Darkest Equestria

The earth was sickly, malformed by whatever had poisoned it. As Pinkie descended down into the hole, her hooves scrambling for purchase on the loose soil, she could see the extent of the corruption. The soil was almost mushy to the touch and laced with strings of fungal mycelium. It stuck to her hooves like silly string, and Pinkie quickly wiped them off, a disgusted shiver going down her spine. It wasn't natural. It felt almost like tendons, taught and strong.

As she descended using the rope, the warm air turned cool. Pinkie tested the rope once more, hoping that it would hold. It seemed steady, and so she continued to descend. Above her, the outlines of her party members could be seen backdropped against lantern light.

Pinkie held a lantern in her mouth in order to see. She climbed blindly, unable to see the ground below her. The earth slowly turned to gray stone brick as she descended. As she passed the threshold of earth and ancient construction, she found herself hanging on the rope in the middle of a passage.

She glanced around only to see that she was just a little way off of the ground. With a breath of relief, Pinkie hopped off of the rope and onto the stone brick floor. It was hard, and cold to the touch. Foreign and unyielding. And the air, it was cold as death, sending shivers across Pinkie's coat.

"I made it!" Pinkie called up.

Her voice echoed through the pitch-black hallways. It was hard to see anything beyond the lantern-light, but the echoing spoke of large and empty hallways. Pinkie almost felt claustrophobic down here, with the darkness and stone bricks closing in around her. She found herself wincing as her voice echoed and held her breath. With a little luck, nothing had heard her...

"Trixie will lower herself to climbing this rope."

Trixie came down the rope next, slowly working her way down. With the skull cradled in the crook of her leg, it was a slow and awkward journey. Pinkie was ready to catch her if she fell, but she made it down without trouble.

Ponies came climbing down the rope, thankfully without incident. When they were all at the bottom, they all stood in a circle around the rope.

No pony wanted to speak, and Pinkie didn't either. The air of the tunnels was deathly quiet. It felt wrong to make too much noise, as every one of their steps echoed in the dark. There was a distinct air of something lurking in those thick shadows, and Pinkie felt as if every breath could be heard.

"So, we have to go deeper then." Applejack whispered. "Which way was that?"

"It has to be this way." Rainbow pointed down one of the passages. "Based on where the castle is, only this path makes sense."

"Why are we whispering?" Pinkie asked.

"Quiet!" Applejack hissed. "Don't you feel it? This place isn't right."

"We can't let it control us. It wants us to be quiet, but how are we supposed to work together if we can't talk?" Pinkie said.

"Just keep it down then, alright?" Applejack said.

"Fine, fine. I'll keep it low." Pinkie said.

"How are we going to find our way back?" Applejack asked.

"I have something for that. Twilight handed them out to me." Rainbow took out a piece of chalk from her saddlebags. "She said to mark the path using chalk."

"That sounds reliable." Trixie said sarcastically. "Very reliable."

"You're not helping." Applejack growled.

"You aren't much of a helper either, are you?" Trixie said with a huff.

Applejack narrowed her eyes behind the visor of her helmet. "I already apologized to you. What more do you want from me?"

"Trixie does not accept your apology, as you did not mean it." Trixie said.

Pinkie finally realized what the situation was between them. So, Applejack actually did apologize, Trixie just didn't accept it. That explained a lot of the tension between them. And it would have been really nice to know that while they were still in town and able to talk these problems over.

"Why don't we just take a moment to calm down?" Pinkie said. "We have a long way to go, and we all know what happened last time we set off with tension in the group."

"Well, I already apologized. I did everything I needed to." Applejack said.

"Trixie, can't you accept her apology for now?" Pinkie asked. The expedition had barely begun, and there was already conflict. That wasn't good.

"No. Trixie will not, but she will refrain from letting tensions get in the way of the task." Trixie said. "Let us continue and forget about this for now."

