Chapter 3

‘’NO DON’T TOUCH IT! YOU MUSTN’T.’’

Vitali galloped furiously towards Izzy. In her course, she grabbed a long and old candelabra and then threw it as if it was a lance. It hit the wall, a few feet away from the unicorn, who jumped in fright, breaking her away from her trance.

Once Vitali reached Izzy, she grabbed the unicorn’s shoulders and shook her up. ‘’Oooh. You. Will. Be the death of me before this place does. I have you any idea of what you nearly did?’’

‘’So— sorry. I’m sorry. I… just had the urge to put my hoof in that mouth.’’ Izzy eyed the aforementioned mouth with more reservation than before. ‘’It was like asking for it. I— I don’t see what’s the problem.’’

‘’As I’d say, this dungeon had many traps and this.’’ She pointed at the face with big emphasis. ‘’This is the first one.’’

‘’Huh! But—but this looks like a normal statue!’’ Izzy again looked at the hunk of stone, hesitant to believe it was truly a threat, Vitali eyed it with experienced paranoia.

‘’It’s anything but normal. *sigh* Alright. I’ll explain. The inside of that mouth may seem empty, but in truth, it holds a terrible spell. The darkness in it doesn't disappear because it’s not natural darkness. Everything that touches that darkness… vanishes.’’

‘’Well… it’s suppose to va—

‘’I mean erased. Disintegrated. I personally dubbed that spell the name of ‘Sphere of Annihilation’.’’ With a kick, she lifted the candelabra and caught it with her hoof. ‘’Demonstration.’’ She put the tip with the candlesticks in the mouth of the bearded face. It completely vanished from sight.

After a moment, Vitali pulled it back and to Izzy's shock, the tip was… gone. Just gone. And it wasn’t torn apart, melted or snapped off. The cut was so clean it may as well have never been there.

‘’See. That’s how that spell works. Why was it put there? I have no idea.’’

As Vitali tossed the now lighter candelabra, Izzy was staring at her hoof with terror.

‘’But… but but but! If I’d put it here! My hoof! Gone!’’

‘’Well, actually, not just that. Blood would have gushed out your very open wounds and you would have died from blood loss in less than a minute. Pretty grisly it would have been for you.’’

Saying that Izzy was utterly struck with horror was an understatement. The poor unicorn fell on her haunches and grabbed her, could’ve been gone, hoof as though it were about to disappear. She made no sound but the shaking of her whole body was the loudest answer there could be.

It seemed that Sunny had given herself the role of supporting Izzy. Because she was the first to go towards that poor unicorn. She gently rubbed Izzy back and it seemed to work to an extent. ‘’Vitali. I know you worry and I thank you for saving her but… can’t you be just a little more… tactful?’’

‘’NO.’’ Snapped back Vitali with such venom that everypony took a step back. ‘’Maybe you think I don’t care but I want all of you to make it out of here alive. Though given what I just saw, I’m starting to wonder if you don’t care whether you live or die.”

‘’Hey hey! We didn’t come here to be talk like that.’’ Zipp, visibly angry and offended, flew towards Vitali, pushing her snout against her. ‘’You’re the one hiring us so would be appreciated if you have a little faith in us. You want us to prepare against dangers? Miss, you’ve been awfully cryptic about what we should face. How can we properly prepare? So please. Just be upfront and tell us what we’re expected to face. Now.’’

This clearly had an effect on Vitali because, for the face time, her voice was caught on her throat. ‘’Well… … it’s not… it’s compli—

‘’No. None of that. We won’t take another step unless you tell us more about the monsters we must slay so that we may not end up eaten by… … Wait. A. Minute. … What do they eat?’’

Zipp managed to perplexed everypony with one single question.

‘’Huh?!’’

‘’Yeah. What do they eat? Why has no one questioned that before? Why didn’t I? It’s so obvious. Mon… monsters can’t live here!’’

