The Catacombs of Zalgo

Chapter 3: Descending Into Hell

Deep within the bowels of the ancient catacombs, the two unlikely allies proceeded with caution. The fog was so thick; they could barely see what was up ahead. The deeper they go, the colder it got. It was dead silent… nothing but the sound of foot and hoof steps were heard. Fluttershy was walking really close to Jack while looking around fearfully. The eerie feeling could overwhelm her at anytime now. She eyed at Jack, who looked dead serious on the situation. She wasn't used to this much quietness in her whole life. She attempt to communicate with Jack silently, in order to make things a bit better.

"S-So… umm… Jack? W-Why are you here?" She whispered nervously. Jack lowered his eyebrows a bit and narrowed his eyes.

"Vengeance. You could say I'm here to settle the score. The reasons why are none of your concerns. It's personal for me only." He spoke dully. Fluttershy lowered her head down while looking at him.

"Oh… b-but… what happened here? Why is it called… the umm…" She was about to recall the name but Jack immediately interrupted her.

"Don't repeat his name. It's a curse to anyone speak, hear, or read his name. Don't use that name anywhere. Period. The only safe way to mention his name is inside this catacomb, or if your around his presence. Unspeakable horrors happen if you do so. As for this place… R'lyeh was a sunken city where Cthulhu, a dead malevolent entity, waits dreaming. Here, this is just a simple catacomb inspired by Cthulhu's house of the dead. Humans formed a cult to worship and gain some knowledge from him. One of their main things was to drag innocent lives down here to do rituals, experiments, and sacrifices." Jack closed his eyes and reopened them up.

"I was once forced to be one of cultists. I've worked with them tirelessly for years. Our goal was to find out how to revive Cthulhu from his dream and eradicate all who opposes him and his followers. Everyday was the same… harvesting organs and bones, performing sacrifices and rituals, creating life from our dead victims, experiment thousands of innocent lives, and torture their very existence. It was all nothing but the same routine… except that fateful day. A mysterious person in a black cloak entered our domain and transformed this place into a much darker abyss. Every cultist were either killed or became apart of him. I however, was somehow spared for some reason. I managed to escape ever since and learned that the black-cloaked person was none other than Zalgo himself. He was foolish to let me go and plot my vengeance on him. I had a long and difficult life because of him. And that's why I'm here… to bury my past once and for all… even if I die, it won't matter to me. I can let this world burn for all I care. Vengeance is the only thing that's keeping me alive… nothing more… nothing less."

Despite the fact that Jack was once a murderer, Fluttershy couldn't help herself but feel sorry for him. His story sounded like he had no one to love him… or be friends with him. Fluttershy pitied Jack and looked away.

"I'm sorry your life was hard. But… did you have any friends? O-Or a family that cared about you?" She spoke softly. Jack suddenly ticked and went into enrage mode. He glared at Fluttershy and prepared to backfist her. Fluttershy scooted back and squeaked from the sudden surprise. The two of them stared off at each other silently. One was confused and scared, and the other raging mad. After a few seconds of the dramatic pause, Jack came to realization that Fluttershy didn't know how his past went. He sighed and lowered his fist. Then he faced forward again.

"Just… don't… mention friendship or love. Those two things betrayed me for a very long time. Having friends is nothing but an illusion… and family… they're just pointless. I don't know anything about those two and I attend to do so… because I believe they're just dangerous emotions and distractions." Fluttershy slowly walked back towards Jack.

"I-I'm so sorry… b-but friendship isn't-" Just then, Fluttershy was interrupted by a faint low-pitched moan coming from a faint distance. She let out a small gasp, with her eyes widened, and her face contorted in fear. The two of them paused, darting their eyes around. The sound begun to multiply, thus it could be heard from every direction. Then they heard the sounds of bare flesh being dragged on the ground and frightful moans. The sound of the moans gave a horrific chill in Fluttershy's heart and spine. As if it wasn’t enough for her, they began to hear the sound of hounds growling and gurgling.

