Heights
The black water had remained undisturbed for ages beyond counting. It appeared to be a sheet of glass across the ground, barring entry into the cavern. It sat there in perfect stillness and lonesome silence, without so much as even a fish swimming beneath its surface.
Slowly, a single bubble rose up, breaking the profound tranquility. It breached the surface and popped. The sound, barely above a whisper, echoed fiercely throughout the underground cave. It was soon joined by another as more bubbles rose to the surface, rupturing the water’s calmness.
Then the water broke as a head burst through it. Water splashed everywhere, touching the walls and ceiling of the small cave as the pony gasped for breath. She floated there for a second, savoring the air, before her eyes looked back down into the darkness. She took a deep breath and dove back under the surface.
Moments later she returned, but this time she wasn’t alone. She pulled another pony up above the water, and she too gasped for breath. The second pony began coughing violently as she struggled to breathe, and the first pony had to help her swim toward the edge of the pool.
The two ponies reached the edge and crawled out of the water. They took a few stumbling steps, and then they both collapsed on their backs. They sucked in as much of the stale air as they could while they stared up at the ceiling.
“You…you do that…for a living?” the second pony asked. “You’re…insane, Sea Swirl.”
“I…I don’t…usually,” Sea Swirl swallowed once and closed her eyes. “I don’t…usually dive that…deep, Symphony.”
After another few minutes of simply catching their breaths and allowing their eyes to adjust to the dimness, the two ponies stood up and took stalk of their equipment. Sea Swirl had insisted that they travel on the light side, because even with her magic, swimming in deep water with heavy gear was never a good idea.
Sea Swirl’s dagger was still clasped around her waist, along with her bag of herbs and flasks. Her grey robes were soaking wet and she could feel them hanging off of her as she stood. She were going to need to find some place to dry off, because there was no way she was going to be able to explore the sunken kingdom like this.
Symphony had it worse though. She was clad in knight armor, and because of that, her swim had been even more trying. While her clothes weren’t soaked, water had seeped into the plates of her armor and would no doubt remain there, slowly chafing her fur unless she took it off and dried it out. The same went for her sword. She would need to dry out its scabbard; otherwise she wouldn’t be able to draw it quickly if things went bad.
“Where’s the light coming from?” Symphony asked as she pulled off her helmet. She shook her head a few times and her purple mane splashed water everywhere.
Sea Swirl blinked a few times and wiped her face as some of the water hit her. “What light?” she asked.
“Sea Swirl, we are who-knows-how-far under ground and you’re not casting any spells.” The yellow Earth pony pointed at Sea Swirl dormant horn. “And yet, there’s a faint light filling this cave. That shouldn’t be possible.”
Sea Swirl blinked her raspberry eyes again, this time in surprise. Sure enough, there was a pale glow filling the cave. It clung to everything like a sickness, and it made Symphony appear ill to Sea Swirl’s eyes. She suspected that she didn’t look any better, what with her drenched appearance and haggard breathing.
“I have no idea,” the Unicorn said. “But it’s coming from that direction. Let’s go.” Without saying another word, she began to follow the light down the small tunnel, leaving the pool of water behind. Her hooves sloshed in her boots with every step and she had half a mind to take them off, but she didn’t like the idea of carrying them around until they found a good place to start a fire.
Symphony walked up next to her, her armor clanking in a strange way because of the water. “So, I take it this means the legend is true?”
“Not really,” Sea Swirl replied. “All we’ve found is some underground cave system. That doesn’t mean that Shulva or its lost treasures are real. There are tons of underwater caves throughout the land. We could…”
Sea Swirl trailed off as they turned a corner.
“Still having doubts?” Symphony whispered.
The two ponies had exited the small tunnel and were now gazing at what could only be the remains of the legendary lost city. The saw hints of crumbled buildings scattered throughout the massive cavern, and gushing waterfalls spilled into the place from the ceiling high above. A temple was off in the distance, and even though it was the tallest building either pony had ever seen, it did not even come close to touching the ceiling above. The light that they had been following seemed to pour out of the rock and stone around them, only it was much brighter now. No longer did things look like they were cast in a mild sickness. Instead, everything appeared haunted by the ghosts of all the ponies that had died when the city was lost.
“I feel…uneasy about this,” Symphony said in a whisper. “Like we shouldn’t be here.”
Sea Swirl agreed, but her curiosity refused to back down. “We’ll just have a quick look around. If the city’s real, then maybe the treasures are too.”
“And the dragon,” Symphony said darkly. “You know, the thing that caused all of this.”
“Come on, Symphony,” Sea Swirl said, as much for the mare’s benefit as her own. “Where’s your sense of adventure? We’re the first ponies to set hoof here in forever.”
“My sense of adventure does not overrule my common sense, unlike yours.” She patted the sword on her hip and narrowed her cerulean eyes. “That’s why I brought this.”
“Yeah, never hurts to come prepared,” Sea Swirl said with a smile, but she was comforted by the weight of her own weapon. She wasn’t nearly as skilled at fighting as Symphony, but she was still decent with her dagger. Plus, she had her magic. Between the two of them, they could deal with whatever they ran up against.
The two ponies carefully began to make their way down the path that would lead them into the city. While Sea Swirl’s water-soaked apparel made slogging water sounds every time she stepped, she was nowhere near as loud as Symphony. Each step she took caused her armor’s clanking to echo everywhere. Usually the noise didn’t bother Sea Swirl, but with just the two of them alone in such a vast place, she heard every single sound with painful clarity. In fact, she was so focused on the noise that she instantly turned around when the clanking stopped.
“What is—?”
“Ssh!” Symphony hissed as she put her hoof to her mouth. “Listen.”
Sea Swirl snapped her mouth shut and strained her ears. She heard the sound that Symphony was talking about. A deep, slow breathing was echoing through the cavern. It sounded like a growl whenever a breath was exhaled and it caused every rational thought in Sea Swirl’s mind to scream to turn back.
But once again, the Unicorn couldn’t resist.
Slowly, cursing her wet robes with every step, Sea Swirl crept forward along the path. The breathing only grew louder, and as she approached a bend in the path, the air began to gently rush past her face every few seconds, and then a foul stench reached her nostrils. Before she even turned the corner, she suspected what was waiting for her, but her mind told her it wasn’t possible. There as no way anything could still be alive after so long.
Sea Swirl turned the bend in the path and froze. There before her was a dragon. It was stone grey and bigger than any Sea Swirl had ever seen. It had massive horns on its head and its leathery, stone-looking wings were folded around itself. Its mouth was partly open and she could see its razor-sharp fangs, each one longer than her entire body. She wanted to turn around and run, but she couldn’t. Her legs refused to move out of sheer terror.
Sinh, the dragon that had inspired Shulva to be built, and had brought it to ruin as well. A beast straight out of the ancient legends, and it was sleeping right in front of her.
Sea Swirl’s mind would have drowned in fear, but her eyes noticed something strange. A giant spear was stuck in the dragon’s shoulder. The thing was massive, at least twice as big as a normal spear, and the implications of it baffled her so much that her fear left her. How had the dragon survived such a wound, and more importantly, how had any living thing managed to wield such a weapon?
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Sea Swirl’s eyes went wide as the sound reached her ears. She immediately spun around, but it was too late. Symphony had already caught up with her, her armor once again echoing throughout the cavern.
The echo was quickly drowned out by a low grumble and Sea Swirl froze. She heard the sound of shifting stone and felt air rushing past her. Symphony stood in front of her, but the Earth pony’s gaze was transfixed above Sea Swirl’s head. Sea Swirl closed her eyes and waited for the jaws to snap her in two, but the blow never came. Instead, a roar deafened her and she staggered forward from the blast of air. She slammed into Symphony and the Earth pony caught her with one hoof, but her gaze never faltered from where she was looking.
As Sea Swirl stayed in Symphony’s grasp, she finally managed to turn her gaze back to the Sinh.
The dragon was huge, even bigger than Sea Swirl has first thought. It spread its wings to their full length and beat the air, whipping Sea Swirl’s wet robes against her skin and chilling her to the bone. It looked down at the two ponies with piercing eyes and let out another terrifying roar as it thrust its head at them, but instead of delivering the killing blow, it took to the air. Rocks tumbled down from its resting place and fell from its body, and with a mighty flap of its wings, it turned and flew off toward the temple in the middle of the ruins.
“You’re shaking,” Symphony whispered after a while.
Sea Swirl didn’t even bother denying it. She simply stayed in Symphony’s embrace for a lifetime, listening to her pulse beat in her head and trying to slow the pounding blood in her veins.
“H-How?” the Unicorn stammered. “He…he should be dead.”
“Dragons live for at least a thousand years,” Symphony said calmly. Sea Swirl noticed that she still hadn’t released her and she couldn’t help but smile.
“But Shulva was lost eons ago,” Sea Swirl replied. “Plus, did you see that spear? Nothing should be able to survive a wound like that!”
“Now do you agree that we shouldn’t be here?”
“Yeah,” Sea Swirl said, reluctantly pulling herself out of Symphony’s embrace. “Let’s head back before that dragon comes looking for a snack.”
“He is probably starving,” Symphony said.
Sea Swirl looked at her in shock. “Did you…just make a joke?”
“No,” Symphony said, but Sea Swirl saw the hint of a grin on her companion’s lips.
The two ponies walked back up the pathway, but their hopes of escape were instantly crushed. A landslide, no doubt caused by Sinh’s violent waking, had blocked their way out of the city. They were now trapped in Shulva.
“That’s bad,” Sea Swirl said as she stared at the rocks. “What should we—hey! Where are you going?”
Symphony was walking back down the path. “To find a place to set up camp, so to speak. I need to dry out my armor and fur, and I’m betting those robes you’re wearing are starting to get pretty chilly.”
Sea Swirl noticed that her teeth were starting to chatter from the cold. Symphony was right. She quickly trotted down the path to catch up with her and the two ponies continued to make their way into the ruined city.
After a few minutes of walking down the path, they came across yet another thing that defied all reason. A small bonfire was burning in the middle of the path. There was a rod plunged into the middle of the gentle flames and bones appeared to be the fire’s fuel, but the warm light it offered was immediately comforting. Without thinking, the two ponies walked over to it and sat down.
“I think it’s best not to think too much about this,” Sea Swirl said. She pulled off her robes and boots and set them closer to the bonfire. As she did, she felt the warmth of the flames rush into her hooves. She sighed in comfort, allowing the warmth to soak into her body.
“We just saw a dragon that by all rights should be dead,” Symphony replied as she peeled off her armor. Sea Swirl tried not to stare, but she couldn’t help it. “A fire made of bones does not seem so strange in comparison. There’s a strange magic to this place, I think. Maybe Shulva was meant to stay lost.” She also set her armor closer to the fire and then tucked her hooves under her stomach and gazed into the flames.
