Author's Note

This chapter was originally one huge chapter of 11k +

But, I am not a fan of chapters that big, and I know that a lot of you feel the same way, so i split it in two to make it a little kinder to read. Dont worry though, the next part is not far away^^

Chapter Thirteen

The light from the rune was blinding, and the feeling of being teleported was not exactly a pleasant one. It was like my entire world had been thrown around. But as soon as that feeling had come it disappeared and I fell to my knees. My eyes were still hurting slightly from the strong flash, but that did not mean that I was unable to see my surroundings.

Just like Melandra had said it had been a two way teleportation rune and we found ourselves inside what appeared to be a large cavern. We were in the middle of the cave, the teleportation rune underneath us. The walls around us had torches that burned with a soft blue light which in turn lit up the area. There were rocks and gravel covering the floor of most of the room, apart from a single path that led from where we had appeared up to a single door at the end of the room we were in.

“I… I think i'm going to throw up again.” And it seemed that Cleo did not handle the whole teleportation business so well. And I winced as I heard her dry heave once more.

“Hey, are you alright?” I managed to get up, my feet still a little wobbly as I went over to her and rubbed her back softly as she wiped her mouth.

“Y-yeah… I feel a lot better now.” She gave a shaky smile as she rose back up.

“You tend to do that after throwing up.” Melandra commented. She had already taken several steps forward and was investigating the cave room that we were currently in.

“Seems kind of messy for a secret lair don't you think?” Dash followed after Melandra as she walked around, he seemed to have recovered a lot quicker from the teleport than Cleo or I had. In fact, I was feeling my own stomach threatening to show me my own breakfast once again, but I managed to keep it down.

“It looks like they recently expanded here, that's probably why… are you two coming?” She looked back at the two of us.

“Yeah… so, do you think that he knows that we were are here?” I had to ask. He had already tried to incapacitate us… or rather me. And I knew for a fact that he was not someone who was afraid to get his hooves dirty. Having the element of surprise could be useful.

“... I don't know.” Melandra admitted as Cleo and I walked up to her and Razor Dash. “There was no magic of that kind in the rune, but he could have hidden a number or scrying spells in any number of locations around here… do you sense anything Cleo?” She looked at the Sphinx in question as she asked. Melandra knew a great lot about magic, but as I had learned, a Sphinx has an insane natural sense when it comes to magic.

“...Y-yes and no.” Her feline ears fell flat against her head, she looked ashamed. “T-there is too much magic around us, it… its everywhere. I couldn't make out anything specific in a mess like this, no matter how hard I tried… i'm sorry.” She apologized.

“Hey, don’t be sad, it's not your fault.” I put my hand on her back. I couldn't stand to see her like that, so sad. Especially not when it was about something that she had no control over. “We are going to be fine, right?” Melandra met my look and I could see her uncertainty.

“Yeah, it's… fine.” She shook her head and I knew why, I was feeling a little uncertain too. Cleo was the best one when it came to sensing magic, and that was an advantage that we had just lost. Still, we had to push on… I, had to push on.

We all walked over to the door at the end of the room, gathering before it. It was a simple stone door, it looked fairly rough, but had a few unfinished markings carved into it. Like it had been started but never finished.

“So, what can we expect?” It was a question that I had to ask. My knowlege about magic was still really limited, and here we were, invading the base of an insane unicorn, All things considered, I was glad that I had my friends there with me. I would have charged in headfirst even without them, no doubt. But if I had, I would have probably already have fallen to the trap outside. No, they would be vital, vital to my revenge.

“Well, we already know that he is… proficient in necromancy. No, not just proficient… making a flesh golem is fairly simple. Even I could do that. But the fact that it was able to speak, that… is a frightening thought. He has a scary amount of understanding for that twisted art. I wouldn't be surprised if we found more flesh golems that he is using as servants. Not to mention any other kinds of magic that he may possess.” The way that Melandra was speaking about it was certainly not making me feel any better about the whole thing. But at least she was not beating around the bush about it.

“So, what you are saying is that we should basically be ready for anything?” Captain Dash asked, while Melandra was investigating the door. Her hoof slowly gliding over the stone.

“Indeed. That a problem soldier boy?” She flashed him a small smirk.

“Not at all! I was ready before I was even born!” Well, his saying was a little off, but judging by his grin, he was at least getting in the spirit of things. Which was good, as his good mood was infectious, I could already feel it working on myself.

