Landstrider's adventures - Stonehoof's prophecy

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Deathoak tried to wave the mosquito away but this one was extra persistent. With a frustrated sigh, he gave up the fight and tried to focus on something else. The sludgy sound from his hoofs stepping into the mud was unpleasant, but anything that would be better than the mind ripping noise from his annoying follower.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep him distracted. This called for extreme measures.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-frzt!

The mosquito suddenly burned up to infinity, and any remains would get caught up by the wind and spread across the forest. What a pitiful death...

But still, it didn’t give the unicorn any peace to his mind. The constant attacks from the flying plagues were just one of the many things that annoyed him in this forest. The dirty mud, the dark nights, the constant feeling of being watched… It was like the whole place was made for the soul reason alone to keep ponies away from it. It was not like he had imagined it back in the prison…

And still he was here. In one week, they had been walking in what seemed like a cave full of traps and they had already fought off three manticors and two pony-eating plants. And his feeling that they were walking around in circles didn't make things any better.

It was night, and Deathoak did wonder how Shadowblade could read that map in the darkness. Their leader had had his snout stuck in that map ever since they got to this place. He hadn't been saying anything to them other than 'we lay camp here' and let's move'. But come to think about it, nopony had said much since they got here. It was like the forest suck out the conversations out of them. Even Lightningbolt, which usually was quite the loud mouth, seemed to saving her energy. Everpony was always on high alert for anything.

He hadn't made any progress with his spell either. There was a lot of small animals to catch as test subjects, yes, but it wasn't really... the most peaceful study environment, so to say. Although he had been thinking about what to try once he would be out of here. Since the spirit had easily breached through the barrier, he needed to make the barrier strong by-

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Oh, but you got to be kidding me!

Again, he started to charge up his magic to burn the forty-third mosquito for that day when the dark trees suddenly thinned out.

“Seems like we are here…” Their leader said and folded up the map he had been given before their journey.

The thick trees gave away to revile a large glade in the middle of this Celestia-forsaken forest. The moon lit up a large, stone building in the middle of the clearing that looked to be some kind of ancient temple. It wasn’t a huge castle exactly, but its architecture was still impressive. It was formed like a box, with a pyramid shaped roof o top of it. An expert critic would say that it was horrible out of style, but luckily for the temple, none of the ponies were modern temple designers.

A simple “Wow…” slipped out from Lightningbolt’s mouth and the rest of the ponies were speechless. Just the sight of knowing that they had finally were here after all their traveling was enough to take their breath out of them. This was when their mission truly began: The temple of Sheolx.

Eventually, Faceless spoke up.

“So… What do we do no?”

Shadowblade recovered and looked at Faceless.

“Now, we take the Stone and get out of here.”

The small group walked towards the huge door that seemed to be the entrance into the stone temple. As they approached, As Deathoak approached, he could see that there was a statue on top on the pyramid-shaped roof. It represented a unicorn that was looking sternly at any pony approaching from their direction. The unicorn had its horn lowered like it was ready to charge out from the roof, and its face expression was filled with determination. It gave Deathoak the creeps.

Suddenly, Shadowblade signaled them to stop some meters away from the entrance.

“Deathoak!” he screamed.

The unicorn woke up from his thoughts. “Y-yes sir?”

“Come here!”

The black stallion walked a bit nervously to the front of the line, the scar on his cheek still fresh in his memory.

“What does it say?” Shadowblade pointed at a large rune that Deathoak somehow had missed from the back of the row. There were large, crude symbols engraved on it.

He examined them closer. “It is written in ancient Equestrian,” he noted. “It is an ancient language originally used before the rule of Celestia because…”

“Skip the history lessons, I asked if you can read it?”

Deathoak muttered something but took another look at the rune. “I’m not a professional at this, but it says something like:”

‘Here lies the temple of Sheolx

Founded by the sisters

Guarded by the circle

To seal the creation of the third

Until it can be –something- (can’t make out what it says here)

If you know how, proceed

If you know not, walk away’”

He looked back into the crippled face. “And that is pretty much it!”

Shadowblade gave the expression that he was thinking. “This ‘circle’ the rune mentioned… Who are they?”

“I’m not sure, it can be about anypony! I don’t know how far back this temple stretches. All I can tell is that it was not before the rule of Celestia and Luna, because they both are mentioned in the rune.”

“Is there anything else you can decipher from the rune?”

He shook his head. “Nothing more than that  whatever is in there, Celestia intends to keep it that way.”

“So no warnings of traps or anything like that?”

The black unicorn looked confused at Shadowblade. “Warnings? Why would it be that?”

“Steelaxe told us to look out for traps, and if I was building this temple I would lay a trap somewhere here and lay a warning in front of it. Some kind of puzzle or something that would make the reader aware of the situation and avoid it.” He looked meaning at Deathoak.

“Hmm, I guess you have point. Well, to me, the rune seems to be more of a ‘don’t-put-your-nose-in-Celestia’s-business’ warning then an ‘watch-out-for-traps’ warning, but I can move ahead with a barrier spell if you want…”

Shadowblade made a pleased nod. “Go ahead…”

He nodded and channeled up an average-advanced barrier spell around him. With some careful steps, he passed the rune. Nothing happened.

He turned around. “Seems pretty clear to me.”

“Keep walking until you reach the door,”

He shrugged and kept moving. He watched where he moved his barrier for any signs of trap holes or snares, but it all was just the same mud he had always walked in the past 8 days. A barrier wasn't like clothes that followed Deathoak wherever he walked or something like that. A barrier was more like a pellucid wall that you had to move telepathically if you wanted it to follow you, so Deathoak had to be careful. The difficulty of casting the barrier was, of course, determined by how strong and complex the barrier would be, but it took a big concentration effort to actually move one around. That's why barriers were more used to protect key buildings and positions rather than a combat spell. A unicorn would be making more use of himself if he showered the enemy with magic bolts instead of carrying around a large magic wall.

He had past one quarter from the path he needed to walk, and nothing had really hap-

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Oh sweet Celestia please don’t say he had did what he think he just ha-

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Yes, he had indeed done what he thought he had done. The mosquito buzzed around him inside the barrier, trying to breach its way back to freedom. ARGH what he hated those pesky little things! And he couldn’t just cast a spell to kill the it like he had done with most of its kind, because the spell would only bounce around the barrier and deal him equally amount of damage. He had to deal with it some other way…

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The bug had decided that flying around Deathoak’s face was probably the best thing to do when you were trapped inside a strange force field. Annoyed, the unicorn tried to wave the plague away, not realizing where he moved his barrier…

Suddenly, a loud *click* sound made Deathoak stop dead in his tracks. The sound was followed with the noise of cogs and mechanisms spinning and moving from the top of the temple. He took a step back and saw that his shield had collided with a hidden button on the ground.

“Oh no…”

The statue suddenly began to make creaky sounds, as it moved its hoofs a little stiffly. Then it started to move its head and eventually its torso. It looked down at its body, inspecting everything. When it was done with the examination, his stone eyes fell upon the intruders.

