Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

The light dripping of liquid onto liquid filled the air along with a heavy copper scent, making Sparkplug and the two mares following her cringe with disgust.

They were walking through a room covered in puddles of blood, with two grated trenches to the sides flowing with the stuff. Judging from the occasional splashing and the dripping overhangs of stone near the trenches, the ponies figured that they were the source of all the crimson fluid spattered on the floor nearby.

It was morbid to say the least, even if they were fairly certain that it couldn’t have actually come from living beings. The dank tunnels and rooms they were passing through had been going through similar changes the deeper in they went, becoming more and more disjointed from the original architectural style of the castle.

At least there were some lit torches, making their flashlights a little less necessary.

“Ok…” Sparkplug huffed as she scanned her eyes around. “I’ve been to a few creepy places since I’ve joined the team, but this place is definitely staying on top for a while… I hope.”

“I think most places ‘round Equestria aren’t gonna be this bad… even the haunted ones.” Applejack said, briefly wincing and looking down as she felt a cold wetness under her hoof, only to realize she had stepped in a puddle.

Sparkplug snorted. “You’re telling me this place doesn’t look like it’s haunted?” She said before a soft whine behind her made her look back and frown. “Sorry, Fluttershy. I’m sure there’s no ghosts here.”

“W-would it be too much to ask for there to be nothing here?” Fluttershy asked. The two mares felt bad for her. She looked like she was having a hard time even pressing forward, not that they could blame her. They had the heebie-jeebies themselves.

More minutes passed by, along with more sewer-like rooms. They almost missed the empty and lonely halls of the castle dungeon they had left behind.

Applejack trailed her eyes around, even taking another paranoid glance behind them. They still felt like they were being watched, but all evidence pointed to them being alone. “Sparkplug… we’ve been walkin’ fer a while now. Are you sure you’re readin’ that thing right?”

Feeling the anxiousness in both her companions, Sparkplug looked back down to the vial in her hoof. It was her locator, and the red sand was pointing to a far-off reading.

“Sorry. This thing doesn’t account for walls. As long as we keep moving this way, we should run into whoever is over there… or a way upstairs. I’m fine with whichever comes--”

An out-of-place splash made the gray mare pause and flick her ear to meet it. It was quiet, but it didn’t sound like the near-constant sloshing that came from the various surrounding pools and streams of blood.

“-- first?” She muttered, spinning around and shining her flashlight ahead to get a better look at the area.

There was another opening at the side of the room. They had noticed it when walking in, but as they decided to ignore it, they hadn’t taken a good look with their flashlights. It led to a dark tunnel, with shallow blood gently lapping out of its mouth and feeding into a small pool of the stuff on the inclined floor.

“What is it?” Fluttershy quaked, peering out from behind her friends at the tunnel and expecting to see something horrible dart back into the shadows at the end.

“Uh… nothing, probably. I just thought I heard something.” Sparkplug said, taking a few steps closer and stopping just before the edge of the pool of blood. She examined the tunnel closely, watching and waiting to see if that sound came again.

It did. Apparently, the difference in the direction of flow meeting the pool was creating little sloshing sounds every now and again.

“Sorry… guess it was nothing after all.” Sparkplug sighed and let her shoulders sink.

Applejack frowned understandingly. “Nothin’ to worry about, sugar. This place is making all of us jumpier than a cat in a--” Suddenly, her eyes caught a hint of light. It was coming from another charm on the gray mare’s vest. One she recognized from their brief training and prior experiences with the team.

“Girls… your vests.” Fluttershy pointed out nervously. While Sparkplug looked down to her charm, Applejack looked down as well and noticed her own detector glowing.

Sparkplug grabbed the vial and brought it closer to her shrinking pupils. “That can’t be good.”

Then, before anyone could react further, Sparkplug felt something cold, wet, and sharp wrapping around her hind hoof and digging in before yanking her leg back violently. The gray mare yelped, falling back and smacking into the floor. Her hind legs breached the surface of the shallow pool, which was splashing violently.

Much to the horror of Applejack and Fluttershy, they could see what looked to be a bloody claw clenched around Sparkplug’s leg. And it was pulling her. Fast.

“Sparkplug!” They both yelled in unison.

As their friend screamed fearfully and flailed her forelegs to try and get a solid hold on the progressively shrinking section of dry stone she could reach, Applejack dove forward and grabbed both hooves before pulling back.

Fluttershy grabbed the back of AJ’s vest with her teeth and helped pull. With all of their efforts, they managed to pull Sparkplug free quickly, albeit painfully, and back onto relatively dry solid ground.

Sparkplug shared a look of shock with the pair for a brief second before turning and joining them in looking at the pool of blood.

The four bloody digits were still present, but they quickly receded into the shallow depth of the crimson tide. Then, a shape started to roil and shift at its surface. It rose up, and they expected it to breach the surface, but it never did. Rather, it was the surface. It looked like it was simply made of the crimson fluid.

As the ponies all backed up and got to their hooves, they stared in stunned shock as the mass of blood started to form into a lithe, almost equine shape. It started to make these noises. These gurgling, bubbling noises.

These noises, Fluttershy had heard before. Her eyes widened, and a look of horror slowly washed over her as her mind flashed back to yet another incident from her past that she wanted to forget.

“N-no…” She backed up, shaking her head in utter denial. “No, no, no! Not again!”

Applejack looked over, only to be taken aback by the genuine fear and terror in the pegasus’ trembling eyes. “What is it, Fluttershy?” She asked urgently, darting her head between her friend and the shape rising out of the pool and taking form.

Instead of replying, Fluttershy grabbed her friends by their shoulders and nudged them backward with her. “Run!”