“Good, because I just found the switch.” Melandra pushed in with her hoof, and I flinched as a sharp, crack, echoed throughout the room. I watched as she large stone door, slowly began to descend, sinking into the floor.

Only for all of us to recoil at the disgusting smell that met them, and the grotesque sight that was revealed once the door had opened fully. I… I could barely believe the sight before my eyes, even if I had seen the monster outside too.

The room was filled with tables, cut up body parts lying just strewn over them with little to to care. Dried blood staining most of the floor, except for the few parts where it was still fresh. To the side, there were several large tube like objects with more body parts inside of them, floating in some kind of substance with wires attached to them.

Captain Dash was the first one to walk inside, being careful with each step he took, like he was walking on eggshells. I had been sort of prepared for a lot of things. I knew what kind of things that pony was capable off, what sort of monster he was. But it seemed like he had taken it to a whole new level.

Razor Dash stopped in front of one of the tables. I could see him reaching out with one of his hoofs, but he stopped, hesitated. It was like he had just frozen in place.

“A-are you okay man?” I asked, finally gathering the courage to overcome the initial shock that the room had given me as I walked up to him.

“I know this pony.” I could finally see what he was talking about, what he had reached out too. It was the head of another pony. “I saw him just two weeks ago. He works under me… worked under me. He was just on an extended leave.”

“I'm sorry to disappoint you.” Melandra commented as she took the other side of Razor. “But this pony has been dead for more than two weeks.”

“What? No, no you have to be wrong. I saw him, I worked with him.” Razor protested. “I saw him…” I reached out and softly put my hand on his back. That mad pony had ruined too many lives, he had affected Razor now too.

“Then what you saw was a spy.” Melandra said, cutting straight to the chase. “Even the royal guard has been infiltrated. This pony needs to be stopped.”

“Y-yeah… let's move on.” But even though he said that, I could see that he hesitated for a moment before he pulled his hoof back.

“Well, well, well.” All of us immediately went on the defensive as a foreign voice echoed through the room. Cleo pressed herself against me, making herself as small as possible, she was scared, and she had every right to be.

I looked around, but I could not find its source, it was like it came from everywhere. “It seems like my slave failed. But no matter, here you are nonetheless. Welcome to my little lair, Subject 217.” It was him. His voice was different, but it was no doubt that it was him. “And you even brought friends… how quaint of you, bringing more bodies for me to experiment on. I simply must give you a proper welcome... Horrors, Awake!” He raised his voice and the last two had a certain force behind them, that made the very air around me shake.

And just as those two words had been uttered, several of the test tubes around us started to shake violently.

“What's going on?” Cleo voiced her concern, and I would have answered her if i had any clue myself.

But before any of us could take a guess, one of the test tubes that was the furthest away from us shattered, its liquid flowing out onto the floor and into one of the drains that the floor was covered in. But what had followed with that liquid, was another one of those… monsters, it was a pony, sewn together just like the first one, only that this one had both wings and a horn. But as it tried to stand up, its left wing simply fell off. However, that did not stop him from advancing towards us.

“We need to move, before this room is filled with them!” Razor shouted just as another of the test tubes broke, and another horror came out. There was just one problem with his plan.

“Where do we go? There are three doors in this room!” I yelled back. There was three additional doors apart from the one we had entered from, each on their own side of the room.

“Don't care, just choose one, the longer we stay in this room the worse it will get.” And that was certainly true, some of those things were getting awfully close, and I was pretty sure that I could hear a low growl coming from Melandra. She was ready to fight.

But the one that ended up choosing for us, was Cleo.

My head snapped in her direction as a loud scream filled the room, and Cleo was already bolting towards the closest door.

“Cleo!” I yelled after her, but she did not react, she only kept running, hopping over any of the horror ponies that was in her way.

“Celestia damn it. Just follow after her!” Captain Dash practically commanded, not that I had any qualms with it. We couldn't allow ourselves to get split up, and with Cleo panicking like that… So, we ran off after her. Razor Dash took to the air, avoiding all the commotion that was going on the ground level that way. But me and Melandra, well, we were stuck on the ground.

Not that Melandra seemed to mind, she was turning into a battering ram. Just running headfirst into whatever problems were in our way, body parts were literally raining down around us. My god, the smell alone was enough to make you want to puke.

