The Newland Forest. A largely untouched plot of land in southern Equestria, known to many as a national park for international tourism. It was a very large forest, popular for ponies seeking an adventure, usually in the shape of a camping trip.
Deep, deep into the heart of the forest, bushes rustled as three ponies pushed their way through the foliage. It was dense, and the weather was warm, making it almost hard to breathe in the thick, damp air. Sweat clung to them as they panted.
A pink unicorn mare named Starlight Glimmer had her head buried in a map she was levitating in front of her. Her eyes darted back and forth as she studied it frantically. "According to the map, there should be a clearing around here.... I'm sure of it." She said, trying to match the landmarks on the map with those of the forest around them. She had never been to these parts before, so she was highly unfamiliar with the territory.
"Are you sure?" A yellow unicorn stallion with an orange mane named Sunburst asked. "I don't know, Starlight. We've been walking around here for a while now."
Starlight was drenched in sweat, desperately searching for any landmark she could recognize. "I'm positive. See? There's the path," she said, pointing at the ground. It vaguely resembled a very run-down trail. In fact, this whole forest seemed to be covering up what looked like an ingrown path.
"I don't see any trails on the map," Sunburst said, looking over her shoulder. Starlight didn't see any either, but there clearly was some sort of pathway.
At the front of the group, clearing foliage with her magic, was a blue unicorn mare named Trixie. She happily slashed away at bushes with a swing of her head. "We're fine. I'm sure that Starlight has everything under control." She looked back at the others and grinned. "Right?"
Sunburst shrugged. "I don't know. She doesn't seem to know where she's going."
"I'm pretty sure I can figure this out. Just keep going straight ahead, Trixie," Starlight said, walking forward. She was getting frustrated at her buddy's lack of trust, but she wouldn't give up. She knew Sunburst wasn't used to doing things like this, so she would let it slide for now. She hadn't intended to come this deep into the forest when they first got here.
"Maybe we should turn back," Sunburst suggested. If we retrace our steps, we can probably find our way back to the path we came from. We'll just camp on the outskirts of the forest! Why did you want to go so far in anyway? It's spooky here..."
"I thought it would be more fun if we went somewhere off the beaten path," Starlight said. "Come on, Sunburst. It'll be fun! It's like a little adventure!"
"I don't know..." Sunburst said, his voice trailing off. The bushes and trees were getting more condensed, and it took more time to get through each barrier of overgrowth. Sunburst had reluctantly agreed to come along on this trip in the first place, and he didn't enjoy getting the hardcore experience of outdooring.
Up ahead, Trixie pushed through another wall of bushes and vanished behind it with a yelp. The two others couldn't see past what she had gone through, but they heard her gasp on the other side of it. Dropping the map, Starlight opened the wall of bushes and branches with magic and stepped through it with Sunburst.
Once across, Starlight beamed at the sight as she and Sunburst left the dreary forest behind them. "Look! I told you it was around here somewhere," she said, looking proud of herself.
"Wow," Trixie said breathlessly, looking around. There was a green field covering the clearing and a few flowers grew along the plane. In the center of the clearing was a large tree, its thick branches stretched over most of the clearing. "This is really cool. It's like a hidden oasis! Now this is what camping is all about!"
Sunburst smiled a little and looked around. "It is pretty nice here."
They admired the area in awe. It was like the dreadful forest they were just in had been left behind, and in its place was a totally new world. It was beautiful. They had truly struck gold. The large tree in the middle truly made the landmark stand out from anything they had seen thus far. Starlight lifted her head proudly and puffed her chest out.
"Great!" Starlight said. "So, should we set up camp here?"
Trixie nodded. "Sounds good to me."
Shrugging, Sunburst agreed. He got a bit less nervous once he was out of the density of the forest; it was getting quite claustrophobic for him. They started to unpack their supplies, levitating the tents and other items out of their bags. Starlight started snacking on some pretzels she had brought before helping out, and all three of them chugged some water from their bottles. It was so hot inside the forest that they felt like they were moments away from dehydrating.
Once they were done setting everything up, the three ponies sat around a fire that Trixie had lit. It had gotten colder as the day drew to a close, so a fire seemed nessecary. Three tents surrounded the fire. It was a cozy atmosphere, and the three ponies enjoyed it quite a bit.
"This was such a good idea," Starlight said, feeding her ego a bit as she crunched on pretzels. "I'm so glad you two agreed to come."
