein’ a meanie! Doodie’s icky for colts too. And dun make fun of his coat neither. It’s nice.”

Hearing Dinky’s admonishment, Alula flinched. Her ears went flat and she moved back from Pip. “‘Kay. Sorry Dinky, sorry Pip.”

The colt didn’t answer as he was too busy scrubbing the guano she had smeared off him off. When he was done he turned back to the tomcolt pegasus. “...why don’t you like me?”

“’Cause you keep bein’ a whiny crybaby dummy.” She mumbled, her head drooping. “Doesn’t make it okay to be mean to you, but you’re annoying.”

Pipsqueak took a half-step back. “But…” his eyes watered up as he started blinking and rubbing furiously. “No ’m not…”

Dinky walked up between them. “I’m scared too. Doesn’t mean I’m whiny.” She gave Pip a comforting pat as she looked to Alula. “We’re not like you, ‘kay? Our mommies and daddies didn’t make us not be scared.”

“But we gotta be not scared now!” Alula argued, defensive. “If we spend all day being sad and scared and crying we’re never gonna get home, Dinky! Pip’s gotta stop bein’ scared. You do too! You shouldn’t be scared, ‘cause I’m gonna keep you both safe. Promise!” She started going through the motions of a Pinkie Promise.

Dinky gave Pip’s head a rub as he fought down his sniffles. “‘Kay, but it’s not okay to be mean to him just ‘cause he’s scared.” She walked over to hug Alula too, so she didn’t feel left out. “‘Cause I’m scared too.”

Alula leaned into the hug, very quietly whispering to Dinky so Pip wouldn’t hear. “But him being a fraidypony makes me...I dunno, it makes me mad, and I don’t know why. He shouldn’t be scared, ‘cause I’m gonna protect both of you.”

“But you’re one pony.” Dinky pointed out. “Against zombie ponies. Lotsa zombie ponies.”

Alula shook her head. “But I’m a Kicker! I gotta do it.” She gave Dinky a nuzzle with her clean cheek, “I gotta keep you two safe. I have to.”

While the two girls were conferring quietly, Pipsqueak went off ahead by himself a little bit. He was a nice, sensitive colt, but he was still a colt. There was only so much girly hugging and stuff he could take. Besides, he didn’t want Alula calling him anymore names in front of Dinky.

That’s when he made his discovery. He grinned and shouted back to them. “Hey!”

“What? What’s up?” Dinky asked as she and Alula walked over to him.

“I found something!” Pip proclaimed, poking a hoof forward. It rippled and disappeared. He had found an underwater lake. “It’s water!”

Alula’s eyes lit up. “Water’s good! Dinky and I can get all this icky poopy stuff off!” She trotted over to the lake’s edge.

“Oooh, wait!” He interrupted her. “Maybe we should drink it first? Cuz I don’t wanna wash off the poop and then drink poopy water.” He made a face showing just what he thought of that idea.

Dinky gagged. “Icky!”

“Yeah, that would be gross.” Alula agreed. “Good idea, Pip.” She paused before quickly adding. “Well, good idea for a dummy.”

Pip started to smile...then frowned when Alula delivered the other half of her comment. “Well, you didn’t think of it at all, so phllbbbt!” He raspberried her.

Alula rolled her eyes at Pip and leaned down for a drink of water. The thirsty foals guzzled down as much water as they could stomach. Once their thirst was sated, they all sat down with a contented groan.

“Too bad we don’t have a canteen or somethin’.” Pipsqueak rubbed his belly. “In the stories, pirates always had canteens so they could get fresh water and stuff cuz they couldn’t drink sea water.”

“Well we aren’t pirates and we don’t have any canteens.” Alula’s tone was flat. Still... “Is there any way we could make, like, a water bottle or somethin’? To carry some water with us?”

Dinky looked around. “I dunno.”

“Darn,” the pegasus sighed. “Woulda been good if we could take some water with us.”