“I know this is a little bit late to say but I think Shadowblade was right when he said there would be traps…” Lightningbolt said a bit anxious.

“EVERYPONY, BATTLE POSITIONS!”

Everypony did as their leader screamed. Quickly, they dropped all their equipment and drew forth their weapons from their respective backs. Deathoak quickly teleported out from the barrier and behind the team as he prepared to send some a blasts at the statue on the roof.

But it wasn’t there.

“WATCH OUT!” Smacher suddenly screamed, only to find himself jumping aside as the stonepony suddenly landed where Smacher’s head had been two seconds earlier.

The living thing quickly recovered from its 10 meters long jump from the roof and charged directly at the opponent it recently had missed. It was remarkable fast for being made out of pure stone, and it was only in the last second that Smacher managed to swing his gigantic spiked-club into the stone thing’s lowered head. The heavy blow sent the it flying over the meadow clearing and it crashed two meters away from its attacker into the mud. It got up on its hoofs almost instantly. The only thing that signed that it actually had been hit at all was the long crack running through its right temple. Smacher gasped.

"That hit would have ripped of any statues head!" he said chocked.

The thing charged again, this time against Lightningbolt.

"What is that thing!?" Lightningbolt shouted out before she avoided being pierced by the horn.

It might have been quick, but it was nothing against Lightningbolt. She easily dodged another attack from its horn and saw an opening in the statue's defenses. She landed a quick slash at its hard neck, but it only left a scratch. The thing didn't even winced from the attack as it turned around and made another attempt to spear the red-haired mare. Lightningbolt wasn’t prepared for the thing to actually be completely unaffected from what otherwise would have decapitate a pony, so it was with much effort that she managed to parry the horn with her sword.

Deathoak saw an opportunity for a clear shoot, and a black missile suddenly hit the ponyfied gargoyle right in its stomach. The sudden attack made it lose its balance, just enough for Lightningbolt to deal another blow to its neck. The statue didn’t even flinch again.

It looked around, confused from being attacked in two different directions at the same time. Its curiosity was greeted with another black bolt, this time hitting its head, making stone chips whirl up all around it. The thing shook of the magic missile like it was a paper plane and charged against the unicorn instead. Deathoak quickly teleported behind it and tried some fireballs instead. He made a mental facepalm when he realized that fire against stone might not have been his brightest idea that evening...

Seeing its target suddenly disappear, the living statue stopped in the middle of the charge and began to look at the other ponies around it for another target to attack. The short second was all that Faceless needed. She wasn’t the fighter of the group, but she could handle a knife in situation like this. With a fast movement with her hoof, she pierced the walking monument’s left eye. She smiled with success as she felt her dagger penetrate the stone eye. But the joy was short lived.

Her opponent quickly turned around, still with her knife in its eye, and bucked her hard in the chest. The sound from something cracking echoed through the clearing, and Faceless collapsed shocked into the dirty mud. Satisfied of feeling that it had hit, the stone guardian turned around and looked down at Faceless, who was gasping for air.

“No!!”

Shadowblade began charging maniacally at the rock with his two swords high up in the air. His running style reminded Deathoak of an ape, and he held the two swords with his front hoofs like an ape too. The statue was lowering its head to deal the final blow to the light grey pony crawling around in the smudge, but before it could do anything else, the two steel swords cut swiftly through its horn. The horn fell decapitated to the ground, leaving the stone statue to piercing wildly in the air. Confused from the sudden loss of body part, the statue took some steps back. Shadowblade continued to deal rapid blows with his swords, but each hit only dealt a minor cutting mark at the stone hide. Eventually, the rock-unicorn recovered. It rose up on its back legs and started to sweep its fore hoofs around widely. Silenstword was hit by one and stumbled to not lose his balance.

The stone-monster saw its chance and headbutt the stumbling defender. Shadowblade fell cursing to the ground and with a quick roll, he evaded a heavy stomp that splashed up some mud to his face. He jumped back up again, just to be greeted with another headbash to his already mistreated face. He groaned and made a short jump backwards to distance himself from his enemy. Whatever it was it seemed impossible to take down.

He suddenly gasped!

Faceless!

She was defenseless now!

The rock seemed to have thought the same thing as it quickly turned around towards the helpless mare on the ground. Shadowblade tried to reach into melee again but he knew he would be too late. The thing rose up on its back hinds and stomped hard. Shadowblade looked away, preparing to hear the screams of the mare when her neck was being crushed by a pair of solid stone hoofs.

The scream never came.

He opened his eyes again. Faceless was gone, but the stone pony was still there, looking confused at the brown spot of mud where the mare should have been laying. Smacher joined the battle again, and this time, he mashed his weapon right into the ponies back. The thing found itself being sandwiched between the ground and the over-sized mace, and now it was it that was lying on the spot Faceless had been in for some seconds. Smacher continued to smash the stone thing, hitting it back to the ground every time it desperately tried to get up.

Shadowblade was pleased with the sight, but where was Faceless? He looked around, and to his relief, he found her standing up with Deathoak and Lightningbolt.

--

“Woa!” Lightningbolt looked impressed at Deathoak. Faceless was lying  on the ground, still in deep pain from being bucked hard by two large stones. “I knew you could teleport yourself but you can teleport others as well??”

“Yes I can!” Deathoak responded frustrated. “Please be quiet now, I must try to heal Faceless bon-“

He completely lost his speech when Faceless suddenly stood up, and started to brush of the mud from her cloak.

“I appreciate the offer, but I am completely fine thank you!” she said with her usual elegant voice.

Deathoak just stared.

“B-but you shouldn’t be fine!”  he eventually managed to say. “Even I, who stood all the way over here, heard clearly as your ribs broke!”

She giggled. “Hoho, whatever you heard my dare, I can assure you it was only the wind playing you a trick!” Faceless could swear that the black unicorn’s jaw would touch the ground.

“B-but…”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we have bigger probl-“ Lightningbolt looked over to the statue, just to find that it had turned to Smacher’s personal punching bag. “You know what, never mind!” She started walking towards the now immobilized enemy, curious as usual.

“I must say I’m equally interested as Lightningbolt to see what that thing was,” Faceless said and trotted after Lightninbolt with her head high up like somepony from the upper class.

T-that is just not normal, Landstrider thought before started to catch up with the rest of the group.

Smacher had stopped hitting the statue and was now examinee it closer. It was still in one piece (except for the horn), but its body was now filled with cracks and openings. It was staring aimlessly into nothing, moving less. A silent exhale of relief slipped out from everypony when they had accepted the fact that it was now dead.

Faceless pulled her knife away from the statue’s eye. “What exactly was that thing anyway?” she then asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m glad that it is dea-“ Lightningbolt swallowed her words when the crippled piece of art suddenly started move again.

“Get back!” Smacher screamed and raised his heavy mace again, but before he could land another devasting blow, a large dark-blue light flashed him, making him fumble around aimlessly. Everypony took a step back in confusion from the sudden light and when they got hold of themselves again, the statue was gone.