Trixie chuckled. "Well, it was either this or I'd be spending my weekend doing a sideshow somewhere. I needed a break from it, honestly. Besides, I've never been camping much before, so this is a new experience for me."
"Me, too," Sunburst said, the fire reflecting in his glasses as he watched the flames crackle. "It's not really something that ever interested me, but I thought I would give it a shot. I'm already enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would, though."
He looked up at the giant tree that sat in the middle of the field and smiled, humoring the idea of having a home inside of a tree.
"I knew you two would love it! Camping is so much fun," Starlight said, looking around. The sky was a beautiful purple as the sun began to set. "We'll be able to see the stars so well when it's dark out!"
Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Don't we always see the stars?"
"It's different when you're in the middle of a forest. Trust me. You can see the stars much better in a place like this," Starlight explained.
It was starting to darken. The sky had taken on such a wonderful hue as the sun slowly dipped toward the horizon. Not that they could see any horizons, they were surrounded by a bunch of mountains. It was almost like the surrounding mountains and trees were protecting this little spot of paradise from the outside world.
The three of them enjoyed some snacks around the fire as they talked for a while about everything and nothing. The smell of a fire pleasantly accented the mood as the skies slowly darkened the valley.
Trixie sighed and breathed in some fresh air. "Well, excuse me. Gotta hit the little fillies room." She got up and took off toward the treeline at the far end. The other two watched her go before Sunburst pulled out a book. Starlight glanced at the cover.
"Oh, you brought a book?" She asked.
"Yeah, I figured that I would do some reading while we're out here," Sunburst said, opening it up. "I don't get out much, but I figured there would be time for some light reading during the evening."
Sunburst lit up his horn to see the text on the pages as Starlight raised an eyebrow. "What kind of book is it? Is it an adventure novel?"
Sunburst shook his head and chuckled. "No, no, just some light history on modern chemistry. Nothing exciting, really."
Starlight suppressed a giggle into her hoof. "Oh, Sunburst. Have you ever read anything that isn't related to learning? Like, any kind of fictional story?"
Sunburst shrugged. "I like non-fiction. I can learn new things, and I enjoy doing it."
"Okay, nerd," Starlight said, playfully punching him on the shoulder. He smiled back, not even looking up from the book.
"You're just jealous that I'm smarter than you," he teased, flipping through the pages.
Starlight gasped, feigning offense. Before she could retort, however, they heard a yelp coming from Trixie's direction. Sunburst looked up from his book, and Starlight joined him in watching the treeline in the distance. A few moments of silence followed the noise. Starlight called out after waiting for long enough.
"Trixie? Is everything okay?"
Silence.
Sunburst leaned over to Starlight. "Uh, is it normal for you fillies to do that while relieving yourselves?"
Starlight laughed nervously. "Eh-heh... She's probably just playing tricks on us. Better go humor her." She got up and started trotting across the field, leaving Sunburst alone by the campfire. He put his book down on his bags and got up to follow, not wanting to be left alone and feeling a sense of dread wash over him.
Starlight and Suburst went past the large tree in the center of the clearing and started heading toward the treeline. It was very quiet; only the sound of crickets and the breeze flowing through the valley could be heard as the two ponies trotted across the grass.
"Trixie?" Starlight called out again when they got to the treeline she had gone into. She looked around once she stepped into the forest, fully expecting her friend to pop out of somewhere any second now. "What's going on, are you oka-"
Starlight stopped dead in her tracks as she rounded the corner. Her eyes widened, and her mouth hung open slightly. In front of her, by the base of a small tree, was a hole in the ground, about the size of a small boulder. Pebbles and pieces of earth were falling from the hole's edges, indicating that it had just caved in.
Starlight snapped out of her stunned stupor, ran over to the edge of the hole to look inside, and shouted, "Trixie!"
It wasn't as deep as she initially thought, perhaps four or five meters deep. When she lit her horn into the hole, she could see Trixie just fine. The blue unicorn looked okay. She was shaking dust off her before she craned her neck to look up at her friend. "Starlight! Thank goodness!"
"What happened?" Starlight asked, looking down at her. A small rock fell from the edge, and Trixie side-stepped to avoid it hitting her head.
"I don't know! I was doing my business right up there, and the ground just opened up under me!" Trixie said, looking around at her surroundings inside of the pit. Realizing she didn't see anything before her, she lit her horn and looked around.
