The Trials

by Zee

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Original Character, Adventure
Length: 37395

A bat pony traverses a cave network called "The Trials," hoping to become part of Luna's elite.

A bat pony traverses a large cave network dubbed "The Trials," hoping to become part of Luna's elite.

Published 2013-09-05 15:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-23 03:01:32 UTC

Ch 1: Sword, Spear or Claws

Pain.

The first thing she felt was pain, most of it pulsing in her head as though she had just woken up from a night of heavy binge drinking. She held her head tightly between her front hooves, her body squirming against a cold, hard floor. The air was thick, damp, and cold, but was completely still like the inside of an abandoned building, or a dungeon.

As she shifted, the sounds of her hooves displacing gravel and dust echoed across the room. She groaned, clenching her head a little tighter, until the pain finally decided to subside enough for her to pop open her amber, slitted-pupil eyes. After taking in a deep breath, she placed her grey hooves on the rocky floor and pushed herself up with a grunt. Her voice, smooth and clear, echoed surprisingly loudly against the surrounding walls, snapping herself to attention.

She was in a modestly sized cave-like room, the stony walls caked with uneven, rocky protrusions. Stalagmites and stalactites were scattered across the ground and ceiling. However, the room was bathed in a deep, orange light that seemed to dance; a lone wall-torch was mounted on a wall on the far side of the room from her. She shook her head a bit, gathering her bearings.

This was it. She had made it into the Trials.

With a final shake of her body and a stretch of her purple bat-like wings, she walked towards the burning torch. It burned innocently, but she guessed it wouldn't burn forever.

On her short trek, the open maw of a dark tunnel greeted her to the left. She paused for a moment to examine it, but she knew she wouldn't go down there just yet, being largely unprepared. It was then that she noticed a wooden chest off to the side, against the wall and near the torch. It rested behind a little rocky protrusion, the light from the torch barely highlighting the wooden box.

Reluctantly, she approached it, seeing as it was the only thing she could examine in the room. Upon reaching it, she tapped the box once. Something metal with a lot of components rattled inside

Slowly, she lifted off the lid and her eyes widened. Glinting against the orange light was what looked like a plate of chest armour with several leather straps. Plates of metal that were part of other armour pieces stuck out from underneath. She pulled out the chest plate and examined it, frowning when she noticed that it was a little rusty and worn.

She finished putting on the last component of the rusty armour; her chest, sides, back, haunches and legs felt more or less protected. It wasn't perfect, but it would be better than nothing. However, the wooden chest only provided a small, rusty dagger that strapped to her left shoulder. A pair of small saddlebags hung off of her sides—they didn't really seem like they could hold much.

Stretching a bit to get a feel of her armour, she felt reluctant, still, to go down the dark tunnel just yet, until a small glint of light caught her eye. Something metallic peered over a large rock to her right, hiding anything behind it in its corner of the room. She took in a deep breath and made her way around the boulder, whistling at what she found.

Hidden behind the rock and in the shadows was a weapon rack. Although the weapons looked a bit worn and flimsy, she deemed them a lot more satisfying than just a dagger. The metal glint that appeared above the rock was the head of a spear, attached to a wooden pole about one-and-a-half times as long as her body. Next to it sat a pair of hoof-claws, except they looked to be worn out the most. Finally, there rested a straight sword about the length of one of her legs, accompanied by a worn-leather scabbard.

Ch 2: Left or Right

She frowned at the spear as it looked unwieldy and difficult to bring, and the claws seemed like they would have been reduced to dust if she touched them. Sighing, she picked up the sword and fastened it to her right shoulder.

She bounced in her spot a bit, testing the tightness of the scabbard on her armour. After being satisfied that it didn't fall off, she took a deep breath and walked up to the wall-mounted torch, taking it in her mouth. The wood tasted foul against her lips, and the flames were largely untamed, threatening to burn too close. Although it felt uncomfortable, her fangs ensured the torch wouldn't fall out at a bad time.

The flames probably wouldn't last forever, but she would rather have it than traverse in pitch-black tunnels. She had keen echolocation, better than most other recruits, but she didn't entirely trust it in a place like this.

Eventually, she found herself in front of the entrance to the dark tunnel. As if for some sort of reassurance, she lightly nodded to herself and gave off a loud breath before stepping towards the unknown.

As she moved, the bright, orange light from her torch immediately pushed back the darkness. Uneven, rocky walls moved past her, and despite their orange hue, the cold air still made its way underneath her armour. Thankfully, the stony floor was fairly even, despite having the odd puddle she would step over.

Several minutes had passed into her walk, until she was sure she had been worming her way through the tunnels for an hour. There was no sound to greet her ears aside from her light footsteps, the rattling of her rusty armour, the burning torch, and water droplets falling in the distance. But her thoughts remained clear, just as she was trained to be. Only the best got to become Luna's elite.

After what seemed like another hour of walking, her eyes began to feel tired. Staring at an unending, bright orange rocky hallway tended to bring in tunnel vision. But before she decided to give up and rest for a bit, the walls finally fanned out into what seemed like another room.

Immediately, her torch lit up the space and she was presented with a room that looked similar to the one she started in. A wall mount for a torch was to her right, and she didn't hesitate to place her torch onto it. She sighed and sat down, grateful to rest after that long walk.

The bright wood of a chest captured her attention. Feeling a sense of excitement, she got up and approached it, but stopped when she noticed movement to the right of a chest.

What she assumed was a rock unfurled eight ugly legs, and she let out an audible gasp. The creature faced her and made a loud, watery hiss.

It's a rock spider!

Quickly, she unsheathed her sword with her mouth and pointed it towards the monstrosity. She fumbled before beginning to slowly sidestep, keeping her distance from the spider that was half the size of her body. Its sharp fangs glinted in the light, soaked from what she assumed was venom, and it put her on edge. Her neck was largely unprotected.

With a gurgling hiss, the spider made the first move, jumping towards her with its fangs flared out. She dodged to the left and swung her sword, hopeful to catch it in its path. She felt her sword connect, slicing off half of one of its back legs. The rock spider hissed in pain, but did not relent.

It landed on the wall behind her, pouncing off and towards her with its legs spread. Quick to react, she dodged to the left and sliced again, but missed.

Just as quickly as the spider had jumped from the wall, it bounced off of the floor and onto her chest. It forced her backward, the spider overwhelming her with its seven-and-a-half legs. Without thinking, she sliced madly in its direction, only taking out another one of its legs. However, the spider only got angrier, and it increased its assault in a mad rage.

The spider knocked her onto her back and crawled on top of her, its fangs ready to sink into her flesh. Desperately, she tried to pry it off with her hooves, but it knocked her legs away with its own. The fangs, dripping with venom, neared her unprotected neck.

With a loud grunt, she swung her sword downwards and it hit the spider across its face, but the spider's rocky hide deflected the blow. She sliced again, but to the same effect.

Seeing her efforts futile, she stilled herself, taking a deep breath to focus while she shoved against the spider with her hooves. In between the spider's fangs—its mouth—was unprotected.

She took a deep breath and steadied herself, returning her focus.

“Graah!” she cried, thrusting her sword forward. It penetrated cleanly, gouging itself deep into the spider's mouth She continued to scream through her sword's hilt as she thrust deeper, feeling her blade sever the spider's insides.

Finally, the spider relented, wobbling backwards as it tried to hiss through the blade in its mouth. She got up and pounced on top of the spider, beating it with her armoured hooves. Repeatedly, she hammered the hilt of the blade deeper into the spider until it twitched one, final time, slumping to the floor afterwards. She collapsed onto the rocky floor, heaving breaths while staring at the dead monster in front of her.

The once active space became silent again with no sound but her own heavy breathing. The room dimmed and she glanced to the torch on the wall, its light much less strong than when she had first picked it up. Silently, she prayed she would find another source of light soon.

A sigh escaped her lips as she picked herself up and walked up to the corpse of her first victory. Smelly, green blood oozed out of the wound, and when she pulled her sword out of the carcass, it seemed that the entire contents of its innards spilled out. Thankfully, there was a puddle nearby and she used it to wash the blood off of her blade. After sheathing her sword, she turned to the unopened wooden chest in the room.

With much less grace than the last chest, she kicked open the lid to behold its contents. Inside was a small leather box, another sword just like hers, and what looked to be a carved, wooden triangular prism.

She picked up the prism and examined it; carved onto each of its triangle faces was what looked to be a crude face, smiling.

No, it was not smiling... it looked more like it was cringing. Cringing in pain.

She shivered, but decided to stuff the object into her right saddlebag. She picked up the leather box next, turning it around in her hooves to find out how it opened. It seemed to be sealed tight, but she found the clip that bound the lid to its body and unfastened it. As she opened the box, however, she was blasted with a bright light.

There, sitting comfortably in a velvet-cushioned mould was a shard of crystal. It glowed a pale white and gave off a fairly strong white light, and was only warm to the touch. She prodded it a bit, and its light continued to bathe her.

It looked like she found a reliable light source.

She took it out of the box and tucked it into a spare knife strap on her left shoulder. The shard peaked out just enough to give off enough light for her to see her surroundings clearly. After exhaling a deep sigh, she stuffed the leather box in her right saddlebag as well.

After taking a few minutes to rest, the torch light finally died out, allowing her light shard to shine by itself. She was getting sick of the orange hue; the white light was a nice change.

To the left of the chest was an exit to the room—another dark tunnel for her to traverse. Seeing no other options left to her, she continued her trek.

After several minutes of walking through the cave, however, the tunnel split into a fork. While there were no visible, distinguishable features for either path, however, she could hear different things waiting her on each side. On the left path was what sounded like the steady cracking of a torch, or a campfire. On the right path was what sounded like a gentle rush of water.

Ch 3: Wind or Water

After some careful contemplation, she decided to take the right path towards the sound of crackling fire; the idea of drowning in a cave sounded a bit too unsettling to her.

Steeling herself, she began her trek, making note of a tall stalagmite sitting at the entrance of the other path in case she came back.

No time to rest, she must advance.

The echoes of the cracking of fire loudened as she walked, until she was finally able to see an orange light in the distance.

The sight was almost surreal, as though she were walking on a lightened platform approaching another with a wide area of emptiness in between. She felt as though she could leap off of her platform and fall into the darkness.

After another several minutes of walking, the distant light became close enough to her that she could make out the details in the surroundings. It looked dim, as though she were only peering into a distant corner of a lightened room whose fire was at its core.

An unsettling feeling overcame her, however, when she realized that there were no other sounds than her own and the distant fire. It could be a trap.

The surrounding, cave-like walls began to give in to a more artificial look. The walls, floor and ceiling all became flat as though they were part of a structure. Strange, unreadable symbols lined the walls, and the ceiling held a swirly, cloud-like carving that covered the entire surface.

Finally, her personal orb of light merged with the other as she passed the entrance of the room. She paused, taking a good look at her surrounding,

The rectangular room followed the same style as the hallway where she came from, sporting strange symbols and patterns on every surface. However, leaning against the walls were dozens of stone sarcophagus's. Each of the sarcophagus's had carvings on them, and a thin film of dust covered every surface.

They towered over her, almost touching the ceiling itself. Whatever rested inside of them were definitely not ponies.

At the centre of the room lay the light source: a haphazard pile of burning wood, as though it were a make-shift campfire. She made a few reluctant steps towards it, unsure of what to expect. The wood in the fire seemed only half-burnt, meaning that it was probably ignited not so long ago. She unsheathed her sword, preparing for the worst.

The silence dragged on and her heart began to race, telling herself not to get eager. Still without a response, she slowly resumed inching her way towards the fire, minding every step in case of a trap. Despite the maze of sarcophagus’s, the room posed no threat so far. However, the fire begged her gaze and she offered it, locking her eyes onto the lively spectacle.

A pair of unseen, magenta eyes opened to her left.

With but a faint whirl of wind, the sharp head of a spear thrust out and towards her. Barely, she dodged the thrust and sliced her sword upwards at the spear, hoping to deter her attacker from pulling it in to thrust again.

Hidden in the shadows between several sarcophagus’s, the attacker gave out a feminine grunt as they struggled to balance their spear.

The bat pony took the opportunity to grab at the exposed spear with her front hooves, but the attacker succeeded in reeling in their weapon out of her reach. In a dark, grey blur, the attacker pounced out of the shadows and tackled her, pushing her against a sarcophagus. Before she could react, she got shoved again, toppling the heavy stone sarcophagus to the ground.

She sliced her sword towards the attacker, but met air. A dark figure flew up from underneath her muzzle, knocking the sword out of her mouth's grasp. Her head ringing, she desperately flailed her hooves forward, hoping to knock the attacker away.

However, the attacker pounced her before she could land a hit, quickly wrestling her to the ground with ease. She felt the weight of the attacker on top of her, pinning her to the ground with powerful limbs. With clenched eyes, she struggled to get loose, but her assailant did not budge.

That is, until a pair of wet lips pressed against hers, and a tongue forced its way into her mouth. A familiar taste.

Her amber eyes shot open and met a pair of magenta, slitted-pupil eyes. The 'attacker' pulled away from the sloppy kiss, giving a half-lidded, toothy smile. A fanged smile.

"Hey, Echo," the bat pony on top of her said, her voice deep and alluring.

"Pfft... haah...!" Feeling the grip on her limbs loosen, Echo pushed the bat pony off and wiped her lips. A deep, cat-like giggle rung in Echo's ears. "Nngh... Night Watch!" she breathed with disbelief.

"Hey there, beautiful," Night Watch said with a flick of her blue mane.

Echo stuck her tongue out and wiped it with her hooves. "Pah! You almost killed me!"

"No, I didn't."

Echo stood up on all of her hooves, her dark purple wings spread wide. "You almost stabbed me!"

"I missed on purpose," Night Watch teased, giving her a wink.

"Guh... Why!"

"Well, I didn't want to really stab you—“

"No! I mean... why didn't you just come out of the shadows? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"'Cause it's fun? You're hot when you're all riled up like that."

Echo rolled her eyes. "This is why I don't like sparring with you. Pah." She spit into the fire, hopeful to get more of Night Watch's saliva out from her mouth.

"Heh... that's what they all say."

The two bat ponies sat by the fire, taking several moments to rest. Echo used that time to calm down her adrenaline.

"So... have you seen any of the others?" Echo asked. Night Watch, who was examining her blue wings, took a deep breath.

"No, you're the first. I haven't really been through much to get here, though, aside from my starting room," she responded, shifting in a hardened leather suit that covered most of her body. The many pockets that lined her chest and leggings were empty.

"Huh. Well, I almost got killed by a giant spider-thing, but made it out in one piece." Echo chuckled, rattling in her armour. “I came across a fork in the tunnels and took the one that sounded like there was a campfire.”

"Interesting. I came across a fork a little ways down that way, too," Night said while pointing to the other entrance to the room. "I thought I heard wind down the other way. It sounded creepy, so I went this way instead. Then I found this room. There was a chest with weird things inside of it. I decided to just burn the chest."

Echo stared into the fire, taking in a deep breath. "There was what sounded like rushing water down the way I didn't go."

Night Watch eyed the glowing crystal on Echo's left shoulder. "You got a cool glowing crystal? All I got was a weird square prism, thing,” she said, pulling out a wooden object from one of her saddlebags.

"Neat. I got one, too, except it's a triangular prism," Echo said as she pulled hers out of her saddlebag and compared it to Night Watch's. "They look similar. Maybe they're both used for something in these tunnels."

After several more minutes of rest, the fire finally died down and the two of them were left in the light of Echo's crystal.

Author's Note

Echo: http://zee66.deviantart.com/art/Echo-the-Bat-Pony-14-390849358
Night Watch: http://equestria-prevails.deviantart.com/art/Night-Watch-351459117

Ch 4: Shadow and Light

"Let's go my way, first," Night Watch said, standing up.

"Alright,” Echo agreed, standing up and following Night Watch out of the room.

"It isn't too long of a walk. Maybe five minutes, tops.”

"Maybe I should take the lead? I have the light crystal," Echo pointed out, walking in front of Night Watch.

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

With that, the two of them trotted through the dark tunnels in relative silence. The decorated walls, floor and ceiling soon gave way to the natural cave. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, some of them dripping drops of water onto the ground around them.

Several minutes into their walk, a faint sound of whistling wind picked up in Echo's ears.

"Hear that? That's the sound I was talking about," Night Watch said, shivering. "We should be near the fork." Echo nodded and continued leading the way, until they came to a small clearing posed with two passageways. "It's to the right."

The rolling wind noise began to pick up significantly as they passed through into the tunnel. After a few minutes of walking, however, the sound started to change in pitch, as well.

Echo passed a glance to Night Watch behind her. "I'm not sure that's wind..."

Night Watch returned an uneasy look. "It sounds like it's coming from where we're headed."

"Mm. Soon, we'll find out what it might be." Soon enough, the rocky walls gave way to a fairly spacious room. The whistling noise kept getting louder.

Echo's light crystal brightened the vicinity, some of the minerals in the walls sparkling in response. Standing ominously in the centre of the room were three stone statues of ponies, all of them in the shape of bat ponies. The light cast long, dark shadows behind each of the statues.

Each statue was carved uniquely, each of them representing bat ponies wearing different gear.

"Interesting..." Night Watch whispered, walking closer to the statue in the centre. Heavy armour covered the pony entirely, and two large shields hung from each of its sides. Echo hesitated, her head quickly scanning the room.

"The sound... It's starting to hurt my ears," she said, her face grimacing. The whistling sounded as though it were all around them.

Night Watch's eye twitched.

Suddenly, from behind the statue Night Watch was facing, a dark, shadow-like limb lashed out. She nimbly ducked, avoiding what looked like a blade formed out of the darkness. Night Watch jumped back, quickly drawing the spear from her back and pointed it towards the coalescing, indistinguishable black form.

"Night!" Echo screamed, drawing her sword and leaping into place beside her. The shadow settled itself and took the vague form of a pony, with two protruding limbs from its back sporting long, curved blades.

It screamed an awful noise, causing the two bat ponies to wince and cover their ears, dropping to the floor. A horrible stench filled the room, like that of rotting corpses.

The shadow pony lunged forward, its two, long weapons slicing the air in front of it.

Echo hopelessly tried to dodge out of its way, only for Night Watch to come in and parry its blades with her spear. She quickly retaliated with a slash and a few jabs, forcing the shadow pony back.

Echo picked herself up and jumped past Night Watch, swinging her blade blindly at the creature. However, each swing was blocked by the shadow pony's blades. With a powerful kick, the shadow pony sent Echo flying into the armoured statue.

"Get over here, you ugly pool of ink!" Night Watch screamed, catching the shadow pony's attention.

Echo groaned and picked herself up again... only to notice the crystal shard on her shoulder shine brighter. The sounds of parrying weapons filled the room as Night Watch duelled with the creature, only for it to turn its attention to the source of light.

Echo looked down at her crystal, and then to the statue behind her.

"Echo, watch out! It's coming for you!" Night Watch yelled as she tried to capture its attention. The shadow pony leaped towards Echo, only for Night's spear to whack it out of the air and onto the ground.

"I-I don't know what's happening..." Echo said quietly as she examined her crystal.

It seemed attracted to the stone statue.

Night Watch grunted as more weapon clashes sounded in the air around them. The wailing never ceased.

"Echo! What are you doing!?" Night Watch yelled from across the room.

"I don't know! I think..." Echo trailed off, her hardened gaze fixed on the statue. She pulled the crystal out of its pouch and set it at the foot of the statue, hoping for something to happen.

With a loud shriek, the creature made a final leap towards Echo with its blades flared out. Echo gasped, swinging her sword to parry the two longer blades. She managed to swat one of them away, but the other stabbed into her right side.

"Haaugh!" Echo screamed in pain, the blade sticking out from an unprotected gap in her armour. She heard a yell, and saw Night Watch's spear thrust into the side of the shadow pony.

It wailed and relented, throwing its two blades out at Night Watch while backing away. She blocked the hits with her spear, but the force sent her flying across the room.

Echo froze from the shock of her wound, slumping to the ground. The shadow pony turned to her, bringing its blades back for a devastating slice. She closed her eyes, waiting for the worst.

Only for it not to come.

A piercing whine filled the air and drowned out the shadow pony's wailing. Echo opened her eyes, only to see nothing but light; the crystal she had placed on the statue had become blindingly bright. For a brief moment, the world around them was nothing but a heavenly presence.

The shadow pony seemed to wail in pain, the light hurting it.

Just as quickly as the light had appeared, however, it died down. Echo gasped, forgetting her wound for the moment.

Standing in place of her crystal was an armoured pony, similar to the statue behind it. Like an otherworldly contrast to the shadow pony, it seemed to be made out of light. It stoically stared forward, slowly pivoting its head towards the shadow pony. In response, the shadow pony let out another loud screech that forced Echo to wince in pain. However, the light pony stood vigil, the shadow pony advancing quickly towards it.

Just as one of the shadow blades was about to connect with the light pony, it unsheathed a large, ornate sword and thrust it deep into the shadow pony's chest. The shadow pony whined in pain, but brought its blades back for another attempt to strike.

Without hesitating, the light pony forced its blade upwards, severing the shadow pony in two from the chest, up. Finally, the wailing stopped, and the deformed body of the shadow pony slowly melted into the air. Strands of the shadow aimlessly wandered the room for several moments until they withered away into the tunnels.

Echo stared in disbelief, and held her breath when the light pony slowly turned its gaze to her. It then looked to the opposite corner of the room. She followed its gaze, only to discover that a large, wooden chest lay where the light pony had indicated.

With what sounded like a releasing sigh, the light pony looked to the ceiling before disintegrating into nothingness. Left behind was the shattered remains of Echo's light crystal at the foot of the statue. Darkness consumed the room, but it didn't feel as though there were a malicious presence anymore.

Silence finally reigned, and Echo simply lay there, hearing nothing but the sound of her breaths. That was, until a clicking noise echoed through the air and she could sense Night Watch finding her way through the darkness.

"Echo! Where are you? I saw you get stabbed!" Night called out before zeroing in on Echo's location. She continued to make clicks with her mouth as she made her way over.

"I'm here!" Echo called back. She winced, the pain from her wound catching up to her. "Gah... it hurts..."

"Dammit..." Night Watch muttered, kneeling in front of her.

"The light pony... there is a wooden chest at the other side of the room." Echo wearily pointed towards the direction.

"I'll go have a look really quick," Night Watch reassured. "Maybe there is something in it that can help you."

Echo 'watched' as Night made her way to the chest, clicking all the way. She heard the sound of her opening the chest and rummaging through its contents.

"There seems to be some glass bottles or flasks! Also, a lot of tiny boxes," Night called from across the room.

"Nngh... tiny boxes?" Echo asked loudly through her teeth while clenching her painful wound.

"Yeah. Leather-bound!"

Echo's ears perked up.

"Open one! It might have more of those light crystals." After a small struggle, Night Watch finally got one of the boxes open and a familiar light poured into the room once more.

"Got it!" Night Watch said, peering into the wooden chest with her new-found light source. "The bottles... they're filled with an opaque, reddish liquid."

