Ponest Dungeon

Chapter 16: Wrecking the Weald

Week 18, Day 1, Dawn

“If any of you are squeamish,” Ametrine said, “you’ll probably want to look away now.”

Moondancer scoffed. “I don’t think there’s anything you could do that would faze any of us; we’re Canterlot’s Elite force,” she said, indicating the rest of her team with a hoof.

“Suit yourself,” Ametrine replied with a shrug towards Blueblood.

“Do it,” Blueblood said with a nod. “We need to see if this works so they can get moving. Sweeping the forest is going to be a multi-day excursion as-is, and daylight’s wasting.”

“Okay then,” Ametrine said, arching her back slowly, exhaling sharply as she affected a stretch. The sounds of snapping bones and tearing flesh became audible from her barrel as her exhale drew out into an ear rending shriek.

“Mother of Celestia,” Moondancer whispered, her color draining as Ametrine’s face opened.

Fur peeled away from skin, which peeled away from muscle and sinew, which peeled away from bone, all of it swirling around… a growing view of the room they were in. As Ametrine’s flesh continued to rend itself asunder, the window grew in size.

There was a sudden eruption of rank fluid from the visor of Twinkleshine’s helmet, filling the air with the putrid smell of bile. She hoofed at her metal faceplate until she was able to raise it, allowing more of her disgorged stomach contents to pour out onto the floor while she continued to retch violently.

Frowning, Blueblood turned from the vomiting mare to gaze at the new gore-bordered viewing window. “Moony, I hope your team isn’t this squeamish in the field; this display is… tame compared to some of what we’ve seen so far. And Ametrine here is a friendly.”

“Girls?” Moondancer addressed the others, while straightening her own posture and forcing the doubt from her features.

“Such displays do not bother me,” slurred Lemon Hearts, her eyes gleaming dully from behind her mask. “I see worse in the mirror whenever I take my faceplate off.”

Minuette shrugged. “Only thing that bugs me is dirty teeth—Twinkleshine, remember to rinse and brush after you’re done regurgitating there. Stomach acid is Tartarus on your enamel.”

“I’m fine,” Twinkleshine insisted in a voice made raw by her own gorge. “I must have eaten something that disagreed with me is all. I’m fit for duty; a little bad breath won’t slow me down.”

“Well,” Blueblood said, waving a hoof and seeing his actions mirrored in Ametrine’s ‘display,’ “I think you’re all set to go—I’ll see if Ditzy can get you a dinner-mint or something before you all leave, Twinkleshine.”

“C’mon girls,” Moondancer said with a final, tentative glance towards the grotesque thing that Ametrine had become, “let’s go and show these mercenaries how real Canterlot soldiers fight!”

Week 18, Day 2, Morning

The Canterlot soldiers fought well enough to impress Blueblood far more than they had with the display they had given him earlier the day before. He and Tempest sat in the observatory, watching through Ametrine as Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine tore through a slinking series of skeletons. “They’re working very well as a team,” he said, grinning when he saw Minuette heal Moondancer of a gash she’d received in the initial ambush of unruly undead. “They really are something spectacular, aren’t they?”

“If they weren’t,” Tempest observed, “then I’d fear that this country’s defenses are in much worse shape than even the Storm King’s most optimistic invasion projections.” She narrowed her eyes at the image of Twinkleshine twirling her sword around before smashing a skeleton to pieces with it. “They have great skill and ability,” she said with a look of annoyance, “but they lack combat experience—look at how they waste their energy on flair, when they should be worrying more about the economy of their motions.”

Blueblood frowned as his trained eye started to pick up on more of the elite team’s showboating. “I see what you mean.” He scratched his chin. “It’ll be difficult to break them of habits like this if we keep them together.”

“However,” Tempest said, “you are quite correct in your assessment that they work together well as a team; look there—” Tempest pointed a hoof towards Lemon Hearts, who had pressed forward of the others’ position, leaving her flank exposed.

A small group of skeletons moved to take advantage of Lemon Heart’s exposed position, only for Twinkleshine to charge forward and catch them in a pincer maneuver and wipe them out.

“They anticipate each other’s tactics,” Tempest said. “They do it well enough to cover each other’s tactical errors as well.” She looked to Blueblood. “I feel that separating them would greatly reduce their combat effectiveness.”

