The thing coming down the tunnel ambled towards us, ten feet tall and filling almost the entire width. I could see a wide body, with giant insectile legs below. I didn't see eyes, but a lot of thick tentacles hung from what I assumed was the head. Several were spread wide, tapping at the walls as it rumbled along.

"Any ideas?" James said tersely, keeping his weapon lights off but aiming the gun at the approaching monstrosity.

I tried to think fast. A gunfight now might bring more of these horrors. I had an overwhelming urge to run, to hide...

Hide. Like ants. but no eyes. Hide!

"Lay down," I stage whispered, forcing my paralyzed limbs to move. "Lay flat along the side of the tunnel!"

I reached out and dragged Turf down on the right side of the passageway. "Shush," I hissed in his ear. I could see the raw terror in his eyes, and I remember he couldn't see a thing without an ARHUD on. "Don't move a muscle."

I glanced to my left, and saw James laying on his stomach along the opposite side, staying as flat as possible on the rough floor.

The thing continued to approach, its huge, ugly bug feet pattering along beneath it. I shook with fear when the evil tentacles passed over me, tapping away at the tunnel walls above us as the dark thing felt its way along in pitch blackness. A hairy foot came down inches from my face, and I struggled not to scream. More feet. More tentacles.

Then it was past, continuing up the way we had come. It paused at the door, and tapped the organic button, closing it.

We stayed put, breathing as shallowly as possible while the creature fooled around with the door.

Open. Closed. Open.

It stepped out, making a hissing noise, then came back towards us. This time the tentacles at the rear end spread across the tunnel. It slapped the control one more time to seal the door, hissed with an air of satisfaction, and trundled back over us in reverse. As it tapped its way past, I realized the creature had no front or back. Either end could perform either job. The tunnel wasn't even wide enough for the thing to turn around in.

"How's that for a fucking heart attack?" James grunted once the hideous creature had vanished from sight.

I exhaled shakily.

"I think I almost died of fright," Turf said, groping around carefully in the dark. I could see him staring into nothing.

"It didn't have any eyes," I observed. "I wonder if we can use our lights safely?"

"I'd recommend we stay infrared." James tapped his ARHUD. "Just because they don't have eyes doesn't mean they can't sense light. At least we now know they can't see IR."

"We should have given Turf Mia's ARHUD," I said, regretfully.

"Wouldn't work," James said. "It's locked to Mia's biometrics. It won't work for anyone else unless she de-registers."

"Oh. Well then. I hope we don't have to lay in the dirt again anytime soon."

James paused a moment. "Hey, wait a sec. That's not a cheap flashlight. See if it has a red vision saver mode. That should keep it dim enough to use relatively safely."

I put my hoof on Turf's back, and he started in fright. "Sorry. it's just me," I told him. "Let me see your flashlight, okay?" He passed me the flashlight, and I toyed with it a moment. A dim red beam shone out, illuminating the ground ahead of us. Through the ARHUD it looked quite a bit brighter, but even without light amplification, he would be able to see with it, at least enough to keep from tripping over the rough ground.

I gave him back the light. "There. See that button? That's the red light. Just use that for now, but shut if off as fast as you can if we tell you, okay?"

Turf nodded. I could tell he was grateful to be able to see at all.

We continued carefully down the tunnel, following the same direction the monster had disappeared in. After another period of descending, we came to a junction of several different tunnels.

James froze. "Eris!"

"What's wrong?"

"Not wrong. I'm picking up Mia's signal again! it's very weak, but it's there!"

"Let's test the tunnels!"

"Wait." James reached into one of his cargo pockets and pulled out a folding knife. He then cut a strip from his nice Hawaiian shirt and shoved it under a rock at the mouth of the tunnel we had just come from. "So we know how to backtrack."

"Good thinking."

We tested multiple tunnels, using the signal from Mia's bracelet to direct us. After some frustrating trial and error, we eventually found one where the signal didn't fade as we proceeded. Despite our fears, we were not harassed by the denizens during this time.

"Where did they go?" Turf wondered.

"Hopefully somewhere we won't run into them," James replied.

"Don't jinx us," I pleaded.

We continued to explore the maze of tunnels. James's shirt was a tattered mess before long, and he finally took it off, exposing his muscular chest and cutting the remainder into a few more strips. He took one long red strip and tied it around his forehead, just above the ARHUD.

"You look like Rambo," I said, remembering the movie character.

James grinned at me. "Thanks. You like Rambo?"

"I haven't actually seen the movie. Just some pictures from it on the Net."

"We'll watch it together when we get back."

"With Mia," I added.

"Yeah. Of course."

We continued onward and downward, eventually coming to a side junction that seemed bigger than the rest. Turf took a moment to glance into the opening.

