Author's Note

Hope you all enjoy the slightly longer chapter, because this next floor is going to be pretty long. As always, please feel free to correct any grammar in the comments.

The Swamp

The stairway seemed to stretch on for hours. Everyone except for Pinkie Pie felt a dip in their energy from climbing an innumerable number of stairs. Eventually, Twilight signaled for the group to stop.

Rainbow Dash flitted her wings in annoyance. “What’s the hold up now?”

“I’m feeling some sort of strange magic ahead of us. It sort of feels like the same kind of magic from the mirror portal I used to chase after Sunset Shimmer all those moons ago. It’s making me feel uneasy,” said Twilight. “It feels really sickly.”

Fluttershy started to slowly back down the stairs, quivering the entire time. “M-maybe we s-should go b-back. I’m sure Ghoul a-and Misho can point out another way to the top.”

“No can do, Fluttershy. The door shut behind us when we all passed through. The only way forward is to the strange magic I’m feeling,” Twilight said reassuringly. “We just have to stay strong until we get out of here. Who knows what we might face when we get to the next floor?”

After a few more minutes of talking, with the occasional comforting for Fluttershy, the group continued on up the spiraling stairway. The stone brick of the walls and stairs slowly began to turn into dead wood and moss. Eventually, the six ponies stumbled into a hallway ending in a large and glowing grey fog wall.

Rarity scrunched her muzzle up, nearly vomiting. “Urgh, what is that FOUL stench? It smells like… I don’t even want to imagine what it smells like. Oh Celestia, I think I’m going to bring up my lunch...”

Fluttershy gave the air a quick sniff. “Why does it smell like Rainbow Dash after her usual training session with Scootaloo?”

Even Pinkie Pie had a hard time keeping a straight face.

Rainbow took immediate offense. “Oh come ON! We don’t smell that bad after flight practice!” She took a quick sniff herself only to blush from embarrassment. “Okay, nevermind. It does smell like me after a workout.”

Applejack, the strongest of the six even felt the need to bring her hoof to her nose. “Whooie, that there fog smells ripe, I’ll say that. Makin’ me feel all sortsa sick to mah belly too. And that’s sayin’ somethin’, considering I can handle Big Mac’s bean and pepper casserole.”

“Anything could be on the other side of this fog, girls. So before we go in, we need to keep on the lookout for anything that might be dangerous,” cautioned Twilight.

“I think we can handle ourselves if talking statues and hungry curtains are what we’re dealing with,” Rainbow Dash boasted. “I mean, we’ve saved loads of times Equestria from things worse than magic furniture.”

Twilight barked angrily at the mare. “Rainbow, this is serious! If I hadn’t read the last Daring Do book, we could have very easily died from the doorway to these stairs! We can’t just go in hooves blazing or we’ll get hurt! And I couldn’t live with myself if anypony got hurt and we all couldn’t go home together.”

Rainbow Dash looked down in defeat, secretly admitting that she felt the same way. “I-I’m sorry. I’m just so pent up because of that jerk Dragus. He hurt innocent ponies and threw even more in this unknown place for his own sick game. I just... want to bring him to justice and avenge those that died, y’know? I’ll try to be more careful.”

“And we will. But for now, let’s just keep moving and get through this together.”

“All for one and one for all!” Pinkie Pie giggled, putting her hoof out.

Rarity added her hoof to Pinkie’s. “I couldn’t have put it more simple if I tried, darling.”

The girls put their hooves in the hoof circle, ending it off with a quick pump into the air. One by one, they carefully stepped through the fog wall and onto the other side of whatever room lay there.

“Ugh, those ponies really sicken me with their ‘friendship’ bullshit. Like seriously, can they just get on with the show already?”

Dragus popped a freshly caught field mouse into his mouth, grinding it between his fangs to try and calm himself. A small stream of blood and fur dripped down the side where the mouse lay dying between razor sharp spikes.

“Those two stupid statues are supposed to react violently to whoever they lay their eyes on. Why didn’t they kill one or at least maim one of the ponies before snapping back to their usual selves?”