The fog surrounded the two; blinding them from what dangers awaited them. Fluttershy begun to sank down, now panicking. She tried her very best to not make a single sound. Jack trailed his eyes from side to side in a calm and tense way. His finger was on the handgun's trigger; ready to be pulled at anytime. At that moment, all the sounds deceased in an instant. Fluttershy slowly hugged herself while eyeing around. She can hear her own heart beating loudly.

"J-J…Jack…?" She quietly whispered in fear. Suddenly, Jack darted his eyes to the left and spotted an incoming attack. Lunging out from the fog was a crude hound zombie. Its coat was replaced by rotting flesh with ripped holes. One of its front paws was dismembered, and the other deformed. There were guts lingering within a jagged gap in its stomach with entrails being tugged. Its eye sockets were oozing black blood with glowing red pupils. It displayed its razor sharp and bloody teeth. And it has several lacerations covering its body. The undead hound was about to sink its rotten teeth in when Jack pointed the end of his handgun and pulled the trigger. The bullet went right through the hound's head. The head bursts open; spraying cold droplets of blood everywhere. Shattered skull pieces went also flying off. Jack then strife to the side as the creature fell to where he was standing. Fluttershy let out a high-pitched scream as the first shot was fired. She ran to the nearby corner of the room and went into a fetal position.

"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" She panicked in a voice bordering on hysteria. She just laid there on her side shaking, while her heart was beating nearly out of her chest. She then sealed her eyes shut while covering her ears. At that moment, she began hyperventilating into tears. Fluttershy never encountered this much horror in her life. It was so horrifying, that her sanity was slowly slipping away.

Ooooh! Why did it have to be this way?! I wanna go home! She cried inside her mind. As the fight begun, Jack spotted a humanoid zombie shuffling towards him. Its skull was deformed in many ways, while its emaciated body was more skeletal. The torso was consisted of its bony ribs and spine; displaying no flesh or organs in between the bones and skin. Its mouth was stuffed with bloody entrails, while the jaw was dislocated, only to be dangling on a loose skin socket. Its black and lifeless eye sockets oozed black blood. And it has severely rotten sharp teeth. One arm was dismembered and the other was replaced by a slimy scaled tentacle arm. It made a gurgling pitch sounds as it saw its victim. But Jack swung his katana perpendicularly, decapitating the zombie's head and slicing its arm off.

Right behind him was yet another humanoid zombie that was dead close to sink its teeth into Jack’s neck. But Jack spun around and pulled the trigger, making a huge headshot. Chunks of brain, blood, and shattered skull pieces sprung out like a firework. A small amount of blood splattered on Jack's cheek and cloths. Just when he was about to charge after another humanoid zombie, another zombie hound made a surprising lunge attack from behind. It swiped its sharp claws across his back. It left three huge horizontal lacerations that made Jack grunt in pain. He turned around and shot the hound in the head.

"FUCK YOU!!" He yelled angrily as he transferred his pain into rage. The pack was moving in fast and impatiently. Fluttershy could only hear the sound of the gun being fired, hounds yelping in pain, and Jack’s battle grunts while cursing like mad. She tried her best to picture a happy place inside her mind, away from the noise and danger. But despite her best attempt, it kept being interrupted by Jack's rampage. Deciding to take a peek of the action, she squinted one eye open. But when she barely opened her eye, she saw an incoming undead hound sprinting towards her. She gasped deeply and screamed loudly. She closed her eyes again and awaited the pain to be delivered. But just before the hound could lunge right at her, Jack immediately stepped in and grabbed the hound by its scruff.

"GET OVER HERE YOU FUCKING FURFAG!!" He screamed at the hound in anger. He swung its body over his head, and slammed it hard on the ground, causing the hound to yelp in pain. Then Jack pointed his gun at the head and pulled the trigger. After the hound was put down, Jack sprinted towards the zombie crowd. Fluttershy couldn't believe what's going on. Her heart was skyrocketing like mad. She kept thinking to herself that it's just a nightmare that will eventually go away. A minute has passed by and the fight continued to go on. Fluttershy's life was flashing right before her closed eyes. She remembered the first time she met her friends, how she became the Element of Kindness, going to the grand galloping gala with her friends, and stopping Discord. But just when she was about to continue on… the battle ceased.