Hating to see her friend disappointed, Dinky thought hard. “I can try with your glowy thingy, but it’s hard...” she took a deep breath as she started concentrating. “Here goes.” Dinky’s horn started to shine. She went derp-eyed again as she focuses on the luminescent rock Alula had set down.

“Careful, Dinky...” Alula bit her lip, concern written all over her face.

“You can do it...” Pip encouraged her, though what ‘it’ was he had no idea. Still, he knew that she could do it, whatever it is.

Focusing so hard that sweat started to run down her face, Dinky clenched as her magic ‘grip’ on the stone increased, causing it to wobble...and then split in half, diminishing its glow. “Owie....stoopid rock.” She rubbed her forehead, scrunching eyes shut until they stopped being derped.

Alula walked over. “You okay, Dinky? Don’t hurt yourself.”

“What did you try t’do?” Pipsqueak asked her.

“I tried t’ make it…what’s it, ‘hollow’.” She explained, but then frowned. “But I jus’ broke it, an’ now my head hurts.”

“You shouldn’t push yourself so hard, Dinky.” Alula said importantly, in her best ‘leader-voice.’

Dinky sighed as Alula fussed over her, fixing her mane. “You’re doin’ everything, I was just tryin’ t’ help.” She pouted adorably before she idly kicked the broken chunk of crystal into the water. “Stoopid solid rock.”

“Dinky!” Alula groaned. “We still coulda used that! It was still a little glowy!”

The suddenly abashed filly laid her ears back and sighed. “Sorry...”

“S’okay,” Alula patted her back. “So I guess we can start getting all that icky bat poop off now, and maybe we can find the other part of our glowy crystal while we’re in the water.” She turned around to face Pip. “You gotta go away,” she proclaimed bossily. “‘Cause colts can’t watch fillies bathe!”

Pip looked at her in confusion. “What? That’s dumb.” A mischievous look came across his face as he waited for her to look away before he suddenly gave her a gentle shove into the water.

“Ack!” The surprised filly yelped, the water was cold! “Dummy!”

“Pip!” Dinky rolled her eyes...then she paused. “Wait, why’s that the rule again?” She stepped in the water as well.

Meanwhile Alula was preening her wings. She shrugged. “I dunno why it’s a rule, it just is. Pip doesn’t wanna be a prevert, does he?”

“Whatever.” Dinky shrugged. “I’m gettin’ this doodie offa me.”

“I am not!” Pip protested as he also hopped in, deliberately splashing Alula in the process. Then he set about washing the gunk off him. “…whassa prevert?”

“I dunno, but it sounds bad, and now you’re one. Prevert.” Alula giggled and sent a little splash Dinky’s way.

“Whatever! He’s still Pippy, too!” Dinky defended him, even as she splashed back at both of her friends.

“Pippy the prevert.” Alula retorted. She paused as a sneaky little smile appeared on her face. Then she dove under the water and out of sight.

“Yeah? Well you’re a do...do?” He trailed off as he let up on his splash war with Dinky. He looked around for the missing pegasus. “Where’d she go?”

Dinky looked around, then shrugged. “She’s gonna getcha, you know.”

Sure enough, the yellow-coated pegasus sprung up out of the water right behind him. “Ninja strike!” She exclaimed just before dunking him under the water.

“Gyah!” Pip sputtered when he resurfaced a second later.

Dinky giggled at him. “Toldja she’d get you!”

“Yeah? Well I’mma gonna get her!” He returned.

Alula rolled her eyes. “Yeah right...I’m a ninja! You can’t get me!” She gave some vaguely karate-like moves with her forehooves.

“Well, I’m the Dread Pirate Pipsqueak! Arrr!” Pipsqueak gave his best menacing growl, which of course came out adorably. “Everypony knows that pirates are better than ninjas!”

“No way!”

“Yes way!” The two foals glared at each other before simultaneously starting another splash war. Dinky giggled and joined in, splashing indiscriminately at both of them.

