"I can't see anything. This green glow really doesn't help either." said the Captain as Spike walked beside him carrying the torch lit by his fire.

The guards at the entrance to the catacombs had them into the gated area once the pass was flashed. The catacombs were normally closed to any and all ponies that came by unless it was the Lord himself that allowed it. The reason being that it was the site for all of the ponies lost during the raids from the other races many years ago. The minimum maintenance was done around the many walkways close to the entrance as to keep them from being hazardous, but the place itself was so dug deep into the ground that any pony that knew exactly how far it went had long since passed.

"Well, if you want a different flame go for it and I'll put this one out."

"It's fine, I'm just trying not to keep my mind off the fact we're in a tomb."

"You told me that it was for ponies who died during the raids but this is just..."

"I know. There were a lot of raids in the past and many of us lost many family lines during them. I, myself, come from a completely different family line than my current one."

"What do you mean?" A crunch came underneath Spike's feet as they started to come across the ignored parts of the place. Bones were strewn across the ground as the walls were slowly degrading the bodies fell onto the floor. "Great. Anyways, you were saying?"

"The raids took the parents of my great great great great great grandmother Apple Blossom. She was only a small filly barely four years old. Which, unfortunately, was the norm during those turbulent times. She was later picked up by a stallion known as Triple Shot that found her starving near where her home was once located. He had come to see if he could rebuild near the fertile land."

"I've read that the raids were horrible but... I can't even begin to imagine losing every pony I knew that young."

"Yea. It broke her mind something awful. It took years of love and care from Triple for her to return to normal. He never married and so she became his daughter once she was able to regain herself. Since then, every time there is only a single child in the family of marriageable age and they are a mare, they ask the husband to take on the Shot name in memory of Triple."

"So... does that mean..."

"I'm not married, I'm the only son in my family and there hasn't been a mare born into the line since Apple Blossom. Whether it's because of luck or some form of magic, the shot name has never once gone away from our core family."

"That's amazing. I've only ever met one other family that has had such close knit lineage but even they have had mares born into the family."

"Yes, well, enough of the history lesson. We've got an investigation to carry out. Which... wait... where are we?" True Shot asked as he noticed darkness surrounding them from all sides where the torch didn't touch.

"Huh? What do you mean? We're... oh shit." Spike had taken a look around and found The Captain's fears to be true. The path they had walked to arrive looked like all the other paths around them. Bones were everywhere which covered their tracks and the ones he had stepped on were cloaked by the ones pushed to the top by their steps.

"Try using your heat vision thing. Maybe we can find the trail back."

"As much as I would love to do that. My eyes are still sore from last time so no can do."

"You mean to tell me we've got to wait for your eyes to get better until we can find our way out?"

"Well, don't look at me. I was hoping you knew the way out already."

"How could I if I've never been allowed here at all?"

"Good point." Spike sighed and lifted the torch to cover a wider range. They had come to a four way in their lack of attention to the twists and turns of the place.

"Well, we can either try to retrace our steps somehow or we can choose one of the other three ways. What do you think Captain?"

"We came to investigate since you said there might be some clues here or the mine. It would do us no good if we just went back without anything. Let's just keep going, I'm sure that we'll find something that will help us get out in time."

"I hope so."

After a brief argument on which direction to proceed they decided to continue down the left path. The journey was silent despite their previous conversation as they tried to pay attention to where they were going and leave marks on the bare parts of the wall using Spike's ink.

"Now that I think about it, what exactly are we looking for?" The Captain asked stepping over a skull in his path.

"Anything that has to deal with Calcium Carbide. Since it was used in Carbide lamps, which, were used mainly in places like this and mines. If we can find some clue as to where the source comes from or any lamps that might have been used recently then we can infer that there has to be somepony coming into places like this or the mines. Though, with the guards outside, it'll leave the question as to how they do it completely open."

"Okay. I think I get it. Have you figured out any connection between the murders?"

"Between the first and the last murder? Nothing. Those two couldn't have come into contact at all considering their locations. It must be something I'm missing. Who else was killed?"

"Three others were killed between the first and the fifth. The second death was a guard returning from his time at mine duty. The poor bastard made it halfway back and was found after he didn't show up for roll call. We can check the site when we head to the mine."

"The other two?"

"A young couple, their bodies were halfway between town and Lady Sweet's manor. The manor is located near a lake that seems to be popular for dates. All the bodies were found mutilated and burned. We couldn't find anything different from the first murder so we chalked it up to being the same culprit. It wasn't until the gardener that Lord Swain started to get involved."

"You mean he just left everything as it was? Did he not order a search or investigation?"

"Not exactly. We, the guard, did our jobs respectively but when Lord Swain got involved we found ourselves with more resources than we could waste."

"Why only when the gardener was killed?"

"My thinking is that it was too close to Lady Sweet. As hateful as Lord Swain might seem; he really isn't that bad of a leader and he certainly loves his sister. They're the only one left in their clan so I figure that was the main reason. Lady Sweet has it in her head that it was because the gardener knew Swain as well since he was young and this is more of a means to avenge him."

"I sincerely doubt it had anything to do with the gardener." Spike marked another wall as they came to a large open area of the catacombs. "Still, it really doesn't make any sense. A farmer's daughter, a guard, a couple, and a gardener. None of these ponies seem to have anything in common."