Sunburst poked his head over the hole as well and inspected what little he could see from his position. "Woah, what are the odds of there being a cave right here?"
Starlight watched as Trixie looked around to get a full view of the place she was in before she called out nervously. "Um, guys? You have got to come down here and see this!"
Curious about what she was seeing, Starlight mentally fought a part of her that wanted nothing more than to get Trixie out of there and forget about this, but that was too late now. She realized that if they went back to camping now, they would think of nothing else than to explore this new discovery.
Well, better get it out of the way!
Magic surrounded her horn as she wrapped herself and Sunburst in her glow. Sunburst started flailing as he was lifted gently into the air before he was pulled into the hole with Starlight. "W-wait, I never agreed to this!"
His protests was for naught as he was levitated into the pit with Starlight. It took less than a few seconds before they landed down next to Trixie. Trixie smiled slighty as she was once again in the company of her friends, taking the edge off the scary situation she was just in. Her hindlegs and body were dirty from the landing, but she seemed okay. Currently, though, this didn't worry Starlight nearly as much as her new surroundings did.
All three of them lit their horns and cast some light on their new discovery. Sunburst gasped. "Oh my..."
They found themselves in a long corridor. It was a mix between a cave and a construction of some sort, as there were clearly signs of hoofwork inside. The floors were flat and filled up with concrete, and there were un-lit torches along the walls of the hallway. Additionally, there were doors along the corridor, all of them looking tattered and cracked.
"What is this place?" Asked Starlight as she lit her horn to illuminate the area a bit more. She took note of the amount of damage to this place, and realized this must have been abandoned for a very long time.
Sunburst walked slowly over to the wall and reached out a hoof to touch a torch hanging on the wall. "I don't know. Whatever we just came across, it's clear that somepony were here before us."
"I'm guessing they're long gone by now," Trixie said, dusting herself off some more. As she said that, they all felt a strange sense of fear wash over them. She really wished that what she said was true.
Why was this here? Could this have been a Diamond Dog cave? Starlight brought up the idea to the other two, but Sunburst insisted that they didn't come anywhere near these parts of Equestria. Given the look of the place, Diamond Dogs seemed like the best possible explanation, but the doors were clearly pony-sized.
Starlight increased the power of her light, and the rest of the hallway was illuminated all the way. The light reached both ends of the hallway they were in. The end that was behind them was a dead end, while the other seemed to branch off into two more hallways. They got the feeling they were just scratching the surface of this place.
Once they had a good overview, things fell oddly quiet. Nopony said anything, and an eerie vibe fell over the group as they listened for any sort of sign that there could be something lurking down here.
"Maybe we should head back to the campsite," Sunburst whispered after a short while. He looked back up at the hole in the ceiling, and it looked far away right now.
The two others didn't say anything. They were staring at the end of the hallway, trying to figure out what to make of it. Sunburst was not comfortable at all, and he made sure to keep his eyes behind him at all times, watching the other end of the hallway. There was nothing there but a few doors along the wall and a dead end, but it unsettled him to not have a full view around them. After a long pause, Starlight spoke up.
"We should check it out."
Trixie and Sunburst looked at her with a look of apprehension.
"You can't be serious," Sunburst whispered in a frantic manner. "We don't even know what's down here, Starlight!"
"I know," Starlight whispered back. "But it can't be that dangerous, right? I mean, this could be an abandoned mine or something. It's clearly abandoned, and what if we come across some treasure?"
While the idea of abandoned gold sounded nice to Trixie, Sunburst had other feelings on the matter.
"Exactly!" Sunburst said. "This place has probably been abandoned for a very long time. Which means it's unstable. We shouldn't risk getting trapped down here. You saw what happened to Trixie, it's a miracle she's still standing!"
He pointed at Trixie, and she bit her lip. She was conflicted. On one hoof, she did not want to go down this tunnel any further due to her fear of the unknown. She wanted nothing to do with this, and she thought that Sunburst was right. On the other hoof, though, she had to admit she was curious. A sense of adventure and curiosity overpowered her sense of danger.
"I'm with Starlight," Trixie said. The other two stopped talking and looked at her. "I think that we should at least get a closer look around. It could be something interesting."
Sunburst looked at her like she was a ghost. "Trixie, are you kidding me? What if this place collapses on us? We'd die down here! Besides, what would we even find in a place like this?"