Taking advantage of the distraction Dinky offered, Alula grinned and dove back down underwater again. She swam up to Pip and dunked him again. This time he didn’t surface right away. Instead he grabbed her legs and pulled her under too. Alula used her wings to gently tickle Pip’s nose until he let her go.

Dinky took a deep breath and dived under herself, given away only by the tip of her horn breaking the surface of the water. Just as Alula had broken away from Pip, Dinky tickle-glomped her underwater.

“Glurb!” She hastily surface, Dinky still glomped around her. “How’d you find me?” Alula breathed as she spat out water. “I was bein’ sneaky!”

“You were makin’ bubble noises!” Dinky giggled.

Pip beamed widely at Alula. “...what’re you smiling at, dummy?” She demanded. He responded by spitting out a stream of water right in her face. “Gyah!”

The excitable unicorn reached out and tickle-glomped them both. Alula returned the favor by flicking her feathers over Pip. “Eheheeee!” He giggled. “No fahaair!”

“All’s fair in love and war!” Alula grinned as she and Dinky double-teamed him. The little colt was all giggles and squeals for a minute when Dinky suddenly stopped, dead serious.

“Shush up--shush up!” She repeated in a harsh whisper.

Alula and Pip stopped. “What’s wrong, Dinky?” She asked in a worried sounding whisper.

“Somepony’s movin’ near the shore!” She replied, sounding nervous. Alula peered toward the shoreline, very slowly and stealthily moving closer to try to get a good look at what’s there. Dinky and Pip slowly swam after her.

Dinky scooted ahead, remembering Pinkie Pie’s lessons about Sneaking. “I don’t see ‘em any more...” she whispered lowly.

“They might be bein’ sneaky too.” Alula whispered back. The trio watched the banks of the of lake in utter silence for several minutes. They didn’t see a thing.

Dinky looked this way and that, feeling the silence get to her. “...I saw somethin’ movin’ really.”

Ever the leader, Alula shifted around so that she was in front of the other two. “If there’s somethin’ there, we’ll find it. Just be sneaky and quiet.”

Pip looked around. “Maybe we should swim away, go to the other side of the lake?”

“‘Kay.” Dinky nodded. “But vewy qwietwy.” There was a pause as her friends looks at her funny. “What? It’s how Miss Pinkie said to say it.”

Even Alula didn’t argue. “Good idea, Pip. C’mon.” The three foals slowly and carefully started swimming to the far shore, making certain to make as little noise as possible as they went.

Having left the remaining half of the glowing crystal on the other side of the lake, the trio was swimming in pitch blackness. The only thing they heard was the sound of their own nervous breathing.

Pip shivered and the fillies did too. Even leaving aside the potential threat, the water was still freezing. “D-do you see anything?” He chanced a slight whisper as they were about halfway across.

“Nope.” Alula replied softly. “Nothin’s—” Suddenly she was yanked underwater.

“‘LULA!” Dinky screamed as she and Pip dived under after her. Below the surface, murky depths of the lake were illuminated, if just barely, by a few of the luminescent crystals that grew along the cavern walls.

They saw Alula wrapped around with something black and long, like an eel or something. It wasn’t until they saw several more of them slithering along the bottom that they realized they were tentacles. The one that had Alula trapped was slowly dragging her down along the lakebed...towards the head of a giant, ugly squid-thing.

When Alula saw what she was being dragged towards, she became increasingly terrified. The creature brought her closer and closer to it’s cavernous maw. A stream of bubbles escaped the poor filly’s mouth as she screamed in terror.

Dinky and Pip swam down, not entirely sure of what to do. That’s when Pip saw it, the broken bit of crystal Dinky had kicked in earlier. He gestured towards it and then pointed to Alula. Dinky gave a quick nod and swam towards the Alula as fast as she could, her horn shooting sparks in the water while she flailed at the tentacle holding her friend.