"Sounds fine to me." Applejack turned away. "Let us scout these halls in the name of Princess Celestia!"

They started to walk the ancient halls. Dust filled the air, and cobwebs clung to the corners of the halls. Inscribed pillars held up the sides, carved with vistas of glowing suns and moons. The finer details had been worn down due to time, but some remained.

According to Twilight, these tunnels were built by Princess Celestia in the ancient past. They were the underground of the city that used to be where the Everfree forest was, along with the abandoned Castle of the Two Sisters. It was over a thousand years ago though, and knowledge on why these tunnels had been built was lost to the ages. It was said that they did reach all the way to the castle but the path there was unknown.

"I wonder what happened to all the ponies from the war effort." Minuette said as they walked. "I thought this place would have been full of bones to study, but it's strangely empty. Interesting."

"They probably decayed or something." Rainbow said.

"It's not likely. There doesn't seem to be much water down here or natural decomposers." Minuette said. "Oh, this is so exciting! Imagine if we found a perfectly preserved body from ten years ago! Flesh and all!"

"That's not something I would be excited about." Rainbow said.

"That is a shame. There is much to be learned from the dead." Minuette said with glee. "And much to be gained."

Pinkie sighed. Time really did change some ponies, didn't it? Or maybe it wasn't just time at work now, but the seeping corruption that infested their lands. Maybe some of its tendrils could reach ponies as well. It certainly seemed that way.

The sound of their hooves and breathing was the only noise in the dust laden corridors. They walked together, but Pinkie couldn't help but feel isolated. The ever-lengthening interludes of conversation instilled the feeling. Such was the will of whatever had tightened its hold on this place.

From the shadows, something made itself known. The entire group stopped, and Pinkie's heart thundered in her chest.

"Steady." Applejack said.

Pinkie took a closer look at the thing.

"It's... it's a box!" Pinkie said.

Rainbow stepped closer. "Yeah, it's just a box."

The group relaxed. Sitting in the middle of the hallway was a wooden crate. It was half shattered, pieces of it lying about the floor. Inside of it there was nothing other than an opportunistic spider that had made its web there. And in its web, a single gold coin.

Applejack cut away the web and took out the gold coin. "Think this counts as having found treasure?"

"I don't think so." Rainbow said. "We are going to need a little more than that."

Pinkie was wondering why there was just a random crate in the middle of the hallway. But the gold coin did promise future treasure to be found. They had to be on the right path.

"I wish our goal was clearer." Rainbow said.

"All we need is faith in our just cause." Applejack said. "Celestia will guide our way."

"A little hope? I like it!" Pinkie said.

"Can't believe you can still think that way..." Rainbow said with a sigh.

"I believe you can think that way too." Pinkie said. "Just got to hold onto hope, and you're already homeward bound!"

They marched forward once more, pacing the silent halls. Pinkie shivered. It really was cold. It seemed like forever that they walked, continuing on a straight path. It just didn't make sense for such a long tunnel to exist with nothing in-between. What was the point of it? Why was it built? Who built it? Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw something ahead.

The light of their lantern revealed a circular stone room. It was shaped like a star, with many different paths spreading out from each point. The floor of the room was carved with circular lines. One spiraled towards the center. Tiny inscriptions of stars surrounded the swirls, and in the center of the swirl, a resplendent sun was carved into the stone.

Mounted on top of the sun inscription was an altar. Unlike the rest of the sun and moon theme of the hallways and this room, it stuck out like a sore hoof. It was made of blackened and twisted iron. It looked coarse and sharp, like it would sand down your coat and cut you all at the same time.

The two black iron spires were carved to look like tentacles. They stuck from both the ceiling and the ground, reaching towards each other in communion. They didn't touch but instead held something in their grasping iron tentacles. It was a dark red orb, like a corrupted sun. It glowed with sin and evil and seemed to pulse unnervingly like a heart. Its inside swirled to an unheard symphony.