Blueblood waved his hoof in a circular motion at the display. “Well, if we don’t want to separate them, then what do you think will work?”

“The potential I see in them as a combat team is great,” Tempest said. “I think if we just note their flaws during these missions, I can drill fixes into them as a squad.” She looked at the image of the elites in the bone-strewn aftermath of their successful fight. “I’ve only rarely seen such synergy in a group before.” The faintest hint of a smirk worked its way onto her hardened features. “I think they could very well wind up being our best team, given the proper guidance.”

“I knew Fancy would come through for us,” Blueblood said with a toothy grin. “And Moony—er… Moondancer, I mean. She’s looking to be a good leader; far different than the shy bookworm I knew growing up.” His face settled into a contented grin. “Things are finally starting to look up.”

“Be wary,” Tempest said, looking back to Blueblood. “Triumphant pride—”

“Precipitates a dizzying fall,” Blueblood finished the saying. “I know the adage well enough.”

“Just make sure you have the wisdom to heed it then,” Tempest replied. “I know that I will not allow myself to feel optimistic about our circumstances until things irrevocably turn in our favor.”

“Wait,” Blueblood said. “But you always say that things can never turn irrevocably in somepony’s favor.”

“Exactly.”

Week 18, Day 2, Evening

“An Element-of-what-now?” Rainbow cocked her head.

“It’s called an Element of Harmony,” Twilight said. “One of six. The literature says that each gravitates towards and chooses individuals who exemplify the trait they represent.”

“So,” Blueblood said, “despite a life build on deceit and stealing, the forces of Harmony consider Miss Rarity here… generous?”

“I told you what I do with all of my earnings!” Rarity hissed. “If I’d kept the money for myself, I’d be swimming in wealth, not surviving with just the clothes on my back.”

“Twilight,” Tempest said, with a surprisingly light rap on the table. “What do these Elements do?”

“Well…” Twilight scratched the back of her head. “The literature becomes very vague after that. It says that the magic they summon is the most powerful known to all of ponykind.”

“Then let’s focus on what we do know,” Blueblood said. “What does your research claim to know for certain?”

Placing a thick book upon the drawing room table, Twilight opened it to a page depicting six crystals arrayed around Celestia. “The Elements of Harmony are what gave the Princess the strength to banish Nightmare Moon over a thousand years ago. Before that, Celestia and Luna used them to defeat Discord—a manifestation of Chaos—and Sombra, the Mad King. All of those victories are attributed to the use of the Elements.”

Blueblood steepled his hooves. “Do you think they’ll be powerful enough to banish whatever is under the castle ruins?”

“I…” Twilight frowned. “I don’t have the slightest. We can try using the one we have to see what happens?”

Gritting his teeth, Blueblood shook his head. “No, that’s too risky. Let’s see if we can acquire either more of the Elements or more information before we start trying to activate them all willie-nillie.”

“I concur,” Tempest said. “It would be foalish for us to risk using artifacts with unknown properties… unless we have no other alternative.”

“Keep researching Twilight.” Blueblood stared at the illustration of the Elements. “You have my permission to look through all of Celestia’s journals and notes as well. Perhaps you’ll find something that I’ve missed.”

Week 18, Day 3, Afternoon

Moondancer set her pack on the drawing room table, unloading several knicknacks from it. The gathered ponies looked on in confusion.

“What’s all this?” Blueblood asked, levitating one of the objects in front of his face.

“Things we can sell,” Moondancer replied. “I know ponies who will spend good bits for these pieces.”

Blueblood frowned as he examined the curiosity he’d picked up. “It looks like any other random refuse that we’ve found floating around in the catacomb ruins.”

“Well,” Moondancer said, “we found these scattered amongst the ruins in the Everfree, and I am confident that these particular items will fetch a decent price. It’s a shame you didn’t have an antiquarian in your employ sooner,” she admonished. “You wouldn’t have had nearly as much financial trouble.”

“Really?” Blueblood didn’t sound convinced. “How much do you think all of this is actually worth?”