With how frantic the pegasus was being, Applejack and Sparkplug decided that it was best to listen. They took off after the pegasus, but Sparkplug didn’t seem as fast as them as her throbbing hind leg forced her into a half limp.

Then, a muffled cry came from behind them, echoing off the sides of the chamber and making the hairs on their tails stand on end. It was a garbled sort of high-pitched shriek, almost like a drowning bird.

“Fluttershy, what was that thing?!” Sparkplug asked, doing everything she could to keep pace with the pair.

Fluttershy darted her eyes back to the sparsely lit darkness behind them, unable to make out the horrifying sight of what she knew must have been chasing them. She had hoped that she would never see it again. “It’s the same as one of the monsters that the hooded ponies summoned! The one from the school!”

Such information meant little to Sparkplug, and while Applejack might have remembered seeing an artistic depiction of the creature her friends had encountered, she didn’t get the chance to as something caught her attention.

“Ack!”

Sparkplug stumbled to the floor as she stepped on a grate wrong with her bad leg. Barely catching herself on her forehooves before hitting the ground, she pushed herself up and looked back to her ankle. It was hard to tell from the excess blood soaking her fur, but she could see three or four puncture wounds around the area where the creature grabbed her.

Hearing and seeing their friend falling, Applejack and Fluttershy stopped in their tracks.

“Come on, Sparkplug! This ain’t no place to lollygag around!” Applejack said, rushing to the gray mare’s side and helping her up.

Then, just as they were turning to sprint off again, another sound like flowing water came from behind. They all turned, only to spot a bloody claw shooting toward them. Applejack barely had time to flinch before she felt the back of her mane being grabbed and yanked.

The orange mare yelped in a mixture of fear and pain. She was pulled right off her hooves, landing on her back before she started sliding back down the corridor.

“Applejack!” Sparkplug gasped and shot forward, leaping to grab the farmer’s hind legs before she could pick up speed and she was pulled all the way over to whatever was on the other end of the claw. She managed to grab on with both forelegs, but it took her a moment to pull back enough to halt their momentum.

As another bubbling moan came from ahead, all three ponies looked up to see a shape attached to the stretchy claw of blood. And as it slowly shuffled out of the shadows, they could finally make out its features. They almost wished that they couldn’t.

Where before there had been a rising and shifting mass of blood, it seemed to have finished whatever transformation it had started before they ran.

It had formed thin forelimbs bedraggled with shades of darker, thicker blood and capped with clawed hands. Its body had filled out, seemingly resembling a wet, monochromatic visage of fur. Lumps of red fluid stuck to its sides, resembling a pair of what looked to be folded wings slightly different in shape to a pony’s.

A circular skull with tufts of feathers slicked down over dark, empty eye sockets rose up to meet the trio’s petrified stares. And as it opened its darker, slightly more solid-looking beak, it squawked hungrily, the sound fighting to claw out of its gloopy fluid-filled throat.

The griffin-esc creature was slowly moving closer to them while also pulling with its whip-like tendril of a forelimb. It appeared to have no lower half, instead only having a deformed blob of liquid and solid blood that tapered off in a puddle on the ground, which was locomoting forward in a similar unsettlingly awkward fashion to the monster Fluttershy remembered encountering months prior.

Hearing another garbled bleat and seeing the beast reel its other foreleg back, Fluttershy’s face paled. “Guys, look out!”

Sparkplug looked up just in time to see a set of claws whipping toward her in a vertical arc. She yelped and kicked off the ground with her hinds, rotating her body so that she was now on her back. The claw narrowly missed her and scraped along the floor, creating an ear grating sound as it reeled back toward its owner.

Applejack tried to use her hooves to get the bloody claw off of her head, but her hooves couldn’t gain solid contact with it. They just passed through what felt like cold, viscous water where her mane was, but the grip still persisted. In fact, now that Sparkplug wasn't pulling as much, they were going backward again as the monster reeled them in.

“Get this thing off me!” AJ pleaded, trying her best not to look up to see the grinning beak of the creature.

Fluttershy’s very being was shaking with fear, but she couldn’t let it prevent her from saving her friends. She rushed forward, bit down on the end of Sparkplug’s tail, and pulled with all she was worth.

The added efforts of the pegasus were enough to slow them to a stop again, but it wasn't enough to break the monster’s hold on Applejack’s mane. It simply had too good of a grip.

Fluttershy tried pulling harder, and Sparkplug tried to do whatever she could with her awkward positioning. Applejack was just trying not to lose her hat or her head. Still, nothing was working.

Eventually, after one last mighty pull, Fluttershy fell back onto her haunches as the white tail between her teeth slipped free.

“It’s no use!” Sparkplug said, digging into the stone beneath her with her hind hooves.

Applejack grit her teeth as she craned her head back and saw how close they were to the creature. Soon, it wouldn’t need to stretch to reach them with its razor-sharp claws. “Just leave me!” She shouted, though her wide eyes seemed to beg otherwise.

“No way, AJ!” Sparkplug protested, keeping her grip as the orange mare tried to gently kick her off. Her heart was pounding with fear, but she would not abandon a friend. “If this thing’s getting you, it’s gonna have to go through me too!”

Fluttershy held her hooves to the sides of her head and whined as she watched the pair being reeled in, the bloody fishing line slithering back into the creature’s form with each movement. “What do I do?!”

What could she do? The bloody monster was impervious to most any attack. Everything they could try would just go through its body like water. Even Tom’s spirit weapons didn’t work on the one at the school.

Thinking back to her last encounter with this monster, she remembered Twilight’s energy blasts being effective at disrupting its form at the very least.

She also remembered that the gray mare and the others had just recently gotten a shiny new weapon that she hoped would have a similar effect.

