Chapter 15

Oubliette Dive

Charting a ride upstream, the party followed a large river up the Ruins of Aagloo. Happy to rest their feet a little more and make good time, they reached the city's crumbling remains in four days' time. Pinkie commented on how it was lucky that they could make it so easily and quickly around the whole map without too many random encounters like they had with the squirrels, the minotaur, and the tentacles. The others tried to shush her up before it was too late.

Five minutes later they had to fight off a murderous bad of merfolk.

Sloshing up onto the shore, looking back at the sinking ship, Rainbow Dash scowled and said, "Can we please not jinx ourselves when we are this close to beating the final boss? Please!?"

"Oops, I guess the hole in the ship's hull was kind of my fault," Pinkie said sheepishly. "Still getting used to these drums and everything."

"I think she means that you could stop bringing up the lack of encounters that we've been enjoying," Discord said, wringing out his hair. "We don't want to incur the undue wrath of the great Game Master in the sky, or whoever controls this land."

Spike was wringing out his won growing beard as he said, "You know, I've been wondering about that. The last time we caught any word of the Gazer and his quest for us, it was by examining the minotaur. I wonder if he's held off because we were going through the quest just as he wants but punishes us if we jinx ourselves or try to deviate from the path."

"That sounds highly complicated for a monster who could collect his own tokens, thank you very much!" Rainbow Dash snorted.

"Gazers aren't that powerful, though," Pinkie protested. Big Mac nodded vigorously. "We got caught off guard and were in a bad position. Gazers are at their most lethal when they catch an adventuring party unprepared. They use their disgusting eyeballs to cancel out our abilities and then rely on their minions or traps to finish you off, unless you are unlucky enough to get hit by one of their more powerful attacks.

"But if you know what you are getting yourself into, a Gazer can be defeated. And we have a ton of awesome weapons and supplies to help us out this time!"

"I like your optimism," Spike said. "I agree, I think we can defeat the Gazer pretty easily once we have all four figurines and return to the Squizzard's castle to confront him. But we don't want to put ourselves at a disadvantage when we are so close to our goal."

"Like that?" Big Mac asked, pointing over to a rock golem tramping in their direction.

"Ah! It gives me a chance to try out one of my new tricks," Discord said, whipping out his bow. He pulled back the string and a massive harpoon that glowed red hot appeared in his bow. He released it with a blast of air.

Enraptured, they watched as the harpoon hit its mark. At first, nothing happened. But then the golem began to turn red hot and exploded from the inside. BOOM!

"Holy Celestia! When did you learn to do that?" Spike exclaimed.

"You know, I figured that since this was a magical bow, there had to be more to it than just helping me create more arrows. I've spent some time talking with it, and while it doesn't quite have a voice of its own, it was more than happy to communicate an idea or two to my mind. And We've been built up quite a friendship since!"

The bow quivered, as if responding happily to Discord's words.

"Neat!" Spike said.

"Yup!"

"Arg!"

Everyone turned to see a singular zombie pony lumbering towards them. Rainbow Dash gave a condescending grunt and sped by the zombie, a knife in her mouth. There was a flash of a rainbow and the zombie took three more shuffling strides before it pitched forward. Its head slid cleanly off the rest of its body.

"That was easy," she bragged.

"Arg! Arg! Arg!"

Three more zombies staggered out of the ruins. Spike squinted and could see the shadows od dozens more coming.

"I think we had better keep ourselves moving. Let's find the Oubliette."

The party skirted along the riverside, Keeping a wary eye on the ruins. The zombies resolutely followed after them. Dozens soon turned to scores, and scores soon turned to hundreds.

"I thought you said they said these ruins were abandoned!" Rainbow Dash complained. "How can there be so many zombies?"

"It happened a long time ago. They might have forgotten some stuff," Big Mac suggested.

"These ponies are more than just some stuff," Discord deadpanned as he launched volley after volley of flaming arrows. The fire eventually consumed each target, but unless the archer took out their brains they continued to shuffle onward.

"ARG! ARG! ARG!" the undead chorus chanted.

Zombies with armor were beginning to show up. The party would soon be surrounded by potentially a thousand of the undead and with no boat to take them to safety. Spike conjured up two barriers and made a small corridor in the throngs of undead. They dashed through the crowd, Rainbow Dash observing from above.

"They just keep coming!" she shouted.

"Do you see any large opening in the ground? One where there might be a gate or prison bars, or something?" Spike called up to her.

