Forwards, Backwards, and Through the Rabbit Hole

Valiant Vale jumped back just in time, as the spike slammed into the floor inches from where he now stood. Gulping, he gazed up at the ceiling, the spike sliding back into the hole from which it shot.

"Buck that was close," he sighed flapping his bat wings to stay off the pressure plates he had set off. "I really should have seen that one coming, after all whoever heard of an artifact NOT having traps in the same room with it!" he gazed back at the golden idol on the pedestal silently mocking him with his failure to notice the obvious.

"Now lets see if I have them all...Spikes from the ceiling that trigger from pressure plates...check. Air current traps designed to fling me away from the pedestal so I can't just fly and grab it...check. Suspicious pedestal that probably is another trap design to kill me in a horrifying manner," Vale said mournfully "OK let's do this."

Flicking his forked tongue in concentration, Vale slowly lowered himself to the floor careful to just barely touch the floor with his hooves, as he distributed his weight so that the plates wouldn't trip. Vale took a moment to make sure none of the plates would activate then slowly scooted forward towards his prize. He looked around at all the skeletons of various races in the spacious room. The number seen did not fill him with a positive outlook.

"Careful...Careful...Aw the hay with it!" he exclaimed in frustration, as he galloped full force at the idol, triggering the spikes behind him and slicing off a few centimeters from his tail.

"MINE!!!" he shouted triumphantly grabbing the idol from the pedestal, the platform lowering in response to its loss of weight. Vale smiled at his prize clutching it in his hooves until the wind surge under his wings.

"Oh horsefeathers."

Pulling him violently into its current, the trap shot him from the pedestal like a cannon straight towards a wall laden with spikes and more unfortunate victims he was soon to join.

"Whelp, this is it, figures that of all the things to do me in it's my impatience that's going to get me killed," he gasped hurtling towards the spikes. He clutched the idol in his hooves protectively, determined to keep his prize to the very end. Shutting his eyes, he awaited the inevitable. After a few moments, Vale felt his chest getting hotter, almost to the point of burning. Confused, he opened his eyes, squinting almost immediately against the new harsh light in the room. Looking at the contents of his hooves revealed that the prize he had sought was glowing like a miniature sun. Turning his sensitive eyes from the painful light, he noticed he was hovering in place, despite the strong gale around him pressuring him towards the spikes.

"Huh, well that was pretty lucky," he said looking back at the idol, the light from it intensifying to the point where he could no longer see it. Filled with a sense of fear and a feeling that something was wrong, he squinted to counter the light and looked closer at his hooves. His hind legs were disappearing! Thinking quickly, he decided there was only one appropriate response to this.

"AAAAHHHHH!!!!!" he screamed as more of him continued to vanish, "Oh please don't kill me, I didn't mean to move you. I'll put you back I swear on moon's honor! Just le–"

The room fell silent once more, as no sign was left of the thestral invader nor the precious idol. Only a few marks in the dust and a lack of anything on the pedestal betrayed the fact that somepony had entered at all.