Echo let out a sigh of relief. "Ah... healing potions!"

Night Watch swiped one of the glass flasks in her mouth and quickly galloped to Echo. She unscrewed the cap and held it towards her, who accepted it with her mouth and greedily drank the contents. The thick liquid went down her throat warmly, tasting a little bit like a fizzy apple cider.

Almost immediately, Echo felt the pain in her side decrease significantly. She guzzled down another gulp before parting her mouth from the flask.

"That was a bit... sensual," Night said, winking. Echo rolled her eyes.

"Ugh." The potion rewarded her with a boost of energy, prompting her to stand up. Quickly, she turned to see the wound in her side.

Through the new hole in the tunic between her armour plates, the wound had closed up to nothing but an irritating scratch on the skin.

"Interesting," she remarked.

"Wish we had this stuff in real life," Night Watch said. Ignoring her comment, Echo trotted towards the still-open chest on the other side of the room. The light crystal that Night Watch had taken out was lying on the floor, tossed aside.

"These..." Echo said, staring at the crystal. "They're more than just light sources."

"Quite," Night Watch said. "The spirit-pony that came out of it was kinda hot, too." Echo rolled her eyes again, approaching the chest and rummaged through it.

"So, that's seven light crystals and three-and-a-half flasks of healing potion," Echo said, taking inventory.

"And a little gardening shovel that could come in handy," Night Watch cheerily added, her saddlebags rattling with the object.

"I guess we can still use the crystals as a light source," Echo said. She glanced to the statues at the centre of the room.

The statue to the right of the armoured one was in ceremonial robes and held a staff in between its hooves. A crescent moon sat at the head of the staff. The other statue was clad in what looked like hooded, leather armour. A crossbow was draped across its back, and a quiver full of bolts was strapped to its left shoulder.

"I wonder if we can use them to summon more of those light-pony guardians if we ever need them,” Echo said. Night Watch fiddled with her saddlebags and the light crystal sticking out of her right shoulder pocket.

"If we can, we should use them sparingly. Only for last resorts," Night Watch said. Echo nodded. "It looks like the only way out is from where we came."

"Let's go to the path I didn't take, then."

Night Watch shuddered, falling into line behind Echo as they began their walk. "Imagine if I had taken this path, first."

Echo winced.

Ch 5: Drink

"The boxes take up a lot of space," Night Watch muttered as she walked behind Echo.

"Hey, we might as well as keep them. They may come in handy," Echo remarked, pausing to adjust her crystal. The two of them marched forward, both of them sporting a light crystal in one of their front pockets. "It will be awhile—it was kind of a trek to get to you."

They came to the first fork that led them to the statue room, and Echo took a turn to the left. Water continued to drip from the ceiling down the many stalagmites, puddling onto the floor. For some stretches of the tunnel, the whole floor was covered in a thin layer of water. Eventually, they came upon the sarcophagus room, but continued onwards towards the next fork.

"The others... how do you think they're doing?" Night Watch asked through the silence. Echo paused her breathing briefly, surprised at the sudden question.

"Well... I'm not sure. I wasn't expecting to find one of us so soon, to be honest," Echo said. Night Watch hummed in agreement.

"Hey, the tunnels seem wide enough, now. Let's walk side by side?" Night Watch said, coming up beside Echo before giving her a half-lidded grin. "Not that I don't mind walking behind you." Echo sighed. "Seriously, you've got some flanks—"

"I just hope they're all okay. This kind of is a test for us, as a group," Echo cut in. Night Watch chuckled at the change of topic.

"Since when did you become serious? You were always the light-hearted one." Echo blushed.

"It, well... this is kind of serious. It's the Trials," she responded. Night Watch looked at her with an incredulous look.

"The Trials are serious, but something else seems to be bothering you," Night Watch said. Echo gave a defeated sigh.

"I... I just feel like this will make or break me, really," she admitted, shaking her head uneasily.

"Hey, even if we fail, we'll still hold our position as night guards," Night Watch reassured.

"I know. But that won't keep Midnight Blossom from scolding me, one way or another.”

Night Watch sighed. "Look, I know she means well—"

"But why, me? She's always singling me out."

"We're at war, Echo," Night Watch asserted, but her face told Echo that she seemed unconvinced.

"I still don't see, why me? I'm not the best fighter, I'm not the smartest, the best leader..." Echo trailed off, plunging the conversation into silence for several minutes. The echoes of their hoof-steps pierced the air between them.

They came upon a puddle on Night Watch's side, who stomped into it as they walked by. Echo turned her head to meet Night Watch's concerned gaze.

"It's not about any of those, yeah? I think she sees you as a good team player." Echo rolled her eyes. "You might not be the best leader, but among us, you might. You're always keeping us together."

Echo turned her head forward and looked down as she walked. "I hope the others are alright. We'll need them," she said quietly.

Night Watch slowly nodded. "I hope we find them, soon. It was a miracle we had your light crystal, back there." Both of them shivered. "At least we know those... things, can be hurt by our weapons. I managed to stab it, once."

Finally, the two of them met the fork Echo was talking about. They paused while Echo scanned the room. Standing near the opening to the left path was the tall stalagmite she remembered. Beyond, they could hear the faint sound of moving water.

"It's that way," Echo said, pointing to the stalagmite. She took a deep breath as they crested the tunnel's entrance. Once again, they were in unknown territory.

"I think the rest will be fine. I know they can all hold their own," Night Watch piped up.

"Yeah. Maybe they found each other like we did, as well," Echo said.

"I should hope so."

As they walked, the water dripping from the ceiling seemed to drop in larger amount the further they travelled. It got to the point where the floor they walked on was just an endless puddle of water.

"I wonder where all this water is coming from," Night said as she wearily looked at the ceiling.

Before Echo could respond, a platform made out of wood came into view in front of them. It was above the water on the floor and seemed fairly dry, and beyond it, wooden stairs led upwards into the darkness. The tunnel seemed to steeply go uphill from there.

"Huh... stairs. I guess we're going up," Night Watch remarked. It was narrow, forcing her to fall behind Echo, again.

Echo stepped onto the wooden steps wearily. It seemed sturdy enough, but that didn't stop her from wincing at the loud creak that followed. Flimsy wooden railings lined the sides, nearly hugging Echo's wings as she climbed. The ceiling hung low, dissuading her from taking flight instead.

Flowing downwards to the right of the stairs was a small, clear stream of water. "I think all of this water is uphill, somewhere. A spring, or something," Echo thought out loud, carefully making her way up. Night Watch nodded, following every step.

After what felt like half an hour of climbing, Echo finally found the end of the stairs. It flattened out to a wooden platform, leading to a fairly levelled stone ground of a short tunnel. Beyond that, a dim, blue light awaited them from what looked like a large room. The stream to the right seemed to trickle out from it.

Standing side by side again, Echo gave Night Watch a nod as they both trotted forwards. As the room came into view, Echo exhaled a large breath.

It was enormous, the ceiling reaching some fifty feet above them. Instinctively, Echo took flight, hovering off the ground a little to scan the room. A large, underground lake stretched out before them, its water clear. The pool was fairly deep, the light not penetrating far enough for her to see the bottom.

Lining the edge of the lake was a wooden railing, going around the hundred foot room. It ended at the other side of the lake on a fairly wide stone platform, sloping into a shore that led into the clear lake.

What had Echo's gaze the most, however, was the luminescent crystals that hung from the ceilings and protruded from some corners of the room. They gave off a dim, blue light, bathing the whole room with a greyish-blue aura.

"Look!" Night Watch suddenly exclaimed, poking Echo and pointing to the shore at the other side of the lake.

The form of a pony with the distinct shape of bat-like wings stood there, looking straight at them. A gleam of light confirmed that they were wearing glasses.

Author's Note

Midnight Blossom: http://equestria-prevails.deviantart.com/art/The-Shadow-309824159

Ch 6: KrAZ

"Is that...!" Echo breathed, squinting to get a good look at the distant pony.

In an instant, Echo took off and flew towards the pony, sailing over the large lake. She heard Night Watch grunt as she took off behind her, following with her own wings. Echo smiled, seeing the pony throw a friendly wave at them.

A short stone bridge flew past beneath them, leading from the pathway along the lake's edges to a higher point in the room. In almost no time, Echo and Night Watch had almost spanned the lake. She could make out the bat pony mare with a turquoise-blue mane, tied into a ponytail. A matching pair of bat-like wings flared out in excitement as she came closer.

Echo landed in front of the mare, Night Watch touching down beside her.

"Mosina!" Echo exclaimed. The mare smiled, her bright, yellow eyes wide with joy. "You're okay!"

"Echo! Night Watch!" Mosina exclaimed. She pulled in Echo for a brief hug, her leather armour squeezing against Echo's plates.

Night Watch chuckled. "Glad to see another friendly face."

"Of course!" Mosina said, pulling out of the hug.

"Woo... that makes three of us, now," Echo said, smiling. A shiny spear sat beside a pair of saddlebags on the ground, near them.

"You are alone?" Night asked.

"Yeah." Mosina exhaled. "I've been pretty lonely. Can't say how happy I am to see you guys."

Night Watch eyed her garments, taking note of the black leather that hugged her features. "Mmm, nice gear," she said, glancing to the shiny spear with envy. Mosina laughed.

"Heh, I got lucky. I had to fight some giant centipedes, but I got that cool spear afterwards." She scrunched up her nose and tilted her head. "I know you like spears a lot. I think it'd be better in your hooves than mine."

Night Watch's eyes lit up. "Heh! Well, if you insist." Mosina nodded, and Night Watch gleefully traded her worn spear for the nicer looking one on the ground.

"Have you encountered any of the others?" Echo asked while Night Watch swung around her new weapon behind them.

"No. Just several rooms with some hostile creatures, but nothing I couldn't handle."

The two of them stood side by side, watching Night Watch perform exercises with the spear.

"How did you get here?" Echo asked.

"Actually, from right over there," Mosina answered, pointing to the entrance of a tunnel nearby. "I've been lounging here for a good twenty minutes, until you two showed up."

"Mm."

The walls of the cave seemed to glow with the blue light from the crystals around the room. A sparkling sheen reflected off of the water whose surface was completely undisturbed.

"I think we could use a few more minutes of rest. Night Watch and I have done quite some walking and climbing."

"Of course," Mosina responded, nodding. She turned and eyed the crystal poking out of Echo's front pouch. "Those are pretty. I wish I had something like that—I had to rely on my echolocation until I got here."

Echo scrunched her face. She knew that they could rely on echolocation fine, but she felt uncomfortable with the notion of using it completely for something like the Trials.

"Apparently, they can summon guardian ponies, but they shatter if you do that," she pointed out.

"Oh."

"Yeah. One of them saved us from a monster that probably would have ended up killing Night Watch and I," Echo mused, giving a chuckle. Mosina remained silent, but visibly winced. "I hope we don't encounter those too often. We only have seven of these."

Echo let out an exhausted breath, sitting on the floor.

Mosina sat down beside her. "I wish I could map this cave out, but I don't have anything to write on." She pulled her saddlebags closer and opened them, taking out their contents. Echo promptly did the same to pool their resources.

Mosina pulled out a full flask of healing potion and set a bunch of small objects beside it. From the pile of items, a tiny black cylinder rolled back towards her.

"All I have is that flask, this piece of charcoal, what seems to be a necklace with a wooden ring for a pendant, and a pouch full of purple powder," she affirmed. Echo gave a curious glance to her items before pulling out the last of the leather-bound boxes from her saddlebags. In front of her sat two flasks of healing potions and three of the boxes containing the light crystals.

"Night's got five more of those boxes, but three of them are empty. Also, another healing flask. One of mine is half empty," Echo stated.

Mosina squinted at the boxes, curiously. "You think we can remove the leather bounding on those boxes? Maybe we can use them as paper, sort of, for a map."

Raising her eye brows, Echo pulled one of the boxes closer to her and pulled out her dagger. "Hmph, let's see..."

She examined the box before digging her blade into its side, slicing down its length. Sure enough, the leather peeled off easily. While the exposed surface of the leather looked hard to write on, the back surface seemed rough enough for the charcoal to imprint.

"There, is that good?" Echo asked, passing her the small square of leather. Mosina picked up the charcoal with her mouth and made a small scribble, her eyes lighting up when she could see the line it made. She dropped the charcoal, taking another of the boxes.

"It's perfect!" she exclaimed, pulling out a little dagger and cut the leather layer of the box. Echo shrugged and helped, taking the other box into her hooves. "We can use the string of the necklace to bind the leather pieces together. Then, I can draw a map of everything!"

Echo chuckled.

Author's Note

Mosina: http://vectorvito.deviantart.com/art/Mosina-and-map-395889424 (Warning: slightly lewd)
KrAZ: http://vectorvito.deviantart.com/art/Mosina-and-KrAZ-255B-398574223

Ch 7: Door or Door

"And you said this leads to the room with the statues?" Mosina asked, pointing to the charcoal drawing of an unfinished fork on her make-shift map.

"Yep," Night Watch answered. The three of them sat in a circle by the lake shore, Echo and Night Watch helping Mosina map what they had so far.

Mosina adjusted her glasses as she finished her drawing, satisfied with the uneven circle that represented the statue room. A larger circle on the map had some wavy lines inside of it, representing the lake room they were in.

Barring the two lines that led from the room at opposite sides, two more stubby lines protruded from its sides.

"These are paths we have yet to take," Mosina said, pointing at them. She drew a small plus sign next to one of the stubby lines. "This one is at the end of the bridge there," she said, turning around and pointing to the stone bridge in the middle of the lake. "It's a higher elevated entrance."

The bridge led from the shore of the lake to a large ledge near the top of the room. An entrance to a tunnel sat against the wall where the bridge ended.

"Right. Think we can move on, then?" Echo asked the group. Night watch hummed, nodding her head.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Mosina said. "Let's take the lower tunnel, first."

"Alright, then," Echo said, standing up.

Mosina rolled up the map and stuffed it into her saddlebags. After gathering up the rest of their things, the trio started to trot along the lake shore towards the indicated cave entrance.

"So, that's three of us," Night Watch remarked while they walked.

"Yeah. I hope the other three are alright," Mosina acknowledged.

"That's what we said about you, too," Echo said, smiling at her. "Glad you did turn out okay."

"Hey, I may be bookish, but that doesn't mean I can't hold my own." Mosina chuckled.

"They say nerds are the horniest," Night Watch said, winking to her.

Mosina huffed, blushing. "Says you."

They came to the entrance to the tunnel and formed into a single file line to fit through the narrow cavity. As they entered, it became dark again, the blue light from the crystals of the lake room failing to follow through to the tunnel. Echo took the lead and Night Watch brought up the rear, both of them bearing light crystals.

"How do those work?" Mosina asked. "How do you summon those guardians?"

Echo paused. "I'm not sure, actually. It kind of just came out when needed."

Looking around, she noticed that the cave walls and floor were relatively dry, and the tunnel had an uphill angle. Stalagmites and stalactites were void, since no water seemed to drip from the ceiling.

"Not much we can do about it, I guess,” Echo mused. “Just hope we can use it during the right time.”

The trio walked silently for what seemed like an hour, until the narrow tunnel finally widened enough for them to walk side by side. A bright reflection from the blade of Night Watch's silver spear shone against the stones, bouncing back and forth. Echo couldn't help but feel mesmerized after watching nothing but light and rocks for so long.

Suddenly, as they advanced through the darkness, something large embedded into the wall to their right revealed itself. It looked as though a circular hole was carved out of the wall, and a giant circular stone slab was put in place.

"Is that... a door?" Night Watch asked quietly as she walked towards it..

"I don't know," Mosina said, approaching it.

Echo hung back, eyeing three holes carved into its surface. Each of the holes were different shapes.

Mosina gently placed a hoof on it, and when it didn't budge, she gave a little push."It's sealed tight, if it is a door."

"Those holes..." Echo whispered, coming up beside Mosina. "Hold on." She unbuckled the straps to her right saddlebag and fished out the wooden, triangular prism.

Mosina's eyes widened when she saw the object cradled between Echo's hooves.

"Maybe this will..." Echo trailed off, lifting it and placing it over one of the holes that was shaped like a triangle. Sure enough, it slipped inside easily. She pushed it the entire way until the end of the prism levelled with the surface of the stone. Echo shuddered as the carving of the cringing face came into view, after lifting her hoof off of the door.

Suddenly, a loud, clinking sound echoed through the tunnel around them, causing the bat ponies to step back. But after a moment of silence, they relaxed.

"Interesting. That was a key, huh?" Mosina asked.

"Yeah. Night Watch has one, too," Echo said, eying the other two holes that were embedded into the door, one shaped as a square and another as a circle.

"Let me get it," Night Watch said, going into her own saddlebags and pulling it out. She winked at Mosina. "Such a shame. I wish I had the circular one."

Mosina rolled her eyes.

Night Watch lifted her square prism and slid it into the appropriate slot on the door. As it settled into its place, the door emitted another loud clank.

"I guess that means we need the third key, then," Echo said, a little disappointed. She tried to avoid the other cringing face on the square prism, mirroring the face on the triangular one.

"Bleh, I hate that," Night Watch complained.

"Well, nothing to do now but move on. I'll mark this on the map later when we have the time," Mosina premised.

Giving one last glance to the presumed door, the trio turned and continued into the darkness.

Ch 8: Silver

"If we do become elite guards, what do you think would be in store for us, first?" Echo asked the group. Side by side, she walked with the other two ponies as they trekked through the dark tunnel.

"Well, there's initiation," Night Watch suggested, smirking,

"That's a myth, and that's false," Mosina retorted from the middle of the three.

"I heard one mare couldn't walk for days."

"What about the incursions?” Echo asked, ignoring Night Watch's remarks. “The Princesses have been running all around the kingdom taking care of those."

"Of course. And that would mean we would have to be by their side," Mosina added.

"Feh, you guys are no fun." They all chuckled.

As the group walked, the walls continued to gradually fan outwards, slightly. Eventually, the girls found themselves able to outstretch their wings, easily.

"How long have we been at it, now?" Night Watch asked.

"I'd say a little over an hour and a half, now," Echo guessed.

"I wish we had some sort of watch," Mosina said, quietly. They continued to walk in silence, until out of the darkness, strange, stringy-like substances began to hang from the ceiling. The bat ponies kept their gazes upwards as the concentration of the strands of white thickened. Eventually, it became so thick that they stuck together and hugged the walls.

"Webs..." Echo whispered, uneasily. She cast a quick glance to the other two, noticing their uncomfortable looks.

"Sh-should we turn back? Maybe we aren't ready for this," Mosina suggested.

"I say we continue. Didn't come this far for nothing," Night Watch premised, shrugging.

"She's right. Let's just continue, and if there's something we can't handle, we'll head back," Echo asserted. The other two nodded, the tension seeming to have been lifted a bit.

Mosina gave an abrupt gasp, having stepped on a web. The ceiling, walls and floor were now covered in webs.

"Th-this isn't really to capture prey," Mosina stammered, shakily. "It's to help the spiders move around quicker."

Night Watch gave a sigh. "I suppose that means we're up for a figh—"

She cut off, noticing the hallway finally spanning out into a large room, the light from their crystals bathing its entirety. Every surface was covered with webs.

"Should we turn ba—" Mosina was cut off as two large stones, hanging from the ceiling, unfurled several long legs and landed on the ground.

Immediately, all three of the bat ponies drew their weapons. Mosina and Night Watch pointed their spears forwards, the silvery blade of Night Watch's reaching out further than Mosina's.

Echo couldn't help but pass a glance to the gleaming weapon and its thin, long blade. She snapped to attention after hearing another two thuds.

Two more rock spiders joined the firs two, each of them giving out watery hisses.

"It's only four of them," Night Watch muttered. "We can take them."

"Right," Mosina breathed, mustering fighting stance.

Echo cracked her neck and gave a swing of her sword. The four spiders kept their distance, wary of Mosina and Night's spears, who were flanking Echo.

"Their skin is made of rock," Echo told the others. "The only soft spot the mouth, between the fangs!"

“Yeah!” Night Watch cried, lunging forward. She aimed her thrust towards one of the spiders, but it dodged to the side. She sliced her spear towards another, but that one jumped over the blade and towards her. It collided with her face, but she quickly threw it off and across the room, running to chase after it.

Another spider lunged towards Mosina who quickly batted it away with her spear. The two of them circled each other, looking for an opening.

The final two spiders quickly skittered towards Echo, who swung her sword to try and dissuade her attackers. One leaped at her, but it smashed into the plate armour of her ride side. It bounced off, but that allowed the other one to come up from her front.

“Gah!” She sliced at it, swinging her blade through air before the spider met her face. It wrestled her with its front legs, gripping onto her neck and attempted to pull its fangs towards her. Echo sliced diagonally, hacking off one of its legs.

At the other side of the room, Night Watch sliced fiercely at her spider, only for it to hop out of the way. It tried to leap at her, but met the butt end of her spear, sending it sprawling across the floor.

“Hrrgh!” Night Watch leaped, giving a loud grunt as she smashed her spear downwards at it. The spider tried to dodge, but couldn't get out of the way fast enough.

In a brilliant display of bright blue sparks, the long blade of Night Watch's spear sliced through all four of its right legs. She paused, caught off guard from the bright effect, and at how easily her blade minced through the rocky hide. The spider squirmed, helpless without half of its legs.

"Grraah!" Night Watch roared, thrusting her spear through the entire body of the decapitated spider. In another display of blue sparks, the silver blade of the spear pierced the rocky body with ease.

Echo continued to wrestle with the spider latching onto her front. She tried to swing her blade, but the tight grip of the spider's front legs prevented her from moving her neck. Placing her front hooves on the spider's body, she tried to pry it off of her, but couldn't. It tried to thrust its fangs forward, but her hooves forced it back.

"Echo!" a call came from nearby.

Off to the side, Mosina watched Echo through the corner of her eye while keeping her own spider at bay. She tried to make a sprint to help her, but the spider blocked her path. It lunged, but she jabbed back, forcing it to keep its distance. They circled each other, locked in a stalemate.

"Haah!" Echo cried, the second spider jumping onto her back. She tried to buck with her hind hooves, but it held tightly.

"Help!" she tried to call out, hammering the spider in front of her with her front hooves to no avail. That was until she felt a pair of sharp, wet fangs dig into the back of her neck. "Aaaugh!" Echo screamed, her front hooves relenting a bit.

Venomous liquid injected into the back of her neck, and she could feel it burn into her flesh immediately. Her strength weakened severely, and the spider in front of her took the opportunity to overpower her. However, before it could sink its fangs into her front, it exploded in a flash of blue sparks.

The blade of Night Watch's spear decapitated its head, nearly missing Echo's own. The mangled spider fell to the ground, limp.

Twirling her spear above her, Night Watch brought it down for another angled slice towards the spider on Echo's back. It sliced it in half with another explosion of blue sparks, sending it flying across the room in pieces.

Mosina looked up from the spider underneath her hooves, her own spear impaling it through the mouth. She pulled her weapon out and rushed over to Echo quickly.

The venom quickly overtook her body, and Echo slumped to the floor in a twitching mess.