Around the altar were drawings and nonsensical scribbling drawn onto the stone in blood. There was a mess of broken sticks and wood, seemingly scattered around for no reason.

"What in Celestia's name is that abomination?" Applejack drew her blade. "Trixie? What do you know about this?"

"Bold of you to assume that just because it is strange magic, that it is Trixie's doing!" Trixie said.

"That is not what I was saying. Do you know what it is?" Applejack said.

"Trixie knows many things-"

"Forget it." Applejack shook her head.

"Trixie. Do you know anything about this?" Pinkie asked.

"Why of course Trixie does. It is clearly similar to the strange magic that Trixie uses. If any pony here should investigate this, it should be Trixie herself!" Trixie stood tall, seemingly unbothered by the strange altar.

Applejack just sighed. "This thing must be destroyed. It is an abomination to all of Celestia's teachings."

There was just something off about the air here. The seething shadows almost seemed to recoil from the altar not in fear, but in anticipation. There was a strange presence that could be felt nearby, but every time Pinkie turned to look, there was nothing.

"Trixie can handle this thing." Trixie strode towards the altar.

"Wait just a second!" Pinkie grabbed the back of her robe. "Let's be careful."

Trixie took a step back. "Trixie is not scared, but she will accept the worries of a friend."

"So, what are we going to do then?" Rainbow asked. "We can either go around it and take one of these random passages, or we can look closer at it I guess."

"I say we destroy the accursed thing." Applejack said.

"Trixie wishes to observe it."

The two glared at each other.

"Well, we have to look at it to destroy it, right?" Pinkie said. "Trixie did well at destroying the last effigy we found. You weren't there for it, but she destroyed an altar in just one touch!"

"Really?" Applejack asked. "You destroyed one of these things before?"

"It was not exactly like this, but Trixie did indeed destroy an altar. Her touch was simply too powerful for it." Trixie said.

"Fine then. Do whatever you are going to do, and then I will destroy it, and we can move on." Applejack said.

"Trixie will take her time."

Pinkie Pie wanted to get a closer look at the thing as well, so when Trixie walked towards the altar, Pinkie joined her. There was just something off putting about all the strange writing and glowing red orb. It didn't feel dangerous, it felt oddly warm even. Like the caressing embrace of a mother. However, it did certainly feel strange and had Pinkie watching every shadow. It called to her, all while it shunned her. Did it want something from her?

"You will join Trixie?"

"Yep! I'm not going to touch anything, but I thought that I should take a look." Pinkie said.

"Then Trixie welcomes you to join her." Trixie said with a smirk. "This is her area of expertise after all, not including the art of stage flair and being a magician of course."

"What do you call all this then?" Pinkie asked. “Your area of expertise.”

"The occult." Trixie eyed the altar before her. "Take a look friend, but don't look too close, lest the powers that be amaze you."

And so, Pinkie tried to understand the drawings on the ground. There was seemingly no meaning to them. They were composed of spinning suns, shapes drawn crudely, and stars that looked just a bit... off. Letters were written, but they formed no words and just spiraled meaninglessly towards the center of the room. There was something unsettling about it all, like a mad pony had drawn them in haste with no rhyme or reason other than the one understood in the pony's own head.

Pinkie turned away from the drawings, closing her eyes. It made her nauseous to look at, and she couldn't place why. It just felt... wrong. Off.

"Look, the great and powerful Trixie has found something!" Trixie pointed to the base of the altar.

"What is it?" Pinkie asked.

"Words." Trixie said.

"Well, what does it say?" Applejack asked. "Let's get this moving."

Trixie's eye twitched in irritation. "It says here that Applejack is insufferable."

"Why you-" Applejack growled.

"Let's calm down, okay you two?" Pinkie said. "We are in the middle of ancient tunnels that want to kill us, and there is a mysterious altar of darkness with a pulsing red orb that, in all likelihood, also wants to kill us. If I had to guess, the stones also want to kill us and drink our blood. Everything here wants to kill us. We can't be fighting like this."