Sea Swirl casually moved closer to the Earth pony. Without her armor, Sea Swirl was reminded of how beautiful Symphony was. Her coat was a soothing shade of yellow. Her mane and her tail were a royal purple, with long waves and luscious curls running through them. Her crystal cerulean eyes were half closed like usual, giving her that air of nobility that sent goose bumps up Sea Swirl’s spine.
“Too bad you don’t have your violin,” Sea Swirl said as her gaze drifted down to Symphony’s flank and her eighth note cutie mark. “I bet the sound would carry pretty well in this place.”
“And no doubt bring that dragon back,” Symphony said darkly.
Sea Swirl stopped moving closer and hung her head. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” She began to stare into the dancing flames too.
“Still,” Symphony said suddenly, and Sea Swirl snapped out of her trance to find that the Earth pony was now sitting right next to her. “You are probably right. The sound would no doubt be amazing in this place, and we could certainly use something to take our minds off of this situation.”
Sea Swirl smiled. “Yeah…”
The two ponies sat in silence as they stared into the flames. Sea Swirl’s eyes grew heavy and her head began to drift forward. She was sure she was about to nodded off when she saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. She snapped awake, afraid that the dragon had returned, but what she saw was much stranger.
“Symphony, are you—”
“Yes,” Symphony said in a hushed voice.
What Sea Swirl could only describe as phantoms were beginning to appear before their eyes. They were wispy in appearance, as though they were made of mist and smoke. Slowly, the smoke began to take the forms of ponies. They were all clad in strange armor, and some wielded giant maces while Unicorns levitated two swords. They all stood on the pathway, staring at Sea Swirl and Symphony, but Sea Swirl doubted that the phantoms saw them.
Suddenly, an arrow appeared from the smoke and sank into the neck of one of the phantoms. It sank to the ground and vanished in a swirl of smoke. The other phantoms broke into a charge, rushing up the path with raised weapons and silent battle cries.
Sea Swirl instantly jumped to her hooves and readied her magic, but the phantoms vanished the moment she moved. She looked to her left and saw that Symphony was standing as well, her sword gripped in her mouth and ready to strike.
“What was that?” Symphony asked as she put her sword back in its scabbard.
Sea Swirl looked at the bones in the fire and a chill ran up her spine. “Whatever it was, I don’t think we should linger here any longer. Come on, our stuff should be dry by now. “ Sea Swirl didn’t believe that was true, since they had only been sitting at the fire for a few minutes, but the thought of spending any more time near it made her uneasy. She picked up her robes with her magic and began to put them on. She was pleasantly surprised to find that they were completely dry. She slipped her boots on and found the same result.
Symphony was slipping back into her armor as well, and it appeared to be dry as well.
“You, uh…want some help with that?” Sea Swirl asked sheepishly.
“No,” Symphony said as she put the last piece of armor on her body and then pulled her helmet down on her head. She looked as Sea Swirl and smiled. “But, I might need help taking it off. If we survive.”
Sea Swirl’s cheeks burned and her tail twitched against her will. “Um…well, I didn’t…”
Symphony began walking down the path again and her tail gently brushed against Sea Swirl’s leg. “Come on. Let’s hope there’s another way out of this place.”
As the two ponies walked, Sea Swirl couldn’t help but stare at the sights around her. To the left of the path was a sheer drop, but further out was the temple they had glimpsed when they had first entered the cave. She carefully peeked over the edge to see if she could see the base of the building in the depths below. She thought so, but she couldn’t be certain. The temple had multiple stories, and it looked like a bridge once connected it to the cliff side they were now walking on. That didn’t make any sense though. Why would there be a bridge that connected with—
“Look at that,” Symphony whispered and Sea Swirl looked away from the distant temple. Symphony was staring at the cliff on their right, only it wasn’t the rough stone Sea Swirl had been expecting. Instead, she found herself staring at a smooth stone wall. She blinked and looked around. They weren’t standing on a path. They were standing on the remains of another building. She wondered just how much of it was buried under the stone beneath her hooves.
“What do you think happened?” Symphony asked as she gently touched the smooth surface with her hoof.
“No idea,” Sea Swirl said. “Although, this place is pretty far beneath the surface and the water is pouring in.” She pointed off into the cavern at the giant waterfalls spilling from the ceiling. “Erosion?”
“Maybe…” Symphony said as she resumed walking down the path. Sea Swirl could tell that she didn’t believe that for a second, and honestly, Sea Swirl didn’t either. There was something wrong with this place.
As if to reinforce her previous thought, the two ponies reached another bend in the path and they both stopped. A single pony was slouched against the wall of some ruins in front of them. He was clad in the same type of armor that they had seen in the vision; only it was much more worn and tattered. A mace lay by his side that was nearly the size of him. He looked dead, but his body hadn’t rotted away. His skin was a sickly green color and blotched in many places. His eyes were hollow, locked in a death stare as his head hung to one side. He was clearly deceased, and yet Sea Swirl couldn’t help but feel like he was looking right at her.
“One of the soldiers we saw,” Symphony whispered. Sea Swirl could tell that she was also feeling uneasy about the body. “Probably knights of Shulva.”
“Who in the right mind would attack a pony able to wield a weapon like that?” Sea Swirl asked as she stared at the mace. She knew Earth ponies were generally stronger than Unicorns or Pegasi, but the weight of that thing seemed impossible even for them.
“I do not know, but they won apparently,” Symphony said. She took one last look at the body and then resumed walking. Sea Swirl followed her, keeping her eyes on the corpse until she passed it, but then she stopped when she heard a groaning sound.
No, it wasn’t possible…
Sea Swirl slowly turned her head around and her eyes went wide. The pony was getting up! He slowly rose to all fours and then bent down to his mace. He put the thing in his mouth and raised his head as if he had just picked up a carrot. He let out a low groan and then began walking toward her. He pulled his head back and broke into a slow jog until he was right on top of Sea Swirl, then he swung his head around, bringing the full weight of the mace with it.
“Sea Swirl!” Symphony shouted. Sea Swirl felt Symphony crash into her and she tumbled to the ground just before the mace could smash into her head. She rolled once and sprang up, whipping out her dagger with her magic as she did.
Symphony had her own weapon drawn and in her mouth. She jumped to the side as the knight brought the mace around again, trying to smash her like a bug. The whole ground shook when the mace impacted, but it didn’t slow Symphony. She jumped forward and landed on top of the mace and then swung her sword. Its blade bit into knight’s neck, but he didn’t scream or even really react to the blow. Symphony pulled with all her might and a second later the knight’s head rolled from his shoulders. He sank to the ground and didn’t move again.
Symphony sheathed her sword and looked at Sea Swirl. “Pay attention,” she said. “He could have killed you, and I probably need your help to get out of here.” She turned and began walking away.
“Uh, right…” Sea Swirl said quietly. She took one more look at the headless corpse. No blood flowed from the wound. She shuddered, kicked the body once to make sure it was truly dead, and then ran to catch up with Symphony.
The two ponies took a few more steps and then Sea Swirl put her hoof out. Her ears had adjusted to the sound of Symphony’s armor and the ambient noises of the cavern, but now she was hearing something new. It sounded like something stretching,. She recognized the sound, but she couldn’t quite place it.
Sea Swirl’s eyes went wide as she heard a second sound and her brain put the pieces together. It was a bow being drawn and then releasing an arrow! She frantically looked around, but a half second later, Symphony grunted and staggered backward as an arrow slammed into her chest.
“Symphony!” Sea Swirl screamed.
“I’m fine,” the Earth pony replied. She shook her head to clear it. “My armor caught it. Where is he?”
Sea Swirl looked ahead. Further up the path stood a lone pony. He had a bow planted on the ground and he was already stringing another arrow. He pulled back on the string and aimed at the Unicorn. Sea Swirl knew she didn’t have enough time to fire a spell, and her robes wouldn’t stop an arrow like Symphony’s armor, so she quickly looked around.
A small pillar, no taller than her, stood in the ground before her. It had strange glowing ruins on it in a script that Sea Swirl didn’t recognize, but at the moment she didn’t care. She dove behind the pillar just as the archer loosed another arrow. She huddled down on the ground and she closed her eyes, praying that the arrow would miss her.
There was a loud clink! as the arrow ricocheted off of the pillar. Sea Swirl sprang to her hooves and made ready to fire back, but the sight before her stunned her.
The pillar she had hid behind trembled and then slowly sank into the ground with a low rumbling noise. Moments later, the ground vibrated and the floor where the archer had been standing shot up on four pillars that sprang out of the ground. Sea Swirl briefly saw two other Shulva knights on the rising floor, but they were instantly smashed against the ceiling with a sickening sound.
“What the hay…?” Sea Swirl asked as the pillar slowly rose out of the ground again. She stared at the glowing script on it and desperately wished she could read it. She reached out and touched the pillar. It was cold to the touch, but nothing happened. She cocked her head to the side and pulled out her dagger. She swung it and the blade smacked against the pillar. This time, the pillar did react. It sank back into the ground and Sea Swirl looked ahead to where the floor had come up. Sure enough, the four pillars began to sink back into the ground and the floor came back down.
The crumpled forms of the archer and the other two Shulva knights were sprawled on the floor. None of them were moving.
“I would say good thinking, but I think you did that on accident,” Symphony said.
“Nah, totally meant to do it,” Sea Swirl said with a smile.
“There’s another one of those little pillars over there,” Symphony said. She pointed to Sea Swirl’s left and the Unicorn looked. There were more buildings off to the left, but there was a sheer drop into blackness between Sea Swirl and them.
“Where?”
“Behind that outcropping of glowing crystals,” Symphony replied. Sea Swirl looked at the crystals on the other side of the chasm. She could barely see the very tip of another one of the small pillars behind the crystals.
“How did you see that?” Sea Swirl asked. The light from the crystals blended perfectly with the glowing glyphs on the pillar, making it all but impossible to spot from their current position.
“Living in Canterlot teaches you to be observe everything,” Symphony replied. Sea Swirl caught the flicker of emotion that passed through the Earth pony’s eyes. “It’s…the only way to make it in that city.”
Sea Swirl wanted to point out that she was living proof that that wasn’t true, but she decided now wasn’t the time. “These seem to be switches,” she said instead. “It looks like they respond to weapon attacks.”
“That’s…well, that’s kind of dumb,” Symphony said flatly. “Who thought it was a good idea to smack something with a sword in order to get it to work? I thought the ponies of Shulva were advanced.”
Sea Swirl shrugged and looked at the glowing glyphs. Maybe they were instructions on how somepony was supposed to use the pillars. “Yeah, but this one did respond when that archer shot it and when I hit it with my dagger.” Sea Swirl stared at the pillar for a long moment and then an idea sprang into her head. “Hey, go get that pony’s bow and some arrows.”
