"This place was the site of enemy action not long ago," Rango explained, waving his arms around the large, wrecked courtyard, indicating the crushed benches, broken statues, smashed pots, and other signs of violence. "Six soldiers died here protecting the city." He pointed at a brown stain that lingered on the ground. "Brave heroes, they were."

"My respects to the fallen," Princess Cadance said softly.

Mia's exo suit hummed slightly as she knelt down, holding her slung rifle across her knees and reaching her hand out over the stain. "I hope they killed many monsters before they fell," she said, bowing her head.

"That they did, in fact they killed them all by the end. It was a hard battle, though, guns and swords against claws and tentacles." He nodded at us gravely, then turned and walked ahead, gesturing for the property manager, a larger Silenian woman who had met us here, to come along.

I followed Rango towards the doors of the mansion in front of us. Tempest Shadow had greeted us briefly at breakfast, her eyes tired yet lighting up a bit upon seeing us, only to yet again be dragged away within minutes by her endless duties, Grubber resolutely by her side.

Rango had taken charge of us after we ate, and at our request he was showing us the sites of some of the troublesome incursions which had been terrorizing Silenia over the past weeks. This was the third site we'd visited in our search for clues, and so far the results had been inconclusive.

"The creatures came from inside the house at this one," he continued as we ascended the steps. "They killed almost everyone inside, but a young maid escaped by jumping out a window over the wall near the back of the building. She broke both her legs on the cobblestones, poor girl, but she is lucky to be alive. The others, not so lucky."

We fetched up behind Rango. All of us were armed, Rango and the lady included, the latter two with large local revolvers. "I sat in when they got her story at the hospital," Rango explained. "She said the things came from the basement, and burst the doors into the kitchen, murdering everyone as they went. They swarmed the house, tearing people to pieces until she managed to leap from upstairs. The inside is quite a mess, and as it was simply sealed after the investigators finished with only minimal cleaning efforts, I am ready to wager the smell is unpleasant. Are you sure you wish to continue?"

"I think we need to take a look," Cadance said, frowning. "Maybe we can find some useful clues. Not to say that your people are inferior, but they may not have the experience we do in some areas."

"Very well," Rango replied, nodding to the other woman, who pulled out a large key ring. "If you would please grant us access?"

"Aye," she said in a heavy accent. "There were good people lived here too, as kindly as they were prosperous. They did not deserve what happened to them. I be hoping you might find the cause of these troubles, and put a stop to this, before other innocents pay the price. These be dark times, me friends. Dark times indeed." She turned the key with a clank, then pulled the door open for us, revealing the darkened interior. "I'll just be waitin' out here, then. I've got no desire left to visit the inside again, not after what I seen that day."

"Will you be fine then, Bessie?" Rango asked.

"Don't worry your head none on account of me. Go and find whatever you can find, then, I be takin' care of myself just fine out here." She gently patted the massive holster on her belt.

"As you wish, then." Rango stepped up to the entryway, drawing his own giant revolver in one hand, before pushing into the huge and dusky foyer beyond.

Cadance's and my own hoofsteps echoed off the marble floor below as we followed him, flanked by Mia and James, who both held rifles at the low ready, their exo suits making them look bigger and tougher than usual. My own rifle was clipped to my back where I could retrieve it quickly if need be. Cadance for her part had a ProteC modified Glock in her thigh holster. She was dressed just like me again, her butt perfectly accentuated by the black hotpants. It was very sexy in my opinion. I hoped it looked that good on me.

For a moment we all stood there, looking at the enormous mansion staircase sweeping up before us. The darkness receded somewhat as Ringo flicked on the electric chandelier, but the eeriness remained.

"I guess this is the part where one of us is supposed to suggest we split up and explore this place in groups of one?" James quipped nervously. "We can cover more ground that way!"

"Cover it in blood, most likely," Mia added darkly. "This place is already creeping me out."

"We should use great caution," Rango warned us. "Stay together. The monsters came one time, probably not again, but what if some are hidden away still? Stay together, that's what!"

"That's the plan," Cadance said. "I doubt I have to say this, but no running off by yourselves, please."

"You don't have to tell me twice," I shuddered, looking at the dark stains splattered across the walls. I could just barely detect the horrible, lingering smell of rotting meat in the air. I grimaced.

"Okay then. What do you want to see?" Rango asked.

"The basement," Cadance answered. "The source of the attack."

"Yes, Princess. Follow me."

"Call me Cadance if you like. I rather dislike unecessary formality."