"G... gah..." she muttered, her lungs out of breath. Her eyes were clenched tight while she fought the pain. Two large holes were embedded into the back of her neck, and her coat was slick with sweat.

"Echo!" Mosina screamed, landing beside her on the floor.

"Quick, her saddlebags!" Night Watch demanded.

Mosina quickly undid Echo's left saddlebag, pulling out one of the glass flasks. She unscrewed the cap and forced the flask into Echo's mouth, who just continued to twitch.

"Tilt her head back, she's in shock!" Night Watch ordered.

Mosina promptly did so, forcing the red liquid down Echo's throat. Echo gagged, but accepted the healing potion willingly. Almost immediately, her eyes shot open, and her twitching lessened.

Eventually, she accepted the flask into her own hooves and drank it eagerly. Her breathing steadied and the twitching slowed to a stop, until she finished the potion entirely. Mosina and Night Watch stared, their eyes full of concern.

"Echo, are you alright?” Mosina asked, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Can you talk?"

"Y... yeah... guh..." Echo breathed, wiping her sweaty brow with a hoof. "I think I need to rest a bit..."

Mosina nodded, smiling. "We can rest. We've had a long walk, anyways."

"I'm exhausted... I think the pain is almost completely gone.” Echo sighed. “Those potions work fast."

Night Watch dropped her spear and sat, pulling her weapon close. "You gave us a scare," she said, simply.

"Yeah, well, it was really painful. I couldn't do anything—not even breathe, or open my eyes."

"It's alright, now. Just rest," Mosina reassured. "I think that was the half-empty flask." She confirmed by searching through Echo's bags and pulling out the full flask.

"I guess that means a half-potion can heal most wounds," Night Watch chimed in.

"I guess so. Though, I don't like that you had to be the guinea pig, sort of," Mosina ponited out. Echo laughed.

Night Watch examined her spear, showing a particular fascination to the blade. "This isn't ordinary steel," she mused, earning a glance from the other two.

"What do you mean?" Mosina asked with a curious expression.

Night Watch stood up on her hind legs, taking the spear in her front hooves. "It sliced through those spiders like butter when it shouldn't have," she said, casting a glance to one of the corpses. "And when it came into contact with them, I could feel it almost drive itself through."

"Magic?" Mosina guessed.

"Probably. I guess this spear has some sort of special power," Night Watch agreed. Suddenly, she raised her spear and sliced at a nearby spider corpse.

Mosina and Echo watched in awe as blue sparks erupted from the blade on contact with the corpse. After the sparks died out, the corpse was in half with Night Watch's spear in the middle.

"Very interesting. And the blade isn't wearing?" Mosina suggested.

Night Watch brought the blade in close to examine it. "No, nothing. Though, this was only our first fight with it."

"Well, with rocks for targets, you'd expect some damage," Mosina said. She stood up and walked towards Night Watch, the two of them examining every inch of the weapon.

Echo felt weak and unable to move; the powerful venom probably cancelled out the energy boost that the healing potion gave. Giving a deep sigh, she scanned the room, only to see nothing but white spider webs covering every surface. Curiously, there were some protrusions in the webs that could have been hidden objects or rocks, underneath.

"Hey, guys. Maybe there is loot in the room?" she asked. Mosina and Night Watch looked up at Echo. "Maybe a chest was buried under the webs, somewhere."

The other two then curiously scanned the room.

"Huh. Perhaps," Night Watch said, suddenly interested. Mosina and her picked up their spears and began to walk around the room, looking for large protrusions in the webs.

Night Watch stopped before an oval shape as large as her and sliced through its webs, only to find a large rock underneath. Mosina did the same to another, only to come to another rock. Echo watched the two intently, too tired to get up, herself.

For several minutes, they continued to cut through webs until Mosina's spear hit something that sounded like metal.

"Here! I think I found something!" she called out. She pulled away the webs while Night Watch rushed over to help, their efforts revealing a dull, metal surface.

They hacked away at the remaining webs until the form of a large, metal chest revealed. It seemed to be nearly as large as the two bat ponies, combined.

"What is it?" Echo called out.

Mosina walked in front of the chest, putting her hooves beneath the heavy lid. After a little struggle, Night Watch came in and helped her shove it off of the chest. It slid to the floor with a loud clang, but the two bat ponies stared wide eyed at the chest's contents.

Resting flat on top of what seemed to be a black leather cuirass was a long, silver straight sword. Its hilt was decorated with ornate embroidery, which extended with a wavy, silver vine down the blade. Underneath Night Watch's light crystal, it shone brilliantly into their awe-struck faces.

"Wow... that's beautiful..." Mosina said, quietly.

"I think it's similar to my spear," Night Watch said, holding up her weapon to compare. Side by side, the two blades seemed to be made out of the same silvery metal, and had the same style of embroidery. "Echo, I think we've found you a new weapon."

Ch 9: Pseudo Names

"Alright, now..." Mosina muttered, biting down on a leather strap on Echo's side. She gave it a quick tug, tightening it against Echo's new garments. "There we go! I salvaged the important parts of your plate armour and fit it over your new stuff."

Echo twisted, trying to get a good look at what she was wearing. A black leather suit, similar to Mosina's, covered most of her form. Fastened over it were the metal plates from her old armour.

"At least my neck is protected, now," she said, smiling.

"Hopefully you'll stop getting injured, then," Night Watch laughed.

Echo stretched and walked in small circles, testing out the fit. “I didn't take you for the handy-mare type, Mosina.”

“Well, when you travel as much as I have, you pick up some skills here and there,” she responded, proudly.

Echo stopped in front of her.

"It's a little tight on the haunches," she said, blushing while instinctively avoiding Night Watch's smirk.

"Not much we can do about that," Mosina stated, frowning. "As long as it's not too bothersome."

"No, it's fine."

Echo stopped, taking a deep breath before shuddering a bit.

"Think you can walk, now?" Mosina asked.

"Give me a few more minutes," Echo breathed, sitting down. "Sorry, guys."

"It's no problem," Mosina reassured.

"I could use a little longer of a breather, myself," Night Watch agreed.

The two of them sat and joined Echo, her light crystal and Night Watch's continuing to bathe the room in light. On the opposite side of the room from where they came from was another tunnel entrance, leading into the darkness.

"What else do you think we'll encounter?" Echo asked, innocently.

Mosina's nose scrunched up before she answered, "Well, I'm willing to bet that those spiders were just the first. There's probably more to come as we go deeper."

Echo shuddered.

"Don't worry, you have your shiny new weapon, now," Night Watch pointed out, giving a toothy smile.

Echo slowly pulled out the silver sword from the scabbard on her shoulder, its silver blade gleaming against the white light from the light crystals. She placed it on the ground in between the trio, each of them fixing their gaze onto it.

"So, weapons apparently have special powers down here," she stated.

"Yeah. I'm going to guess that the metal on these blades have special penetrating powers," Night said, smirking.

Mosina rolled her eyes. "Or, they could be specifically enchanted to be effective against the rock spiders. Or rock creatures, in general."

"Meh."

"Spirit guardians, enchanted weapons... I wonder what other sort of perks we'll come by," Echo thought out loud.

"Don't get my hopes up for super powers," Night Watch joked.

"Actually," Mosina said, edging herself closer to the other two. "I haven't gotten hungry or thirsty since we've gotten here, to the Trials." A moment of silence washed over them as Echo and Night Watch came to the same realization.

"...I remember overhearing some veterans talking about their time in the Trials, and how they could block or parry impossibly tough blows," Night Watch added.

Echo stared at her. "So, we do get super powers?"

Night Watch giggled. "I hope we get complimentary tight—"

"We'll just have to see," Mosina cut in.

"Well, I call the pseudo-name, 'Bat Mare'," Night Watch announced. Echo and Mosina visibly gagged. "Echo, yours can be 'Sex—'"

"I think I'm ready to walk, now," Echo interrupted, loudly. She picked up her sword and sheathed it, prompting Mosina to stand up after her.

"You guys are no fun," Night Watch whined before standing up herself. "Seriously. We're three hot mares, alone in—"

"I wish there were a mute functionality in the Trials," Mosina said, falling behind Echo who took the lead.

"Me, too," she agreed, sighing.

Ch 10: Relent

"Behind you!" Mosina called.

Echo spun and instinctively swung her sword. A spider sliced into two halves after a spray of blue sparks.

"Rraah!" Echo growled through the hilt of her sword, swinging it again. More legs and decapitated halves of spiders flew in different directions.

Ahead of the two battling bat ponies was Night Watch, keeping another group of rock spiders at bay in the narrow, stone halls. She thrust, piercing a spider between its eyes. She slashed, severing off the bottom half of all eight legs of another.

Slowly, the group advanced through the horde down the web-covered tunnel. A long trail of clean-cut arachnid body parts followed them in their wake.

"Echo!" Mosina cried from in between the other two. Wrestling with her spear was a fairly small spider, refusing to let go.

Echo twisted and hacked at the spider twice. Blue sparks exploded upwards.

Every strike that Echo and Night Watch made lit up the vicinity with blue flashes, like a lightning storm. Their blades effortlessly pierced through the rocky hides, yet the spiders still continued their assault.

"The numbers are thinning!" Mosina called out while the other two continued to fight. She batted away any spiders that got through them with her crude spear. It couldn't do much, but it was enough to keep them at bay or distract them long enough to meet Echo or Night Watch's weapons.

A spider jumped onto Echo's back, causing her to lurch backwards. She struggled a bit, but the spider didn't hesitate to thrust its fangs into her neck. However, its fangs couldn't penetrate the tough, black leather.

She bucked her hind legs, sending the spider upwards into the air. With a timed back-flip she leaped after it, her sword cleaving the spider in two.

After several more minutes of fighting, the spider horde began to relent. From both directions of the tunnel, they retreated and abandoned the warriors they were no match to.

"Pfft," Night Watch gawked. "I could've gone all day."

Mosina gave an exasperated sigh. "Phew. I hate spiders."

The trio stood still for several moments, waiting to see if any threat would return. After they deemed it clear, they sheathed their weapons.

"Quick, let's move. Our presence is known—we wouldn't want to linger," Echo said, urging the others forward.

"Agreed. Let's just see what we can find at the end of this tunnel, and then head back," Mosina suggested.

"Sure thing, boss," Night Watch joked, giving a little stretch with her forelimbs. "Hey, how about we run, then? It'll cover more ground."

Echo nodded. "Good thinking. Just watch out for any obstacles—our light can only stretch so far."

"Sure thing, mom," Night Watch said, smiling. Mosina giggled.

After gathering their bearings, the trio took off in a gallop with Night Watch in the lead. The webs began to recede after several minutes of running, until it was back to a web-less, rocky tunnel. The path seemed to on forever, however, with no significant encounter happening after almost half an hour of running. Eventually, Echo found herself slowing down and out of breath.

"Guys... I have to stop. Give me a moment," she breathed out, Mosina and Night Watch slowing to a stop in front of her.

"Yeah... we can do that," Mosina said, slightly out of breath herself. Night Watch came up from behind her.

"...I think the venom's effects are still in me, a little," Echo admitted, sheepishly.

"No worries. Just take it easy, for now," Night Watch reassured.

The bat ponies rested, huddled close together on the bare, beige stone of the floor. Outside of their frantic breathing, there seemed to be no noise whatsoever... or so they thought.

Echo's ears perked up.

Wearily shaking her head from exhaustion, she looked up and down the hallway behind them. Mosina stared curiously.

"Is something wrong, Echo?" she asked.

"I... I hear..." Echo trailed off, focusing on her hearing.

Night Watch walked up beside her, perking her ears up as well. "I don't hear anything."

"Neither do I," Mosina said.

"Shh! Listen..." Echo whispered. She stared into the darkness, unsure of what to expect. A distant, indistinguishable sound rung in her ears, slowly growing in volume.

Her eyes widened.

She turned to the others, her face filled with panic. It took a moment, but Night Watch returned a gaze just as laden with fear when the sound reached her, too.

Mosina's ears perked up as well before casting the other two a curious glance. “W-what's that sound? What's going on?”

"We have to move! Now!" Echo ordered. Night Watch wasted no time in taking the front of the group, Mosina trailing after her with Echo in tow.

"What's going on? I hear something, but what is it?" Mosina stammered while they began to pick up their pace.

"We have to get to an open space. I doubt we'll be able to take it on, here," Echo breathed, still out of breath.

"Take what on? What are you guys talking about?" Mosina asked again.

"The shadow pony," Night Watch answered, grimly. Mosina's eyes widened. "Personally, I want to impale that ugly shit."

"Just be ready to use your crystal, Night Watch!" Echo yelled from behind. She gave a brief glance to the crystal strapped to her shoulder, hoping it would work. "I'll try to use mine first."

Their gallop seemed fruitless, however, as the whistling noise from behind strengthened quickly. It was gaining on them, fast.

"Only after we try to fight it, Echo," Night Watch called back after a few moments of running. Echo returned a hardened gaze, but she reluctantly nodded her head, slowly. "We have new gear and a third in our party—maybe we can take it on, this time."

"We'll try,” Echo responded, looking to her crystal. “We can't rely on these forever."

As if to answer to their prayers, the hallway walls fanned out into a wide opening. Immediately, the trio stopped their gallop to observe the room they had entered. It was plain and empty with only one other tunnel exit, but it looked like they had enough room to manoeuvre efficiently. The only obstruction was a lone statue against the wall to the right.

"Quick! Formation!" Night Watch ordered, pulling out her spear and pointing it towards the tunnel they had come from. Mosina did the same, standing to her left. Echo unsheathed her sword with a loud, metal ring, flashing it in the white light of their light crystals.

"It's so loud!" Mosina muttered, squirming in her spot. The whistling soon became a very familiar wailing, piercing their sensitive ears.

"Be prepared, Mosina. It moves very fast and hits like a hammer," Night Watch said, not keeping her eyes off the tunnel entrance.

Echo shrugged in her spot, trying to bear with the intensifying noise.

The three of them stood tense for several minutes, preparing for the worst. But just as their ears felt like they were about to pop, the noise suddenly halted. They were caught off guard, letting out breaths they didn't know they were holding.

"What... what happened?" Mosina whispered. The other two didn't respond, staying in their ready stances with their weapons forward. They refused to let their guard down. "Is it go—"

Out of the shadows of the dark tunnel ahead of them reached a black, elongated arm with a large, curved blade.

"Grrah!" Night Watch screamed, twirling the spear in her hooves and slashing at the appendage. It clashed, swatting the shadow blade away. However, more 'shadow' leaped out of the dark tunnel, coalescing into a shadow pony with two sword-like arms protruding from its back.

It screamed, the wailing overtaking the bat ponys' ears once again.

Stumbling a bit, Night Watch nearly lost grip on her spear. The shadow pony continued its wailing as it quickly leaped towards her, its blades slashing out in front of it.

"Aaah!" Echo screamed through her sword's hilt as she charged towards it. The silver of her blade gleamed, causing the shadow pony to wince in mid flight.

However, it reached Night Watch with its blades ready to sever her into three pieces.

Quick to react, she regained grip on her spear and parried the shadow blades away from her. The momentum from the shadow pony's leap continued to force it forwards, tackling Night Watch and forcing her to the ground. Her spear fell out of her grasp, and the shadow pony screamed in her face, ready to bring its blades down on her.

"Get off her!" Echo screamed, reaching Night Watch in time to tackle the shadow pony. Angrily, she hacked her blade at it, causing blue sparks to explode from each slice.

Its wailing relented, only to be replaced with what sounded like wails of pain. The 'skin' of the shadow pony flickered like a hologram, its corporeal form registering the damage. After another three strikes to the shadow pony's side, it pushed Echo off, launching her across the room.

That's when Mosina came in and thrust her spear at it, impaling one of the arms on its back. It flailed wildly, forcing the spear out of Mosina's grasp and knocking her away with one of its hooves.

Night Watch jumped up to it, jabbing her spear only for it to be parried by its one good arm-blade.

She swung her spear downwards, meeting the shadow blade just above its head. The two wrestled, trying to overpower the other, but neither relented.

"Haah!" a scream came from behind the monster. Echo jumped up and drove her sword deep into the shadow pony's back. It wailed louder before it suddenly pushed away Night Watch's spear with a burst of strength. It spun, causing Echo to fling off with the sword still in her mouth.

Shadows seemed to flow from its wounds, losing its corporeal flesh slowly. With its good arm, it sliced the spear that stuck through its other in half. Weaponless, Mosina trotted backwards slowly, pulling out her small dagger.

Night Watch and Echo circled the shadow pony, waiting for an opening. It continued to wail, madly swinging its blades to force them to keep their distance. With each swing, a faint whistle could be heard as it cut through the air.

It made one more passing swing at Night Watch, who dodged out of the way and strafed towards it for a counter attack. She thrust her spear and it connected with the shadow pony's side.

Quicker than she could react, however, it swung its blades back. She tried to block it with her spear, but one blade sailed past the pole and sliced deep into her chest.

"Augh!" she screamed, stumbling backwards and into the hooves of Mosina. She squirmed, clutching the fresh wound on her chest as Mosina desperately fished for a healing flask in her saddlebags.

Meanwhile, Echo had moved in and was locked in a losing fight with the shadow pony. Its two blades overpowered her one, easily. It threw more erratic slices, nearly decapitating her head several times.

Echo was too occupied to reach for the glowing crystal on her shoulder. Her heart raced, knowing that she wouldn't last much longer.

That's when the wailing increased significantly in volume, causing all of the bat ponies to glance around in confusion.

A second shadow pony erupted from the dark tunnels.

Echo stumbled and blocked an oncoming blow from the shadow pony in front of her, knocking her to the floor.

The second shadow pony waved its blades madly in the air before setting its gaze to Mosina and the wounded Night Watch, smelling blood. It leaped towards them, ready to make for easy pickings. But before it could reach her, its blades met with Night Watch's spear, held in Mosina's hooves.

It sliced at her instead, but she blocked the blades and tried to retaliate with some thrusts. The shadow pony effortlessly swatted them away, rearing up on its hind hooves and sent its blades and forelimbs in her direction.

She dodged the blades, but one of its hooves connected with her face, sending her backwards. Underneath, Night Watch could barely keep her eyes open. Standing over her, the shadow pony brought back its blades, readying to pierce into her flesh.

However, a bat pony covered in silver armour leaped onto its back, causing the shadow pony to stumble in surprise. With two glowing hoof-blades, the bat pony shredded into the back of the shadow pony's neck. Golden sparks flew out from each strike.

"Rragh!" the bat pony screamed, fiercely hacking her blades into its flesh. After a few more slices, the head of the shadow pony fell off.

The body froze before it began to slowly dissolve into the air. Its shadows retreated back to the dark tunnels, leaving no trace of the shadow pony's existence. The bat pony with the hoof-blades nodded to Night Watch, her orange eyes giving her a reassuring glance. She took off to the the shadow pony in the room.

Echo weakly parried another blow, the shadow blade knocking the sword out of her mouth. She stumbled again, giving out a sigh of defeat. She was too exhausted.

Her head down, Echo waited for the final blow, but was rewarded with a loud shriek, instead. The shadow pony reared backwards, a bat pony on its back, hacking away at its neck with a pair of hoof-blades. Bright, golden sparks exploded outwards from each slice.

The shadow pony wailed in pain, helpless to do anything as its arm-blades were too large to attack the bat pony. With a burst of adrenaline, Echo lunged for her sword on the ground and stabbed forwards. Her blade pierced the chest of the shadow pony, digging deep up to the hilt. She twisted the blade with all of her remaining strength, slicing through the flesh downwards.

The shadow pony froze in place, its neck split in half down the middle with half of its chest, missing. The wailing finally ceased, bathing the room in silence.

Its form melted, strands of shadow leaking from the body and flowing into the tunnels. Echo sighed and fell on her haunches, looking up to see her saviour. A pair of orange eyes met hers, full of friendliness.

"S... Speck..." Echo managed to say before passing out.

Ch 11: Tank

"Echo, are you alright?" a voice called. Slowly, the world came back to Echo. Darkness receded until her eyes opened gradually, a dim light brightening.

"Quick, give her a swig of this," another voice said.

Mosina.

Before she could react, she felt the cold surface of glass press against her lips. Hooves gently tilted her head backwards, and a trickle of thick, tangy liquid made its way into her mouth. Echo's eyes shot open, and the flask quickly receded from her lips.

"Haah!" she gasped, suddenly feeling the need to breathe deeply. She scanned her immediate vicinity, seeing the vague form of a bat pony with turquoise hair in front of her. Whoever they were, they were really shiny.

"Mosina?" A giggle.

"Nope! It's me, Speck!" a cheery voice responded. Quickly, her eyes focused and she met with amber slitted eyes, similar to her own. Complimenting the face was long, unkempt turquoise hair and a fanged smile.

"Glad you came to. Fairly quickly, I might add," another voice said to her right. She turned her head to meet the smiling, spectacled face of Mosina.

"Phew... how long was I out for?" Echo asked, shaking her head. She moved to stand up, only for Speck to hold out a hoof to keep her down.

She wore armour that covered her entire body from the top of her neck to the soles of her hooves. Its silvery plates and golden embroideries shone brightly against the light of Echo's light crystal.

"A few minutes. Not too long," Mosina answered, shrugging. "You're unscathed, thankfully. You were just exhausted."

"Mmm," Echo hummed.

Speck removed her hoof from her shoulder. "Geeze, I'm glad I sprinted to you guys when I heard all the commotion going on."

"No kidding. I thought we were done for," Echo chuckled, grimly.

Speck shuffled in her spot and fidgeted with the two shiny, golden hoof-blades attached to her front hooves. Echo stared at them with wide eyes as Speck removed them off of her hooves.

"I found these in a chest," Speck said, giggling. "Though, I'm not very good with them."

"Can't be worse than me," Mosina chimed in.

"I was second worst in our unit," Speck mumbled.

"Yeah, well, I was worst."

Echo rolled her eyes before turning her head to scan the rest of the room. Nearby, Night Watch was sitting silently with her head down and eyes closed.

"Night Watch!" Echo gasped, standing up.

"She's okay," Mosina reassured. "She's just exhausted, too. The shadow pony wounded her good, but a health potion helped with that."

"Gah..." Echo glanced down to her light crystal. "I-I should have used this. We were nearly killed."

"Yeah, well..." Mosina trailed off.

"...But then, I came to save the day!" Speck exclaimed, gleefully. Mosina and Echo smiled.

"How are we doing with supplies?" Echo asked.

"Well, we used half a flask on you for the spider bite and another half for Night Watch just now, so..." Mosina trailed off, checking her saddlebags. "We're down to three and a half health flasks left. Also, my spear broke, so I don't have a weapon."

"I have a healing flask, too! And two of those light crystals," Speck piped up.

"I guess that puts us back at four-and a half potions. And nine crystals."

They went silent for several moments, taking the time to breathe, until Speck shoved the golden hoof-blades towards Mosina.

"Here, take them,” she offered, opening her right saddlebag and pulling out a shiny, circular plate. “I have this!"

"Is... is that a shield?" Echo asked.

