The Catacombs of Zalgo

Chapter 11: The Plague Quarter

Meanwhile, at the tree library, there was a small crime scene taking place. Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, and a few royal guards were discussing the issue at hand. Spike, who awoke from his unconscious state, explained the whole matter to the princess. He explained the disappearances of Twilight and her friends. It was a truly abysmal statement that it left the princess a little shocked and appalled. Then, she was in a pensive mood, due to the topic at hand. She looked over to Spike and made a serious face.

“I see… when was the last time you saw Twilight?” She asked. Spike replied with a shrug.

“I dunno… at the award ceremony? Twilight is never late for anything. I just know it… something bad must of happened to her… and our friends. What if…” Spike suddenly paused himself for a moment. He thought up some possibilities that could have related to this event. And at that single moment, Spike came up with a devastating possibility. He gasped in horror and stared at the princess with fear in his eyes.

“What if Discord might of broken free again?!” Just as Spike thought that his theory could be right, Celestia shook her head.

“Impossible. Discord’s imprisoned body is still in our high security vault. No magic or disharmony can penetrate its barriers. I-“ Just then, the princess was cut off by a few knocks on the door. Spike jumped in fright when the door knocked unannounced. He sighed in relief and opened the door. When he opened the door, he saw Derpy Hooves with the crusaders sleeping on her back. All three had dark bags under their eyes from the dreaded terror they experienced. Spike quietly sighed again in relief to see the crusaders unharmed. Celestia was also relieved to see them safe and sound. Celestia and Spike thanked Derpy kindly for the heroic service she’s done. The princess then used her magic to gently levitate all three fillies into the air. After that, she carefully moved them over to Twilight’s bed that was located in the upper floor room. Once the fillies were laid onto Twilight’s mattress, Celestia animated the blanket and covered their bodies up to their heads.

Spike couldn’t help but feel sorry for their mischief. All they were doing was trying to save their loved ones from any danger. After the fillies were taken care of, Celestia closed the door silently with her magic. Then, she looked over to Derpy and nodded.

“Thank you for your service, Ditzy Doo. You may now return home to your family.” Celestia said. Derpy saluted to Celestia and immediately took off into the night sky. Once Derpy was behind the clouds up in the sky, Spike closed the door and sighed in depression. Even though the crusaders were safe and sound, it still didn’t meant that Twilight and her friends were too. Celestia trotted over to the window and stared at the dark distance night.

“We will find them, Spike. I can promise you that. You just gotta have more faith in them. Like I have… when Twilight and her friends stopped Discord.” She spoke firmly, hinging on a bit of apprehensive in her tone. Spike passively listened to her words of comfort. But his heart wasn’t healing itself due to the qualms he’s having. All he could do now was hope for a miracle to happen.

Back inside the decayed and ruined catacombs, Jack and his companions faced several more undead brutes and hounds along the way, as they were heading straight towards their next goal. The dark fog became heavier and colder the deeper they went in. It is as if death had them completely surrounded. The ambience around them started to intensify. They can hear each other’s hearts beating like a drum and the thrilling breaths the ponies produced. Aside from that, they continued venturing into the unknown when they came across yet another steeled door. When they approached at the door, Jack turned to the group with a serious face.

“Alright then. So far, we managed to get passed the toughest obstacle we could ever face. But don’t congratulate yourselves yet, for there are more horrors that lie ahead.” Jack then turned his head to the door. “What we’re about to enter is the Plague Quarter. Ever since the Zalgo incident happened, a dangerous and deadly chemical accidentally broke out of its container. By now, the whole quarter is airborne with the deadly toxic. One whiff of this chemical, and you will be dead before you know it.” From the warming Jack stated frightened the ponies. Applejack merely tilted her head to the side quizzically.

“Then how are we gonna get in there without gettin’ ourselves killed?” She asked. Jack reached inside his front pouch and obtained another rolled up parchment paper. He presented it to the ponies.

“With this, of course.” Jack said. He unrolled the scroll and it revealed more inscribed demonic ritual symbols and shapes. Then, he placed the paper on the ground; along with a small portion of blood he donated from his thumb and placed it on the center of the paper. He placed his index finger on the center of the paper and stared at the ponies.

“Put your hands… hoofs… on this paper.” He said passively. But Rainbow Dash looked flummoxed as she stared at the paper.

