As the pair of ponies made their way through the next tunnel, Irradiance could hear what sounded like conversation on the other side. Hibiscus and the other Unicorn shared a confused glance.

“Do you think everyone else is trapped together in the same room?” Irradiance asked, not quite believing the suggestion. Hibiscus shrugged, pink mane bouncing with the movement.

“No clue. It wouldn’t make sense, though. I feel like Luster Dawn tried to trap us down here to separate us and prevent us from defeating her. Wouldn’t make sense to put us together if that was the goal, would it?”

“No, I suppose not…” The purple stallion pursed his lips together, squinting in the light of Hibiscus’ magic as they approached the end of the tunnel, a green light emanating from within.

“Well, how did you even get in here, then?” A mare asked, her voice sounding almost upset.

“I told you,” Irradiance recognized the voice instantly, “We fell! My friends and I walked into this castle when the floor disappeared from under us!”

“Leviathan?” Hibiscus cut off the ponies speaking, causing all heads to turn in her direction. Irradiance noticed there were two ponies, an orange and a purple one (the purple one had the green magic. A strangely similar color scheme to himself!) both looking ragged and tired. Between them was a green Pegasus who looked frightened.

“Irradiance! Hibiscus!” Leviathan, presently in his pony form, rushed over to the Unicorns and embraced them, exhaling in relief. “I am so glad you two are here. I had no idea if we were all here together or what!”

“How convenient you just happen to know other ponies here, isn’t it, Topaz?” The purple Unicorn spoke, eyes narrowed in skepticism. Irradiance had a bad feeling about this confrontation. “It’s almost as if you’re trying to trick us into believing you’ve been here this whole time!”

Leviathan turned around with confusion splayed all across his face. He ruffled his wings as he looked between the two ponies, “What? I told you we fell from above the cave! I have no idea where we are!”

“Likely story,” Topaz spoke this time, orange coat covered in dirt and dust. Had these ponies been living here in the caves? Irradiance didn’t bother asking. He didn’t want to chat with these ponies very long. “The last time we had a newcomer… oooh I don't even want to think about the last time!”

The purple pony tutted, walking up around the trio, looking Leviathan up and down closely, “He was a Changeling, you know. A filthy thing that tried to trick us into falling in love with it!”

“Oh, please,” Hibiscus rolled her eyes, waving a hoof at the accusation. “A Changeling came down here just to feed on two ponies? Yeah right!”

“It’s true!” Topaz insisted. “He transformed into this wonderful blue Pegasus and nearly seduced Amethyst! Had I not realized the shimmer in his eyes was suspicious he would have drained us both!”

Amethyst shut his eyes and shook his head, seemingly reminiscing about the event, “That’s why we can’t trust anyone else down here anymore. We’re not too willing to put our lives in the hooves of strangers in case you, too, might be one of those…” He shivered exaggeratedly, “Changelings.”

Irradiance stomped a hoof on the ground, causing a clack sound to echo in the small cavern, “You’ve got it all wrong. How long have you two even been down here?”

Topaz and Amethyst shared a glance, “Years? We stopped counting pretty soon after we moved down here a while back.”

“Why’d you even move down here? I thought you fell, too!” Hibiscus probed. The stallions rolled their eyes.

“Questions, questions, questions! How about we ask you something, hm?” Amethyst came close this time, getting almost right against Leviathan’s muzzle. “Are you a Changeling? You seemed antsy when we brought up the possibility.”

Irradiance, Hibiscus, and Leviathan were quiet. Clearly, these ponies didn’t trust Changelings, but being silent this long was already suspicious. Irradiance decided to stall. Stepping forward, he spoke first.

“Don’t you know Equestria likes Changelings now? I mean, haven’t you heard of King Thorax?” The stallions shook their heads.

“No clue who that is. I only know of that disgusting Queen Lilith.”

Topaz nodded alongside his partner, speaking next, “She drained too many of our townsfolk of their magic… they’ve gotta go extinct.”

“But you said the Changeling that came down here fed off of love, not magic,” Hibiscus recalled, catching the ponies in a conflict of facts. There was a pause and Irradiance could have sworn he watched one of the two stallions flicker, like a hologram.

“Too many hives to keep track of. Magic, love, what’s next, life itself?” Amethyst waved off the mix-up with a hoof. “You never answered our question though. Avoiding the subject, are we?” He raised an eyebrow and came closer to Irradiance, moving suddenly as though he were about to attack, causing the Unicorn to flinch and step back, fearful of what he might fall victim to.

“Damn,” Topaz cursed, “He’s not a Changeling. Sudden movements usually get them to change their forms.”

“Way to give the plan away!” Amethyst hissed, rolling his eyes. “Hand me the sharp rock, maybe hurting this one will make the others admit they’re lying!” Irradiance inhaled sharply and stepped closer to Leviathan, who had already extended a wing to pull his lover closer in comfort.

“Woah!” The threat caught Leviathan off guard and immediately threw him into a more protective stance, “We’re not going to hurt anyone, okay?” Leviathan said, now acting as a barrier between Irradiance and the ponies, “I’m just trying to find the rest of my friends. And even if I was a Changeling, so what?”

