A/N: Wow, have I really been doing this for five chapters now? Awesome! Brohoof me, bronies.

Chapter 5

Dungeon Trotting

"Okay," Roller looked at the clock before telling his guests, "We should have enough time for you guys to make some progress in this dungeon before I have to get some sleep." He walked behind his counter and came back out holding what looked like a game board and a red, velvet bag.

Rainbow Dash asked, "What's that stuff for?" to which Roller answered as he put it all on the table in front of the others, "Dungeon exploration works kind of like a board game. You guys move the little figurines that represent your characters, which you should find in the bag, around the board and I'll set down little tiles and other figures that represent what you can see. I'll also keep doing my job as Horse Master for your adventure."

The others nodded and each took a differently colored pawn from the bag. As they arranged their pieces on one side of the board and set them in the order that they'd be marching, Fluttershy looked concerned. "You called this place a dungeon, right?" she asked, "I-I thought they were just mines."

"'Dungeon' is kind of an umbrella term for any deep, dark place that you guys get to explore," he explained, "It's not necessarily a prison or anything... but just because it's not a jail..." the others leaned in close, noticing a sudden change in Roller's tone, "Doesn't mean that you'll ever be able to leave!"

Roller broke out into maniacal laughter and Fluttershy hid under the table. Pinkie joined right in with the writer, laughing as hard as she could while her friends picked the nervous pegasus back up and placed her in her seat. The laughter died down after a few seconds and Twilight calmed her friend, "Relax, Fluttershy. It's just a game."

"I'm not sure I like this game..."

"...I'm scared."

Reyna scoffed at Flute's statement. "You're scared?" She mocked, "Of what? The dark? Rocks? It's just a musty old cave. We haven't even seen any monsters yet."

Despite her facade of courage, the barbarian was still cautious as she lead the group further into the mines. The darkness around them limited their vision and soon, the four ponies were bumping into walls, trying to find another opening to go deeper. "Ouch!" Pin Kay cried out, "Somepony stepped on my tail!"

"It wasn't me, I'm in front," Reyna reminded her.

"Don't look at me. I'm right behind Reyna," Flute R'Shye stated.

"Um, Pin Kay? Aren't you the last pony in line?" asked Twin Star.

All four ponies stopped talking and listened to their surroundings. All was silent, save for the occasional drop of distant water. Just as everypony's nerves began to settle, something next to Reyna whispered, "Boo."

With a chorus of screams, the party scattered! Blindly stumbling their way through the darkness as fast as they could, the four adventurers couldn't help but get in each others' way. After only a few seconds they were all in a heap of tangled hooves and tails. Finally, Twin Star had enough. "Oh, what's the right spell?" she asked herself, "Ah, right! I'll cast Illumination."

A white light suddenly shone from under Twin Star's hat. All four of them could now see that they were lying in the middle of a circular chamber, on top of a series of rail tracks. The tracks went in three directions, each one going through a different arch at the edges of the room.

Pin Kay was the first to get back up. She looked to each of the three exits, giving a curious head tilt to each one. Eventually, she looked back to the party and asked, "Which way did we come from?"

"Oh, great," Reyna said sarcastically, "Now we're lost in a mine full of monsters." She stood back up and flapped her wings a few times to clear the dirt of the cavern floor off of her. Looking at the floor she could see several hoof prints all over the room, but they all started at the same arch. The barbarian pointed towards the source of the overlapping trails and said, "I think we started at that opening. See our tracks?"

"Um, okay," Flute's voice was shaking, "But what about those prints?" the others looked at where she pointed and could see prints in the dirt that lead down another track. Twin Star looked long and hard at the imprints before coming to a conclusion, "These aren't hoof prints, they're paw prints," she then looked up to her allies, "Guys, I think we found who stepped on Pin Kay's tail. Somepony that can track should lead the way."

Flute and Reyna looked to each other for a second and the forest pony shrank away. Reyna rolled her eyes before leading the party down another dark tunnel. Twin Star's spell kept the area lit well enough to see, but that didn't make the trip any less scary for Flute. The forest pony whimpered the entire way.

Soon, the adventurers could feel a cool breeze coming from the far end of the tunnel and could hear the sound of running water. Pin Kay started bouncing with anticipation and shouted, "Hey! There must be a waterfall up ahead!" and everypony in the group quickly told her to hush. "What if the monsters heard you?" Reyna asked, "You want them to know we're coming?"

"I think they already know that we're coming," the bard replied, "I mean, THEY dropped in and surprised US, remember?"

The barbarian put a hoof over Pin Kay's mouth and ordered her, "Stop talking! What if there's a trap ahead?"

"...or an ambush," came another voice from behind them. Reyna nodded, "Yeah, or an ambush!" before going pale with fear and asking, "Uh, who s-said that?"

From the ceiling dropped three monsters; two in front of the adventurers and one behind. All of them resembled dogs or some other kind of canine, but they walked upright and wore dull, red vests that showed considerable wear. The eyes of these creatures gave off a dim, yellow light that reflected off their sharp teeth and claws. One of them spoke in a voice that sounded like gravel being poured through a pipe, "You came into Diamond Dog mines uninvited. We not like uninvited guests... especially not nosy ponies!"

The ponies came together in a tight circle as the three monsters closed in around them, bearing teeth and claws. The diamond dogs growled, barked and did all else in their power to make Flute R'Shye quake in fear. Reyna scraped a hoof against the ground and snarled right back at the beasts. It seemed as though the only way past these monsters was to go through them.

"Welcome to your first battle..."

Roller placed three small figurines that looked like diamond dogs around the ones belonging to his guests. After a quick yawn he explained, "Combat isn't uncommon in this game and there are a number of rules to keep in mind, but it can be explained while we go through your first real fight."

He placed one of his dice in the middle of the table and continued, "We start by rolling initiative, basically just a fancy way of saying who goes first. Everypony roll your twenty-sided die and add your speed to whatever comes up. After we do that then we can get to the really fun stuff."

The other four picked up their dice and rolled. While they did that, the author rolled his one die three times. Before any of the players could tell Roller what their result was, Rainbow Dash asked, "Um, there's only four of us here plus you. Who's gonna play the monsters?"

"I will," he answered, "You guys just worry about playing your characters. I'm going to handle the bad guys."

This statement made Rainbow shake her head and furrow her brow. "What?" she objected, "You get three guys and we each only get one. What about when there are more than three monsters? Will you get to play all of them?"

Twilight cleared her throat before saying, "Rainbow Dash, who else is here to play the monsters? We can't just pull ponies off the street to play a game that would take this long to explain. Also, it's our first fight. I'm sure that Roller wouldn't throw anything too dangerous at us when we're still learning," she looked to the writer, "Right?"

Roller didn't reply, he just quietly chuckled and gave a mischievous smile. Pinkie took this as an opportunity to talk and cheered, "Hey! I got a sixteen! Is that good?"

All the other fillies in the adventuring party looked at their own dice and said the value of their roll aloud. After writing something down behind his screen, Roller nodded approvingly and told them their turn order, "It's going to be Flute, then one of the dogs, then Reyna, then Pin, then another one of the dogs, then Twin, then the last dog, then we'll repeat this order. Everypony understand?"

The four nodded and the battle began...

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but if I added the fight scene to this chapter then it would be way too long for my taste. Anyway, as long as you're here it would really help me to stay on a regular schedule if you left a review. Between last week's update and this one, nopony said what they thought about chapter 4 and that leaves me with no way to tell if the story is any good (though it is fun to write). See you next week, everypony.