Symphony walked away and collected the crushed archer’s weapon. She froze for a moment and looked further into the ruins, then quickly grabbed a quiver full of arrows and made her way back to Sea Swirl.
“There are more of them over there,” she said as she dropped the weapons off. “A lot more.”
Sea Swirl swallowed. “Did they see you?”
“I think so, but they didn’t move.” Symphony looked over her shoulder. “Hurry up before that changes.”
Sea Swirl gripped the bow with her magic and then strung an arrow as well. Archery had never been one of her strong points, but she was certain she could at least hit the pillar. She walked around a bit until she had a better view of her target and then pulled the bow back with her magic. She held her breath and focused on the magic she was using to keep the bowstring tight. She released just that small part and the arrow sprang from the bow. It slammed into the very tip of the pillar and Sea Swirl couldn’t help but feel a small sense of pride.
The pillar, just like the one she was standing next to, disappeared behind the crystal outcropping as it sank into the ground. Again, the ground trembled beneath Sea Swirl’s hooves and she looked down, terrified that the ground she was standing on was about to rise into the air and smash her against the ceiling like it had to the knights. Instead, a platform rose out of the dark chasm before her, forming a bridge between the path she and Symphony were on and the buildings on the other side.
“Ha, I’m pretty great, aren’t I?” she asked with a smirk. “Instant shortcut.”
“Shortcut to what?” Symphony asked as she carefully stepped off the edge of the path and dropped down onto the platform. “For all you know, we could be getting further from the exit.”
“Er, right,” Sea Swirl said, her pride suddenly deflated. She slung the bow over her shoulder and tied the quiver of arrows to her side. If there were more switches that they needed to hit, she figured the bow would prove useful. She stepped off the edge of the path and followed Symphony across the newly raised platform.
Symphony reached the other end and looked into the building to her right. She looked back Sea Swirl and made a ‘be quiet’ motion with her hoof and then pointed into building. Sea Swirl walked up next to her and looked inside. Another Shulva knight was slouched against the far wall, and much like the first one they had encountered, he looked dead, but Sea Swirl had learned that meant nothing here.
“Let’s keep going,” she whispered, gently nudging Symphony away from the building. Hopefully another exit was somewhere further in the sunken city, and they could avoid any more of those knights.
A loud noise suddenly filled the air. It was a constant clicking noise, but it was mixed with a horrible scraping sound and a screeching that seemed like it was coming from a dozen different places. Symphony winced and folded her ears down while Sea Swirl covered her own with her hooves.
“What is that?” Symphony asked over the noise.
“I have no idea,” Sea Swirl said. She slowly made her way forward, trying to ignore the horrible noise. She began to cross a small walkway that connected to yet another building when she spotted something to her left. It looked like a huge raspberry. She looked closer and realized that it wasn’t a fruit, but a giant bug. It clung to the wall, clicking it mandibles against the side of the building and emitting that horrible screeching.
Sea Swirl pointed to it and then beckoned Symphony forward. Then finished crossing the walkway and came to another building, but both points stopped at the entrance. The screeching was even louder in the room, and worse, there were what Sea Swirl guessed were giant egg sacks for that insect. The pulsing, berry-looking egg sacks glowed with a pinkish red light, bathing the entire room in an eerie glow.
“You don’t think those things are…cocoons, do you?” Symphony asked nervously. “You don’t think they…eat ponies, right?”
Sea Swirl noticed that the Earth pony was slowly inching her way closer to her. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” she said with a half smile as she put her hoof around Symphony’s neck. “Stay close.”
Sea Swirl walked into the room and immediately her hooves began to stick to the ground. She looked down and saw that the floor was covered in thread. She shuddered and continued walking, trying to ignore the noise as she avoided the egg sacks as best as she could.
There were two ways out of the room. One was straight ahead, but it looked like it just ended in a drop. The other was to the right, and that one appeared to have a path, so the Unicorn began to edge her way around the eggs toward that exit. The screeching became louder with every step she took until it felt like her head would explode. She closed her eyes and pressed her teeth together in an attempt to fight the noise, but then she heard a muffled thud!
Sea Swirl opened one eye and recoiled. A bug was blocking her way to the exit. It had long, ant-like wings coming out of its midsection. Four red eyes dotted its face just above its two tiny mandibles. It walked on four legs, and its butt was swollen to the point where it looked like it would burst if the thing so much as brushed up against something too hard.
“There’s another one!” Symphony screamed and Sea Swirl turned around just in time to see another one of the bugs drop from the ceiling and begin closing on Symphony. The mare began to back up frantically until she hit one of the egg sacks. The thing burst in a flash of pale yellow liquid and it coated Symphony. She panicked and whipped her sword out. The insect took the to air and flew at her, but she swung her blade in blind terror. It sank into bug’s body and it burst apart, just like the egg sack she had stumbled into.
A blinding pain suddenly tore through Sea Swirl’s back. She whipped her head back around and saw that the bug had sank its mandibles into her side. She stifled a scream and pulled her dagger out, struggling to keep her magic focused through the pain. She sank the blade into the bug’s head all the way up to the hilt. It fell away and she gasped for breath.
“Sym…Symphony…” she said as she staggered across the room. Blood was gushing from her side and her robes were turning dark from it. She needed to heal herself, or she would bleed out in a matter of minutes. She tried to focus her eyes, but the pain was too much. She began to fall forward.
“Hold on, I got you.” Symphony caught the Unicorn before she hit the floor. “You can heal that, right?”
“Y-Yeah…” Sea Swirl said. She closed her eyes and began to focus her magic into life-giving energy.
“How long do you need?” Symphony asked quickly.
“Just…a few…seconds.” Sea Swirl channeled the magic into her horn and her body strained against the effort.
“You have five seconds,” Symphony said. “More of those zombie knights are coming.”
Sea Swirl rolled her head to the side as she continued to focus her spell. She saw two knights rushing up the pathway that she had been heading for. She needed to hurry. She closed her eyes again and focused even harder.
Sea Swirl released the energy and her raspberry eyes snapped open as light enveloped her. She felt her flesh slowly knit back together and her strength flooded back into her. She stood up refreshed and pushed Symphony toward the other exit.
“Go!” she said as she turned to face the two oncoming knights. “Now!”
The first knight reached the room and Sea Swirl grinned. Symphony was a better close combat fighter, but Sea Swirl excelled at magic. She channeled her magic and fired a blue spear of energy at the knight. It slammed into his chest and he staggered, but he kept coming. Sea Swirl gave the being a baffled look because the blast should have stopped him cold, but she didn’t have time to complain. She readied another spell and fired it at the knight again. This time he went down and Sea Swirl allowed herself a small grin, but her victory was short lived. The second knight was right behind him, and she didn’t have enough time to ready another attack.
“Sea Swirl! Come on!” Symphony called as she jumped off the ledge.
Sea Swirl turned and ran toward the other exit. She reached it and jumped, praying that the drop would be survivable.
A second later, she hit the ground. She found herself standing in the middle of a stairway. Symphony was to her right, pulling her sword out of the back of yet another knight. She looked at Sea Swirl and then pointed behind her in panic.
Sea Swirl spun around and instantly ducked as an arrow shot past her head. On a ledge at the top of the stairs were two more Shulva knights. One of them was an archer and was already stringing another arrow, while the other was dropping down onto the stairs, carrying that all-too-familiar giant mace.
“We have to get out of here!” Symphony cried with her sword in her mouth. She waved at Sea Swirl to follow her and then took off down the stairs. Sea Swirl didn’t hesitate to follow, jumping to the side to avoid another arrow as she ran.
The two ponies reached the bottom of the stairs and followed the path to the right. As she ran, Sea Swirl felt something splash against her hind leg. She looked back, terrified that another one of the bugs was coming after her, but all she saw was a strange collection of green statues at the base of the building they had just jumped out of. She stared at it for a moment, but then the Shulva knights came around the corner and another appeared from the side of the building.
“Time to go!” she said and spun back around to continue following Symphony.
The Earth pony was a few paces ahead. She slowed and looked over her shoulder to make sure Sea Swirl was still behind her, so she never saw the attack coming.
An arrow from further up the path slammed into Symphony’s helm. The mare staggered and fell to the ground. Her helm split apart like a pumpkin and tumbled away from her motionless form.
Sea Swirl screamed in terror and stared at the body of her friend. Her heart jumped into her throat and threatened to choke her. Hey eyes blurred from fury and despair. Her ears buzzed with the dull roar of blood rushing through her body.
The pathway before her went up a shallow slope, and at the top of it stood several Shulva knights, many of them with bows. There was no real cover between Sea Swirl and their position, but the Unicorn didn’t care. She was going to tear each one of them apart, with her bare hooves if she had to. She pulled her dagger out and began to charge up the path.
As Sea Swirl passed Symphony’s body, something tripped her. She slammed down on her chest and dust flew up into her face as she skidded across the ground. Moments later, two arrows flew past her head. Cursing, she looked back to see what she had tripped over.
“That was incredibly stupid, even for you.”
Sea Swirl’s heart soared when she saw two crystal cerulean eyes gazing back at her. “You’re alive!”
“Not for much longer if we stay here.” Symphony stood up, quickly collected her sword, and gestured to the left. There was a steep path that led into the base of yet another towering ruin. The two ponies scrambled for the path, dodging arrows as they did. Symphony slid down it and into the room at the bottom. Sea Swirl quickly followed, only she tumbled down instead of slid. She winced as her body skidded to a stop inside the room.
“Well that was—whoa!” Sea Swirl looked up to find herself staring at another Shulva knight. He raised his mace with his mouth. As he brought it down, Symphony caught the back of Sea Swirl’s robe and yanked her across the floor. The mace landed on the tip of her tail and she yelped as several of her purple hairs were yanked out.
Symphony jumped forward and started to fight the knight. Sea Swirl rose to help her, but she quickly spotted a second knight entering the room from another entrance. Without thinking, she rushed to meet him. She had noticed that, while those giant maces would no doubt smash her into pulp, the knights couldn’t swing them very fast. She could dispatch this one if she was fast enough.
Sea Swirl plunged her dagger into the knight’s exposed neck. He groaned, but Sea Swirl didn’t let up. She pulled the dagger out and stabbed him again and then her body crashed into him. She put all her weight into the body blow and the knight staggered backward and then vanished from view as he fell off the edge of the building. Sea Swirl barely managed to stay on the ledge herself.
“Who the buck designed this stupid city?” she asked as she stared over the ledge. There was nothing but open cavern straight ahead, with a small pathway leading around the outside of the building to her right. Why ponies thought it was a good idea to have doorways that lead to nothing but sheer falls was beyond her.
