The rest of their journey through the workshop was done in silence as yet more puzzles barred entry into other rooms as golems pried themselves from the walls and floor to attack them. Silvia found that her normal fighting style wasn't feasible against large numbers without magic as another group of hate driven foes rushed her. While her wings gave her an advantage by allowing her to flit past and around the swarm of golems, she knew she was nothing more than a distraction as Death tirelessly worked to thin their numbers.

This is getting us nowhere and even though I don't have the right equipment I may as well try to put more effort into defending myself than continue an eternal game of dodge ball. She thought and backed herself into a corner.

Her foes had little in the way of intelligence but appeared to have enough to spot a perceived advantage and stormed after her, ready to swing their bulky arms down on her in an instant. As one prepared to strike, Silvia rose up onto her hind legs, new muscles and joints clicking and shifting into place to handle her new stance as she jabbed and punched the golem in rapid succession that left it as a pile of rubble in mere seconds. her movements were just as graceful as they were when she stood on all fours as she sidestepped attacks and used her wings to block the hits she couldn't dodge as she decimated her enemies.

The armor on her fore hooves quickly became dented as they weren't designed to full force of her boxing style and she quickly discarded them. Soon only one golem was left, it was pinned in place by Death as he shoved the blade of his scythe through its chest while Silvia brought both fore hooves down in a crushing blow upon its head. With the threat gone the door to another room unlocked as the alicorn returned to standing on four legs and retrieved her battered shoes.

"Hopefully I can get these repaired once we're done here, this entire set was a graduation present." she said.

"You fight well, for a horse." Death commented.

"I'm no fighter, those things were mindless drones at best," she replied. "If I were pitted against a skilled fighter like yourself, I wouldn't stand a chance."

The room they were in had two exits, while Dust perched himself above the door in front of them to point them in the right direction, Silvia was drawn to the door on her right as her horn hummed with a familiar energy.

"There's an all-sworn core in there." she breathed and broke out into a gallop towards the door as the humming got louder.

The doors flew open at her approach as if in haste to get out of her way and she skidded to a stop once inside the room. It was one of the few in the entire facility that was fully renovated and furnished, the walls were made of stone bricks that were absolutely covered in enchantments, as was the floor. A gold pillar stood in each corner of the room, connected to the mass of golden metal that served as the rooms ceiling with the runes and wires embedded within them glowed with a warm , orange light that gave the place a comforting feel despite being deeply underground.

The furniture in the room resembled simple living quarters with a desk and a series of shelves in one corner of the room and a simple metal pot over a fire pit in another corner was in place of a kitchen. What stood out the most was a shrine carved out of wood and heavily enchanted to resist natural wear and tear that stood in the back of the room.

What few shreds of cloth that seemed to find their way this far underground had been draped over the shrine to act as bedding for the round, crystal like orb that was the centerpiece for the shrine. the orb itself glowed with a soft, calming green light that pulsed to rhythm of an unseen heartbeat as the blue and green mist within the orb formed the shapes of various animals that vanished as quickly as they appeared.

On the floor around the shrine, several crude stone statues of various animals stood in a silent watch over the shrine as Silvia approached. There was no sign of corruption at all in the room, there was a sense of peace in the air and even Dust fell silent as he flew in to see what was going on.

"This is the core of Sunny Stone, Thunder's little sister," Silvia whispered quietly. "He kept it even after all this time?"

Death tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at another sheet of metal attached to wall and covered in Angelic script.

I'm so happy I got this room finished and I'm sure Sunny will be happy too once she wakes up.

I don't sleep much anymore, most of us don't after what happened to the Stardust City, our homes and our families. Lillia said she found a way past the barrier and she's promised to try and get to the Forge Lands to ask The Makers for help. If I can just replicate the method they use for their wardens then I'll have my sister back...

Besides Lillia seemed insistent on helping me with this, kind of odd behavior for her but I guess she just wants to feel useful or something, she probably feels bad after Silvia sacrificed her freedom to keep that Abyssal Beast from attacking the realm.

