CHAPTER 6

I'm back, readers...just as I said I'd be. I promised someone I'd finish this story and the two that follow, and I plan on doing so with all due commitment. I'm gonna try to write a chapter a day at least, unless something really bad happens to distract me. At this point, that can be expected as a possibility. I'm kind of taking things moment-by-moment right now, and fighting the apathy and lethargy brought on by a bout of depression the likes of which I've never known before. I will try to press on until the series is done though, you have my word on that. Now, I hope you're enjoying the story, and that you all enjoy chapter six.

Did I ever mention that I hate snow? Well, I was back in it, and I hated it. I trudged through belly-deep snow and icy, numbing wind for an hour before we at last saw up ahead the ruins that were our destination. Through the blizzard, they poked up through the white blanket of snow like jagged, aged gray chunks of ice. What was once a small castle or an old fortress made of smoky-colored crystal was now a broken and crumbling reminder of a long-forgotten outpost in this desolate landscape. I knew that somewhere beneath the ruins lay the labyrinth of caves we had to explore in order to complete our mission and stop Sombra and his followers. Of course, I had to comment on the nature of the ancient ruins we stood before.

"Sure...it's a nice house and all..." I said. "But look at the location..."

"Very funny, Drake..." Daring Do groaned.

"Drake...just get inside before you freeze to death." Dashie added.

"No argument there." I returned sourly.

"Wait...I'm goin' first." Daring stated. "Could be boobytrapped." She moved in front of us, and cautiously stepped into the ruins. She looked around, examining the floor and walls for any traps our quarry may have prepared for trespassers like us. She finally took the whip from her side, and snapped it at a wire on the floor ahead of her. A log studded with sharp crystal spikes immediately swung down to where any unfortunate pony would have been standing. With the trap disabled, we walked on through the entranceway, and deeper into the old structure, scanning the walls for any more traps or a way down into the caves.

"Alright, keep your eyes out. There's gotta be a secret doorway or a hidden passageway somewhere." Daring Do stated pragmatically.

"Why?" My sister asked.

"There's almost always secret passages in these old ruins." Daring answered.

"You two really need to read her books." Dash stated. I rolled my eyes.

"Why? The real deal's standing right here." I countered.

"But they're so awesome." My marefriend argued.

"Sweetheart, did it ever occur to you that we might be making up the next book right now?" I shot back.

"Hey...guys...shut up." Daring called in a whisper. "What did I say?" She gestured to a rectangular block of wall that was covered with some strange glyphs or symbols.

"What...bad art?" I asked. Daring growled, and walked to a statue of an evil-looking pony in jagged armor. "Just kiddin', Daring. I knew what you meant. That has to be the most poorly disguised secret door ever." She nonchalantly grabbed the lance connected to the statue and pulled. Instead of the slab on the wall opening like a door, with a grinding sound a section of floor in front of the carved block opened up, revealing a flight of stairs leading down.

"I know. It was pretty obvious to me too." She said smugly.

"Heh. Alright...egg on my face. Well, after you." I whispered to Daring. She shrugged and walked carefully down the crystal staircase with the three of us close behind. The stairs led us deep underground. By the change in air temperature (it actually got a good deal warmer), I guessed we were at least a hundred feet below the surface before we came to a long corridor extending back into the darkness. I drew my saber, and Budder put her trench knife in her teeth as we began to walk down the long hall, Daring in front with a lantern, and Dash in the rear with a lantern to provide enough light for us to see any danger coming. I had no idea what we may run into down there, and I was not entirely prepared for what happened next.

"Stop..." Daring whispered. We halted, and peered ahead into the darkness of the lengthy passageway. "You hear that?" She added in a low voice. I perked up my ears.

"What?" I questioned.

"Shhh..." Daring shushed. I listened intently, and soon I could make out a shuffling sound. Then silence. Then more shuffling. It sounded like somepony was slowly dragging something along the dusty crystalline floor.

"The Hell's that?" I whispered. The noise suddenly stopped. Budder and Dash moved up beside me, and for a log, silent moment, we all glanced at each other, wondering what we'd just heard. Then, out of the darkness it came.

It looked like a pony...or at least like it used to be a pony. What came barreling down the hall looked like a pony who died, was buried, dug up a year or so later, and brought back to life to scare and disgust the Hell out of us. Its crusty, necrotic flesh was missing in spots that revealed bone and tendon, and the thing's eyes were glazed and pale. It made a sound like an angry pig's squeal as it galloped toward us at a strange limping gate, it's mouth open wide. At the last possible moment, we all sidestepped, parting to let it by as I slashed out with my saber, cutting a gash in the deformed pony's side that would have stopped any attacker. It fell face forward to the ground in a heap.