“For these fifteen small pieces and these statuettes?” Moondancer pulled out a notebook, then looked at the ceiling and started whispering numbers to herself. She finally glanced back at Blueblood. “Twelve thousand.”

“Twelve thousand?” Blueblood’s eye twitched. “Harmony above, how much have we been leaving behind on all of our past expeditions?” He ran a shaky hoof through his mane as he considered the stress and uncertainty he could have saved himself.

Frowning, Moondancer started to hoof the trinkets back into the bag. “Quite a few bits worth, I’m afraid. I’ll make the trek to Canterlot tomorrow so I can get all of this sold to my contacts up there. I should be back sometime the day after.”

“Don’t go alone,” Blueblood warned. “I’ve been getting reports from the recruit prospects that some bandits have taken up residence along the old road again. I’m pretty sure that the only reason you made it here unharmed was because the four of you were traveling together. I’ve been meaning to send a team out to see if we can clear out the brigand infestation—Octavia?”

“M’Lord?” Octavia responded.

Looking between Octavia and several other ponies at the table, Blueblood steepled his hooves. “Take Vinyl and the Apples, prep for an expedition starting tomorrow. I’m sick of these bandits making the trip to town a problem. You are going to sweep down the old road, and clear them out. Understood?”

Octavia rose from her seat and affected a bow. “Perfectly, M’Lord.” She looked at the rest of her team. “Let us go to make preparations,” she said, walking towards the exit. The Apples followed close behind her, but Vinyl seemed lost in thought until she suddenly saw the others leaving. She bolted up and followed them into the hall.

“You seem certain that they will be up to the task,” Tempest said.

“You weren’t in the room for ‘Sharktavia,’ Tempest,” Blueblood said.

“Yeah,” Piped in Shining. “I’ve seen her in action. She is terrifying, maybe even more so than you.”

Tempest glanced towards the two stallions and raised an eyebrow. “Doubtful.”

Week 19, Day 2, Evening

Vinyl lit her horn and forcefully threw another log onto the campfire, eliciting a shower of sparks, as well causing the others to jump back in surprise.

“What in the hay is wrong with you?!” Applejack shouted. “We had a rough enough day with them there three bandit ambushes! We don’t need any more little surprises like that!”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

Winona barked.

“Aww cmon!” Vinyl threw her hooves out for emphasis. “You can’t be serious; it’s just more wood on the campfire! Besides, sending the sparks up like that will scare all the critters away from us!”

Applejack shook her head. “It don’t do us much good if we can’t rest up, now does it?”

“Eeynope,” said Big Mac.

Winona barked again.

“Whatevs,” Vinyl said, pulling out her sound cannon. “If you rubes are gonna be like this, then I’m just gonna rock-out on my side of the fire.”

“Then how,” Applejack said, “are we supposed to get any rest?” She stood and glared over the flames.

Vinyl scowled right back. “Well maybe you should just get used to it!”

“Eeynope,” Big Mac said, standing to his full height.

Winona began to growl.

And then, as they all stared at each other in a mixture of exasperation and burgeoning hatred, a single, haunting note echoed from where Octavia sat. Everypony turned to look at the cellist as she began to play.

The melody was adiago, slowly describing a terrible anger and uncontrollable buildup in fury. The notes carried hints of frustration and building tension, culminating in a frenzied climax.

As the composition continued, the gathered ponies could feel their emotions being swept up and carried along. Just as the chords had reached their peak, mirroring how the ponies had felt moments before, they relaxed into a soothing theme. The resolution released the harmonic tensions which had encompassed the first measure of the piece, and those gathered could feel their stress bleeding away as Octavia continued to perform.

The impromptu outdoor concert continued until everypony present was devoid of even the slightest hints of tension. The composition had actually put Winona and Vinyl to sleep.

“Landsakes,” Applejack said after Octavia had put her bow down. “I ain’t never heard music like that before.”

“Eeynope,” Big Mac agreed

Applejack looked over to where, with shrouded eyes, Octavia sat. “Where’d you learn to play that?”

“I taught myself,” Octavia answered. “When the shark became part of my life, I realized that I already had the means with which to tame it; music soothes the savage beast. When I play like that, there is no set structure. I just… go where the rhythm takes me.”

