The Ruins of Pandemonia

Fluttershy’s back hurt the second she began opening her eyes. Iron Cross was asleep, resting his back against the wooden palisade with pistols in his hands. As she shuffled to her feet, the soldier opened his eyes.

“I don’t think we slept for a short while.” he said, taking a look at his wrist. “And there go five hours of our life.” he grunted, stood up and reached for his bag. “and to make matters worse, we still don’t have a signal on ye olde transmitter.” he sighed. “So that means we’re so underground that there’s no music band below us.” he chuckled to himself. “See what I…” he stopped as he looked at the pink-haired lady. “Sorry, I… let’s just pack up and go.” A few minutes later and they were back on their feet.

“So ma’am, since you’re of a higher rank and we’re no longer in danger, you’re in charge. Do you think that we should go right, left, forward or back to the place with the horrible barbarians that didn’t chase us.”

Fluttershy began rubbing her chin. “Why did they stop chasing us?”

“I’m afraid to question it.” he replied, making an effort to look away from the swamp. “The less I know the better I sleep. So, where do we go?”

“Umm…” she began thinking, and while there was barely any illumination around it was hard to make an educated guess. But there was something on the right that made her want to explore. She pointed a finger in her direction.

“So spooky right it is! Not frontal fright or creepy left, we go to the right!” he began blathering on about going to the right, so much that Fluttershy stopped understanding him after a while, but still had to walk faster than the usual to keep up.

The open darkness quickly devolved into a small cave, illuminated by nothing but the soldier’s lamp. The ore they advanced through the narrow rock corridor, the more she felt the need to advance. She had no real explanation, just a feeling in her gut.

“I hope your gut’s right, otherwise we might just spend the rest of our lives walking through.” he said, “Then again, it’s not like we had a chance of ever getting out in the first place.” he chuckled for a while, taking a look around. A few minutes later they began to see a bright green light radiating from the end of the hallway. “Maybe you should wait here for a second ma’am. I gotta make sure that the coast’s clear.” Iron whispered, crouching down and waddling forward. The glow swallowed him, leaving her to feel the gusts of the empty cave.

“Ma’am, you might want to see this!” exclaimed the voice of Iron. Hesitantly, she walked forward. The momentary blindness of the light allowed her to see a mass of blue, golden sand and more walls. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief, hoping that it was an incredibly elaborate illusion. The sky, or at least the closest thing she could identify, was as blue as in Ponyville. As she looked closer at the sea, a large mass of grey scales burst from the water.

It took her an instant to recognize it. The look of a dragon is not one that is easily forgotten. With its grey scales glimmering from the light, the dragon’s right paw clawed at the beach. With one powerful heave, it crashed against the beach. The sand that was kicked off nearly rendered its head invisible, while the deluge of crystal water bathed the dry land.

“Holy Shit!” Iron cried, racing back up the stairs with guns in hands. “Get back!” He managed to pin her to the ground. He kept pressing himself against her. “Don’t move, this dragon might be feral.”

Fluttershy managed to catch a glimpse of the gargantuan. The right eye was gone, leaving a pitch-black socket behind.  “Poor thing…” she mumbled. She gently pushed the soldier away. “Please, could-”

“Stay still, that thing may not have seen us yet.” the soldier whispered. “I think it’s blind on one eye.”

“But it’s suffering!” she retorted, pushing him to the side before breaking into a sprint. With a graceful jump she landed on the soft sand. As she struggled briefly to regain her footing she kept running toward the beast. Her pace was fast enough that not even the bullets fired from the pistols could hit her. All of them landed next to her, scorching the pristine land. Iron’s cries fell on deaf ears, for she was now next to the dragon.

She placed a gentle hand on one of the scales on its lower jaw, smoothly caressing it. “Are you alright?” The head turned slowly, until a single aventurine looked at her. “You poor thing.”

“Thank you, Child of Areion.” The dragon growled. “It has been centuries since I have heard the voice of someone else.” The majestic monster lowered his head, turning his head so as to see her with an ice blue eye. “Yet there is no time for pity. Time is short and I need your aid.”

“What can we do?” she asked.

“I will need you to fetch a knife that has been lodged in my neck. Please bring it to me.” he gently turned his head, letting her scale his head with ease. Once she arrived at the top, she walked over the brow, staying light on her feet as she skipped across. The dagger he spoke of was a beautiful steel weapon whose hilt was ready to hold a gem.