"Yeah! Directly ahead! I'll go check it out!"

"No wait- Arg, whatever!"

Once past the barricades, Big Mac used his sword to clear the way and Discord provided backup by knocking down zombies that got to close to reinforce their friends. Spike and Pinkie used their spells to blast away the zombies who gave chase. But even as they fell by the dozens, there were still hundreds to take their place.

"Keep running," Spike encouraged.

They dodged past solitary walls, jumped through crumbling windows, leaped over mounds of fallen buildings, and narrowly avoided holes where even more zombies were emerging. It appeared as if an entire kingdom had been zombified!

"Hey guys! The gigantic grate over the hole won't budge and it looks locked! But there is a guardroom; I already cleared out the guards. We should be able to enter it and find a way down."

"Or get pinned trying," Discord grumbled. He shook himself and said, "Anyways, onward fellow adventurers!"

Working together they reached the massive pit. There was a wall raised around it with a grate of bars set over it with ten large locks. It was as if giants had come and personally sealed whatever was down there. And there was no time to figure out the locks with the zombie hordes catching up to them.

"One of us couldn't have been a cleric, could they?" Spike asked out of frustration.

"You know, if Fluttershy were to play, she would make a fantastic cleric," Discord said happily.

"Can I charm the undead?" Pinkie asked, bouncing lithely out of the way from gasping mouth and swinging, undead hooves.

"Not the best time to experiment!" Big Mac grunted.

"Every pony this way!" Rainbow Dash shouted, landing at the door to the guardhouse. She had to buck away a zombie crawling to nab her.

They threw themselves in, one right after the other, and Big Mac shut the door. He used his horn to pull down the latch and board across the door, locking it. He used his magic to hold everything in place. Spike was about to say that it was good luck that this small stone building had stayed up for so long when the stones and mortar began tumbling in. The zombies were chipping away at their defenses!

"I can hold it for a little while!" Big Mac grunted. "Find us a way out of here!"

"Right here," Rainbow Dash said, using her tail to sweep away a layer of filth and grime that covered a trap door.

"I'll stay with Big Mac and play him an encouraging tune," Pinkie said helpfully, strapping on her one-pony band equipment.

"Thanks," the stallion said.

Discord opened it carefully. No traps were activated, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. Spike led the way down an ancient ramp, using his staff to illuminate the darkness. The ramp plunged downwards and curled to greet and compliment the oubliette's ow design. About two stories down, they found a long hallway with a slight downgrade. It was made up of tiles with all different kinds of symbols.

"Hold on," Spike said, hold up a clawed hand. Before him were images of mountains, animals, suns, stars, rivers, waterfalls, and skulls among many more pictures. He detected magic and saw that the entire hallway was filled with it. "It looks like this is some kind of puzzle that will activate if you step on certain tiles."

"Activate how?" Discord asked.

Spike tapped one tile that bore the image of the sun. Hoping that Celestia's icon would bring him good luck, he leaned into it.

"Gotcha!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she pulled Spike back from getting consumed in a pillar of fire.

"Woah! Thanks Rainbow Dash," he said gratefully.

"No problem!"

"Hmm, the tile shattered," Discord observed. "All of these tiles could be meant to take effect. But it's just a one-time thing."

"Yeah, but there are gazillions of tiles!" Dash pointed out.

Big Mac's strained voice came down to them, "Having any luck?"

"Not really!" They hollered back.

"But I am!" Pinkie shouted from above. "I think I have it figured out. Big Mac, open up the door please!"

"NO!" everyone shouted.

"Oh well then. Oopsies!"

There was the sound a wall collapsing.

"ARG! ARG! ARG!"

Pinkie Pie's music turned from that of encouragement to her golden flute playing a happy tune while the drums started beating. Big Mac cried out in surprise and the others barged up to help their friends. What they found were zombies with pink light glowing from the dead eyes and they were moving in time and rhythm to Pinkie's new song.

The bard winked at them.

"She actually charmed the undead," Spike said, awed.

"We can't doubt her for a second, can we?" Rainbow Dash asked hollowly.

Not knowing what to make of this sudden miracle, Big Mac released his hold on the door. He undid the locks and pushed the door open. The entire zombie horde was dancing to Pinkie's music. A plan started formulating in Spike's mind.

"Pinkie! Use your music to guide the zombies down the ramp and into the hallway!"

