“You’ve seen this before?” Steel Shod asked, cowering behind me alongside Pilfered Pommel.

“Not in person but I know plenty about it, but we can chat more after we’ve dealt with this thing,” I replied.

“Which we do. How exactly?” Bronze Back inquired, hefting an axe.

“Blunt force preferably. Slashing weapons won't do much and piercing ones will just get stuck,” I answered. “Here watch.”

I stepped over and picked up a large stone that had dislodged itself from the ceiling at some point. Giving it a test toss, I felt like it was sufficiently heavy enough for what I had in mind. And just in time too, as the creature had seemly sensed our presence and was slowly dragging itself in our direction while gurgling something incomprehensible.

“Hup.”

The rock smashed into the creature’s skull like a cannonball, exploding its head and sending roten brains all over the ground behind it. The zombie wavered, swinging right then left before finally falling over, dead for a second time.

“Just remember to aim for the head, and keep them at range,” I began, placing my hands on my hips. “They are slow, but they can take more hits than you’d assume. Don't underestimate the undead in general but especially not zombies.”

“Probably shouldn't let them get a hold of ya either. Or give ya bite,” Bronze Back added.

“Ya don't have to worry about getting turned into one of them by a bite. That's not how you end up an undead,” I remarked.

“Now who’s been reading too much Daring Do?” Steel Shod retorted, sticking her tongue out at the old stallion.

“I warned ya cus they probably got a ton of diseases in their mouth ya dolt,” Bronze Back shot back, cuffing the mare upside the head.

“A fair point,” I admitted with a shrug.

“You don't seem outfitted for such foes, my lady. Perhaps we should retreat for a moment,” Pilfered Pommel offered, gesturing to my knife.

“Hmm, give me a sec. I thought I saw something back there,” I exclaimed.

I walked back a fair bit, only to stop suddenly and pluck a fallen pillar from the ground. So thick that my hand barely wrapped around half of it, the makeshift club was heavy, but thankfully the same length as a baseball bat. It felt sturdy despite it having broken off from the rest of its body and after a few test swings I nodded approvingly.

“This will do,” I declared.

“Gurl you are crazy,” Steel Shod remarked. “I bet you could take someone’s head off with that thing.”

“Knowin' the boss, that's probably the goal,” Bronze Back added.

“You know me so well,” I replied, stifling my chuckle. “But let's go bash some heads and loot some tombs.”

“Hear, hear!” They exclaimed.

With morale buoyed somewhat, we headed deeper, with me taking up the lead once more. With a quicker pace, we traversed the surprisingly long tunnel in little time, stepping past another broken door. The moment I did so, I was bombarded by unpleasant smells, and worrying sounds coming from further in.

The space itself was rather odd, with the temple having collapsed, giving way to a natural cavern that had formed nearby. Water trickled down from above, falling into a pit so deep I had no hope of seeing the bottom. The rain-slick ground was slippery, making the already treacherous fitting worse still.

More importantly, was the sound of battle and the pungent aroma of rotting flesh that stung my nose and assaulted my ears. Following its source, I could see that a mass of zombified deer corpses were pounding away at a bright blue sphere that stood at the top of a short set of stairs. There I could see a half dozen female equines of various tribes huddled around a somewhat skeletal deer holding a teal orb in his upraised hoof.

“Alright fellas, we got ourselves a mission,” I declared, slapping my stone bat into my open palm. “We gotta kill something close to fifty rotting zombie maggot farms and save ourselves some mares.”

“And what looks to be a lich,” Pilfered Pommel added.

“That's just a consequence of the first thing,” I replied, rolling my shoulders and flexing my arms. “Classic wedge formation. Steel, you’re on my right. Bronze, on my left. Pilfered, I want you to finish off any that we don't kill.”

“I will make sure that your backside remains unmolested, my lady,” Pilfered proclaimed.

“Do that and I may let you do so,” I exclaimed, laughing already. “Now let's go be big goddamn heroes.”

“Wait, hold on,” Twilight interrupted. “You just charged right in? With treacherous footing, twenty-to-one odds, and an unknown foe?”

“Well yeah. We didn't exactly have time to come up with some kinda complicated plan,” I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest. “Or would you rather I have just let them die?”

“I... well. I'm just a bit surprised you didn't. Perish that is,” Twilight added.

“Obviously not,” Luna exclaimed, gesturing to me.

“Well yeah. Obviously she survived the ordeal but how did it go?” Twilight asked.

“Surprisingly easily,” I answered. “We stayed in formation. I bludgeoned nearly half of them to death myself and together we had nearly re-killed over three-quarters of them. Then things really got crazy.”

“Crazy, how?” Luna pressed.