Speck fastened it to her left-front leg, the silver, circular plate facing outwards. A golden embroidery of a vine trimmed the circumference of the shield.

"Yep. I couldn't put it on with the hoof-blades, so I just carried it in my saddlebag," she answered.

"B-but I'm not good with these," Mosina said, gesturing to the claws.

Speck chuckled. "You said you didn't have a weapon. And I have the fancy armour, so I get to be the tank!" she said, cheerfully.

"Well, alright. But I'll just hang back and keep things off of Night and Echo, then," Mosina said.

"Sounds like a plan," Echo agreed.

"But, wait, you guys didn't loot the room, yet," Speck pointed out.

Giving a confused scowl, Echo looked around the room to find nothing but a rocky floor and walls... and the statue that was leaning against a wall.

It was a stone pony with a walking cane and a wide-brimmed hat.

"...You mean the statue?" she asked, finally.

"Yeah! The old stallion statues always have cool stuff," Speck explained, approaching it. Echo and Mosina gave each other a confused glance before following.

"Can't say we've ever come across this type, yet," Mosina affirmed.

Speck walked up to the side of the statue and began to push with her two front hooves. After some grunting and slipping, the statue budged until it toppled over. It hit the ground hard and shattered into multiple pieces of stone Embedded into the ground where the statue had been was a metal surface.

"Look! See? There's stuff underneath," Speck exclaimed excitedly, moving to lift off the metal lid. Echo walked up and helped her with it, grunting as they heaved it up and slid it to the side.

"Got to hoof it to you, Speck. I don't know where we'd be without you," Echo chuckled.

"Heh... you can stop complimenting me now..." Speck whispered, blushing before her eyes widened. "Ooh, look at this!" She bent down and pulled out a leather scabbard housing a sword. Tossing it to the side, she dove back into the chest as Echo walked up to her.

Echo sorted through its contents and brought up several of the items. "Another two light crystal boxes, another healing flask and... what's that?"

Speck looked up with a wooden cylinder in her mouth.

"Looks like the third key," Mosina proclaimed, walking up beside Echo. Speck spit the object out to say something, only for it to land in front of Night Watch.

"A gift? For me?" Night Watch purred, grinning.

"Night Watch! Are you feeling alright?" Speck asked, walking up to her. Night Watch picked up the cylinder and eyed it.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I'd like another few minutes to rest, though."

"Alright. Besides, I need to ask Speck to detail me on where she came from," Mosina said, pulling out the map from her saddlebags.

"We shouldn't take too long, though," Echo insisted, taking the cylinder from Night Watch. "It's a bit of a trek back to that door."

Author's Note

Speck: http://vectorvito.deviantart.com/art/Speck-Top-Bat-395880868

Ch 12: Foreboding

"Y-you got bitten?!" Speck stammered, walking up beside Echo while both of their light crystals combined in brightness.

"Yeah. It hurt a lot," Echo admitted, feeling a shiver at the back of her neck.

"Nngh... I hate spiders..." Speck said, her armour rattling while they walked. The last of the spider webs covering the tunnel had receded and the group was now trotting on smooth rock. A slight downhill allowed them to trot leisurely.

"We should almost be there," Mosina idly said from the rear of the group. "This stretch took us a ten minute walk from the spider room to the door. Then it will take an hour to get back to the lake."

"Will we be going through the door, or head back to the lake?" Night Watch asked from beside her.

Mosina shrugged. "I dunno, that's up to you guys." She cast a glance to the rest of the group as they walked.

"Might as well. We have the key, right?" Echo pointed out. Speck shrugged and nodded in agreement, and Night Watch gave a smile.

Mosina shrugged and said, "I guess that's that."

The group walked in silence for the next several minutes until the giant stone slab came up on their left. Sure enough, embedded into two of the three sockets were the wooden prism keys with carved, cringing faces on their surfaces. Speck's eyes widened at the sight, seeming disturbed by the imagery.

"This is it," Night Watch whispered, moving to pull the cylinder key from her saddlebags. Speck fidgeted in her spot, and seemed agitated.

"A-are you guys sure we should head through this, now?" she stammered, eliciting glances from the others.

"Why not? Is something wrong?" Echo asked with a concerned gaze.

"I don't know... I just feel like whatever's through that door is... foreboding," Speck whispered, shrinking into an uneasy posture.

"This whole darn cave network is foreboding." Mosina gave out a sigh. "Look, whatever's through that door—we'll face together, yeah?"

Speck gulped. "Yeah... I just feel like we're in for something."

Night Watch had remained silent through the exchange and finally managed to pull out the key with her mouth. She walked up to the door and looked for the final hole, standing up on her hind hooves to slide it in. Halfway in, she stopped and gave a half lidded grin to Echo to the right, winking.

Echo sighed.

Night Watch pulled it out, and then shoved it the entire way.

"Dammit, Night Watch," Echo seethed.

After the key had been pushed in, Night Watch stepped down and backed away. Nothing happened for several moments, until a loud clang rung throughout the cave. It sounded as though the door was operating on metal mechanics.

Another loud clang rung, causing the bat ponies to step back. Finally, a loud grinding sound of stone on stone filled the air as the slab pushed into the wall to the left. Dust fell and clouded around them, the door not having been used for a long while. The ponies remained silent while they waited for the door to retract.

Beyond the small cloud of dust, there seemed to be nothing but darkness. The light from the three light crystal bearers could not penetrate through the entrance entirely. It was as though there was a large room, beyond.

"Does it really have to be this slow?!" Night Watch called out through the loud grinding of the door.

"Call it 'utilizing-rusty-and-slow-ancient-technology-for-dramatic-effect," Mosina chuckled.

Finally the grinding stopped, and the door rested to a stop with a loud clang. The dark entrance to the cave before them gave them all pause. Echo flinched when she felt something brush against her. Speck audibly gasped, having felt it, too.

"A breeze..." Echo whispered, taking a step towards the entrance. She looked to her companions and nodded. "Let's go. Speck and I will take point."

They all moved into a tight formation and began to walk before a loud, distant grumbling gave them pause. Echo gave a confused glance to Speck beside her, who returned one of fear. The ground seemed to be shaking subtly, as though some sort of large creature was shifting. Gulping and putting on a brave face, Echo stoically marched into the entrance, the others reluctantly following.

A small hallway greeted them, narrow enough that they had to move into a single file line. But just before anyone could complain, they found themselves through the tunnel and into a very large room. Mosina gave a gasp when she entered last, seeing where they were.

The room seemed to reach far beyond the light from their crystals, nothing beyond its reach but blackness. Echo could make out distant cave walls in the darkness, but the ceiling seemed an endless distance upwards.

The rumbling continued in short bursts of tremors. For some reason, she couldn't move—she knew that something dangerous was dwelling just beyond their eye sight.

Night Watch came up beside her with a hardened expression, her spear at the ready. Taking the hint, the rest of the bat ponies also drew their weapons.

Echo and Speck unsheathed their swords, and Mosina pulled down the retracted claws of her hoof-blades. Speck prodded the shield on her right-front hoof, making sure it was fastened tightly.

Night Watch grinned. "Ready for our first boss fight?"

Ch 13: First Boss

Rumbles could still be felt through the stone beneath their hooves.

Echo let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in, glancing to her right at Speck who nodded slowly to her. Puffing out her chest, she moved forwards into the room, Speck following suit. Night Watch cracked her neck and started walking behind Echo, while Mosina reluctantly followed by her side.

As they walked, the light from their crystals pulled away from the entrance and wall behind them, leaving them on a circular, flat surface of stone. The darkness hid the walls and ceiling.

Her heart pulsing to the point of pain, Echo kept her weapon at ready, feeling as though something could reach out of the dark and snatch them up. They were in a spotlight, being eyed by something. She felt naked.

Slowly, they walked, inching towards what they thought was the center of the room. Speck had a hardened gaze, ready for anything. Mosina was visibly having a hard time to breathe, and Night Watch kept a scowl on her face.

They were ready to fight. Or die, horribly. Terribly.

The rumbling stopped.

Time seemed to literally stop between the four bat ponies. They froze—in fear or anticipation, they could not tell. Echo felt herself unable to breath, as if a breath could disrupt whatever lurked beyond the veil of light.

Night Watch snorted from behind and muttered, "Circular formation."

The four of them each face outwards, their backs against each other with their weapons at the ready.

A terrible growl, with which Echo could only describe as gasoline, filled their ears. She let out a quiet huff through her teeth, like a response, or an invitation.

As if to answer her, a giant, unshapely form exploded out from the dark. Except, it wasn't dark—it was white, and it reflected the light from their crystals easily. The entire room, hundreds of feet tall and wide, lit up upon the creature's entrance.

Eight giant and hairy legs landed with a loud thud in front of Echo.

Before even taking a good look at the beast, she yelled, "Here!"

Night Watch swung to her side and blindly thrust her blade towards Echo's call. Echo lunged forward, swinging her blade at one of the legs, as Night Watch's spear collided with another. In a burst of blue sparks, their weapons deflected off of the white, rocky legs. They leaped backwards, Speck and Mosina at the ready behind them.

"Back!" Mosina called, diving to her left. The others dove out of the way as well, as the giant spider slammed its body down where they once were.

Two giant fangs, each as long as her own body, narrowly missed Echo, slamming into the floor. With a loud hiss, the spider pulled up and slammed down again, Echo diving out of the way once more.

Eight round, ugly green eyes stared at her with a cold desire to devour before it pulled up again. She rolled but couldn't get out of the way of the spider's superior reach, until a silver spear came up and stabbed between its eyes.

Night Watch's spear made a dent, but ultimately deflected off. The giant spider swatted her away with one of its legs, rearing up its fangs again to impale Echo. She hopped up onto her hooves and leaped backwards, only to witness Speck slam her entire armoured body into the spider's side.

"Haah!” Speck cried. “Mosina, get ready!"

Her momentum staggered the spider, and it annoyingly stumbled to keep its balance. With her shield, she slammed against the nearest leg, taking its grip off the ground. Its body fell, allowing Mosina to hop up onto its back.

"Nngh! Here goes nothing!" She threw her claws into it with golden sparks, only for them to merely scratch its hide.

Echo ran up to one of the spider's flailing legs, helplessly hacking at it with her sword. However, with a small shrug, the spider sent all three of them flying in different directions.

Night Watch hopped in front of it with her spear pointed at its face. "Guys! I think we should use the light crystals!" she called out, keeping the spider at bay. But with a grunt, the spider charged at her, her spear getting pushed aside by its hide, effortlessly. It slammed into her, sending her flying, landing beside Speck.

"Its hide is too thick!” Mosina screamed from beside Echo. “Take to the air, we can fly in this room!"

"Right! Let's go!" With a light push off of the ground, Echo took to the air, Mosina following after her.

The spider helplessly hissed at them from the ground as the four air-born bat ponies met.

"Hnngh.. I'm not sure how long I can keep this up," Speck grunted, flapping her turquoise wings hard to compensate for her heavy armour.

"Right. Well, we're off to a rough start," Night Watch remarked, out of breath like the others, already.

"I don't know how to use the light crystals. Th-there aren't any statues around for us to use," Echo stammered.

Night Watch sighed and shook her head. "I guess that's out of the question."

"What do we do? Its hide is too thick," Speck said through her efforts to stay airborne.

"We have to go for its mouth with a lucky stab, somehow," Echo uttered. "Let's not take took long up here, Speck has to land soon."

"I can distract it fine," Speck grunted, letting out a distraught breath. "Gotta land, now! You guys have to—"

A giant form fell from above, colliding with her and sending her to the ground.

"Speck!" Night Watch dove after her, watching helplessly as Speck slammed onto the rocky ground. The giant spider landed beside her, turning to her unconscious body.

Before Mosina and Echo could dive to help her out, another giant form collided with the two of them from below. They flew through the air before stabilizing themselves, scanning the room to find the giant spider latching onto the wall near them.

With a confused glance, Echo stared at it and then to the one on the ground that Night Watch was quickly approaching.

"Dear Luna, there are two!" she screamed as Mosina floated in place, shocked. "Guh... go help Night Watch and Speck! I can keep this one distracted, for now!"

"R-right! Be safe!" Mosina said before flying off.

"Go!" Echo urged, watching her dive. She turned to the spider on the wall as it glared up to her, getting ready to leap once again. Anticipating its path, she flew out of the way as it sailed past. It fell far to the ground below with a loud rumble, and Echo dove after it.

As she neared, the spider reared up its front legs as if to catch her. Skillfully, she weaved between them and skimmed her blade along its back. Blue sparks burst out, only for a linear scratch to mark the place she had struck.

The spider hopped and rotated in mid air, landing while facing Echo. Crouching down onto its legs, it leaped at her with incredible speed.

"Rraugh!" With her spear in front of her, Night Watch picked up speed and aimed right for the spider's back. Her wings folded against her body, she made no plans to stop.

The spider ejected its fangs, ready to pierce through Speck's armour like butter, before Night Watch slammed into its back. She hit hard in an explosion of blue sparks and rolled off of its back, smashing into the floor beside Speck, unmoving.

Her spear was deeply embedded into the spider's torso.

It reared back in pain and let out a loud, gurgling hiss.

"Night Watch!" Mosina screamed, flying down to the scene. Both Speck and Night Watch lay still next to each other, their light crystals bathing the rearing spider in white light. She quickly flew to the spear sticking out of its back and grabbed it, pulling to get it loose.

Feeling the new presence on its back, the spider shrugged in hopes of getting her off, only for her to hang onto the spear tight.

"Gaah!"

Every move it made, the spear dug slightly deeper. Begrudgingly, the spider crouched onto its legs and leaped upwards towards one of the walls. Mosina held on tightly, still, flying with the spider.

It landed on the wall with a loud thud, but she did not relent. She tried to twist it or pull it out, until she found it could only budge if she thrust it inwards. The spider tried to shake her off, flailing madly, only for her to push the sharp blade deeper into its flesh. And as the spider became more agonized with pain, it flailed harder.

Finally, it slammed its legs against the wall, the sudden movement prying Mosina off of its back. She rolled in the air and steadied herself, finding the silver spear between her hooves.

A loud growl caught her attention, only for her to find two large fangs flying straight towards her.

Ch 14: Victory

Echo pivoted her wings downward, causing her to lose some air just as the giant spider sailed overhead. It landed on the ground, coming to a skidding halt with its eight legs. Tirelessly, it crouched, ready to leap again.

She pivoted her wings to do a short dive towards it, breaking to the right just as the spider sailed past. Her hooves hit the ground and she faced the creature now at the other side of the room from her. Loud breaths escaped her lips, fatigue taking its toll on her quickly.

It charged her, closing the distance between them quicker than she anticipated.

"Hrk!"

Echo threw her body to the side in hopes of dodging, only for one of the spider's legs to clip her own. She was sent in a spin to the ground, her mouth losing grip on the sword as it went skidding.

Weaponless, she desperately pawed at the ground in front of her to approach her sword, but the spider was quickly upon her.

"Hah!" she screamed as one of the spider's legs held her down. She could feel its weight loosen a bit, the spider raising up to stab down with its claws. She tried to shrug it off, knowing she wouldn't be able to, until the leg completely lifted off of her.

Surprised, Echo rolled to face it, only for her to see Speck having thrown herself into its side.

"Aaah!" Speck cried, shoving with all of her might. The heavy, protective armour threw the spider off balance. She reeled back, only to ram herself into the spider's side again, shield first.

Miraculously, the spider flipped over and Speck jumped on top of it, pummelling at the spider's face with her shield. Over and over again, she smashed it downwards, the fangs failing to penetrate the thick plate. Despite its protective, rocky skin, the tip of one of the spider's fangs chipped off. It hissed, its legs flailing while it tried to regain the upper hand, only for Speck to keep it down.

Echo leaped in with her sword in her mouth, coming up in front of the spider's upside-down face.

"Now! Stab it now!" Speck screamed, smashing her shield down once more. With that, she wedged it in between the fangs, exposing the spider's unprotected mouth.

"Hraugh!" Echo growled through her hilt, shoving the sword down. The blade sliced right through its maw, pushing itself halfway into the flesh.

The spider hissed loudly, nearly deafening the bat ponies before flailing its limbs madly. Speck was thrown off and Echo was knocked back, the spider flipping itself over. With its front legs, it desperately tried to pull the blade from its mouth, its large limbs unable to grasp it.

Echo slid across the ground, hitting her head. "Augh!" she groaned loudly, throwing her hooves up to clench her head.

Speck landed roughly, managing to roll once and set her hooves on the ground, firmly. "Aaah!" she screamed, charging at the occupied beast. While it still desperately tried to remove the blade, Speck collided with its front, head on.

With her shield, she launched herself straight at the hilt of the blade with the shield. Like a hammer, she drove the rest of the blade in, eliciting another painful hiss from the spider. Before it could do anything, she rose her shield and slammed it down again, splitting the mouth open and spilling green blood everywhere.

“Die!"

With one, final smash of her shield on the blade's hilt, the blade sliced through the spider's face, cutting it effectively in half. She reeled back from the splatter of blood, watching the spider go limp.

It slumped to the floor in a messy heap of limbs and green blood.

Mosina couldn't see anything as she tumbled through the air with the spider. Not having a light crystal herself, it was difficult to see beyond the light from any of her companions. The last thing she remembered was it leaping towards her with its fangs pointed out.

She felt the spear in her hooves embedded into some part of the spider, so she held onto it tightly. It was in obvious pain, as every time she budged the spear, the spider spazzed and its limbs flailed. Finally, the body of the spider slammed onto solid ground, absorbing the bulk of the hit. Mosina still held onto the spear, feeling it drive even further upon the impact.

Holding her breath, she clung, until she realized that the body was no longer moving anymore. With a few grunts, she unfurled herself and nudged away a few spider limbs that were on top of her.

"Whoa..." she breathed, seeing the head of the spear driven deep into one of the spider's eye sockets.

It had penetrated through the underside of its head and out through one of the eye holes. She tried to pull it out, but the golden hoof-claws got in the way. Sighing, she pulled them off and tossed them aside, gripping the spear as tight as she could then heaved.

"Grrh!"

Her eyes held closed and she gritted her teeth as she pulled, but to no avail. Taking a moment to breathe, she loosened her grip on the spear, only to feel another pair of hooves latch onto the end of the spear, behind her. She opened her eyes, the world flooding her with light.

"C'mon, let's pull at the same time," Night Watch said from behind her. Mosina couldn't suppress a relieved sigh, turning around and smiling at Night Watch's smirking face.

"You wanna do something?" Night Watch asked, grinning and waggling her eyebrows.

"Okay, let's pull," Mosina muttered, sighing.

"No fun," Night said, giggling as she helped her pull the spear.

With one heave, Mosina and Night Watch managed to dislodge the spear and tumbled backwards in a heap of hooves and leather. Mosina yelped, feeling Night Watch's weight on top of her.

She opened her eyes, only to meet a pair of half-lidded magenta ones.

"No-mmph!" she squealed, Night Watch sealing her lips against hers.

"Echo! Echo, are you alright?!" Speck exclaimed worriedly, sprinting to her friend and coming to a skidding stop beside her. Echo was lying on the ground, belly-side up and breathing hard as though she had just run a mile.

"Yeah... Thanks to you, Speck, I'm alive," she said, giving a friendly smile.

Speck blushed, returning the smile and said, "We took that ugly spider on, easy! As a team!"

Echo giggled, moving up to her hooves. "Quick, let's go find the others."

"I think they're okay," Speck pointed out, pointing her hoof towards an orb of light at the other side of the room. Nodding to each other, they took off in a brisk gallop.

As they neared, they could make out the form of the other giant spider laying on its back in a pool of its own green blood. Slowing to a stop, they found Night Watch standing with her spear in her hooves and Mosina laying down behind her, her face flushed red and mouth open in shock.

"Are you guys okay?" Speck asked, curious.

Night Watch gave a large grin. "A bit roughed up but..." She glanced to Mosina behind her. "...Yeah."

Ch 15: Mungo

"Is everyone in tact?" Echo asked the group as they checked their bags.

"Yeah, everything seems to be in shape," Speck said, rummaging through her pack.

"Yep," Night Watch confirmed.

"Muh..." sputtered Mosina, still lying belly-side up on the floor, shocked.

Echo gave a sigh. "What did you do to her, Night?"

"Nothing, she's fine," Night Watch reassured, throwing her saddlebags over her back.

Speck walked up to Mosina, looking confused. "Are you going to be okay?"

With that, Mosina snapped to attention and groaned, shaking her head.

"Pleh! She kissed me!" She sat up and began spitting, ridding the foreign saliva from her mouth. "With tongue! Pff!"

Echo threw an annoyed glare at Night Watch.

"Oh, come on. Live a little! You girls are too up-tight," Night Watch complained.

Rolling her eyes, Echo looked around their group to take inventory. "Everypony's got their weapons?" she asked, receiving nods and hums from the other three.

After her spitting fit, Mosina approached the golden hoof-claws she had tossed aside and put them on her front hooves.

"Fat lot of help these things did," she muttered.

"You can have my rusty sword, if you want!" Speck offered, coming up beside her and smiling.

"No, thanks, I—"

Suddenly, the ground beneath them shook and a brief, powerful tremor overtook the group. As soon as the shaking had stopped, Echo gave a wide-eyed glance to the others before quickly drawing her sword. Mosina and Night Watch crouched into a fighting stance, and Speck held her shield out towards the surrounding darkness.

"Is... is another one coming?" Speck asked through her barred teeth.

"I don't know... it seemed heavier than the rumbling these guys made," Echo said, pointing to the dead spider corpse nearby.

However, no third giant spider came, and instead a light soundlessly ignited from one distant corner of the room. Startled, the mares all turned to the spectacle.

Shining down from the ceiling was a bright, white light that travelled along the wall. At the foot of the wall stood a large statue of an aged stallion.

Glancing to each other, Echo nodded, and the bat ponies took off in a gallop towards it. After a short run, the light from their light crystals merged with the white light of the supposed spotlight. The statue stood tall, the stallion sporting a large beard and a robed cloak.

Before Echo could say anything, her light crystal began to pulse as it had when she neared the knight statue from before. She heard gasps around her, seeing Speck's and Night Watch's light crystal doing the same.

"W-what's happening?" Speck asked, backing up as if to get away from the pulsing crystal strapped to her shoulder.

"I think the statue wants us to use it," Echo affirmed, approaching the base of the statue. She felt the eyes of her companions on her as she slipped the crystal out of her pouch, placing it down.

Stepping back beside her friends, the crystal stopped pulsing before brightening ten-fold.

"Whoa," Speck crooned before moving to cover her eyes with a hoof, the rest of them following suit.

A high-pitched hum pierced the air, and the brightness finally receded. Lowering her hoof and opening her eyes, Echo gasped at the ethereal form that remained.

Standing in front of the statue was the old pony it portrayed, seemingly made out of a silky, white-yellow light. A heavenly sigh escaped his lips before his bright, pupil-less eyes opened.

Echo gulped, reluctantly taking a step forward.

"H-hello," she whispered, unsure of what to say.