Cleo had already opened the door on the left side of the room and ran inside, and Razor Dash was just seconds behind her. As Melandra and I were getting closer, one of those monstrosities managed to make it past Melandra's rampage and threw itself at me. Its mouth was open and those were definitely not pony teeth.

I lashed out with my right hand claws as fast as I could in a fit of panic, I had no idea what a bite from one of those things would do, what kind of sickness it carried with it, and I definitely did not want to find out.

Black goo, splattered all over me as my claws tore its jaw clean off and pushed it to the side. But even missing a jaw, those things were insistent, and it grabbed onto my legs, gurgling noises coming from its mouth as more black goo continued to seep out.

“Let go, damnit!” I stomped and tried to shake it off, but the thing had an iron grip, which was surprising considering that he only had hooves. And it was slowing me down, a lot. I could see more of them running towards me with surprising speeds.

No, I couldn't let that monster get me again. I would never go through his sick experiments one more time, I had to get free, I just had to.

But despite my efforts, the thing just refused to let go. If only I had some of my weapons on me, all of them had been left back at my home when we escaped. I readies my claws, and was about to strike it again, when my vision suddenly was blocked and a smash that shaked the entire room followed.

“Get a move on, you slow oaf!” I could hear Melandra shout and I noticed that the thing that had come crashing down was her tail, her dragon tail. She had transformed back, but only partly, she had retained her pony form with the exception of her tail. “Oh, why bother.” I did not even have time to blink before her tail wrapped itself around me and pulled me after her.

“H-hey, I could have made it, just fine!” I shouted after her. Or at least I tried to between the moments when her tail slammed me into the ground or into a group of those horror ponies, smashing them to smithereens.

“You were slow, i'm helping you out, so stop complaining!” She roared back and I was sure that I could even feel her tail tightening its grip on me slightly.

“Don't piss off the immensely powerful dragoness, got it.” I winced to myself as I could practically hear my ribs creaking in protest.

Melandra ran through the door, and pulled me through just after her. On the other side, Razor Dash was already waiting for us and did not hesitate with slamming the door shut behind us.

“That… was too close.” I groaned while still dangling in her grasp. “Um… you can let me down you know.” And she did, making me fall down, straight on my ass. “You have to show me how to transform like that sometime..” It was really neat to see actually. At her tail, I could clearly see the transition from fur to the silver scales she had in her original form.

“Well, if someone had not ran off like… oh.” Melandra looked over to see that Cleo was huddling and shivering in the corner. “Um…” But while she hesitated, I wasted to time with hurrying over to my apprentice, softly stroking her back as I kneeled down next to her.

“Hey… are you okay?” I asked softly while keeping my hand on her. It was easy to forget how young Cleo actually was with how she looked and acted. But deep down, she was still just a kid. I was a fool to have taken her with us in the first place.

“W-why?” She sniffed, as she turned to look at me. Her eyes red and teary. “Why w-would somepony do something like that to somepony else?” She cried softly and I wasted to time with grabbing her and embracing her in a hug, one that she gladly accepted, leaning into me.

“Shhh, it's going to be okay, Cleo. It's going to be okay.” I kept repeating while softly stroking her back. Both Melandra and Razor Dash kept their distance, simply watching as Cleo calmed down. “We are going to stop the pony who did this. We are going to make sure that he never hurts anypony else again.” He was certainly going to pay for what he had done, to me, to all those ponies and other creatures. I was going to make sure of that.

“Um… Jake?” I heard Razor speak up and looked over to him to see what it was about. “I think we may have a problem.” Looking over to where he was pointing, I understood what he meant. In the middle of the room we were currently in, there was a huge hole. The rest of the room was rather plain, a few torches hung on the wall, but other than that, the entire room was empty. Only another door at the other end of the room, and the whole in the floor that separated them from it.

Not just a little hole, but a huge one, that did not allow anyone to walk past it on either side, no it completely filled up the middle of the room. But worse than that was the noises that came from said hole. Growls and scratching noises was just a few of the ones that could be heard.

“Are you okay?” I asked Cleo as I turned back to her. She was wiping her eyes, but she looked more gathered than before at least.

“Y-yeah, I will be fine.” She sniffed and put on a brave smile. Hearing that made me feel happy and I reached out and ruffled the fur on top of her head slightly, making her laugh from the touch. She was a tough girl, that was for certain.