Pipp, confused, put her hooves on her sister's shoulders. ‘’Sis, You scare me. What’s the matter?’’

‘’What’s the matter! We’re. Deep. Underground. We took the only entryway to the surface. When she’d said monsters were prowling in those walls, I thought savage beasts had wandered here and made it their home, but why would they live in a place isolated from everything. It just makes no sense. And even if they did, how would they feed? Even the occasional wanderers wouldn't be enough to keep them from starving.’’

The adventurers were stunned on how implacable Zipp logic was. They all have been fixed on those stories of adventure they read as foals. So much so they didn’t see the obvious inconsistencies. But if they questioned themselves just for a moment, then it became obvious that it was impossible for monsters to live in this godforsaken place.

They all looked at Vitali, the mare that brought them here. And the first time, all composure was gone and she was at a loss for words.

Izzy's expression grew colder.

‘’I knew you were hiding things from us.’’

She aims her crossbow at the face of the one who brought them here. The crossbow made a click, ready to shoot her arrow. Nopony could move. They all recognize Zipp’s expression. It was the face of somepony who was ready to kill.

Somepony who’d killed already.

‘’Zipp!’’ Her sister desperately screamed, hoping to calm her down. ‘’What’s gotten into you!’’

‘’Don’t butt into this. Since the start, I’ve never been able to fully trust her. But I didn’t listen to my gut because I was too desperate for money. And now, I not only put myself in grave danger but also you sis.’’

Zipp, slightly lowered her eyes in shame but quickly went back in threatening mode. ‘’Alright Vitali, here’s what we’re going to do. Tell the truth and I promise I won’t shoot. But if I feel for even one second you’re still hiding something, then I swear, this will be the last thing you ever do.’’

Shockingly, despite having an arrow in front of her face, Vitali didn’t look afraid. She did seem embarrassed, yes, but strangely not afraid. Still she didn’t respond initially despite the threat, only letting out a frustrated sigh. ‘’Oh fine. Yes, I admit you’re right and you’ve every right to be mad at me. But I swear, there’s no foul play or trap, I really need your help for killing… one monster.’’

‘’One? As in singular! What did you hide—no. It still can’t be true. Nothing can live here.’’

‘’That’s… because it’s not—

That’s when, out of nowhere, the scream came.

A blood curdling howl filled the whole place. The ponies were so surprised they didn’t even have time to cover their ears from that deafening sound and they felt fear like never before. No animal or person could make such a sound of pure rage. The ponies could tell, whoever, or whatever was making that howl was something unnatural and wrong.

The howling stopped as abruptly as it had begun. They could understand it didn’t come from that hall but from far away. Very far away, in the farthest reaches of this forsaken place. However, this didn’t reassure the ponies, quite the opposite. What kind of horror could make such a scream?

Nopony could move. They were paralyzed by fear and they could feel their blood grow cold. Even Zipp had lost her cold demeanor and was now as scared as a foal.

But to the surprise of all, the one who was most affected was Vitali. The mare that had never once showed a hint of fear, with an arrow in her face, had now lost all colors and looked seconds away from faiting of fright.

‘’Oh no. Already!’’ She whispered. ‘’Take your weapons.’’

The adventurers were confused. ‘’TAKE YOUR WEAPONS. TAKE THEM NOW.’’ Vitali shouted back.

On the decorated floor, something strange appeared. A cloud made of pitch black smoke erupted from the ground and green lighting was crackling in it. That flowing blackness crawled along the serpentine carvings making that was a cross between the howling of the wind and a painful moaning.

Then suddenly, that darkness rose up high and exploded into many tendrils of evil magic spreading into every corner.

And then… it was just quiet. The ponies weren’t sure how to react. They then heard a moan that made their fur straighten up.

‘’Stay behind me.’’ Proclaimed Hitch as he took his sword with his mouth and went in front of everypony to protect them. The plaintive moan came again and Hitch knew now that it was coming from behind one of the large columns at his right. ‘’Is… is somepony there? Please, show yourself.’’