“Sparkplug, where’s that popper thing you have?!” Fluttershy asked as she rushed over to the gray mare.

“Uh… l-left bottom pocket!” Sparkplug said after some frantic thought. She would have gotten it for the pegasus, but she was afraid to let go for fear of Applejack being immediately pulled in.

Fluttershy raced her hoof to Sparkplug’s vest, beginning to dig through the pocket she pointed out.

Sparkplug shook her head, “My left! Sorry, sorry!”

“AGHH!”

Suddenly, Applejack shouted in pain.

The pair looked up, only to have the color drain from their faces as they saw the creature’s other hand digging into the orange mare’s shoulder. Its talons were barely visible from how deep in they were. Much to their horror, they noticed the creature’s translucent forelimb shaking slightly, along with a slightly darker liquid flowing out of Applejack’s wound and up into the watery limb.

“Applejack!” Sparkplug cried.

Fluttershy’s jaw dropped and her eyes grew. She knew what was happening. She had gone through the same thing before, and it almost killed her. The creature was siphoning out Applejack’s blood.

With time running out and her heart rate going through the roof, the pegasus rushed to search the correct pocket on Sparkplug’s vest. Feeling a small brass cylinder in her grasp, she pulled it out and quickly oriented it in her hooves.

“Twist, then push!” Sparkplug instructed frantically.

Fluttershy wasn't sure of the finer details of the weapon, but she didn’t care. She twisted the base, which clicked softly and revealed a red notch. Then, she aimed the vial ahead and pushed the easily identifiable button.

*POP*

The orange-tinted light in the tunnel was shattered by a brief flash of green as the vial jumped in Fluttershy’s hoof, causing a startled yip from the pegasus.

A green laser zipped forward, striking the creature in what would loosely translate to its abdomen. The force of the projectile exploded into its watery form, sending crimson liquid spraying out and causing the beast to lurch down and to the side with a pained, sucking gurgle.

Fluttershy took aim again and flinched an eye shut before turning her head and pushing the button a second and third time.

Two more bolts zipped at the creature, striking its other side and its head. Droplets and chunks of blood exploded outward, staining the sides of the tunnel. It didn’t even make a sound other than a disgusting slorp as its blobby mass of a body flopped to the floor and melted back into a puddle of blood.

Applejack felt the grasp on her mane vanish and the stabbing pain in her shoulder lessen as the once semisolid claws liquified. She didn’t care how or if the creature was even dead. All she cared about was getting herself and her friends away.

Grunting in pain as she worked her way back to her stomach and then all fours, she ran past a concerned-looking Sparkplug, who was just about to offer her some help walking, and a jittery-looking Fluttershy, who was still staring at the liquid remains of the creature.

“Let’s get out of here!” Applejack exclaimed.

Sparkplug was surprised at how fast the farmer was going with that shoulder wound. Then again, adrenaline was one hay of a drug.

Seeing Fluttershy still stunned, Sparkplug rushed over and put a hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder before pulling away. “Come on, Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy took a few steps away, mostly because Sparkplug half pulled her. She glanced back to the bloody puddle that once was the creature, a feeling of dread still working its way through her system, before she followed after the pair.

If she remembered one thing above all else about what she experienced in the school, it was that those creatures did not give up easily.

Elsewhere in the bowels of the castle, Sunspot and Glimmer Shine were still busy navigating the bloody maze around them in hopes of finding a way upstairs.

Their respective uniforms were still soggy, with Sunspot looking the most miserable the stallion had ever seen her. He wasn't having a terribly good time either, with the entirety of his fur coat feeling icky and wrong.

As they walked, they passed through another larger room. They were on a thin platform, with a set of stairs doubling back to the room below. Chains, hooks, and shackles adorned the walls, some of which still holding skeletal remains of what appeared to be griffons. Most of them were missing a lot of bones, but the one slumped by the door at the far side was relatively intact.

Sunspot peered down into the lower area. Part of the floor was submerged under a shallow layer of more blood. She grimaced at the sight. “Dangit… I’m sick of this place.” She muttered, turning to her companion and wrapping her forelegs around his waist before spreading her wings and hovering down and over the blood.

“Just think of how the others are doing.” Glimmer Shine said. He cringed at the sensation of Sunspot’s suit squishing against him. “Hopefully they’ve managed to stay drier than we have.”

As her thoughts shifted to her friends, Sunspot’s expression fell. “I hope they’re ok.”

Glimmer Shine exhaled and softened his eyes as the pegasus set them down where the floor was mostly devoid of blood. “We should probably check on them. It’s been a while since we’ve been in contact anyway.” He noted, holding a hoof up to his ear as they walked toward the exit.

“This is Glimmer. How’s everyone doing?”

Weirdly, there was a longer pause than he was expecting before a response came.

“We are not in the best position to talk currently!” Princess Luna’s voice came, sounding somewhat alarmed and worked up. A loud crash and a metallic clank bled through the call before abruptly stopping as if the alicorn had dropped her hoof suddenly.

Sunspot skewed her brow with concern and slowly lifted her own hoof up. “Everything ok up there, Princess?”

After a few moments, another response came, but it was from Celestia rather than Luna.

“Not exactly!” The alicorn said, also sounding a bit out of breath as a sound like a blade striking iron rang out, along with a faint explosion. “We’ve encountered Dusk. He left this living suit of armor behind to fight us before we lost him... It is… quite strong!” Her voice went up in pitch slightly as she cut out, seemingly dodging something.

Glimmer and Sunspot shared a worried look. There wasn't much of anything they could do to help the princesses and their pegasus friend from where they were.

“Hang in there. We’re still trying to make our way upstairs.” Glimmer said in as reassuring a tone as he could muster. He hated only being able to offer hollow words of encouragement to them. “Anything new with everyone else?” He asked, shifting his thoughts to the others.