“So… how far till the other side?” I asked Melandra and Razor as I walked over to them. Both were standing at the edge, looking down into the darkness below.

“Far enough.” Melandra commented, it was longer than any of us could jump, but luckily most of us had wings… most of us. “But more importantly… what is down there?” It was further down than I could see, but I already knew that this was. I remembered something like it from when I was first in that sick pony's capture. I remember the first time, I was thrown into a hole like that.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself from the memories that plagued my mind. “That, is where he throws his rejects. His failures.” I stared down into the abyss. The growling and noises coming from it growing louder. It seemed that they had been agitated by our presence. “Only one is allowed to come back out. After it has killed every other thing down there with it.” Shock came over everyone's faces, even Melandra who stared down into the hole.

“We have to help them then!” Razor Dash was quick to the suggestion. He was a soldier after all, it was in his nature to help others. To put them before himself.

“Most of the things down there are exactly the same as the ones back in the room we just escaped from.” I told him, sending him a sad look. “Chances are slim that there is anything down there that is worth saving. We just just leave them be and move on.” But those words only seemed to aggravate him even further.

“How can you say something like that!” He roared. “You of all individuals should want to do anything to save them, especially since you were experimented on too.” I felt rage building up within me because of his words, but quickly quelled it.

“Then what do you want to do, huh?” I threw my arms out in frustration. “Fly down there, try to save some of them if you want to. Be my guest. But,” I pointed down into the darkness. “Every thing down there, even if they are worth saving, are in a bloodbath, attacking every moving thing that comes within its grasp. You will be no different.” I could tell by the sounds alone that it was much worse down there than what I had fought my way through. “You are just a single pony, what do you think you can possibly do!” I yelled right back at him. I could see the fury on his face. He wanted to protest, to yell back at me, to hit me even. But he knew that I was right.

“He can't do anything. But I can.” Melandra said drawing both of our attentions to her.

“But what about you wing?” I asked, and I could have sworn that I saw the faintest of smirks on her face after I had asked just that.

“I don't need this little thing to make it across.” She said, her left wing flopping around a little, the poison still affecting it. “No, but I plan to send all of them into a deep slumber with a powerful sleeping spell.” Then Melandra did something that surprised all of us. She stepped out away from the edge, into the air… and she stepped on it. A few more steps later and she was just straight up walking on thin air. My brain was really struggling to comprehend this. When she reached the middle of the hole, she stopped and sat down… on nothing.

“What?” She asked with a certain amount of smugness in her voice as she looked back.

“I… b-but… How!” I exclaimed, as I kept looking at her. It just made no sense, then again, little in this world made that much sense… but this made even less sense than usual.

“This, in the next level of that slow fall I taught you.” Melandra said, and immediately had my full attention.

“Y-you mean that I, can?”

“Learn this? Oh most certainly.” She nodded as she laid down fully, her legs tucked under herself. “But you should keep going. This spell is going to take a while.” She said as a her body began to glow in a soft light. “And we can't be sure of what that pony is up to. You need to stop him as soon as possible, just in case. I'll catch up with you afterwards.”

“Well, we better do as she says.” Razor was quick to accept the fact that out dragoness in disguise had just walked on air. “Cleo, can you lift Jake across, or do you need some help?” He asked as he stretched out his wings and took a few flaps.

“Oh, um… I can manage just fine.” Cleo said. She was still a little shaken up from before, but she was a lot better. That was for sure. “He is really not that heavy.” She had already picked me up when flying on several occasions when flying before. Mostly just to mess with me.

“Great, let's go then.” And with that, Razor took to the air, flying past Melandra and crossing the hole in just a few seconds.

Cleo had a really impressive wingspan, and luckily the room was more than big enough for her to fully stretch them out.

“Are you ready?” She asked be as she took a few powerful flaps, and slowly rose into the air.

“Yeah, just watch your claws.” Her claws would not do anything to my scales, but I had two nasty scars on my back where my wings used to be, and one of the first times she had picked me up, that had been exactly where her claws had dug in.

“Of course.” Apart from that, I trusted her completely to carry me safely across.

I felt her paws tightly grab onto my shoulders, her claws coming out and scraping against my silver scales as we had liftoff. She was not as quick a flier as Razor, her physique would not allow it. But with her big wings she was a strong flier, and had little to no trouble with lifting things that was even close to her size.

As we flew past Melandra, I could positively feel the magic emanating from her. The light that shone from her body lighting up the hole beneath us, revealing all kinds of horrors beneath.

