Chapter Two: Dark

Remus' eyes shot open as he drew in a deep breath. Uncurling himself, he blinked rapidly and flexed his legs. He was in a dark room, roughly three feet of space to his left and right, with no discernible source of light. The floor felt like damp stone, and fresh air appeared to be entering from an invisible passageway directly in front of him.

Drawing himself up, he reached out a reptilian claw and made a series of taps on the rock beneath him, the sound echoing in all directions. He pricked his ears to listen as it bounced from wall to wall. As he had suspected, it sounded as though there was a passageway in front of him. Another, wider passage opened up behind, and there may have been a small opening in the rock to his left, too small for him to crawl through.

He waited for a moment before he heard a resounding series of taps from the passage behind him. He snorted in amusement. Of course Copper Tail would lead them away from the entrance. He padded down the tunnel, looking into the shadows for any sign of his friends. As he walked, the air before him seemed to grow paler. He cocked his head but continued walking, occasionally stumbling in the dark. Perhaps this was a natural light, or a wyrrlight produced by one of his friends. He stopped and tapped the ground again.

This time, the response was startlingly close, if a little muffled. He closed his eyes and concentrated, lifting a claw and scraping it along the wall to his left. There was a small crevasse to his right, where the floor and the wall met. He moved over the crack, poking his snout through the rocks. He murmured quietly, "June?"

He felt a hoof press lightly against his nose. "Unfortunately!"

He growled quietly, scrunching his snout. "Anyone else?"

He could feel the air move beneath him, implying she nodded. "Copper and Gemy."

There was a quiet hello from the first invisible pony and a meep of protest from the second. Remus sighed, not sure if he should be amused or exasperated. "Do you guys know a way to get to my tunnel?"

Gem decided to speak out this time. "We're found a few passageways leading upwards, but all dead ended. We probably missed a bunch, though. We were mostly focused on figuring out what Celestia wants us to do here."

Remus nodded to himself. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say we either need to find our way out of here, fight something, or solve some problem."

He felt a hoof poke his nose again, and he jerked back. "Please stop doing that."

"Sorry!" called June.

The dragon huffed. "I'll keep going this way. Try to find a way up to my level, I suppose. Copper, can you generate a wyrrlight?"

There was a small voice coming from the crack. "I already did." The darkness around him light up three times in rapid succession, indicating the presence of the floating orb of light.

Remus nodded. "Alright. See you soon." He paused, hearing his friends' hoofsteps fade out below him. He sighed, pulling himself close to the wall and seating himself in the darkness. He fanned out his ears and listened.

There was a stream of water cutting through the rock some distance away. He tried to lose himself in the quick lapping of the water to the stone. He felt himself sink down, letting his mental guard down and simply concentrating on the noise. Was there a splash in the stream? It didn't matter. He was almost there.

Vertigo overtook him as he began to fall into another plane. He cracked an eye and saw red-tinged blackness on all sides. He was falling faster now. It was a shame he had no wings, really. Perhaps then he could try to fly and miss the inexorable crash into the looming ground below. He looked down, and there is was, death. The blood-red grass of an infinitely expansive hill was rushing to meet him. He closed his eye again right before he hit.

Gasping for breath, Remus pulled himself up off the ground. He must have fallen over during his experience. He blinked rapidly, trying to bring his old world into focus. He suppressed a gasp of shock as he realized the entire passageway had been made visible to him. The rocky walls and smooth floor were all coated with a redness reminiscent of the world he had just seen. He stood up, looking down the path with his newfound vision, and grimaced. About thirty feet from him, there was a sheer drop into the stream he had been listening to. If the dragon had continued in the dark, he would have surely fallen and frozen in the water.

I'm sorry about that, the Voice said.

He paused, still not used to speaking to himself. Sorry for what?

The Voice answered him in a whispery tone, the same way all his or her words sounded, as though he came from far away and almost lost its voice. I nearly allowed you to fall down that hole. That was bad of me. I must learn to speak to you whenever I want… Its words trailed off at the end.

Remus twitched his tail decisively. We can discuss our connection later. Can you help me get to the level below me?