Before anypony had time to comment on this, Shadowblade was suddenly tackled from his left side and flung on the already confused Smacher. The stone pony quickly turned to the next closest pony, which was Lighntinbolt, and charged with its horn-less head lowered threatening. Lightninbolt dodged it.

“D-did it just teleport?” Deathoak asked confused as he watched Lightningbolt parry another charge from the stone guardian.

Shadowblade swore something again and got up in his hoofs. “Deathoak! How the hay do we take it down, since swords and maces do not work!”

The unicorn winced uncomfortable. “W-why would I know? I didn’t create this thing!”

“You are the only one of us familiar with magic, so you better start coming up with something!”

Another steel-to-stone noise echoed loudly as the fast mare dealt another blow to the unstoppable force. It had the same effect as the last time it was struck with a sword.

Deathoak closed his eyes to be able to concentrate better. “It definitely teleported, so it is not some kind of machine… And it isn’t an organic being either, since it wouldn’t be able to use magic without its horn…”

“Deathoak! We need to know how to stop it, not what it is!” Shadowblade shouted angry.

“G-guys, a little help here?” The living rock had started to shoot out dark-blue missiles out from the hole in the head, and Lightningbolt was losing ground quickly.

“Shut up! I’m thinking!” Deathoak groaned but he conjured a temporary barrier between Lightningbolt and the missile caster that gave the quick mare just enough time to close in melee again.

“…And because it isn’t organic, it must be supplied with magic energy in some other way… Yes, it would be possible to fill a gemstone with enough energy to make an object moveable, and with the right spell, it could easily be told to guard or kill somepony that tried to close in on the palace! Yes, it all makes sense! And I accidently activated its attacking mechanism when I pushed down that button!”

He turned back to Shadowblade. “Shadowblade! I think I know how we can defeat it!”

Shadowblade blocked a missile that the statue had accidently missed Lightningbolt with. “Do you care to tell us?”

“Listen very carefully: whatever that is, it is probably powered by a gemstone. The gemstone has limited energy charged in it, and that is why it only used it as a last resort! We can either force it to use up all its energy or we can find and destroy the gem. Forcing it to use its energy can be risky: we don’t know how much energy there is powering up this thing. It could also have several backup gems in case the active one runs out, so it could take up to days before it is completely  drained. And even if it does runs out of all its energy, it could be told to blow up itself just before it dies. No, I suggest we try to find and destroy the potential gems instead.”

“Where are these ‘gemstones’?”

He thought about it for a second. “Hmm, I would guess that whoever made that thing placed the gems in normally vital spots, like it was a real pony. Inside its head, or the heart I guess.”

“So head or heart?”

“Or it could be where magic is originally created in a unicorn, which is the horn, but since we have already cut it out…”

“Okay, Smacher, you got that?”

Smacher slammed his hoof against his chest and nodded eagerly.

Pleased with the answer, Shadowblade turned to Faceless. “You stay here. Your dagger will not be able to reach deep enough for the gems anyway.”

The mare made a slight nod. “Jag förstår,” she whispered softly. ”Var bara försiktig, okej?”

Shadowblade didn’t answer, but turned to Deathoak instead. “You! Can you with your magic somehow paralyze it or make it unable to move?”

“W-well I could try hold it in place, but depending on how much energy it has it would only be a matter of time before it breaks out again…”

“Alright, on my mark I want you to do just that! Alright everypony, move out!”

--

Lightningbolt panted heavily. It felt like the statues speed and strength grow for every attack she dodged or parried, and her counter attacks became less frequent for every second.  The red headed mare had been superior the solid-moving thing early in the battle, but now she felt like passing out from exhaustion. Her sword started to feel heavier than she remembered it being when she first bought it from the smith. She might be at a disadvantage but she wouldn't go down without a fight! Why weren’t the others helping her?

She lifted her weapon just in time to prevent a hoof striking her shoulder out of joint. The stone-pony recovered faster than she did this time, and she looked up just in time to see how the thing's head came smashing down into her upper torso. With a loud moan, she fell to the sticky mud and dropped the sword in pure confusion. But she knew she hadn't time to look for it now. She made a quick roll, dodging a stomp that would have pulverized her skull and looked up. The statue stood mighty before her, looking twice as large than it really was from her grounded point of view. Its vandalized face was determined, focused. It would kill her without a second thought, without a blink (could it blink even if it tried?). She knew she couldn't roll around forever. It would eventually get her, and that would be the end for Blaze Lightningbolt.

Despite it all, she couldn't help herself from laughing. She had heard so much about 'the-second-before-you-die' moments that she almost felt disappointed  that her life wasn't flashing by in front of her. The statue lifts its hooves up high, preparing to do the final stomp. She closed her eyes.

“DEATHOAK! NOW!”

The voice came from Shadowblade, and suddenly, a black aura surrounded the rock pony. Lightningbolt looked up confused, just in time to see Shadowblade leap out from nowhere and digging his steel swords deep inside the stone pony’s upper body.  The accuracy was frightening. If it had been a normal pony, it would now have found its heart had just been pierced. There was a second were nothing happened. The statue was completely still.

“I-is it dead?” Shadowblade asked.

“No, it is still struggling to break free from my spell! The gem must be inside his head then!”

Shadowblade nodded and tried to pull out his swords. Surprised, he almost fell of the pony's back when the swords didn't move an inch from its position.

They were stuck.

“Get off from that thing! I can’t hold it much longer!”

“Give me a second!” Shadowblade screamed as he made another desperate pull but giving the same result as before.

“Argh, he will be free in any second now…”

With those words, the black aura was replaced with a dark blue one and the statue pony began to kick widely in the air to get the intruder off its back. The fight turned into a rodeo festival, where Shadowblade desperate tried to hang on the mad architecture, as it swept up mud everywhere in its try to kick him off. Eventually, the thing succeeded, sending him flying several meters away, and the sword still in its back.

Shadowblade glared horrified as the pony approached him with his own weapons attached to its back. “Smacher!” he screamed commanding.

Not a moment too late, the strong pony swung his mace in a horizontal motion and hit the thing right on the spot he had hit it the first time. The hit made the earlier crack break open, and it forced the statue to take some steps back.

If Deathoak had found it creepy before, it was nothing compared to now. Out from the large gap on the statue's face was a dark blue light shining  brightly, and its other half of the face had so many cracks that it surely win second place in a “most wrinkles” competition. This, in addition to the two swords sticking out from its back, made the thing look like it just recently had jumped straight out from some horrifying alien fiction.

“That’s it! That’s the gem!” Deathoak shout, pointing at the glowing part of the statue.

Before anypony had time to answer, the thing started to shot out sparks from its entire body, sending out force waves that send the four ponies around him flying away from it. The dark aura intensified and formed a bubble around it, which gradually got bigger and bigger. Eventually, the sphere had grown three meters in diameter, and was still expanding. Everything the blob touched was consumed; mud, ground, stones, grass, everything. You could still see the statue standing inside the dark blue energy, but the flying materia clouded the vision.