Nothing but silence responded. The pair didn’t like how the alicorns were the only ones that spoke up before, so now they were starting to feel outright uneasy.

“Hello…?” Sunspot asked. The troubling radio silence was enough to make them stop walking briefly.

“Pinkie? Glitter?” Glimmer Shine’s expression fell the longer they went with no answer. “Anypony there?”

Then, just as they were thinking they would never get a response, some exhausted panting came through.

“This… this is Sparkplug.” The gray mare spoke, sounding very much exhausted and even a little pained and afraid. “Everyone downstairs needs to... watch out…”

Sunspot wrinkled her brow as they reached the end of the room. She reached for the handle of the door, letting her hoof linger on it as she was focused on her gray friend. “Woah… calm down, Sparkplug. Take a breather and tell us what’s wrong.”

Sparkplug took a few slower breaths, coughing under her burning lungs before speaking again. “There’s this blood monster… We’re not sure if it’s just one or… or--”

“Blood monster?” Glimmer Shine asked. “What are you talking about?”

“AH!”

However, before he could get a response, a startled yelp came, though it wasn't in his head. It was beside him.

Sunspot was reeling back, or at least trying to, as a boney claw reached up and gripped her foreleg tightly. Looking down and following the skeletal limb, they could see the griffin remains on the floor looking up at them, with one bloodshot red eye in its skull. A shrill, unpleasant chirp came from it as it opened its beak.

“Bwah!” Sunspot squeaked, having not expected such a hideous visage looking back at her. “Get off me!”

Seeing his friend in distress, Glimmer widened his eyes and sprang forward. He grabbed her and helped her pull away, managing to break off the skeletal forelimb holding her with a hollow snap and sending both of them falling to their haunches.

The pegasus looked down to her foreleg, which still had the clutching boney claws attached to it, before grabbing it with her free hoof and tossing it away with a startled yelp. It clattered to a stop in front of the griffon skeleton, which was now starting to get up.

Much to their horror, a wriggling sound drew their attention to some sort of red, veiny-looking growth snaking down through its jaw. It almost resembled tendons or tissue, but it moved like it had a life of its own.

As the creature stood and shrieked at them, the bloody growth spidering out across its bones and taking hold, the ponies scrambled back. Glimmer drew his dagger, while Sunspot raced for her popper and stiffly held it out.

“What layer of Tartarus did that thing crawl out of?!” Sunspot asked.

Then, a second low cry came from behind them.

And a third.

And as the pair spun around, their ears slowly fell along with their jaws as they saw more of the skeletons in the room starting to move.

Some were coming down off of hooks on the walls, some were rising up from the pools of blood. All were in various stages of falling apart, and all of them had similar creeping tendrils of red sinew latching onto their bodies.

“I don’t know… but it looks like he brought friends.” Glimmer muttered nervously as he backed closer to the pegasus.

While Glimmer turned and kicked at the skeleton by the door, sending it rolling to the side, Sunspot took aim at one of the others with her popper.

“Take this, you butt ugly bags of bones!” Her eyes flared as she made her first shot. She was starting to get used to the kick and the aim of their newest weapon, so she managed to hit one of the creatures right between the eye sockets.

The skeleton had a sizable hole punched into its skull through both sides and staggered back on its hinds. However, Sunspot’s expression fell as it stopped itself with unnatural movement and settled back onto all fours before screaming at her, a bloody-looking tongue flapping in its beak.

“Glimmer, get that door open.” Sunspot said, backing up while facing the approaching creatures with her popper. She took more shots, but whatever didn’t blast apart a skeleton seemed to be ignored, and even the ones she blasted apart slowly formed back together.

Not one to ignore such a suggestion, the stallion rushed up to the door and tried the handle. His pupils shrank as nothing but stiff resistance met him.

“Oh, buck.”

Sunspot turned her head briefly. “That’s not what I want to hear right now! Please tell me it’s not locked!”

“I could say that, but I think it would be better if I died an honest stallion!” Glimmer replied, starting to frantically reach down to his vest.

“Glimmer!” Sunspot whined. The room was full of energetic cracks of sound and high-pitched wails as the undead horde tried to approach from every angle. In a minute, she would have to start throwing hooves with some skeletons, which was something she did not want to do twice in her lifetime.

“I’m working on it!” Glimmer said, pulling his cutter out of its pocket and pressing it to the area around the lock. “Just keep them back!”

“I’m working on it!” Sunspot retorted.

Then, a distinct lack of a pop and a subsequent discharge of energy made Sunspot pause. She looked down to her weapon, which was steaming at the tip and emitting a slight sizzling sound. The green liquid visible through the slits of glass in its sides was also red instead.

“Oh, buck!” Her eyes widened as she held up her now-useless weapon. She did vaguely remember Glitterball and Tom saying that the poppers could overheat from repeated firing, but she had never stress tested it before now. “Buck, buck, buck!”

Two of the skeletons bleated eagerly as they approached the now defenseless pegasus. They each reached out one clawed hand toward her, ready to rip into her.

Sunspot backed up, only to hit the wall behind her. She drew her dagger and trailed it side to side, unsure of which target would reach her first. Her entire life flashed before her as her vision filled with a horde of hungry beaks and lidless eyes.

Then, the constant sound of sparking energy from Glimmer’s cutter ceased, followed by a wooden creak. Before Sunspot could even break free of her terrified stare, a yellow hoof grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her forward and through the now open door.

“Go! Go, go, go!” Glimmer instructed.

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Sunspot said, not even looking back as they both beat hoof through whatever path awaited them.