There was silence for so long that Remus was tempted to ask if his Voice had disappeared. Before he could, it responded. Turn around and walk until you come to a divergence in the path. Take it. Ignore the next divergence. I will tell you to stop. When I do, there will be a hole above you. Jump into you. The path will slope downwards and you will meet your friends after a while.

Those are a lot of instructions, Remus commented.

It is the most efficient means of travel that I can foresee. Hurry now, you may miss your friends.

Remus followed the Voice's instruction as well as he could. Traveling was much easier with this altered vision, he discovered. Before, when he had practiced this alone in his room, he had simply found it added an eerie effect to the surroundings. Now it served some useful purpose. Good.

As he plodded along the path, he began to wonder where he was. Theoretically, he had been teleported here by Princess Celestia, along with his classmates. Maybe they were below Canterlot. If that were the case, then there should definitely have been an exit to the lower levels they were in and into the upper levels, where the precious jems were mined. But they might have been anywhere in Equestria; nothing indicated these caverns had even been explored by ponykind.

Remus sighed. This was an interesting life. To be honest, neither he nor any of his friend understood what they were doing here, or even what the purpose of Celestia's school was. Supposedly, he, June, Jem, and Copper possessed remarkably powerful magical abilities, which Celestia wanted to train for whatever reason. Remus figured that his abnormality was his heightened abilities in combat. As he unconsciously followed the instructions of the Voice, he absorbed himself with something he had worked through his mind for a long while.

During class one day, he had seen Copper fiddling with something in his desk. He had stared for a while, and when Copper was done with whatever he had played with, he put it inside his desk and refocused on Celestia's lesson on basic Algebra. Remus' dragon heritage gave him naturally increased perception, and he could see the thing clearly in the shadows. It looked like a block of metal, intricately compressed together. Remus had no idea what the thing was, and Copper didn't seem to have any real magical ability. He was the least talkative of all his friends, as well as the smallest. The only time he had ever seen the earth pony smile was when he was alone in his room, writing something down on his desk.

Usually, he went on to wonder about what the others could be hiding about themselves, but for whatever reason, his mind turned to the voice in his head. He knew where and when the voice had come to him; every detail of that conversation was inscribed in his memory, solid as stone. That was the nature of discovering something that would change your life beyond repair, he supposed.

But what was the Voice? Did it have a name? Was it some sort of ghost? They had only talked a few times before; the second time was when he had lost himself in that other plane, coming out the other side and seeing everything in this strange red-vision.

Stop. There is something approaching you, his mysterious guide murmured.

Remus ceased all movement at once, taking control of his breathing. Now that he had stopped, he could hear something moving through the tunnel. It seemed huge, brushing against the walls of rock with a metallic scraping. He could hear heavy breathing from far off, punctuating the tomb-like silence of the cavern tunnel. There was a bend a few feet off from him, obscuring whatever was on the other side.

Do not attempt to retreat. The creature is too large to slip past.

Remus grit his teeth. Is confrontation inevitable?

The Voice didn't reply. Remus wasn't sure if this meant he had asked a dumb question, or if it was mulling over its options. Regardless, he decided to draw his weapon if the creature came a few yards closer. Now that his internal conversation had been quieted, he could hear the thing easily. It was enormous, filling the entire tunnel with its form. It was moving relatively fast, as though it were moving somewhere with a purpose. It seemed unencumbered with the usual complication of moving through total darkness, not colliding with any of the walls at any time. Still, there was that constant sound that reached him, slightly louder than the breathing of the beast. It seemed like something of its body was protruding and constantly scraping against the rock. A claw, maybe?

The young dragon calculated the situation. Taking into account the speed of the creature and the distance away it seemed to be, the thing would be on top of him in about thirty seconds. A few more moments, and Remus would reach out a claw and pull his weapon from the Magis. Hopefully, it would be effective enough to stop the thing.

Walk backwards, please.

Remus didn't even bother to second-guess the command, complying and pacing back into the tunnel, never taking eyes off the bend.

Do you trust me?

He paused. He had no reason to mistrust this spirit. It had never done him any harm in any of his encounters. But still, the pure fact that he had no idea what this thing was or what it wanted unsettled him.

No.

The spirit didn't hesitate to answer. Then you will trust in your weapon as you fight this beast, I hope.