"I don't know," Trixie said, shrugging. "But I want to know. And besides, if anything happens, I'm sure we'll be fine."
"How do you figure that?" Sunburst whispered aggressively.
"Look at us!" Trixie said, gesturing toward herself and Starlight. "We're two powerful magic users, and you're smart! I'm sure that we could find some way out if we got stuck down here."
Sunburst looked at Trixie. He took a few deep breaths and looked around. They waited for him to agree, but he didn't say anything. He scanned the area as if trying to calculate whether or not he gave it a green light. Finally, after a while, he sighed. "Fine, let's get it over with."
Starlight grinned. "Great! Come on, let's go check it out."
Making sure the light in her horn remained strong, she started walking carefully down toward the end of the split-off hallway. She intended to get to the nearest door along the hallway to investigate what secrets it held.
The two others followed her, not wanting to stay behind. The trio moved cautiously down the tunnel, their lights illuminating their way Starlight took some time to properly inspect the doors as she got steadily closer to one. "How old do you think this place is?"
Sunburst cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "Old. Wood doesn't get worked down like this over a short period of time. Just look at the doors. They're practically falling apart."
He gestured around to the other doors, and it was the same case for all of them. Some doors were falling from the hinges, while others were wide open.
"So what does that mean?" Trixie asked, whispering. For some reason, she felt like they were being watched. "How long could it have been abandoned, you think?"
Sunburst thought about it for a moment. "Hard to say. This place has been dug out, from the looks of it. From what I can tell, this is not a natural cave. If I were to guess, it's been at least fifty years since anything was in use down here."
Not only were the doors falling apart, but there were some puddles along the corridor as well as spiderwebs absolutely everywhere.
"That's just creepy," Trixie said, looking around. It was hard to imagine a group of ponies, or whatever they were, living down here. She looked at the old, closed door they were approaching, wondering just what in the world could be behind it.
Starlight, being an adventurous soul, went for the handle once she got to the door. She tried to open it, but it didn't budge. "Huh. Locked."
She thought the door would just fall as soon as she touched it, but strangely enough, it held firm.
"What are you doing?" Sunburst asked, looking over her shoulder.
Starlight shrugged. "I don't know. Curiosity, I guess." She kept fiddling with the handle. "It's definitely locked, though. I wonder why."
"Probably because they didn't want somepony to get inside," Sunburst said, deadpan. Starlight rolled her eyes.
"Well, I've got an easy solution for that." She said as she stuck her tongue out and focused her magic on the lock of the door. They heard a 'click,' and the door slowly creaked open. Trixie and Sunburst shared a nervous look before she opened the door any further.
When the door opened, the trio was immediately hit by a stench of rot and decay. Starlight covered her muzzle, and she heard the other behind her heave as they covered their muzzles as well. "What's that smell?!"
Casting light into the room, they saw a large office with chairs, desks, walls littered with notes and papers, and in the far back was a bookshelf with more papers and notebooks. However, what really caught their attention was the large... thing, in the center of the room. There was a massive glass cylinder that had been broken, and there seemed to be a pool of black water at the bottom of it.
They didn't take long to examine it as the stench was too overwhelming. Starlight closed the door so they would be able to breathe. "Ugh, that was disgusting!"
Trixie fanned her face with a hoof and looked around her again, not feeling very comfortable. Sunburst turned around, about to get sick.
"Okay, so what the hay is this place?" Trixie asked, trying to clear her nose by blowing air out of it.
"It looked like an old lab," Sunburst said after recovering. "Or an office, I suppose. Did you see all the papers and notes?"
The others nodded, still trying to get rid of the stench in their nose. It was definitely some sort of office, but what was that large tank? And the smell... what was that?
Sunburst briefly thought about how this could have been a research facility for potions and mixtures before he saw another door just across from them, which was wide open. He lit his horn some more and was able to see some sort of machinery inside.
Now feeling slightly curious, due to the nature of what this place could potentially hold in terms of knowledge, he took the initiative.
"There's another room down there," he said, pointing at the door.
Trixie looked at it, squinting. "Oh, good. It's already open. Hopefully, I won't get a big smelly surprise by going in there."
The two others nodded, wanting to get as far away as possible from the stench of the other room. They could still feel it lingering in the air, and they started moving away from the door to head to the other room. None of them wanted to admit what they had all thought about.
