Moon's Blade and the Crystals of Chaos

Chapter 3:
The Tomb

It was dark inside the tomb, I could barely see, but Twilight cast a spell that emitted light from her horn, making the inside of the tomb a lot clearer. It reeked of rotten meat in the tomb.

"Why did we come in here, again?" Rarity questioned, and was quickly answered by Twilight.

"Because we're looking for a crystal, which could be used for terrible things. Please watch your step..."

I were nervous of what to expect. It seemed the group that had entered before us had avoided the first few traps, but then again, they weren't hidden very well either.

I took a step forward, but then I were suddenly interrupted and startled by a scream. It was Rarity, who was shocked by the sight of a skeleton.

"Well, at least it ain't a fresh corpse..." Applejack said, probably in an attempt to calm Rarity.

All of them seemed kinda anxious, and I couldn't hide that feeling either.

"Let's stay close, and watch our steps." I said.

We ventured further into the tomb, and the traps became seemingly more well-hidden. I slowly walked in front of the rest. It all seemed to go well, so far.

I took another step, and suddenly my hoof sank a bit deeper in the ground. Without hesitating I duck a little, when suddenly a huge axe came swinging by. It stopped swinging quickly. Everyone was pale with fear.

"Everyone alright?" I asked, fearing to look backward and seeing a split-up body.

"Y-yes." Twilight said.

"I-I guess s-so!" Pinkie confirmed, too.

We walked a bit further, until we started hearing some sounds from in the distance.

"Might those sounds be from the others?" Dash wondered, "The ones that entered before us?"

"I hope so..." Applejack answered anxiously.

"Whatever the case is, we must carry on." Twilight said.

We went on, deeper into the dungeon. Then we stood still. What we saw was indescribable. It was disgusting.

"I guess you weren't kidding when you said this was a dangerous place, Twilight..." Applejack said with fear.

One of the ponies that entered before we did had apparently activated a trap by accident. On the wall was the fresh corpse of a pony being pierced through his chest and head. His body was covered in blood, and beneath him was a puddle of that blood.

I felt like puking, but I tried not to look and walked on.

Not much further inside we stumbled on yet another fresh corpse, flattened by a huge boulder that seemed to have fallen from a trapdoor in the ceiling. The whole floor was littered with blood and some organs were scattered around. It was hard to get past the boulder, but it was possible.

After a while we started hearing someone crying.

After walking a bit further we found a large room. On the other side was the last remaining pony of the group that had entered the dungeon.

I ran towards him.

"My friends..." he said, "My friends are all dead!"

I did not know what to say.

"Why did you enter this place in the first place?" Pinkie asked.

"Some other pony hired us. He wanted us to go inside and get the treasure hidden in here." He cried, "I don't want to go any further!"

"You don't have to." I said, trying to comfort him, "We'll make sure you'll get out here in one piece."

"No." He said. He seemed to have lost it all. "You don't have to. Without my friends, I have no reason to live anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Applejack said, "Of course you do. You'll surely find new friends."

"Yeah," Pinkie said, "They won't replace your old ones, but losing someone dear to you is something that happens to everypony!"

The other pony did not seem convinced.

"No! It doesn't matter!" He shouted and ran toward the next room.

After a few seconds we heard a scream and a loud bang. Shocked by what he'd done we stood still, looking at each other. After a while of calming down we went on.

After a while, Twilight started talking.

"It shouldn't be far anymore."

"Let's hope so..." Dash responded nervously.

I had the feeling we were being followed, but I didn't see anyone besides us.

Finally, we arrived in a large room. In the middle was a pedestal, and on that pedestal was a small, red crystal object.

"That's it. No doubt about it." I said.

"I don't quite trust it..." Twilight said, "What if it's a trap?"

"Only one way to find out." I said as I walked toward the pedestal.

At last, I stood in front of the pedestal.

"I guess it's safe..." Twilight said.

"Go grab it already!" Rarity commanded, "I want to get out of here before my mane gets dirty!"

I picked up the crystal from the pedestal.

"Let's get out of here." I said.

I walked toward the hallway we came in from, until suddenly a spider fell down. I looked up. The whole ceiling was covered in a thick layer of poisonous spiders.

"There's only one thing we should do right now..." Dash said, "RUN!"

We ran as fast as we could. The spiders followed us. While running we activated several traps, which we then avoided barely.

At last the exit was visible, but the danger wasn't over yet. The doorway seemed to close slowly, we had only a bare few seconds left before we were locked in as spider food.

First one to escape was Rainbow Dash, followed by Pinkie and Rarity. The doorway was almost closed, Twilight and Applejack just went through it. It was almost impossible to go through, but in the end I barely managed to escape.

The tomb was shut tight behind us. There's no way anyone could ever enter. Or leave.

"Are we all alright?" Applejack asked, and everyone nodded slowly, tired of this horrifying adventure.

"Do you have the crystal?" Twilight asked.

I showed them the crystal.

"You know..." Rarity started, "I could use that in a dress of mine."

"No, you can't." Applejack said.

"Don't you remember what Twilight said?" Rainbow said, "These crystals can do terrible things."

"Thanks for helping me," I said, "I really didn't want to have you involved into this..."

I felt guilty for dragging them into this.

"It doesn't matter, you didn't know it would end up like this," Twilight said, "After all, if Equestria is in danger, we might as well gather the other remaining crystals. In the meanwhile, let's head home."