Everything went silent after her latest memory of her friends. The gunshots stopped firing and Jack's battle cries went silent. She then became frantic to what had happened. Is the fight over? What if Jack has been killed? Is she now doomed? All these questions were buzzing around her noggin. She slowly uncovered her ears and heard Jack's heavy panting. She didn't dare open her eyes and look at the aftermath. After a few seconds of panting, Jack finally spoke.

"Before you open your eyes… *Wheeze*… are you a hematophobia?" He asked while out of breath. It took about five seconds for Fluttershy to reply.

“Y-Yes...?” Fluttershy stuttered. She continued to shake in terror as Jack finally got his breath back.

"Well… I have some more bad news. Open your eyes." He instructed. Fluttershy couldn't open her eyes. But she had no choice if she wanted to continue on and rescue her friends. Slowly opening her eyes, the blurry vision took but a second to return back to normal. When she can look again, she was unbelievably shocked of what she was witnessing. It was a complete massacre. Puddles and splattered blood were everywhere, which stenched a thousand deceased corpses. About a hundred of body parts were scattered across the room, while a bunch of intestines and organs were all over the place. The smell of death almost made her want to puke. She sees Jack standing there with his katana blade drenched in blood. Smoke was coming out of the barrel from the gun. And bloodstains were on some part of his cloths.

"This is just a taste of what we'll be going through this evening. So get used to this kind of stuff, and that Everfree Forest will be nothing but a joke to you. So get up. Now." He ordered. Fluttershy slowly stood up with hiccups escaping her mouth. She carefully tried to step over the blood and corpses. While Fluttershy was coming towards him, Jack whipped his blade and managed to get some of the blood off. He then reached into one of his pouches, pulled out fresh bullets, and reloads his handgun. When Fluttershy got to Jack, they both continued down the pathway.

A few minutes later, everything was dead quiet once again. This time, the atmosphere got a little bit more eerie. Fluttershy couldn't believe she actually survived that horrific event. She felt a little safer with Jack by the passing minute. Fluttershy lowered her neck and hid her gratitude grin.

"Umm… thank you. For saving me from that creature." She said quietly but kindly. Jack lowered his eyebrows and shotted an annoyed stare at her.

"That was just my anger towards these bastards. Consider it luck to you. Remember, you're neither my burden nor weight." He spoke dully. Fluttershy dropped her grin and looked away disappointingly.

"I-I'm sorry… I'll do better next time. I promise. But still… thank you." She spoke innocently. At that moment, Jack felt agitated from her strange behavior.

"Okay… I just don't get it. Why are you being so nice to me after all the stuff I put you through? It doesn't make sense… you should be frightened and angry at me." He questioned her. Fluttershy faced him and grinned once more.

"Well, it's called Kindness. Showing kindness to someone that's helping others despite their attitude, shows that you're being a good person. I'm glad and thankful that you're helping me. Even though I kind of forced you to do it… it's still a nice thing to do." When he heard the word kindness, it fazed him a bit, making him puzzled.

Kindness… He softly spoke in his head. But then he snapped back into reality and grunted.

"Whatever… let's just keep going. We're wasting our time." He grumbled and pressed forward. The two of them continued down the long hallway in uttermost silence. This time, both Jack and Fluttershy were cautious this time, as they trend down with every step. But that silence came to a complete stop when they suddenly heard someone weeping. The two of them stopped and observed the sound. It was someone in distress, as if someone was in trouble. The sound lead them to a wooden dungeon door. Jack pulled the hammer on his handgun and slowly proceeds to open the wooden door. Fluttershy got behind Jack for protection.

When the door was half way opened, the light from the doorway shined in the dark room. The light crawled along the darkened wall, illuminating what was inside the room. Inside, they spotted a wall shackled rainbow maned pegasus with a blue coat and a rainbow lightning cloud on the flank. Her head was hung low, while tears droplets fell from her eyes.

"R-Ra…Rainbow… Dash?" Fluttershy spoke surprisingly. Rainbow Dash paused her crying and looked up at the yellow pegasus. Her eyes widen, as she couldn't believe her eyes.