The only thing forefront in their mind, other than the pounding of their racing hearts, was finding their friends. Whatever spell Dusk had cast, it had brought along some terrifying creatures with it. The lower levels weren’t safe, and they needed to get upstairs again and back to the others.

Not everyone was focused on leaving the lower levels, however. Something lost had to be found first, and find it, or rather, her, Rainbow Dash would. She had to.

The cyan mare and her reluctant companion were hovering through the darkened tunnel. As tight as it was, they could barely reach full wingspan, and actually had to land and trudge through the shallow crimson liquid in some places. Rainbow didn’t care, even if Raincloud did.

“Blech! Did that fang-faced freak really need to hammer home the fact that he’s a vampire? We get it, you like blood!” The gray mare grumbled, trying not to splash too much and save the rest of her fur.

“Just shut up and keep moving,” Rainbow replied, her focus clearly elsewhere.

Soon, they came out of the tunnel and into another actual room. However, the moment they tried to step out, Rainbow’s foreleg sank into a deep pool of blood. She didn’t even touch the floor by the time she stuck her whole limb in, and she didn’t care enough to go further as she flapped her wings to get airborne.

The whole stretch of room before them was completely submerged in the crimson fluid, save for one walkway of floor at the back. More arched pathways opened up to their sides, revealing that the lake of blood stretched on even past where they were.

These paths also served to make Rainbow’s heart sink. There was no sign of her friend anywhere.

“Pinkie?!” Rainbow cupped her hooves beside her muzzle and shouted, hovering closer to one of the openings to the right. Her voice echoed in the expansive space. “Where are you?!”

Raincloud watched as the cyan mare hovered around, peering down any path she could see in search of the missing mare. “Look, Dash… I feel bad about the puffball, I really do… but there’s no way we’re going to find her.” She explained, a surprisingly conflicted frown on her face.

Rainbow Dash spun in the air to glare at her fellow pegasus. “Raincloud, shut up and help me look, would you?! She wouldn’t have been down here anyway if you didn’t push her!” She jabbed an accusing hoof at her ‘companion’.

Seeing the already tentative tolerance the cyan mare had for her waning, Raincloud shrank back slightly. She pursed her lips and trailed her eyes down as she thought back to her brief struggle with the pink pony.

“I’m sorry,” Raincloud said genuinely. “But we need to think about ourselves for a minute! Something must have snatched her, which means that we’re not alone in here!”

Rainbow stared at the pegasus silently for a moment, her eyes narrowing and a soft growl forming in her throat before she turned away. “It should have been you.” She said coldly before returning to her search.

Then, a sudden noise made both of them freeze. A crash of liquid came from further down the cavernous space, like something breaching the surface. Along with this, a familiar voice yelling for help came before quickly falling silent.

“Pinkie! Hold on, I’m coming!” Rainbow shouted, already shooting off like a dart.

Raincloud briefly turned to the tunnel entrance behind her. She could easily just grab a torch, go back and look for a way out on her own. However, she turned back around and sighed before speeding after the cyan mare. “What am I doing?”

Following the darting flashlight on Rainbow’s vest, Raincloud eventually caught up with the frantic pony at another central intersection.

“Where is she?!” Rainbow repeated, scanning the crimson waters below and the various stretches of stone walkways tucked at the back and front of the area. Seeing nothing but roiling, red-tinted darkness, she held her hooves to her head.

“We’re never gonna find her like this!” Raincloud groaned, still vaguely hoping to make the pegasus beside her see reason.

Then, Rainbow had a blank look fall over her, followed by a wide grin. “You’re a genius, Raincloud!”

Raincloud blinked. “I… am?”

She cocked an eyebrow as she saw Rainbow digging on her vest again before pulling up a vial full of a sand-like substance on an easily accessible cord.

“This puppy can find her, no problem!” Rainbow stated eagerly, only to have her grin crack and fall around the edges as she fiddled with the vial to no result. “Oh, come on… work you stupid little--”

Then, as she clicked the small dial-like cap at the bottom of the charm to the side, the sand inside the vial flashed red a few times before lighting up along the left side.

“Yes!”

“So that’s what they use as a locator,” Raincloud said, briefly lifting her brows in surprise and even begrudging appreciation. Judging from the material, it looked like a decently put-together charm.

Ignoring her fellow pegasus, Rainbow quickly shifted the vial toward the glowing side. The sand lit up more evenly as she leveled it directly ahead. Nothing but more blood.

And as the pieces slowly fit together in her head, her face paling at the realization of the splashing sounds from before, a series of bubbles suddenly floated to the surface.

“Oh my gosh, Pinkie!” Rainbow’s voice cracked and she let the vial recede on its cord before diving down.

Raincloud held a foreleg up to shield her face from the violent splash as the cyan mare disappeared under the surface. Rainbow didn’t even hesitate for a moment. She almost wished she still had somepony who would do something like that for her.

Meanwhile, under the crimson tide, Rainbow Dash immediately lost any semblance of vision. It was hard to keep her eyes open, and all she could see was dark red.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. There was a bright red glow coming from the front of her vest. The locator charm was still on, and she could just barely make out its light growing brighter and fuller as she swam down.

How deep was the bottom? Was there even a bottom? Anything was possible with the labyrinthine spell. She could have been swimming into a never-ending pit.

One thing that did have an end, however, was her lung capacity. She could feel her chest burning and her throat beginning to tickle, her body’s way of telling her that it needed air even if there was none.

Her hooves flailed and searched. She was hoping, praying that she came across her friend.

Then, she saw it. A hint of light streaming up, along with an out-of-place blur. It was another flashlight beam.

Rainbow picked up her speed, kicking and paddling as fast as she could through the soupy mess. She reached out her hoof, and miraculously, touched a solid, familiar form.