We all want to do our part to bring back our kind, after all.

Silvia could see the curiosity in Death eye's as he glanced at her and she shivered at the memories the writing brought forth.

"A story for another time, rider," She stated mechanically. "I think we should move on, we still need to find Thunder."

Three pressure plates, arranged to form a triangle and with an image inscribed on each barred their way. Both the alicorn and the rider looked around the area for any extra components to the puzzle and after finding none, activated the plates.

Nothing happened. Silvia looked confused as Death repeatedly activated the plates with no solution in sight. She frowned and motioned for him to move aside as she inspected the plates. Each featured a pony and noticed a pattern in the positions of each carving in relation to the others. The plate on the top left showed a pegasus flying to the right with a hoof outstretched. Silvia's ears perked up as she followed a hunch and checked the plate the pegasus was facing. It depicted a unicorn bowing to some unseen figure and Silvia noticed it's horn pointed the plate below the other two.

With an idea in mind she stood on the pegasus plate, activated soul splitter and sent a clone to the unicorn plate before she directed the other to the earth pony- and final, plate.

A satisfying clunk was heard as the door unlocked. Silvia stepped back and fluffed up her wings in a brief moment of silent boasting.

"You might want to stay outside," Death called back to her as he walked into the room. "There are more undead here."

Part of her wanted to heed his warning but her horn hummed once more, signalling the presence of another of her kind. She had a duty to find her friend, a thought she clung onto as she forced herself into the room. The room was more of a large cave with the only signs of infrastructure being the doors at either end and the mass of pipes and wires attached to the walls and ceiling. The corpses of ponies shuffled about as they hollowly mimicked the actions of miners and did their best to pry the corrupted crystals from the walls and move them to the mine carts scattered about the room.

"Thunder? Are you there?" She called out.

A short trickle of debris from the ceiling was her only warning as a metal plate fell from above and landed in front of her with a loud bang. Startled, Silvia looked down to find the plate had yet more writing like the others and pushed her confusion and burst of fear aside to read it.

Sunny always liked animals, so I designed the wooden prototypes on her favourite animal the wolf and I've named them Timber Wolves. So far the Timber Wolves have done their job well inside the workshop, the marionette array I've set up using the pipes as conduits to control their actions, it's allowed them to function properly and process the corruption that's slowly making its way into the mountain.

I tried to see how they acted outside the array but they just can't resist corruption without my magic shielding them from it. Still, I won't give up, Lillia said she's got some plans for a large controller golem that'll manage the Timber Wolves remotely. I think if we base it of one of our own, maybe the shape of an All-Sworn will be enough to resist corruption.

I've got to get this done.

"Death, wait a moment." Silvia called out as the horseman was about to slay another undead pony.

If there's a rune array running throughout this entire facility, then maybe... She thought and flew up to observe the pipes near the ceiling and activated her magic sight. This is definitely Thunder's rune work but some of it has been overwritten and looks off, like a copy and these mistakes they almost look....deliberate.

Is someone forcing Thunder to do all this?

"What did you find?" Death called out.

"Someone has hijacked control over Thunder's network of runes to control these corpses and may be forcing Thunder himself to add onto the array," Silvia explained as she glided back down. "It seems the signal grows weaker the further away from the main control array, which would explain the behaviour of the dead we came across earlier, they weren't following the commands properly and simply wandered about."

"If we can find and destroy the main array that's powering all of this, those poor ponies can finally get their well deserved final rest," She stated. "We're not too far from it either."

The duo entered a large circular room that had crystallized corruption growing from the ground and pipes hanging off of every inch of space the stone walls and ceilings could provide as if it was a web of metal and magic. The largest of these metal tubes went from floor to ceiling in the center of the room and was connected to a large circular platform made of silver upon which a massive, building sized stone golem in the shape of an alicorn sat, watching and waiting as Silvia and Death cautiously approached.