Dragus stood up in the starry void he was seated in and waved his left claw to put away the magic screen he was using to watch the ‘contestants’.

“Oh well. I suppose that’s to be expected for a few mess ups here and there with my magic today. Guess Discord was right when he said to not drink Godbriar and use our magic.” He gripped his temples. “Hey, give me some powdered opium or something, will you? This headache is REALLY ruining my usual cheery mood.”

The dungeon responded by materializing a small glass of water and two small red tablets.

“What is this? I don’t think I asked to get high off my fucking rocker. Just give me some pain relief.”

A bottle of name brand painkillers materialized in place of the tablets.

Dragus glanced over the bottle and shrugged his shoulders, pouring the water down his throat along with the entire bottle of painkillers.

“Now to wait a few minutes for them to kick in. And thanks for the water too. I was feeling a bit parched.”

A small red square now flashed in front of Dragus’ face, causing him to smile gleefully. “Oh, they’ve reached the fog wall. This should be entertaining…”

Upon all six of the girls entering the fog wall, the black void that lay on the other side of the fog shifted into a dreary and overcast sky above a murky and putrefied swamp. Natural instinct overcame Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, forcing their wings out to allow them to glide down to safety. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for the others.

“Waaaah!” screamed those without wings in unison as they landed on the thick and muddy ground.

Applejack pushed herself up, nearly slipping back into the mud. Steam puffed violently from her nose. “Consarnit! Now mah hat’s all filthy! Oh, when ah see Dragus next, he’s gonna know the fury of an Earth Pony!”

Pinkie Pie’s almost literally brightened with light from how wide her smile was. She gathered a hoof-full of mud, packing it tightly together as best she could. “Mud fight! Rainbow Dash, think fast!”

Rainbow Dash skillfully dodged Pinkie’s lob of mud, responding with a carefully placed dive into the mud below, resulting in Pinkie Pie getting covered from head to tail in the thick, paste-like mud.

“Hehehe, how’s THAT for dodging?” asked Rainbow.

“Super dodg-a-rific, Dashie! What do you think, Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked, only for her eyelid to start twitching and her nostril to flare.

“EVERYPONY COVER YOUR EARS!”

Rarity, who had been staring in shock at the ground for the past few moments, raised a hoof to her mane, feeling the mud in it. She cautiously looked over her shoulders and viewed the mud covering her in large splotches.

“GYAAAH!” Rarity squealed, almost loud enough to shatter glass. “There’s filth in my mane! My fur! Aaaaaah!”

Rainbow Dash dug in her left ear with a hoof as she rolled her eyes. “Ah jeez, seriously? You get flipping mud facials from the spa like twice a month. Why are you freaking out?”

Rarity marched through the mud over to the dry circle created by Rainbow’s impact on the mud, gripping her friend’s face with mud-laden hooves. “It’s not the same! This mud is FILTHY! It has all kind of disgusting fluids and insects in it!”

As if fate were listening, a small beetle made its way out of the mud on Rarity’s mane and flitted away.

“Ugh, if you’re gonna complain about a little mud, then I’m just going to go and get a cloud from up there and rinse you off. Be glad it’ll be semi fresh rain water and not saltwater.”

Rainbow Dash leapt off of the matted dead grass under her and took to the air with a single powerful beat, landing a couple dozen feet from the cloudline above the swamp. Zipping her way around one of the sparse patches of mangrove clusters and continued on upward. Finally, she reached what appeared to be a blanket of clouds that went on for miles.

Weird cloud formation. It’s smells really bad, Rainbow Dash thought to herself. Eh, I don’t have time to complain about some smelly cloud. Time to get this over with so we can find our way to the next floor.

Immediately after Rainbow Dash arrived at the cloud blanket, Pinkie Pie’s face twisted to one of horror as her fur stood on end all over herself. She looked toward her speedy friend and screamed. “Rainbow Dash, don’t go in there! My Pinkie Sense says-- oh dear.”

Pinkie Pie was too late. Rainbow Dash had already entered the clouds and was currently on a spiralling fall back down to the swamp floor. Noticing this, Twilight attempted to teleport over to catch her out of the air, but felt her magic get sucked out of her horn and produce sparks. Luckily though, a portal had appeared on the ground underneath Rainbow Dash, with a familiar draconic figure stepping out.