"Always the peacekeeper, aren't you Pinkie?" Applejack said.

"I am just doing what I can." Pinkie said.

Applejack turned away. "Just get this over with. I can't stand much more of it."

Trixie hummed in satisfaction. "Trixie will now read the altar."

"The sacrifice of dawn is the gate to ruin!" Trixie read aloud. "Let light flourish if you crave the void!"

"Sounds like bad news." Rainbow Dash said.

"Are we done? Can I destroy it now?" Applejack grabbed her blade once more.

"Why don't we just leave it alone?" Rainbow asked. "Maybe messing around with it isn't the best idea."

Seeing how they were all at an impasse, Pinkie decided to say something. "Maybe we should leave it for now and come back to it? We can use it as a landmark on the way back."

"Trixie will accept."

Applejack had a nasty look on her face. "As long as it eventually gets a proper cleansing."

"Then it's decided." Pinkie said. "We will come back to it later."

"Sounds good to me." Rainbow said.

Those words were a relief. The more she stood around the altar, the more uneasy she felt. For a moment, she swore felt tentacles sprouting from her back. It was all in her head of course. But it was still nearly enough to make her want to scrape her back off on a wall.

"Now, which way do we go?" Pinkie gestured to the many branching hallways.

"I... don't know." Rainbow said. "Keep going straight? It's simple enough to remember on the way back."

The many paths were nearly identical other than the wear and tear on stone.

"I'll lead." Applejack strode towards the center passage and started down it without another word. It seems that she had made her decision already.

"Insufferable..." Trixie whispered beneath her breath, and Pinkie barely caught it.

As they started walking down the passage again, leaving that dreaded altar behind, Pinkie whispered, "Why didn't you accept her apology?"

"It was insincere, Trixie will not accept an insincere apology." Trixie said.

"Then do you think you could pretend to accept it?" Pinkie asked.

"No. Trixie is not a pony that will take things lying down!" Trixie said. "She is a practitioner of magic and respects herself."

"I understand." Pinkie said with a sigh. "Just try and keep it to yourself if you can, ok? We all need to be in this together or..."

"Trixie knows. She will try to curb her... resentment towards this pony." Trixie sneered. "It will be kept on the low. Unfitting for a magician such as herself, but it will be done."

"Thanks Trixie. I know I can count on you."

"Say no more. Trixie already knows." Trixie said.

And so, they walked down the foreign halls once more. There were a few stone doors on the sides of the walls, but most proved impossible to move. Those that could be opened or were already shattered open housed nothing more than cobwebs and forgotten relics of a time long past.

There were signs of life in some, the belongings of ponies from long ago. Scattered pages with unreadable words, soggy books, ancient mane brushes, and oddly well-preserved horseshoes. There were a few ancient rusty blades, in supreme condition considering their time spent in the depths. Combined with the cold, silent air, the entire system felt like a tomb. It reminded Pinkie much of the Ponyville graveyard.

Something broke the silence of the tunnels, rattling and shuffling in the dark.

"What was that?" Rainbow whispered.

"More foulness, without a doubt." Applejack said.

The infernal darkness swirled, beckoning them to explore its depths. And so, they did. Pinkie tread forward, forcing her nervous hooves to move. Her blades were sharp, and she was quick. That would protect her. Or at least, that is what she told herself.

The tunnel opened up ahead into a large room. The light caught the feet of a massive stone pony, causing Pinkie to stumble back in surprise.

"Giant!" Pinkie shot backwards.

"A giant?" Minuette asked. "Let's kill it! That will be a fascinating genetic anomaly to investigate."

"It's not a giant. It's a statue." Rainbow Dash shed light on the stone structure, and her eyes widened. "Wow. Who would have known something like this was down here?"