“W-what does it do Deathoak?” Shadowblade asked, terrified at the sight. It wasn't many things he hadn't seen before, and that was one of them.

“I-I have no idea, but whatever it is I don’t wanna find out!”

Shadowblade grabbed his cloak tighter to his chest to endure the winds coming from the thing. “Take it down then! Shot it with that magic thing you had earlier, or I don’t care! Just take it down!”

Deathoak charged up some shoots but his black magic got easily washed away by the blue aura blub. His attacks attacks were equally useful as water hitting a fortress wall.

“I-I can’t reach it!” he whimpered as he desperate tried another spell that was equally inefficient.

Faceless and Lightningbolt had started to shower the blue orb with daggers, but they were blown away as they hit the magic. This was not good. Whatever it was doing, it was going to be huge. Deathoak saw no choice but to try to penetrate its soul.

If it had one.

He teleported to a safe distant and started to expand his mind. He went pass his fellow comrades and went inside magic ball surrounding the thing. As he unfortunately had expected, he found nothing. It had no soul. Well, that left him back with one option, and it would going to be dangerous...

He withdraws  back to his body and started immediately  to charge up the spell. He was putting all his energy in to this attack, and it would probably end his life in the progress. What he was trying to do was what he called a 'deathbeam'. Of course was it a spell he had invented himself, but that didn't make it original. He was certain that there were more 'refined' forms of the spell somewhere inside the Canterlot archives, but this was the best thing he could figure out on his own hoof. It was simply a beam of pure energy, and sending out such a concentrated beam of energy was dangerous, not only to the caster himself, but also to all ponies around. That is why he had called it 'deathbeam'. Ironically that one of his own spell would end up to be the thing that killed him...

Suddenly, the large blue aura around the statue disappeared. Surprised, Deathoak stopped power up for the 'deathbeam', and watched in shock as the statue collapsed in the middle of the scorched ground around it. The intense magic that had until recently surrounding the thing had disappeared under just a second. It was like somepony had turned off a switch. It was quite absurd. The swords still there Shadowblade had left them, and no pony really knew what to do or what to expect from this scene. Was it dead? Or was it a part of its spell?

Silent stepped out from a shadow and approached the laying monster on the ground. No pony said anything, as he crouched down and grabbed something from inside the things head. It looked like a broken crystal.

“H-he got the gemstone! He actually took the thing down!” Deathoak shouted out astonished. “H-how is that possible? And where have that guy been all the time?”

Shadowblade could give him at least one answer. “That is Silent’s why of fighting. He hides and waits until he sees the right time to strike, and when he does strike, it is a guarantee kill.”

Deathoak raised  an eyebrow at Shadowblade. “So you mean that while the rest of us are getting our flanks kicked, he sits in the background and relaxes??”

Deathoak received an angry glaze for that statement. “Let me remind you Deathoak that he is the one standing victoriously over the statue and not you! So before you spit out your insults you should try to be more efficient yourself!"

Shadowblade looked back at Silent. "We all have our roles in this group, and his role is not to fight in the frontline! Now, let’s go and see what really happened…” He started walking towards the fallen opponent, followed by Faceless and Smacher.

Lightningbolt had found her sword again and was giving Deathoak a friendly slam on his back. “Do not make Silent your enemy,” she whispered to him. “He is somepony you want on your side, if you know what I mean…”

Deathoak just muttered something irritated in return and caught up with the rest of the group.

Eventually, all members of the group were looking down at the broken statue. Its head was now empty, and the swords hadn’t moved an inch from the completely cracked back. It looked more like somepony had glued a lot of stones together more than an actually statue. It lied horribly still, and after having been fooled once by the lifeless monument, they were on high alert to not be that twice. Eventually, after having silently observed the thing for minutes, Shadowblade finally concluded what everypony had started to figure out.

"It is dead alright..." he said damped.

Almost robotic, everypony turned their head towards Silent. Their eyes begged him for an answer to this mystery. Without a word or emotion, Silent simply held forth the thing he had removed from the head to answer their hungry gazes. It was indeed a gemstone, and it was not the cheap stuff either. It was a crystal, the most valuable gemstone in Equestria and famous for its capability of storing large amount of energy at once. A rare item like this could almost only be found deep inside the Zebrarian deserts. Now, the pink jewel was utterly pierced by a weird looking piece of steel, making the precious stone as valuable as a rotten apple. The weapon that had pierced it, however, was the next thing that caught the ponies’  attention. It was not a knife or anything like a normal weapon ponies would use. It looked like a four-edged-star, were the edges were curved as swords and one of the edges were deep inside the middle of the gemstone. The other ponies in the group had no idea what it was, but Deathoak recognize the weapon immediately.

“It's... It’s really a…”

Silent removed the piece from the crystal and put it back in a hidden pocket in his cloak. He dropped the crystal itself, making it fall next to the fallen enemies scattered head.

“How did you get your hoofs on a magical weapon like that? Only goblins are able to make those things, and they live far beyond the jungles!!”

Silent ignored the question and started making his path towards the entrance. Deathoak just glared shocked after him.

“Is there anything special about those weird looking stars Silent is carrying? To me, it looks like a rather unpractical way to shape a dagger in,” Lightningbolt’s curious voice asked.

“It isn’t a dagger, it is a 'shuriken'. They are made from a special piece of steel called ‘goblin steel’, simply because only goblins can mine it. The steel is immune to all kinds of magic, making it cut through any barrier like it was thin air. That's why he managed to hit the thing when our daggers and spells just bounced away!”

Shadowblade gave Deathoak an interesting look. “We get some goblin traders from time to time up in Scardiva,” he explained. “They sell all sorts of weaponry, maybe I should pay one a visit once we get back home…”

“I am just glad that that dreadful thing finally is dead…” Faceless flipped he head over, making the non-broken side visible. "But I am not so pleased with our clothes being so dirty in the progress. Especially since I know who will be forced to wash the stains away from them afterwards..."

Lightningbolt completely ignored her whinning and picked up the crystal. "Heh, it must be a hay of a throw! Imagine hitting that little gap with a weird-shaped knife from that distance!" Lightningbolt pointed at the shadows Silent had emerged from earlier.

“Do not forget that we still have a mission. Everypony, get your stuffs and Smacher, pull back my swords. Then let’s move on to the door.”

The other agreed with Shadowblade. It would be a relief once they left that dead stone monster behind them... The swords were no match for Smacher, and Shadowblade took the lead as the ponies walked to the entrance.

But on their way there, Deathoak stopped.

“Go without me, I have a business to take care of.” He turned around towards the rune he had read earlier. As he thought, the black barrier he had created when he had accidently pushed down the button was still where he had left it. And just as before, there was a familiar tiny creature buzzing around in it, trying still to make an escape…

Suddenly, everypony jumped back startled from a loud sound of a big explosion right behind them. Several birds flew panicked away from the nearby tree, and the bushes around them rustled as scared mammals tried to make a run from the sound. They turned around alarmed, only to find Deathoak jumping joyfully skipping back to the group.