The creature was almost around the corner, he realized. He readied his claw, bracing his body on the rock floor. Then the thing barreled around the corner.

Looking back, Remus would remember the distinct thoughts going through his head as he saw the thing. They were, "Oh dear Membrana." The word beast could not adequately describe this monstrosity, so horrible were its features. It was a mass of rotten muscle, standing on two legs and snorting hard through its nostrils. The arms hung limp at its sides, swaying in the momentum of its movement. The feet were hooves, the legs obscured by a mass of black, putrid smelling fur. The chest was the color of a deer's, dark brown and scarred in multiple places. The sounds he had heard were from the tops of its antlers dragging against the roof. Its face was the worst of all its parts, though. It had the extended snout of a horse, gashes running over the nose. The skin on the face seemed directly attached to the bone beneath, yellowed and emaciated. Lacerations ran all over its body, and the was so much loose skin on its face, one might confuse the separate sections for bandages, hanging off the skull. It turned to him, drenched in the red of his new vision, eyes flashing horribly, and screamed.

Remus was hit by a wave of terror. This was when he discovered the acute difference between being afraid and being terrorized. This thing was not merely something that could tear him to pieces. This was an affront against the inherent goodness of being alive. This was an affront against all goodness itself.

Please, I must help you!

Remus did not have marvel at this being the first time emotion had been present in his spirit's voice. He simply cried out as the beast charged at him, "Take it!"

He immediately felt his body soften. He was becoming less real, more like smoke. His thoughts were abstract, coming and going as they pleased and never focusing on one thing. He had the feeling he was flying through the air, and then he was standing again, standing right next to the edge of a great fall. He was gasping in and out, clutching his chest and taking in great gulps of air. Between breaths, he murmured, "What did you do?"

The spirit's voice was gentle, if detached from emotion. I transferred your body into a non-physical state. I then piloted you towards your intended destination.

Remus had no idea what the Voice had just said. He was content to merely lay his body back against the wall of the tunnel opening and take in his experience. The horror was gone. He had escaped. And best yet, there was fresh air coming from the exit right next to him. This whole experience was nearly over.

After several long moments, he posed his next question, thinking it this time. Do… do you have a name?

The voice heard him. I see no use for one. Do you?

Remus supposed there wasn't, but he thought about it anyways. There's an old story about a griffon named Viscor who talked to ghosts. He talked to them so many times he became one and joined Aetatu in the Underworld.

He giggled to himself, almost out of his mind. Am I going to be a ghost soon?

The spirit did not answer his question. Would you like me to be named Viscor?

Remus smiled, closing his eyes. Yeah… that's good.

He fell asleep.

Remus awoke to the sound of a permanent marker being drawn on his scales. His eyes shot open as he stared at the now-immobile Juniper Heart, who stared back with a marker touching his forehead. He was still leaning against the rock wall, at what he now realized was a dangerously close distance to the drop to his right.

Very slowly, he said to his guilty companion, "You brought a marker."

June's face flushed. At that moment, Gem Shine burst out laughing, falling to the ground and struggling to contain himself. The earth pony above him took the moment's distraction to tuck the marker in her mane and jump back from him. Gem was at the point of tears now, rolling on the cavern floor. He managed to gasp out before another fit of giggling consumed him, "I got it from the Magis. Awesome, right?"

In his rolling, he bumped into a smaller figure, obscured by the dark, who squeaked a little and stepped forward indignantly. "It's too bad you brought one that matches the color of Remus' scales, though," Copper commented quietly.

Gem froze, jumping up and examining Remus thoroughly. "What? You can't see anything! Argh!" He throw himself on the ground in frustration.

Remus made eye-contact with Copper Tail, and it was clear they were both remarkably confused about their teammates' priorities. But before the dragon could say anything, June chuckled darkly.

"Just you wait, Remus. All we've lost is time. As you get luckier, we get smarter. One day, we'll get you," she said, pointing at him with the marker for emphasis. "And we'll get you good."

She and Gem shared a grin before bursting into laughter. Remus shook his head, waiting for them to clam down. As he did, he turned his body and glanced to his right to see if he could see anything of interest over the drop. There seemed like there was a light at the bottom of the cliff, shimmering faintly, like firelight. The walls were sheer, with the exception of another entrance into a cave on the other side, a little closer to the light. The distance between the two cavern entrances was about twenty feet.

