Read this story and all of its chapters in paragraph format with better editing, here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/129684/the-trials This version of the story is heavily unedited. ---------- >"What do you suppose is down there?" Gloomie asked, the three of them standing at the entrance of the strange, stone structure. >In the middle of the blue-lit cave was what looked like a stone door frame embedded into the wall. >Orange light poured outside from a pair of torches hanging just within the structure. >The bat ponies stared into it, or rather, downwards, at a long descent of stone stairs. >Pairs of torches hung on the cobblestone walls every so often, bringing a green-orange hue to the surfaces of the rock. >"I'm... not entirely sure. It looks like we must go down, though," Mosina said, swallowing before stepping forward. >"I suppose I'll take the lead." >Gloomie uneasily shrugged and Night Watch gave a subtle nod, falling behind her with Gloomie in tow. >The trio descended down the narrow passageway, the clinks of their armoured hooves on stone echoing against the uniformally built walls. >They barely had enough room to walk single file, and the walls almost brushed up against their sides. >After several minutes of descending the stony steps, Mosina touched down on a flat floor. >Extending several dozen feet ahead of her was a narrow hallway of the same fashion. >She paused a moment, turning her head to glance at the others who merely nodded in response. >Torches stopped lining the walls down the hallway several feet downwards, a wall of blackness just beyond the light's reach. >Giving out a deep breath, she began walking. >She crested the light of the torches, her light crystal pushing the darkness back. >However, after only several feet, the white light fed into what looked like an empty, rectangular room. >As the ponies all entered the room standing side-by-side, three dark corridors met them on each wall. --- >"Which way should we go?" Gloomie suddenly asked, her voice echoing off of the green brick walls. >Mosina swallowed. "I'm not sure. It looks like we could get lost, here." >"Do we have anything we could use to mark our path?" Night Watch asked, shuffling through her saddlebags. >"Hmm..." Mosina searched though her own saddlebags. >After a moment of nosing around, she found a pouch. >"Oh! We have this!" >Mosina brought it out with her mouth, showing it to the others. >Gloomie squinted. "What's that?" >"It's a pouch of some purple powder I found when we started. We could use this to mark our path." >Mosina unfastened the string at the opening of the pouch, revealing the powder inside. >She tilted it a little bit to the side, allowing a trickle of the powder to fall to the floor. >"There. We can use this to mark the way we came from." >Giving a nod to the others, Mosina turned forward. >"So, which way should we go, first?" Gloomie asked, looking at all three entrances. >Mosina gave a small grin. "Whenever it comes to taking paths in forks, I always go right, first." >"It's settled, then," Night Watch affirmed, nudging Mosina's flank towards the right exit. >"H-hey! Alright!" Mosina stammered, jolting forward. "I ought to buck your face, one of these days." >Night Watch chuckled, walking alongside the left of Mosina while Gloomie walked along the right. --- >However, after only a few steps, Mosina's front hoof stepped onto a tile that sunk into the floor. >Loud clicking noises came from the ceiling and a stream of darts shot down at them. >Before she knew it, Mosina could feel the clinks against the back of her armour, knowing that the armour didn't cover her entire form. >A gasp came from her right. >Mosina leaped towards the voice, smashing into the leather-armoured Gloomie and shoving her out of the shower of darts. >A small glance confirmed that Night Watch had leaped out of the way, just in time. >"Gah... are you all okay?!" Mosina asked out loud, carefully stepping off of Gloomie. >The trap had finished flinging darts, and holes could be seen in the ceiling where they had come from. >A whimper came from beneath her. >"Gloomie!" Mosina cried, kneeling down to the bloodied form. >seven sharp, metal darts protruted from her back, penetrating straight through the leather armour. >Mosina quickly threw off her silver helmet and went into her saddlebags, fetching a healing flask. >"Shit... Night Watch! Help!" >A quick set of hooves pounded against stone as Night Watch rushed her way over, kneeling down the other side of Gloomie. >"Nngh... guh..." Gloomie muttered, whimpering. >She lay in a pool of her own blood, tears flowing from her eyes. >"Drink!" Mosina cried, bringing the open flask to Gloomie's mouth. >"Night, pull those out as soon as she starts drinking." >Gloomie shakily opened her mouth and accepted the glass, and Mosina tilted it so the red liquid could flow. >Several drops of the healing solution dripped from the sides of her mouth as she messily drank. >"Here