//------------------------------//
// Shut Up, Night Watch// Story: The  Trials// by Zee//------------------------------//

	"Guh... Where did he go?!" Night Watch screamed, mostly to herself. Gloomie glanced around the room for signs of Aux.
	
	"Come on, let's go. The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better," said a stoic Mosina, walking towards the room's dark exit. Gloomie silently followed with an expressionless face, as though she had just seen a ghost.
	
	With gritting teeth, Night Watch kicked a pebble and followed. She muttered under her breath, "Coward..."
	
	The three bat ponies became engulfed in the darkness, trudging forward at a brisk pace while Mosina warily watched the stone tiles beneath them. Their light crystals highlighted nothing but length after length of green cobblestone hallways, twisting and turning corners every so often. Occasionally, she would spot an out-of-place tile with a carved face on it, calling it out to her comrades to watch out for it.
	
	"Ugh, it's been nearly an hour, I think," Gloomie complained, her posture sulking as she walked.
	
	"It can't be that much further, wherever we're heading..." Mosina encouraged helplessly, taking a deep breath for herself in the claustrophobic hallway.
	
	"Are you sure? I think we're going in circles or something. It all looks familliar!"
	
	Mosina grunted. "What more do you expect from uniformly, crafted hallways? There's no way but forward."
	
	Gloomie let out an intelligible moan. "Night Watch? Are you still back there?" she joked.
	
	"If it means I still get to stare at your butt, then yeah," Night Watch answered flatly.
	
	"Nnnnuhh..." Gloomie groaned again, too tired to care anymore.
	
	"Hey guys, I think I see a light up ahead of some sorts," Mosina said, her voice like an angel to Gloomie's ears.
	
	"Finally! Next hallway we go through, Night Watch takes point."
	
	"After an hour of staring at your ass, I think I'm satisfied enough to do for a change for once," Night Watch chuckled.
	
	Several moments later, the three arrived into a square room, not unlike the first they had entered at the start of the dungeon. Each of them took the moment to stretch their wings and hooves, Gloomie lying down and splaying her legs out in exhaustion.
	
	"Come on, girl. You've gone through worse in training," Night Watch said, coming beside her. A gasp from Mosina caught her attention. "What is it?" 
	
	"Eugh... it can't be," Mosina muttered, her head angled down and her eyes focusing on a spot on the floor.
	
	"What can't be?" Night Watch asked again. 
	
	Mosina took in a deep breath and let it out with a loud sigh. "It's the powder I put down at the start."
	
	"What? No..." Night Watch quickly trotted up to her side, taking a look at the spot on the floor. 
	
	Sure enough, a small pile of purple powder, exactly as Mosina had left it, lay on the stone tiles. The hallway beyond housed several torches on the wall, plus a stairs that lead up to the way they came from.
	
	"Well, then..." Night Watch trailed off, unsure of what to say.
	
	"Noooo..." Gloomie whined, her voice barely audible. 
	
	Mustering up some strength, Mosina straightened her posture and turned around. "Alright, this doesn't have to be a bad thing. That means we don't have to go down the left path anymore, either." She turned to the remaining hallway, right across from the entrance of the dungeon. "I guess we should go down that way, now. Come on, girls."
	
	"Yessir," Night Watch affirmed, taking point. Mosina followed, and Gloomie lazily got up from her spot to fall in last. 
	
	Soon, the trio entered the tight hallway, their crystals pushing back the darkness as they walked. 
	
	After only a few minutes of walking, they were presented with stairs that descended steeply with thin, stone steps. Warily, they began to climb down, carefully placing one hoof after another. The walls and steps were covered in a thin layer of dust, and the ceiling was nowhere to be seen. It was too narrow for them to spread their wings to descend, either.
	
	Finally, the floor evened out to a straight hallway. A dim light greeted them at the end, seemingly from another room.
	
	"We're almost there," Night Watch said to the others, quickening her trot. "Get ready, I don't know what to expect."
	
	Gloomie hardened her posture and Mosina cracked her neck, both of them getting ready for a fight.
	
	"Let's gallop," Gloomie suggested, her hoof stomps getting slightly louder. "Preemptive readiness is always a good thing! A good jog to get the juices flowing."
	
	"I could say so many innuendos right now."
	
	"Shut up, Night Watch," Gloomie snapped, Mosina giving a low chuckle.
	
	The trio were in a full gallop now, the room approaching quickly. 
	
	As soon as she was in reach, Night Watch leaped out of the hallway and into the room, drawing her spear in one motion. Gloomie and Mosina followed, each taking spots beside her with their weapons at the ready. However, as ready as they were, they froze in place at what was across the surprisingly tall and wide room from them.
	
	Embedded at the other side of the room was a large, metal door, sitting a good 20 meters tall. A dozen statues of ponies lined each side of the room, each of them clad in armour and holding a longsword at their sides. 
	
	On each side of the large door was an armour-clad shadow pony, each with a pair of large axe-limbs protruding from their backs. In between them, in front of the door and facing the bat ponies, was Aux.
	
	Gloomie audibly gulped.