Something slowly became clear to all of them. They didn't like leaving any corner of this place in shadow. They all had their horns at the brightest they could, making sure to illuminate absolutely everything in view. The fact that the room they looked inside had shadowy areas unsettled them greatly.
As they approached the other door further down the corridor, the realization that this place was hiding something sinister started creeping into their minds. They all peeked into the room to get a better look once they got closer but didn't like what they saw once it was properly illuminated.
Being on the safe side, Starlight shot a ball of light into the room. It flew into the ceiling and increased in strength. Feeling like it would be safe to go in, and seeing as no rotten smell came from the room, they ventured inside.
"What the..." came the breathless voice of Starlight as they slowly entered. It was a room filled with those cylinders, lined along the walls. The room was quite large and circular in shape. The glass window on the pods was filled with dust, so they couldn't see inside. Not that it would help, as the liquid floating inside was black as night.
"This is getting weird," Sunburst said, looking around at all the pods. "What is all this?"
There were tables in the middle of the room, along with a large blackboard on wheels. It had been wiped clear, but notes and folders were scattered on the floor, as well as all over the tables.
Beakers and vials littered the tables, and some broken ones were strewn around on the floor. Starlight stepped over some of the broken glass. "Watch your step."
"Do you think they were making something in here?" Trixie asked. She reached out a hoof to touch one of the pods along the wall.
Starlight shook her head. "I have no idea. But whatever they were doing, they sure kept it secret. How did anypony enter this place? It's underground, too."
She made a good point. They only found this place by accident, so how did ponies get inside of here? Was there a way to the surface nearby, or did these sets of tunnels connect to somewhere far, far away?
They looked around the room, and found a large metal table at the center with some kind of device on it. Sunburst went over to inspect it. "Oh my, I've never seen anything like this."
He lit up his horn to look at it closer, and the others gathered around. It was a complex mechanism, with levers and switches on the side. It looked like it had been untouched for years, and he didn't want to touch it.
"What does it do?" Trixie asked.
Sunburst shrugged. "No idea. It's hard to tell; I don't really recognize most of these parts. There are a lot of foreign components in there."
"Well, you're the smart one," Starlight said.
Sunburst began a full examination of the device, trying to make sense of it. He didn't quite understand how to make sense of its usage due to its complicated components.
Trixie examined the pods again, trying to get rid of the dust so she could see what was inside of them. It was useless, as the black liquid revealed nothing inside. She tapped the glass, but it did nothing. Lifting her head, she saw a plate with some scribbles on it just above the glass, and she stood up on her hind legs to try to get a better look at it. Blowing on it, she saw what it read.
"Subject 23," Trixie said out loud.
Starlight looked over at her, currently occupied with gathering the notes littered everywhere. "What did you say?"
"That's what it says here," Trixie said, pointing to the plate. "'Subject 23'. It's written on the plaque just above the glass."
Starlight frowned and looked around the room. Her magic spell lighting it up still strongly illuminated everything, giving them a full view of everything. "Look, there's a bunch of other plaques too. They probably go by number or something."
"How many of them are there?" Sunburst asked, looking away from the contraption.
Starlight focused her attention back on gathering papers and clearing shards of glass from the floor. Trixie counted out loud as she read them and walked along the pods. "One... two... three... four..."
She stopped at the seventh pod. She used her magic to clear away the dust from the plaque which read 'Subject 30'. The pod was empty, but she could see several tubes inside. Looking at the pod next to it, she saw the dirty glass, but she could still make out a small silhouette inside.
No, not a silhouette. A bone pushed against the glass. She screamed and backed away from the pods, bumping into Starlight's backside.
"Trixie!" Sunburst yelled out as he ran over to her. "What's wrong?"
"I-I saw something in there," Trixie said, fear in her eyes. "There's something inside the tubes!"
The other two looked at the pods, looking where she had been. Sunburst tried to calm her down. "What do you mean? What did you see?"
"I don't know! It was a bone or something!" Trixie said.
Starlight had been busy reading the documents she had been collecting when Trixie came bumping into her. She turned around to her two friends. "Guys..." She said. "You have to read this."
They both looked at her, before they hesitantly went over to her to see what she was looking at. "What is it?" Sunburst asked, adjusting his glasses.
Starlight levitated all the papers in her magic and placed them down on the desk in front of her so the others could see them, too. She swallowed hard as she tried to make sense of it all. "I think it's a list of what they were making in here." She showed them some of the notes that she was reading.