"What the Hell was that?!" I exclaimed, gesturing to the thing. It jerked, then climbed to its hooves. "Holy Shit!" It's head twisted toward me, and it let out another squeal and charged. I grabbed it and rolled onto my back, launching the creature against the wall. It hit with a thud, but by the time I had gotten to my hooves, it had too. As it came at me again, Daring let fly her whip, and caught the beast around the neck. Instead of turning to face the new threat, it continued to pull toward me, snapping its jaws.

"Holycrapthat'sazombie!" Budder exclaimed. I looked at my sister, then back to the thing. Without much effort, I plunged my saber into the chest of the pony. It seemed to not feel my sword in its heart, or even to notice I'd just impaled it. I pulled out my blade, and again stabbed deep into the zombie. Again, it didn't faze the monster, which continued to pull against the whip.

"Drake..." Daring gasped. "Do something...I can't hold...this thing..."

"Bub, the head!" My sister advised. "You gotta take out the brain, bub!"

"Oh...that all?" I shot back before pulling my double-edged dagger and thrusting it through the thing's eye-socket clear to the back of the skull. It immediately went limp and fell to the ground, leaving a brain-coated dagger in my hoof. I started down at the dead creature a moment, then said the only thing I could think of.

"What the HELL?!" I cried out.

"Had to be one of Sombra's zombie soldiers..." Daring Do muttered, unwinding her whip from around the dead ghoul's throat. "Probably brought here by the Black Magic crew to guard the caves..." She bent down and examined it closely. "Hey Drake, you see the meat on this thing?"

"Yeah...it's like leather." I answered.

"This thing's been around a while...maybe since Sombra's reign." She stated.

"You mean these guys have been keeping that...thing alive for a thousand years?" Dashie asked, almost aghast.

"Probably." I answered. "I guess they wanted to keep one of their King's pets alive for when he came back. Maybe we just killed their master's lapdog."

"A real zombie..." Budder

"Yeah, and that's probably nothing compared to what we're gonna be up against if we don't stop these guys..." I said. "Let's keep going." We left the dead zombie laying, and made our way down the crystal corridor. We soon came to a split in the hall, one passage going left, the other right.

"We're gonna have to split up." Daring offered.

"Nope, they went that way." I replied, pointing down the left corridor.

"And how do you know that?" The adventurer pressed.

"Look down the other hall." I said. "See the cobwebs? They ain't been disturbed. I think I even see bats hanging from the ceiling. That means nopony's been that way yet. Heck, the bats tell me that if we go that way, we'll end up back outside at some point. Now look this way..." I gestured to the left. "Some of these lower-hanging cobwebs are torn, and there's no bats. Somepony went this way not too long ago."

"Huh..." Daring said after a moment of silence. "Heard you could track..." I smiled, and started walking down the hall with Daring, Dash and Budder close behind me. After another two hundred meters or so, I came to a dead stop. I heard voices up ahead. Glancing at their faces, I could see that the others hear it too. I motioned with my right forehoof the military hoof sign to advance slowly, and crept forward, keeping low to the ground. I reached a point where the hall turned at a 90 degree angle, and slowly peeked around the corner. There was some kind of large opening ahead, and the coast was clear. I motioned again, and we turned the lanterns down and moved up to the cavernous divide in the wall, and beheld what was before us.

The opening we stood at was the end of the floor, and of the passage itself. Below us was a large crystal cavern, at least the size of a large house. Crystal formations hung from the ceiling and rose from the floor like an ice castle. The whole cave was lit by dozens of torches, causing the walls and crystal stalagmites and stalactites to sparkle in the flickering light. From somewhere out of sight, deep in the cavern, a group of ponies were chanting. We had found the chamber where the ritual was being performed.

"This is it." I spoke. "How we wanna do this?"

"You're the combat expert." Daring replied. "I dunno how many of them there are, but if anypony can take 'em, it's you three."

"We can hold out own." I nodded. "So, we distract the cultists, and you abscond with the horn, right?"

"That's the plan." She stated, then paused a moment. "I mean, if you think it's a good one too." Wow...I had to pause a moment. Daring didn't trust anypony enough to work with them, and here she was asking me if her plan was sound. I didn't know whether it was my fighting the zombie, my tracking ability, or my dogged persistence to complete this mission that had done it, but I had somehow won over one of the most stubborn ponies I'd ever met.

"Yes...I think it's a great plan." I replied seriously. "But like you said, we don't know how many of them there are, I'm guessing at least six to eight. That shouldn't pose too much of a problem, right guys?"

"Nope." My sister answered smartly.

"As long as you leave a couple of 'em to me." Dashie added with a smile.

"Okay..." I said with a sigh. "Let's get down there, and do this thing."

Looks like they found the Sombra worshippers, but will it really be that easy to get the horn and get out? And can they do so before the evil King is resurrected? Hopefully, you don't have long to find out. I will try to have chapter seven up late tonight or tomorrow afternoon, barring unfortunate circumstances. Until next chapter, thanks for reading. -Drake