Pipsqueak was actually a very good swimmer, having grown up in the port city of Trottingham. He was able to make over to the crystal shard and scoop it up without any trouble. But his motion alerted the lake monster to his presence as it reached out for him with another tentacle.

Not sure of what else he can do, lacking magic like Dinky or any training like Alula, he did the first thing that came to mind: he opened his mouth and bit down on the tentacle. Hard. Dinky was inspired to do the same thing, clamping her teeth down on the tentacle holding Alula as the trapped pegasus furiously lashed out with her hooves.

Even from a distance, even through the water, Pip heard the shrill cry of anger and pain from the monster as it quickly withdrew it’s injured tentacle from him and even loosened the one holding Alula. The oxygen deprived filly managed to squirm free and swim for the surface. As soon as she surfaced, she gasped for air, and started to swim away, only to realize that Dinky and Pip weren’t behind her. She trembled slightly at the thought of going back down to that monster. But her friends needed her. She took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and then dove back down.

By now the lake creature’s attention was on Pip and Dinky. Pip barely had time to grab the crystal he was after before he was tugged away by another tentacle. Dinky beat her hooves furiously as she found herself bound in the same tentacle she had just freed Alula from. As Pip found himself dragged closer the beast’s mouth he heard a sound. It was Alula plunging herself back down and swimming towards him. She tried tugging on the tentacles holding the two of them, but one filly couldn’t break the hold of two tentacles.

Alula frustrated and scared she looked around for something--anything!--that could help. That’s when she saw Pip waving the broken crystal at her. Her eyes widened. Swimming over, she snatched the shard out of his hooves and swam over to the monster’s head. Her movements were awkward and sluggish as she tried to stab the beast in the head, especially around the eyes. Even a skilled pony warrior would have had a difficult time fighting underwater, which is no pony’s natural environment, excepting of course for seaponies.

She was aiming blind it, but was never quite able to build up enough momentum to penetrate the thick ridges surrounding its eyes, or make her aim true enough. But for a creature used to the depths of an underground lake, the light of the glowing crystal so close to its eyes was excruciatingly blinding. It shrieked and slunk away, letting Dinky and Pip go in the process.

All three foals quickly made for the surface, greedily panting and gasping for air. “L-let’s go!” Alula coughed. Pipsqueak started swimming for shore, followed closely by Dinky.

But the lavender filly paused when she saw Alula hanging back behind her. “‘lula, come ON!” She started swimming back to her.

“No! Go!” Alula shooed her away with her hooves. “You go first!”

“C’mon, dummy!” Dinky grabbed for her mane but missed.

With a final frustrated growl, Alula turned around and started pushing Dinky towards the shore, following behind her. The two fillies made their way towards the shoreline, Alula pushing Dinky only to have Dinky reaching behind her to pull at Alula. When the two finally made it to the shoreline they collapsed on the bank, panting in exhaustion.

As soon as she had recovered her strength, Dinky glomped Alula. “You okay? Tell me you’re okay!?”

Alula nodded tiredly as she hugged her back, trembling from the aftereffects of fear and adrenaline. “I’m okay. I’m okay.” She pulled back slightly from the hug and hoofed Dinky in the shoulder. “Dummy! You could’ve gotten hurt! I told you to get to the shore so you’d be safe!”

“You coulda too, featherbrain! I need my friends, ‘kay?” Dinky defended. “We gotta get outta here together to get help!”

“I’m supposta protect you, dummy!” She latched onto Dinky fearfully. “You don’t get hurt, ‘cause I promised I was gonna keep you safe! I promised! So you don’t ever do somethin’ like that again, ‘kay?”

“Only if you two don’t either.” Dinky stated. “Momma…Momma said good friends stay together even in bad times, an’ that was a BAD time. ‘kay?”

Alula gave a weak nod. “Okay. But you gotta let me protect you. It’s my job.”

Dinky shook her head. “Friends gotta protect each other. Rainbow said so.”