The light pony let out another sigh before bellowing in a slow, deep voice, "Greetings, Night Guards. You have come fairly far, more than most, in the Trials."

Echo remained silent as he continued, her face struck with awe.

"You have defeated your first boss. Or, well, bosses." Echo visibly winced at the notion of it only being the first. "I am... The Builder."

His baritone voice echoed through the room, until silence swept over the group. After a moment, Echo furrowed her eyebrows until she realized that the light pony was waiting for a response.

She opened her mouth, only for Night Watch to burst into a fit of laughter.

"Hahahah! What?! Really!" she guffawed in between her laughs.

Echo's mouth remained open, speechless. Speck began to giggle, too.

The light pony gave a sigh, but it sounded more exasperated rather than divine. "Why are you laughing?" He seemed distressed, or disappointed.

"Come on! 'The Builder'? You could have at least gone with 'The Architect', or something!" Night Watch laughed.

The light pony groaned. "You see, I would, but that's too cliche," he admitted, his voice significantly less dramatic.

Echo confusedly glanced to Mosina, who returned a shrug and blush while Speck giggled and smiled along.

"But 'The Builder' sucks! It sounds like a children's program, or something," Night Watch continued.

"Fine! What would you rather call me?" he asked, throwing a hoof up in annoyance.

Echo offered an apologetic, forced smile. “Uh... I don't really think it mat—"

"Jerry!" Speck blurted out excitedly, hopping in place.

"...Jerry?" the light pony repeated in a flat tone.

"I'm with Jerry!" Night Watch giggled.

"Alright, alright! You can call me Jerry," Jerry said, rolling his ethereal eyes.

Speck cheered. "Woo!"

"So, back to the Trials..." Jerry said sternly, casting an ethereal glare to Night Watch who only grinned back. "You have defeated the great spiders, Floht and Ralkur. Most barely get up to this point."

Echo felt a sense of pride wash over her, glancing to her friends to see them all smiling.

"But it will only get tougher from here on," he asserted, dropping his gaze low. "Have you encountered the shadow beings?"

A small sense of fear welted up inside Echo's chest, but she recovered and spoke up. "Yes. They're really tough and nearly took us out, several times."

Jerry let out a breath. "They are relentless, yes. But they are an essential part of this test, and you will encounter them many more times." He paused a moment to let it sink in. Echo grimly nodded.

"And they will get tougher, too—they learn your tactics. Also, they don't die, they merely dematerialize only to reform later. But it is not the end of you, yet. Your skills in training and fighting are not the only things that will carry you. You are in this as a group. To be part of Luna's elite, you must know how to fight in harmony. Your limits will be stretched in the Trials."

With that, he raised his head to look to the heavens, and his voice faltered as though he were fading away. Strands of light began to leak from his body.

"You will see me, again. But your Trials is far from over. The most important thing to do right now is find the others."

The bat ponies glanced at each other, dread overtaking them.

"Fear not, they are fine at the moment," Jerry reassured, lowering his gaze to the group again. "But the longer you stay apart, the more danger you are in."

Finally, his body disintegrated, the light merging with the light surrounding them. The mares all stood speechless.

Suddenly, a loud rumble vibrated through the room, causing the bat ponies to gasp and step back. The wall behind the statue crumbled, revealing a small room bathed in a dull, golden light. All of their eyes widened.

The room had two large, metal chests as well as a table with assorted items on top. On each end of the room were two ornate, stone pedestals with a bright light shining down on each. However, each pedestal housed nothing on top.

Nevertheless, Night Watch hopped up, excited. "It's like Hearths Warming!" She galloped to the room and its treasures, the other three ponies glancing to each other before following.

Echo passed by one of the pedestals while Mosina and Speck ran past her, noting the name "Wind Ruler" embedded into the stone. Curiously, she walked past the looting ponies towards the other pedestal. Carved onto its front was the name, "Keel Regalia".

"Hey, Echo! A golden sword here, for you!" Mosina called.

"Great!" she called back, turning towards her companions. However, a loud whine burst into the air and the room flashed a bright white. Echo dropped to the ground on instinct, hearing a collection of gasps from her friends.

As soon as the phenomenon had occurred, it left, allowing Echo to slowly stand up. She looked to Mosina in front of her, who was giving an awe-struck gaze past her at the pedestal behind. Speck and Night Watch held the same expression, before Speck began to walk towards it. Curious, Echo pivoted to see what they were looking at and gasped.

Sitting in the light above the pedestal was a large, rectangular shield. Its dark, purple surface was polished to an immaculate shine, trimmed with lighter purple embroidery. Elegant but formal lines were grooved on the shield face, each of them coalescing into a slitted-pupil eye at the centre.

The sign of the Elite Night Guard.

Speck walked past Echo, stopping in front of it.

"That... That is Umbra, is it not? The metal," Mosina whispered breathlessly, coming up beside Echo.

"It's so..." Echo trailed off, speechless.

"...Keel Regalia," Speck whispered, stepping up on her hind hooves and grabbing the shield with her front hooves. With a few grunts, she pulled it down, its rectangular face enough to cover almost half of her entire body.

"Guys! Whoa!" Night Watch gasped, dropping a golden spear and catching Mosina and Echo's attention. She pointed to the other pedestal at the other side of the room. "Look!"

Standing upright—somehow without support—was a great spear, made of the same elegant metal. Its shaft was a deep purple, and its long blade a lighter one. At the base of the blade was an embroidery eye, similar to the one on the shield. From the eye projected two small hooks that protruded outwards at each side, almost looking like a trident.

"Is that... that looks like a ranseur!" Mosina gasped, leaping over a chest and running towards it.

"A what?" Night Watch asked.

Almost greedily, Mosina snatched it into her front hooves. She examined the weapon closely as Echo walked up.

"Kind of like the spetums we use in the Guard. Except, not as bulky," Mosina answered.

"I thought they were just spears," Night Watch pointed out, plainly.

Mosina glanced to the pedestal. "Wind Ruler..." She ran her hoof down the length of the weapon's pole, feeling engraved, swirly lines that seemed to resemble flowing air. "This... these are no ordinary equipment."

Ch 16: Umbra

"Hmm... would you guys mind stepping back?" Mosina enquired, drawing Wind Ruler from her back.

She stood up on her hind hooves, leaning on the pole-arm for support with her new silver armour. Fixed upon her head was a matching, silver helmet, her turquoise ponytail sticking out from the back. While the armour didn't cover as much as Speck's heavy armour set, she was a fair bit more protected than before.

Shrugging, Echo and Speck backed up to give her space. Night Watch sat behind them, pulling on the last piece of her own new, silver armour. She wore a similar silver helmet to Mosina's, her blue mane sticking out from its back, as well.

"Alright, here goes..." Mosina whispered to herself. With a gasp, she slashed her pole arm horizontally through the air.

Immediately afterwards, a strong gust of wind hit Echo and Speck, nearly blowing them back.

"Aaah!" Echo yelped, wobbling a bit before falling to her haunches, Speck following suit.

"Sorry!" Mosina cried before looking to her pole arm, incredulously.

"Geeze!" Night Watch hollered from her place, having felt the wind. "I told you we'd get super powers!"

Mosina giggled, looking back to her weapon. "This is incredible! I... I feel so strange when I hold it. As if I could feel the wind, itself." Walking up to Night Watch, she held up her weapon, offering it. "I suppose you want a swing with it?"

"Heh, sure," Night Watch said, accepting the weapon into her hooves. Immediately, her eyes went wide. "Whoa, this feels so heavy."

Curiously, Mosina furrowed her eyebrows. "Really? It felt incredibly light, to me."

"It's heavier than this gold spear," Night Watch remarked, pointing to the golden spear slung across her back. "Alright, here goes..."

With some strained effort, she swung Wind Ruler vertically with a loud cry. Echo, who was standing some distance away, shrugged.

"I didn't feel anything."

"W-what? Why won't it..." Shocked, she swung it again, but to no effect.

"Hey, guys!" Speck suddenly called from beside Echo, holding out her new shield. "Throw things at me!"

Suddenly interested, Echo turned from the distressed Night Watch and shrugged. "Hmm, sure," she said, picking up a nearby rock. "I wonder what this'll produce..."

She took several steps back to clear a short distance between Speck and her. Reeling back, she tossed the rock straight at Speck, who lifted her shield to deflect the projectile.

Just as it connected, an unearthly pang rung out, causing an ethereal ripple of indigo light to wash over the surface of the shield. Immediately, the rock shot away, almost smashing into Echo's face before she quickly dodged out of the way.

"Aah!"

"Wow!" Speck exclaimed, looking up from the shield.

Mosina walked up to her after Night Watch had given up Wind Ruler. "If my weapon has an elemental property to control air, I think yours has some sort of knack for... kinetics. Force."

"Eh?" Night Watch blurted.

"For example, she could—"

Mosina cut off as Speck raised her shield and slammed it down into the ground. As it connected with the rocky surface, a bright, indigo light flashed, followed by a screeching, unearthly bang.

Mosina, Night Watch and Echo were forced off of their hooves and thrown back, crashing into an empty weapon rack.

"Aah! Sorry, guys!" Speck cried, running to her friends.

"Ungh..." Echo groaned, slowly pulling herself off of Mosina. Speck nuzzled Echo before being pushed away. "Next time, let's test super-powered weapons away from everyone else."

Mosina stood up, rubbing her forehead. "That certainly has its uses in fights."

Night Watch shook her head, hopping up from the ground and rolled her shoulders. "Now I'm excited to see what super-weapon I'd get."

"Yeah, it looks like these weapons are attuned to us. Only we can wield them to their full extent," Mosina affirmed.

"We shoud get going, soon," Echo piped up, checking her saddlebags. "Make sure we've got everything we need."

"Right." Mosina nodded. "Somepony should carry the golden claws. Seems wasteful to leave them behind."

"I can," Speck offered, picking up the hoof-claws. "I have a lot of space in my bags."

Echo pulled away from her saddlebags, closing them. "Also, that's four more health flasks, a new golden sword for me, a spear for Night Watch, and new armour for her and Mosina."

Looking around the room, she confirmed her list as each of her companions nodded to her. She glanced to her old silver sword, Night Watch's silver spear, and Speck's silver shield, resting on the ground.

"I guess that means we've gotta leave behind old equipment we can't take."

Mosina shrugged, walking up beside Echo. Tucked into her front pocket was her own light crystal. "Let's move out, then."

"Right."

With their new-found equipment, the bat ponies took off in a brisk gallop across the large room they had fought the spiders in, back to the entrance from which they came.

Ch 17: Monsters

"How long have we been walking?" Mosina asked the group as they made their way through the dark tunnel.

"Hard to say without a watch," Echo replied, thoughtfully. "Maybe nearly an hour?"

At that, Mosina furrowed her brows. "We should be nearing the lake room, then."

"Lake room?" Speck asked from the rear.

"It's a giant room with a big underground lake. There's a single path left that we've yet to take in it."

"And there are these dim light crystals that hang from the tall ceiliing," Echo chimed in. "The whole room glows a deep blue."

Speck's eyes glinted underneath her helmet. "That sounds pretty."

"It really is."

The group walked in relative silence, the only sound coming from their breaths and clinking armour. That is, until Echo picked up a faint, rolling noise in the distance ahead of them. Confusedly, she looked to Mosina with concern, perking her ears up.

The group stopped as they huddled around Echo.

"What is it? What do you hear?" Mosina whispered.

"I don't know... it sounds like... it's coming from the lake room."

Speck uncomfortably shifted in her armour and Night Watch held a neutral expression.

"I hear..." Echo trailed off and dead silence washed over the group, until her squinted eyes widened immensely. With a gasp, she muttered, "Screaming."

Mosina yelped as Echo burst past her and began galloping down the tunnel at full speed. Worriedly, she followed after her with Speck and Night Watch in tow.

"Echo! What is it?!" she yelled as they ran.

"I hear a voice! Quickly, let's go!" Echo yelled back.

After a brisk gallop of several minutes, a faint, blue light shone at the end of the tunnel. Breaking into full sprint, Echo felt a surge of adrenaline as the sounds became clearer.

It was the sounds of a struggle. A fight.

Finally, the blue light reached her and she leaped through, emerging into the large lake room. The water was no longer still, and instead, forms thrashed wildly in it. Water splashed everywhere, and surrounding the immediate shore were dozens of hideous creatures. Many of them swam through the water, seemingly focused on something deeper into the lake.

Echo stood in shock while Mosina, Night Watch and Speck appeared behind her.

"Wh-what are these things?!" Speck gasped, taking point in front of the group and readying her shield.

Dozens of amphibious, bipedal creatures moshed in a fierce frenzy to get to whatever it was they were focusing on. They had long claws sprouting from the ends of their arms, and their mouths wide and vertical lined with many hooked teeth. Their heads resembled Venus flytraps, and seemingly had no eyes.

A voice screamed through the mass. A bat pony.

"Go! Help her!" Echo cried, unsheathing her sword. Several of the creatures turned to her direction, barring their long teeth. She charged, Speck and Night Watch at her sides.

More of the creatures turned, seeing their new, oncoming adversaries. After deeming them hostile, the creatures charged in the dozens.

"Aaah!" Speck cried, launching herself forward with the Keel Regalia in front of her. She smashed right into several of them, her shield brightening with each contact. Their squishy, fleshy bodies flew back, taking many with them.

Night Watch spun before meeting the fray with a flurry of swipes and jabs from her golden spear, each swing gouging deep into their bodies with ease. Gold sparks erupted outwards in a display of yellowish fireworks, clawed limbs flying in every direction.

Echo joined alongside her, skillfully weaving her golden sword between targets and lopping off many toothy heads.

"Graah!" Speck cried, spinning and using the momentum to swing her shield vertically down on the head of one of the creatures. A metallic gong sounded and a powerful shock wave exploded outwards from her, sending many of them flying.

However, the monsters were relentless and many, shamelessly throwing their bodies at the bat ponies.

Soon, Night Watch and Echo found themselves slipping until a lucky creature leaped through their swipes. It collided with Night Watch, who attempted to shove it away with the butt end of her spear, only for it to latch onto the shaft. Echo turned to help, but was latched onto by another.

Before one of the monsters could sink their serrated claws or teeth into their flesh, a gust of wind overtook the fight.

Mosina channelled her pole-arm, swishing it in elegant patterns from the entrance of the tunnel. A strong wind blew the lighter creatures off of Echo and Night Watch, throwing them into the lake, beyond.

"Mosina! We have to get to her!" Echo ordered, pointing to the concentrated group of creatures in the lake.

"I think I can disperse the crowd! Get ready!" Mosina called back.

Echo nodded to Night Watch and Speck as the trio sprinted to the lake shore.

At the centre of the fight in the lake, a bat pony fought fiercely in the water, taking down any creature that came up to her with her hoof-claws.

"Help!" she cried, spotting the four bat ponies who had arrived. The bat pony tried to burst out of the water with a flap of her brown wings, but was intercepted by one of the creatures.

Twirling the Wind Ruler, Mosina brought it down to the floor and then slowly raised it upwards, vertically.

A powerful, spiralling wind tunnel overtook the bat pony, who tried to get out of the water again. However, the wind took her a bit too easily, and launched her into the air. With her, dozens of creatures flailed through the raging winds.

"Night Watch, let's go!" Echo ordered, pushing off the floor and flying into the miniature hurricane.

Night Watch followed, her spear at the ready.

With difficulty, they flew through the storm, dodging debris and the flailing beasts while approaching the bat pony.

"I can't hold it much longer!" Mosina cried, her spear held high while she conducted the storm. She felt herself begin to weaken, her efforts draining her energy, quickly.

"Let it go, we'll catch her!" Echo called back.

"Alright!" With that, Mosina lowered the Wind Ruler and gasped, nearly collapsing.

The swirling winds suddenly stopped, and all of the bodies held up in the air began to fall. The monsters let out wails as they dropped, and the bat pony in distress tried to flap her wings. However, tiredness overtook her, and her wings failed to generate enough lift.

Echo gasped, and Night Watch took a steep dive towards the falling bat pony.

Slicing through a creature in mid-air with her spear, Night Watch quickly caught up with the bat pony, tackling her and latching onto her with her front legs.

"N... Night Watch..." the bat pony whispered, nearly losing consciousness.

"I gotcha, Gloomie," Night Watch told her, turning around and making for the shore.

Echo flew up beside her as they touched down on the rocky ground.

Ch 18: Specksplosion

As Echo and Night Watch touched down on the rocky shore, Speck ran up to them with a concerned gaze.

"Is she okay?" she asked while Night Watch let the bat pony in her hooves down onto the floor.

"She fought hard, but she seems fine," Night Watch responded.

"Th-thanks..." the bat pony whispered, her eyes half open. A lock of her white mane covered her eyes, which was brushed away by a hoof from Echo.

"You're torn up..." Echo said, dropping down and turned to go through her saddlebags.

The black leather armour on the bat pony had plenty of cuts and scratches, many of them open to show the cuts on her skin underneath. Thankfully, none of them were lethal, but the bat pony seemed out of it nonetheless.

"Here, drink this," Echo said, pulling out a half-empty healing flask.

The bat pony's yellow eyes widened at the sight and leaned upwards, drinking the red liquid in big gulps. She took the flask between her hooves as she drank, her worn, iron hoof-blades clinking against the glass.

"It looks like the... things, are retreating," Night Watch stated from the side, gazing at the lake.

Several of the bipedal creatures wearily dipped back down under the water's surface, seemingly afraid of coming out again.

"I wouldn't blame them," Mosina said grimly, coming up from behind.

Night Watch laughed. "Show off."

"We shouldn't linger. They could come back." Mosina walked over to the others, kneeling down. "Hey, Gloomie, are you alright?"

After finishing the rest of the healing potion, Gloomie wiped her mouth with a hoof and peered over to Mosina. Her brown wings unfurled, excited.

"M-Mosina! Oh... I'm so glad you guys came. I-I thought I was done for..." she quivered.

"It's alright, you're safe now," Speck said gleefully. "Can you walk?"

Hesitating, Gloomie pressed one of her hooves down on the ground, quickly pushing herself up. "Yeah... yeah. I feel much better." She shifted around in her spot a bit, examining the cuts in her armour and the healed cuts on her hide. "All of my cuts are gone... whew."

"Hey, Gloomie! I know how much you like hoof-blades," Speck exclaimed, suddenly diving into her saddlebags to pull out a golden object. "We saved these for you. We hoped to find you as soon as possible!"

Gloomie's eyes widened, seeing the shiny golden hoof-blades being offered to her. She gasped, immediately throwing off her broken iron ones and grabbing at the new weapons, examining them closely.

"Whoa... these are made of... gold?"

"Yep," Echo said, coming up beside her. "It seems that equipment in the Trials are magical. It's unorthodox, but it's effective."

Taking her gaze away from the hoof-claws, Gloomie glanced around at her comrades. "Wow... you all have such fancy equipment."

Night Watch flashed a grin, putting her golden spear on her back. "Weren't easy to get. We had to go through two giant spiders to get most of this stuff."

"And there is Umbra equipment, evidently," Mosina said, indicating to the Wind Ruler on her back.

"Umbra... but only the elite guards are equipped with those," Gloomie breathed.

"I thought it was kind of sentimental for Luna to include them in the Trials," Echo piped up.

"And they have super powers, here," Night Watch added in.

"Super powers?"

"No time, Gloomie," Mosina suddenly asserted. "We have to get out of here, and there's only one way we haven't gone, yet."

"Where's that?" Gloomie asked, blinking.

"Up there," Mosina answered, pointing a hoof to the bridge that led from the lake shore to the highest tunnel in the room.

"I just came from there, kind of," Gloomie admitted. "But there was a fork—a way I didn't come from."

"Right, we should go there, then," Echo said, moving to the head of the group. "The quicker we find A—"

A giant splash erupted from the lake, cutting her off. Emerging from the water was a form much larger than anything they had encountered, and it let out a loud roar, sending vibrations throughout the room. The bat ponies stood shocked, their heads staring at the beast as the water flowed down its entirety.

"Run!" Mosina cried, taking off in a wild sprint towards the stone bridge.

Night Watch, Speck, Echo and Gloomie took off after her, not caring to linger and stare at the monstrosity. As they ran along the shore, dozens of the bipedal, amphibious creatures re-emerged from the waters, chasing after the bat ponies.

Loud splashing could be heard behind them, the large creature advancing through the waters towards them.

"Guh... I'll slow them down!" Mosina said, drawing her spear and spinning around. "Keep going, guys. I'll catch up!"

Echo passed her a knowing glance as she and the others ran past.

"Haah...!" Mosina immediately swung the Wind Ruler horizontally at the immediate group of monsters close to her. A short gust of strong winds pushed them off of their legs, sending them backwards. However, her eyes widened once she saw the large monster as it let out a roar.

Standing some three dozen feet above the water was a creature similar in appearance to the small amphibious monsters. It roared loudly through its dozens of serrated teeth. Lined along its back were long, sharp protrusions, and thin strands of blue electricity sparked between them.

Snapping out from her stupor, Mosina turned around and took flight towards the stone bridge.

The group of bat ponies were already halfway across, and Mosina landed behind them in a thud, running with them. "I-I've taken care of the little ones, but that big one's going to reach us!"

Night Watch held an awestruck gaze at the monster as she ran. "It... charges electricity?!"

"I don't know! Just run!"

Every stride the beast took with its thick, reptilian legs sent huge waves across the lake. Its hideous, eyeless head was fixed on them until it finally reached within striking distance of the bridge.

It let out another loud roar, raising up its right, heavily muscled arm. Very long claws protruded out of its finned fingers.

"It's going to hit us!" Gloomie cried.

The beast threw its clawed hand, smashing into the surface of the bridge behind them. With its palm open, it dragged its hand across the bridge, aiming to catch all of the bat ponies in one go.

"Aaah!" Mosina cried from the back of the group as the hand closed the distance with her.

Suddenly, she was pushed forward as Speck charged past her towards it.

With the Keel Regalia held in front of her, she immediately rooted herself to the ground as the hand collided with the shield. Indigo light erupted all along her body, magically binding her to the floor through her hooves and protecting her body.

A loud pang rung out, and the hand blasted backwards, deflected from the immobile pony.

The creature let out a piercing wail, its hand snapping backwards from its arm, broken. It reeled back, momentarily distracted from the group.

The light faded from Speck, and she groggily stood up from behind the shield, unscathed. Wobbling on her hooves, she nearly tipped over.

"Come on, Speck, I got you!" Echo said, having run back to her from the group.

"Guh... that took a lot out of me..." Speck drawled. Echo nudged her with her head before she began to trot. Speck followed her in a brisk trot back towards the end of the bridge.

The other bat ponies waited at the tunnel entrance, Night Watch reaching out to help Speck along when they neared.

"Quick, let's keep going!" Mosina beckoned as they ran past her.

Dozens of the small amphibious creatures were running across the bridge at them, letting out a chorus of gurgling growls and wails.

After the last of their group had run into the cave, Mosina followed, taking the rear.

Author's Note

Gloomie: http://vectorvito.deviantart.com/art/Dancing-Gloomie-397120677

Ch 19: Together

"I think... I think we lost them," Echo whispered to the others.