"Oh feathers," he gasped, backpedaling into the wall and shutting off his light, eyes round with fright.

"What is-" I started to ask.

Turf frantically waved his hooves at me to stop.

I shut up, then went to take a look for myself. I poked my head carefully in, the infrared illuminators showing me a large room that had been cleared to have a relatively flat flooring. The thing that interested me most, however, was the wall-to-wall crowd of tentacle-faced giant insect monsters that silently filled the room, so many I couldn't count them.

James came up beside me, inhaled sharply, and pulled at my shoulder. Together we carefully backed away, grabbing Turf in the dark and walking as quietly as possible down the tunnel. Other rooms opened on the right and left, each of which contained numerous shadowy forms. Finally we reached a steeper downward incline with no more side rooms.

"Well now we know why the tunnels are so quiet," James said when we dared to speak again. "They looked asleep to me."

I shuddered, thinking about those creatures between us and the exit. "Let's hope they stay that way," I replied. "There had to be hundreds of them in there."

Turf groaned. "We need to hurry up and get out of here. I don't think it'll be good if they wake up."

"Agreed."

We continued down this hallway, following it while it corkscrewed deeper into the ground. A foul smell increased as we proceeded, the unmistakable odor of rot and death. Finally, at the lowest point in the tunnel, it connected to another chamber through a three way junction. The other end of the tunnel continued on, rising upwards again until we couldn't see any further.

"Maybe this is the lowest level?" I mused, carefully stealing up to the dark opening alongside James. The odor was so thick I gagged, a cloying miasma of unbelievable filth. "Looks clear," I whispered after leaning into the huge area. "I couldn't see very far, though. It's huge."

"Well, let's have a look then." He patted my neck, a reassuring gesture that smoothed my frayed nerves. "Mia's signal is right on top of us."

"That smell. I hope she's okay."

"She's fine," James insisted. "Let's go get her. But be careful. Something died in here."

"A whole lot of something," Turf agreed, holding a hoof over his nose.

Together we crept quietly into a large cavern, Turf close on our heels. The dirt underneath was soft and squishy, cleared of the rocks and debris prevalent throughout the rest of the tunnels. The sound of dripping water was everywhere, and I could see some kind of white deposits scattered along the sides of the area.

Then I stepped on something and it crunched loudly. I froze, my heart in my mouth. When nothing happened, I looked carefully down. I had stepped on a large bone. James and Turf looked at it, then I realized the piles of white stuff around the sides of the room were bones. Hundreds of them. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands.

"What is this place?" I choked, my fear rising. I carefully crept closer to one of the piles. Turf shone his red light on it, and the eyeless holes of a skull stared back at me, some unfortunate animal that had probably been dragged down here and eaten. Rotting strips of torn flesh hung from it, and moldy drops of putrescence stained the ground below.

I retched involuntarily, vomit rising in the back of my throat as we both backed away. I spat a long string of puke out onto the ground, barely holding my dinner back.

"Babe?" James touched my shoulder.

"I-I'm okay. Come on, let's hurry."

We continued deeper, and soon came across a small pool of water with several dark objects around it. We approached carefully, and I realized the dark objects were the heads and upper bodies of dead farm animals. I recognized two pigs and a cow, their entire lower bodies reduced to skeletons where they entered the water. Disgusting white maggots swam in the water, tearing the last strips of flesh from the bones.

"Larvae,' i said, realization dawning upon me. "This must be part of the life cycle of these monsters. I think this is a breeding chamber."

Horror washed over Turf's face. "You mean... Oh no!"

"Daddy?" a small boyish voice floated out of the darkness.

"Shh, don't make noise sweetie, we don't want the bugs to come back." An adult female this time, sounding ragged with terror.

"But I heard Daddy!"

"Me too!" another little girl's voice chimed in.

We looked at each other, then we rushed urgently into the darkness towards the voices, Turf in front.

"Celery!" he called, a little too loudly.

"Turf? Oh no! They got you too?"

"No dear, I brought help!"

We came to the edge of a pool. A pretty but wet and bedraggled mare was in the water up to her shoulders, her hooves and neck tied down with some sort of hardened resin. She blinked towards the red light, confused after being in the dark for so long. Nearby two small foals were similarly restrained, also looking towards Turf's light.

Looking into the water they were partially submerged in, I saw a large floating stack of gelatinous eggs. I could see the shadowy forms of the hungry worm larvae inside, moving about.

I focused my magic on their bonds, and quickly shattered them. "Pull them out!" I said urgently.

We quickly dragged Turf's little family to safety. "Daddy! Daddy!" the foals cried.

"Keep them quiet!" I said to him. "We aren't safe yet!"

He nodded, shushing the little ones with difficulty. I turned to his wife. "Did you see anyone else down here?" I asked her, realizing too late just how stupid a question that was in the inky darkness the poor pony had been swimming in.