“So,” I began, leaning forward. “Get this-”

Though the ground was slick with liquid rot, and a horde still twenty-strong was closing in, spirits remained high. With every swing of my makeshift club, I bashed in at least one skull while behind me the rest of my squad continued their grim work. Bronze Back was the most efficient, the old woodcutter chopping through necks and splitting skulls with ease. Steel Shod did a decent job, punching, kicking, and occasionally head-butting a zombie hard enough to take off a limb. She hadn't killed as many, but she was also completely uninjured, the pony’s plate mail stopping the zombies from being able to bite her.

Bronze and I had taken a few minor injuries, but it was mostly bruises, with our leather armor keeping us safe from their teeth though not the force behind it. Pilfered Pommel was similarly unharmed, though the stallion was indeed pulling his weight. I had noticed more than a few times when he had cut down a zombie that me, Bronze, or Steel had assumed was already dead only for the blighter to try and bite us and get intercepted by Pilfered.

Together we made for a great team, crushing, stabbing, and hacking our way through the press of bodies. Despite our success, I could feel my arms starting to slow, as exhaustion started to sap even my vaunted strength. The strikes of my allies had long since begun to grow sluggish, though to my continued amazement Bronze Back stubbornly refused to show any signs of slowing.

The old bastard was as stubborn as they came, and I felt my appreciation for him grow with every enemy he killed. Such thoughts were interrupted when I saw the barrier ahead of us flicker and die. Given that it was our main source of illumination I felt a harsh spike of worry ram its way into my chest. Thankfully such concerns didn't end up mattering as the deer caster replaced one light source with another.

Flickering blue flames erupted in a pair of lines above my head, illuminating the area far better than the force field had. That wasn't all he did though, as he also launched a blue fireball that erupted in the middle of the zombie horde, laying low half a dozen in a single blast and sending more flying. His companions, the six females he had been helping, joined the fray a moment later, though their attacks were even stranger than his.

One turned into a ram and charged forth, stomping zombies with her large hooves and knocking off heads with a twist of her own head. A second had become a bear and was destroying at least one zombie with every swipe of her claws. The final shapeshifter was now what looked like a silverback gorilla, and she seemed more intent on tossing the zombies into the crevices on either side of the room.

The final three daughters either hung back or used light healing magic to mend the wounds of not only her companions but us as well. The implication was clear. We were on a team, and it was the living against the dead. With one minor exception but you know what I mean.

Between such power, we easily crushed the remaining zombies before going about the grim task of finishing off those who hadn't died fully. When the last of the reaper’s work was done, we gathered near the entrance to the room which was thankfully less covered in liquified rot or blackened blood. I could tell they were nervous, and so to aid the coming diplomacy, I tossed aside my club and rested my hands on my hips.

“Hail and well met,” I greeted. “I’m glad you joined when you did. Swatting so many rotters is tiresome.”

“Who are you anyway? I thought gnolls were all demons,” muttered one of them.

“Well that's a fine how do you do,” I muttered. “I’m Fareeah, this is Bronze Back, Steel Shod, and finally Pilfered Pommel.”

No sooner had I introduced the foppish stallion than the deer lunged forward, his one skeletal eye blazing intently. He grabbed Pilfered by the shoulder, and though I was tempted to stop him I detected no ill intent in him. Sure enough, he began to babble something in a strange language that no one present, save for Pilfered, seemed to understand.

I’m going to do you both a favor here and abridge things slightly. When the deer talks, I’m just going to give you the translation of what he said. Sound good? Good. So here's what happened.

Though everyone was nervous, I held them back with a stern look, keeping tension from boiling over until finally he was done speaking.

“So, what he say boy?” Bronze Back exclaimed.

“He said I’m part deer. That I have to warn the rest of his, er our kin, and that we need to rally against the coming of the bloody one,” Pilfered Pommel murmured.

“Yeenoghu,” I added.

“I knew there was something important down here. The forest would not cry out in pain like it did if there was not some manner of corruption gnawing at its roots,” the shapeshifting ram equine declared somewhat triumphantly.

“That still didn't make charging off without us a bad idea,” another of them spat.

The deer however was talking again, killing the conversation and drawing all eyes to him.

“My time is short. The spell that was supposed to hold us in stasis was corrupted by chaotic energies, spoiling the ritual and leaving my siblings alive and conscious through the eons but unable to die,” the deer proclaimed, speaking quickly in his strange flowery speech. “But that doesn't matter. We have returned, and since we’ve returned the bloody one is likely only a few short months from breaching the veil once more. We must ready ourselves.”

“I think… I think he thinks there are still deer out there,” Pilfered Pommel remarked.