“Oh, don’t mind the explosion,” he said gaily. “I just said thanks to a little friend of mine for making me release that statue earlier…”

--

“Deathoak!”

“Yeye, I’m coming.”

The entrance was a normal sized stone door, with no pull or any other decoration. Next to it was that weird rune-script they had seen earlier. Deathoak translated.

“A princess is powerful enough to enter the temple.”

He went silent. The rest of the party waited impatiently for him to continue. Eventually, he turned back again.

“That’s it!”

Shadowblade looked skeptical at Deathoak. “Sure there is not more to it?”

“Nope!”

“Nothing about how we should get inside the temple or anything?”

“Not more than a princess seems to be able to get through somehow…”

There was a short second of silence.

“Lightningbolt, take a look around the temple for other clues or entrances.”

“Yes sir!” the mare said eagerly and after four brief seconds, she was back.

“There is only one door, and it is this one. The rest is just a long, boring wall.”

“Well, that wasn’t very helpful…” Faceless said.

Another second of silence.

“What do you think, Deathoak? You are the one reading the script,” Shadowblade eventually said.

The unicorn scratched his horn uncertain. “Well, it is pretty unclear to me… The script seems more like a statement than guidance…”

“I saw you teleport back in the fight,” Lightningbolt pointed out. “Can you not just teleport yourself inside?”

Deathoak shock his head. “No, Teleporting to distances you cannot see is extremely dangerous. If there is a wall or obstacle where I’m teleporting, the body parts that should have been where the obstacle is will not be teleported. For an example, if I teleport to a place that have a stone covering where my head should be, my body will be teleported but my head will be separated and left behind.”

Shadowblade groaned. “When intelligence fails, let the muscle talk. Smacher!”

“Yes?”

“Smash the door.”

“I was just waiting for you to say that!”

Smacher turned his back hoofs towards the door and bucked it heavily. Dust flew everywhere as the door collapsed from the blow, revealing a dark passage inside the temple.

“Nice kick Smacher!” Lightningbolt gave the large pony a quick slap on the back. He gave her a hidden smile before returning back to the end of the line.

Deathoak gasped. “Well, that was unexpectedly easy…” he said flabbergasted, but then the pieces fell to their right places.

“But of course! The script was not a statement, it was a challenge! The door was strong enough to withstand anything from a normal pony, but Smacher isn’t exactly a normal pony is he?”

Shadowblade shrugged his shoulders. “As long as we are inside, I do not care,” he said sarcastically and took a long look inside the temple. “We are going to need light if we are going to continue from here. Faceless, fetch me a torch from one of those trees-“

“Don’t worry, I got this!” The black unicorn interrupted and began light up the night with his horn.

Shadowblade looked surprised at the glowing horn. “Seems like that magic of yours have more usage then I thought…” he then said astonished.

Deathoak grinned. “Being a unicorn has its advantages,” he said, and took the lead inside.

The inside of the temple was narrow, and the walls were painted in a dark blue color on one of the side and light yellow on the other. Deathoak easily figured out they represented dawn and night, with other words Celestia and  Luna. He spit at the yellow side in disgrace.

The roof was colored green, and it was just high enough for Smacher to walk through without having to crouch. It was dark and dusty, and lonely spiders crawled between their hooves from time to time, searching for a good place to fetch their nets. Other than the large echoing from their steps, everything was silent.

Deathoak was for obvious reasons leading the group. It was in moments like these he wished he hadn’t had black as his natural energy. Now he was forced to manipulate the color of his light so it could actually shine in the darkness, instead of joining it. Right after him was Shadowblade, followed by Faceless, Lightningbolt, Smacher and Silent. The tension in the air was unmistakable. If they recently had been attacked by a ponyfied gargoyle, who knows what would be the next?

Eventually, the hall walls widened. Deathoak was forced to increase the strength of the illumination spell in order to light up the room they were in. The brighter light revealed a medium-sized room, leading to another corridor. The corridor walls were filled with strange-looking holes and in front of it was a stone with those weird letters on it. Deathoak got right on the job.

“The temple of Sheolx contains three tasks

To tell friend and foe apart

The first one lies before you

If you got wings, then you may pass

Otherwise turn back where you came from”

He looked back to the group of earth ponies that he was accompanied with. “Well, then we are screwed…” he said disappointed.

“Light up the next corridor,” Shadowblade ordered him.

He did, and the light showed that the corridor stretched some few meters straight forward before it turned right, and all the walls was still covered with those mysterious holes.

“It is obvious that those holes shot out daggers or something like it when you step on them,” Shadowblade said, almost disappointed that it wasn't anything harder. “Look now.”

He approached the corridor and without getting his body in line-of-sight of those holes, he touched one of the lime stones that were covering the corridor in front of them. As he had predicted, the limestone was pushed down, and several dark blue missiles came charging out from the holes just some feet away from the grey assassinator. He grinned.

“To obvious,” he said again. “Lightningbolt, you think you can run through all that?”

The red haired mare winched uncomfortable. She had had too much encounters with magic for one day, in her opinion, and she was still a little bit weary from the last fight. “Well, yes I suppose I can…” she said avoiding.

“Good, then jump right to it-“

“Wait, wait, wait!” Deathoak stepped in front of Lightningbolt before she could charge right in to the mass of arcane missiles. “Just after she reaches that corner, she would be running in complete dark! Remember that I’m the only light source here!”

Shadowblade nodded understanding. “Hmm, you are right… What do you propose?”

“I got the solution, just give me a second.”

Suddenly, Lightningbolt was surrounded with the black aura from Deathoak’s magic. Unease by magic in general, she took some steps back worried.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing dangerous,” Deathoak assured, as he filled the mare’s skin with his magic.

Slowly, the grey skin started to glow in a faint, white light. At first, it was almost unnoticed able, but the more Deathoak charged her, the brighter she glowed. Eventually, the grey mare alone out-lighted Deathoak’s own horn.

“Puh,” the unicorn panted tired when he find himself done.

The mare examined her body excited. Her tail, torso, back hinds… Everything was glowing! She felt like she had turned into a mini-sun, and it felt awesome!

“Woa! Cooool, I am shinning!”

“The spell only lasts for a couple of minutes, so you better start moving before it disappears,” he puffed out exhausted.

She took a longer look at her now glowing hoof and then looked back agitated at him. “This is so cool! Thanks Deathoak!”

“Just run!”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said and spurted out into the mysterious trap.

Just after the first steps she remembered why she had hesitated earlier. The missiles flew scarily close to her body, as she stepped on each new stone plate. She lost her concentration for a brief second, almost making her almost forgot that the corridor turned right just after some meters. In the last second, she managed to make the turn and the group lost sight of her as she continued to run through the hall way.

The magic danger whistled behind her, and some were so close that she could feel the wind from them pass by her flank. She looked up to calculate how long she would have to run, but she could only see as far as her glowing skin allowed her. Beyond that were only darkness. This corridor could be endless.