The golem bore some resemblance to the wardens and constructs of the Makers but it looked more akin to a blatant and poor attempt to copy the world builder's craft. The stone that made up its body was roughly cut and while it bore the shape of an alicorn, the wings were nothing more than decoration and it appeared that construct itself, despite the pieces of crystal that rested in it's shoulders in place of a heart stone, was incapable of movement. The runes that had carved into its form were sloppy and lacked the skill and craftsmanship of an expert, though every single rune of the stone goliath glowed yellow as it drew power from the glass orb in the statues chest.

A faint flicker of light from the golden mist that swirled within the orb was the only sign of life Silvia got as her horn hummed at the orbs presence. She motioned for Death to follow her as she walked around the edges of the room and activated her magic sight. She frowned as she saw the crystals on the golems shoulders were soaked in Corruption, as was the pipe that was behind it. The runes etched into the room and it's sole occupant were a tangled and incomprehensible mess.

Just looking at this is giving me a migraine she thought. However if I can reach the platform in the center.

"I'm going to try and shut off the main source of power, think you can keep that golem distracted?"She asked.

"I can, any advice?"Death replied.

"Try to pull out the orb in it's chest, I'm going to need it."She stated.

With a nod, Death rushed forward, in response, the golem glowed a sickly green and dozens of smaller crystal golems seeped in corruption sprung to life to defend it. With it's attention focused on the horseman, Silvia flew overhead and landed behind the stone creature and examined the platform. The runes etched into it showed far more care and precision than others before it. The runes themselves were layered and structured around several rings on the platform itself and the more Silvia examined the multilayered rune circle, the difficult the task appeared to be.

"Demonic runes meant to draw power from souls...This is going to take a while to ..." She trailed off as the sound of several portals opening behind her caught her attention.

Each portal glowed a familiar shade of orange and red as a variety of demons clambered out of them and set their sights on her. They were bipedal creatures with horns and wings and several roared a challenge at her in the demonic tongue.

"For the glory of Princess Lillia" One of the larger demons bellowed as the group rushed to attack her.

Silvia filed the meaning of this new intrusion away for later and reared up on her hind legs. Many of the group swiped at her with claws or blades, She took the hit before she nailed each and every attacking demon in the head with a series of quick, yet devastating jabs. She moved a wing to block an incoming attack from the side and pivoted around to kick the aggressor in the face, the force of her attack sent the creature flying across the room and into the path of Death's blades.

"So, she sent weaklings to test me?"Silvia mused as she spun around to slam a wing into another opponent and used her momentum to deliver a swift punch to another. "Or is this all her dear old dad could spare to give her?"

Her comment enraged the last few demons left standing as they threw caution to the wind and rushed her, only to met with a vortex of swiftly striking hooves and wings as Silvia moved with grace and speed to end their assault. The all-sworn paid close attention to any that got close as her eyes darted from foe to foe and read their movements. She heard the shuffling of one attempting to attack from behind and she flipped back onto all fours to buck the demon in the face with her rear hooves and used her wings to strike the two in front of her. With the one behind her knocked out and the other two dazed, she returned to her boxing stance and tossed the two oblivious demons over her shoulder with her wings where they landed on top of a golem that was about to strike Death.

The horseman was surprised but quickly took advantage of the situation by destroying both demon and golem in a single strike. With more foes yet approaching, the rider and the alicorn both quickly searched for a way to end the conflict quickly. Death swapped out his scythes for a trident with red jewels encrusted in the massive black fork of the weapon. In a series of slow, yet powerful swings, Death sent his foes flying as the weapon renewed both his magic and vitality. There was an explosion from behind and he turned to see Silvia had flown up and broken some of the pipes on the ceiling which had caused a chain reaction in the runes nearby and sent a wave of volatile magic at her foes.