They heard hoof steps. Somepony, or something, was coming.

In mere moments, from behind the pillar came out a decrepit hoof, pressing on the column marble for support. And then the face came out into view. If you could call it a face.

All the muscles were gone, leaving its skull and mummified skin along with a few straws of mane on its head. Its mouth had lost all skin on its right side, showing its rotten teeth. But the scariest part was this sinister smoke of darkness flowing out of its mouth and empty orbitals.

The walking corpse looked at the ponies, its head and limbs jerking like a broken puppet. And once it had the group in sight, two points made of green light appeared in the dark of its orbitals.

And its movements became then far more natural. And despite no longer having vocal cords or even lungs, it cry a scream of bestial rage.

‘’Wha… but! It’s… un undead!’’ Hitch said, surprised. Sunny and Zipp went immediately to the side of Hitch, ready to attack. Those three had already dealt with undead previously, contrary to Izzy and Pipp who this was the very first time they saw one.

‘’Stand back.’’ Sunny said, having already caught on to the inexperience of those two. ‘’Don’t worry, it’s just one. They look scary but they’re not that dange—‘’

More moans came. Far more.

Whatever was giving life to this corpse had not finished its job. On the two previous corpses resting on the wall, green lighting was coursing on their whole bodies. The one with the slash on its torso animated as the evil magic splashed out of its face. But strangely, the one with the smashed skull didn’t move at all, the spell unable to do anything.

Quickly, more appeared. One of a huge size rose up from behind a bench. Another was hidden under a bench and tumbled it down as it came out. From above, the corpse of a pegasi that had been hidden in the shadow, flew down. In a far corner, a dead earth pony, who had been blended with the surrounding awakens, its lower jaw gangling in nearly comical way if it wasn’t so horrifying.

In unison, all the walking corpses turned their gazes towards the adventurers and advanced towards them. Slowly but surely.

The poor Izzy was clutching her staff, doubting her very eyes. ‘’Girls. Am I having a nightmare?’’

The other ponies were wondering the same thing. ‘’It… can’t be!’’ Said Sunny. ‘’Undeads are supposed to be rare. So many in one place is impossible! Where’re they coming from? How did we miss them?’’

‘’They were hidden in blind spots.’’ Whispered the pale Vitali to nopony but herself. ‘’It became smarter.’’

Hitch, at first in shock, shook his head to get out of his stupor. At the right time because the closest zombie lunged at him, teeth first. Hitch parried its maw with his sword and kicked it in the ribs to push it away. ‘’Back up tormented soul.’’

The zombie fell down. Hitch, using a sleight-of-‘mouth’, changed the blade side for the wand side. ‘’I know your weakness.’’ Green magic charged up in the crystal. ‘’ And it’s give life to dead.’’

When she heard those words, it was enough to free Vitali of her episode. ‘’What! NO STOP! THEY’RE NOT UNDEADS.’’

The healing magic hit the zombie directly. Its waves of green aura washed over it. And when it dissipated, the zombie… simply went back on its hooves and screamed at Hitch.

‘’WHAT! Impossible!’’ The knight was shocked. Again he hit it with more healing spells, again and again but it did not affect the walking corpse as it kept advancing the panicking earth pony. ‘’But I don’t understand! It always works each time I cleanse them. Huh! No no no stay away, STAY AWAY!!!’’

The zombie pounced at Hitch, baring its teeth. But instead of its prey, what it received was an orange hoof at the jaw that sent flying back. As it rolled on the floor, ending on its belly, Sunny followed suit, backflipping over and over and with a powerful jump, slammed her back hooves on the back of the zombie, shattering its spine.

The green eyes and darkness extinguished. It was no longer moving.

All the other zombies were now visibly agitated and instead leisurely walking, galloped full speed toward Sunny and the rest.

Unphased, the mare monk jumped backward again and again and rejoined the group. A quick glance behind was enough to tell her that none of them could fight. Not properly at least. They were in a state of shock and from her past experience, she knew it was difficult to snap out of it. Not before death comes.