goes..." Night Watch said with a calm voice. --- >A sickening squelch filled the air, and Gloomie's body went rigid. >"Aaugh!" she cried, her teeth crashing into the glass vial as her neck jolted forwards. >Night Watch threw the two darts in her mouth to the side. >"Keep drinking, let it heal the wounds as I pull them out." >Gloomie whimpered in response, and Mosina lowered the vial to her mouth again. >Night Watch waited for several moments before saying, "I'm going to pull out another few. Get ready..." >Mosina pulled back the flask, and Gloomie clenched her eyes, nodding. >Night Watch quickly bit down on the feathered backs of three darts, pulling them out in one motion. >"Gaah! Aagh!" Gloomie screamed, Mosina holding her twitching head in comfort before bringing the flask to her mouth, again. >"Just two more, Gloomie..." Mosina whispered. >They waited another several moments while Gloomie drank, before Night Watch moved to remove the last two darts. >However, she was stopped by the sound of a loud thumping noise of metal on stone. >It was so sudden that Mosina almost dropped the flask. >"W-what's that?" she asked while Night Watch looked down the left entrance of the room, where the sound was coming from. >"Screw it... we have to pull these last ones out," Night Watch asserted, immediately grabbing onto the final two darts. >"Nngh... aah!" Gloomie grunted as Night Watch pulled them out. >She accepted the flask from Mosina again, becoming aware of the loudening, thumping noise. >"It sounds like... steps," Night Watch said under her breath, standing up and facing the entrance. >Slowly, she pulled out her golden spear and began to walk towards the entrance, warily minding where she stepped. >The thumping continued to louden as whatever made the noise got closer. --- >Passing by the sink in the floor, Night Watch made a glance to the step that had triggered the trap. >A shudder ran down her normally stoic spine. >Carved into the surface of the tile was the familliar image of a cringing face, like the ones that were on the wooden keys. >Except, now that it was larger... it looked like it wasn't cringing anymore. >It was laughing. >A loud whoosh came from down the hallway, and Night Watch immediately dodged to the right. >Embedded into the stone floor where she once stood was a large, sharp, double-headed axe. >And it was made from shadows. >"Shit...!" >Before she could do anything, the axe pried itself from the floor and flew back to the thumping figure in the dark hallway. >"Get out of the way!" Night Watch cried at the other two. >Eyes wide, Mosina helped the groggy Gloomie onto her hooves and guided her to a safe corner of the room. >Night Watch nervously held her spear in front of her as the thumping sounded as though they were almost in the room. >Her beath left her when a giant form crested the darkness. >A shadow pony--this one with glowing, red eyes--slowly stomped its way into the room. >However, unlike the ones they had encountered before, it was completely covered from head to hooves in thick shadow armour. >A menacing helmet with a curved, metal plume sat on top of its head. >Attached to both sides of the shadow pony were large, spiked shields. >It looked almost impenetrable. >"Fuck." >The shadow pony locked its head onto Night Watch, and accompanied by the loud clinking of its armour, it pivoted its entire body to face her. >Like the previous shadow ponies, two arms protruted from its back, but instead of curved blades, it was tipped with large, double-headed axes. --- >From the entrance of the room. one of the axe-arms of the shadow pony quickly flung at Night Watch. >Instinctively, she dodged, and a shadow axe barely sailed past her, embedding into the wall behind where she was. >The shadow pony pivoted to her new position and flung its second axe-arm, the axe detaching and flying across the room. >Unsure of what to do, Night Watch dodged again, watching as the first axe returned back to the shadow pony to attach itself to the back arm. >It flung the axe at her again, forcing her to dodge, while the other axe returned to the shadow pony. >She continued to dodge axes as they were flung, slowly making her way towards the the armoured figure. >However, as soon as she got close enough to strike, the shadow pony returned both of its axes simultaneously and swung at her with them. >She ducked under the horisontal swing and thrust her spear forward, only to nick the thick shadow armour with a few pitiful sparks of gold. >The shadow pony swung its entire body this time, its axes almost cutting her into three pieces. >Night Watch leaped between the axes as they came over and under her, only for her face to meet an armoured tail. >Like a club, it smashed against her head, throwing her to the floor. >Before she could even scream, the club-like tail swung down at her and slammed against her armoured back. >The armour absorbed most of the blow, but she felt several cracks in her chest as she