“What is this? What are you going to do?” She asked while looking cautiously. Jack eyed at Rainbow Dash and grunted a heavy sigh.

“Just do it. It’s something we all need to enter through this door.” Jack exasperatedly replied back. With no objections, the ponies put their trust in him and placed their hooves on each corners of the paper. The ponies felt a little unsure about this, as they watched Jack’s antics unfold. Then, Jack closed his eyes for a moment, and then reopened them in an instant.

“Raka’juvu nekrome haush!!” He chanted with such vigor in his tone. The inscribed text on the paper began to glow blue. Then, each text on the entire parchment paper separated into five groups. Each group rushed forward under Jack’s hand and the ponies’ hoofs. The text then absorbed themselves into the ponies’ hoofs and Jack’s hand in an instant. Once the text was absorbed, the ponies start to cough. As the coughed, blue puffs of smoke came out of their mouths. Rarity glared at Jack while coughing out the blue puffs. He looked as though he was calmly breathing in and out through his nose.

“*Cough**Cough*… What did you do to us?! *Ack*!” Rarity gagged. Jack stared at the ponies while keeping his cool.

“*Sigh*… just stop coughing. It won’t work unless you let this chemical channel through your systems. Just relax and do what I’m doing.” He calmly replied. Jack closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Then he exhaled slowly, blowing out the blue smoke through his nose. The ponies got the idea and started to calmly breath in and out through the nose. Each inhale sent a cold sensation inside the ponies’ bodies. They can feel their muscles starting to freeze a little, their bones relaxing, and their minds being cleaned out. After a good thirty seconds of letting the effect go through their bodies, everyone but Jack shivered. Fluttershy’s teeth were chattering as her body felt a little chillier than usual.

“Brrrrr… J-J-Jack? W-W-Why a-am I-I f-f-f-reezing?” Fluttershy asked. Jack turned to Fluttershy and sighed.

“It’s the effect that’s stabilizing your entire body. With it, your immune system should be three times a stronger now. It should be strong enough to protect you from any diseases in there, especially from that deadly airborne toxic in the room. But, this effect will wear off in exactly one hour. So, we must get to the end of this quarter as soon as possible. Without any further questions, let’s go in there and hope that there won’t be any distractions.” Jack stood up and went to the door. As he grabbed the handle, the dark whisper returned, echoing across the hall once again.

“I will sing the song… through me he will sing… sing the song all day long… for him I will bring up these spawns… into this cruel world… of what we tread on… of which we’ve been hurled.”

“I will sing the song… and it will go like this.”

“Serenade the end… with the beat that you all know… the heartbeat of the earth… the song of the soul.”

“Hold on closely to your heart… for it’s the song’s rhythm… everyone is the drum… everyone is the song.”

After the dark whisper spoke, it faded away into the foggy abyss. The chilling whisper sent terror and fear within the ponies. They hardly knew that the invocation would be this frightening. While Applejack was the only one unaware of the dark whisper, the others were determined to get this whole thing over with. Jack squeezed the handle bar in anger from the whisper.

“Before you ask what that was, Applejack, just ignore it. Anyways… are you all ready?” He asked. He turned his head around to see the ponies slowly nodding back at him. Jack slowly nodded in return and turned his head away.

“Alright… let’s go.” He said, holding a bit of anger inside. Jack twisted the handle and pulled the door wide open. Light green fumes came rushing out of the doorway, as its powerful stench gagged everyone. At that moment, everyone proceeded inside the room. After everyone was inside, Jack closed the door behind him and ventured forward. Inside the room was the same structure as the construction quarter. Overflow of test tubes and vials were sitting on rusted tables. On the corner of the room laid an untouched large caldron filled with a blue brew and a few substances, floating on the surface. Bloody medical tools were scattered on one side of the room. A steel bar cage on the other side of the room contained a few dead victims. And there were hundred corpses of decayed cultists on the metal staircase and the railings. It is as if they were trying to escape the inevitable.

As Jack continued walking on the catwalk, he kicked and pushed a few corpses off the railing, just to give him some space. While the ponies observed the vulgar display, Applejack couldn’t help but ask Jack a question.

“Say uh… Jack? What’s the purpose of this whole room?” Applejack asked in curiosity. Jack kicked the last corpse off the catwalk and sighed.