But Sunny didn’t curse her situation. She didn’t even have a single spiteful thought for her companions. Instead, she was purely focused on protecting them. She stood up on two hooves and readied her upper arms on fighting positions. ‘’You won’t harm them, monsters. You will have to go through me first.’’

Poor Izzy was shaking uncontrollably and couldn't help but to take a few steps back. It was also the same for Pipp, tears filling her eyes.

However, Sunny’s words managed to break through her fear and seeing the mare’s selfless courage, the pegasi grit her teeth. More. And then more. And in a moment of defiance against all her self-preservation instincts, she flew past everypony, ready to meet the undead horde head on.

Rapidly, she spread wide her beating wings and hooves and then…

She sang.

She sang a song of an unknown language. Nopony understood the meaning of those lyrics but they could feel the deficiency and temerity behind those words. And as that song escaped her mouth, a magical and starry pink barrier appeared in front of her, sending the many charging zombies directly into it, before they crashed to the ground.

Hitch was surprised. ‘’What- what is that!’’ Zipp got back to her senses and ran toward Hitch. ‘’I told you my sister had an awesome power. I’ll explain later. Focus.’’ She prepared her two crossbows. ‘’For starsake, what I am doing! I can’t let my baby sis do all the work.’’

An earth pony zombie, one that had double the size compared to others, smashed at the barrier, right in front of Pipp and screamed a gastly cry. The sudden shock frightens Pipp, breaking her concentration and causing the barrier to dissipate.

The barrier gone, the huge zombie was ready to pounce at the pink pegasi, only for it to immediately get an arrow in its right eye.

‘’Don’t touch her. You monster gonna have to deal with me first.’’

A rope was attached to the tail of Zipp’s arrow. The rope led to a device attached to Zipp’s flank. She pushed a button and the device pulled up the rope along with the zombie with it, dragging it toward her

Another zombie, the one with the broken maw, took the place of the big one and jumped at Pipp. But this time she was ready. She sang a quick verse, charged with hate, and it exploded out with a scream. From that scream, a blast of magic was shot right at the zombie. It flew across the whole hall, even lost a boney hoof on the trip.

‘’And stay dead—HAARRH!’’ One of Pipp's wings had just been slashed by the pegasi zombie. This one had weapons, two rusty knives in its hooves.

Afraid and in pain, Pipp quickly panicked and flew straight into a wall. With a loud thump, she slowly slid down the wall, dazed. Once her mind managed to right itself, she saw, to her horror, her fluffy wing all bloody.

‘’PIIIPP!!!’’ Screamed her sister. Alas, dragging that giant dead earth pony was now working against her. It didn’t lose time to pin her down before starting to hit and scratch at her like an animal.

The poor pony tried to retaliate, but found herself unable to push the monster off to reload her crossbows. ‘’HITCH. I BEG YOU, PROTECT MY SISTER.’’ She pleaded to Hitch, still caring more about Pipp life than her own.

The knight felt torn apart to leave Zipp like that but knew she was right, Pipp was the most in danger. He will have to have faith that Zipp would somehow manage.

Steeling himself, he galloped at Pipp and the pegasi zombie gearing up to slice her. But at the last second, it was hit at the face by a long candlestick wielded by none other than Vitali.

‘’Get away from her.’’

Using this moment of opportunity, Hitch slashed the wings from the back of the zombie. Deprived of its wings, the zombie crashed to the ground yet didn’t seem to feel pain, instead, it got angrier and turned back to face Hitch.

It aimed its knives at him and Hitch parried both of them with his sword, sparks and metallic sounds came out the clash.

‘’Vitali, take Pipp away.’’

‘’Alright but aim for their heads. Their heads is—

‘’Yes I got it, now GO.’’