Sea Swirl turned back around to see Symphony dodging the attack of the knight she was fighting. The Unicorn fired a quickly spell into the knight’s side and he stumbled. Symphony used the moment to sink her blade into his stomach. She pulled it back out and the knight sank to the floor, hopefully dead.
“We need to keep moving,” Symphony said as she sheathed her sword again. “If they follow us in here, we’re dead. It’s too small to fight them.”
“Hope you’re not afraid of heights then,” Sea Swirl said as she gestured to exit. She walked out the door—or maybe it was a window—and onto the ledge. She hugged the wall to her right and slowly began to move along the outside of the building.
Thankfully, the ledge only lasted until the edge of the building. When Sea Swirl turned the corner, she found cracked stone stairs before her. She thankfully walked on to them and then called back for Symphony to join her. Unfortunately, they now only had one way to go and it didn’t look safe at all.
Yet another building loomed before them and a walkway connected it with the area they were now standing on. However, the walkway had crumbled into near ruin. What had once been a slow decline of stairs across the void was now little more than lose and broken stones that looked as though they could collapse at any moment. About halfway across, the width was cut in half because half of the path had completely fallen away. Sea Swirl almost thought it would be safer to turn back and take their chances with the Shuvla knights than cross.
“We better get moving,” Symphony said as she walked up behind Sea Swirl.
“Yeah…” Sea Swirl said as she swallowed. She cautiously stepped out onto the walkway and waited for it to fall away under her weight. When it didn’t, she took another step. She slipped slightly then and she heard Symphony gasp behind her, but she quickly regained her balance. The stone she had stepped on fell off the edge and Sea Swirl couldn’t help but watch it fall down into the depths below. She took a deep breath and continued along the narrow pathway at a painfully slow pace.
After what felt like years and her blood pumping so quickly that her whole body hurt, Sea Swirl finally reached the far building’s outer platform. Her legs nearly collapsed beneath here, but she managed to stay upright. She turned around, expecting to see Symphony starting the dangerous trek across, but she was surprised to see her companion already halfway along. She didn’t seem to be bothered by the height or the apparent danger as she casually strolled down the crumbling pathway, but nevertheless, Sea Swirl kept her magic ready. If she needed to, she could reach out and catch Symphony. Hopefully.
Symphony made it across the walkway much faster than Sea Swirl and she didn’t look stressed at all. Her purple mane was starting to stick together in spots and cling to her armor, and she had several scratches and patches of filth on her face, but otherwise she looked fine.
In comparison, Sea Swirl looked terrible. Her robes were tattered and coated in grime. There were two huge holes in her side from where that bug had bit her, and the fabric was dark red from the dried blood. Her fur felt like she hadn’t washed in weeks, and a terrible taste clung to her mouth. Her boots, which had started out brown, were nearly pitch black now from filth and her back hind leg was stained with some sort of green liquid. She assumed it had come from whatever had splashed against her when they had been running.
“In there,” Symphony said. She pointed into the building they had just reached and walked in. Sea Swirl followed her and they found themselves inside another room that was identical to the others save for two things. There appeared to be some sort of trap door on the floor, which they hadn’t seen in any of the other rooms, and there was also a stone button with a flower engraving on the floor.
Without thinking, Sea Swirl went over and pressed the button with her hoof. Nothing happened. She pressed it again, harder, but still nothing happened. She shrugged and looked over at Symphony. “Must be broken.”
Symphony just nodded. She pulled out a small bottle and drank its bright, sunlight colored contents. She sighed in contentment and placed the bottle back in her pouch. “I don’t know who came up with this Estus drink, but it does wonders.”
Sea Swirl pulled out her own bottle and took a gulp. The strange drink flooded into the mouth, and while it didn’t have any taste, she immediately felt its effects. Warmth flowed through every inch of her body and chased the exhaustion from her bones. She wanted to take another drink, but she stopped herself. She didn’t know how much further they needed to go to get out, and she didn’t want to waste the stuff.
The two ponies looked at each other in silence for a long moment. Sea Swirl desperately wanted to apologize to Symphony for dragging her into this mess, but she didn’t know where to begin. Shulva was just supposed to be a myth, a legend told by firelight. If she had known it, and by the danger, was real, she never would have brought the Earth pony down here.
She never would have come down here.
“We’re not going to find the way out staring at each other,” Symphony said finally. She moved to the exit.
“Right,” Sea Swirl replied as she walked out of the room and back into the open cavern. The crumbling pathway lay directly ahead of her, but she didn’t want to risk crossing it again, so she turned to the right and followed the large balcony around the side of the building. It led to another long stone bridge that connected to yet another distant building. The bridge was in better shape than the stairs they had just crossed, but it was still showing signs of wear. Several sections of railing had crumbled away and the stones were worn and uneven in many places.
Sea Swirl sighed and rolled her eyes. “You ever get the feeling that these ponies had a twisted obsession with dizzying heights and long bridges?”
“They worshipped a dragon,” Symphony replied flatly. “Being this high up probably made them feel closer to Sinh.”
Sea Swirl briefly wondered just how high this city had stretched into the sky before the ground had swallowed it, but she pushed the thought aside as she looked across the bridge. Two knights blocked the way, and they both had lances resting against their shoulders. The pathway was too narrow for close fighting as it was only wide enough to accommodate one pony abreast, but that wasn’t a problem for Sea Swirl and her magic.
“Stay back,” she said as she walked out onto the bridge, keenly aware that it could fall away from under her at a moment’s notice. “I’ll deal with these two.”
The Unicorn took six more steps before a deafening roar tore through the air. She froze as she recognized the sound.
Sinh was back.
The massive dragon came flying out from the far reaches of the cavern. It was all Sea Swirl could do to stand there and watch as he approached the bridge. His wings beat the air with the force of a hurricane and she felt her mane, tail, and robes whip against her body. He opened his mouth, revealing his terrifying teeth once again, and despair rose in the Unicorn as an orange light began to build in the back of the dragon’s throat. Seconds later, two massive fireballs leapt from his mouth and slammed into the bridge with enough force to knock Sea Swirl off her hooves. She stayed on the ground and whimpered as she waited for the flames to engulf her, but she never felt the searing heat, so she looked up.
Sinh hovered above the bridge for a moment and looked down at her. He roared once again and Sea Swirl was certain she was about to be roasted alive, but the dragon flew off, disappearing into the far reaches of the cavern yet again.
“Sea Swirl, are you okay?” Symphony shouted as she ran up to the trembling Unicorn. She knelt down and offered her hoof. “I…I thought I’d…”
Sea Swirl forced a weak laugh. “Ha. That was a little close, wasn’t it?” She was breathing rapidly and she forced herself to take several deep breaths. “But, look on the bright side.”
“You’re not dead?” Symphony offered.
Sea Swirl smirked. Despite all her aloofness, Symphony cared, whether she admitted it or not. “Well, there is that too, but it’s not what I meant. He took out those two knights.” The Unicorn pointed down the bridge. Flames were still lingering from the dragon’s attack, but there was no sign of the two knights that had been blocking the path.
Sea Swirl stood up and, despite her legs feeling a little shaky, began to cross the long bridge. Symphony followed close behind. As they approached the first dwindling flames from the dragon’s attack, Sea Swirl’s head suddenly began to swim. She stopped for a moment and put her hoof to her forehead to steady herself. Why did she suddenly feel so nauseous?
“Are you okay?” Symphony asked from behind her.
“Yeah…just, feeling a little sick.” Sea Swirl gagged a little in her mouth. This wasn’t normal. She had felt terrified when Sinh had attacked, but this was something different. She literally felt ill, like she had eaten a bad apple or something. Still, she couldn’t risk collapsing on the bridge. It was too exposed, and if Sinh came back she would make an easy target, so she pressed on, moving past the dwindling flames.
“Ugh…” Symphony moaned suddenly. Sea Swirl turned around, surprised that she was feeling better so quickly, and saw that the Earth pony was struggling to stay on her hooves.
“Symphony!” she said as she took a step back toward the mare, but the illness returned in an instant. She immediately retreated and felt better. “Okay, that’s weird.” She looked around, trying to find what could be making them feel so ill, but she saw nothing. They were standing on a bridge in the middle of the air. The only other things on the bridge were the stones it was made out of, and lingering flames from Sinh’s breath.
The flames!
“Symphony, walk toward me,” the Unicorn said quickly. She beckoned with her hoof to encourage the mare.
“O…Okay…” Symphony struggled to put one hoof in front of the other, but the moment she started moving away from the flames, she started to look better. When she reached Sea Swirl, she was once again standing upright and carrying herself with pride. “What did you do?”
“I think it’s the fire,” Sea Swirl said as she stared at the flames. At first they had just looked like regular fire, but when she examined them closely, she could see a faint green haze around them. “I think they’re toxic.”
Symphony rolled her eyes. “Because why not. Zombie ponies with insane strength, a flying lizard probably older than Celestia, and now poisonous fire.” She glared at Sea Swirl and the Unicorn felt very small. “If we ever get out of here, you are buying me dinner. For a year.”
Sea Swirl’s ears jumped up. “Is that a date?”
“No.”
“Aw.” Sea Swirl was about to say more but she stopped when a loud crack! echoed through the large cavern, followed quickly by a shaking under her hooves. She looked down at the bridge and saw a giant split was running through the stones beneath her. Slowly, she looked up and met Symphony’s gaze.
The Earth pony slowly put her hoof to her lip and then carefully pointed to the other end of the bridge. She mouthed for Sea Swirl to go slowly, and the Unicorn turned around and began to make her way to the far side. They managed to take a few more steps before the stones started to fall away.
“RUN!” Symphony screamed.
Sea Swirl broke into a mad sprint and she found herself racing the crack along the bridge. It zigzagged back and forth in front of her and she watched in horror as the bridge began to come apart.
“Symphony!” she called over her shoulder.
“Faster, you fool Unicorn!” the Earth pony shouted back.
Sea Swirl risked a looked over her shoulder as she ran. Symphony was right behind her, her eyes focused straight ahead and her nostrils flaring as she galloped as fast as she could, but it wasn’t going to be enough. The bridge was falling away behind her, and its collapse was quickly catching up with the Earth pony.
Sea Swirl swallowed and jumped ahead. She landed, spun around to face Symphony, and without thinking she enveloped the Earth pony in magic and lifted her into the air. She then threw Symphony over her head and further down the bridge. She heard her land with massive thud! and started to turn around, but she was too slow. The bridge fell away from her hooves.
For a brief moment, Sea Swirl imagined that the weightlessness she was feeling was the closest thing to flying she would ever experience. It was sheer bliss, like when she glided through the water with ease, but the joy vanished the second gravity took over. She began to plummet, and the thought of being smashed against the floor below flooded her mind. She was so frightened that she couldn’t even scream; only open her mouth in a silent yell as her body plunged into the depths.