“Well,” Applejack said after another long while, “thank you kindly for the music. I think it’s time we hit the hay.”

“Goodnight,” Octavia said, watching the Apples lay down. “I’ll keep watch.”

“You sure you don’t need the rest?” Applejack said.

“I’ll be fine,” Octavia reassured her. “Besides,” she said, her voice but a whisper as she heard the breathing of her companions fall into the regular rhythm of unconsciousness, “sharks apparently only sleep half of their brain at a time.”

An hour later, Octavia stood to her hooves and sniffed at the air. If only the brigands knew that her nose was sensitive enough to detect the dried blood on their weapons from miles away, they might have thought to actually wash them off after their odious acts of banditry. Under the waning light of a crescent moon, Octavia strode forth to greet those fools whilst they slumbered, her smile filled with sharp, serrated teeth.

Week 19, Day 5, Evening

“Blueblood?” Ametrine stared at the fire the Prince had started in his bedroom hearth, lit to dispose of any evening horrors that might come calling. She tentatively entered his chambers and turned her gaze towards him.

“Yes, Amethy—” Blueblood swore at himself internally as she scowled at his slipup. “Ametrine… sorry, force of habit.”

“You miss her.” It was a statement, not a question.

“No,” Blueblood replied. “I don’t. You were right before; I never really knew her. What I miss… never existed in the first place.” He sighed. “I’m sorry; I’ve made this about me. I’m pretty good at that, aren’t I? What did you want to say?”

Turning away from him, Ametrine sighed. “Thank you.”

Blueblood blinked, not sure he’d heard correctly. “What?”

Ametrine turned towards him and scowled. “I said thank you, ya ignoramus.”

After recovering from his momentary shock, Blueblood chuckled. “Such vitriol; are you sure you want to thank me?”

“Look,” Ametrine said, “we both know it’s hard for me to get over what you did to me, and that it will continue to be hard. But… but giving me a second chance—no, a first chance—” she looked at him with an expression Blueblood never thought he’d see upon her features: a smile.

“Does this mean—”

“That I forgive you?” The smile vanished as Ametrine snorted. “Maybe after I’ve slept in a bed instead of on a stone slab or on the floor for a month, I’ll think about it.”

Gesturing towards his own mattress, Blueblood turned to Ametrine. “Well, there’s always my bed—”

Ametrine’s expression couldn’t possibly have soured any more than it did in that moment.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Blueblood said as Ametrine moved to leave.

“You are unbelievable!” Ametrine hissed at him.

“I didn’t mean with me!” Blueblood insisted. “I’m serious; I don’t get a lot of sleep anyways, and until you feel comfortable bunking with the others, I’d like to offer you my room, it’s the least I can do.”

“Uh huh,” Ametrine snarked, “and where will you sleep?”

“The observatory.”

Blueblood’s answer seemed to silence her. Ametrine gazed around the room and shook her head. “No, I’ll sleep up there; this place has nothing but bad memories for me.”

“Well, it is nice up there,” Blueblood said. He let the silence draw out a few more moments before speaking again; “I can help you haul a mattress and some blankets up there and you can sleep under the stars.” He thought for a moment. “The stars are actually quite beautiful. Have you ever seen the stars before?” he asked.

“No,” Ametrine replied.

“Well,” Blueblood said, “let me help move you up there, and then you can let me show you.”

Ametrine raised an eyebrow. “Fine, but it’ll have to be pretty fantastic to warrant me tolerating your presence for very long.”

“Trust me,” Blueblood said.

Ametrine narrowed her eyes. “As if.”

Week 19, Day 5, Late Evening

“So,” Blueblood said, panting as he rolled off of Ametrine, managing to tangle himself in one of the blankets they’d brought up for her bedding, “did you see stars?”

“Shut up… and burn in… Tartarus, you rut-stick,” Ametrine replied breathlessly, aiming a weak punch at his shoulder.

Blueblood held up a forehoof to himself to feign injury from the love-tap. “So violent.” He harrumphed and turned away from her. “And so many mixed signals. Hay, if you want me to leave, I can just go back to my room.”