"F-Flu…Flutter…shy? FLUTTERSHY!!" She yelled in happiness. Fluttershy ran inside the room and hugged her friend tight. Both were crying with joy as the two friends were reunited and safe.

"Oh Rainbow Dash! I… I thought I'd never see you again!" Fluttershy said emotionally. Rainbow Dash laid her head onto Fluttershy's head

"And I thought I never see you again! Oh, I'm so glad you're alright!" She sobbed. Just as the warm reunion was going well, a wooden chest at the edge of the room started banging abruptly. The chest banged so roughly it begun to convulse violently. The three looked at it surprisingly. Rainbow Dash looked back at Fluttershy and her smile was gone.

"Fluttershy, you got to get me out of here! Some monster chained me up here and placed something in that chest. They said that they're gonna release whatever's inside it and let it eat me alive! I don't want to die!" She said urgently. Fluttershy gasped at the situation and turned to Jack.

"Jack! We got to help her out! Please!" She pleaded. The two pegasus gazed at the death box before them in fear. While the box banged and convulse, both the ponies hugged each other in fear. But Jack on the other hand was having a very strange feeling. He felt very puzzled and eerie on this setup.

Something's not right here… Jack thought. He looked at Rainbow Dash for a minute. He noticed right away that she looked completely unharmed and not a hair disturbed. Then he noticed that her eyes were almost transparent. He then gazed over at the banging chest in the corner. Within the banging chest, another sound could be heard in there. But it was a friendly and yet terrified sound. He walked towards the chest while glaring at it.

"Fluttershy, come over here." He ordered. Fluttershy was puzzled from his behavior. She looked at Rainbow Dash and back to him.

"But… are we-"

"Now!" He exclaimed. Fluttershy flinched and stared at Rainbow Dash disappointingly. She then slowly backed away from her.

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash… I have to do what he says." She informed and apologized, while Dash was struggling to break free. She didn't know what was going on.

"Wait! Where you going?! Don't leave me here!" She panicked. When Fluttershy was right next to Jack, he looked at the chained up Dash, then back at the chest. He placed his hand on the wooden surface.

"Were not leaving you here. We're just going to see who's our little friend in here." Chided Jack. He then looked at the rusty medieval padlock that's almost breakable. Rainbow Dash begun to breath faster as she knew what was about to happen.

"N-No! Don't let whatever that thing is in there out! I-"

"Shut it!" He interrupted her. With one kick on the rusty padlock, the shackle broke with ease. With his gun ready, he slowly opened the chest. Fluttershy prepared herself for whatever is inside it and hid behind Jack. At that moment, Jack made an indignation grunt. Fluttershy heard his reaction and decided to take a peek inside. When she looked inside, she gasped in surprise. There, in that chest was another terrified Rainbow Dash. She was gagged with a cloth while muttering in fright. She was lying on the ground hogtied. She had cuts all over her body, her mane was a complete mess, and tears were coming down from her eyes. Fluttershy stared at her and blinked.

"W-Wait… I-if Rainbow Dash is in here… then who's-" Just before she could finish, the shackled pegasus begun to chuckle darkly. The two of them looked at her alarmed. There, the imposter Rainbow Dash eyed at them sinisterly.

"You're pretty clever, aren't you Jack Armstrong? We've been expecting your arrival for sometime now. You've only come here just to give into your demise. What a pity." Suddenly, the imposter Rainbow Dash's hooves started to melt like candle wax. As it melted, the hooves slipped free from the shackles. Once they were free, the hooves dried up in an instant. The imposter Dash got on all four and prepared to lunge at them.

"Ooooh… I can imagine the reward the master will give to me for bringing in your heads!" The voice suddenly changed into a dark and creepy tone. At that moment, the imposter Dash leaped into full speed and opened her mouth revealing hundreds of razor sharp teeth. Fluttershy screamed and hid behind Jack once more. Jack aimed his gun at the imposter.

"Wrong move." He spoke in an assertive tone, before pulling the trigger. When the bullet went through the imposter's head, it made a high-pitched screeching noise. The imposter fell to the ground and begun to quiver uncontrollably. At that moment, the fake Rainbow Dash’s appearance suddenly transformed itself into a legless and disturbing entity. Its white skin was rotting on its bone, while it had purple blotches on both arms. It also had sharp black claws and skeletal hands. And it has a head shaped humanoid skull while its eye sockets oozes black blood. Its grey tongue lashed out like a snake from the pain it’s receiving.