The group had stopped in a small, open room with three entrances. Echo stood at the one they came from, listening as the wails from the monsters began to recede into a faint ringing in the tunnels.

"Thank Luna, I don't know if I could stand to look at them any longer," Gloomie glowered, collapsing to the floor, belly up. She let out a loud breath, thankful to have been saved.

Night Watch walked up to her, grinning. "I want to ravage you."

"Okay," Echo cut in immediately. "So, Gloomie, which way did you come?"

After shooting Night Watch an incredulous glare, Gloomie pulled herself off of the ground and pointed to one of the tunnels.

"There." She let out a sigh and her voice dropped low. "I... was alone for so long, and have been scraping by ever since we began."

Suddenly, Speck pulled up the white-maned bat pony in a tight hug. "You're okay, now!" she beamed, suffocating her.

Mosina came up beside them, adjusting her spectacles. "I would use this time to update my map, but... we should move, if we want to be a whole team as soon as possible."

The rest nodded at her just as Speck released her death grip on Gloomie.

"Speck should take the lead," Echo suggested, glancing to the purple shield. "That Keel Regalia saved our hides, back there."

Her face lighting up, Speck hopped towards the opening of the tunnel Gloomie hadn't pointed to. "Okay! Let's go!" she exclaimed as the others fell behind her.

With a deep breath, she led them into the tunnel, her light crystal guiding her way. The sounds of clinking armour and shuffling hooves populated the air for several minutes while they walked.

Night Watch, who was walking right behind Speck, spoke up. "Do you guys think we'll pass?"

The whole group seemed to pause their breathing for a moment, caught off guard from the question. Mosina took a deep breath.

"Why the question, Night Watch?" she asked from the back of the group.

"I dunno. This just seems too... something else," Night Watch put out.

Furrowing her brows, Mosina responded, "Jasmine told me that her group took under a week to complete the Trials."

"Lieutenant Jasmine? Wasn't she in Captain Midnight Blossom's group?" Gloomie asked from ahead of Mosina, looking back at her.

Echo visibly winced at the name.

"Yeah. Though, she was incredibly cryptic about it," Mosina articulated, her eyes looking up in thought as she recalled her memories. "She wouldn't say anything else, though."

"I heard their group was one of the best in awhile," Gloomie added.

"Oh yeah? From whom?" Night Watch asked, casting a glance past Echo at her.

"I heard a few guards talking about it. Supposedly, they knew someone in that group."

Mosina hummed, catching the rest of their attention. "I heard they change the Trials every year or so. So, even if they were allowed to tell us anything, it wouldn't really benefit recruits." She paused for a moment, digging into her memories. "Jasmine did say that their... 'final boss' was tough. She heavily implied that it was nearly impossible."

"I bet it was a dragon," Gloomie muttered.

"Hey, I'd be pretty damn proud of myself if we achieved something like that," Night Watch added in.

"I'm not surprised," Echo muttered. Curiously, Gloomie, Night Watch and Mosina stared at her. "I mean... Midnight is one of the best. Jasmine, too."

"Yeah... and it took them a under a week? How long do you think we've been here, so far?" Night Watch asked.

Mosina furrowed her brows, thinking. "I'm not sure, time could be diluted here. But I would wager that we've only been here for a day, probably closer to two."

"Quit moping, guys!" Speck suddenly piped up from the front, having been silent through their talk. "We're already five out of six... right?"

"You never know. It could be a long time before we find him," Mosina added, grimly.

Speck grunted. "Yeah, well... I believe we can do it faster than Midnight Blossom's group!"

Echo looked at her, incredulously. "They were reportedly the quickest to do the Trials in over a hundred years."

"Why can't you guys be optimistic, for once?" Speck asked, frowning.

"Yeah!" Night Watch agreed, grinning while Mosina and Echo rolled their eyes. She looked to Gloomie, whose eyes darted back and forth, confusedly. "Besides, we have our own devil to match Midnight, here."

"M-me? Why me?" Gloomie stuttered.

"'Cause you're damn good with those claws," Night Watch responded as Gloomie sighed. "And you get in trouble all the time."

"H-hey! You get me caught, most of the time!"

"Not including that time you had to run with a weight on your back around the castle."

The rest of the group snickered, the tension lifting from the group.

After calming down from her giggles, Echo spoke up. "Speck's right. We're almost a complete party now. We... might have a chance."

Her eyes gleamed, some sort of pressure seeming to have been lifted from her.

Night Watch nodded to her, solemnly. "You're doing great so far"

"I... thanks," Echo stuttered, blushing. "You guys are all great—gah!"

She was cut off as a turquoise mane filled her vision, Speck having slowed down to nuzzle her.

"Aw!" Night Watch exclaimed, leaping up to them and throwing her forelimbs around them. "Group hug!"

"Yay!" Gloomie cheered, joining in with Mosina, who was giggling.

Author's Note

Jasmine: http://equestria-prevails.deviantart.com/art/Jasmine-350467395

Ch 20: Not This Time

"And what does Speck's shield do?" Gloomie asked, walking alongside Mosina while staring at Speck at the front of the group.

"I guess you can say it controls physics," Mosina answered, eliciting a furrowed brow from Gloomie. "You know, force. Gravity."

Gloomie whistled. "Wow. That's kinda powerful, don'tcha think?"

"It tires me out quite a bit," Speck called back.

"Yeah. When I use Wind Ruler, I feel like my breath is leaving me," Mosina agreed.

"And I pretty much blacked out when that big... monster slammed its hand against me." Speck passed a smile to Echo. "It's thanks to Echo that I kept up."

Echo returned a modest smirk and blushed.

"Still, it's nice to know that we have ponies with super-powers in the group," Gloomie joked before letting letting out a throaty laugh.

"Hey, guys, look!" Speck suddenly exclaimed, causing the rest of them to look forward.

The group had walked into a fairly spacey room, and interestingly enough, the floor was tiled with smooth cobblestone. From their entrance, two large exit tunnels faced them at each opposite corner of the room. Standing at the dead centre of the room was a stone statue of a pony with a crossbow.

"Hey, that's the same statue as was the one Night and I found early on," Echo pointed out, walking towards it.

"Echo, wait," Night Watch warned, earning a curious glance from Speck. "This... doesn't seem right."

"What's wrong, Night?" Speck asked. Echo turned around and listened for Night Watch's answer.

"Doesn't this seem ominous to you?"

"I... don't understand," Echo droned, her gaze hardening in confusion. "I think this entire cave network is ominous."

"Look up."

All of them craned their necks to look upwards at the tall ceiling. Humungous stalactites and large cracks caked the ceiling, as though it looked like it could fall apart at any moment.

Night Watch shifted uneasily in her spot. "We should pick a path, quick. We might only get to pick one."

The rest of the group looked at her like she were a ghost. For some reason, making a decision seemed hard to make.

Echo swallowed. "Okay, let's just get out of here—"

The light from all of their light crystals suddenly blacked out. In an instant, the group was left in complete darkness as though something had been pulled out of their eyes.

Speck let out a whimper, and Gloomie, Mosina and Echo let out startled gasps. That's when a distinct sound began forming up as though it were inside their heads.

Wailing.

Gloomie hopped in her spot, panicking. "Wh-what's happening!?"

"The light crystals! Why aren't they working?!" Mosina cried.

"Guys! Use sound!" Echo ordered, her voice reverberating around them against the stone walls and floor.

She began to click her tongue, the sound sending waves across the room. In a strange, sightless image, Echo could vaguely make out the ponies around her, the wailing still loudening. It sounded as though it were not interfering with her clicks.

Speck had her shield at the ready, Mosina fumbled with her spear, Gloomie squirmed uncomfortably and Night Watch stood solidly still. Soon, the girls processed Echo's suggestion and listened to her clicks, painting an image of the room with their hearing.

Finally, as it had before their last encounter, the wailing noise ceased. The ponies were bathed in silence, save for the rhythmic clicking from Echo.

"What... what's happening..." Gloomie whispered.

"Shadow ponies," Mosina muttered next to her.

All of their ears were perked up, listening intently to anything that might disturb the room around them.

Gloome spoke up again. "Maybe we should—"

A high pitched scream pierced through her words. Through the blackness, Echo could make out even darker strands of shadows snaking along the floor and walls. Despite her clicks, she could not make them out with her ears until they coalesced into a single, corporeal body of a pony. Then a second, and a third.

Her eyes widened as her clicks bounced off of their forms, allowing her to 'see' them clearer than she could with her eyes, before. It was as though they were surrounded by a dark, tainted aura, and their body matter seemed to vibrate and shift constantly, if subtly.

The wailing continued, but the bat ponies had already drawn their weapons at the ready, facing the monstrosities.

"Not this time!" Speck screamed, charging straight at the snarling figures. "Aaah!"

"Speck!" Mosina cried, running after her.

Night Watch, Gloomie and Echo charged after them, weapons ready. That was, until a fourth form appeared behind them.

Echo didn't have to turn her head to hear it. "Gah... I'll hold this one off!" she cried, skidding to a halt on the tiled floor and turning towards it.

Night Watch gave a knowing nod before throwing herself into the fray, her spear at the ready.

"I'm getting really tired of your shit!" Night Watch yelled, running up to one of the shadow ponies, swinging her weapon.

With both of its arm-blades, the shadow pony parried the golden spear with ease, Night Watch quickly retracting it to make another quick jab. This time, the shadow pony was too slow. It let out a loud shriek as the blade sliced into the right of its jaw. Golden sparks flared out from the contact, bathing the room in a brief, golden flash.

Left in the darkness again, Night Watch let out a few clicks to gather her bearings. Before she could pull away, however, the shadow pony knocked the spear out of her hooves before pouncing on her. She gave a blind kick to its body, knocking it to her side.

Homing in on her spear, she leaped at it and grabbed it into her forelimbs, pouncing back towards the creature. She flew through the air and flared her wings out, her spear in front of her. The unlucky shadow pony tried to knock away the spear before it met its body, but she had too much momentum.

“Graah!" Night Watch snarled as her spear pierced straight through its chest, golden sparks igniting inside of its body. It wailed loudly in pain as she twisted the shaft, causing more gold sparks to burst. However, with a sudden surge of strength, it grabbed the shaft and forced its body forwards, digging the spear even deeper.

Helplessly, Night Watch tried to pull her spear out, only for the shadow pony to climb down her own spear at her. When it got close enough, it let out a scream before reeling back its arm-blades to mince her...

...Only for the arms to get lopped off in another burst of golden sparks and fall to the floor.

Gloomie strafed past the shadow pony through the air, her hoof-claws held in front of her.

"Thanks for the boost, Speck!" Gloomie called back to the heavily armoured pony, who had her shield held in front of her. Another shadow pony was hot on her trail, its arm-blades slicing through the air at her.

"W-warn me next time!" Speck cried, turning to fend off the third of the shadow ponies.

Grateful for the assist, Night Watch turned back to the screaming, defenceless shadow pony in front of her.

"Fuck..." She tugged her spear sideways, causing it to slowly rip through the shadowy flesh. "You!"

The entire left side of the shadow pony burst open with an explosion of gold light, almost blinding Night Watch. It immediately ceased screaming, toppling over onto the floor. As it hit the ground, its body shattered into smoky strands of shadow before retreating from the room.

Her eyes still open, Night Watch noticed that the room seemed a little brighter, the light crystal on her chest giving off a faint light.

"Hey, I can sort of see, now!" Gloomie called out from her side of the room, still being chased by a shadow pony.

"Gloomie, watch out!" Mosina cried, running towards her. She swung the Wind Ruler at the chasing shadow pony. "Hah!"

A gust of wind forced the shadow pony to stop. With another strong swing of her pole-arm, she sent a powerful wave of air at it, sending it flying backwards.

Gloomie came up beside her, panting. "Think you can launch me at it?"

Mosina blinked. "Er... yeah. Flare out your wings..." Gloomie did as instructed, and Mosina lightly swirled the Wind ruler. "Here goes...!"

She swung it in a horizontal arc over Gloomie, and a rolling wind immediately took over.

With her wings flared out and the wind pushing from behind, Gloomie pushed off of the floor. As soon as she was airborne, she felt the wind guide her body through the air, picking up speed. Straight ahead of her was the recovering form of the shadow pony.

"I don't know who you are..." Gloomie muttered under her breath as she quickly approached it. "But you're... uh, ugly!"

With her gold hoof-claws in front of her, she smashed straight into the shadow pony. Her claws dug into the front of its neck, the gashes in its flesh glowing yellow from the contact.

It wailed before quickly spinning in its spot, sending its arm-blades in a vertical swing at her. Nimbly, Gloomie hopped over them and landed on the other side of the shadow pony.

"Raugh!" she snarled, strafing towards it. She twirled her body, her deadly claws spinning through the air. They connected and gouged into the shadow pony's flesh, clipping off one of its arm-blades from the base.

Desperately, the shadow pony swung again with its one arm-blade, but met air. Gloomie had ducked and slid underneath, coming up to its belly. With her hoof-claws at the ready, she jabbed and jabbed upwards, her claws eating away at the flesh very quickly. Each strike sent more sparks outwards, the golden metal burning the shadows.

Finally, it stopped wailing, Gloomie having done enough damage to its body. The shadow pony began to melt into the air, its body almost nearly sawed in half.

"Yeah! That's how you do it!" Gloomie exclaimed, pushing herself up and punching into the air. The room brightened a little further, another shadow pony having been defeated.

At the other side of the room, Speck expertly blocked another blow from the shadow pony in front of her. She effortlessly blocked every attack, and it seemed to only anger in frustration.

"Give up already!" she cried, only for the shadow pony to scream in rage. Relentlessly, it swung its arm-blades, each strike deflecting off of the Keel Regalia in a purple flash.

"Alright, that's it!" Speck warned, suddenly pushing herself forwards. Helplessly, the shadow pony tried to block with its blades, but her shield smashed straight into it. With the force of a freight train, she sent it backwards, slamming into the wall behind it.

Ominously, the ceiling shook overhead, but none of the ponies in the room noticed.

The shadow pony leaped up and reluctantly faced Speck again, her shield proving difficult to bypass.

Mosina came up from the side, her pole-arm pointed forwards. "Haah!" she cried, a gust of wind announcing her presence. The force caused the shadow pony to stumble, unable to block the Umbra spear.

It pierced straight into its side, indigo sparks erupting from the wound. Before it could respond, however, Speck came up from the front and slammed her shield into it again. She hit like a hammer, snapping its head backwards.

Without even stepping back to ensure that the shadow pony was defeated, however, Gloomie came in from above like a missile.

"Yaah!" she cried, her hoof claws slamming into the shadow pony's neck. Almost immediately, the shadow pony dispersed in a small explosion of shadowy strands.

The final shadow pony in the room was locked in an intense blade fight with Echo and Night Watch. They flanked each side, fencing with each of its arm blades individually. Each swing whistled through the air, and each blade that collided gave off a loud clang.

"Nngh, Night! Let's face it from the front, together!" Echo called, blocking a slice from the long shadow blade.

"Alright!" Night Watch answered, blocking a swing towards her. She hopped to the front of the shadow pony, meeting Echo who had strafed her way.

Two shadow blades lunged forward, only to be blocked by a golden sword and spear. The bat ponies returned an attack, only to be parried.

Echo recovered, stepping forward and slashing fiercely, the shadow pony using both blades to block her. Taking the opportunity, Night Watch thrust her spear between the blades straight at the shadow pony's neck. It slid one of its shadow blades down Echo's sword to block the spear, only to nick it.

The spear cut through the side of the shadow pony's neck, and it let out a painful scream.

"Grr... no match for us, now!" Night Watch growled, jabbing again. This time, she pierced into the shadow pony's mouth, thankfully silencing the screams. That's when Echo and Night Watch felt wind from behind them, only to see a Gloomie-torpedo sail past them and straight at the shadow pony.

"Wooo!" Gloomie, for the third time during the fight, slammed into her target with her claws viciously held out. As she sailed past the shadow pony, three large, golden cuts were lined across its face.

Its strength weakened, Night Watch and Echo wrenched their blades loose.

"Aaah!" In one synchronized swing, they sliced the shadow pony's neck, together.

It crumbled, the dark, corporeal flesh failing to hold together. The mangled body of the shadow pony fell, melting into nothingness before it hit the floor.

"Guh... that's the last of them...?" Echo asked through her heavy panting. She looked down to her light crystal, thankful that it was shining brightly again.

"What's... that sound?" Night Watch whispered, almost to herself.

The wailing had finally stopped, but a different sound replaced it.

Gloomie touched down beside her, seeming no worse for wear, and Speck and Mosina ran up to them, panting. The sound gradually got louder, and the bat ponies curiously looked around them to see where the source was. However, it was through their hooves when they realized that the room was shaking.

As one, they looked up at the ceiling. The cracks had largened.

"Get—"

A loud bang rung out, and the rocky ceiling collapsed. Giant rocks and stalactites fell, threatening to crush the ponies underneath.

"Aaah!"

"Oh, geeze!"

"Run!"

"Fuck!"

"To the tunnels!" Echo cried through the noise.

Taking the suggestion, each of the bat ponies ran for one of the entrances.

Ch 21: The Bat Pony

There was a movement several years back, put forth by some students at one of the prestigious Canterlot Universities.

It was a petition to the Princesses to change the name of my species. Apparently, 'bat pony' sounded a bit too much like a racial slur, similar to calling a pegasus a 'bird pony'. The word they were going for, for my species? 'Thestrals'.

Threshstralls? Test strolls? Flush stalls?

Funnily enough, none of those 'social justice warriors' were bat ponies, themselves. I didn't see a problem with 'bat pony', honestly. It was simple, straight-forward. Blunt. The image of a 'bat pony' immediately popped up in your mind when you uttered it.

I heard that Princess Celestia was caught off guard by the movement—she had stayed silent for a good minute before composing herself to respond to the movement's representative.

When the petition was heard, they held a vote all across Equestria. Thankfully, Celestia mentioned in the fine print that if over eighty percent of all bat ponies voted for 'yes' or 'no', it would go in our favour immediately.

In just a week, over ninety-five percent of all bat pony votes were for 'no.' I guess you can call my race as the type who doesn't care for such complications, as long as we're not hurting anybody.

"Interesting... you are one of the bat ponies, no?" the voice purred through the darkness.

"I... yes... wh-who are you?" the bat pony stammered, a pair of crude, iron hoof-claws attached to the end of his forelimbs.

"I've been waiting for one of your kind..."

I don't blame us, to be honest.

Ever since the very beginning, bat ponies have been a proud race—proud, meaning a rival to the pegasi, one way or another. We can be just as cocky, and just as brash.

According to the history books, we were once sworn enemies to the feathered race. Mirroring their warrior society was ours; a society bred of soldiers, mainly to fend off predators and enemies.

When the pegasi found Equestria with the other two races, and when the Princesses came, the hostilities towards our race stopped.

Naturally, we served under Princess Luna.

But then she went rogue and betrayed pony-kind. Thankfully, we were forgiven, but we were still scorned by the rest.

Worse, a terrible, magical backlash from Luna's banishment event seeded into our home... the Everfree. And for years, the cancer spread throughout the vegetation and fauna. It was a hundred years before it became inhospitable, and the bat ponies migrated to two different locations. Half of us went south, taking refuge in a large, dark cave in the Equestrian Badlands. The other half of us went north-east, finding another forest that felt just like home.

It had such a thick canopy that the forest floor was always bathed in an almost eternal night. And where the leaves met the sun, delicious and exotic fruit like mangoes and lychee grew. Perfect for our nocturnal, fruit-loving kind.

We called it, the Hollow Shades.

"You see, I have this strange relic..." the voice teased. It seemed to come from every direction.

The poor bat pony trembled terribly, helpless in his spot against the cave wall.

"I d-don't want your relic! I..."

Fast forward to nine hundred years later, you have my generation, still upholding the tradition of training to join the Night Guard.

Echo, Speck and I—innocent Hollow Shades bat ponies—were good friends all throughout our younger years in school. Night Watch always liked to tease me, though.

It was Echo's determination and Speck's kindness that convinced me to join them in the Guard. And I don't know how I felt about Night Watch following us, but I lived with it.

Anyways, that's where we met Mosina and Gloomie—both from different parts of the world. Mosina liked to travel, and Gloomie grew up in a rural village among earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns. I heard Gloomie's parents were prestigious, though.

"I have one of your Umbra weapons," the voice tempted, piercing through the darkness. "This one..."

Through the void, a lone, seclusive light shone on a pedestal. Levitating above it was a single, purple hoof-blade with one long, curved blade protruding out.

The bat pony shuddered, a strange feeling creeping up his spine.

"Umbra... n-no... I won't!"

"Serve me... and it's all yours..."

That's when I learned that Echo wanted to be part of the Elite Night Guard. Speck, Night Watch, Gloomie and Mosina all agreed with her, and I reluctantly tagged along. Crazier yet, despite our newby status in the Guard, we were allowed to participate in the Trials.

A tradition. A test for Princess Luna to choose who guards her, personally.

And, with the rise of the incursions, Elites were needed now more than ever. With her running around Equestria and the surrounding nations so much, she needed a sizable roster, if only just for her personal guard.

But, me? As an Elite?

"You want to serve her, don't you? You want to live up to your race?"

I was weak.

"...Yes..."

"You don't want to disappoint your friends... your family..."

Powerless.

"No..."

"Tell me, little bat pony, what is your name?"

Nobody.

"...Aux."

Ch 23: Apart

The dust settled, and the three bat ponies had a little coughing fit.

Slowly, Mosina pulled herself up off of the stony floor, shaking her head. To her left, Gloomie was sprawled over Night Watch's back, who was lying on the floor.

"Ah... is everyone alright...? Mosina asked, coughing once.

"Guh... I think I'm okay..." Gloomie groaned, rolling off of Night Watch, belly side up.

"Mnn..." Night Watch muttered.

Mosina took several steps back until she noticed some of the group, missing. "Oh, no... Speck, Echo..."

"Wha—"

Gloomie was interrupted as Night Watch suddenly stood up. "N-uh?! What happened?!"

"We were split... oh, dear," Mosina droned.

"Th-they're not here?" Night Watch took a look around before turning to the rocky wall that impeded their way back.

"I... I think I saw them running towards the other entrance in the room," Gloomie suggested, hopping up.

Mosina's eyes glinted. "You did? Are you sure?"

"I think so... I remember seeing a purple flash come from their direction, after Speck used her shield on something," Gloomie answered.

"Oh, thank Luna..." Mosina let out a deep, relieved sigh. "They must have made it out in time."

Night Watch walked up to the imposing stone, resting a hoof onto its surface. "I hope so." She gave a little push. "I don't think there's any hope of going through this."

"Feh... I hate things like this," Mosina spat, feeling exasperated. "We can only hope their path will meet with ours, some way." She cast a glance to the dark tunnel awaiting them, her light crystal and Night Watch's only illuminating so far.

"Well, hey, maybe this was meant to happen," Gloomie insisted. "I mean, why would Princess Luna make a ceiling that could crumble so easily?"