As he was observing this, he felt a hoof tap the base of his tail with a playful, "Boop!" He was reminded of his proximity to the edge, and turned around with a low growl. "June, I swear to Membrana, if you get me killed by the end of this, I'll end you."

The pony in question was crouched low to the ground, staring at him intently as she slinked back into the shadows. Her hoof flashed out once more, striking Copper lightly on the side. The earth pony jumped and squeaked again before settling back into his usual serious composure.

Gem was standing beside him, having recovered from his hysterics. For a moment, Remus felt a twinge of camaraderie for him. He had only known these three ponies for a month now, and none of them were even his species. But there was some strange feeling inside him, the same that had been plucked when he saw the monster in the tunnel, that told him these were family to him.

He focused back on reality to find Gem speaking loud enough for everyone to head.

"… no life in the tunnels, so if we're going to fight something, it'll probably be down there. We need to get closer. None of us can fly to the ledge over there, so I can try to levitate you all, but that'll be exhausting."

June hummed. "I might have a way across."

The air was suddenly filled with an electric sensation. Remus felt his breath catch in his lungs before things almost returned to normal. He looked up to find the brownish-orange earth pony hovering an inch above the ground. Gem's mouth as agape, and Copper looked on with a raised eyebrow. June giggled at the attention, brushing a lock of her red mane out of her eyes.

"Just trust me," she said.

As soon as these words left her lips, Remus felt a sense of weightlessness as he and the other two ponies beside him were lifted into the air. June's long mane was flowing up above her as she flashed them a comforting smile. Then they all began to move across the chasm and towards the ledge.

Remus wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation. If he had to guess, this might have been June displaying her abnormality. June was an earth pony, so maybe she could use spells like she was a unicorn. But even then, it takes an immense amount of energy for a single unicorn to levitate a body; June was levitating three different ones with the most at-peace look on her face he had ever seen a pony display.

His claws touched the edge lightly, and he and his friends all shared a look of confusion. June herself pointed a hoof at the scene playing out below them. "Oh, what's that?"

All of them looked over the edge to be met with an even greater confusion. Separated from them by a thick darkness, torchlight illuminated a bizarre metal contraption, surrounded by smaller machines that scurried around it like ants. The bigger machine stood on four thin metal legs. The head of the machine was nestled at the intersection of the tops of the legs, a sort of mass of complex parts and a core of flashing magic light. The metal was all a dull gray, and the things was moving perpetually, the head bouncing up and down.

The smaller creatures were harder to see, but they could make out a few details. Remus had originally likened them to ants, but he saw now that they looked more like spiders. They had tiny legs at their sides that he used to run across the floor, and a hunk of carved magic crystal as a body. They looked like they had a single, huge hole in their front, which must have served as an eye. These minions, which numbered maybe thirty, were pushing large boulders towards the larger machine. As they watched, it was presented with a rock and raised itself up. With a loud crack, the boulder was sliced in half with a swipe of its leg, revealing a shining blue gem. The minions moved the smaller rock to a pile of its own kind next to a wall.

Gem was already calculating the encounter that would occur. "Alright, let's see. My guess is that we'll have to disable that thing down there. First things first, we need to get down there. Eh, June, if we jump, could you lessen the impact of the fall?"

June nodded. "Yeppers."

Gem turned to Copper Tail. "Copper, you're good with machines. Any advice?"

Remus narrowed his eyes a tiny bit. Copper was good with machines? That might be useful information.

Their tiny friend, however, didn't reply immediately. He stared at the ground with an odd expression before Gem lightly tapped his shoulder. He looked up with a passing emotion on his face, one that looked like fear, before he saw his friends waiting expectantly.

"Um, try taking it out by the joints in its legs. Where they meet the head. That should make it immobile."

Gem nodded. "Alright! Remus, can you handle that?"

It was Remus' turn to nod. "I can get a good shot in if I take it from midair. After that, I may need help getting it into a position to take out the other three legs."