"By Celestia... it's beautiful." Applejack stepped forward, lowering her blade in awe.

In the center of the room was a large statue of an alicorn which nearly dominated the entire room. It was massive in size, and impeccably carved. It had a flowing stone mane and gentle caring eyes; it was a remarkably detailed statue of Princess Celestia. She was elegant, even when trapped in time and stone. Despite the wear and tear of the passing of time on its endless march, the statue was still in excellent condition.

It was as if Princess Celestia was really standing before them. Every detail, down to the fur in her coat, was carved. Her royal horseshoes, the sun cutie mark on her flank, and even the crown on her head. Though unlike the crown she wore when she ruled, this crown did not have three prongs. It had five. Perhaps due to the change in location it had been altered over the course of a thousand years.

At the base of the statue was a stone basin. There was a pile of gold coins in it, and Pinkie could guess that maybe it used to be a wishing well of some sort at a time. Alas, at the moment, there was no water in it.

Applejack trotted to the base of the statue, overlooking its impeccable design. Gently, she placed the single gold coin she had gathered from the spiderweb into the basin. It clinked against the others, finally disturbed at last from their resting place. Applejack dropped down to her belly, and muttered praying filled the room.

"Aren't we supposed to be getting treasure, not giving it?" Rainbow asked. "There is a perfectly good pile of loot right there."

"This gold is off limits." Applejack said. "It belongs to Princess Celestia."

"I'm sure she won't mind if we take it." Rainbow said.

It seemed a little weird to Pinkie that Celestia would build a statue of herself in a place like this. Who just built a statue of themselves underground? Who built a statue of themselves at all? Pinkie glanced over at Trixie. Well, Trixie would probably build a statue of herself if she had the chance, but most ponies wouldn't do that. Especially from what she remembered about Princess Celestia. It just wasn't something that Pinkie saw happening. Nonetheless, it was in front of her.

"No one takes this gold." Applejack snapped. "These are holy offerings."

"Who creates an offering shrine for themselves? Trixie thought this whole religion was a new thing." Trixie said.

"Maybe it was not an offering shrine at the time." Applejack said. "But now, you can consider this holy ground."

Holy ground. What a strange sequence of words. What a strange idea. Who decided if the ground was holy or not? A single pony? Then what wasn't holy ground, and what was? What madness. MADNESS. MADNESS. What a funny word!

Pinkie shook her head and put on a smile. The freak thoughts faded quickly as they came. Her eyes twitched. Keep calm. "Well, why don't we mark this location and come back to it?"

"We can't just keep coming back to things." Rainbow said. "We need to do something about them."

"So, you want to desecrate this holy shrine?" Applejack asked.

Something shambled in the dark, rattling, writhing. Shuffling hoof steps made their way towards the noise. Something was approaching from the dark.

"Something is coming!" Pinkie said.

The voices stopped in the room. Pinkie held her breath and drew her blades. They listened to the sound of the shambling. Armor clanked in the dark. Something clacked.

"Get ready." Applejack said. "Every pony get behind me. Whatever it is, I'll break them."

"Finally! Some test subjects." Minuette said.

Pinkie was really wishing they had Baldwin with them right about now. His powerful blade may not have been always reliable, but when it did hit it killed anything he aimed it at. And who knew what was going to come out of the darkness?

Blades ready, Pinkie waited.

From the pitch-black of the tunnels, a thing came into view. It was a pony, of sorts.

There was no flesh on this pony. This thing, this abomination of life and death, was just the shell of a pony. It was the skeleton of one. Scraps of old armor hung off of it, sheltering what bone it could beneath its tattered embrace. The bones were stark white, as if picked and cleaned of flesh by scavengers. In its cracked jaw, it held a somewhat still sharp sword.

"I think I found out what happened to the bodies of the soldiers." Minuette said.

From the darkness, more approached. Another similar skeleton, and then another. They marched forward, a wave of bones with soulless eyes.