“The Plague Quarter was used to test experiments and mutate victims into unholy creatures. Many unspeakable tests were held in this god-forsaken room. We tried to come up with impossible recipes, such as a potion for eternal life, an elixir with supernatural powers, even the deadliest poisons. We did; however, made one of the world’s deadliest toxic ever created. But, during the Zalgo incident, the container that held the toxic shattered and killed everyone in this Quarter. There isn’t really much to say about this room anymore… since I hate this place the most.”

A few minutes of walking the long catwalk, they reached towards the next door. Jack grabbed the handle and twisted it. The door made an eerie screeching noise as it opened. Inside the other room, the temperature rose almost instantly as they all entered through the doorway. On the bottom of the catwalk was a huge glass container that’s been burst open. There were also scattered and shattered test tubes all around the container. A green and yellow colored slime poured out of the glass container, filling the room with the disgusting scent. Dozen of corpses of cultists laid rotten in the pool of slime. Their skins were melted away, while their bones were bended in an unnatural form. And the blood around the cultists’ bodies became solidified.

At that point, the ponies got a clear idea of what that slime was and didn’t need an explanation. While they entered inside the room, everyone began hearing distressed weeping coming from below. Everyone looked down and spotted a glass dome chamber. Inside the center of the chamber contained a little filly with brown fur and a grey mane, sitting in solitude. Its back was turned away from the group while the filly cried. Jack was surprised to see that there was something still alive in this quarter room. Even for the ponies, as they gasped in horror when they saw the trapped and helpless filly sitting all alone in the chamber. It made their hearts sank to witness a scared and lonely filly. Fluttershy was the first to act as she placed her front hooves over the railing. She stared at the filly with tears ready to be let out.

“H-Hey! Hello in there!! Are you alright in there?!” She hollered with anxiety filling her heart. Almost instant, the filly paused her sobbing and removed her hooves from her eyes.

“W-Whah?! W-Who’s there?!” The filly questioned in a surprised tone. She swerved her head from left and right to see where the comforting voice was coming from. Fluttershy couldn’t resist but to holler once more to get the filly’s attention.

“Up here! Look u-“ Suddenly, Jack covered her mouth with his hands. He turned Fluttershy’s head to his face and hushed her.

“What do you think you're doing?! That filly is already dead! It’s very dangerous to let it know we’re here! We have to keep going and ignore that filly!” Jack whispered in anger, glaring at Fluttershy for her disobedience. Then Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity gasped in horror from what Jack said. They were disgusted and horrified to hear him say something like that. It even made their hearts sank even lower to even suggest such a thing. Applejack was near her limit to hold her tears back. She stomped her hoof in an angrily profound way.

“Whah?! Now you listen to me ‘ere, Jack! Why in the hay would we do such thing?! Watching one of our kind being left behind like this is just too much fer us to handle! I-“ Applejack continued, but was suddenly interrupted by the filly below. The filly spotted the gang from up the catwalk and gasped in happiness. She banged the glass dome, trying to get their attention.

“HEEEEY! HELP ME!! PLEASE!!” The filly cried out. As everyone looked back down at the filly, a shocking and disgusted gasp escaped from everyone’s mouth. The filly’s look was deceiving at first, but then it showed its true appearance. The filly was indeed dead… undead to be exact. She had a reptilian bulging eye on her left, and a swelling blood eye on the right. Her bottom lip was grotesquely distended and malformed, stretched to an absurd length. There are small clumps of hair still attached to her forehead. Parts of her body had jagged gaps on the skin, like they were recently been cut open. And her bottom left leg was bent and malformed. The ponies looked upon true horror; furthermore, their hearts sank to the bottom completely. The little filly continued to bang on the glass dome with her front hooves.

“PLEASE!! LET ME OUT!! I’M SCARED!! I MISS MY MOMMY AND DADDY!!” The filly cried out, with a tear streaming down her left eye. Then, the filly latched her upper lips against the glass dome, and began sucking on it. She revealed hundreds of sharp teeth, with chunks of her own flesh jagged between them. While her breath condensated the glass, her snake-like tongue slided against the glass, leaving a trail of blood and saliva mixed together. It was such a horrific view to behold. The ponies didn’t realize tears were streaming down their cheeks, due to the horror they’re experiencing. Fluttershy was lost of words, as they were clogged in deep within her throat. Only muffled sounds escaped through her mouth. With time running out, Jack snapped his fingers to awaken the ponies traumatized state.