But after some seconds of running, she started to get used to it. After all, running was her special talent! The wind in her mane, the danger flying behind her, the challenge to reach the end before the light goes out… This was life! Not to mentioning her body was shinning! She couldn’t help enjoying it! Living dangerous was her middle name after all! Blaze ‘Dangerous’ Lightningbolt! Yea, it sounded pretty awesome…

Eventually, the hallway turned right again. She easily switched the running direction with a swagger snort. Is that all you got? She thought to the ceiling, like it was representing the temple. I could do this while I’m asleep!

She turned her look back to the path and gasped. She didn’t though there would be another right turn that short after the second! She tried to force her body to turn right, but she was unprepared. She slipped, but immediately managed regain her balance and continued to run down the hall. But the brief second of lost momentum was all the missiles needed. One flew right over her flank, grazing through her cloak. She bit her lip hard as she could feel the projectile burn her skin as it passed by. She had been lucky it hadn’t flied any lower.

She had built up her speed again, but she still felt like the missiles was flying pass her flank all the time. That burning heat from that last one seemed to be somehow spreading across her flank. She made a quick glance back to see what was going on with her butt when she suddenly let out a horrifying beep. Her cloak had caught fire, and was spreading down to her tail. She looked like she was farting out fire. She screamed.

The phrase ‘running like your tale is on fire’ suddenly seemed very suiting, as Lightningbolt galloped faster than she ever had done before. The endless hallway suddenly seemed more frustrating than a challenge as the smoke behind her began darkening her glowing skin. She made a short pray to the ancestors that the trap should soon end, and that she would survive it. Not for that she was very religious but she wanted to die honorably in a battle, and not in some lousy trap designed by some weirdo unicorns.

She cursed. She saw another turn approaching, this time to the left. Who knew how many more turns she would be forced to do? She started to feel the flames eat her skin, as her whole tail now had been burned off. If she wasn’t trying to put out the fire soon, she would burn to death.

She made the left turn, and suddenly, the walls ended. Just like that, the long, narrow corridor she had recently ran through, was now gone. Was the trap really over? She made another loud scream when the fire finally reached her flesh and started tormenting her. That was it: she would rather die from magic penetrating her skull than slowly burning to death.

She throws herself at the ground and started to roll around like she had been thought to do when she was a little filly. Luckily, the fire hadn’t grown too large, and she eventually managed to suffocate the flames before it spread to her legs. With an immense pain in her flank, she slowly rose up and realized to her surprise that her brain hadn't been penetrated by a magic missile. In fact, other than her backside, she was unscratched.

“Lightningbolt! Oh please Nightmare Moon make her answer!”

She recognized the echoing voice belonging to non-other than Deathoak.

“I am fine! My tail caught on fire but I managed to put it out!” she screamed back to Deathoak.

“Oh thank Nightmare Moon you are alr-”

“Lightningbolt, where are you now?”

The muffled voice was not hard to decipher as her captain.

“I do not know exactly…” She started to look around. She seemed to be in some kind of small room, and on the other side of it was a door. In front of the door were four levers and another of those stones with script on it.

“It seems like I am in some kind of room, and there is this weird rune script here again…”

She heard that the group mumbled amongst each other about what to do next. When they didn’t answer her immediately, she decided to explore the room some more.

The room was about the size of the earlier room before the corridor trap and the walls was painted in equally manners as the entrance hall had been- wait a second, what was that?

She walked closer to the thing sticking out of the wall. Her light revealed it to be another lever, and another script was next to it. She could hear the other ponies mumbling loud from here, like they were standing just behind that wall…

--

“So what do you suppose we do know, Shadowblade?” Faceless looked impatiently at the sitting stallion. “We can’t trick this trap without wings, and Lightningbolt have no clue what to do next…”

“Shut up, I am thinking!”

Faceless immediately cut it.

Smacher cleared his throat. “I could always smash down the walls…”

“And bring the whole place down? Are you stupid? We need to come up with something else…”

“There is one way I could try… But it’s a risky one…”

All attention turned to the black unicorn that had been quiet until then.

“I can localize where Lightningbolt is with a life-finding spell and then teleport us to her position. But as I said earlier, any tiny mistake with teleportation to places you cannot see is like rolling a dice…”

Nopony said anything as they waited for a response from their leader.

“You did a barrier earlier Deathoak,” he eventually said. “Do you think you could make another one for all of us so we could go through that mine field without getting hit by the missiles?”

“I could always try, but don’t think it’s going to work. As you said earlier: think from the builders’ perspective. If I would have made this trap with the intention to only let Pegasi go through it, I would have made something against magic users.”

“So teleportation is the only alternative then?”

“I’m afraid it is…”

Shadowblade slowly nodded. “Okay, do it.”

The unicorn closed his eyes and started to focus up the same spell he had used during the test of ability. He felt the surrounding ponies first, along with some insects hiding in the cracks of the old architecture. He widened his search, and to his surprise, he didn’t have to look for long.

He walked towards the right wall, the one with white coloring and touched the rough surface with his hoof. “She should be right behind this…”

As he spoke, the wall suddenly sank to the ground, making him jump back startled. On the other side of the new opening stood a familiar glowing pony, and waved happily to the group.

“Hi guys!” Lightningbolt’s grin widened when she saw their surprised faces.

“Um, what did you do Deathoak?” Shadowblade asked confused.

“I didn’t do anything, I have no idea what just happen…”

“Oh, I saw this lever and I heard that you guys were on the other side of this wall so I thought it was some kind of secret passage, and I was right!”

…

“Seems like our problems are solved then…” Faceless eventually concluded but then she let out a violently scream!

"W-what is it Faceless?" Lightningbolt asked as she saw that the mare's eyes were fixed on her.

"Y-your c-cloak..." Faceless could barely finish the sentence.

"Yea, I told you I accidently got on fire. But it is no problem right? You can always make me a new one right?" She took of her cloak and throw it over to Faceless. She caught it like she was catching her dead daughter.

"I-I have put so much effort in to this one..." she eventually said, almost like she was crying.

"But you can fix it right?" Lightningbolt asked again, this time emphasizing 'right'.

"We don't have time for this, everypony get to the next room," Shadowblade said impatient.

Lightningbolt waved them in, and everypony followed her into the new room except Faceless. She still held the piece of clothing in her hoofs.

"There is no use... Once a garment is burned, it will never get back its full graze..." Like she was letting go from the past, she dramatically throw the cloak away from her and followed the others inside the room.

Just at that moment everypony was inside, everything went suddenly dark.

“Aww,” Lightningbolt said disappointed as she noted that her skin wasn't glowing anymore.

Deathoak lit up the room the normal way and everypony looked around curiously.

“It looks like a mind game,” Smacher said after seeing the four levers.

“Let us not waste more time. Deathoak, get right to it.” The golden eyed pointed at the stone with the script on it.

Deathoak cleared his throat.

“The next task lies before you

But this time to test your knowledge

Read the question carefully and chose wisely

The right answer leads you to the next task

The wrong leads you to your doom

If you do not know what to do

The lever on the wall will let you home”

Deathoak looked up. “It must be that one you pulled,” he said and pointed at the down turned lever Lightningbolt had pushed.