was pushed into the floor. >"Grrah!" >Painfully, she rolled to the side, out of the way of another downward swing from the tail-bludgeon. >It smashed against the floor, bringing up chunks of green brick on impact. >Night Watch struggled to get up, limping away from the armoured pony while clutching her chest. >She removed her helmet. >"G... guys... get out..." she sputtered, tasting blood as some of it trickled out of her mouth. >She heard another whooshing noise behind her. >Closing her eyes, she didn't bother to dodge--she was too weak. --- >However, a loud crash was heard, and in a flash of indigo light, Mosina went sailing past her, having blocked the axe with Wind Ruler. >Nimbly landing on her hooves, Mosina twirled her spear and bolted forward with a gust of wind, past the limping Night Watch. >"Aaah!" Mosina cried, fanning out her wings and pushing herself off the ground with the wind. >An axe sailed past her, dodging it before she met the shadow pony with her spear. >With a powerful thrust, she stabbed the Wind Ruler straight at the chest of the shadow pony. >In a display of indigo sparks, the purple blade stabbed right through the chest armour. >"Grah!" she growled, landing her hooves on the ground and pushing forwards. >The two smaller blades of the spear also penetrated through, stabbing into the shadowy flesh. >The shadow pony grunted, twisting itself and freeing the spear from its front side. >Mosina lurched to the side as she tightly held onto it before the axe arms of the shadow pony swung at her. >Expertly, she parried them both, the shadowy metal of the axes unable to cut through the Wind Ruler. >However, the clubbed tail of the shadow pony swung at her, forcing her to jump and dodge it. >As she came down, the tail came back for another swing, and this time, Mosina decided to slice at it. >Miraculously, the blade of her spear sliced straight through the middle of the tail. >The decapitated tail immediately melted into the air, the shadowy strands flowing into the darkness of the hallway beyond them. >"Hrk..." >With new confidence, Mosina twirled the spear above her and brought it down for a powerful stab into the back of the shadow pony. >It penetrated the thinner armour of its back, between the thick shields on its sides. >Not backing down, she hopped on top of the shadow pony's back and swung her spear. >Both of the axe-arms sliced off cleanly, the giant weapons melting into the air. --- >She effortlessly brought her spear down for more stabs at the now-defenseless shadow pony, punching many holes into its armour. >The shadow pony grunted and continued to try and shake her off, helplessly. >"Haah!" Mosina cried, leaping up and thrusting her spear at its head. >The tip of the blade pierced straight through the armoured neck, just beneath the thicker helmet. >She groweled and put her entire weight into the stab, the spear digging deeper. >"Die... die!" >The shadow pony tried to thrash its head, but it got weaker as she pushed harder. >Finally, it went limp and its red eyes dimmed out, its body freezing in its position with the Wind Ruler protruting from the back of its head. >Beneath her hooves, the shadow pony melted into air, an ethereal sigh accompanying the release. >Its strands of shadows retreated into the darkness. >Before the corporeal form completely melted away, Mosina leaped off, immediately running towards the others. >In the far corner of the room, a weak Gloomie leaned against the wall accompanied by Night Watch, who was drinking from a healing flask. >"Well... that's that, I suppose," Mosina breathed. >"I'm impressed." Night Watch grinned. "You had that thing wrapped around your hoof." >Mosina blushed. "Yeah, well, it wasn't easy." She turned to Gloomie. "You okay?" >"Yeah... just a little out of it." Gloomie returned a smile. "I don't think I'll ever get used to getting so... hurt." >"Tell me about it," Night Watch chuckled. "I don't think Mosina's ever been--" >"Hey, look!" Gloomie cut her off, pointing to where the armoured shadow pony had been. >A dim glowing pile of white objects sat on the stone floor. >"Huh..." Mosina shot a glance to Night Watch before trotting over to it. --- >As she got closer, she made out the form of what seemed to be some sort of garments made out of white material, similar to what the light ponies looked like. >"Hmm... it looks like some sort of armour." >She kneeled down and picked it up, feeling it sag slightly into her hooves. >Night Watch came up from behind her. "That looks like some sort of leather armour." >"Yeah. Made out of white... lighty stuff." >"Hey, Gloomie!" Night Watch called back to Gloomie, who was slowly walking her way over. "I think we found you a new set of armour." >"Look!" Mosina said, putting the armour down and gesturing towards a set of white hoof-claws that was underneath the leather. >Night Watch's eyes widened. "Ooh..." >"What is it?" Gloomie fixed her eyes onto the white equipment in front of them. "Ooh..."