Mosina furrowed her brows in thought. "That kind of makes sense... but at the same time, it seems most of our encounters were by chance, and we barely overcame them." The thought of Speck saving them in the nick of time, and them saving Gloomie, flashed in her head.

"They'll live. They're hard nuts to crack," Gloomie reassured.

Night Watch snickered before receiving a light punch from her. "Nah... you're right. Speck is pretty much indestructable."

"Hey... do you guys hear that?" Mosina piped up, her ears perked. The other two fell silent, perking up their ears, too.

"Sounds like... water?" Night Watch suggested. Gloomie gave a slight nod, hearing it too.

"I suppose we'll have to find out, yeah?" Mosina said, beckoning the others forward while beginning to trot.

"Nothing to do but move on, I guess," Gloomie agreed, following. Night Watch shrugged, falling in behind her.

"Damn... this probably means my map is useless, now," Mosina muttered.

Gloomie rolled her eyes. "You never know—we might end up backwards, somehow."

Silence fell upon them, saved for their footsteps, the water dropping from the ceiling, and the distant sound of running water. The further they went, Mosina took note of the increasing concentration of stalactites and stalagmites that surrounded them. Puddles frequented the ground until they all merged together to leave a single thin layer of water over the floor.

After rounding a short corner, a distant blue light seemed to glow far in the tunnel. It was faint, but it seemed to be another room.

"Hey, guys, let's pick up the pace... I think there's something up ahead," Mosina said, quickening her trot. Gloomie and Night Watch exchanged shrugs, following the turquoise ponytail.

Several seconds of jogging later, the group crested the dim blue light into the opening. They came to a fairly wide and long hallway, a large, underground river flowing alongside their path. What kept their gazes fixed upwards, however, was what seemed like the night sky before them.

Dotting the rocky ceiling were hundreds of tiny, glowing orbs that resembled stars. Their blue light reflected off of the river and wet stone beneath the ponies, bathing the entire room in a blue hue. Mosina felt like she were put into a trance.

"Are those... glow worms?" Gloomie whispered from the side.

"That's... really pretty," Mosina crooned. "Yeah... I think they are."

"Hey, guys, look," Night Watch said, cutting them off from their stupor. She pointed down the wide cave at what seemed like a stone structure in the distance.

An orange light fed out from what looked like the open door of a small, stone shack.

Ch 24: Fun House

"What do you suppose is down there?" Gloomie asked, the three of them standing at the entrance of the strange, stone structure.

In the middle of the blue-lit cave was what looked like a stone door frame embedded into the wall. Orange light poured outside from a pair of torches hanging just within the structure. The bat ponies stared into it, or rather, downwards, at a long descent of stone stairs. Pairs of torches hung on the green cobblestone walls every so often, bringing a green-orange hue to the surfaces of the rock.

"I'm... not entirely sure. It looks like we must go down, though," Mosina said, stepping forward. "I suppose I'll take the lead."

Gloomie uneasily shrugged and Night Watch gave a subtle nod, falling behind her with Gloomie in tow. The trio descended down the narrow passageway, the clinks of their armoured hooves on stone echoing against the uniformly built walls. They barely had enough room to walk single file, and the walls almost brushed up against their sides.

After several minutes of descending the stony steps, Mosina touched down on a flat floor. Extending several dozen feet ahead of her was a narrow hallway of the same fashion. She paused a moment, turning her head to glance at the others who merely nodded in response. Torches stopped lining the walls down the hallway several feet forwards, a wall of blackness just beyond the light's reach. Giving out a deep breath, Mosina began walking.

She crested the light of the torches, her light crystal pushing the darkness back. However, after only several feet, the white light fed into what looked like an empty, rectangular room. As the ponies all entered the room standing side-by-side, three dark entrances met them on each wall.

"Which way should we go?" Gloomie suddenly asked, her voice echoing off of the green brick walls.

Mosina swallowed. "I'm not sure. It looks like we could get lost, here."

"Do we have anything we could use to mark our path?" Night Watch asked, moving to search through her saddlebags.

"Hmm..." Mosina searched though her own saddlebags. After a moment of nosing around, she found a pouch. "Oh! We have this!" She brought it out with her mouth, showing it to the others.

Gloomie squinted. "What's that?"

"It's a pouch of some purple powder I found when we started. We could use this to mark our path." Mosina unfastened the string at the opening of the pouch, revealing the powder inside. She tilted it a little bit to the side, allowing a trickle of the powder to fall to the floor. "There. We can use this to mark the way we came from."

"So, which way should we go, first?" Gloomie asked, looking at all three entrances.

Mosina gave a small grin. "Whenever it comes to taking paths in forks, I always go right, first."

"It's settled, then," Night Watch affirmed, nudging Mosina's flank towards the right exit.

"H-hey! Alright!" Mosina stammered, jolting forward. "I ought to buck your face, one of these days."

Night Watch chuckled, walking alongside the left of Mosina while Gloomie walked along the right. However, after only a few steps, Mosina's front hoof stepped onto a tile that sunk into the floor.

Loud clicking noises sounded above them from the ceiling, followed by a stream of dozens of darts. Before she knew it, Mosina could feel the clinks against the back of her armour, knowing that the armour didn't cover her entire form. A gasp came from her right.

She leaped towards the voice, smashing into the leather-armoured Gloomie and shoving her out of the shower of darts. A small glance confirmed that Night Watch had leaped out of the way, just in time.

"Gah... are you all okay?" Mosina asked out loud, carefully stepping off of Gloomie. The trap had finished flinging darts, and holes could be seen in the ceiling where they had come from. A whimper came from beneath her.

"Gloomie!" she cried, kneeling down to the bloodied form. Seven sharp, metal darts protruded from her back, penetrating straight through the leather armour. Mosina quickly threw off her silver helmet and went into her saddlebags, fetching a healing flask. "Shit... Night Watch! Help!"

A quick set of hooves pounded against stone as Night Watch rushed her way over, kneeling down the other side of Gloomie.

"Nngh... guh..." Gloomie whimpered. She lay in a pool of her own blood, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Drink!" Mosina cried, bringing the open flask to Gloomie's mouth. She gestured to the darts in her back. "Night, pull those out as soon as she starts drinking."

Gloomie shakily opened her mouth and accepted the glass, and Mosina tilted it so the red liquid could flow. Several drops of the healing solution dripped from the sides of her mouth as she drank, messily.

"Here goes..." Night Watch said with a calm voice. A sickening squelch filled the air, and Gloomie's body went rigid.

"Aaugh!" she cried, her teeth crashing into the glass vial as her neck jolted forwards.

Night Watch threw the two darts in her mouth to the side. "Keep drinking, let it heal the wounds as I pull them out."

Gloomie whimpered in response, and Mosina lowered the vial to her mouth again.

Night Watch waited for several moments before saying, "I'm going to pull out another few. Get ready..."

Mosina pulled back the flask, and Gloomie clenched her eyes, nodding. Night Watch quickly bit down on the feathered backs of three darts, pulling them out in one motion.

"Gaah! Aagh!" Gloomie screamed, Mosina holding her twitching head in comfort before bringing the flask to her mouth, again.

"Just two more, Gloomie..." Mosina whispered. They waited another several moments while Gloomie drank, before Night Watch moved to remove the last two darts.

However, she was stopped by the sound of a loud thumping noise of metal on stone. It was so sudden that Mosina almost dropped the flask.

"W-what's that?" she asked while Night Watch looked down the left entrance of the room, where the sound was coming from.

"Screw it... we have to pull these last ones out," Night Watch asserted, immediately grabbing onto the final two darts.

"Nngh... aah!" Gloomie grunted as Night Watch pulled them out. She accepted the flask from Mosina again, becoming aware of the loudening, thumping noise.

"It sounds like... steps," Night Watch said under her breath, standing up and facing the entrance. Slowly, she pulled out her golden spear and began to walk towards the entrance, warily minding where she stepped. The thumping continued to louden as whatever made the noise got closer.

Passing by the sink in the floor, Night Watch made a glance to the step that had triggered the trap. A shudder ran down her normally stoic spine.

Carved into the surface of the tile was the familiar image of a cringing face, like the ones that were on the wooden keys. Except, now that it was larger... it looked like it wasn't cringing anymore. It was laughing.

A loud whoosh came from down the hallway, and Night Watch immediately dodged to the right. Embedded into the stone floor where she once stood was a large, sharp, double-headed axe. And it was made from shadows.

"Shit...!" Before she could do anything, the axe pried itself from the floor and flew back to the thumping figure in the dark hallway. "Get out of the way!" Night Watch cried at the other two.

Eyes wide, Mosina helped the groggy Gloomie onto her hooves and guided her to a safe corner of the room.

Night Watch nervously held her spear in front of her as the thumping sounded as though they were almost in the room. Her breath left her when a giant form crested the darkness.

A shadow pony with glowing, red eyes slowly stomped its way into the room. However, unlike the ones they had encountered before, it was completely covered from head to hooves in thick shadow armour. A menacing helmet with a curved, metal plume sat on top of its head. Attached to both sides of the shadow pony were large, spiked shields. It looked almost impenetrable.

"Fuck."

The shadow pony locked its head onto Night Watch, and accompanied by the loud clinking of its armour, it pivoted its entire body to face her. Like the previous shadow ponies, two arms protruded from its back, but instead of curved blades, it was tipped with large, double-headed axes.

From the entrance of the room, the shadow pony flung one if its axe-arms at Night Watch. Instinctively, she dodged, and a shadow axe barely sailed past her, embedding into the wall behind. The shadow pony pivoted to her new position and flung its second axe-arm, the axe detaching and flying across the room.

Unsure of what to do, Night Watch dodged again, watching as the first axe returned back to the shadow pony to attach itself to the back arm. It flung the axe at her again, forcing her to dodge while the other axe returned to the shadow pony. She continued to dodge axes as they were flung, slowly making her way towards the armoured figure. However, as soon as she got close enough to strike, the shadow pony returned both of its axes simultaneously and swung at her with them.

She ducked under the horizontal swing and thrust her spear forward, only to nick the thick shadow armour with a few pitiful sparks of gold. The shadow pony swung its entire body this time, its axes almost cutting her into three pieces. Night Watch leaped between the axes as they came over and under her, only for her face to meet an armoured tail. Like a club, it smashed against her head, throwing her to the floor.

Before she could even scream, the club-like tail swung down at her and slammed against her armoured back. The armour absorbed most of the blow, but she felt several cracks in her chest as she was pushed into the floor.

"Grrah!" Painfully, she rolled to the side, out of the way of another downward swing from the tail-bludgeon. It smashed against the floor, bringing up chunks of green brick on impact. Night Watch struggled to get up, limping away from the armoured pony while clutching her chest. She removed her helmet.

"G... guys... get out..." she sputtered, tasting blood as some of it trickled out of her mouth. She heard another whooshing noise behind her. Closing her eyes, she didn't bother to dodge—she was too weak.

However, a loud crash was heard, and in a flash of indigo light, Mosina went sailing past her, having blocked the axe with the Wind Ruler. Nimbly landing on her hooves, she twirled her spear and bolted forward with a gust of wind, past the limping Night Watch.

"Aaah!" Mosina cried, fanning out her wings and pushing herself off the ground with the wind. An axe sailed past her and she banked to the left, dodging it before she met the shadow pony with her spear.

With a powerful thrust, she stabbed the Wind Ruler straight into the chest of the shadow pony. In a display of indigo sparks, the purple blade pierced right through the chest armour.

"Grah!" she growled, landing her hooves on the ground and pushing forwards. The two smaller blades of the spear also penetrated through, stabbing into the shadowy flesh.

The shadow pony grunted, twisting itself and freeing the spear from its front. Mosina lurched to the side, tightly holding onto it before the axe arms of the shadow pony swung at her. Expertly, she parried them both, the shadowy metal of the axes unable to cut through the Wind Ruler. However, the clubbed tail of the shadow pony swung at her, forcing her to jump and dodge it.

As she came down, the tail came back for another swing, and this time, Mosina decided to slice at it. Miraculously, the blade of her spear sliced straight through the middle of the tail. The decapitated tail immediately melted into the air, the shadowy strands flowing into the darkness of the hallway beyond them.

With new confidence, Mosina twirled the spear above her head and brought it down for a powerful stab into the back of the shadow pony. It penetrated the thinner armour of its back, between the thick shields on its sides. Relentlessly, she hopped on top of the shadow pony's back and swung her spear in a wide slash. Both of the axe-arms sliced off cleanly, the giant weapons melting into the air.

She effortlessly brought her spear down for more stabs at the now-defenceless shadow pony, punching several holes into its armour. The shadow pony grunted and continued to try and shake her off, helplessly.

"Haah!" Mosina cried, leaping up and thrusting her spear at its head. The tip of the blade pierced straight through the armoured neck, just beneath the thicker helmet. She growled and put her entire weight into the stab, the spear digging deeper. "Die... die!"

The shadow pony tried to thrash its head, but it got weaker as she pushed harder. Finally, it went limp and its red eyes dimmed out, its body freezing in its position with the Wind Ruler protruding from the back of its head.

Beneath her hooves, the shadow pony melted into air, an ethereal sigh accompanying the release. Its strands of shadows retreated into the darkness. Before the corporeal form completely dispersed, Mosina leaped off, immediately running towards the others.

In the far corner of the room, a weak Gloomie leaned against the wall accompanied by Night Watch, who was drinking from a healing flask.

"Well... that's that, I suppose," Mosina breathed, stopping before the two.

"I'm impressed." Night Watch grinned. "You had that thing wrapped around your hoof."

Mosina blushed. "Yeah, well, it wasn't easy." She turned to Gloomie. "You okay?"

"Yeah... just a little out of it." Gloomie returned a smile. "I don't think I'll ever get used to getting so... hurt."

"Tell me about it," Night Watch chuckled. "I don't think Mosina's ever been—"

"Hey, look!" Gloomie cut her off, pointing to where the armoured shadow pony had been. A dim glowing pile of white objects sat on the stone floor.

"Huh..." Mosina shot a glance to Night Watch before trotting over to it. As she got closer, she made out the form of what seemed to be some sort of garments made out of white material, similar to what the light ponies looked like. "Hmm... it looks like some sort of armour." She kneeled down and picked it up, feeling it sag slightly into her hooves.

Night Watch came up from behind her. "That looks like some sort of leather armour."

"Yeah. Made out of white... lighty stuff."

"Hey, Gloomie!" Night Watch called back to Gloomie, who was slowly walking her way over. "I think we found you a new set of armour."

"Look!" Mosina said, putting the armour down and gesturing towards a set of white hoof-claws that was underneath the leather.

Night Watch's eyes widened. "Ooh..."

"What is it?" Gloomie fixed her eyes onto the white equipment in front of them. "Ooh..."

Ch 25: Emerald Almond Eyes

With a little tug, Gloomie fit the white leather hood-cap over her head.

"And that's it. This is all incredibly comfy." She twisted her body and stretched out her legs, feeling her new leather armour morph itself around her body.

"Mmf..." purred a voice from behind her.

"Night Watch."

"White really shows your curves more," the ogling mare said, flashing a toothy grin at Gloomie who turned around.

"I'm walking last in line from now on," Gloomie retorted, frowning.

"I call being in the middle," Mosina edged in.

Night Watch chuckled. "No fun. You guys are no fun."

Mosina took a deep breath. "You all ready to move on?" She cast a glance to Gloomie in paricular.

"Heck, yeah! I feel energized now, even after those darts." Gloomie practically hopped in place, her body movements notably silent. "Geez, I feel like I could run for miles in this thing!"

"Ah, about those darts..." Night Watch interrupted, her brows lowering into a serious expression. She pointed to the sunken stone tile in the middle of the room that had triggered the trap. "Take a look at that pressure plate."

"Huh." Curiously, Mosina walked over to it with a surprisingly giddy Gloomie in tow. Upon seeing the carved, laughing face on the stone plate, her eyes widened. "...Disturbing."

"What is that?" Gloomie asked, finally standing still and dipping her head to examine the carving.

"It's the same face that was carved onto the wooden keys we used to get to the giant spiders," Mosina answered, adjusting her spectacles.

Gloomie pursed her lips. "Well that's dumb." Mosina looked to her with a questioning glance. "If all the trap plates are labelled with this, then we know what not to touch."

"Hey, we fell for it the first time. This place might have more tricks up its sleeves," Night Watch pointed out.

"Night Watch is right. We should be wary, regardless," Mosina agreed. "That being said, we should get a move on."

Night Watch grinned then rolled her eyes. "Fine. Which way should we go?"

Mosina twisted her head to look at each entrance of the room, until her eyes settled on the purple powder she had sprinkled onto the floor.

"I said we should go right, so let's go that way," she said, pointing towards the entrance to the right of the purple powder.

"Alright."

Night Watch began walking towards the dark passageway, her light crystal feeding into the hallway as she crested the door frame. Mosina followed after her with Gloomie trailing behind, the three of them barely able to fit through the hallway single-file.

"Watch where you guys step," Mosina warned, her eyes scanning the walls, floor and ceiling all around her.

"Hey, I'm first. If anything, I'll die first," Night Watch chuckled, earning a disgruntled sigh from Mosina.

Several minutes into their uncomfortable walk between the rough, stone walls, faint sounds of skittering on rock could be heard ahead.

"Hmm..." Night Watch's ears perked up as she stopped in her tracks, intent to listen to the noise.

"What is it, Night?" Mosina whispered from behind, arching her neck and trying to peek over Night Watch's silver helmet. Nothing but darkness met them several feet down the corridor.

Night Watch spoke slowly. "Sounds like... small creatures. Claws. Lots of 'em."

Gloomie audibly shuffled behind them. "I hate claws."

"But you're wearing claws," Mosina said, glancing behind her and perking up an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but when they're on other creatures... ugh." Gloomie shook her head.

"Let's move, but quietly. I bet we're up for something up ahead," Night Watch urged, beginning to walk again. Mosina followed, and Gloomie took a moment to compose herself before moving.

Soon enough, they found themselves in a room not unlike the first they had encountered. The skittering was loudest, and it could be heard coming from all corners of the room. Water was puddled on the floor, and the sound of rushing water could be heard beyond the opposite entrance.

Mosina and Gloomie took their spots beside Night Watch, who had frozen in place.

"What's going—eew!" Gloomie yelped, almost walking into a giant, slimy egg almost the size of her.

Ugly blue eggs dotted with black spots filled the entire room. They lay in clusters and their shells were leathery, covered with slime.

Night Watch slowly drew her spear, and Mosina did the same. Around the cluster of eggs in front of them, a group of lizard-like creatures with long claws were huddled in a group. Their eyeless heads featured long mouths with dozens of long, curved teeth.

"Not these guys again..." Gloomie whined. Cracking her neck, she stepped forward. "I've got a bone to pick."

She lifted up her front hooves and stomped on the ground, the white claws of her hoof-blades ejecting with a loud ring of metal.

Mosina stepped forward, towards her. "Wait. They haven't noticed—"

"Yaaah!" Gloomie cried, immediately launching herself forward at the reptilian creatures with her claws pointed forward. Several of the creatures turned her way, only for their faces to be sliced into four sections by her sharp blades.

Two slumped to the floor immediately, followed by another two who were cleanly cut in half through their midsections. Finally, the rest responded, letting out gurgling cries and throwing their own bony claws at the white-clad bat pony.

"Not a chance!" she yelled, blocking a blow from one creature with her right hoof-blades. She flicked her hoof and the blades sliced right through the creature's claws, following up with another jab from her other hoof. In a flurry of cuts, the creature was diced into pieces, followed by one next to it. A head was torn off, and then were the limbs of another. Blueish blood covered the tiles beneath the dancing Gloomie, diluting with the puddles of water.

Before long, the numbers thinned until not one creature was left standing. Standing on top of the pile of bloodied corpses was Gloomie, letting out deep breaths. Upon seeing the stupefied and grossed out expressions of Night Watch and Mosina, she gave out a cheeky smile.

"Heh... I might have over-done it."

"Nyeh..." Mosina said, her face slightly greener than usual. "The smell... oh dear."

Night Watch gave a grin. "You must be crazy in be—"

A thin object flew past her, cutting her off and missing her head by mere inches. Without hesitating, Night Watch ducked and urged the others to do so.

"Get down!" she screamed.

Mosina followed, and Gloomie hopped off of the pile of bodies next to them, following suit.

"Is it another trap?!" Mosina said, her eyes wide, scanning the blue room around them.

"I don't know..." Night Watch muttered. A clicking noise echoed down from the empty hallway at the far side of the room from them. "Dodge!"

The three bat ponies rolled in different directions, and a single crossbow bolt struck where Night Watch had just been.

"Get behind something!" Mosina cried, standing up and stepping towards the dark exit.

Gloomie ducked behind a pillar and Night Watch hid behind a giant egg, crouching low.

"That's no trap," Mosina muttered under her breath, holding the Wind Ruler firm.

Silence stretched for seconds that felt like hours, until another telltale click pierced it.

"Raah!" She dodged to the right and swung her spear horisontally, a small gust of wind throwing itself in front of her. A crossbow bolt had flown itself into the path, the wind knocking it aside.

Another click sounded that came much quicker than the last, and Mosina dodged again with a swing of her Umbra spear. Another gust of wind knocked an oncoming bolt away.

"Mosina!" Gloomie called from behind her pillar. "Keep it busy!"

Mosina shot her a knowing glance and nodded, dodging another bolt.

Immediately, Gloomie charged forward from behind the pillar, galloping with all her might. In less than a second, she had made it to the other side of the room and pinned herself against the wall adjacent to the hallway. After another click followed by a bolt shooting out from the passage, Gloomie leaped out and stormed down the hallway with her claws ready.

However, she was met with total darkness, the light from her crystal failing to light up her surroundings. She glanced down, only to see it still shining—the darkness seemed too thick for it to penetrate.

Another click—sounding much closer to her—sounded, and she dodged. A bolt flew past her, missing her by only a scant few inches of air.

"Graah!" Blindly, she lunged forward with her claws, only to meet nothing. She continued her charge, until she was met with a pair of green slitted eyes that pierced through the darkness. "H-huh—"

The eyes disappeared to the sound of a loud bang, and the darkness seemed to recede itself from around her. Whatever was just in front of her had disappeared into thin air.

She turned back to the room, only to hear the clanging of metal weapons.

"Dammit...”

Gloomie charged back into the room, only to see a shadowy figure locked in a fight with Night Watch. A purple hoof-blade with a single long, curved blade clashed against the gold of Night Watch's spear. Space seemed to bend around the hooded pony, and the darkness that had filled the hallway seemed to follow them. Similar to the shadow ponies, long, snaking strands of blackness waved around its body.

Mosina came from behind the figure with a calculated jab from her spear. However, right before her spear met them, it teleported away with another loud bang, the darkness dissipating. Above Night Watch, the pony re-materialized and flew down at her with its blade outstretched.

"Hrk!" Night Watch grunted, parrying the blade and following up with a jab, hoping to use the pony's momentum to fall into the spear. But before the pony met the blade, they disappeared again, another loud bang ringing the room.