Starlight began reading out loud.
"'We've finally gotten a breakthrough. Our experiment has been successful. After much work and many failures, we finally were able to manufacture a being combined with the other races to create a living result. While the other subjects are still awaiting results, only one has accepted the transformation thus far. Subject 30 truly has been a shining example of what hard work can achieve! I am proud of her. She has shown signs of awareness and she is even starting to form words. My colleagues are baffled at the result, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one who is excited to see what more she will become.'"
Sunburst and Trixie looked at each other. "'Other races'?" Trixie said. "What...?"
Starlight swallowed again and kept reading. "Here's another one: 'Our prime specimen, Subject 30, has gone through the transformation process better than expected. She is still undergoing testing, but I have high hopes for the future. While she has not been able to use her new assets, we are working to fix that. The other subjects have started to show signs of life, but not all of them survived. It appears that Subject 30 has undergone physical changes that I did not expect, but I am pleased with the results nonetheless. The subject's body has evolved, and it has even developed regenerative abilities. She doesn't even have to eat to stay alive. This goes beyond any of our expectations.'"
"I don't like where this is going," Trixie said, looking around the room. The open door at the end of the room looked more sinister now than ever. She noticed that Sunburst was standing very close to them now.
"Here's another one," Starlight continued. "'It is with great dismay I must write that Subject 30 is too weak to remain a vessel. Other subjects eventually shut down; it just took her more time to reject the procedure. We are not yet certain why this is the case. The subject seemed to be adapting to its new body, but it is growing unstable. We decided to terminate her. However, that turned out to be quite difficult. Subject 30, simply put, cannot die; she regenerates too fast. However, the regeneration is eating away at her body, so in a way, the very thing that is keeping it alive is also killing it. It's quite fascinating. We will see how far we can stretch that thread; we must also use her blood for further testing. We think she might not even die of old age! Incredible. What this could do for science!'"
Trixie had a look of horror on her face as Starlight read out loud. She kept reading, trying to make sense of the documents. Sunburst felt nauseous. "Why would they do such a thing?" he asked, shaking his head.
"I don't know," Starlight said, sweating.
She put down the papers and looked around. Her two friends were very close now, and she felt very uncomfortable. Starlight took a step back and began to open some of the drawers of the desk they were standing by.
Distracting himself, Sunburst helped her investigate. He found a large folder in the first drawer. He opened it and pulled it out with with his magic. He plopped it down between all three of them, and opened it to see a large text that read...
"Project: Ascension?" He said out loud, reading the words.
The trio stared at the cover of the folder. "Ascension?" Starlight asked. "What does that mean?"
Sunburst opened the page and read the detailed description that followed.
"I-I can't believe it," Sunburst said. He swallowed hard.
"What is it?" Starlight said, leaning in closer.
"This..." he said, starting to shiver. "T-this was some sort of genetic engineering project."
"What?" Starlight said.
"I-It's like a science experiment. They were trying to combine the genes of other ponies, creating... something else." Sunburst said. "It looks like they were trying to create hybrids of different kinds of ponies to achieve a new race that could have all the benefits of all of them." He stammered. "Essentially, they were trying to create... Alicorns."
The others looked at him, bewildered. "Alicorns?" Trixie asked. "Are you serious?"
Sunburst nodded slowly. "I've never heard of anything like this before. These notes... they're insane. It looks like they tried to combine the genes of a pegasus, a unicorn, and an earth pony into a single being. And with what you just read for us, Starlight..."
Chills washed down all their backs as the weight of those words sank in. Suddenly, they had a faint idea as to what was in the tanks behind them.
Starlight's eyes became the size of pinpricks as fear unkindled entered her heart.
"I want to leave," Trixie said, fear evident in her voice. "Please."
"I agree," Sunburst said. "There's no need to stay here longer. We've found all we're going to find. We should report this to Twilight immediately."
Starlight nodded in agreement, not intending to argue. All sense of adventuring had left her soul, only to be replaced by pure terror of what they had just learned. "Okay, let's go."
Eyes wide open, and pupils the size of pinpricks, they slowly and quietly walked to the door of the room. They had all but forgotten that they were all strong unicorns. Right now, they felt like birds trapped in a cage, and the fear of the unknown was crashing down on them like ice cold water.