Behind them, two more figures emerged.

Another pony skeleton, only this one was wrapped in once fine clothes of a noble. The fine yet ancient clothes were tattered and falling apart, but they still held that noble semblance of a life of luxury. It was a unicorn, and Floating next to the pony was a golden goblet, wrapped in its magic, a dark red unholy hue. It was sickening to look at, but Pinkie couldn't help but find her eye drawn to that goblet. For some reason, she wondered just what the sloshing black contents inside tasted like.

The last figure was one Pinkie recognized in part. It was clearly another cultist, with an iron crown strapped to the mare's head. She was of flesh; unlike the skeletons she was walking amongst. In her magic, she held a gnarled black iron wrought rod. Like a specter, she floated off the ground lightly.

As she saw them standing there, a rasp came from her. "Dawn... no dawn...praise the gate of ruin. Praise the blood. Praise the end. No dawn. No night. No harmony. Praise disharmony! Praise it! Praise its gestating heart! Praise its horrible magnificence! The end has come at last! The end has-"

Applejack charged forward with an inspiring cry. "A living pony that serves the darkness! You will not defile this sacred ground!"

And then, everything erupted into chaos.

A burst of adrenaline surged through Pinkie's veins. And like her, the horrors of the dark seemed to experience much the same as they charged forward.

An ominous crimson red spiraling portal opened up in front of Applejack. From it, a massive tentacle emerged, sending her flying back with a flick of its form. The cultist in the back was raising her rod high and chanting beneath her breath. A moment later, the tentacle slipped back inside the portal.

"Trixie?" Applejack yelled as she stood up.

"It was not Trixie, you buffoon!" Trixie raised her skull high. With an ominous red glow, a portal opened up above the cultist, and spectral tentacles lashed down at her. It sliced into her flesh, but she made no noise in response.

It was unnerving how similar the two's magic was.

The flash of a blade ripped her free from thought. A skeleton was bearing down on her, soulless eyes staring emptily.

Pinkie thought she evaded the slash of the blade, only for it to bite into the chainmail beneath her cloth. The rusted blade slid off of it harmlessly. Upgrades paid off.

Surging forward, Pinkie drove her dirk into the skeleton thing's skull, cracking it. It shoved her off, bone brought to bear with nothing to fuel it but dark power.

"Skeletons?" Minuette's enraged voice came through the din of combat. "How am I supposed to research skeletons?! Melt! Melt you worthless subjects!"

An orb of green liquid was drawn from her pouch, then thrown through the air in an arc. The orb splashed onto the slicing skeletons in front of Pinkie, splashing them in the green. Their bones started to smoke and melt away. Pinkie jumped back in shock. A little of the green liquid had got on the cloth of her armor, and it burned right through like a hot coal.

The skeletons tried to step forward, only for their smoking bones to break beneath them. In moments, all that was left was a smoking pile of melted bone and armor.

Pinkie stared for a moment. That stuff had almost got onto her.

"Watch out, the cultist is doing something again!" Rainbow screamed.

A volley of metal feathers punctured through the cultist who was raising her rod again. She gasped but fought through the pain. An incomprehensible swirl of words came from her mouth. Pinkie felt shadows swirl around her like tendrils, and her heart began to thrum in her chest.

As the thrum of combat heightened, a cacophony of clashing blades and armor, Pinkie's blood surged through her body, spurred on by dark energy. Time seemed to slow down in that swirling vortex. Her heartbeat thumped in an ever-increasing rhythm as the shadows grabbed at her. And in that gale of darkness and shadows, her limbs tightened. Her eyes dilated, and from beyond- she heard something speak to her. Soft as a whisper, but loud as a cannon. A cannon that would rend flesh and break bones with screams of the dying.

And yet, it was emotionless. Cold. Detached. It stated things with certainty, for it knew everything.