She did as he said and took Pipp away, supporting her steps. Farther away, Zipp had managed to free herself from the grasp of the big zombie. She used the rope binding both of them and flew around it to ensnared it. She saw her sister and shouted at Izzy.

‘’Izzy, you too with Pipp.’’ The poor unicorn was trembling like a leaf and probably didn’t even hear her properly. ‘’Huh?! ’’

‘’Just go.’’ Zipp said while doing her best to hold off the enrobed zombie that was struggling like crazy.

Izzy listened and galloped past Hitch, fighting the wingless zombie, and Sunny who was busy with the other twos.

Hitch readied his sword as the zombie as the bloodshot eyes pegasi ready his knives, his scream deafened by the war cries of that muddy battlefield. How many times did the knight see that scene? Too many. The enemy soldier promptly lunged at him. But the knight knew how to fight them. It was now an automatic. He blocked the first knife with his hoof and knocked it away from the enemy hoof. Then, without thinking, he disarmed the second knife and plunged his sword in the heart of the pegasi. He made a garbled sound, his eyes went backward with fear and he fell dead. Once again, Hitch only felt emptiness felt a searing pain on his face as the zombie had scratched it with its boney hoof.

The sudden pain immediately jolted him back to reality. Falling onto his haunches, he searched frantically for his sword. To his horror, his weapon was stuck between the ribs of the undead. Its empty ribs.

Sunny was busy fighting the two remaining skeletal ponies. She saw her old childhood friend in trouble.

‘’HITCH! Hang on, I’m coming.’’ She stood on her two front hooves and made a spin, her legs hitting the two zombies on the chest. They flew away toward the benches. Sunny charged toward Hitch before jumping and landing behind the wingless zombie, grabbing it with her lower hooves and with a somersault, launched it in the air.

The sword was unclogged and fell. Hitch, regaining his senses, grabbed it and dealt one swift strike. Before it even finished its descent, the undead was decapitated.

Farther away, Zipp was in trouble. She was severely beaten up and cut with the zombie having freed itself from the rope. It advanced towards her like it was possessed and Zipp had no longer the strength to fly and could only step back.

She stopped and got cold sweats when she remembered what she nearly bumped into. ‘’Oh crap, crap! That damn sphere of annihilation is behind me! Where can I run too… Wait. That’s it!’’

She defiantly stood up before the huge dead pony, her wings flaring up. ‘’Alright ugly. You want me? Then come and get me if you dare.’’

It screamed in a mad rage and galloped toward her. Focusing the last of her strength on her wings, she hovered backward and in a snap, pushed a device on her belt that dropped ink on the floor.

The zombie, in its mad rush, galloped on the black puddle and it slipped toward the Face. It caught itself at the last second but Zipp kicked it in the back and it plunged headfirst into the sphere of annihilation. There wasn’t even a sound as its headless, and shoulderless, body limplie fell along with its detached front hooves.

Zipp was completely drained. ‘’*pant**pant* Damn. And this gadget wasn’t even a weapon. Just my pen ink reservoir. This could nearly be funny.’’

Only two zombies were left. The one with the broken jaw and the one that was missing a limb. Yet, nothing could deter their single minded desire to tear the flesh out of those ponies. The compulsion to kill was all there was. Not an ounce of intelligence or true sentience was in them. But there was something akin to an animal instinct. And when you must kill no matter what…

You always go to the weakest prey first. Like the mare with the bloodied wing.

Vitali was running away to the other side, along with Pipp, whose injured fluffy member was leaving a trail of blood in her wake. ‘’Come on Pipp. Hang in there.’’

‘’I’m trying… ouch!’’ The pain was so bad that she was breathing through her teeth. ‘’I’m trying but– gosh, that’s the first ever time I've felt so much pain. It’s unbearable.’’

‘’What do you mean, the first–

She was interrupted when the two zombies jumped in front of them, growling like beasts. The two mares were cornered. But as the jaw broken zombie was about to attack, a purple lightning bolt hit its skull, leaving a burn mark on its face.