She quickly felt around until she was confident she had found her friend’s orientation. Pinkie was still conscious, the frantic hooves blindly brushing against her told her as much. However, judging from the restless movements, she must have been running out of breath.

Wrapping her forelegs around the pink mare’s waist just below the vest’s cutoff, Rainbow began to swim up. Strangely, however, she was met with some resistance.

Something was pulling on Pinkie from below.

With time running out for both of them, Rainbow kicked harder. She even unfurled her powerful wings, uncaring of the sharp twinge of discomfort from her feathers being touched by something so solid. It was hard to move them, and she wasn't getting much lift, but every little bit helped.

Eventually, they broke free of whatever force was trying to drown them. The surface approached. Rainbow’s lungs were on fire. Her vision was blurring, and the need to suck in was getting harder to ignore.

She had to breathe. She had to.

*Gasp*

Just as they breached the surface, Rainbow inhaled. Immediately, she heard some violent coughing and sputtering from the pink mare in her grasp as Pinkie shot back to consciousness, having been on the verge of passing out.

After catching her own breath and shaking her head to rid the excess fluid and hair from her eyes, Rainbow frowned with concern. “Pinkie…” She spit to the side and grunted as her throat spasmed. “Are you ok?”

Pinkie took a moment to collect herself and catch her breath. However, as she did, her eyes widened and a look of terror washed over her. She looked ahead to the cyan mare still gripping her tightly with alarm written all over.

“Get out of the water…” She instructed, voice still a bit strained and craggy.

Rainbow didn’t quite hear or understand her. She was still too focused on the fact that Pinkie was alive to even fully process that she had just pulled her away from something.

“What…?”

Pinkie took her hooves and rested them on Rainbow’s shoulders, trying to convey the severity of the situation. “GET OUT OF THE WATER!”

Then, Rainbow Dash felt something grab onto her hind leg from below.

“Bwa--!” She only managed to get out the beginnings of a startled yelp before she was yanked down. Blood splashed back into her mouth and she flailed, trying to find a solid hold on something by instinct. The only thing she found was Pinkie.

“Rainbow!” Pinkie raced her hooves to grab her friend, just barely taking hold before the pegasus was pulled under. She kicked her hinds as hard as she could to tread liquid. They were both splashing everywhere as they desperately struggled to stay above the surface.

However, it was a losing battle they were fighting. Whatever was pulling them was stronger than Pinkie, and she was the one who was doing most of the work due to Rainbow’s legs being pinned.

Pinkie tilted her chin and flinched her eyes closed as the surface of the crimson fluid started to swallow her. She almost wished that her pegasus friend hadn’t found her. At least Rainbow would have lived on.

Just as the world was about to go dark again, the pink mare felt another set of hooves hooking under her forelegs from above. She looked up, only to see Raincloud flying up and trying to pull the two of them out.

Raincloud grunted and reeled her head back as she pulled with all her might. “Kick like you mean it, puffball! Use that sugar high!”

Slowly but surely, they started to move upwards. Another gasp of air came as Rainbow breached the surface again. Once she was mostly above the crimson water, she flapped her wings like crazy while holding tight onto Pinkie’s form.

All three of them made a beeline to the side, where the closest stone walkway was waiting at the back of the room. Rainbow could almost swear she felt something solid swipe against her hind hoof amidst the lapping waves just before it left the pool. She tucked her legs in and collapsed to the floor, pulling herself and her companions as close to the wall as they could get.

They all just lay there in a wet, shivering pile. Two of them were soaked and exhausted, and one was mildly confused. All of them were alarmed to some degree.

Rainbow Dash coughed as she lifted her head to peer out at the crimson sea before them. “Wh… what was that?”

Pinkie had her eyes glued to the surface of the ‘water’, feverishly searching for signs of undue movement. She coughed a few times herself. “I… I saw it. Before it grabbed me.” She explained, a sense of fear and panic in her eyes that the cyan mare hadn’t seen in a long time. “It looked like that… that monster that attacked the school back when the hooded ponies were around!”

“What… you mean that bloody water monster?” Rainbow asked, growing a bit concerned as well now.

Suddenly, Raincloud’s eyes grew and a look of revelation came over her. “Oh, crap. That thing?!” She shot to her hooves. “If that’s what’s down there, we gotta get the buck out of here!” She stated, already starting to rush down the thin stone path back toward where they came from. Pinkie seemed eager to follow, but Rainbow was still confused.

“Hold on. Why don’t we just fly over? It’ll take less time than-” She started to hover into the air over the blood pool when a pink hoof nudged her back down.

“No, no, no,” Pinkie shook her head rapidly, “You don’t understand. That thing is reeeaaally stretchy! If you fly over it, it’ll just grab you! We need to run before it decides to come up here after us!” She suggested, practically pulling the pegasus along behind her.

Rainbow Dash darted her eyes between her friend and the pool beside them, a glint of fear in their centers. She remembered hearing about the experience Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight had in the school. They all were traumatized by it to some degree, and she now understood why. If something that dangerous was lurking beneath the churning depths, they had to get away and fast.

Deciding to head back toward the way they came in the hopes of reaching that staircase Rainbow Dash found in the trapped workshop, they hurried as fast as they could on their little sliver of solid ground.

Luckily, the stone walkway slipped through the arches and pillars dividing the cavernous space. They could take it all the way back to where they could see the first tunnel.

However, as they came upon said tunnel, they halted to a stop as they realized something.

They were still at the back of the room. There was no viable path over to the mouth of the tunnel, save for going across the expanse of roiling blood.

“Oh no…” Pinkie’s pupils shrank as she realized how much trouble they were in.