A second later, a burning pain raced through her flank and up her spin. This time, she did let out a scream, but she stifled it when a few of the arrows in her quiver tumbled by her head and into the void below. She wasn’t falling anymore. Confused, she twisted around and looked up.
Symphony was hanging over the edge of the collapsed bridge. Her mouth was clamped down on Sea Swirl’s purple tail, causing the Unicorn to hang in the air like a piñata. She mumbled something and began to walk backward, slowly pulling Sea Swirl up.
“What did you say?” Sea Swirl asked. Her flank bumped into the bridge and she let out a yelp, but she didn’t complain. She was too grateful to be alive and not a smear of flesh, bone, and blood at the bottom of the cavern.
Symphony finished pulling the Unicorn up onto the bridge and spit the tail out of her mouth. “I said nice view.”
Sea Swirl’s mouth hung open and she stared at the Earth pony. Despite the fact that she had narrowly escaped death, she couldn’t think of a single thing to say to Symphony’s comment. Eventually, her mind cleared. “Well, if you’d like to see more…”
“I meant the drop, fool,” Symphony said as she turned around to face the building they now stood in front of.
Sea Swirl stood up and dusted herself off. “Um, Symphony? Thanks. For saving me.”
“You’re welcome,” the musician replied. “And…I suppose your flank isn’t bad either.”
Sea Swirl’s cheeks burned.
The two ponies gazed up at the building that now loomed before them. It was built in the same pyramid fashion as the tower they had seen when they had first entered Shulva, only it wasn’t quite as tall and grand. There were no visible entrances except for a few small windows further up the tower, and Sea Swirl doubted they would be able to fit through them even if they could reach them.
As if the building could read the Unicorn’s thoughts, the wall directly in front of them began to move. Dust and bits of rubble fell as the giant stone slab lifted up into the building, revealing a passage that dead-ended shortly, but then the wall began to lift up again, extending the length of the passage. The ponies heard a deep rumbling within the building and they assumed that the stone doors were being raised all the way along the passage.
Finally, the rumbling ceased. The two ponies looked at each and then down the path. Sea Swirl opened her mouth to say something, but then a new sound reached their ears.
A soft voice from deep inside the temple reached their ears. It was singing some sort of song and Sea Swirl found herself drawn to it. She wanted to run into the temple and find the voice. She began to act on the impulse, but she felt a hoof reach out and stop her. Angered, she whipped around to see who would dare stop her from reaching the voice.
“You get the feeling that we’re being led into a trap?” Symphony asked.
The sound of the mare’s voice snapped Sea Swirl out of her trance. “Yeah,” she replied. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
Symphony walked into the building and began moving down the long entrance. “May as well go spring it. We have nowhere else to go.”
Sea Swirl nodded and began to follow Symphony. The singing continued, but it no longer had the allure that had nearly pulled her in. Instead, it now sent chills down her spine and made her fur prickle under her robes. It was sad and haunted, and she could feel the magic that tainted it.
Whoever was singing wasn’t a normal pony.
Author's Note
There you go. Part one of three of this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I actually have the second part done now, but I haven't proofread it yet. It should be up tomorrow. For those of you who have played The Crown of the Sunken King, I'm sure you noticed that I changed a few things, like the bridge collapsing at the end and the vision at the bonfire. The vision is because I want to be able to give hints as to what happened in the city, and having Sea Swirl or Symphony just look at a piece of equipment and suddenly know everything about it (like in the actual game) doesn't make sense for a story telling perspective.
Also, you may be wondering how ponies fight so well with weapons in their mouths. Sif, the Great Grey Wolf.
Finally, those of you who are reading either 'Shattered' (which is about Sea Swirl and Symphony) or 'Bloodlines' and are waiting for the next chapter, I have bad news. I'm afraid they won't be out until October. This story is taking their place for the month. I might be able to get one of them out before the end of September, but don't hold me to that.
Sea Swirl hadn’t liked being trapped underground in the massive cavern. Looking up at giant stalactites that stretched down from the ceiling had made her uneasy. Her mind had come up with countless different ways one of them could come crashing down and kill her or Symphony, and then there was the constant reminder that they might be trapped underground for the rest of their lives.
But now, as the Unicorn walked down the long hallway into the temple, she desperately wanted to turn around and run back outside. The walls in the temple felt like they were closing in on her, and she was constantly looking back to make sure one of the many stone doors hadn’t sealed them inside the building.
And then there was the singing. It was beautiful, but it haunted her. The voice’s grief bore its way into her mind, threatening to overrun her sanity. It didn’t help that the hallway seemed to be perfect for amplifying the song. She looked at the Earth pony ahead of her and wondered how she was dealing with the singing. Symphony had only commented on it when they had first entered and that was it. Was it driving her to darkness too, and she was just better at hiding it?
Sea Swirl couldn’t stand it any longer. “Symphony, that singing…”
“It is rather beautiful,” the musician replied without turning around or slowing down. “Although it does sound rather bleak.”
“It’s driving me mad,” Sea Swirl responded quickly. “I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it. Like it’s eating its way to my soul. I…I don’t…”
Symphony stopped at turned around. There was no concern on her face, let alone care. Her cold eyes would have turned off any other pony, but Sea Swirl had gotten good at reading Symphony’s tells. Her eyes were open just a bit more than they usually were, and her ears were pushed forward.
“Are you saying,” the Earth pony began, “that you find her singing more meaningful than my violin?”
“What? No, I’m not—”
“Because if that is how you feel,” Symphony continued, “then you can forget ever hearing me play again.”
“Symphony, I didn’t—”
“Perhaps I should just leave you down here with this singing pony?” she offered. She turned her head slightly and raised a hoof to her mouth. “Hello? I’ve brought you a new fan.”
“Symphony, please! Don’t leave me down here!”
“But clearly this music affects you more than mine,” the Earth pony said quietly as she looked back at Sea Swirl. “I think it would be for the best.”
“No!” Sea Swirl shouted as she stomped her hoof.
“Hmph.” Symphony turned and smacked Sea Swirl, none-too-gently, with her tail. She took a few more steps and then asked over her shoulder, “Feel better?”
“I…” Sea Swirl stopped. She did feel better. The walls didn’t seem to be pressing in around her anymore, and while the singing still seemed haunted, it didn’t feel like it was slowly eating away at her. She looked at Symphony’s back and smiled. “Yes.”
The two ponies finally came to the end of the hall and found themselves in yet another room. Its walls were made of smooth stone, but there were no glyphs or carvings of any kind to be seen. To the left was a double door, which Sea Swirl immediately walked over to. She pushed it, but it didn’t budge. She put more weight into it, but it refused to open.
“Guess it’s locked,” she said finally. “Symphony, you’re an Earth pony. Want to kick it in?”
Symphony raised an eyebrow. “Those doors are carved out of solid stone. You would have better results if you blasted it with your magic.”
“Right…” Sea Swirl said, feeling foolish. There was no way her magic was strong enough to blast solid rock into pieces. She sighed and walked over to Symphony who was standing at the edge of some steps that lead out of the room.
“Sea Swirl,” the Earth pony said as she looked down the dimly lit stairs.
“Yeah?”
“If we’re trying to find a way out, why do we keep going down?”
Sea Swirl looked down the stairs too. “Try not to think about it.”
The two ponies walked down the stairs until the found themselves in another room, much like the one they had just passed through. Only this time, there were two ways out. One was directly ahead and led to more stairs, but a separate passage went off to the right. Warm firelight was coming from that one, so the two ponies went that way.
They came across what Sea Swirl could only describe as a crypt below them. Standing coffins lined the far walls, with a single torch burning in the area. Many of the coffins had been smashed or were missing their lids, but the few that remained intact had carvings etched into them, depicting great warriors or weapons.
The floor of the room was covered in sand, and in the middle of the room were two sarcophagi. Each one had a suit of armor resting on it, and Sea Swirl sensed a strange magic hanging in the air around them. She looked closely and saw that the suits appeared to be emitting dark flames. She had never seen magic like that before.
“Sea Swirl, look,” Symphony whispered. The Earth pony was pointing to the left of the room. There stood a Unicorn clad in armor, only it looked like those mist phantoms the two had seen earlier at the bonfire. It was just standing there, staring at the sarcophagus and the suit of armor on it.
“This place is weird,” Sea Swirl whispered. “Do you think it’s a ghost?”
“I don’t know,” Symphony replied. “You’re going to go check it out, aren’t you?”
“You know me so well,” Sea Swirl replied. She dropped off the small ledge and landed on the sand below. Her hooves sank a little, but she quickly felt the stone floor beneath the sand. She froze, her eyes locked on the ghost Unicorn, but it didn’t so much as twitch. Silently, she waved for Symphony to follow her. The Earth pony dropped down next to her, her armor clanking loudly, but again the ghost stayed perfectly still.
“Now what?” Symphony asked. Sea Swirl noticed that she was turning her head to draw her sword, but was keeping her eyes locked on the ghost.
“I don’t think you’ll need to worry about him,” Sea Swirl said. “Ghosts can’t hurt you.” But just to be safe, she made sure that her dagger was still by her side as she carefully approached.
The Unicorn managed to take two more steps before the ghost’s head whipped to the side. Its faded eyes locked on Sea Swirl as it turned its whole body toward her. Its horn glowed white as it pulled out two swords and began to levitate them in front of itself.
“Uh…Symphony,” Sea Swirl said, backing up a step as she pulled her dagger out. “It sees us.”
The Unicorn lunged forward and swung both of its blades in a horizontal slash. The logical part of Sea Swirl’s brain told her that she had nothing to worry about from a ghost, but she couldn’t help but jump back from the strike a little.
The blades slashed across her chest, barely touching her robes. For a moment, she laughed at herself for reacting in such a way, but then she heard the sound of her robes ripping and she looked down in shock. The blades had made a gash through the front of her clothes.
“Crap!” Sea Swirl said as she backpedalled, struggling to keep her hoofing on the sandy floor. “Symphony, he can hit you!”
Symphony jumped forward, her sword clutched in her teeth, and plunged it into the chest of the ghost Unicorn. For a moment it seemed to work, as the Unicorn stopped and looked down at his chest, but then he brought both his swords up above his head and started to bring them down, aiming to cleave the Earth pony in two.
Symphony rolled to the side, her blade easily passing through the ghost’s body, just as the two swords slammed into the ground where she had been standing. The Unicorn brought the closest one up in a quick slash and Symphony brought her own weapon around to block the blow. Sea Swirl panicked, afraid that the ghost’s sword would pass right through Symphony’s and then sever her head, but the comforting sound of metal hitting metal filled the chamber.
“Shoot it!” Symphony growled as she held on to her sword and pushed the blade off. The ghost staggered backward and Sea Swirl fired a spear of magical energy at it, but much like Symphony’s sword, the spell passed right through the being with no effect.