Gloomie heard them reappear behind her, and she didn't hesitate to swing her claws at them. Her white right claws met the purple blade, bright white and purple sparks exploding out from the contact. She threw her left claws, only for them to be expertly parried again. Despite only having one blade, the pony met her jab-for-jab.

A gust of wind overtook the pair and Mosina leaped in, swinging her spear at the hooded pony. They let out a stallion-esque grunt as they parried the spear, the two Umbra weapons meeting in a display of purple sparks.

Gloomie tried to intervene, but her face was met with the other outstretched hoof of the pony. Attached to his leg was a hoof-crossbow, and it was loaded.

"Gaah!" Gloomie cried, throwing her right hoof in front of her. Her blade made contact with the wooden stock of the crossbow, knocking it aside and shattering it down the middle. The pony immediately retreated their arm and spun his body before clutching the weapon. He desperately back-stepped from the quickly advancing Gloomie and Mosina.

"Nngh..." the pony growled, seeming like he was going to teleport again.

"Oh no, you don't!" Night Watch yelled from the side, colliding with his figure and tackling him into the ground, pinning him with her hooves. Through his black aura, she looked straight into his green eyes. "Aux! What are you doing?!"

He let out a grunt in response. Mosina and Gloomie came up to their sides, warily staring at the wrestling ponies.

"You almost killed us!" Night Watch screamed, only to receive more pained grunts. She pulled his hood off, and a messy black mane popped out. Gloomie's eyes widened and Mosina let out a gasp.

Black veins spread from his eye sockets and covered most of his grey furred face.

Night Watch stared dumbfounded, loosening her grip on him.

The possessed Aux pushed her off and stepped back from the trio, giving them angry glares. However, instead of continuing the fight, he turned away and disappeared from the room in a loud bang.

Ch 26: Shut Up, Night Watch

"Guh... Where did he go?!" Night Watch screamed, mostly to herself. Gloomie glanced around the room for signs of Aux.

"Come on, let's go. The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better," said a stoic Mosina, walking towards the room's dark exit. Gloomie silently followed with an expressionless face, as though she had just seen a ghost.

With gritting teeth, Night Watch kicked a pebble and followed. She muttered under her breath, "Coward..."

The three bat ponies became engulfed in the darkness, trudging forward at a brisk pace while Mosina warily watched the stone tiles beneath them. Their light crystals highlighted nothing but length after length of green cobblestone hallways, twisting and turning corners every so often. Occasionally, she would spot an out-of-place tile with a carved face on it, calling it out to her comrades to watch out for it.

"Ugh, it's been nearly an hour, I think," Gloomie complained, her posture sulking as she walked.

"It can't be that much further, wherever we're heading..." Mosina encouraged helplessly, taking a deep breath for herself in the claustrophobic hallway.

"Are you sure? I think we're going in circles or something. It all looks familliar!"

Mosina grunted. "What more do you expect from uniformly, crafted hallways? There's no way but forward."

Gloomie let out an intelligible moan. "Night Watch? Are you still back there?" she joked.

"If it means I still get to stare at your butt, then yeah," Night Watch answered flatly.

"Nnnnuhh..." Gloomie groaned again, too tired to care anymore.

"Hey guys, I think I see a light up ahead of some sorts," Mosina said, her voice like an angel to Gloomie's ears.

"Finally! Next hallway we go through, Night Watch takes point."

"After an hour of staring at your ass, I think I'm satisfied enough to do for a change for once," Night Watch chuckled.

Several moments later, the three arrived into a square room, not unlike the first they had entered at the start of the dungeon. Each of them took the moment to stretch their wings and hooves, Gloomie lying down and splaying her legs out in exhaustion.

"Come on, girl. You've gone through worse in training," Night Watch said, coming beside her. A gasp from Mosina caught her attention. "What is it?"

"Eugh... it can't be," Mosina muttered, her head angled down and her eyes focusing on a spot on the floor.

"What can't be?" Night Watch asked again.

Mosina took in a deep breath and let it out with a loud sigh. "It's the powder I put down at the start."

"What? No..." Night Watch quickly trotted up to her side, taking a look at the spot on the floor.

Sure enough, a small pile of purple powder, exactly as Mosina had left it, lay on the stone tiles. The hallway beyond housed several torches on the wall, plus a stairs that lead up to the way they came from.

"Well, then..." Night Watch trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"Noooo..." Gloomie whined, her voice barely audible.

Mustering up some strength, Mosina straightened her posture and turned around. "Alright, this doesn't have to be a bad thing. That means we don't have to go down the left path anymore, either." She turned to the remaining hallway, right across from the entrance of the dungeon. "I guess we should go down that way, now. Come on, girls."

"Yessir," Night Watch affirmed, taking point. Mosina followed, and Gloomie lazily got up from her spot to fall in last.

Soon, the trio entered the tight hallway, their crystals pushing back the darkness as they walked.

After only a few minutes of walking, they were presented with stairs that descended steeply with thin, stone steps. Warily, they began to climb down, carefully placing one hoof after another. The walls and steps were covered in a thin layer of dust, and the ceiling was nowhere to be seen. It was too narrow for them to spread their wings to descend, either.

Finally, the floor evened out to a straight hallway. A dim light greeted them at the end, seemingly from another room.

"We're almost there," Night Watch said to the others, quickening her trot. "Get ready, I don't know what to expect."

Gloomie hardened her posture and Mosina cracked her neck, both of them getting ready for a fight.

"Let's gallop," Gloomie suggested, her hoof stomps getting slightly louder. "Preemptive readiness is always a good thing! A good jog to get the juices flowing."

"I could say so many innuendos right now."

"Shut up, Night Watch," Gloomie snapped, Mosina giving a low chuckle.

The trio were in a full gallop now, the room approaching quickly.

As soon as she was in reach, Night Watch leaped out of the hallway and into the room, drawing her spear in one motion. Gloomie and Mosina followed, each taking spots beside her with their weapons at the ready. However, as ready as they were, they froze in place at what was across the surprisingly tall and wide room from them.

Embedded at the other side of the room was a large, metal door, sitting a good 20 meters tall. A dozen statues of ponies lined each side of the room, each of them clad in armour and holding a longsword at their sides.

On each side of the large door was an armour-clad shadow pony, each with a pair of large axe-limbs protruding from their backs. In between them, in front of the door and facing the bat ponies, was Aux.

Gloomie audibly gulped.

Ch 27: In the Court...

"How long have we been walking up these steps?" asked a semi-exhausted Speck, trudging along with her heavy armour.

Echo let out a sigh, the fur on her face matted with dried tears.

"About half an hour, I think. It seems pretty steep..."

Frowning, Speck gently nudged her side with her turquoise head.

"I'm telling you, they're fine. There was another exit to the room, remember?"

Echo gave her a weakened glance.

“I know, but I can't imagine going through this with just us two. We really do need everyone."

"We'll find them. I know we will."

Echo took a deep breath in, choosing not to say a response. The duo walked for several more minutes in a seemingly endless climb up the narrow staircase. However, the cave walls soon took a sudden drop off, leaving the stairs to seem to be floating in the darkness. Neither of them said anything other than a wordless exchange of glances, but the two continued climbing.

As they looked above, a dim, white-blue glow began to emerge, as if coming from something distant. Eventually, the steps finally ended onto a dark, rocky platform.

The two of them stepped onto it and gazed in awe at what beheld them; far off in front of them, glowing a cold, blue light, was what seemed to be the entrance to a fortress, embedded onto the far cave wall. A fortress made of ice.

Tiny cracks on the very high ceiling let light in from what seemed to be outside, bathing the tall wall and turrets of ice with light and reflecting off into the large expanse before it. Echo glanced around—the only way forward was down the long, wide platform and to the fortress of ice. A faint wind could be heard blowing in the distance.

"This... I've never seen anything like it," Speck breathed through her teeth, stepping beside Echo as they gazed at the fortress entrance.

Between the two tall, cylindrical ice turrets was a tall, seemingly fortified double-door. Sighing once more, Echo began to step forward.

"Looks like it's our only way to go."

Speck nodded before falling in step beside her.

The fortress was distant enough that it took them several minutes to get there. Nothing else notable was in their way, other than the flat, rocky platform that dropped off into darkness at the sides.

As they got close to the gate, Echo began to tense up, ready to draw her golden sword at an instant. Speck seemed to ready herself as well, shifting the Keel Regalia on her side to be ready for action.

The temperature seemed to drop drastically as they approached, their breaths becoming visible mist in front of their faces.

When they finally got to within a few meters from the gate, they stopped, Echo squinting her eyes to focus on the details of the icy gate. The giant double doors really were made from pure ice, as was the walls around it. Though, they seemed unlike normal ice, as Echo couldn't see past them. It was dense enough to not let light through.

"Should we try to open it?" Speck suggested, looking to Echo.

"I dunno... it seems like we—" As Echo took a step forward, a loud crack sounded, cutting her off. The doors began to move themselves outwards, seemingly opening at her proximity.

Tremors reached their hooves as the doors grinded against the stone floor, and small clouds of snow fell from the rumbling ceiling. When the gap between the double doors was large enough to peak through, Echo craned her head to look. On the other side was what seemed to be a tall hallway, its walls and ceiling made of smooth ice.

The rocky ground turned into a ground of snow as it went past the doorway. At the end of the hallway seemed to be an opening, but not much was observable beyond that. Light seemed to bathe the place naturally, shining through the translucent walls and ceiling. Everything was lit in a blueish-white light.

"Wow... it's so pretty," Speck whispered to herself, admiring the structure that could have very well been made from crystals.

Finally, the doors stopped, leaving the two mares in front of the wide opening of the ice palace. After a moment of taking it in, Echo spoke up.

"Let's go, shall we?"

"Mhmm," Speck agreed, walking forwards with Echo in tow. "I'm pretty excited to explore this." Echo inwardly smiled.

"I guess I am, too. Just don't let your guard down, we don't know what we'll find in there."

Speck's hooves finally met snow as she trotted forwards, the sides of her vision becoming engulfed by the shiny ice walls. Their hoofsteps crunched the snow beneath them, echoing off of the smooth surfaces. Every breath was of cool air, filling their lungs with a fresh feeling.

Ch 28: Pre-Buff, Now

"Split!" Night Watch spat out, jumping to the right and running into a sprint. A quick, dumb-founded glance from Gloomie later and she was off on her own along the left side of the room.

"Mosina, to the statues! Night Watch and I will distract them!" Gloomie yelled.

The two axe-wielding shadow ponies moved into action immediately, flinging one axe at each of the sprinting bat ponies who both dodged them with ease. Aux disappeared in a small bang, leaving behind a cloud of black fog that dispersed into the air.

Heart racing, Mosina looked to the closest guard-pony statue to her right and began to sprint towards it. As she sprinted, she glanced over to see Night Watch closing in on one of the shadow ponies, ducking under another axe throw before lunging out with her spear at it.

On the other side of the room, Gloomie twirled through the air over another axe. However, a loud bang interrupted the whir of the axes whistling through the air and Aux reappeared in thin air, intercepting Gloomie's descent to the floor. The two of them rolled across the ground, Gloomie kicking him off with her hind legs and lunging at him with her claws.

Soon, Mosina stopped in front of the statue, dropping her saddlebags to the floor. The crystal in her front pocket began to vibrate gently, as if attracted to the stone figure. Its brown stone sword, nearly the length of its body, was tucked in neatly by its right side, ready to slice through aberrant flesh.

"Okay, now..." Mosina muttered to herself, taking the crystal out carefully and placing it at the base of the statue.

Amidst the clanging of metal in the distance, a low-pitched whine began to form, raising in volume slowly. Looking back to the fighting, she saw Gloomie lunge at Aux with her hoof claws, only for her attacks to be blocked by his broken crossbow while retaliating with his umbra hoof-blade.

"Gloomie, watch out!" Mosina yelled as the shadow pony near them began to raise another axe to throw. Deftly, she swung her Wind Ruler forwards in a downwards arch, summoning a quick gust of wind that carried itself across the room.

Before the shadow pony could throw its axe, it was thrown off balance from the wind, nearly toppling it completely over. Gloomie shot an accepting glance at Mosina before returning to her duel with Aux.

Mosina was snapped back to the statue behind her, whose humming crystal began to grow higher in pitch. Soon after, the crystal began to glow blindingly bright, and Mosina closed her eyes, washed in a soothing, heavenly sensation. She couldn't tell how the rest of the room reacted, other than the painful wails from the two shadow ponies.

As soon as the light had come, it faded, and Mosina slowly opened her eyes. The statue was gone, but in its midst was a glowing pony, seemingly made from light. Her jaw gaped and she stepped back in awe, unsure of what to say.

"Mosina, summon another one!" Night Watch yelled from across the room, snapping her out from her stupor.

With a quick gasp, Mosina composed herself before turning to see the state of her comrades.

Gloomie seemed to have subdued Aux on the ground somehow, and her attention had turned towards one of the shadow ponies who seemed dazed from the summoned light. Night Watch was in a similar situation, her shadow pony clumsily swinging its tail-club and axes at her for easy dodges.

Before she could react, a loud, ethereal noise alerted Mosina to the being beside her, as if the light pony had announced its presence with a horn from heaven. It unsheathed its large sword and, in a single motion, leaped off of its pedestal and began to sprint towards the battle.

Immediately, Mosina dove into her saddlebags and began to fish for another light crystal, bringing it out with her teeth. She sprinted to the next statue as the crystal began to vibrate again, quickly placing it at the base of the stone pony's hooves.

A loud blast sounded off from the battle, and a quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that the light pony had lopped off one of the axe-limbs of Night Watch's shadow pony.

To Mosina's shock, Aux was not on the floor by Gloomie anymore. Her muscles twitched, feeling the Wind Ruler slung across her back. A loud bang sounded overhead, and Aux came tumbling through a dark portal towards her with his blade outstretched.

Mosina moved to parry, but was interrupted by the sudden, loud whistling from the statue beside her. A bright light engulfed her once again, but she felt no blade stab through her. Aux was thrown backwards, repelled by the light.

Mosina came to her senses quickly while a sigh escaped her lips. Regarding the light pony in front of her with a stoic nod, she moved to grab her spear.

The metal clanging in the distance came to a sudden stop, and she turned to see that the first light pony had thrust its sword straight through the shadow pony's chest. Night Watch had taken the opportunity to lop off the other axe-limb with her golden spear, and then stabbed it straight through its skull in a blast of golden sparks. Both the shadow and light pony froze in their places, both of them beginning to melt into the air.

Meanwhile, Gloomie had dismembered the thick club-like tail of her shadow pony, but had a large gash across her right side. Her white leather armour was almost coated with crimson, but she continued to dodge the wide sweeps expertly.

"Gloomie!" Mosina cried, charging forward with the other light pony close behind.

However, she was soon met with a tackle from the left, Aux rolling with her across the stone floor. The light pony continued forward, ignoring Aux and going straight for the shadow pony.

"Dammit, get off!" Mosina grunted, using the butt end of her spear to throw Aux away.

She sprung up from the floor with her spear pointed at him, ready to lunge. Nimbly, Aux cut at her spear and ducked underneath, his blade meeting with hers in a blast of violet sparks. He lunged forwards with his blade quickly withdrawn, ready to spring out again while safely past the Wind Ruler's point.

Mosina jumped out of the way, dodging to the right before Aux could slice through her. But he was too quick, cutting deep into her left forehoof.

Before she could scream out in pain, a golden spear came down from behind him, its staff bludgeoning into his head and knocking him down. Mosina threw herself towards Night Watch, taking place beside her while struggling to hold her spear up.

"Stay in this, Mosina! He's not out, yet," Night Watch said, withdrawing her spear for another hit. Aux rolled to the right, the blade of Night Watch's spear catching a pouch at his midsection, cutting it open. Several crossbow bolts spilled out, rolling across the floor.

"N-Night Watch!" Mosina grunted, dropping her spear from her injured hoof. "Don't kill him!"

Night Watch jumped forward to match Aux's movements, bringing her spear down again.

"Ngh! I'm not trying to..." she paused, lunging forward again with her spear as Aux dodged again. "Just... have to... hit him!"

Another ethereal sigh permeated through the air, and Mosina glanced back to Gloomie. The light pony had stabbed its sword through the shadow pony's side, and Gloomie was drunkenly sifting through her saddle bags for a healing potion. Frozen in place, both ethereal ponies evaporated into the air.

Night Watch kept up her offensive on Aux, who had continually dodged every attack. He glanced around the room with his corrupted eyes to see his defeat, gritting his teeth before parrying another lunge from Night Watch. He leaped into the air and kicked her in the face, throwing her back.

Mosina moved to pick up the Wind Ruler, but stopped as Aux began to backpedal slowly while Night Watch recovered. He turned away, disappearing once again in a blast of shadowy entrails, leaving the room to silence.

"Dammit!" Night Watch screamed, throwing her golden spear down. "Dammit all!"

Her hoof bloodied, Mosina calmly walked over to her saddlebags to retrieve a health potion.

"When this is over, I'm gonna screw him so hard," Night Watch continued to yell. "SO hard!"

The three regrouped at the centre of the room, Mosina taking inventory.

"...That's another health potion gone. We've got four of those light crystals left," she stated, mostly to herself while Night Watch paced back and forth.

Gloomie sat contently, just taking the moments of rest. "One brand-new white metal spear to replace Night Watch's old one," she added, gesturing to the areas where the shadow ponies had been defeated.

"And a white dagger. I guess that goes to you," Mosina finished, offering the blade to her.

Gloomie smiled and took it. "Not sure if I'll really have a use for this, but thanks."

"Everything's had a use so far. I think," Mosina responded. "I like this. Kinda like loot in an RPG."

"Nerd," Gloomie teased, standing up from her spot with a new found bounce in her step. Mosina rolled her eyes.

"I suppose we should move, then," Mosina said, standing up while fixing her saddlebags onto herself. "I guess we've got to go through that." She pointed towards the far end of the room where the large doors rested, large enough to fit an ursa minor.

"Mhmm," Gloomie agreed, falling in step beside her as they walked towards it. A large cut in her armour across her side announced her previous injury, though there was no scar underneath. Night Watch silently followed, a tense air surrounding her.

As the ponies wordlessly reached the door, Mosina felt the new crystal on her front pocket begin to vibrate.

"How do you suppose we open this?" Gloomie asked as Mosina stared a little longer at the door, the familiar vibration from the crystal failing to move her. She examined the intricate carvings that populated the door's surface; a series of seemingly uncollected tendrils sprouting from an eye at the top of each door. Eyes similar to the one etched on the Wind Ruler.

Two large tendrils, one from each eye, both fell down along the entire height of the doors, meeting each other at the floor. After taking in a deep breath, Mosina reached down and brought the little crystal out, its brightness more intense than usual. Gloomie and Night Watch watched curiously as she placed it on the ground at the base of the doors where the two large tendrils met.

As the other crystals had before it, this one began to release a loud, high-pitched whine before becoming blindingly bright. The three ponies closed their eyes and let the light wash over them until it immediately died down.

The light, now etched onto each of the door's tendrils, began to climb upwards. It swam across the etchings, filling all of the tendrils slowly until reaching both of the eyes at the top. The eyes became engulfed in the light, bright flashes accompanying their new found lustre.

Suddenly, the room shook, and the doors began to budge. The sound of ancient stone grinding against stone filled the room, and dust began to fall from the ceiling.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Gloomie commented, stepping back. Mosina and Night Watch reluctantly followed, waiting for the doors to open completely.

The room beyond was engulfed in a familiar greenish-blue light, and was seemingly large. It was very wide and circular, seemingly almost as large as the twin giant spider room that had awarded Mosina with the Wind Ruler. She gulped.

The ceiling was an endless black, the blue light failing to reach the top. As far as Mosina was concerned, it reached the sky. Dotting the walls all along the cavern were glow worms, giving off dull, blue light, like they had encountered in the caverns before. At the far side of the room, the ground gave way to a large, seemingly deep pool of water. Gloomie watched forth with an open mouth, enraptured at the display.

"I've really got a bad feeling about this," she assured.

Finally, the loud grinding stopped, and the stone doors settled in place.

"Well, no place but forwards," Mosina shakily said, taking her first steps into the room. Gloomie reluctantly followed, and Night Watch, stoicly, after her.

Mosina and Night Watch didn't flinch when the doors began to move again as they all entered the room. Gloomie, however, made a panicked yelp and turned, only to see the doors closing in on them.

Amidst the loud grinding, a familiar, loud bang rung out across the large room. Far across the room, in front of the large pool, appeared Aux in a flash of shadowy tendrils.

"Graaaah!" Night Watch screamed, charging forward without hesitation. Gloomie whimpered, and Mosina sighed.

"Time for the boss," she muttered, drawing her weapon.

Ch 22: From A Great Height

A large rock slammed into the ground right in front of Echo.

"Gah!"

She dodged to the left and continued forward, an entrance to a tunnel straight ahead of her. Melon-sized rocks rained down all around, smashing into pieces as they hit the tiled floor.

"Echo!" yelled a voice to her right. A silver-clad pony was running alongside her.

"Speck—"

Echo was cut off as Speck leaped ahead of her, pushing her back and to the ground. She watched as Speck held the Keel Regalia upwards, flinching when a pony-sized boulder collided with her. The shield flashed a bright purple before repelling the rock away, eliciting a grunt from its holder.

Speck turned to Echo, offering a hoof.

"Let's go!" she ordered, helping her up and taking off for the exit. They were close to it now, but the falling ceiling seemed to approach them too quickly.

"Go, go!" Echo cried.

Only a meter away from the entrance, she dove forwards, colliding with Speck and sending them rolling into the tunnel. Mere inches behind them, a giant wall of rock slammed hard into the floor, blocking off access to the room.

The collision rung through the stone walls around them, echoing far down the tunnel, way out of their light's reach. For a few moments, the world spun, and the only sounds were the heavy panting from two bat ponies.

"Are... are you alright?" Speck groaned, slowly standing up. Echo shook her head and her head rung, reminding her of her first moments in the Trials.

"Yeah... I'm alright," she answered, opening her eyes. They were safe and in the tunnels, just in the nick of time. However, after the reverberating of her voice had faded, a little breath escaped her. The tunnels suddenly felt a little empty.

It was just her and Speck.

"No... no...!" She spun around and faced the imposing rock that blocked the way back.

"Echo..."

"Kah... no! This—" She weakly slammed an armoured hoof into the stone. "No! Aaah!"

She screamed, took a deep breath, and screamed harder, her vocal cords almost ripping. Her voice cracked and she thrashed her head in disbelief. It wasn't long until she was seething through her teeth.

Repeatedly, she hammered the rock with her hooves, trying to find a way back. She scurried the wall, hopeful to find a weak point but to no avail. The rocks, impossibly heavy, didn't budge.

"Mosina... Gloomie!" Sobs escaped her. "Night Watch!"

Her eyes reddened and tears streamed down her face. Her strikes turned into erratic flailing, until she slowly slumped to the floor in a crying heap.

All the while, Speck stepped back and gave her space, her head held low and laden with tears of her own.