Wrath of My Righteous Little Ponies

The tunnel eventually opened up into a large cavern, seventy feet across. Cylindrical rock formations along the walls arched up to make a domelike chamber, but the walls and floor were riddled with cracks. At the center of the cave, a stone tower that may once have reached the fifty-foot-high ceiling has collapsed onto its side.

“What in blazes, why is there a tower down here?” Cranky wondered aloud his eyes running along the fallen structure.

“A tower?” Twilight wondered turning her head this way and that, her anguish at her loss of her eyes growing with every missed sight. Still, she smiled with a confident delight, “This further proves my theory. It must have been made by the pitlings.”

“Shh!” Gold sharply hushed the pair her eyes peering into the darkness beyond the clearest range of her light at something that looked like it had been digging at the rock. “I think there’s something there.”

Suddenly a pair of creatures stepped into her light. One looked like a stocky gray mare without a mane or tail. Across her back swelled a massive camel-like hump and similar, tiny, tumorous growths covered her face and muzzle. The second, a stallion, had a normal looking blue body and blond mane, but his face and neck were split down the middle. The right was handsome, though a curling goat horn grew from his skull above his green eye. The other side was that of a lizard with emerald scales instead of fur and a slitted yellow eye.

The pony with the half lizard head spoke in a raspy voice, the mare didn’t look as if she could speak with the tumors growing thick around her muzzle. “If your intentions are ill, we ask you to move on and leave us in peace. If they are good, then perhaps you can help us. Look there, you can see misfortune has befallen us.”

Gold shone the light of her horn past the pair onto a third pony, whose fur wet and gleaming in the light, who was pinned under a large piece of rubble. Gold gasped at the sight of the trapped pony and started forward to help, however, she didn’t make it a single step before a hoof grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.

“What are you doing kid, they said to just move on.” Cranky snapped in a harsh whisper. He looked down at the deformed ponies and gave a shiver, “I don’t want to spend any more time around these… things than I already have.”

Gold turned a fierce look on the donkey and shirked his hoof off her shoulder. “Cranky never mind what they look like, they need our help and I’m not going to leave without trying to do something.”

“Remember Cranky the pitlings are descended from the first crusaders,” Twilight said stepping up to them. “If we help them, they might be able to help us as well.”

“Twilight please don’t call them ‘pitlings’, they’re ponies just like us,” Gold tried to keep her tone more neutral than she did her face which was giving the other unicorn a cold look.

“Oh yes, of course, I’m sorry.” Twilight sounded like she legitimately hadn’t realized the name might be offensive. Gold couldn’t decide of that made it better or worse.

Cranky gave a low groan, “All right, all right. You’ll just do whatever you like anyway kid so go help them.”

Gold needed no one’s permission, but she was glad her companions wouldn’t cause a fuss and could keep their comments to themselves for the time being. Gold hobbled forward to the pair of mongrel ponies, “My name is Gold Guard, my friends are Twilight Sparkle and Cranky Doodle Donkey. I don’t know how much help we can be, but we’re at your survive.”

The half lizard stallion gave a relieved sigh, Gold couldn’t say how much they might have heard, but if they had heard her companions impolite words they gave no indication. “My name is Snakebite, my companion is Gut Feeling; I’m afraid she can’t speak.” Snakebite introduced them as he led the limping Gold towards the third mongrel pony. “Our trapped companion is Spiller when the tremors hit our post the tower fell and he was strapped. We’ve cleared away as much rock as we could, but this massive rock has him pinned. Perhaps we can move it if your friends are willing to help.”

Gold saw that the fur of the third mongrel pony wasn’t wet, he had no fur at all. His skin was covered in a green-yellow mucus that was littler with dust and grit. Looking from Spiller to the massive rock then to her friends and down at her own broken leg Gold shook her head. “I doubt we’d be of any help moving it, were not strong ponies. If only Greenery were here…” She muttered that last part under her breath feeling wistful for a moment.