Pinkie's mane gave him the thumb's up and she played harder, staring down at the entrance to the subterranean world. The zombies happily shuffled forward and filled the hallway, tramping towards the tiles. They were soon greeted with sounds of raging fires and waters, the roll of thunder, the cracking of the earth and the howl of terrible winds.

More than a thousand zombies danced their way down below the guard house. The rest of the party did not follow, even after the horrible sounds ended. They wanted as much space between them and the undead as possible. The gang met up and Pinkie finally stopped playing.

"Whew! That took a lot out of me! How long was I playing for?"

"Who knows! But you cleared the hallway with that quick trick!" Spike said excitedly.

"Just please give us more warning before you go experimenting," Rainbow Dash pleaded. "Even if it did just save our lives."

"Okie dokie!"

"Arg!"

"There's still more of them down there, but not as many as before. We can take them when they're all lined up," Discord said with relish.

"Wait! Before we do that, let's use the zombie to scout out any other traps ahead," Spike suggested. "Pinkie, can you keep playing?"

She took a swig of water from a canteen in the Sack, and then replied affirmatively, "Yes I can! Let's get going!"

Thus, with a grizzly host of undead ponies, the adventurers set out into the depths of the oubliette. The long hallway's tiles had been utterly obliterated. There were no traces of the carnage but a strange, burnt smell hovered in the air. They quickly pressed further in and met the undead horde, still numbering nearly a hundred.

Spike was happy that the idea had come to him, otherwise they might not have survived the first trap! But it made him worry about what was next.

It turned out that the next series of traps were pretty standard: floors falling away to reveal pits of skies. The zombies filled these and made pathways to walk over. The next trap were walls that slammed together, flattening the undead into paper. A sticking spell kept them in place. Then blades fell from the ceiling. Rainbow Dash used her skills to catch these blades and disable them.

The undead horde dwindled but danced resolutely forward. Pinkie began looking flushed at playing for so long, but she was the party's best hope at progressing without doing too much damage to themselves.

At regular intervals they found small windows that opened up into the shaft of the oubliette proper. There was a ghastly blue light that emanated from below and it reflected off the stone walls. Spike could see other windows far down and guessed that they still had six levels or more to go before they got to the bottom.

"I think I am finally understanding the wisdom behind this particular oubliette," Discord said. "There is a powerful chimera that has been trapped down here. The grate makes it impossible for the beast to get out, but there is shaft. People trying to get the monster out would have to either unlock the gate or descend beneath. If they stayed topside, they would have to fight the army of the undead, that golem, and probably many more creatures.

"So, most adventurers would take the route of descending into the oubliette itself, but they would encounter all of these traps. The traps wither do them in or weaken them enough so that they can die at the claws and teeth of the chimera! Or, should the chimera try to force its way out of the shaft, it will encounter all of these traps and be stopped."

"I think you're right," Spike replied.

"But how does any of that help us out?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Discord shrugged and said, "It doesn't really, but that's not the point. The world of the game becomes more interesting when its story and its mechanics make sense and are used to help enhance the story and its experience."

"I just like defeating stuff," Rainbow Dash admitted. "I mean, I'm looking forward to some real puzzles, so this oubliette better not let me down! But I like this game for its action."

Spike chuckled and thought to himself that there would always be players like her, those who were in it for the adventure and the thrills rather than the story and the character building and camaraderie. Though Rainbow Dash had been a stalwart friend for this whole adventure. She didn't stand for loyalty for nothing, after all!

But her words did get him to wonder what kind of traps and puzzles were still to come. False doors, blades, and crushing walls were fine and all, but after such a devastating hallway of magical tiles, this couldn't be it? Could it?

The answer came just up ahead, where the entire line of conga-dancing zombies tripped yet another trap. The ceiling just above Spike pitched downward. He stumbled back with a cry, getting his friends to pile up behind him and Pinkie Pie. There was a weird jiggling sound followed by the sound of something peeling and sucking.

"Gross," he muttered under his breath. He then gasped as a large, round, blue ball of slime plopped onto the ground and rolled after the zombies. "It's a Slime Ball!"

The Slime Ball rolled at high speed and ran over the zombies, sucking them into itself. As it did that, everything down to the bones were absorbed into the creature's clear, gelatinous form. It kept rolling down the hallway, gobbling up each zombie to the last.

"Whew! I hate to see them go, but I need some more water and breath of air," Pinkie exclaimed.

Spike carefully inched forward and looking up the slide that had opened up in the ceiling. There was thankfully nothing else up there. He then surveyed the tunnel. The Slime Ball had filled the entire thing, providing no means of escape should it come after them.