Ametrine gripped him with her forehooves and dragged him towards her, rolling him into a kiss. She released him only after they were both winded again. “Hay,” she growled, “I didn’t say I was done… tolerating you yet—”

“Blueblood!” Twilight shouted as she burst into the observatory, a plethora of parchment poised in the air behind her. “You’ll never believe what I—” Twilight’s manic speech devolved into embarrassed stammering when she laid eyes on the prone couple. “I-I… I’ll come back later, when you’re not—” she coughed “—with each other,” she verbally fumbled as she turned to leave.

“What is it, Twilight?” Blueblood asked, leaning up on one elbow, pulling the blankets to cover as much of Ametrine as he could, and looking over her reddening muzzle. “You’re already here; the damage is done. You may as well spit it out.”

Twilight slowly turned around, her own face having turned a deep shade of crimson. “I—” she cleared her throat “—I found… something.”

Blueblood’s nodded his head slightly. “I gathered that from your extremely exuberant entrance, Twilight. Now, what did you find?”

“An opening,” Twilight said, her manic tone beginning to return. “A… massive gateway of some kind, in the basement of the castle.”

“Impossible,” Blueblood said. “I know that Celestia did say in her letter to me that the castle was acting as a kind of gateway.” He shook his head from side to side. “But she was speaking metaphorically; nothing in her maps, notes, or journals mention any actual physical portal like that.”

“No,” Twilight said. “They don’t—at least not on the surface.”

This earned a raised eyebrow from Blueblood. “What do you mean?”

Twilight held up one of the more massive rolls of parchment with her telekinesis and unrolled it, holding it so that both she and Blueblood could see it. “This, as I’m sure you’re well aware, is a floor plan of the castle.”

Nodding, Blueblood looked between the map and Twilight. “Yes, I’ve seen it.”

Poking a hoof against the depiction of the first floor, Twilight slid a second piece of paper next to the sketch. It showed a deformed monster with a large pair of eyes and a wide, slavering maw. Included were separate brush strokes which circled certain parts of the creature and showed notes on its anatomy.

“I’ve seen that page too Twilight, but I don’t see what—” and then he saw it. “Harmony above.” The illustration was done in such a way that, when compared side by side, features of the monster and the notes synced up with the map almost perfectly. “This is… incredible. But, even though they match up, I still don’t see anything that points towards any kind of gate.”

“Not on this floor, no,” Twilight replied, “but as you can see here, the eyes match the spiral staircases here… and here, and the open mouth matches the main entryway.”

“Okay,” Blueblood replied as his mind made the connections. “I’m following you.”

Twilight passed another page of parchment over the map, this one depicting a beast with multiple tiny mouths strewn about its countenance. “This is the second cellar.” She poked at the corresponding location on the castle floorplan. “All of these mouths match with doorways or archways into other parts of the cellar. Again, the eyes match up with staircases.”

“Okay,” Blueblood said, “so you’re saying that the symbolism is the same from map to map? Eyes mean stairways, and mouths mean doors or other portals?”

“Exactly,” Twilight replied, pulling a final illustration sheet over to the map. This one depicted an enormous creature whose eyes and head shape matched it with the castle’s deepest basement. It was more of an expansive cavern, though, since it seemed to be located several levels below the last of the castle’s worked foundations.

“Wait,” Blueblood said, looking at the creature’s oversized, tentacle-rimmed maw. “The mouth doesn’t fit on the map.”

“Not on the drawn portion of the map,” Twilight said, pointing towards the bottommost part of the map sketch, where the sharp lines which defined cavern walls elsewhere faded into incompletion.

Blueblood’s blood froze in his veins as comprehension dawned upon him. The entrance to the depths Celestia spoke of was right there the whole time, staring them in the face. He had always assumed that the map was incomplete because Celestia had stopped bothering to record the deeper she excavated. He was ripped from his reverie by the sounds of sobbing. Looking down, he saw that Ametrine was shaking against him.

Ametrine was staring in Twilight’s direction, her eyes flicking between the map and the illustration. “That is it,” she gasped. “That is where the shadows reside.”

Twilight regarded Ametrine with a confused and wary expression.

“It awaits you there,” Ametrine choked out. “Death… and Darkness.”

Resolve filling his veins with vengeful fire, Blueblood stood and stared at the map with furrowed brows. “Then let’s not keep It waiting.”