Surprisingly the monster didn’t react initially, just standing there. Then. in an almost comical fashion, turned its head toward its assailant.

It was Izzy whose legs were shaking like a leaf and the poor unicorn was so scared that she was crying. ‘’Gogogo aw– away–’’

The zombie screamed like banshees. Izzy, in a state of panic, closed her eyes shut. A fire was building in her staff and it was growing at an alarming rate.

Vitali feared the worst. ‘’Wait wait wait, stop! We’re just right there!’’

The blue unicorn wasn’t completely aware of what she was doing. Her fight-or-flee instinct kicked in. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she threw her unstable fireball at what was scaring her.

The fiery projectile hit the two zombies, engulfing them in an explosion. Unfortunately, Pipp and Vitali, who were dangerously close to it, were knocked away by the shockwave. They could feel the heat scorching their fur, just barely avoiding being incinerated.

Once the chaos passed, the hyperventilating Pipp opened her eyes. Where the zombies once were was more a thick cloud of smoke.

‘’*pant**pant* What the hell Izzy! You could have killed us all.’’

‘’I’m—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—

Screams interrupted her. The smoke cleared to reveal a sight straight up from hell. The walking corpses were still standing, but now, their very bones were set ablaze. Those monsters didn’t seem bothered by it, quite the contrary, they had now become walking pony torches with fiery red contrasting with their green evil eyes.

‘’Wait, did I make things worse!’’ Izzy asked, looking confused and even more terrified.

The flaming zombies walked ominously towards Pipp. Their bones were cracking from the fire, that sound covering their hoof steps but not their gnawing.

The poor pegasi was in her back, she could only crawl backward. ‘’No. No stay away. Stay away. Izzy, do something.’’

Vitali didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t even touch them. Meanwhile, Izzy’s fear had reached a new height. She could not breathe and her very pupils were now shaking. Even the magical grip on her staff was flickering.

‘’Izzy, do something. Anything. I beg you.’’

Despiste the desperate plea, Izzy couldn't move. She couldn’t think. She could only hear Pipp plead and not know what to do.

‘’Nonono stay away, stay away. Sis, save me–

The flaming zombie bit the hoof she held out to protect herself. Sharp teeth tear deep into her flesh while fire burns her hoof both outside and inside and in that moment, Pipp knew pain like she never possibly could imagine.

She screamed at the top of her lungs. That cry of pain was bloodcurdling for the ponies who heard her. Hearing that. Seeing that. Proved too much for Izzy. The ensnaring fear she already had grew and grew until it was too much too bear and she screamed as loud as Pipp.

In tears, she turned back as fast as she could, ran away from this horror while still screaming. She even didn’t take her staff with her, leaving it abandoned on the floor.

Pipp was at her limit and was about to faint. She thought for a moment that this is how she would die. And that maybe in the end, she thought she deserved this. Vitali wanted to help but the other zombie was already working on maiming her itself

As it jumped, an orange hoof hit it on its side and it was catapulted far away. Sunny quickly went to the three legged ones and assaulted it with a barrage of strikes. Despite being on fire, Sunny didn’t relent her assault and ignored the burning pain her hit was doing to her.

Finally given a moment of relief, Vitali used that chance to drag away Pipp who was on the verge of delirium.

Sunny jumped away from the zombie. She winced, her front hooves had been burned yet she still kept her focus on the enemy. Enraged, the zombie shouted a battle cry and galloped towards her. Not deterred, Sunny took a quick breath, calming her nerves. She jumped at the enemy and gathered all her strength into one decisive strike on its head.

The zombie skull exploded like a watermelon.sending a ripple of dust and ash in every direction. The headless corpse quickly collapsed in a heap, its still burning body smoldering quietly.

Sunny was able to catch a breath until a thought came and she smacked her forehead. ‘’Ohhh I’m so dumb! I should have done this from the start. Smashing their head.’’