"We're still trying to investigate other possible connections. The only lead we have so far is that the guard and the stallion from the couple were both part of the same unit."

"So two guards... maybe... maybe they talked about something or found something. Argh! Too many questions and not enough clues!"

"Clues! Clues! clues..." the roomed echoed back as the pair reached the center to find nothing as Spike raised the torch once more.

The enhanced light revealed the room to be completely barren. The walls were not filled with bones or skulls and the floors were only paved in dust. They looked from their center position and found nothing as the echo finished.

"I wonder what kind of use this room was to ponies." Spike asked as he walked towards the back wall as the light didn't completely catch the edges.

"No idea. It's disturbing enough having to see the skulls facing us as we walk by and stepping on what were once their bodies. I can't even begin to imagine what use an empty room like this was." True Shot walked to the back left corner as Spike walked towards opposite side.

They met in the middle only to find nothing other than stone and dust rather than something that might lead to a break in the case.

"How big is this place anyways?"

"According to records; we've only got ten miles of the place explored. Some records state that it stretched all the way back to town and others showed it was only five miles long."

"That's pretty unreliable."

"Can't say I blame the record keepers. The town has been raided plenty in the past and along with the occasional quake cave ins would be the norm."

"Hmm." Spike brought a hand to his chin as he gave the place a once over again. "Forget it. I think it's best we check the mine as this place is just too large and unknown. By the time we do find something it'll be the day of my execution."

"Roger that. Let's.... hold on." True Shot stopped in mid stride as he planted all hooves on the ground.

"What are you...?"

"Shh."

The pair stood in silence for a few minutes with Spike wondering if the stress was getting to the Captain.

"There's a breeze in this room." True Shot finally said as he walked towards the left wall.

"What? A breeze? Don't you think it's just the delayed wind from the entrance?"

"No. It's incredibly weak and only comes up to my hooves. It's coming from this side of the room." The Captain started to slide across the wall slowly stopping every other step in order to feel the breeze in question.

Spike watched the stallion continue until he'd stopped near the edge of the entrance to the room.

"Here!"

Joining the Captain; Spike looked around the wall to find nothing out of the ordinary, much like his initial sweep. It wasn't until he searched the ground that he found a spot completely devoid of dust. He bent down and took some of the dirt around him to leave at the spot and saw it being blown away slowly.

"Damn. Good catch Captain. Let's see if there's a switch or something nearby."

"No need."

"Huh?"

Spike watched as the pony reared up and struck the wall with all his might making a resounding boom echo across the entirety of the area. The wall was left with a large crack where he had hit and another strike allowed a hole to form. It was small at first but, with the help of several other strikes around it, the wall crumbled and a cloud of dust filled the air leaving the two coughing and the torch extinguished.

"Fuck! It's in my eye! Sweet Celestia, give a guy a warning next time!" Spike yelled as he tried to blink the dust from his eyes.

"Who? and for that matter; who the hay is Nightmare Moon? Actually, nevermind. I don't think I want to know. Let's just continue on; it seems like this new opening leads down for some time."

The hole in catacomb wall had opened to a rocky path lit by small luminous mushrooms scattered all around the ground and walls. There was enough of them to keep the path lighted for what seemed miles. They walked through the fungus and kept on eye out for anything suspicious but, much like the place leading to their present location, nothing stood out. Eventually the mushrooms were becoming few and far between and True Shot took out another torch to light.

"Wait." Spike said as he grabbed the torch from the stallion. "Did you hear that?" his frills started to move slightly as he lifted a claw to his mouth to signal being quiet.

They moved forward into the looming darkness silently and Spike switched to his thermal vision once the black consumed them. Eventually, they came close enough to hear the noise that Spike had cautioned about and stayed low as they rounded a corner. In front of them the walls were beginning to be pockmarked by gems.

The gems were emitting light much like the mushrooms they'd previously encountered. Before either of them did anything else a large tremor rocked the area. The two braced themselves and heard hoofsteps come closer. They retreated towards the shadows as a large figure that was too far to make out walked by the end of the cave. The hoofsteps stopped somewhere down the way and silence once again blanketed the area.

The pair began to slowly come out from their hiding only to brace themselves once more as another tremor threatened the closed quarters with a cave in. As it concluded a guttural howl echoed all around them. The hoofsteps began once more and started to dissipate as they waited for whatever they saw to get further away. The two walked over towards the end of the cavern and they each checked the sides as it came to a fork. Each side had a large crumbling opening as a result of whatever they had encountered.

"What do you make of it?"

"I've seen a figure like that before, but I can't quite remember where." Spike examined the opening and moved as a stray gem fell.

He went to pick it up only find some stray hairs on the ground. He got a a napkin out and placed them inside before storing them away as True Shot came up next to him.

"Find something?"

"Yea. Found some hairs; possibly belonging to whatever that thing I can't remember was."

"Hairs aren't exactly the best form of evidence. We need something more concrete if you want to be alive by the end of tomorrow. If anything, we should go and catch whatever the owner of these holes is that passed."

"True. It might not be the best but I know somepony that could be of help in finding out what that thing was before we try and capture it."

"Oh? I'm not aware of any pony other than myself and Lady Sweet that would begin to offer assistance."

"I know. That's why I think it's time for me to send a letter."

Author's Note

Nothing much to say. Trying to finish up with the time I have available.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my story. Please leave a comment or critique below as any critique helps me grow as a writer. Have a great day!