“We are not stupid Deathoak, continue read,” Shadowblade said sarcastically.

With a sigh, he continued.

“The question follow as this:

A grip I got but still I use magic

A long life I have, but still I got perished

But not for my sins, but for my deeds

What am I?”

Lightningbolt was the first one to respond. “What the hay is that for a question?” she asked annoyed. “That is not even a proper question!”

Deathoak walked over to the four levers. “Let’s check the alternatives before we assume anything,” he said while observing the levers more closely.

Each lever had a symbol carved above them, each representing different species. He deciphered them as he passed by. “Alicon… Dwarf… Elf… And Human.”

“What the hay? The answers are even weirder than the question.” Lightning looked frustrated at the group. “Are not humans from those bed time stories when you were a filly? And what the hay is a ‘dwarf’ and an ‘elf’? It makes no sense!”

“Dwarves and elves are both races that are now extinct. As for the humans, they are also extinct but they lived on much further than the two others,” Shadowblade explained annoyed to the young mare.

“But why is…”

“If anypony actually has something descent to say, then say it, otherwise shut up! Or even better: translate to Smacher what we all are saying instead of whining Lightningbolt. Then you can actually be to some use...”

“Well, it cannot be the Alicorn, because they have no grip…” Faceless said.

“I agree," Shadowblade said, a little bit calmer than before. "That leaves us to the Human, Elf and the Dwarf… Humans and Elves were known to have sorceress but not the dwarves, so I think we should count them out as well…”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about,” Deathoak interrupted. “It is true that Dwarves couldn’t cast magic but they were definitely using magic. The way they enchanted their buildings and armors is still a mystery for today’s unicorns.”

Shadowblade looked at Deathoak. “…so we should not exclude dwarves?”

“The script clearly says ‘I still use magic’, not ‘I still cast magic’, so no, we should not exclude Dwarves from the right conclusion.”

Shadowblade thought it through before nodding in agreement.

“Fine, let’s move on to the next line: ‘A long life I have, but still I got perished’. Well, all three are ‘perished’ now but only elves and dwarves were known for their long lives…”

“Yes, elves were immortal just like alicorns, and dwarves have around 10 times as long lives as ponies have. Humans on the other hoof only lived to their eighties.”

“So it is up between the elves and the dwarves then?”

“That seems like a logical assumption…” Faceless said.

“Okay. ‘But not for my sins, but for my deeds’… I assume they are talking about how they got extinct?”

Deathoak nodded. “Yes, I would guess that too.”

“So… Elves got exterminated in a war right?”

“Yes, a war against the apes. When they knew they would lose, they made a powerful curse that made the apes unable to march into their lands. But in return, they had to sacrifice themselves.”

“And how did the dwarves die out?”

The unicorn searched through his memories for any information regarding the case but he couldn’t find anything. “I-I’m not sure…”

“They died in a volcano eruption,” Faceless suddenly said. “They dug to close to a volcano and accidently broke up a lava bunker that flooded them away. Pitiful death, if you ask me!”

A volcano eruption? Deathoak couldn’t admit he had heard about it before…

“Well, in that case, the answer is the weird dwarves!” Lightningbolt quickly dashed over to the four levers. “I want to pull the lever! Which one is it?”

It took a breath before Deathoak had realized that the burned mare had asked him a question. “Um- it is that one.” He pointed at the second lever from the right.

“This one?” She placed her hoofs eagerly around its handle.

“Yes, that one.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay then, here we g-“

“WAIT!”

Lightningbolt stumbled and fell face first to the ground, without switching the lever.

“Something is not right here…” Shadowblade said and lightened up his pipe.

“What do you mean? I thought we had figured it out?” Lightningbolt said disappointed.

He ignored her. “Deathoak, when do you think this temple was built?”

Confused, Deathoak considered the information he had been given throughout the evening to form a conclusion. “Hmm, not before year 0 B.P (before princesses) I would guess based on what the scripts have said so far but not after 1000 A.P (after princesses) because of the fact that the language the script is written in is basically eradicated during the start of the first millennium.”

Shadowblade looked annoyed at the Equetrian. “Deathoak, not in Equestria’s stupid timeline. How many years since the foundation of Scardiva?” he then said frustrated.

The unicorn’s eyes began to dangle back and forth. “Um…”

“The poor thing is talking about year 3568 to year 4568 dear, don’t push him to say something he understandingly have no idea the answer to.” Faceless had came to Deathoak’s rescue, but how could she know the exact date? It seems like Faceless is more educated than he thought a Scardivarian pony could be…

“Right, thank you Faceless, and when was the dwarves exterminated?”

“Um, if I remember it right, it was…” The mare suddenly gasped. “…during year 3897…”

Deathoak winched astounded. “So that means…”

“…That the dwarves might not have been ‘perished’ during the time this temple was build, which in turn makes the elves the correct answer, yes.”

Everypony suddenly jumped backwards when the only pony that hadn't said anything yet in the group (except Silent) spoke up.

“But what about the last line? If we assume this was written after the dwarves extinct, isn’t war a more ‘sinful’ deed than an accident?” Smacher asked puzzled.

“Yes, you are right Smacher, we must look at all the alternatives,” their chief said with a smile. “But Deathoak, tell us why the war started.”

Deathoak looked confused. “Because the apes tried to expand their territory…”

“And why did the elves decided to sacrifice themselves?”

Deathoak gasped. He had a feeling were this was going. “They did it to protect the forest's animals!”

“Yes, not so sinful now was it? And Faceless, why did the dwarves dig so close to a volcano? As experts in mining, would they not know it would be too dangerous to go so deep into a volcano, hmm?”

“They- they did it because they had detected some kind of large diamond there!”

“Greed… How sinful is not that?”

“So you mean that elves are the answer?”

Shadowblade nodded.

“Are you absolutely sure about this? Just a second ago, we were about to pull for dwarves…”

The scarred pony gave Deathoak a stern look.

“YOU were about to pull for the dwarves! I never said anything even close that dwarves were the right answer! My decision is final! Now, pull the lever for the lever that represents the elves.”

“Oh, oh!” Lightningbolt said excited and was suddenly back on the spot. “Which one is it? Which one is it?”

Deathoak sighed and pointed to the second lever from the left. “But before you pull…" Deathoak turned back to Shadowblade. "I’m not trying to be rude or anything Shadowblade, but with all due respect I hope you have thought about this twice.”

“Deathoak, I always double think every decision I do. Lightningbolt, pull the switch.”

“Will do boss!” she said exhilarated and before Deathoak could argue any further, the lever was already turned to the other side.

Suddenly, the door in the room sank down to the ground, revealing a new room behind it.

“Seems like Shadowblade was right after all!” Lightningbolt said and rushed into the next room. The rest of the ponies followed her, except for Deathoak. He was still stunned from the thought of how close they had been from pulling the wrong switch. His black face turned absurdly white.