“How the hay do you fight something you can’t hit?” Sea Swirl shouted as she fired another spell at the ghost, with the same results.
“There’s another one!” Symphony shouted as she rolled out of the way of a sword strike. Sure enough, another ghost Unicorn was running toward them, levitating two swords.
Sea Swirl’s mind began to race. These weren’t ghosts. Ghosts could be scary, but they couldn’t physically harm a pony. These were something else. Something magical.
The Unicorn’s eyes snapped to the two sarcophagi in the middle of the room. The armor sets were burning brighter now, as if they were being fueled by the ghosts’ actions.
Sea Swirl charged the nearest ghost, putting her dagger out in front of her as if she meant to strike. The ghost looked at her and rushed forward, crossing his swords once again for a horizontal slash, but at the last second Sea Swirl slid to the side. She slammed into the nearest sarcophagus and drove her dagger into the armor resting on it.
A blast of wind whipped against Sea Swirl and the armor crumbled away, leaving only her dagger and a pile of debris on the tomb. She quickly looked at the ghost that had been coming for her, but her hopes were dashed when she saw that it still looked like it was made out of mist.
“Whatever you did, do it again!” Symphony called. Sea Swirl scrambled across the top of the sarcophagus just as the ghost reached her and took another swing at her neck. She fell on the floor on the other side, the remains of the armor tumbling around her, and she quickly glanced at Symphony.
The ghost she was fighting was no longer a ghost. It was now clad it dark green armor and looked very solid. Sea Swirl’s belief was proved correct when Symphony blocked another strike from the Unicorn’s swords and then countered, slashing the Unicorn’s neck with her blade. His magic failed and his swords fell to the floor. He put his hoof to his throat as he sank to his knees, and then he fell forward, but before he hit the ground, his body dissolved into nothingness.
Sea Swirl scrambled to her hooves and ran for the other sarcophagus, the second ghost close behind her. She jumped into the air and landed on top of the armor, smashing it beneath her hooves with one quick stomp. Again she felt the blast of air and the armor crumbled. She looked at the ghost and smiled. She focused her magic into a point at the tip of her horn, and then channeled it into the form of laser, which she dragged up from the floor and up the Unicorn’s body.
The Unicorn froze as the laser traveled vertically up his body, leaving a dark burn mark as it went. He looked like he had been sliced in two, but Sea Swirl knew her magic wasn’t that powerful. It had done the trick though, because he released his magical grip on his swords and then sank to the floor before disappearing like his companion.
“What type of magic was that?” Symphony asked as she walked over to the sarcophagus. She stared at the crumbled remains of the armor and carefully brushed some of it off.
“Dark magic,” Sea Swirl said as she hopped down. “I’ve never seen anything like it, but I think it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing more.” She looked around and spied the exit out of the sandy room with the sarcophagi and led the way.
They walked down a short hallway and found themselves in a two-floored room. Two Shulva knights were in the room, one of them slouched against the wall. Sea Swirl stepped forward and the stone under her hoof sank into the ground. She looked down in surprise and then heard something click in the wall to her left. Immediately, she jumped back and a flurry of darts shot through where her head had been a moment before. They plunged into the chest of the knight against the wall.
“Traps now?” Symphony asked in annoyance. “Remind me to never agree to go diving with you again.”
“Heh.” Sea Swirl smiled back at the Earth pony and then turned to face the remaining guard. He was lumbering toward her, his mace raised for a powerful strike, but the Unicorn knew how to deal with them now. She fired a single spell that pierced his chest and then she whipped out her dagger and slashed his throat before he had a chance to recover. He sank to the floor and remained still.
“Impressive,” Symphony said as she walked into the room, careful not to step on the stone that triggered the trap. “You seem to be—”
“Look out!” Sea Swirl plowed into Symphony and knocked her to the ground just as a black mass of energy tore through the air. It splashed against the ceiling and disappeared.
“What the hay was that?” Symphony demanded as Sea Swirl lay on top of her.
“I said we’d probably be seeing more dark magic,” Sea Swirl said as she picked herself up. She looked to her right and crept to the edge of the floor so she could glance down to the floor below.
Like the sarcophagi room they had just left, the room below was covered in sand. Along its far wall were several enclaves, as if they had been meant to hold grand statues or sarcophagi at one time, but now they were empty save for a lone Pegasus Shulva knight who stood in one, resting a lance on his shoulder. A green miasma seemed to surround him as he glanced up at Sea Swirl, but he made no move to attack her.
“He couldn’t have used that spell,” Sea Swirl whispered as she stared at him. None of the Shulva knights they had fought so far had shown any sign of being able to use magic except those duel-wielding Unicorns, and they hadn’t fought with magic. Plus, he was a Pegasus, and unless the very laws of nature had been rewritten—Sea Swirl reminded herself that in Shulva, that very well could be the case—there was no way a Pegasus could use magic.
The Unicorn was still pondering that thought when she saw a flash of darkness to her right. She turned to look and panic seized her. Another black mass was rocketing toward her. Without thinking, she scrambled over the edge and dropped below, the black mass slamming into the spot she had just vacated. She landed in the sand and sprang up, her eyes scanning the room for the spell caster until she spied her.
If not for the telltale horn protruding from the pony’s skull, Sea Swirl wouldn’t have known she was looking at a fellow Unicorn. She wore a long, black skirt that at one point had probably been impressive, but now it was twisted and corrupted by magic. Her limbs were stretched and thin, as if she had starved herself and then tried to save what little muscle she had left. All that was visible of her head was her mouth, and her teeth were no longer like a pony’s. They were razor sharp, two rows of knives that looked like they belonged in a piranha’s mouth, not a pony’s.
A twisted headdress covered the rest of her head. It fanned out behind her ears like two bat wings, and it looked like two giant purple flowers had once rested on the wings, but now they were sickly and wilted. Her coat was pale and had not stretched along with her limps, giving her a look that was even more disturbing than the Shulva knights they had encountered.
“What in Equestria happened to you…?” Sea Swirl whispered as she stared at the corrupted Unicorn. She didn’t have a chance to wonder very long, because the Unicorn’s horn glowed black and the familiar black mass formed above her head.
With a shrieking laugh, the Unicorn released the spell and the black orb shot toward Sea Swirl.
“If it’s magic, then I can deal with it,” the Unicorn said confidently. She charged her own horn and enveloped herself in a white light. The black orb slammed against her magic barrier and dissipated quickly. Sea Swirl lowered the shield and grinned. “My turn.”
“You idiot!” Symphony yelled, shattering Sea Swirl’s concentration for her spell.
“What?” she asked as she started to look back up at Symphony, but her eyes locked on the Pegasus that was now advancing toward her, his lance grasped under his wing. She had completely forgotten about him.
Symphony dropped down onto the floor then, placing herself firmly between Sea Swirl and the Pegasus knight. “Deal with that Unicorn. I’ll take care of him.” Without waiting for a reply, she charged the Pegasus, swatting his lance aside with a swing of her sword.
“Got it.” Sea Swirl turned around. She would have to trust that Symphony could cover her backside while—
The black orb slammed into Sea Swirl and sent her flying backward. She hit sand and the air rushed from her lungs. She tried to suck it back in, but pain tore at her body. She gasped for breath and slowly rolled over onto her stomach. Her whole body felt heavy, like she was wearing a full suit of stone armor. Her joints ached and her legs protested in fury as she stood. Her vision was clouded and dark, and no amount of shaking her head seemed to clear it. She blinked several times and struggled to keep her head from rolling around.
“Wh…what was…that?” she stammered. Somehow, she found the Unicorn in her vision again. Sea Swirl had been hit by spells before, and while they always stung, and sometimes even hurt, she had never felt anything like this. It had felt like an actual object had hit her, not magic.
The Shulva priestess laughed, her teeth sparkling in the dim light, and began to form another spell. Sea Swirl wasn’t sure she’d survive another hit, so she knew she had to attack first. Forcing her mind to focus through the swirling pain and darkness, she fired a quick blast from her horn. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as normal and when it hit the priestess, it did little more than caused her to stumble a step, but that was all Sea Swirl needed.
The Unicorn summoned the last of her strength and charged the dark magic user. She tried to pull her dagger out, but her mind was still blurry. She managed to bring it to her mouth and then clamped down on the hilt with her teeth. If Symphony could fight this way, then so could she.
Sea Swirl lowered her shoulder just as she crashed into the Unicorn. They tumbled to the ground and Sea Swirl’s body screamed in protest. She bit down harder on the hilt of her blade, both to hold on to it and to dim the pain. She was vaguely aware that she was on top of the Unicorn, so without thinking, she began to whip her head back and forth in an attempt to slash at her foe.
After what seemed like a lifetime, Sea Swirl’s dagger struck something hard and twisted out of her mouth. She fell backward and scampered away on her back, expecting to be blasted away at any moment. It wasn’t until she bumped into a stone protruding through the sand that she finally regained enough sense to stop and look at her opponent.
The Unicorn lay on the sand, Sea Swirl’s dagger jammed into her neck. Sea Swirl stood and carefully walked over to the body. Dozens of cuts ran across the Unicorn’s face and sickly looking coat. Like the knights, there was no blood from the wounds, but the sight still made Sea Swirl’s stomach wretch.
Sea Swirl reached into her bag with her hoof, in too much pain to use her magic, and grabbed the Estus flask. She swallowed once, trying to clear her throat, and then took a long drink from the flask. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the warmth flooded her and banished the pain from the very depths of her body. Her vision cleared and she yanked her dagger out of the priestess’ corpse.
“Symphony!” Sea Swirl shouted as she remembered that the Earth pony had been fighting her own battle. She spun around, ready to offer her help, but only saw Symphony slouched on the sand, using her sword as a crutch to prevent herself from collapsing completely.
“I’m…I’m…fine…” the Earth pony said through labored breathing.
“What happened?” Sea Swirl asked as she ran over to her. The Pegasus knight was dead on the floor, the green miasma gone from his armor. “Are you hurt?”
“No…” Symphony said as she pulled out her own flask and took a drink. She shook her head once and then stood up. She sheathed her sword and glared at the Pegasus on the sand. “Poison. It’s like the very air around him was poisoned.”
Sea Swirl recalled the flames that had weakened both of them. “Sinh?”
Symphony glanced at Sea Swirl. “They did worship him.”
Sea Swirl shuddered. She had no idea what magic or techniques allowed ponies to wear poison armor without succumbing to it, but then she had just faced magic that she hadn’t even known existed. The further they went into Shulva, the more she became convinced that Symphony had been right. This place was meant to stay lost.
“Where to?” Symphony asked as she looked around the room.