Gem then turned to the earth pony next to him and whispered something in his ear. Copper nodded. Remus was naturally curious, but figured Gem was giving his friend a small pep talk. Gem had always seemed to be like Copper's older brother, concerned for his well-being and constantly making sure he was out of danger. Come to think of it, Remus mused, he didn't know for certain if the two were brothers or not.

As Gem turned back towards him, Remus prepared to pull his bow from the Magis. It was always a confusing experience for him. He and his classmates had only learned how to do this a week ago, and so he had yet to attain the proficiency Celestia claimed came with accessing the Magis many times.

The dragon breathed out a small sigh, extended his claw, and made a strange motion with the fingers. This motion wasn't exactly necessary, but it eased the concentration that his equine friends were required to expend, since the physical motion bypassed a few minutes of mediation. He closed his eyes and felt the ring of magic in front of the palm of his claw heating his scales, and he pushed forward. His fingertips entered the Magis easily, but quickly gained a sense of abstractness. This feeling was not unlike the one he experienced when Viscor had helped him escape the monster, he realized. He would need to ask about it later. His whole claw was inside at this point, and he closed his fingers around the limb of his bow. He smiled and retracted his arm, the circle expanding to accommodate for the size of the item being retrieved.

He opened his eyes to find an ice-blue colored bow in his hands. The string connecting the upper and lower limb was so thin, it was almost invisible. The ends of the limbs protruded into what looked like disoriented spikes, the metal cool to the touch. There were no arrows with him, but Remus knew the magic of the bow would supply all he needed. He turned to his compatriots and smiled grimly. "Alright. We ready?"

June nodded and Gem flashed a grin. They were all excited about taking down their first monster together. Gem motioned with a flick of his head that they should move closer to the edge. They crept forward, Copper keeping to the back of the group. As soon as he could make out the finer details of the metal beast fifty feet below, he stood on his hind legs as raised his bow into the air.

He breathed out a low sigh and closed his eyes tightly, instinctually moving his head into position. In a moment, he felt his heart skip a beat and resume its course. He opened his eyes to find the world again bathed in red, slowly dimming and returning to its natural hues. More than this, though, he felt a presence next to him, one which he knew would be invisible if he turned his head to look. The shadow laid an arm on top of his, grasping the bow and moving it into position. As he did, the bow became warm, and the shimmering outline of an arrow formed between the string and the metal. It was as though he were two dragons, arming the magic How with sharing strength and mind. He hummed slightly as he, June, Gem and Copper jumped from the ledge.

His clawed feet skated the smooth wall of rock as he loosed his shot, the arrow of light flying straight through the air and hitting its mark. The machine squealed, metal colliding with metal as one of its legs fell from its body. The tripod immediately corrected its course, swinging towards its attackers. But by this time, the four had already hid themselves behind a large boulder. Grinding its internal mechanisms in frustration, it slammed its front two legs into the ground, its head rotating so the bottom was facing the boulder. A bright light began to form at the conic tip of the head, heat emanating from the area.

Remus poked his head out just in time to have his head almost obliterated. From the tripod came a blast of pure energy that cut clear through the rock, leaving the wall in front of them smoldering and with a shadowy new tunnel. Gem was panicking and trying to put out the bit of his own mane that had caught fire. June was looking wide-eyed at him.

Copper, oddly, seemed unfazed. "We should take out the laser," he said in a deadpan.

Gem had recovered from his near-death and was motioning them lower to the ground. "Yeah, let's do that. Um, June, take out its legs. Remus, try to shoot the cannon or something. Copper and I will try to disable those spider robots."

Remus nodded. He felt June move next to him, and Copper and Gem tensing on the other side. They could here the dim noises of the machine turning itself to search for them. They heard Gem inhale and shout, "Go!" before they all erupted from their cover and sprinted away from each other. Remus was briefly aware of June disappearing from his side, but pushed it to the back of his mind as he drew his bow. He couldn't feel Viscor's presence, but he knew he couldn't waste the time to contact him in the middle of combat. Already, the tripod was rotating towards him, titling its head towards him. Remus gritted his teeth and prepared to dodge the blast, drawing back the string of his bow while breaking for the cover of more rubble. He heard a sucking sound and then a great boom as white energy shot behind him. It followed him for a few seconds, carving a long hole into the wall and coming dangerously close to him before fizzling out.