“Alrighty, now to WHAT THE FYUARGH!” bleat Dragus, whom was making his acquaintance with the ground now thanks to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash on the other hand coughed violently and gripped her chest with her hooves.

“Get the fuck off me, you damn horse!” said Dragus, pushing Rainbow Dash off of his chest. He scowled at his now mud-covered robes. “You know, I spent a lot of money on these robes. Finest wyrm silk in all the universes. Now, I have to replace them. And before you ask, no I can’t just magic up some new ones. Unlike some of the other gods, I have to actually work for my riches. Destruction can’t create from nothing.”

Rainbow Dash continued to cough, raspily gasping for air. “Can’t… breathe…”

“Wait a minute, you can’t breathe? What, did you try to fly into the clouds and hide or something?” Dragus picked up the pegasus by the mane and sniffed her breath, tossing her towards her friends. “This makes explaining things easier for me, as you’ll be dead in a few days. Also looks like I’ve lost one of my livelier contenders.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted as she caught her friend in a weak field of magic, just barely managing to cushion her impact on the ground. “What did you do to her!?”

Dragus raised his brow on one eye. “Me? I’m not responsible for this. It’s her fault for flying into the toxic fog. It’s not like I’m the one who made the swamp.”

“Wait, TOXIC fog!? She’s poisoned!?”

“What do you think happens when you breathe in the vapours from the geysers here? I was coming to make some sort of pun about how dangerous trying to fly here was, but I think that’s quite apparent now.”

Dragus floated gently into the air and laid on his side, summoning a bucket of young shrews to chew on. He casually picked one up and dropped it into his mouth, chewing for a bit and spitting it into the mud below.

“Blegh! Dungeon, I said mice not shrews! Shrews taste terrible!”

Fluttershy looked on in horror as Dragus snapped his claw, causing the bucket to burst into a small ball of hellfire and then smoke. “You horrible monster! You can’t do that to innocent animals!”

In a flash, the kobold vanished from his floating spot and re-appeared in front of Fluttershy, glaring into her eyes. “I don’t think you understand who you are speaking to. I am the GOD of this dungeon and you will not tell me what I can and cannot do. Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes s-s-sir,”Fluttershy whispered as she shrunk back, quivering.

“Good. Now I suggest you all get a move on. I have other things I need to do.”

Dragus raised his claw to open a portal back into his void at the top of the dungeon, only to have it gripped tightly by Twilight.

Dragus snarled. “Uh, excuse me? I said I have other things to do.”

“I’m not letting you go until you tell us how to cure the poison in Rainbow Dash,” ordered Twilight.

“Well, I suppose it’s only fair that I give you a help, in exchange for payment.” Dragus scratched his chin. “If I remember correctly, diseases and ailments aren’t carried over from one floor to another. So if you can manage to find the exit to this floor within the next three or four days, then she should be fine. That, or have her eat a specific mushroom that grows near the center of the swamp.”

Twilight released her magic grip on Dragus’ forearm. “A-and the payment?”

Dragus smiled a crooked smile. “Oh, I think I can imagine a few ways you can pay for the information I’ve given.”

The kobold god jut out his left arm and clenched his claw around Twilight’s throat, gently floating upward with the princess, her eyes wide as tea saucers. Twilight struggled to free herself from her assailant’s grasp, but to no avail. The other girls stood too shocked to move. Applejack, being the first to snap out of her fear, angrily attempted to jump and buck Dragus to the ground, only to meet an invisible barrier and violently rebound back..

Dragus snapped his free hand, causing a tree root to force its way out of the ground below and into Twilight’s gut and then going back into the ground. “Keep the change, bitch. Let this be a lesson to any of you six the next time you try to order me to do anything.”

With that, Dragus dropped the purple alicorn and blinked out of sight back into his void.

“I don’t like it here anymore…” whined Pinkie Pie, tears starting to flow as she hyperventilated. “This isn’t like any kind scary we’ve seen before. I-I’m scared...”