“That's gonna be a harsh break of the ice,” Bronze Back muttered.

It was at this point that I noticed the deer was beginning to start deteriorating, with his limbs rapidly rotting away to dust before my very eyes.

“Don't,” I interrupted, gripping Pilfered’s shoulder. “Tell him that you will return to your people and that you will rally the great and mighty deer people to the cause of defeating the bloody one once more.”

“Boss?” Pilfered murmured, looking up at me.

“Trust me, my friend. It's for the best,” I replied.

Pilfered took a breath, turned back, and repeated what I said only more flowery.

The undead deer’s frazzled panic-stricken expression vanished and was replaced by a wide, genuine smile. He hugged the stallion, and cried bloody tears into his shoulder, repeating two simple words over and over.

“Thank you, thank you,” he whispered until his body broke apart completely and there was nothing left of him but a pile of dust.

“Well that just happened,” Steel Shod muttered.

I turned and slugged her in the shoulder hard enough to make her stumble. “Have some class Steel,” I spat. “Some poor guy just saw all his companions get slain before perishing himself.”

“R-right. Sorry boss,” Steel Shod murmured absently.

“Just… hold your waggling tongue next time,” I declared.

“And that kind of brings that particular tale to a close,” I exclaimed. “We found some ancient prophecy saved some cool druids and didn't actually locate any awesome loot. There were a couple of old coins but apparently, they weren't worth much. Neat little keepsakes though.”

“Woah hold on,” Luna interrupted. “I feel like you are skipping over a lot.”

“No kidding. You barely even told us what the daughters looked like, how they got there, or anything!” Twilight all but shouted, throwing her hooves up into the air.

“I told you already. They detected the corruption that had cropped up,” I answered.

“What corrupted the deer spell?” Twilight pressed.

“Chaotic energy? Obviously, it was Discord,” Luna offered.

“I mean probably. I don't think we’ll ever know for certain though,” I added with a shrug.

“Okay but what do they look like? We know startlingly little about the daughters of Eve,” Twilight inquired.

“Look I’d love to answer all that but I can smell that you are already on the brink of shitting your drawers and I really don't wanna be here for when that happens,” I pointed out.

“I do not need to-” Twilight's eyes snapped open. “I need to go.”

With a flash of magic, she dismissed the spells holding her here and then vanished with a pop.

“You’ve got a good nose,” Luna remarked.

“Thanks. I think the majority of your face ain't half bad either,” I replied with a smirk.

“Ha, funny,” Luna stated dryly, rising from her seat. “We should probably call it here. It's getting late and I have other matters to attend to before I can retire for the night.”

“Hey, no problem. I’m getting tuckered out from all this talking anyway,” I dismissed.

I stood and walked over to my cell door. Luna used her magic to part the bars, and allow me to enter. Once inside I leaned forward, grabbing the magical bars in my warm hands.

“You really should tell everyone by the way,” I declared.

“We know,” Luna replied, her voice calm and slightly sad. Lacking in any of the accusing undertones I had half expected to hear. “It is just… hard.”

“Well, the longer it goes the worse things are going to be when it does inevitably blow up in your face, er faces,” I pressed. “And it will blow up. These kinds of secrets have a habit of doing that.”

“We know,” Luna repeated, firmer this time. “Moonie is just… defensive and I am fearful.”

“Give them the whole story and they will definitely be on your side,” I declared. “Besides imagine how nice it would be if you two could be more open.”

“That would be nice,” Luna admitted, glancing down into her shadow. “To be able to walk the streets together without fear… it is a dream I thought long dead.”

“There's a dream joke in there somewhere, but I’m too lazy to find it. Just, ya know imagine it in your mind for me,” I offered.

“We will, and thank you Fareeah. I have come to truly value our friendship and though I cannot guarantee it I am fairly certain that this trial will find you innocent of all charges,” Luna added.

“I sure hope so. Contrary to popular belief I ain't a fan of fighting and I sure wouldn't want to end up on the opposite side of Cadence,” I exclaimed, a smirk returning to my face.

“You really do like her,” Luna stated in a slightly confused tone.

“I love her,” I exclaimed breathlessly.

“Already? How can you say that when you don't even know her,” Luna retorted, though her tone carried with it no hint of accusation, only genuine bewilderment.

“If you can hate at first meeting. I can love,” I replied.

“You are a strange, strange creature,” Luna muttered while she walked away.

“You say that like you aren't strange as well,” I called after her.

“If this was a competition, I still think you’d win!” Luna yelled.

She then closed the basement door, the lights dimming the moment she did so.

“Yeah that's… that’s probably fair,” I murmured, falling into my bed with a dull thump. “Now then, how do I get this armor off?”

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