With the weapon in hand, she raced back to the beach. Iron Cross was sitting cross-legged, arms on his knees. As she jumped off the scales the soldier stood up. “Ma’am.” he said, “Since when did you become a dragon whisperer?”

“Greetings knight.” he boasted, raising its head and bowing down. “I am Kvasir the Primordial.”

Iron’s eyes widened in horror. “Kvasir? No, that’s not possible! He’s been dead for over a thousand years!”

“Sadly, that is incorrect.” he growled. “I am alive, held from the next life by this lake.”

“So…” the soldier began. “You’ve been kept alive for a millennium by staying underwater?” Kvasir noded. “So the water can heal, can we drink it?” he approached the lake, pulled out his canteen and drowned it in the lake. After a few seconds he pulled it out and took a long gulp. Suddenly, he vomited. But it wasn’t the regular green bile, instead it was a tar-like grey substance. A few coughs later he wiped his mouth clean and refilled the bottle.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked as she rushed to his side. He appeared to be fine, with whiter teeth and livelier skin. “What happened?”

“If I had to guess, those were ogre spores. Had I left them there stayed there for another week I’d have exploded and given birth to some of those grey bastards. I must admit, this could use with a bit of flavoring… What’s with the knife?”

Fluttershy immediately let her surprise show. She looked at the fine blade, gazing back at her face reflected on the dagger. “I… I... “

“I asked her to retrieve it for me.” Kvasir took one look at Iron and smiled. “It was on my neck, used to stop the main flow of the disease into by brain. My body will be consumed by the corruption in a few hours, but I intend to escape it before that.”

“Wait, so that knife is what has kept you alive. Am I correct?” Iron asked, and the dragon nodded. “So why don’t you keep it there? This place is gonna die if you kick it.”

“There is no use in delaying the inevitable any longer. My body has been consumed by the Blight of the Prophet, as you can see from my lack of limbs.” He motioned to the stumps on his back and the thigh sticking out on his left back side. “But there is still a way to return you to your home and stop this madness from spreading.”

“Wait,” Iron interrupted, “so there’s no regular escape route?” his face was clearly rejecting the news, it did not improve when Kvasir shook his head. “Can’t we just fly through the hole we fell from?”

The dragon took a deep breath before explaining. “How you reached here alive is beyond me, as this entire place has been encased by a time-distorting field. Nothing is supposed to enter or leave. If you want to return to the surface, you will need to deactivate the field. And only a very powerful magical force can dispel it.”

“So the knife is magical?”

“It is not strong enough, but if you were to use a Dragon Heart it would be able to break the spell.”

This time it was Fluttershy who interrupted. “But… you’re not going to…”

“Yes. You will take my heart away from this decrepit body and use it to power the dagger. Then you will have to cross the streets of Cankerville to reach the gates of the city proper. After that it is a simple task of reaching the First Cathedral and reaching the top spire where you will break open the Primordial Gemstone and destroy the field. Once that is done you will be able to find some method of escape.”

“Okay.” Iron replied. “So is there a weapon that I can use? Because I was really hoping that I could get a claymore or something like that.”

“Very well, search near my left leg. There I am sure you will find something that appeals to you.” Kvasir replied. The soldier leaped with joy and rushed to the back. “Child, I must ask you that you keep the dagger at all times. The power contained within it will be beyond your comprehension. You are to keep this forever, let no one else touch it.”

“Okay.” she mumbled, before slotting the knife around her belt. Iron arrived some time later carrying a pristine bastard sword and a kite shield. The expression of childish joy was all that she needed to see. This man was ready.

“Good, now watch as a dragon gives you his heart.” Kvasir responded, pulling himself to the right and stabbing his hand on his chest. In one gruesome move, he pulled out a glowing quartz. Despite the blood around the beach, the gem was deprived of gore. Fluttershy grabbed the stone, treating it as if it was made of glass. The stone was warm on her fingers, giving her the impression that she was not holding a mere stone, but a beating heart.

“Now…” Kvasir heaved. “Put it in the hilt…” he kept panting as gallons of blood escaped from his body. At first the fluids looked standard. It was all dark red blood. But the more he bled the more the ichor turned to sickly bile. Soon, there was no more blood pouring out. It was just pus. Pure, undiluted pus.

She jammed the grey stone on a small opening on the dagger’s centre. It fitted snugly. As the gemstone clicked, a faint glow covered the sharp blade. It also gained the familiar warm glow of before.

“Well, there’s no point in sitting around.” Iron said as he heaved the sword to his right shoulder. “We’ve got three canteens of this holy water and I plan on using them to get the hell out.”