"Of course, Princess Cadance," Rango replied, looking uncomfortable.

"I mean if it's just us, you don't need to use my title every time. It gets old."

"As you wish, Princ... er, Cadance." Rango pronounced her name with an obvious effort of will. "But what if I forget and call you that in public? I will appear... disrespectful."

"If anyone has a problem with it, I will explain to them."

"Okay. Then come this way, Princess."

I chuckled, and we headed towards the back of the mansion, passing to the side of the grand stairway.

"The worst of the massacre was through here," Rango explained. "The kitchen and dining room were full of servants preparing the evening meal. They were horribly murdered. It took the coroner's crew a long time to collect all the body parts afterwards." He pointed down a dimly lit hallway as we went past. "Servant's quarters. Several died in there. The monsters were thorough."

"Wait," Cadance called out. "What's that?" She started down the corridor, and stopped standing over a brown, fuzzy object. She lifted it telekinetically into the air. "This is...?"

A small, torn teddy bear hung in front of us, suspended by Cadance's magic.

"That..." Rango paused. "This was a family house. Even the servants had families. The children..." he was silent for a moment, his mouth working silently. "The little ones were not spared."

"Oh," Cadance said heavily. "Oh, dear." She carefully placed the sad little bear back on the floor, next to a long, brown stain that stretched back to the quarters down the hall ahead of us. I realized small hand prints were stamped on the ground, on either side of the stain, and I looked away quickly, catching Mia's eye. I saw tears there, and when she wiped the back of her gloved hand across her face, I realized my own vision was blurring as well. I blinked and wiped my own eyes with a hoof.

"Let's finish this quickly," Cadance said softly, her voice shaky.

"Yeah," Rango said roughly. "We go downstairs. Follow me."

Leaving that hallway behind, we once again headed for the kitchen. only this time we went in silence until Rango paused to open a wooden door. "Kitchen," he informed us simply.

The door creaked open, and a much stronger scent of death washed over us.

"Ugh," I gagged, the vomit rising in my throat as I worked my jaw, forcing myself to swallow the acrid puke that trickled into my mouth.

Even James looked green, but he took it better than I did, frowning and looking nervously into the room beyond.

"It was very bad in here," Rango explained. "Worst thing I've ever seen in my life."

As Rango and James moved forward into the stench with Cadance in their heels, Mia looked down at me. "Hey, Eris? How come it never got this bad in Equestria? I mean, you had a lot of rifts too, but I don't hear about big messes like seem to have happened here."

"Because of the unicorns," I explained. "When the breach happened and monsters started coming through, the unicorns protected everypony else. Our magic is effective against the creatures from the other side, and we are a good percentage of the overall population."

"Wow. Equestria was lucky."

"Very. That first night, unicorns guarded the streets. They chased down the most dangerous creatures, while the police and military hunted down the smaller ones. I was still in training at the time, but they called us out to help protect Canterlot until the situation was mostly under control and the rifts were contained. I didn't actually see a single monster that night, but in some places I heard it was pretty crazy."

We moved into the kitchen, following the two males.

"But in a way, it wasn't luck," Mia continued, looking at the splatters of blood and dried chunks of gore on the ceiling. "It was because you guys were there, embedded in the population, always ready to protect your friends, families, and everypony else if something bad happened."

"I never really thought of it that way," I admitted. "I mean, I'm just a unicorn. I didn't really think that we're like, the soldier ants, or something."

"Maybe you aren't. But you still had the power to fight. You were always armed for combat whether you thought about it or not, and you made the difference. You were the first responders."

"Y-yeah." I drifted into thought for a moment, and almost immediately tripped over a pot laying on floor. "Yeek!" I squawked. The pot clanged wildly away, skittering across the bloodstained stones with an unholy racket. The entire floor here looked as if it had been painted brown, the bloodstains were so thick. I barely managed to catch myself before my face plowed into the horrible filth, and I pulled myself up, chilled at the thought.

"Jeez, Boss, you scared the shit out me," James hissed from up ahead.

"S-sorry," I whimpered. "I scared the crap out of myself, too."

"Hopefully not literally?" Mia whispered at me, grinning weakly.

"Not this time, thank goodness."

"I almost pissed my panties," she added. "Adrenaline rush."

"I'll try not to play soccer with any more metal objects," I muttered. "Although I'm not against you pissing your panties."

"Pervert," Mia said, shaking her head at me in mock disappointment.

"You made me this way," I sighed. "I was a normal pony before I met you."

"You're a terrible liar, Fuzzpoof."