The Alicorn Golem was not pleased by this development and bellowed in rage as it tried to move. It seemed to struggle against something and in it's frustration summoned dozens of snarling, snapping Timber Wolves.

"This is getting us nowhere..." Death muttered and with a final swing at a lunging timber wolf, he rushed forward towards the giant stone construct.

As he ran he knocked aside the mass of wooden jaws and claws attempting to devour him and leapt up onto the large golem. the rough uneven nature of the creature made it difficult to scale but it also played in Death's favor as the shoddy work of carving the statue left several hand holds and platform for the horseman to use as he clambered around to it's chest. he could feel the golem trying to shake him off but it barely moved an inch before it ceased it attempts.

Death hung off a ledge, scaled around and quickly jumped off to land on a platform as corrupted crystals began to grow from the statue to try and impede his progress. There was a flash of white and he watched as Silvia flew and smashed the newly growing formations as quickly as they appeared.

With a nod, the rider continued moving and jumped from platform to platform as Silvia cleared the way. Even the golems and wolves the colossal statue summoned in their way met the same fate as the crystal growths it tried to spawn, crushed beneath her hooves as she darted from one obstacle to the next. Finally, Death landed on the platform in front of the glass orb that gave the golem power, the orb itself was small enough to fit into his hand and it even slipped out of its slot in the golem as if it wanted nothing more than to be free of the abomination it powered.

The runes on the Alicorn Construct changed from yellow to the sickly green of corruption as new power and a new green crystal filled the now empty slot and with a roar of triumph, the golem began to move. Death jumped off the creature as it shuddered and rose to it's hooves. The horseman watched as Silvia attempted to dive bomb it, only to for the golem to knock her out of the air with a flick of its now fully functioning wing.

Death looked down at the glass orb in his hand and back over to the dazed flesh and blood alicorn that was slumped against the far wall the her stone enemy moved in for the final blow. He stored the orb away, rushed towards his fallen ally and diverted the golems attention to him by rapidly attacking it's leg with his scythes.

His distraction worked and Death darted back in time to avoid the stone hoof that attempted to crush him where he stood. With practiced ease he dashed forward and began a relentless assault on the golem. One of the stone monstrosity's wings smacked into his side and he was sent sliding across the room but it wasn't long before Death was back on his feet. The second wing followed the first and Death swerved to the side to avoid the blow and quickly used the missed attack as an opening for his own.

His twin scythes sliced and carved their way through stone and shattered the runes on one of the golem's legs and it cried out in anger as the limb crumbled away and sent the construct tumbling to the ground. With the crystals on its body in reach, Death used his death grip to latch onto one of the crystals in the golem's shoulder, pulled himself towards it and began to hack into it with his scythe.

The crystal, like the rest of the construct was but a pale imitation of the Maker's craft and broke in only a few hits. The Golem roared once more and attempted to climb to it's hooves and it stumbled around on three legs until it crashed into a wall and broke the pipes that were attached to the stone surface.

Death was thrown off the creature as a series of explosions made their way around the room. Pipes fell from the ceiling and bits of stone crashed to the ground as the horseman and alicorn made their escape from the collapsing room. The two of them stood by the doorway as they watched the room's destruction for as long as they could, at least until a large pile of rubble fell from the ceiling and blocked the entrance to the large room with a loud boom.

"Well, that happened.." Silvia said in a daze. "Did you get the orb?"

"I have it here," Death replied and handed her the orb. "What do we do now?"

"We backtrack I'm afraid. This orb is Thunder's core but we need to reunite it with his body if we're going to get any answers." Silvia explained.

Author's Note

Originally this chapter was going to cover our heroes meeting Thunder as well as some more backstory on Silvia, however due to the serious tone I'm going to need to try and convey with those events I'll be saving that for next chapter so i can have more than just an exposition filled conversation or two.

Plus I wanted to get something out asap.

Also I'd like you guys to turn your attention to This Blog Post as I do want your opinion on something I'm not quite sure about when it comes to the future of this story.