Shaking her head Gold looked the large rock and the surrounding debris over and made a few calculations in her head, she was somewhat familiar with the dangers of underground collapses. “We might still be able to dig him out, though it will be risky,” She kept to herself just how much guess work had gone into her calculations.

Snakebite looked questioning over at Gut Feeling who nodded back in agreement. “We really don’t have any other options… Alright, let’s try.” Snakebite nodded.

Paying close attention to her leg Gold lay down on the floor and began picking at the debris. Spiller shifted a little as Snakebite spoke to him in the subterranean tongue, Gold didn’t know it but his tone sounded gentle and reassuring.

While the large rock on Spiller was pinning him, it was also being held up by the surrounding rubble, less it would have already crushed him. The problem with moving it was not just its weight, but also dislodging it from the stones that held it. This meant however that if she was careful Gold might be able to dig the rubble out from under Spiller and he would be able to crawl out safely.

Gold worked for several minutes, her hoof softly touching the wall of rubble that held up the deadly rock feeling it’s stability to assure herself she wasn’t destabilizing it. However, as she pulled a hoofful of rubble loose from under Spiller her reassurances proved false. A sudden crack caused Gold to instantly withdraw her hoof, her speed saving another leg from being broken as the rubble ground, rumbled and fell. Gold watched sickeningly as the massive stone dislodged itself from its cradle and slumped down on Spiller whose muffled cry was suddenly cut short.

Gold gasped, her hoof shooting to her muzzle, “Iomedae no!”

Snakebite and Gut Feeling didn’t freeze, however, the pair rushing past Gold to opposite sides of the rock. Ducking down and bracing their shoulders as far down the undersides of the rock as they could. Then they heaved with effort and lifted the stone up off their friend.

Gold watched as the rest of the mucus covered green-yellow pony came into sight. He was laying still on his side shallow cuts from the rough rocks covered his body. The sight of the furless mongrel, who had neither mane nor tail, snapped Gold out of her shock. She stumbled to her hooves, her magic reaching back into her saddlebags to seize hold of one of her healing potions. With careful hooves, she eased Spiller’s head up and poured the potion down his throat.

There was a crash as Snakebite and Gut Feeling dropped the rock. Spiller coughed and sputtered when the healing potion reached his throat, but still, he swallowed and the cuts on his side sealed shut. With a deep gulp of air Spiller pushed Gold back and shot up to a sitting position.

Gold backed off as the other two mongrel pony’s rushed forward to their friend. Gut Feeling nuzzled him silently, not minding the mucus that covered them both soon enough. Spiller spoke in their tongue and sounded a little embarrassed as Snakebite spoke with a wide smile on his face.

“I’m sorry,” Gold eventually broke in as the trio’s excitement seemed to ebb, “I almost killed your friend.”

Spiller looked at Gold curiously, he didn’t seem to understand the common tongue. Snakebite said something to him then moved to place a reassuring hoof on Gold’s withers. “If you had not come along we would have to try the same and your healing potion saved Spiller’s life, so we’re in your debt. We’ll take you back with us to Ponyville. I’m sure Mayor Mare will want to reward you for saving Spiller’s life.”

Gold blushed a little under the praise, but her protests of modesty were interrupted as Twilight and Cranky finally made their way down to her. Twilight was instantly a flurry of questions about this Ponyville, its history, and ponies. Cranky in the meantime seemed to be using all of his willpower not to grimace or comment on the sight of the mongrel ponies now that he was seeing them up close.

With Twilight occupying Snakebite with her questions, there was little choice but to follow as he insisted they get moving and lead them down another tunnel.

With a lot of gentle words from Gold and a snap from Cranky, Twilight’s questioning of their escorts wrapped up after about forty minutes. As her questions came to a close Twilight bemoaned the fact that she couldn’t write down all she had learned. From the way, Twilight fiddled with her saddlebags Gold guessed the other unicorn had been thinking of her lack of quill and parchment. However, Twilight swiftly grew quiet and depressed, remembering that she would never write again with her damaged eyes.