"Okay guys, that creature is one of the deadliest in the entire game! It absorbs and devours anything down its bones. And once it has those bones, it can give short life to the bones with its own ooze and use the bodies of its victims to fight. It probably rolled to a stopping point and then it will slowly crawl its way back up here."

Rainbow Dash checked the slot and shouted, "Hey look! A key of some kind!"

It was a heavy symbol that looked like a maze. Spike guessed that with a Slime Ball in the oubliette, the barrier would have to have no crack or hole, otherwise it would eventually slide through and run amok in the rest of the dungeon.

"We might need that for when we're done with this thing," he told her. "Come on, we have to stop the Slime Ball before it gets back up here. It will probably reset the trap when it does."

They charged forward and found the Slime Ball laboriously crawling away from a solid barrier with a matching hole to Rainbow Dash's key. It undulated as they approached and slowly brought the bones of its victims forward, reassembling them to become minions.

"Any tips on beating a Slime Ball?" Dash asked.

"Use magic!" Spike and Pinkie shouted together.

Using her drums, Pinkie conjured a ball of pure energy before her and shot it out into the Slime Ball. Spike used ice magic, freezing it in place so that they could get in more attacks. The blob most absorbed the damage. It didn't even register that it has been hit. The bones spilled out, held together by the slime.

As the ambled forward, Rainbow Dash and Big Mac laid into them, tearing them apart. They scattered the bones so that the slime couldn't latch back and bring the bodies back together. Doing so caused the slime to pool and slowly evaporate. The rogue then rolled some of her exploded ball bearings into the Slime Ball. They exploded as it ate them, but still it did not show any sign of stopping.

Discord was not to be outdone, and he used his bow to conjure up powerful arrows that tore into the Slime Ball. Eventually, it ripped itself free from the ice and reached out for the bones. Big Mac and Rainbow scurried to pull them away and out of the thing's reach. It had become noticeable smaller, but it was not defeated yet.

"We've got to keep this up!" Spike encouraged.

The Slime Ball was finally blasted to smithereens halfway back to its holding chamber. It splattered and nearly washed over them. It quickly evaporated this time, filling the space with a noxious odor. They pulled up their cloaks to ward off the miasma. Rainbow Dash hurried to open the door and them spilled into the next room.

"I feel spent," Pinkie gasped, her tongue lolling out.

"Here, we have something for that," Discord said. He fished out potions of recharging and magic restoring to everyone.

Big Mac closed the door with a sharp click! There was a grinding sound up above and spike protruded from the ceiling. They began moving down as a slow pace.

"Well, at least we aren't going to be smashed to death quickly and painlessly," Discord muttered dryly.

"Hey look! A puzzle! At last!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

The rest of the group hurried over to where she was. Before them lay a strange statue that was in pieces. The different pieces were connected in strange ways through chains, hinges, and even by magical bonds.

"What is it supposed to be?" Big Mac wondered.

"Let's see," Rainbow Dash said, hurriedly arranging the pieces together. In a blur they all fit into an unrecognizable creature.

"I may be the Lord of Chaos, and even I have no idea what this is supposed to be," Discord said with a frown. The ceiling began descending faster. "I think it reacts to each time you get this puzzle wrong."

"It is wrong, but I see a head. Maybe a lion?" Dash mused. She speedily rearranged the pieces. It was another terrible monstrosity. "Psh! Got it! I can't believe it took me two tries!"

"Um, no, I think it's still wrong," Spike said worriedly as the ceiling picked up its pace again.

"No, no! I mean I know what this is now! A chimera!" And just like that, Rainbow Dash assembled the statue in ten seconds flat. A terrifying chimera with a lion, goat, and dragon for heads appeared in between her hooves.

The ceiling did not stop moving, but a stairway slid open just behind them, going deeper into the dungeon. They quickly sprinted, though with a glance Spike saw that the spikes were still a far way off. Once they were all in the next room, the staircase slid back up and became the new roof.

"You know, whoever designed this place did not count on some pony as fast as you, Rainbow Dash," Spike said.

"Thanks! But where are we now?"

They were in a perfectly square, stone cube with a faint light gleaming off the crystal fragments in the stonework. All that stood out was an inscription in one wall. Discord went and inspected it. He scoffed, "This is a simple trap. Pathetic really! We are meant to suffocate unless we can solve this riddle right here."

"What is it?" They all asked him.