It continued to screech as it quivered like mad. Annoyed from this, Jack shook his head and slammed his foot on top of the monster's head. It made a sickening crunch as he applied much force to his foot. The screeching came to a complete stop and silence filled the room once more. Fluttershy was disgusted and shocked from seeing and hearing the death of a monster. With the monster out of the way, the two of them looked back inside the chest with the real Rainbow Dash. Jack kneeled down and pulled the army knife from his left black knee boot. He stood up and leaned over the chest. Using the knife, he cut the rope that bonded her legs together. The rope snapped and her legs were free. Then he unwraps the cloth gag. After that, Rainbow Dash immediately sprung out of the chest and pounced on top of Fluttershy, hugging her tightly. She sobbed while trembling in fear.

"Oh! Thank you so much! I'm so scared right now, Fluttershy! I thought I was gonna die in there! I-I…" She choked on her words before crying on Fluttershy's chest. Fluttershy returned the warm hug and hushed her softly.

"Shhh… It's okay. Everything's going to be alright now… you're safe." She whispered gently. The both pegasus shared tears and feelings while Jack rolled his eyes, looking away. After a minute of calming down, Fluttershy helped Rainbow Dash up her hooves. Fluttershy pointed her hoof at Jack and smiled.

"This is Jack Armstrong. He's the one that helped me get to you." She introduced her. Then she looked at Jack.

"Jack, this is one of my best friends, Rainbow Dash." She introduced him. However, Jack didn't look that interested as his back was facing them. He eyed behind him and darted forward again.

"Hi." He said in boredom. Rainbow Dash looked puzzled by his behavior, as she leaned over to Fluttershy's ears.

"Hey, what's his deal?" Rainbow Dash whispered curiously. Fluttershy eyed away while looking disappointed.

"I don't know. But I have to follow and obey him."

"But why?" Dash asked.

"Well… you see-" Just then, Fluttershy was interrupted by Jack.

"Alright, Rainbow Dash… the entrance isn't that far. Just keep heading down the hallway and you will find staircases leading outside this catacomb." Rainbow Dash took one step forward tilting her head in confusion.

"Wait… where are we anyway? A-And…" Then she remembered the ambush a while back and gasped suddenly.

"My friends! Where are they?!" Franticed the rainbow pegasus. Jack turned his head around and faced her.

"They've been captured by those beasts you saw and imprisoned them somewhere in this god forsaken catacomb. Just go home and let me take care of it." Rainbow Dash gasped, as she knew her friends were in danger. Then she stomped her hoof on the ground.

"No way! I'm coming with you guys!" She protested. Surprised, Jack’s face furrowed from the sudden request.

"I don't think so. Dealing with one pony is bad enough, but two?! You're just going to slow me down! I promise you, I will get your friends ba-" At that moment, Jack was cut of by Dash.

"I don't care what you think! I'm not just gonna go back to Ponyville and relax while my friends are in great danger! I'm loyal to my friends no matter what the situation is! Loyalty is not only a promise to your friends, but to yourself! I'll do whatever it takes, even if I die trying! Because I know that my friends are more scared than I am now! I'm sticking with you guys and that is final!" She complained in a loud tone. When that word struck Jack, he fazed out a bit. He looked at the ground while mumbling to himself.

"…Loyalty? Is that… what it truly means?" He whispered to himself. He can still remember the word Kindness still floating around inside his head. Avoiding drifting off even more into this, he snapped back into reality and closed his eyes.

"…Fine. But I have three rules you must follow if we're going to get along. One, stay close to me at all times while carrying your own weight. Two, do exactly as I say without question. And three, there will be absolutely no whining. Obey those three things and we might make this work… relatively speaking. Now if you’re ready to move on, then let's get this done." He loaded his handgun and started walking out of the room. The two pegasus exchanged nods and walked out the room with him. Thus, the trio plunged deeper into the darkness where more horrors lie ahead.