I hung my head. "I know. I'm a little slut."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Mia giggled. "I mean-"

"Are you girls coming?" Cadance asked over our ARHUDS. I looked up to see they were already at the far end of the kitchen, and I also realized I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings.

"Sorry," I said. I trotted across the room alongside Mia, and we all fetched up at the basement doorway. Fragments of wood clung to the hinge screws, the door itself severely broken and laying off to the side.

"Nobody died in the basement," Rango said softly, peering skittishly down the staircase and into the darkness below. "Nobody was down there when the monsters came, but as you can see, they burst through here, and slaughtered everyone."

I could almost see it in my mind, the Silenian people in the kitchen, laughing, smiling, talking, and cooking, when suddenly the door blasted inwards, and some horror from beyond the universe crashed in, tearing them apart with tentacles and claws while heart-rending screams and the wet splatter of shredded flesh filled the room. I shivered, the thoughts disturbing me deeply. The little, forlorn teddy bear in the hallway...

I shook my head, not wanting to think any further about this. I had to keep my mind from wandering that way.

Rango reached next to the door and flicked the light switch.

Nothing happened.

Grumbling, he flicked it up and down again, to no avail.

"This worked last time," he growled. "Strange that it doesn't work now."

"I don't like coincidences, " James added, pointing his bright weapon light down the stairs. It lit the passage up remarkably well, and we could see it was clear all the way down until it reached a sharp right angle and vanished from sight.

"Narrow as hell too," he groaned. "Two abreast maybe? This sucks. Is this the only way down?"

"I heard there's another, but I'm not sure exactly where," Rango said thoughtfully, pulling a flashlight we'd given him out of his pocket. "This is supposed to be the biggest, though."

"Ugh," James grunted. "Even worse."

"We can cover the back and make sure nothing sneaks up," I suggested, nudging Mia, who nodded at me curtly. She looked back out into the dark kitchen, her ARHUD glasses illuminating it in infrared the same as mine were.

"Okay, but follow us down," Cadance ordered. "I don't want us losing sight of one another in here."

"No argument here."

"Okay, let's go," Cadance told James and Rango. "I'll lead the way."

"Like hell you will," James said, blocking her path. "You're a Princess. You stay behind us."

Rango nodded. "Appreciate the gesture, ma'am, but please let some soldiers go first."

"Besides," James grinned. "If we get in trouble, we need you to save us. You're Plan B."

Cadance bit her lip for a moment, then sighed. "Okay, fine. But be careful, please."

We waited at the top of the stairs while the other three descended. When they reached the curve, we went down, and waited there while they descended again, after which we all collected at the bottom of the stairs.

I stared out into the basement in infrared, and was disappointed to see nothing but a bit of dirt floor and a big stone pillar in front of my face where I had expected an open view. My night vision quickly changed back to color as Rango's flashlight played around.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Hear what?"

"I'm not sure. Very faint. Maybe is just wind or something."

"Wind? Down here?" Mia asked. "It wasn't even breezy when we came in ten minutes ago." I could detect the sudden tense quality of her voice.

I pricked my own ears forward, trying to breath shallowly. "I don't hear anything."

"Should we turn back?" Cadance asked. "I mean, just diplomacy, right? I promised I'd keep you guys safe, and somehow this already feels more dangerous than the other places we've been today."

She was right. Down here in the dark, with the thick air of the underground pressing down on us, I felt distinctly ill at ease. It was as if I stood at the mouth of a labrynth, not the entrance to a basement. I tried very hard to keep the word "lair" out of my mind.

"I think it stopped being diplomacy when we found that teddy bear upstairs," James said tightly. "If there is something here, what if it gets out and finds another house? This is a neighborhood. There are people living right next door. We should at least check. After all, we are probably the best equipped to deal with anything, right?"

"Magic bullets, a unicorn, and an Alicorn princess," Mia added. "That's better than a squad of soldiers. No offense, Captain."

"Not offended. Our soldiers not well equipped to fight monsters. I believe you can do better, horned ponies are very powerful."

"Okay," Cadance acquiesced. "We check it out. But if I say something, you guys do it, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," I affirmed. "We follow your orders."

"Thank you." Cadence's smile was genuine as she nodded at me.

"Ahhh," sighed a soft, eerie voice somewhere out in the basement. "Ahhhhhhhhhh."

My skin crawled right up the back of my neck. "D-did you hear that?" I gasped, ripping my rifle off my back and standing upright to shoulder it.

The looks on everyone else's faces told me that they had indeed.