Sea Swirl looked around as well. There was no way to get back up to the ledge they had dropped from. There were stairs at the fair end of the room, but the bottom half of them were crumbled and couldn’t be climbed. At the other end of the room, behind the priestess, was a giant stone wheel with two holes in it. One hole was small, barely big enough for a filly to fit through, while the other was large enough to pull an entire cart through. Unfortunately, both holes only led to stone the wall behind the wheel.
“That’s odd,” Sea Swirl said as she walked up to the wheel. “Why would they make something like this?” She could understand if the holes were the same size because then it would at least be symmetrical, but the way it was now was just an eye sore.
“Most of this place doesn’t make sense,” Symphony said as she walked up next to Sea Swirl. She looked down and pointed. “It looks like it’s on some sort of track though.”
“You’re right,” Sea Swirl said. There was a groove in the floor and the wheel was sitting snuggly in it. “Maybe that means it moves.” She debated trying to push it, but instantly gave up on the thought. There was no way she or Symphony could roll something like that. She looked around the room until she spied the stone that she had bumped into earlier. She walked over and looked at it. It had a flower etched into it and was sticking out of the sand. It looked like a switch.
“Symphony, stand back,” Sea Swirl said. She carefully put her hoof on the stone and pushed. For a moment, nothing happened, but then the stone sank into the sand and the room was filled with a dull rumble. She turned around and watched as the stone wheel turned slowly. The small hole moved up to the top of the room, revealing a small passage with an archer. The big hole rotated to the bottom of the room, revealing a passage. Symphony quickly dashed through it, and Sea Swirl followed before the archer was able to get a shot off.
The two ponies turned the corner in the passage and they both stopped in disbelief.
“Who in their right mind thought this was a good idea?” Sea Swirl demanded.
“I am never going on an adventure with you again,” Symphony said. “Ever.”
They stood at the top of a small flight of steps. Once again, the room before them was covered in sand, but countless spikes were sticking up through the sand now. There was a walkway running through the middle of the room, and the massive pillars supporting it formed arches. In one of them, Sea Swirl spied the same strange flower stone that she had stepped on in order to move the wheel. She shrugged and readied her bow.
“What are you doing?” Symphony asked.
“If that switch moved the wheel, maybe this one lowers the spikes.” Sea Swirl strung an arrow and let it fly. It slammed into the switch and the switch sank into the wall. The same rumbling sound filled the air, but to the ponies’ dismay, the spikes didn’t lower into the ground.
“Nuts,” Sea Swirl said as she slung the bow back on her back.
“It did something,” Symphony replied. She looked across the room and then nodded. “Look. The spikes don’t go all the way to the wall. Stay close.”
The two ponies hugged the right wall, well clear of the spikes. They reached the first arch from the walkway above and they were able to look into the rest of the room. The right side of the room was also full of spikes, but there were also several bodies impaled on them. They didn’t look like ponies though. Sea Swirl looked closer.
They were griffons. What were griffons doing in Shulva? Sea Swirl recalled the smoky vision she had seen at the fire. The Shulva knights had looked like they were repelling an attack. Had it been griffons?
“I suppose that answers your question,” Symphony said as she stared at the bodies.
“What?”
“A trap. They lured them into this room and then somepony triggered the spikes. No doubt they had archers standing on the walkway above us to finish them off.”
“I guess that pony forgot to turn the trap off,” Sea Swirl replied with a weary smile.
“Or they were killed,” Symphony said coldly.
Sea Swirl shuddered at the thought. She continued to look around the room until she spied something in the far corner that made her heart jump. Despite the danger she and Symphony were in, she couldn’t help but smile.
A chest was tucked away in a small enclave at the far end of the room. Without saying a word, Sea Swirl began to make her way toward it, hugging the pillars to avoid the spikes. She reached the enclave and jumped over the last few spikes, landing safely in the room.
“Finally,” she whispered. She slowly opened the chest, her heart racing as she thought about what treasure could be waiting for her. Whatever it was, she was going to turn it into the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever crafted. She would give it to Symphony as an apology for dragging her down here, and perhaps as something else as well.
Sea Swirl was still going over all the things she could possibly make as the chest opened, but her dreams were quickly dashed. The chest only held a chunk of stone. It was oddly smooth and shaped like an egg, but as far as she could tell, it was just a hunk of rock.
Disappointed, Sea Swirl reached in and lifted it up with her hoof. Maybe there was more to it than—
A piercing scream tore through the entire chamber. Sea Swirl spun around and raised a shield around her body. She recognized the sound as one of the priestesses, and sure enough, she spied one on the walkway above. Her horn was glowing black and the familiar darkness was beginning to form above her head.
“Sea Swirl, get—argh! Get out of there!” Symphony yelled. Sea Swirl looked down from the walkway and saw that Symphony was desperately fighting off another of the duel-wielding phantom Unicorns. She was somehow managing to block or dodge all of the attacks despite fighting in such a small space, but she wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever.
Sea Swirl frantically began to look around the room for the cursed armor that would turn the Unicorn back into tangible form, but as she did she spied another one of the phantoms, and it was coming toward her. Worse, the spikes didn’t hinder it at all. If she didn’t get out of the small enclave, it was going to trap her inside and cut her to ribbons. She shoved the strange stone into her bag, leapt over the spikes to land near the wall, and ran back to Symphony. She pulled her dagger and sent it whipping through the air and into the phantom’s neck. It staggered for a moment and Symphony jumped up in a move that would have severed the Unicorn’s head had it been solid. As it was, the phantom simply staggered backward again, shook its head once, and then attacked again.
“This way!” Sea Swirl said as she pulled on Symphony’s lush, curly purple tail. The two ponies hugged the pillars and moved as fast as they could, knowing that one misstep would impale them on the spiked floor. Sea Swirl heard the priestess’ spells crashing against the floor above them as they reached the far side spiked room.
Sea Swirl broke into a sprint but came to a stop as she came up to a sudden drop into blackness. Half of the stairs had crumbled away and she struggled to stop herself from falling over the edge. Symphony pulled on her tail and took the lead, jumping to the left where the stairs were still intact. Sea Swirl followed, risking a glance over her shoulder. The two phantom Unicorns were still following them, but the priestess was staying on the walkway, screeching at them.
“There’s another one!” Symphony yelled as she reached the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner. Sea Swirl hoped the Earth pony meant that there was another priestess, because they could at least kill her, but luck was not with them. As she reached the bottom of the stairs and followed Symphony around the bend, a third phantom Unicorn rushed toward them, swinging its swords in a rapid slashing attack.
Symphony blocked the first strike and leaned into the second one, allowing the blade to bounce off of her armor. She rolled away from the phantom then and continued running down the hall, taking a sharp right again at the end of the room.
Sea Swirl held her breath and ran straight toward the new phantom. It turned to her and readied its blades, but Sea Swirl simply sped up and ran straight through him. A chill went through her body as she passed through him, but she didn’t slow down because she heard the frightening sound of his blades slamming into the floor as he missed.
“It’s a dead end!” Symphony called as Sea Swirl followed her around the bend. She found herself in a terribly claustrophobic hallway. Symphony was at the end of it, banging on the wall with her hoof. Sea Swirl looked back over her shoulder and saw that all three phantoms were closing on them. There had to be a switch or something somewhere!
Just before Sea Swirl reached Symphony, she felt a cool blast of air on her right. She stopped and saw that there was a small passage leading out of the hallway. She waved to Symphony and then ran down it. It ended at a ledge above a room, with a set of stairs to the right and left that led down. Sea Swirl broke to the right and dashed down the stairs, but before she reached the bottom, Symphony reached the ledge above and simply jumped off. She landed on the floor just as Sea Swirl reached the bottom of the stairs. Both ponies turned and looked up at the ledge, expecting the three phantoms to appear any moment.
After a solid minute, Sea Swirl let out a nervous laugh and turned to Symphony. “Nice jump.”
“Mm-hm,” Symphony replied, her eyes locked on the ledge.
“There’s a body,” Sea Swirl said. Directly under the ledge was another passage, and resting against the doorway was the body of yet another griffon. As Sea Swirl approached it, she realized that it had been burned. She carefully reached out and touched it, and it collapsed into pile of ash. That probably wasn’t a good sign. They had come up against weapons, dark magic, and traps, but they had yet to face something that could burn them to cinders.
Except for Sinh.
Sea Swirl swallowed and carefully walked into the passage. It led to another room like the one she had just been in, and there was no sign of Sinh. She turned and waved for Symphony to follow her, and then walked further into the room.
“It does not look like they’re following us,” Symphony said, her sword still in her mouth as she walked into the room, looking over her shoulder.
Sea Swirl thought about the feeling she had got when she had run straight through one of the phantoms and it made her shudder. She brushed herself off, feeling like she was covered in cobwebs. She continued walking into the room, making her way to the exit down on the right side, when dark red flames suddenly began to burn at the end of the room.
“Now what?” Symphony asked, dropping into a fighting stance.
The flames began take shape and slowly, a pony appeared on the floor. She stood up and look at them as the flames vanished. She was covered from head to hoof in red, but there was no mistaking her. She had a wild, spiky mane and wore a bodysuit. She had wings and she stretched them once and flashed a confident grin. Her eyes were half closed in the sultry look that drove so many stallions and mares mad.
“Spitfire?!” Sea Swirl said as her mouth fell open. What in Equestria was the famed flier doing down here in Shulva? How had she even gotten down here? And most importantly, did she know a way out? “Spitfire! Thank Celestia. We’ve been looking for a way out of here.”
Spitfire cocked her head to the side and flashed a one-sided grin. She raised her front hoof and a ball of flame appeared above it.
Sea Swirl remembered the charred griffon they had just passed. “Uh…Spitfire?” she asked as she took a step back.
Spitfire’s eyes opened fully and her grin was replaced with a sinister smile. She pulled her hoof back and threw the fire like a ball. Sea Swirl ducked just in time and the fireball slammed against the wall behind her.
“Spitfire, what the buck are you doing?!” Sea Swirl shouted.
The Pegasus rose into the air and brought her front hooves together. A massive fireball formed in front of her. It grew until it was nearly as big as her, and then Spitfire raised it above her head and hurled it toward Sea Swirl. The Unicorn screamed and dove to the side as the massive ball of flame seared the air around her.
“Spitfire, stop!” she called as she stood back up. “We’re not your enemies!”
Symphony charged forward and jumped at Spitfire. The Pegasus flew to the side, easily avoiding the blade. She landed and reared up on her hind legs. Her front hooves glowed with fire and she slammed them down on the ground. Giant pillars of flame erupted around her. One of them began to erupt under Symphony and the Earth pony barely managed to jump out of the way before she was incinerated.
“Symphony, stop!” Sea Swirl yelled. “That’s Spitfire! The Captain of the Wonderbolts!”
“Then the Wonderbolts are going to have to find a new Captain,” Symphony growled as she glared at the Pegasus.