“Hey! Snap out of it will you all?! The more we wait here, the less time our effect will stand! As I said before, let’s ignore the filly and keep moving!” He ordered. Everyone immediately snapped out of their traumatized trance and kept moving forward. The little filly saw the group continuing walking along the catwalk, ignoring her almost completely. The filly then banged the glass dome harder and louder.

“W-WAIT!! DON’T GO!! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE!! I WANNA GO HOME!!” She cried out once more, this time with deep profound. Fluttershy, who couldn’t resist a cry of help, immediately stopped walking and whimpered quietly. She looked over at the filly with a bereaved typeface. Then, she darted her eyes over to Jack.

“Jack! I just can’t take it! We have to help this poor thing! I know she looks dangerous, but she needs our help! PLEASE!!” Fluttershy bawled out. At that moment, everyone, including Jack, stopped walking and turned to Fluttershy. She stared at Jack with huge puppy eyes while loads of streaming tears fell out of her eyes. Jack gazed deep into her pleading eyes, with the slightest tension boiling up in his head. He then darted his eyes down to the trapped filly below. The swollen blood eye poured red liquid out of her socket, replacing the watery tears. Her sobbing made everyone feel distress. All the little filly did was stare at Jack helplessly.

“P-P-Please! *Hiup!* H-Help me… Don’t leave me… *Wheeze*… I just want to go home to my… *Wheeze*… m-mommy and d-daddy! I miss them…” The filly cried out in a broken tone. Fluttershy’s lips quivered while more muffle sounds escape her mouth. The tension was just too overwhelming for her. She darted her eyes from the filly to Jack again.

“Please… Jack!” At that very moment, Jack suddenly felt something he never felt before. His sanity starting to brew a maddening sea storm. On one side of his mind, he wanted to ignore the filly and make a run for it. And the other side of his mind was telling him to act now and save the filly. The two decisions collided with one another, building pressure deep inside his brain. While his head hung down, he looked at the ground with a blank stare. If he were to free her, the filly would then go on a killing spree. And if he were to make a run for it, then the ponies would continue to interfere with his escape. It was such a difficult decision to make, and time was of the essence. Finally, as Jack reached towards the eye of the storm, he came to a concluding decision.

Without warning, Jack grabbed his handgun from his holster and headshot the filly. The bullet’s velocity and force was so powerful, it pushed the filly’s body back, while twirling the body in midair. The glass dome shattered into hundred pieces of shards upon the impact. The filly pivoted on the ground, with a few glass shards impaling her skin. The ponies let out a surprising gasp; never predicting this at all. They just stood there frozen like statues, staring blankly at the dead filly.

Their legs were shaking; loud muffles escaped their mouth, leaving them speechless. Slowly, they turned their heads over to Jack. His eyes were covered by the shadows of his forehead hair. He just stood there, pointing the gun at the filly’s corpse with his whole arm shaking. Then, Fluttershy had enough strength to let out one word come cleanly out of her mouth.

“Why…?” She uttered in lament. Jack slowly lowered his arm back down. He raised his head a bit and stared at the gang with a pale face.

“The only home she’s going to… is a peaceful afterlife. I know these types of mutations and experiments. They may think that they’re fine, but their instinct is to feed off of anything in their sight. You may be wondering… that I’m heartless… right? Wrong. That filly reminded me of myself when I was young. Like a trapped and a lonely lost soul, with no comfort to present itself. It sickens me to see fragments of my accursed past revisiting me. I’m sorry… but there was no other way for me to save her. You see… death is the only escape when you’re a part of this type of situation. Now…” Jack placed his gun back into his holster and turned his back towards the group.

“With no more distractions, I would like to get this over with before the effect wears off. Let’s keep moving…” Jack once again walked forward. It took a couple of seconds for the ponies to loosen up and follow Jack. Every pony took one last glance at the filly faced drenched in her puddle of blood, before continuing onward. Fluttershy was still profoundly weeping in bereft, while Applejack held close to her.

It’s been approximately five minutes since the unfortunate encounter, and still no sign of the door yet. The atmosphere darkened with hellish colors. The stench continued to increase with every minute passing. The gas cloud started to lift and Jack could barely see the next door. He could see the expanded catwalk three times its length. Jack was a little relieved to see the final door just up ahead. But at that moment of relief, he heard painful grunts. He quickly spotted a figure moving with only two arms. Jack’s eyebrows shot up in surprise to see an enemy.