I quickly averted my eyes, not wanting to see the bloodbath that was going on under us. Not wanting to be reminded of how it felt when I was in the middle on one of those things.

It did not take long for Cleo to cross the gap and she softly lowered me down onto the ground, letting me go, before landing herself.

“Thank you.” I thanked her as I reached out and scratched her head, a gesture that she gladly accepted, leaning into my hand.

“You’re welcome.” She positively purred. She may only be part feline but she shared a few similarities with them.

“Say…” I looked over to Razor Dash who were just watching the two of us, before directing my eyes back to Cleo. “Do you want to stay here with Melandra? While Razor and I go ahead I mean.” She had already reacted really badly to what we had seen in here so far, and there was no knowing that else we might encounter.

“B-but, I… what about you guys?” Cleo asked with concern as she looked at me.

“We will be fine. But more importantly.” I pointed in Melandra's direction. “Melandra here is the strongest one out of all of us. So, if anything happens, you will be safe with her.” As much as I wanted to say that I only had Cleo's best in thought, that was not the case. If she had any more bad reactions just as before… that could end badly for the rest of us too. And I needed to get to that unicorn. I needed to make him pay.

“I… O-okay.” She gave in, a sad look on her face. “I’m sorry about how I acted back there. I… I was just so afraid. I did not know what to do.” She admitted, tears beginning to appear in her eyes.

“Hey, it's alright, Cleo. It's alright.” I wasted no time with grabbing her in a tight hug once more. Softly stroking the fur along her neck. “What you did was only natural. It's not your fault, okay?” I held her close for a few more seconds before I could feel her nod softly in acceptance.

“O-okay.” She sniffed as she sat back down. A smile now adoring her face. “You two be safe, okay?”

“Of course we will be safe!” Razor cut in as he wrapped a hoof around my neck and pulled me down to his height. “I will protect little Jake here.” I could not see him, but I was sure that he had a big confident grin on his face.

“And who will protect you then?” I forced his hoof off and stood back up from that uncomfortable position, rubbing my neck as i did.

“Oh, when you are as awesome as me, you don't need protection.” And there was that overconfident jackass that I knew and loved. Though I knew that he was putting in a little extra in his act to make sure that Cleo would feel safe.

“If you say so.” Both me and Cleo laughed at his antics. “Hey, Melandra! You better take care of her, now. You hear?!” I shouted out to her. She was already in deep concentration because of the spell. And while I did not get any vocal answer, I was sure that I could see her nod softly. Putting any remaining fears that I might have to rest.

“Alright, you ready, soldier boy?” I couldn't help but tease Razor slightly. Mostly because I knew that he would retaliate without a seconds hesitation.

“Of course I am. Let's go, pretty boy.” And I was right. I took one last look behind me. Seeing Melandra who was still defying gravity and Cleo who had sat down and was looking at our dragoness in pony form. They would be fine, it was time for me to focus more on what was ahead instead.

Razor was already waiting at the door when I walked over to him. The door was the same as the one we encountered in the first room, only a little smaller.

“So, do you think that he has any more nasty traps in store for us?” Captain Dash quipped with his usual confident grin. Though, now that Cleo could not see me anymore I was no longer in the mood to keep up any facades.

“Does it matter?” I asked, looking down at my companion who met my gaze. There was only one way that this whole situation could end.

“No, I suppose not.” He averted his eyes. “You know, you told us a lot. But I have a feeling that there are still a lot of things that you never revealed. About the things that he did to you.” He was an insightful pegasus, I had to give him that.

“... You are right.” I let out a sigh as I reached out and began searching for the switch, trying to remember exactly where Melandra had found it earlier. “There were a lot of thing that he did that I wanted to forget. To pretend that they never happened.” A sharp click and a soft rumble came from the door as I had found the switch. “Tell, you what. After all of this is over. I'll tell you over a beer… or fifty. That sound alright to you?” I looked down at Razor… at my friend and smiled.

“...Yeah, I like the sound of that.” He laughed and nodded in agreement as the door before us opened up, revealing a long thin corridor.

“Let's go then partner.” And with that, the two of us entered the corridor, the door slowly closing behind us. There were no torches or any sources of light, at least not from what I could see.

And so, as the door closed the room grew darker and darker until nothing at all could be seen. Complete darkness surrounded us.