“Never questioning my decisions again,” Shadowblade whispered, as he passed him into the next room.

--

When their walking candle eventually light up the room, everypony gasped in chorus. Just some steps away from them were a pillar sticking out from the ground, and on top laid a very desirable stone…

“It-it is it, isn’t it?” Faceless stuttered out in her astonishment.

“Last pony there is a retarded ape!” Lightningbolt suddenly shouted out and charged at the stone lectern.

Shadowblade tried to catch the mare’s tail only to remember that it had been burned off. “Lightningbolt wait!” he screamed but it was already too late.

Suddenly, Lightningbolt abruptly stopped like she had ran into a wall and she was flung back to the entrance were she had came from. She made a double spin in the air and fell flat on her stomach.

“Ouf…” she cried out.

She hadn’t much time to recover before Sahdowblade violently grabbed her by her throat.

“Are you crazy? You could have get us all killed! There is still one task to complete, don’t you remember?” he said furiously.

The mare didn’t answer.

He dropped her and looked around for the next stone with script on it. As he had predicted, the rune stood some meters in front of their target.

“Deathoak, what does it say?”

With a quick teleport, Deathoak was in front of the tablet and began the usual procedure:

“’You have come far

And your eagerness is astounding

This last task will hopefully be easy

If your mind is clear

And your heart is pure

No problem should you have, in taking the ball

However, if you are here for greed and chaos

Out from your reach, the ball will be”

When he was done, everypony sucked on the words for a moment. Nopony really knew what to make out from the script.

But suddenly, Shadowblade began to laugh. He laughed loudly and long, and his snickering was bouncing between the walls, amplifying the impression that he was a madman. The laugh was a combination of darkness and amusement. It made everypony in the group shiver. Eventually, his crazy laughter turned to just some slight giggling.

“How ironic,” he said, still panting from the laugh-attack. “No one of us can take the ball, despite all the efforts we have done to get here.” The ponies looked shocked at what their leader just had said.

“I-I beg your pardon?” Faceless eventually said.

“Oh, but can you not see it?” Shadowblade walked towards the stone and tried to reach for it, but his hoof bounced off as he closed in on it, like something invisible was shooting it back.

“It is useless! Anypony, be my guest! The first pony that lays his or her hoof on the stone gets a wish something. Anything in my power, I will grant to you in return for the stone. Good luck!” He sat down next to a wall and reached for his pipe once again.

The other ponies looked confused at each other. This behavior was not the Shadowblade any of them knew.

“What are you waiting for? That the stone will magically be put into your mouth? Come on, get to work!”

“Okay, I try first…” Deathoak said and slowly began to walk towards the stone. Some meters away from it, however, he collided with something, and was forced to take a step back. He put forth his hoof and touched some kind of invisible wall surrounding the pillar. It felt like… gummy. As he tried to push deeper into the wall, it curved inwards, and its resistance got stronger the further Deathoak penetrated it.

“It is some kind of magical barrier…” he eventually noted.

“That thing just sent me flying! Why does it not do the same to you?” Lightningbolt asked annoyed.

“I do not know, but I have a theory…”

He charged up a magic missile and launched it against the invisible barrier. As he had predicted, it only bounced away, hitting the ceiling and blowing up some dust.

“I think the barrier shoots back anything that comes in contact with it. It is a darn hard spell to make, but it is possible.”

“Get away my way,” a grumpy voice suddenly said, and Deathoak barely managed to step aside before a heavy mace came smashing down against the wall. The wall sent the weapon flying with even greater velocity than Lightningbolt earlier, and it ended up making a large crack on the wall.

“Are you stupid?” Deathoak asked shocked. “It doesn’t work that way! It will only send your attacks back at you!”

Smacher looked irritated at the tiny black unicorn. “Me not like your voice,” he then said, before stomping after his mace.

“So you mean that everything we do will be sent back at us?” Faceless asked more politely.

“Pretty much, yes. Unless we meet the right requirements.”

“And those are?”

“Didn’t you hear what I read some minutes ago? ‘If your mind is pure

And your heart is clean

No problem should you have, in taking the ball’

It is that simple!”

Laughter rose from the wall again, as Shadowblade almost choke on his pipe from his snickering.

“Oh, do not mind me. Hrmh, please continue,” he eventually said after he had recovered.

Annoyed, Deathoak turned back to Faceless. “So we simply need to crack the puzzle, and then we would be able to break the barrier!”

“You mean like Silent is doing right now?” Lightningbolt said and pointed towards the quiet pony, standing were the barrier should be and his sword was a long way inside where it should be impossible to be.

“How- Oh right, goblin steel!” Deathoak said. “Haha, way to go Silent!” Silent didn't pay him any attention as he continued to cut through the barrier.

Even Shadowblade observed with great interest.

Silent slowly swept his sword amongst the barrier, creating a hole big enough for a pony to climb in. When he was satisfied, he sheeted his sword and took a big step inside the predicted hole in the invisible wall.

Only to be pushed out the second after.

Everypony went silent. Deathoak walked closer to the intended 'gap' and felt his hoof along the wall. He managed to feel the hole Silent had made for just a second before it magically closed again. "I think its somehow regenerating," he then explained to the others.

“Haha, not even Silent knows a way in, that shows how screwed we all are,” Shadowblade said teasing.

After having concluded his theory, Deathoak looked annoyed at the sitting pony. “Alright, that's it. Tell us why you are so certain that none of us will reach the stone!”

“Hmhm, can you not figure that out yourself?”

Muttering, Deathoak repeated the riddle in his mind.

If your mind is clear

And your heart is pure

No problem should you have, in taking the ball

However, if you are here for greed and chaos

Out from your reach, the ball will be…

“You mean that our motives are greedy and that is why we can’t reach the ball?” Deathoak asked.

“No, no, not at all! Rather the opposite: we are here to fetch it for somepony else, is not that considered quite generous?”

“Mind is pure and heart is clean… I’m afraid I can’t say that I can figure this out…”

“Oh, but please Deathoak! Name one pony in here that have not another pony’s blood on their hoofs? Even if we do it for a good cause, our heart will still be far from pure! We won’t be able to reach it because deep inside, we are quite evil.”

A creepy silence swept through the group. It was not an awkward silence. It was the silence a criminal makes when he just realize that his simple robbery had accidently turned into a murderer. The soft puffs from Shadowblade’s pipe were the only sounds that filled the room.

“So… You are just going to give up?” Deathoak eventually said puzzled.

Shadowblade slipped out a muffled laugh. “You do not know me very well Deathoak, do you? I never give up. We simply have to find somepony else to do it for us. Somepony that is ‘kind’ enough to help us. Somepony with a clear mind and a clean heart. Shouldn't be too hard, we are after all in Equestria, 'the land of harmony'.” The last three words came out more as a mocking than a statement.

The group looked even more confused now than they were looking before. “Where do you suggest we find this… ‘kind’ pony of yours?” Faceless asked.

Shadowblade grinned evilly.

“Deathoak, did you not say before that there was a village named ‘Ponyville’ around these parts?”