He slowly reached over his left shoulder and grabbed the katana, as he was prepared to pull it out. The ponies were fully alert from the distressed sound. They kept their eyes at the legless figure. Just as they got close enough, they could see the figure through the gas cloud. Jack and the ponies gasped in awe as they saw what appears to be another male human. His body was sliced in half up to his pelvis, with his intestines being dragged on his own trail of blood. He had pinkish eyes, with bloodshot scattered on both sclera. Most of his hair was still intact on his head. And he had an outdated gas mask on his face. Jack glanced at the human on the ground, making a shocking gasp.

“Michael?! Is that you?!” He asked surprisingly. The man’s head slowly rose up to face Jack.

“J-Jack…?” He faintly spoke. Jack rushed over to Michael and kneeled down. The ponies sat around Michael’s body, avoiding touching his blood. Michael looked at everyone with furrowed eyes. Then he glared at Jack unexpectedly.

“You s-should of… been dead! L-Like the rest of us… nugh! Where the hell… were you all… this time?!” He thundered, coughing up small amount of blood at the end. Jack furrowed his eyes at Michael and grunted in irritation.

“Like you care. But what happened to your legs? Why haven’t you been turned into one of-“ Jack continued, but was left interrupted by Michael’s grunt.

“Zalgo’s freakish henchmen? Heh… that god… wannabe didn’t… nugh… get me yet. I-I’ve been trapped… here for three… god damn… years, surviving the outcome. G-Getting food f-from outside… w-wasn’t easy t-to get… especially… that little filly I have… t-trapped inside that container.” At that sudden moment, the ponies gasped in horror. They instantly remembered the dead little filly that’s been trapped inside the glass container. The horrific feeling they endured not to long ago came racing back through their minds. Every pony frowned, as their eyes furrowed. They all were just about to snap when Jack intervened.

“I don’t fucking care! Will you tell me what happened to your fucking body or not?!” He barked. Then all of a sudden, a monstrous roar could be heard from the other side of the door. Michael darted his head behind him and stared right back at Jack.

“I-If you're that… interested… then behind this door… ugh… is what happened to me. I couldn’t leave… this place without a fight… ugh… s-so… me and m-my partner m-managed t-to summon a Mi-go… t-to do our biddings. But… during that damn Zalgo’s… invocation… t-that Mi-go… turned against us. Already h-half of myself… made it out of there.” Michael coughed up more blood after he paused for a moment.

“B-but… I know you… hehe… ‘You’… were the cause of this. I sure hope… y-your death… brings… guh… u-unspeakable… pain and… suffering. You… are… forever… NOTHING! You… i-inexcusable… p-peasant…!” He choked on his final words, before he began to laugh his last breaths. The way he laughed at Jack felt very insulting to him. Having Jack’s rage gone up far enough, he slowly reached over his back and grabbed his katana. Pulling out of its sheath, he aims the tip of the blade towards Michael’s head. With one swift move, Jack brutally thrusted his blade into Michael’s head, making the ponies gasp unexpectedly at the same time.

Michael’s laugh died at the very moment the blade penetrated his brain. Warm blood sprayed into the air, sprinkling small portions onto Jack’s face. All of Jack’s anger faded away in an instant, as he felt pleased to end Michael’s life. With no time to savor his delights, Jack pulled the blade out of Michael’s skull. He whipped the sword to the side, making the loose blood slide off the blade. He sighed in relief and looked down at him satisfied.

“I never really liked him… he was just the most obnoxious cultist I’ve ever met. I’m so pleased that he’s dead. I always wanted to murder him without getting caught. How ironic…” Jack said. Then, the terrible roar howled once more behind the door. With no time to waste, Jack rushed towards the door.

“Let’s go!” He yelled. The ponies took one last glimpse of Michael and galloped towards the door. When Jack opened the door, he looked thunderstruck as his pupils shrunk. Standing in the center of a huge square shaped room was a huge Mi-go. It was a very large, pinkish, fungoid, crustacean-like entity that was three times the size of a normal human. The head was convolutedly ellipsoid of pyramided, along with fleshy rings and a covered in antennae. Black squirming tendrils sprout from the ripped holes in the Mi-go’s back. But the most shocking thing they saw was the Mi-go grabbing a hold of something by the hair. It was an unconscious pink pony, with a straight and plain hairstyle dangling motionlessly. And when they saw that pink pony, everyone but Jack yelled in unison,

“PINKIE PIE!!”