A bestial cry came. The last zombie, the one with the broken jaw, stood back up. Now its head was at a crooked angle. That twisted boney face covered in fire might have been the most disturbing sight they ever saw. But then its cry ended in a grunt when a pointy blade pierced its forehead from behind.

The evil magic in its eyes vanished. A loud crack came and that skeleton crumbled to pieces. Hitch swiftly put back his sword in his scabbard.

The battle was now, finally over.

Quiet returned to the hall. The adventurers were wary, fearing other enemies might appear. Yet, even after several minutes of prolonged, painful silence, nothing came. It was truly over.

So they allowed themselves to relax. With the exception of Pipp who was bawling profusely while holding her maimend hoof. One look at it and anypony would cry too.

‘’PIPPP!!!’’ Screamed Zipp once she saw how hurt her sister was. She flew to her side and she panicked. ‘’HITCH. HEAL HER. NOW.’’

Hitch obey. But once he looked more clearly at Pipp hoof, he winced. ‘’What? You can heal her can’t you?’’ Replied Zipp, upset at his hesitation.

‘’I’m… not sure my magic would be enough. The flesh hadn’t just been maimed, it’s also been burned. That’s what’s most difficult to heal.’’

‘’Oh dammit.’’ She took her saddlebag and furiously ransacking its contents, tossing away what she didn’t need without a second look.

Among the things she tossed behind her shoulder was a medallion that fell at the feet of Sunny. The earth pony couldn’t help but take it.

Undeterred by the mess she was making, Zipp took out a bunch of flasks containing liquids shining with a green hue. ‘’That’s all my healing potions. We will use them with your magic.’

‘’I’m not even sure it would be eno—

‘’JUST DO IT YOU PUSSY.’’

He didn’t ask twice and with his wand, transferred his healing magic into Pipp’s hoof while Zipp crudely poured the liquid on the wound, bottle after bottle. Yet even as the wounds started to heal, the poor pegasi was still crying. ‘’It hurt. It hurt so much.’’

‘’Shhh, shhh. It's okay. Everything would be alright, you’ll see.’’ Zipp said in a tender manner as she verse another bottle.

‘’I will die. I’m going to die. And I deserve it.’’

‘’No, no. Don’t speak like that. It’s not true.’’ Zipp cradled her sister in her hooves and used her wings to hold her in a tight embrace.

The combined effect of both the magic and the potions ultimately did the trick. The flesh mended itself and the burn was disappearing. Once the healing was done, all that was left was a scar that had the shape of a ring, with small spikes from where the teeth broke the skin. Despite the damage and pain being gone, Pipp was still crying. That moment was refusing to leave her head.

Zipp's heart broke in a million pieces from seeing her sister so mentally broken. Then, she grinded her teeth as rage came.

With a leap, she broke off from her sister and got right into Vitali’s face. ‘’WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT! YOU NEVER TOLD US THERE WOULD BE UNDEADS. HOW COULD YOU HIDE THIS FROM US! WE WOULD’VE NEVER HAVE COME IF WE KNEW. LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SISTER. ALL BECAUSE OF YOU.’’

Vitali, instead of feeling guilty, snapped back at her. ‘’What the hell was that? You mean, what the hell about YOU! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FIGHT JUST NOW! You all acted so clumsy and you quickly lost your cool. Sunny was the only one who fought efficiently and kept calm. This was only a fraction of the dangers ahead. How do you expect to survive?’’

‘’DON’T YOU DARE SAY IT’S OUR FAULT! Because you withhold information we were unprepared.’’ Zipp argued, pressing her nose against their contractor in anger.

‘’Well… fine, you’re right but my hooves were tied. I needed adventurers more than anything–

‘’WE’RE NOT.’’ Screamed not Zipp but Pipp, who was still very shaken. ‘’We lied alright. We’ve never been adventurers.’’

Zipp threw a glare at her sister. Thought it was more one of panic than of reproach.

Vitali, her, was frozen in disbelief. She slowly rotated her head at the sobbing pegasi. ‘’What… did you… just say?’’