“You can’t mean that!”
“She is trying to kill us, Sea Swirl,” Symphony snapped. “Now either help me kill her, or get out of my way. If you want to burn and die down here, fine. But I’m not going with you.” She rushed Spitfire again. The Pegasus rose up on her hind legs again and moved backward in a graceful spin as one of her front hooves glowed. Once again, fire formed from her hoof and she flung it around like a whip, keeping Symphony at bay.
The Earth pony watched the dancing flames for a moment, and then jumped through an opening in them. She slashed at Spitfire’s neck, but the Pegasus easily dodged the blow. She threw another fireball and it slammed squarely into Symphony’s armor. The Earth pony yelped and jumped back, pawing at her armor with her front hoof. It was still in one piece, but it was probably a bit warm now.
Sea Swirl looked at Spitfire and shook her head. Symphony was right. The Pegasus was trying to kill them, and if Sea Swirl didn’t help, she probably would. She dug her hooves into the stone floor and began to focus her magic. Spitfire might be able to manipulate flame, but Sea Swirl could manipulate magic.
Symphony charged again and Spitfire reared back on her hind legs while her hooves began to glow. She slammed them down and the pillars of fire roared to life, but Symphony had been expecting it this time. She jumped to the side to avoid the nearest pillar and charged forward. She slashed at Spitfire and the blade bit into the Pegasus’ shoulder, but she jumped away before the blow could do any real harm.
That was when Sea Swirl struck.
The Unicorn unleashed her most powerful magic, sending several massive spears of light screaming toward the Wonderbolt. Spitfire managed to dodge the first two and they splashed harmlessly against the wall, but the third one caught her in the chest.
All of the magic poured into the Pegasus and overloaded her senses, burning out her nerves and causing her body to stiffen in agony. She fell to the ground, her body smoking from the magical energy, and struggled to get to her hooves. She was trembling as she stood, and she barely seemed to have enough strength to raise her head.
Symphony rushed forward and plunged her blade deep into Spitfire’s side. She sank it all the way to the hilt and Spitfire’s mouth opened in a silent scream. Symphony twisted the blade and then yanked it out, and Sea Swirl’s heart broke as she watched the Pegasus sink to her knees. She looked up at Sea Swirl with pleading eyes, and then fell forward, but before she hit the ground, her body vanished in a red mist, much like the phantom Unicorns had.
“Spitfire…” Sea Swirl whispered. How was she supposed to explain that she had just helped kill one of the most famous ponies in Equestria?
“Get your head on straight, Unicorn,” Symphony spat. She sheathed her sword and stormed over to Sea Swirl. “You dragged me down here. I told you that we should have turned back, but you insisted on exploring this forsaken place. We’ve almost been killed over a dozen times now. We’re dealing with forces we’ve never seen before, and I’ll be damned if your…incompetence gets me killed. If you freeze up like that again, I’ll leave you behind.”
Sea Swirl shrank back at every word, until she was huddled down on the stone floor with her ears pressed against her head and her eyes closed to hold back tears. She hadn’t known it would be like this. She had just wanted to go on an adventure with Symphony. They were just supposed to hunt for treasure and spend some time together, not fight for their lives. Why hadn’t she listened to her and turned around when they had first arrived?
Symphony turned and walked toward the exit. She reached the doorway and then stopped. Without turning around, she said, “If it makes you feel better, I’m not sure that was Spitfire. At least, not entirely. Now come on.”
“Okay,” Sea Swirl said, glancing one last time at the spot where Spitfire had died.
The two ponies walked out of the room and found themselves outside once again. Sea Swirl looked up and saw the massive temple above them and realized they were now at its base. Had they really gone down that far? She stepped forward and jumped as her hoof touched water. She looked down and saw that they were at the bottom of the cavern, and the place was filled with water. It only came up to just past her hooves so it wasn’t deep enough for her to swim in, but she still found it comforting. She was at home in the water, and she had missed its cooling embrace.
Massive stalagmite formations rose through the underground pond, trying in vain to stretch up to their stalactite brethren above. They seemed to form little castles, and Sea Swirl thought the entire cave looked rather peaceful. If not for all the danger she and Symphony had faced, she would have liked to come back and just relax here.
The ground shook slightly and a sloshing sound echoed through the cavern. Both ponies looked to their left and Sea Swirl’s desire to come back to the pond vanished. A creature was stomping through the water. It was huge, almost a third of the size of Sinh. It walked on two massive legs, but other than that it had no limbs. Its body looked like a mutated tadpole, with a short stubby tail and its scaly black flesh, but its mouth was unlike anything Sea Swirl had ever seen. It stretched the entire length of the monster’s face, if it even had a face. Its mouth was the only feature on it, and was filled with giant teeth, each one bigger than a pony.
“What in Celestia and Luna’s names is that?” Symphony whispered.
“I have no idea,” Sea Swirl whispered back. She went over every legend she had ever heard about the sunken city, but nothing matched what she was looking at. Shulva had worshipped Sinh, and the dragon had slept in the city until one day it awoke, bringing death and ruin before the city sank beneath the waves. There was nothing in the legend about hideous monsters.
“Whatever it is, we should probably try to avoid it,” Symphony said. She began to walk out into the shallow water, keeping her eyes glued to the creature in the distance.
“Easier said than done,” Sea Swirl said as she stepped into the water. She pointed to the right to reveal two more of the giant creatures roaming the pond. Symphony looked at them and slowly shook her head, but kept walking.
“Looks like there’s an exit on the far side of this pond,” she said as she made her way through the water.
The two ponies moved as fast as they dared through the water, trying to keep their eyes on the creatures. Occasionally, one of the beasts would let out a roar and the ponies would freeze, silently praying that they hadn’t been spotted. They made it halfway across the pond and hid between two clusters of stalagmites while they stopped to catch their breath.
“Symphony, listen,” Sea Swirl whispered. “If…if those things do see us, run, okay?”
“That was the plan,” Symphony said coolly. “I don’t think we can fight them the same way we’ve fought everything else down here.”
“Um, yeah…” Sea Swirl said.
The two ponies peaked around the stalagmites and watched as one of the creatures walked passed. The ground shook with each step and Sea Swirl’s teeth felt like they were going to fall out of her mouth, but the thing kept moving and took no notice of them, so they began walking again, heading toward the distant shoreline.
Another roar echoed through the cavern, only it wasn’t like the ones the creatures had been making before. Sea Swirl swallowed and picked up her pace a little, not daring to look back.
The ground began to shake at shorter intervals and the thundering sound of the creature’s footsteps grew louder and louder with each passing second. Panic rose in the Unicorn’s chest as she broke into a trot, still not looking back.
“Uh, Symphony…”
“I know.”
The ground began to shake so bad that Sea Swirl was having trouble staying upright as she trotted through the water. She risked a look over her shoulder and fear gripped her heart.
One of the creatures was running toward them, its head lowered and its mouth wide open. It crashed through the water with frightening speed and its teeth were bared. Somehow its strange mouth looked even more terrifying than Sinh’s.
“Symphony, go!” Sea Swirl shouted, but the Earth pony had already broken into a full sprint, kicking up water as she moved. Sea Swirl was right behind her, struggling to keep. She imagined the creature right behind her, leaning forward to snap her up in a single bite. That fear drove her legs even harder as she dashed through the water, fighting the drag as best she could. The beast roared again, so close that Sea Swirl’s ears hurt. She wasn’t going to make it.
Symphony had reached the shoreline. She ran out of the water and up on the stone beach. She drew her sword and spun around. Her eyes met Sea Swirl’s for a half second and then they looked behind the Unicorn and went wide. Sea Swirl closed her own eyes and put on a final burst of speed and then jumped as far as she could.
A second later, Sea Swirl slammed into ground. She heard her robes rib and felt the stone tear into her fur and flesh, but the pain didn’t register. She scrambled up the beach, half running and half crawling, until she felt a hoof reach out and pull her up.
“You’re bleeding,” Symphony said calmly. She nodded to Sea Swirl’s shoulder.
“I’m fine,” Sea Swirl said as she looked at the wound. It stung, but the pain was nowhere near the level of the bite she had suffered earlier. She then looked back at the pond and was relieved to see the creature staying far away from the shoreline. It roared at them once and then turned, wandering back into the pond.
Sea Swirl took a deep breath and used a healing spell on her shoulder. The wound closed instantly, leaving only the ripped robes and blood behind.
“Must be nice, being a Unicorn,” Symphony said.
“It does have its perks,” Sea Swirl replied as she looked around. They were standing on a raised part of the cavern floor. She could see the temple they had left behind across the pond. They were now closer to a second temple, and as Sea Swirl looked up at it, she recognized it as the main temple they had seen when they had first entered. Her heart sank as she realized they had just been going around in circles the whole time. They were never going to get out of here.
“You’re not dead yet,” Symphony said as if she was reading Sea Swirl’s mind. “Let’s check out that shrine over there.”
The two ponies walked over to a strange shrine. It was a stone wheel placed on its rim atop a pedestal. A piece was missing from it, and Sea Swirl couldn’t help but feel that the missing shape looked familiar to her.
“What do you think it is?” Symphony asked as she stared at it. “Perhaps a way to summon Sinh?”
“If that’s the case, we don’t want to be anywhere near it,” Sea Swirl replied, taking a step back, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of the missing section. Why did it look so familiar to her?
The stone! she thought suddenly. Without saying anything, she pulled the chunk of stone out of her bag and levitated it over to strange shrine. She turned it slightly until it lined up with the slot in the wheel, and then slowly pushed the thing in.
There was a low rumble and the shrine began to sink into the ground. Sea Swirl jumped back and drew her dagger, her eyes scanning the cavern for any sign of the dragon, but the shrine sank all the way into the ground and there was no sign of the beast.
“That was…odd,” Symphony said. As she spoke, another rumbling shook the cavern and two ponies looked toward the main temple. A giant pillar began to rise out of the water. It kept going until it reached the bridge that linked the temple to the cliff face and then it stopped, completing the bridge.
“I take it we’re going there next?” Symphony asked. She didn’t wait for an answer, but instead began walking away from the shrine and toward an exit from the underwater pond.
Sea Swirl looked up at the bridge and then down at Symphony. They were lost. They had started up on the cliff face and had been chased and herded throughout the entire ruined city, only to end up at the bottom of the cavern and still no closer to finding a way out. And now, they were going to somehow make their way back up, probably to where they had started, only to cross a bridge and go inside another temple.
“I’ve killed us both,” the Unicorn whispered as she began to follow Symphony.
Author's Note
Part two of three. Yes, I skipped over a few sections in the first temple, including the Puzzling Sword. And who better to fill the roll of that fire-happy jester than Spitfire? Well, I thought it was a good fit anyway...
One more part to go.