The voice was incomprehensible, but Pinkie understood, nonetheless. She was not welcome here as she was, salvation waited for her if only she gave herself to its horrible cause.

With a gasp, Pinkie pulled free of the shadowy vortex, her heart thrumming like a hummingbird's wings. And in that moment, Pinkie felt very, very exposed. Her gaze was drawn to the iron crown on that cultist's head.

Breathing, and feeling like her heart was going to burst out of her chest, Pinkie readied her blades once more. What was that terrible discordance of a symphony?

She leapt back into the fight, slashing away with her scythe and dirk. It cleaved through bone, but it was relatively ineffective against them. There was no blood to draw from the skeleton of a pony.

Applejack crushed through them with her blade. They almost seemed to burn as her blade cleaved through them. Their bones smoked from contact with her blade, and they fell back. The last of the skeletons were disposed of in a quick, brutal manner, leaving only the bleeding cultist and skeleton with a chalice.

A metal feather went right between the eyes of the cultist, causing her horn to flicker out and her body to slump to the ground.

"Damn! I missed your eyes." Rainbow snarked.

The noble skeleton with the chalice levitated the cup towards Pinkie. Though for some reason she wanted to drink its sloshing contents, she wasn't keen to know why. With a nimble step back, she evaded the contents which were splashed towards her. It was a tar-black liquid but smelled oddly sweet.

Applejack ended the skeleton with a single swing of her sword. It almost seemed to glow as she cleaved downwards, splintering bone like sticks. The skeleton fell into a pile like a puppet cut from its strings.

A few stomps ensured that the thing would not rise again.

Pinkie took a moment to breathe. Whatever that magic had done to her, it really did not feel good at all.

"The dead rise again. What foul magic is this?" Applejack kicked away a skull, sending it clattering across the stones.

"It's not natural." Rainbow said.

Trixie lowered her prized skull, and the ominous aura from it faded. "Trixie is... mildly disturbed."

"Your magic was oddly similar to that of the cultist's." Applejack said.

"Are you trying to say something about Trixie's power?" Trixie snapped.

"Both of you stop!" Pinkie stomped her hoof on the ground. She was getting really sick of all this arguing, and the rapid pacing of her heart didn't help her temper at all. "How many times are we going to have to do this before we are all dead because of you two?"

Trixie turned to her with wide eyes.

"Well, if the horseshoes fit..." Applejack gestured to Trixie.

"Do we need to have this conversation again?" Pinkie said. "Or are you two going to pony up and get over each other? Trixie isn't trying to kill us like that cultist, what more do you need? Would Celestia really want you to drive her away just because you're paranoid?"

Applejack stepped forward in a fury. "How dare you deign to know Celestia's-"

"Get off your high horse." Pinkie spat. "You don't know her words either, so all we can do is follow what she would have wanted."

The words seemed to strike Applejack, and she reluctantly took a step back.

At that, Trixie straightened, a smirk on her face.

"And Trixie." Pinkie said.

"Yes?"

"You don't have to accept Applejack's apology but at least try and make an effort to be tolerant of her." Pinkie said.

"Already done." Trixie said with a huff, turning her head away.

"Are we good then?" Pinkie glared at the two.

They said nothing in response. Applejack was fuming but held her tongue. As for Trixie, she looked as unrepentant as ever.

"Then let's get back to the task and figure out why the living dead are attacking us instead of arguing." Pinkie said. "And once we are done, we can all go back and relax."

She was positive that the resentment was not gone between them, but hopefully it would be a start. She didn't like speaking to ponies like that, but it was really getting dangerous and prying on her nerves. How could they just keep arguing in a place like this?

Her heart hurt. Whatever had happened to her still had her heart thundering. She felt a little faint.

What in Celestia’s name was that?

Pinkie looked down at the lifeless skeletons, detached from whatever strings moved their bones in death.

There were worse things than each other down here. Worse things than mere ponies. Or perhaps, ponies are exactly what they should fear the most...