The cave didn't look so special. It was only a dark, smelly tunnel with a small pool of light green water that matched the color of Blaze's magic aura.
"Do not look away from the water. If you do, you will automatically fail. Do you understand?" Ruin informed the two.
"Yes, sir." Blizzard replied. "But may I ask, why is this place called the Silent Cave?" Ruin simply laughed at his question, but then again, Blizzard never really got to study changeling history.
"Ah ha ha ha! This is called the Silent Cave because this is the exact location where the first changeling hatched. When he, or she, I don't know the gender- hatched, the shell dissolved into a liquid that formed this pool." Blizzard shuddered in disgust. So, basically, this was changeling goop. Bleh.
"So, um, what happens when we 'stare deep into the pool of dissolved eggshell'?" Blaze asked. This took Ruin some time to think. After a while, he finally spoke. "My darling, I must go as far to say that I have absolutely no idea. But now, you're about to figure out." He smiled evilly as he left the cave.

Blaze was the first to step up to the edge of the pool. Blizzard was a little hesitant, but went up to the edge with her. The air around was thick with the smell of poison. Blizzard had no idea what this test was even about. Was it on algebra? Or maybe changeling history? He was clueless.
Blizzard looked over to Blaze as she was carefully eyeing the acidic water. There was an unsure look she held in her eyes.
"I don't know about this..." She said.
"You'll do fine. It's probably just some 'magical exam' we have to pass. Even if I fail, Chrysalis probably won't kill us. She needs us too much to do that." Blaze looked up to Blizzard.
"I noticed how you said 'I' instead of 'we.'" She said to him. "But, you won't fail either. I know you'll pass this time." She smiled at him as she went back to her spot on the ledge. Blizzard suddenly felt like he was going to pass out. He always knew Blaze was beautiful, but this time, he felt something he had never felt before. Maybe it was because he was getting older, or that he was too dumb to realize now that he had a huge crush on the pony he spent his entire life with. His mind was lost in thought until Blaze snapped him out of it.
"You okay? Don't wanna puke again like you did before the last test."
"I'm fine. You ready for 'the most important test of our lives?'" Blizzard asked her. Blaze simply replied,
"I've been ready for like, five minutes. So go to your side. I'll see you in an hour."

Blizzard looked down at the green goop. He was sure he'd fall in and die. This just made him worry more. He unfolded his wings to catch him in case he did manage to slip on the excessively smooth stone. After a few reassuring moments, he looked below at the pool.

The first thing Blizzard saw was some sort of dream-like vision. It showed him and Blaze when they were barely able to talk. Everything seemed cheery, until a blob of black goo came up and swallowed the two foals whole. Blizzard tried not to look away. It's just a vision, he told himself, it can't hurt me. The next scene showed a more mature looking Blizzard leading an army of changelings straight at a large city with millions of ponies like him being crushed and injured. The worst part was, he didn't even stop to help one of them. What was he doing, killing off his own species? For what? The vision quickly changed once again. Now, it showed him as a happy stallion, enjoying the towns and cities with, guess who, his beloved Bright Blaze. Nothing changed into a scary scene, or of him being killed by something. It was all nice and sunny. Just like it should be. When the vision faded, Blizzard relaxed a little. He didn't know if the test was done, and he didn't dare to look away. He just sat there, staring at the disgusting pool for longer than he can remember. It was only until he heard a strange gurgling from the water that he snapped out of his trance. He immediately took off, still looking at the blob of rising goo. He flew as fast as he could when he was flying backwards. He wasn't going to fail this test. But he wasn't sure if was going to survive the tsunami of acid anyway.

A fearful thought struck Blizzard- where was Blaze? He had to find her, and save her from this terror at all costs. Then she'd finally see that he's not useless, and they'd live happily ever after. Wait, no. They'd still live in the stinking caves, still to be used as weapons, and eventually, they'll both die here. But for now, he wanted to stay alive as long as possible. Blizzard pushed himself through the horrible blob, straining his body to move faster. It was only for another ten seconds that he got out. He didn't look away. He was still in the game. But knowing what he had to do, he rushed over to the area where Blaze was. He hoped she wasn't there, that someone like Ruin had saved her. Even knowing this, Blizzard carried on. Just about when he reached her ledge, he felt a huge impact on the back of his head, and then he blacked out.

"Wake up, loser. You managed to fail, once again. Even when we threatened to kill you, you failed. You fell for the vision that we had generated. You FAILED." Blizzard shot up from his spot on the cold stone. Ruin was standing over him, with a very disappointed expression. Blizzard took a moment of silence to process what had happened. If he simply woke up, then it must have been a very realistic dream.
"What, I- I failed again? Bu- but I didn't look away from the goo and-" he was cut off by Ruin.
"You FAILED because you didn't ESCAPE the tsunami. If you're going to survive, you need to keep going, keep moving on. What if Blaze was already out there, waiting for you? Huh? What would happen?"
Blizzard could only think about Blaze at the moment. Ruin carried on with his nagging, but Blizzard didn't listen. Where was she? What mattered more was, how would she react to him failing again?

Author's Note

I know im doing short chapters, ya ya ya. but i dont have a lot of time on my hands these days, ya know, cuz i have to go to school and all. so anywayzzzzzzz this is so far my longest chapter, which also reveals that Blizzard likes Blaze. No, really? i never would have guessed.