Raincloud sighed and gestured a hoof in tense annoyance. “Well, that’s just great! What do we do now?”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was trying her best to come up with a plan of action. She wasn't the smartest in their group of friends or even the most strategic. Still, she knew how to use her strengths to her advantage.

She contemplated using herself as bait. Then again, that probably wouldn’t work. However good her flying might have been, she didn’t trust Raincloud with Pinkie’s life or her own anymore, if she ever did before. And if she wasn't fast enough and she got grabbed herself, she was as good as dead.

No, the only way out that the cyan mare could see for all of them, was through.

“We’re gonna have to just go for it,” Rainbow said, a feeling of dread firmly cementing itself in her core. Normally, a quick fly over a few feet like this was paltry for her, but now it seemed so much further.

“W-what?!” Pinkie snapped her eyes open and looked at her friend like the pegasus was crazy.

Raincloud skewed her eyes. “Look, I know you like to be all gung ho about things, but maybe we shouldn’t tempt fate a second time?”

“You got any better ideas?” Rainbow asked.

The gray mare wrinkled her expression and trailed her eyes away. “Well… you could, uh… ha… undo my collar?” She smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck as she saw the understandably unimpressed looks she received.

“Yeah, no offense, but I think I’d rather swim.” Rainbow Dash said before sighing and shaking herself awake. She twitched her wings and loosened up her shoulders before turning to her pink friend. “Alright, Pinkie. Come here.” She said, starting to wrap her forelegs around the earth mare’s waist until Pinkie herself stopped her.

Much to the pegasus’ surprise, Pinkie backed away quickly and shook her head. “No… no, no, no, please. Please don’t let it get me.” She quaked, eyes on the verge of tears as she cowered down and hugged the wall.

Rainbow Dash frowned with concern. Facing an old foe like this and almost drowning a second time must have been bringing back traumatic memories for the party pony.

“Hey…” Rainbow said in a soft voice as she knelt down to be at eye level. “Pinkie, look at me.” She rested a gentle hoof on her friend’s shoulder, causing her to jump slightly and look up with those big blue orbs of hers. “I will not let it get you… ok? I’m sorry there isn’t another way. If we want to get out of here and help the others, I need you to be brave for a little bit longer. Do you think you can do that?”

Pinkie stared at the cyan hoof outstretched to her, occasionally shifting her trembling gaze to the murky red waters off to the side. Then, she thought of Fluttershy, Applejack, and Sparkplug. She was traumatized by her own experiences, but she never wanted her friends to experience something similar, especially Fluttershy. Not to mention the other dangers her other friends might have been in.

However much she didn’t want to, she had to brave the waters.

“Okie dokie l-lokie…” Pinkie stammered softly, managing a fragile smile as she took Rainbow’s hoof.

With pressure mounting, the trio prepared themselves for the longest few feet they would ever traverse.

Rainbow Dash hovered up and securely wrapped her forelegs around Pinkie’s form. Raincloud hovered up after the pair, the both of them gaining height before even thinking of going forward.

The pool of blood waited for them patiently. They couldn’t even tell where the creature was or if it even followed them, but somehow they knew. It was just waiting for them to make their move.

After a few sharp breaths to hype herself up, Rainbow exhaled and looked down to Pinkie one last time before turning to Raincloud. “On three… fly like your life depends on it.”

“Thanks for the pep talk, coach,” Raincloud said flatly.

Ignoring the snide remark of her winged companion, Rainbow turned ahead and settled her eyes on the tunnel opening.

“One…”

Her heart started beating faster.

“Two…”

Pinkie felt the cyan mare tighten her grip around her, which she was greatly thankful for. Raincloud cringed and drew air between her teeth as Rainbow hesitated briefly.

“THREE!”

The two flyers did what they were born to do and flew forward, beating their wings as hard as they could.

Pinkie squeezed her eyes shut as they crossed the bloody lake. A soft whine escaped her muzzle and she clasped her forelimbs over Rainbow Dash’s.

Raincloud felt her spine tingle as they both pushed to go faster. Even when carrying a full-grown mare, Rainbow Dash was keeping ahead of her. The mouth of the tunnel drew near, and they started angling down to meet it. They would run all the way to the stairs back where they came if they had to.

Then, just as they were nearing the end, a loud splash came from the crimson waves below.

Raincloud trailed her eyes down just in time to see a bloody claw reaching up at her. She flinched, but she didn’t have time to alter her course before it wrapped its cold talons around her throat.

“Ack!”

Rainbow and Pinkie turned their heads just in time to see their gray companion getting pulled down by a flowing torrent of blood. They widened their eyes.

“Raincloud!”

Raincloud herself barely heard them as she splashed down into the murky depths. She clutched at her throat and kicked her hinds, hoping to get away from the creature’s grasp. Unfortunately for her, it was no use.

She gasped just before she went under, so her lungs were already filling with fluid.

This was it. This was how she died. Of all the things it could have been, she never expected it would be like this, or with her present company. The two mares wouldn’t risk coming to save her. After all, she had betrayed them many times. Part of her wanted to think ill of them, but she was honestly glad that they would escape with their lives.

As her lungs burned and her vision blurred, her thoughts drifted to her brother. If he could see how she went out, he would probably think it was some sick joke. Her? Dying in place of two element bearers? She would have laughed too if she could breathe.

Eventually, she closed her eyes and stopped fighting. There was no point in it anymore. Without her shadow magic, she was helpless against the creature. If she was going to die, she didn’t want to die tired.

The calming waves took her form, cradling her as she fell deeper into the abyss.

Deeper…

Deeper…

Colder…

Darker…
.
..
…
Then, a muffled splash made her open her eyes. After a brief moment, a pair of fumbling hooves brushed against her head before quickly finding her forelegs. They grabbed her, and she grabbed them almost reflexively.