"I heard another mare," she said. "Her name was Mia. She talked to us for awhile, but she got quiet after a bit. Somewhere over there, I think." Celery pointed off into the darkness.

"Stay here, Turf," I ordered. "We'll be right back."

We moved through the darkness, keeping a little distance apart from each other to cover more ground, looking for another pond but afraid of what we might find in it. Soon, around the base of a mound of boulders, I found what we were looking for.

"James! Over here!" I hissed into the ARHUD. I moved closer, looking into the water.

I saw Mia's top half. Her eyes were closed, and my heart seized in horror as I realized her bottom half was completely gone below the water. I froze, my mouth working silently. A rushing sound began in my ears, my body started to drift away, and-

"Is she okay?" James came up beside me, and his infrared emitters added another angle of light.

With a sudden crash of relief, I realized Mia was in one piece. The refraction of the water had tricked me with an optical illusion.

"Mia!" I wheezed as the awful tide of horror receded.

Her eyes flickered open, staring blindly into the darkness. "Eris? Is that really you?"

"It's me, darling. It's really me." I couldn't control the waterworks. I was sobbing all over the place as I magically released her bonds.

James stood over us alertly, pulling on her arm with one hand, watching for danger as we helped our favorite girl out of the fetid water.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. You guys found me. Oh my go- Oh, ouch! My legs are asleep!"

I used my hooves to pull her away from the water to safety. She sat in the soft dirt next to me as I tried to pull myself together.

"There are others down here," she said. "Children! You have to help them!"

"Just relax, they're okay," I said. "We got them free."

She sighed. "I talked to them. I think I fell asleep though. I don't now how I could sleep at a time like this, but I did."

"Adrenaline crash," James supplied. "It can make even soldiers in combat want to lie down for a nap in the middle of a firefight." He crouched down and put a hand on Mia's cheek. She blinked in the dark, putting her own hand over his while he kissed her quickly but lovingly on the mouth. "Glad you're okay, sweetheart."

"I missed you both so much," she sniffled. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

"Mia," I began. "Oh babe. I'm so sorry. It was my fault this happened to you. I could never forgive myself if-"

"What the fuck did you just say?" Mia snapped at me, her eyes narrowed viciously, staring sightlessly towards the sound of my voice.

"I, ah," I hesitated. I had never before seen Mia angry like this. And never directed at me. I was completely taken aback. "I don't know?"

"You said it was your fault."

"I... yes, I did. It was! I should have-"

Mia felt about in the dark, then grabbed me roughly by the cheeks, pulling us together and snarling into my face. "Don't you ever, EVER say some shit like that again, you little idiot!"

My mouth fell open in shock. "Wha-?"

"Saying it's your fault!" Her anger vanished abruptly as tears welled up in her eyes, and she let go of my face to put her arms around me instead. "Eris, that monster dragged me down here. I laid in this pool of water in the dark, listening to them shuffling around. That awful queen thing farted eggs onto me. I could feel the hatchlings in them moving around, making little popping noises as they tried to get out. I thought I was going to be eaten alive. I was so scared and alone. But I never, not even once, blamed you! So don't you dare blame yourself!"

Her tears poured out. I put my forelegs around her too, her soggy tank top sticking to her wet body under my filthy, dirt-encrusted hooves.

"I knew I could die when I took this job," Mia continued. "I didn't expect something like this to happen on vacation. But, Eris, even if you tell me to do something and I die ten seconds later, please, please don't torture yourself. I would never hold it against you. I can't stand to imagine you punishing yourself like that!"

"I-I'm sorry," I sniffled. "I just... I love you so much."

"Oh dear. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... oh gosh. I love you too." She kissed me on the mouth, and for a moment I was lost in her arms, the sour taint of fear in her breath doing nothing to dampen my joy. Then I finally processed something she had said, and I reluctantly pulled away from her so I could speak. "Mia darling, what was that you said about a queen?"

She shuddered. "This huge, misshapen thing, hanging from the ceiling. I could only see parts of it from where I lay, but I remember the tentacles, oh gosh a storm of them. It put me in the pool, then it put this long hose thing in front of me and blasted me with those disgusting eggs. You killed it, didn't you?"

"How do you know what it looked like?" I asked nervously. I noticed I could see her better now, her pink hair matted and sticking to her face.

"Bioluminescence, I think. Parts of her glow. She.. it... lit the cavern up like..." Mia looked at me, and I looked back at her, watching her beautiful eyes widen in fear under the gently rising illumination that slowly filled the huge cavern. On the other side of a large pile of boulders, something enormous scraped and shuffled stealthily towards us, the sounds drifting down from the rocky ceiling.

"Oh, crap," I said softly.