Despite her prior catatonic state, Pipp managed to regain enough composure to keep speaking what she had on her heart. ‘’I was against Zipp for taking this job and lying but she insisted. We needed the money. So we could go to the farthest possible of the three realms. This is our very first adventure. I’ve never even fought before today.’’

‘’Your… first!!!’’

The scholarly mare quickly turned to the others dumbfounded. She settled on Hitch. ‘’Did you lie too? Don’t act as if I didn't notice when you’d fought that zombie. It was like you weren’t there.’’

Hitch was flustered. ‘’Oh, umh, I, umh– look, sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I had a– a flash of… of the past.’’

‘’Are you an adventurer, yes or no?’’

Hitch stared at the ground, wishing he could just bury himself then and there. ‘’Well. technically no. I am a warrior, that’s true. I had my share of battles. But… against ponies. Only ponies. I have no experience against monsters.’’

‘’What!’’ Vitali was starting to turn white. ‘’And… and Izzy?’’

‘’Well I can’t speak for her, I've only known her for one day. But I… can see in her eyes, she probably never once fight for her life.’’

Vitali silently turned toward Sunny who suddenly felt very small. ‘’Don’t look at me. I really have trained in my martial art for years. And also, I genuinely consider myself a true adventurer. But the truth is all the jobs I had taken were, hum I suppose you would call them small. Help in manual labor. Collected rare to find ingredients. One or two times, kicking the butts of some brigands. I never really cared what the job was. I just wanted to help however I can, hehe.’’

Vitali was not amused. Quite the opposite, it was like somepony kicked her in the gut. She could hardly breath and she stammered backward. ‘’... … Gods above. You’re not… . I’d say I wanted professionals. I’d said professionals. It was the most important part.’’

‘’Oh enough of this nonsense.’’ Shouted back Zipp with venom as she flew so close to Vitali that their snouts were touching. ‘’You must be an idiot if you expect to get exactly what you want just by writing some words on paper and not expect that the most desperate will not apply instead. Adventurers are just an invention for kids anyway. The few that exist die quickly before they have a chance to be professionals. In which world do you live?’’

The scholarly mare was in daze. She was close to losing it. ‘’That’s… that’s… that’s it.’’ She then became resolute. ‘’That’s it. I’ll cancel the whole thing. Forget the job, forget the dungeon. We’re all going back to the surface. I will not have your deaths on my conscience– Huh! What– what’s that over there?’’

Very far at the entrance door, the evil magic surged once again from the carved floor. The darkness touched the double door and slammed it shut with a deafening sound. A strange glyph made of green magic appeared on its stony surface and by the second, expanded to become more complex.

Vitali's eyes became wide as saucers. ‘’Wait! But that’s… a magic seal! No. Oh no no!’’

She galloped straight at the door with the energy of despair. ‘’No no no no no nooo. Why, why? It never did that before.’’

By the time she reached it, it was already too late. The seal had been completed. Frantically, Vitali hit the door again and again, each time, her hoof was repealed. ‘’Open up. Open up. Please, I beg you, open up.’’ But it was futile. She knew too well that nothing could now open that door.

Defeated, she fell on her knee. ‘’It’s… all my fault.’’

All this time they had only seen Vitali being in control. Nopony was sure of what to make of it. As they came closer, it was almost as if she… crying! But yes! She was indeed crying.

‘’I’m sorry.’’

She turned around and what they saw… was a tear soaked face wrecked by guilt. So much guilt.

‘’I’m so sorry. I’ve condemned you all. You’re all going to die.’’

Author's Note

Fiouf, I finally done it. Making that action scene sure took a lot of time. But I think it turned out okay and in the end, I proud of it. Hope you liked it too.

So, we have now learned, our adventurers are not proffesionals. And now they're are trapped into this underground dungeon where death hide in every corners Yikes. Talk about puttung the stake high. Now, let's see how they will react in the next chapter.