Gold moved next to her new friend and with a light touch to let Twilight know she was there and assured Twilight that she would be happy to take down her notes for her. Twilight gave her a grateful smile but assured her that once they got back to her library her ‘Number one assistant’ would give her all the help she needed.

When the group neared the mouth of a cavern the three mongrel ponies stopped them. Snakebite turned to them with a serious expression and spoke in a hushed tone. “We don’t pass through this cave very often anymore, a deadly fungal creature we call a Spore-cougher has taken it as its den. With the other tunnels blocked by the collapse, we don’t have a choice. We might be fortunate and it will be out hunting, otherwise, I think the six of us will be able to handle it.” The lizard corner of his mouth turned up in a grin which Gold returned taking up her bow in her magic.

The tunnel opened into a circular cavern, roughly forty feet in diameter. Thick sheets of fungus grew in the cave, and several tunnels branch off. All of these save one in the north wall lead downward. What appears to be two dead bodies lay on the ground in the middle of the cave, next to a strange heap of ropy green fungus.

When Gold’s eyes fell on the pair of dead ponies she gave a muffled gasp and hurried as fast as her injured leg would allow towards them. Once closer Gold saw that it was as she feared, the pair of ponies were dressed as Iomedain crusaders.

Gold moved to check the pair, but they were definitely dead, most likely having died in battle against the spore-cougher. The mongrel ponies were calmly sliding blades deep into the unmoving mass assuring themselves it was dead. From the blades of the crusaders’ glaives hung the same ropy green fungus that comprised the body of the dead spore-cougher. Gold did a double take, glaives and the spiked horseshoes the dead unicorns wore were not the standard weapons of followers of Iomedae.

“These poor bastards, must have gotten trapped down here too eh?” Cranky commented offhandedly as he and Twilight stepped up behind Gold who had begun searching the dead ponies. One carried a healing potion, the other a scroll. Gold cared little for these things, but when she turned up a small symbol of a bull’s head made of brass with red gemstones for eyes she paused and stared down at it. Gold knew she knew it from somewhere but couldn’t place her hoof on what it was.

“Iron Will’s unholy symbol, what was he doing with that?”

With a start of shock Gold turned on the donkey holding up the bull’s head symbol in her hoof, “Iron Will’s symbol are you sure.”

“Of course I’m sure, the red eyes are a dead giveaway,” Cranky snapped back then looked a little embarrassed at his outburst.

Before he could manage to mutter an apology Twilight cut in excitedly, “They’re Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth. Oh, I’ve heard rumors of them infiltrating mercenary groups, but this better proof than I could have ever hoped to find. We should take them back to be identified by their supposed church.” And, she thought, they can help prove her theories.

“We’re not lugging a pair of corpses anywhere.” Cranky quickly shot down the notion much to Twilight’s disappointment.

Gold didn’t really hear them, a rush of emotions came over her from disgust and anger to eventually fear. The thought of treacherous ponies like these infiltrating the Eagle Watch, acting as Greenery’s ally, even fighting alongside her waiting for the right moment to maximize the effects of his betrayal. Gold shivered at the thought and pained to be with Greenery again.

“What are you doing?” Twilight’s question snapped Gold out of her thoughts, she turned back to her friends to see the old donkey pulling the fine chain barding from the dead ponies.

“This barding’s too good to leave here to rust on these bastards’ corpses,” With a firm tug he forced the barding over the dead unicorn’s head his horn scraping in what would have been a painful way had he still been alive. A second yank pulled the barding down off the pony’s forelegs. Huffing with the effort Cranky held the armor in his mouth and looked it over checking for damaged. Finding none he tossed it over his back and moved to the second pony. “Maybe we can use it.”

“We should hurry, Ponyville is close and I don’t want to wait for these unicorns’ friends to come looking for them.” Snakebite urged looking to the multiple tunnels out of the cavern seeming not at all confused about which one to take.

“Have you seen other ponies like this down here?” Gold asked as Cranky pulled the armor free from the second unicorn.

Snakebite seemed a little hesitant to answer but eventually nodded, “Yes, but I think you should hold your questions for now. Mayor Mare will be able to explain everything.”