"It doesn't matter," he grinned, rolling his eyes. "all that matters is that the answer is Tuesday."

He snapped his fingers and the wall with the riddle written on it melted away, revealing a dark tunnel. The cube's crystals did next to nothing to illuminate the mysteries beyond. Spike held his staff aloft and used its gem to light the way. Before them unfolded a wide and deep stairway. It was all painted black. There was an ominous feeling in the cold air.

"When you said that they call this Oubliette Dives I was expecting us to parachute into this hole," Pinkie laughed, the darkness not bothering her. "But this still delivers! We just keep going down, down, down!"

"Yeah, and it's kind of fun," Rainbow Dash said, her teeth chattering slightly. "We should do more of these, but let's find the ones that are a little cooler."

"Cooler?" Discord asked, his breath pluming before him.

But Spike understood and he winked. "At least 20% cooler, got it!"

Continuing their descent, the party walked a long way down the painted staircase. They noticed something stirring in the shadows, but whenever they tried to exactly locate it or pin it down, the shape disappeared. Spike got anxious and he slowed down, checking the stairs, explaining that maybe the darkness was meant to distract them from tarps. However, there were no other traps. It was just unnerving.

At the bottom of the stairs there was a circular door made of black metal. It had a keyhole, but there was no evidence of a key anywhere. They spread out searching, Spike summoning small glowing orbs to help his friends out. It was then that he caught the small shadow once more out of the corner of his eye. It was speeding right for Big Mac.

"Big Mac! Watch out!"

The knight went rigid and he gurgled. His eyes widened and then rolled back before the whites became black. A deranged grin came over Big Mac's face. He then turned to his friends, black magic spilling out of his horn.

"Now this is the body I want!" Big Mac said in a deep, grinding voice that did not belong to Spike's friend. "I can take down two if not three of you before you are forced to kill your own friend. And there is no way that you will be able to get out alone. Checkmate!"

Pinkie Pie started playing her golden flute. She tried to play her possessed friend to sleep. However, Big Mac laughed darkly and used his horn. Pinkie's wonderful flute completely melted. She cried out in surprise as Big Mac drew his adamantine sword. It turned pure black and started growing, growing spikes along its edge.

"You don't stand a chance against me!"

Rainbow Dash tried to come around Big Mac, but was blocked by a black, magical shield.

"Magic and strength! An unbeatable match!" the shadow gloated.

He took a step forward and then jerked. His eyes widened and Big Mac's body began convulsing. Darkness leaked out of his mouth and the shield wavered, the sword returned to normal.

"No way! This can't be happening!"

Spike jabbed a claw and said, "Ha! Big Mac is just as reliable as his sister! He wouldn't turn on a friend if they were in need! You might have just made the worst decision!"

"Yeah, you should have gone for me," Discord laughed.

The others gave him a wary glance.

"Impossible! It can't be over this quickly! Noooooo!"

Big Mac's eyes shone brightly, and he coughed up flames. The darkness within him and around the entire hallway disappeared. He kept coughing and then spat out a two-sided key. It was all over in an instant.

"Blarg! What just happened to me?"

"You just beat something that was trying to take you over! And melted my flute!" Pinkie shouted.

"Sorry," Big Mac mumbled.

"Not your fault at all!" Discord said, pulling his buddy into a side hug. "Your resilience and loyalty are legendary! You defeated that monster with sheer willpower! Try that one for size!"

The stallion smiled embarrassedly. Rainbow Dash scooped up the key and inserted it into the door. The lock ejected the key and rolled to the side, revealing the next room. A horrible sound of drilling grinding reached their ears as they saw what traps were in store for them.

It was a spinning room of blades. It was impossible to make any of them out. Not even Rainbow Dash could just fly to the other side. In the whizzing whirlwind of blades, they caught glimpses of a barred door on a platform just beyond their reach. However, the rogue made an amused noise in her throat and tossed some of her ball bearings in.

BOOM! CRASH! BOOM!

The spinning stopped and the room came to a standstill. Sword and axes made up the entire room, moved by some strange engine. There were planks hidden among the various blades and the party reasoned that these were supposed to align and let them cross over the door. With some fenagling and a little magic, they moved the room into position so they could all cross. The second side of the key Big Mac had spat out fit perfectly into this door.

"Do you think we're getting close to the chimera?" Pinkie asked.

Looking down the next set of stairs and seeing a blue light down at the bottom, Spike said, "I think we've made it."