Starlight led the way, but her two friends were stuck to her hips like glue. She was shaking with dread, and she felt the other two were in the same situation. Nopony said a thing; they spent their energy listening to their surroundings. Poking her head out the door, she listened for some sort of movement.
There was nothing.
She moved out, urging the two ponies behind her to follow. Looking to the right, they remembered that there were more hallways branching off into different sections of this place, but they had no interest in finding out where they went. They couldn't see the hole in the roof anymore, probably due to the fact that the sun had gone down at this point.
Starlight had been thinking of finding a way to a hidden entrance to this place somewhere, but any thoughts she had about those ideas were all gone now. She only wanted one thing now.
She wanted out.
She started walking to where she vaguely remembered the hole in the ceiling but stopped when something shook them all to their core. Trixie and Sunburst had their eyes behind them and froze up, too.
A sound of scraping and hollow breathing followed the silence.
The three ponies stared down the hallway. It was almost pitch black down there, but they saw the faint silhouette of something move further down. Starlight held her breath as if that would stop the thing from finding them. Her legs shook, and her heart beat like a drum in her chest.
Then, a voice. It was barely audible, but she could hear it clearly enough.
"Kill me."
The voice was weak, almost a whisper, but there was an echo that bounced off the walls. Starlight turned her head slowly, and saw the two other ponies stare at her with terror in their eyes.
"Kill me." The voice repeated. It was closer this time. The shadow was approaching them, but Starlight was too stricken with fear to command her horn to shine brighter.
"S-stay back!" She forced out.
"Please." It continued. "Kill me."
It took them everything to stay on their hooves. Trixie whimpered, and Sunburst cried. They heard the breathing again, followed by more scraping.
Then, a faint light illuminated the hallway. A blue light lit up at the end of the hallway, lighting up the silhouette in front of the trio.
What they saw almost made them faint. Shuffling toward them was a pony—a hollow husk of a pony. Its head almost hit the ground as it shuffled, and it breathed as if it was on its last breath.
The trio were stricken with fear as they observed the pony. It had a lifeless look about it. Wings, a horn; an alicorn. It was skinny, way too skinny. How was it standing? The thing opened its mouth and spoke again. "Kill me."
"W-what is that?" Sunburst said, trying not to wet himself.
"Kill me." It repeated louder. It was pleading with them.
Trixie shook her head in disbelief. "I..."
Starlight couldn't speak. She didn't want to believe her eyes. She kept shaking her head as if that would make it all disappear. It was as if something had grabbed hold of her body and was stopping her from running away.
It got closer, and they could see its face. It looked like a skeleton covered in skin. Its eyes were hollow and sunken, and the only thing they could hear was its shallow breathing.
Starlight backed away. It got closer. It was right in front of them now. Trixie screamed, and fell on her haunches. Sunburst was paralyzed. The pony shuffled its way forward, trying to reach the trio of ponies. It was right there. Starlight could reach out and touch it.
"Kill me!" It howled.
Slapped out of her panic by the scream, Starlight turned and ran. The other two were wrapped up in her magic and pulled with her. Starlight didn't know what she was doing, all she knew was that she had to get away from that... thing.
She didn't stop until she realized they were under the hole Trixie had fallen through. Thankfully, moonlight shone into the hole, guiding her way out. Not giving any time for doubt, Starlight levitated them up and out of the hole. Behind them, they heard sobbing.
"Kill me!" It screamed. "KILL ME!"
Starlight dropped the trio on the surface, and they collapsed on the ground some distance away from the hole. She gasped for air as she crawled away for good measure. The other two were in no position to move; they were just lying on the ground, shaking.
Trixie sat up and stared at Starlight, who was sitting against a tree. "I-I'm sorry!" She said, holding back tears. "I'm so sorry, I panicked, I didn't know what to do, I-"
"What was that thing?" Trixie interrupted.
Starlight sat still, not saying a word. Her breath felt heavy.
"Starlight," Trixie continued, tears running down her face. "What was that thing? What was that light?!"
Sunburst wiped his eyes, and he faintly heard the creature's cries from inside the hole in the ground. He looked over to the other two, the grim realization draping over him as he realized. However, not one of them could find the words to explain.
The silence in the trees could make the wisest and most sane pony fall mad with fear. The only thing that broke the silence of the woods was the wailing of an ancient being, long past due to the embrace of death. The moon covered the valley in a beautiful shine, bathing the horrors of the night in a brilliant, white light.