Much to her surprise, Rainbow Dash started pulling her up. She figured it was Rainbow Dash at any rate. Only the cyan mare was this stupid and reckless.

With faint hope filling her, Raincloud renewed her struggle against the creature. She kicked with all her might and flapped her lethargic wings. She could feel the sharp talons on her neck losing their hold.

Then, with one final twinge of pain as the talons scraped her flesh, she was free. The two ponies swam back to the surface as fast as equinely possible before finally breaking through.

Both of them gasped, with Raincloud falling into a coughing fit from all the blood in her lungs. She barely even had time to wipe her eyes or catch her breath before another set of hooves grabbed her from above.

“Come on!” Pinkie Pie egged them on frantically, doing everything she could to get the gray mare into the mouth of the tunnel so Rainbow Dash could get up. The less time they spent in the water, the better.

“Move it or lose it, Raincloud!” Rainbow Dash shouted, giving the lethargic mare a push to help her climb up.

Once Raincloud was back on solid ground, Rainbow Dash scrambled to get up. She cleared the water just as another loud splash came and a hint of movement caught their vision. They didn’t even stop to look.

“Go, go, go!” Rainbow repeated, half-sprinting, half-dragging Raincloud along until the gray mare caught her bearings and picked up speed to match both her and Pinkie.

And then, they ran. They ran far, and they ran fast, hooves splashing and echoing in the tunnel until they eventually came back out in the room with the pit that started this whole escapade.

Whether or not they were being followed, they grabbed Pinkie and flew up and onto solid, dry ground once more. They didn’t stop there either. In fact, they didn’t stop until they were down the hallway by the workshop.

With every fiber of their beings crying out for rest, they puttered to a stop. Pinkie slumped down to her haunches, using the wall behind her for support. Raincloud fell to her knees and stayed there for some time, panting and breathing.

Really, there was a lot of breathing. Air was the best thing ever, and she would never take it for granted again.

Rainbow Dash leaned against the wall, though she managed to stay standing. She was surprised to see Raincloud looking up at her with a stunned expression.

“You… you saved me?” Raincloud muttered.

Rainbow sighed. “I feel like we’ve been through this before, Raincloud. I’m not just going to let you die because you’re a jerk.”

“Besides… you did help save me,” Pinkie added with a bit of a grateful smile.

Raincloud’s ears fell flat against her head. She seemed to be at a loss for words. If somebody stabbed her in the back, she wouldn’t have lifted a hoof to save them, let alone risk her life.

Seeing the gray mare frowning to herself, Rainbow Dash went over and offered a hoof. “Alright, enough with the mushy-feely junk. I’m way too mushy right now as is.” She cringed briefly at her soaked fur. “Besides, we have more important things to worry about.” She said, grunting slightly as she pulled Raincloud back onto all fours.

“Oh my gosh, that’s right!” Pinkie gasped suddenly, lifting a hoof to her ear. “I’ve got to warn the others!”

As the pink mare brought up their friends, Rainbow frowned softly with concern. They narrowly escaped with their lives, but the others might not be so lucky.

The two pegasi watched as Pinkie concentrated on the intended recipients of her message. She inhaled sharply before speeding off into a garble of words that probably came as a startling shock to those who weren’t prepared for it.

“Guys! Stay out of the water! There’s a monster down there!” She explained energetically.

After a few moments, Sparkplug’s voice responded. “Yeah… we already know. Jeez, Pinkie…” She said, probably rubbing her now ringing ear. “You had us worried for a minute there. Everything alright with you guys?”

Pinkie deflated a bit with relief. At least the trio was ok, although the gray mare did have some exhaustion to her voice. “Yep! We had a close call, but everything’s okie dokie artichokie now. We even found a way upstairs!” She beamed as she looked over to the doorway to the workshop ahead, which now had a few broken bars discarded nearby from when Rainbow Dash cut herself free.

“Wow, that’s great, Pinkie!” Sparkplug said. “Listen, don’t wait up for us. You get yourselves out of this place and we’ll catch up when we--”

Suddenly, the gray mare yelped before abruptly falling silent. Pinkie’s eyes grew and she leaned forward. “Sparkplug? Hello? Are you ok?!”

A few moments later, Sparkplug responded, sounding very much alarmed. “Uh, I’m gonna have to get back to you on that, Pinkie!”

After that, nothing but silence.

“Is something wrong?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Pinkie sighed, “I don’t know. She just stopped talking.”

“Well… there’s nothing we can do for them,” Raincloud said, earning a few flat looks. “What? I’m serious. Did you guys see any other path we could have taken to get closer to them? Or have you forgotten about your fancy toys already?” She flicked the still glowing vial on Rainbow’s vest.

The cyan mare looked down. Apparently, in her rush, she hadn’t turned off the locator charm. She took it and quickly scanned it around, only to find nothing but a faint reading back the way they came, where they had found no other branching paths. She let the charm droop in her grasp.

“But… we can’t just do nothing!” Rainbow protested.

Pinkie frowned as well. “I think we’re just going to have to trust them until we can find another way.” She turned toward the workshop. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll find a way to loop back down here after we head up? This place is pretty confusing.”

After a few moments of conflicted thought, Rainbow Dash sighed and let her shoulders sink. “Alright… let’s go. We aren’t helping anyone just standing here.” She reasoned, reluctantly leading the pair into the workshop.

Sure enough, the stairs were still sitting there at the back of the room. Of course, a few bars were blocking the way, but they were nothing a liberal application of their cutters couldn’t solve.

All in all, they felt lucky to be finally leaving the basement, but also a little conflicted and worried. They could only hope that their friends would have similar luck.