“And Kickers gotta protect everypony,” countered the stubborn pegasus. “Mom and Sis said so. And I especially gotta protect you and Pip, ‘cause I promised.”

“We’re gonna do this together, ‘kay? All three of us. Kickers are ponies too, an’ that means they’re part of ‘everypony.’” Dinky reasoned.

Alula slumped her shoulders. “But...” she reluctantly bit her lip. “Keepin’ you two safe is my job.”

“An’ keepin’ us together is what keeps us safe, ‘kay?” Dinky squirmed as she put on the worst poker face ever seen by foal-kind. “Um, Pip might get scared sometimes.”

“‘Kay.” Alula glomped onto Dinky again. “Don’t get yourself hurt tryin’ to protect me, ‘kay? That’s my job.”

Dinky shook her head as she stood up, looming over her friend. “NUH-UH! Nopony gets hurt, ‘scept the dummy that brought us here!”

“But if somepony’s gotta get hurt, it should be me, not you or Pip!” Alula crossed her hooves stubbornly. “‘Cause I’m tough, so it won’t really hurt me.”

Pip cleared his throat, diverting the arguing fillies from their discussion, “Um, maybe we should get a bit further 'way from the water with the big scary monster?”

Alula and Dinky blinked as if he had just discovered a way for earth ponies to fly and pegasi to use magic. They nodded. Alula offered Dinky a hoof to help her up but the little unicorn shook her head. “I can walk, ‘lula. Sheesh, I’m notta storybook prince, ‘kay?” The three of them continued walking, shivering as the cold cave air wafter against the ice cold water still dripping from their coats. “Um...thanks for saving me guys.”

The beaming pegasus puffed out her chest. “It’s my job to protect you two. So you don’t hafta thank me.”

Dinky rolled her eyes at her. Then she paused as a thought occurred to her. “In the stories my Momma reads, the pony that was saved hasta kiss their rescuer.” She looked at the two of them. Alula looked at Pip.

The tiny colt blushed. “H-hey! Dinky and I saved Alula from th’ monster in the first place when it was gonna gobble her up! So she’d haveta kiss us first!”

“But then I saved you both right back!” Alula countered right before sticking her tongue out. “I’m not kissing you, you’re a pervert with cooties. And Dinky can’t kiss you either!”

Pip returned the gesture. “I wouldn’t wanna kiss you anyway!”

“I’d rather go back and kiss that ugly squid thing than kiss you!”

“You almost did!”

Dinky gave an annoyed grumble as she shoved Alula against Pip. “Oh shushup and be nice to each other!”

“Dinkyyyyy!” Alula whined plaintively. She reluctantly looked at Pip. “I guess you did okay back there. You were actually kinda cool.” She paused before adding. “For a wimpy little crybaby fraidypony.”

“Well...” Pip allowed. “You were brave, I guess. For a dodo.” Then he paused too. “But I’m still not kissing you.”

“Ew, no.” Alula gave a very slight blush. Instead, she offered him a hoof bump which Pip returned.

Dinky beamed. “Finally!”

Pip rubbed his neck sheepishly. “Heh. Thanks Dinky.”

The yellow pegasus agreed. “Yeah, she’s pretty neat.”

“Well, you’re pretty neat too.” Dinky chirped back at her. Then she nodded to Pipsqueak. “You too.” She threw her hooves around both of them and glomped them both right. “Friends forever, right?”

Alula glomped Dinky back, and included Pip in it. “Yeah, Pony Friends Forever.”

“Super Pony Friends Forever!” Pip cheered. His happy exclamation echoing down the tunnels.

As the three friends started on their way again, the only sound they head was the constant dripping of water falling from stalactites. But that didn’t mean something didn’t hear them.

Back aways in the tunnel, just on the other side of the lake, two distinctly non-pony figures crouched down. They heard a soft echo of ‘for...ever, ever...’ and looked the way the foals had gone.

The hunt was on.

& & &