Fluttershy laid down in the mud, crying softly in her hooves.

Rainbow Dash, who finally stopped coughing long enough to speak. “Heh, that’s unlike you, Pinkie Pie. You’re usually full of laughter, even in the scariest times.”

“Rainbow Dash! Y-you’re okay!” Pinkie Pie quickly walked over and knelt down to her pegasus friend. “I-I thought you were…”

“What, you thought I was dead from some stupid smelly cloud? H-hah! Like I’d let myself be taken down by something as s-stupid as a cloud.” Rainbow Dash attempted to stand back up on shaking legs, helped along by both Pinkie Pie and Applejack. “What about Twilight? I couldn’t see anything while I was out of it.”

The three looked over to Twilight, who was now being tended to by Rarity. She was busy attempting to apply pressure on Twilight’s wound with a small handkerchief.

“I can’t stop the bleeding!” exclaimed Rarity.

Twilight’s pained grimace contorted harder the more Rarity pushed onto her belly. “F-FUCK! Rarity, please stop!”

“If you think for one moment that I, Rarity, am going to allow you to bleed, you are wrong! No friend of mine is going to die in some filthy swamp!”

The handkerchief only dug deeper into the alicorn’s golf ball sized wound, eliciting agonizing screams.

Rainbow Dash, noticing movement not too far off from where she stood, hastily made her way over to the duo and pushed aside the white mare.

Rarity scoffed. “I cannot believe you, Rainbow Dash! You of all ponies should know first-hoof how important first aid is!”

“You can be mad at me all you want, but if you keep making her scream her throat out something’s gonna find us!” Rainbow Dash pointed at a large white figure off in the distance. “And I don’t think you want to deal with big and nasty over there. So quit it!”

Rainbow Dash signalled for Applejack and Pinkie Pie to come over and help Twilight onto her side. She then looked over to Fluttershy, who was still crying on the ground. As much as she didn’t want to be harsh to a sensitive friend, this wasn’t a time for weakness.

“Fluttershy I know this is mean, but you have to stop crying and be tough right now. Twilight’s hurt pretty bad,” said Rainbow Dash. “We need your help to fix her up. Nopony else here knows how to deal with things like this.”

The words ‘Twilight’s hurt pretty bad’ rang in Fluttershy’s ears like a small orchestra. She peeked up from her hooves and looked her friend’s body, gasping at the sight of the stab wound.

Fluttershy stood back up and darted over to examine the wound closer. “Oh my goodness, I-I didn’t know how bad this was! We need to stanch this bleeding right now!”

Even with how gentle Fluttershy was with her hooves, the miniscule bumps against Twilight caused her to hiss.

“We need to stitch this shut somehow or singe it. Do you have some sort of spell to make heat?” Fluttershy asked Twilight.

Twilight continued to hiss at the gentle effort being done to slow her bleeding. “I-I think I c-could use a mana bolt.”

“Applejack, can you bring me some of the dead wood from one of the trees around?”

Applejack nodded and galloped a small dead tree around where Dragus portalled in. With one hard buck, the tree snapped off it’s roots and came crashing down onto the swamp floor. Carefully, she broke off a reasonably sized branch and carried it back to her awaiting friends.

Applejack spit the log onto a fairly dry spot on the ground. “Here ya go, sugarcube. Hope this is big enough.”

Fluttershy picked up the branch with her wings. “Try to light the branch on fire, if you can, and brace yourself.”

“Okay, calm down Twilight. You can get through this,” Twilight reassured herself.

Twilight’s horn lit up it’s signature magenta glow and discharged a thin beam of energy into the wood, bringing a small portion of the branch to embers.

Fluttershy speedily pushed the smouldering end of the branch against Twilight’s wound, pressing into it. Again, she let out an ear-shattering scream, which was quickly muffled by Rainbow Dash’s hooves. After a minute or two, the wound had been cauterized over by the ember.

The easy part was now over. Fluttershy helped to pull Twilight back to her hooves and hugged her tightly. However, the two hurt ponies weren’t a problem now. The problem was the puddle of blood that lay where Twilight was.