“Lev–” Irradiance put a hoof up as he recognized a buzzing start to hum underneath the green Pegasus’ coat, The stallion shushed the shorter with a knowing look. It was a dangerous game, transforming right after a threat like that.

“I’ve got it, don’t worry,” Leviathan reassured, before taking a step forward and transforming into his normal self. The pair of stallions gasped before shouting curses at the prince.

“You are one of them!”

“You monster!”

Though there had been mention of a weapon, no evidence of truth behind the threat came about. Hibiscus stepped up, brows furrowed in irritation, “Shut up, both of you! Leviathan is no less pony than we are!”

“He’s a bloodhungry beast!” Topaz pointed, though it didn’t seem like either was trying to attack the sudden “threat” they were now faced with.

“I am no such thing!” Leviathan angrily countered. “I fought to change my hive for the better, actually, now that Lilith is gone!”

There was a beat of silence. Topaz and Amethyst flickered again, this time it was more obvious and all three of the ponies saw it. Irradiance stepped closer.

“You’re not scared of him at all, are you?” Topaz asked, looking right at Irradiance, who just shook his head slowly, still stepping toward the stallion. Topaz stared blankly, “You’ll regret it.”

“Oh, shut up,” Irradiance swatted at the pony with a hoof and with a POOF! He was gone. Dissolved into thin air just as the tree illusion had earlier.

“Woah!” Hibiscus ran up toward the mist that was now leaving through the tunnel exit, looking between it and back to Irradiance. “How did you know he wasn’t actually real?”

The stallion chuckled before responding, green eyes flickering around the cavern, “Lucky guess, maybe? I saw him, like, flicker in and out–”

“I saw that too,” Leviathan verified, nodding along.

“-and I figured they must not be real. I mean, what are the odds ponies were already down here where we wound up? And living here? Come on.”

“Hey, you lived in the forest for a decade!” Hibiscus defended, which was met with dismissal from the other Unicorn.

“Yeah, in a forest with tons of nutrients, resources, and food! This is a cavern made of rocks. There’s like, water here. Not much else.”

The trio looked around, taking in their surroundings before resigning and deciding to continue through the tunnels together. Irradiance stuck close to Leviathan and Hibiscus led the way, not wanting to third wheel, but understanding the couple would want a minute with just each other.

Leviathan pressed a quick kiss to the purple stallion’s forehead, smiling, “I’m glad you’re okay. I wasn’t sure if I’d find you all that fast once we fell down here.”

Irradiance pressed closer against the Changeling, enjoying the comfort, “I actually found you, so…”

“Oh, whatever!” Leviathan laughed, and Irradiance laughed along with him. It was nice giving into the urge to flirt and have physical contact on this adventure after wanting it so bad the last.

“So, Leviathan!” Hibiscus chimed from in front of the lovebirds, “Do you have any idea how to get out yet?” The Changeling shook his head, looking all around as the trio exited the tunnel and once more returned to the large cave that Irradiance had awoken in. There were three tunnels before him, one blocked off with boulders, and the others open for exploration.

“How did you two know how to find me?” He asked, cocking his head to the side and fluttering his wings beneath their sheath.

“Lucky guess,” Irradiance admitted. “I went through the first tunnel and found Hibiscus, you just happened to be in the next tunnel. No clue who we might find next.”

At the end of his admission, there was a rumbling sound, and soon enough Leviathan’s tunnel was blocked off with rocks as well.

“Woah!” The Changeling flew into the air for a minute in shock of the sudden minor earthquake, but the Unicorns just stood, unimpressed.

“That happened to mine, too,” Hibiscus said simply, walking up to the remaining two tunnel entrances. “Should we keep going in order or should we go random?”

Irradiance shrugged, looking to his partner for input, “What do you think?” Green and red eyes met for a moment before Leviathan turned to the tunnels with determination on his face.

“In order, I think. Who’s to say Luster Dawn didn’t curse them to cause something back to happen if we don’t go in order?”

Hibiscus hummed, “Ooh, good point!”

Irradiance smiled humorously, “Okay, sure. Curse or no curse, we’ll get them all done eventually. At least nothing’s been too hard to handle, you know?”

Walking up to it, Irradiance poked his head in to see if there was any light coming from within the tunnel, but there was nothing. Though he knew nothing would happen, Irradiance attempted to light his horn. Not a single spark flew from it. Leviathan walked up to the Unicorn.

“I thought you still had some magic left,” He recalled, “I thought it was just extremely weak!”

Irradiance shook his head slowly. “When I woke up, Luster Dawn drained the rest of my magic from me. I think she’s trying to stall so she can gain physical form and take over before we can get out.” Leviathan’s red eyes widened and he looked down the tunnel, fear in his eyes.

“Then let’s go! We should hurry up before Luster Dawn can get any more powerful or hurt anyone else!”

Hibiscus ran ahead of the pair of stallions, “Fine with me. Maybe I’ll find Cobalt next and I won’t have to third wheel on this romance mission anymore!” Humor was highly welcome in a stressful scenario like this.

Without another word, the three ponies started the trek down the next tunnel, hoping they wouldn’t find the next of their friends before something terrible happened.

Author's Note

erm. short chapter :/ ill try to write longer chapters after this o nee