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.

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>After some careful contemplation, Echo decides to take the right path towards the sound of crackling fire.
>The idea of drowning in a cave is a bit too unsettling to her.
>Steeling herself, she begins her trek, making note of a tall stalagmite sitting at the entrance of the other path in case she comes back.
>No time to rest, she must advance. 
>The echoes of the cracking of fire loudens as she approaches, until she is finally able to see an orange light in the distance.
>The sight is almost surreal, as though she were walking on a lightened platform approaching another, with a wide area of blacky nothingness inbetween.
>She feels as though she could leap off of her platform and fall into the darkness.
>After another several minutes of walking, the distant light becomes close enough to Echo that she could make out the details in the surrounding rocks.
>It looks dim, as though she was only peering into a distant corner of the lightened room whose fire is at its core.
>An unsettling feeling overcomes her, however, when she realizes that there are no other sounds than her own and the distant fire.
>It could be a trap.

>The surrounding, cave-like walls begin to give in to a more formal hallway structure.
>As the entrance to the room reaches just outside of her grasp, the walls, ceiling and floor around her seem to have been artificially made.
>Strange, unreadable symbols line the walls, and the ceiling has a swirly, cloud-like carving that covers the entire surface.
>Finally, Echo crests the entrance of the room and peers inside.
>She gasps.

---

>The rectangular room followed the same style as the hallway which she came from, sporting strange symbols and patterns on every surface.
>However, leaning against the walls rested dozens of stone sarcophaguses.
>All of them seem uniformly carved, bearing similar symbols and patterns to those on the walls and ceiling.
>They towered over Echo, almost touching the ceiling itself.
>Whatever's inside of these are definitely not ponies.

>At the center of the room lies the light source: a haphazard pile of burning wood, as though it were a make-shift campfire.
>Echo makes a few reluctant steps into the room towards the fire, unsure of what to expect.
>The wood in the fire seemed only half-burnt, meaning that it was probably ignited fairly recently.
>She unsheathes her sword, preparing for the worst.
>Her heart begins to race as the silence drags on, even though she tells herself not to be eager for what could happen.
>Still without a response, she slowly resumes inching her way towards the fire, minding every step in case of a trap.
>The room poses no obvious threat to her, despite the maze of sarcophaguses.
>However, the fire begs her gaze and she offers it, locking her eyes onto the lively spectacle.
>She fails to see the magenta eyes open, to her left.

---

>With but a faint whirl of wind, the head of a sharp spear thrusts out and towards Echo.
>Thankfully, her hearing blessed her and her anxiousness fed her reflexes, allowing her to dodge the thrust easily.
>Without hesitating, she slices her sword upwards at the spear, hoping to deter her attacker from pulling it in to thrust again.
>The being, hidden in the shadows between several sarcophaguses, gives out a feminine grunt as they try to balance their spear.
>Echo takes the opportunity to grab at the exposed spear with her front hooves, but the attacker succeeds in reeling in their weapon out of Echo's reach.
>In a dark, grey blur, the attacker pounces out of the shadows and tackles Echo, pushing her against a sarcophagus.
>Before Echo can react, she gets pushed again, toppling the heavy stone sarcophagus to the ground.
>She slices towards the attacker with her sword, but meets air.
>A dark figure flies up from underneath her muzzle, knocking the sword out of her mouth's grasp.
>Her head ringing, Echo desperately flails her hooves forward, hoping to knock them away.
>However, she gets pounced on and quickly wrestled to the ground with ease.
>She feels the weight of the attacker on top of her, pinning her to the ground with powerful limbs.
>Despite all of her efforts, she cannot get loose, but she doesn't give up and struggles against her attacker with clenched eyes.
>That is, until a pair of wet lips presses against hers, and a tongue forces its way into her mouth.
>A familliar taste.

---

>Echo's eyes shoot open and meet a pair of magenta, slitted eyes.
>The "attacker" pulls away from the sloppy kiss, giving a half-lidded, toothy smile.
>With distinguishable fangs.
>"Hey, Echo."
"Pfft... Haah...!"
>Feeling the grip on her lips loosen, Echo pushes the bat pony off and wipes her lips.
>A deep, cat-like giggle rings in Echo's ears.
"Nngh... Night Watch!"
>"Hey there, beautiful."
>Echo sticks her tongue out and wipes it with her hooves.
"Pah! You almost killed me!"
>"No, I didn't."
>Echo stands up on all of her hooves, her dark purple wings spread wide.
"You almost stabbed me!"
>"I missed on purpose," Night Watch teased, giving her a wink.
>Her voice was deep, and very alluring.
"Guh... Why!"
>"Well, I didn't want to really stab you--"
"No! I mean... why didn't you just come out of the shadows? You nearly gave me a heart attack."
>"'Cause it's fun? You're hot when you're all riled up, like that."
"This is why I don't like sparring with you. Pah."
>Echo spit into a fire, hopefully getting more of Night Watch's saliva out from her mouth.
>"Heh... that's what they all say."


---

>The two bat ponies sat by the fire, taking several moments to rest.
>Echo uses that time to calm down her adrenaline.
"So... have you seen any of the others?"
>Night Watch, who's leaning against the fallen sarcophagus, takes a deep breath.
>"No, you're the first. I haven't really been through much to get here, though, aside from my starting room."
>She wore a hardened leather suit that covered most of her body except her face.
>Many pockets, pouches and straps lined her chest and leggings.
"Huh. Well, I almost got killed by a giant spider-thing, but made it out in one piece."
>"Interesting. I came across a fork a little ways down that way," she said while pointing to an entrance to the room.
>"I thought I heard wind down the other way. It sounded creepy, so I went this way instead."
>"Found this room. There was a chest with weird things inside of it. I decided to just burn the chest."
>Echo stared into the fire, taking in a deep breath.
"I came across a fork, too. It sounded like there was water down the path I didn't take."
>Night Watch eyed the glowing crystal on Echo's left shoulder.
>"You got a cool, glowing crystal? All I got was a weird square prism, thing."
>She pulled out a wooden object from one of her saddlebags.
"Neat. I got one, too, except it's a triangular prism."
>Echo pulled hers out of her saddlebag and compared it to Night Watch's.
>"They look similar. Maybe they're both used for something in these tunnels."

---

>After several more minutes of rest, the fire finally died down and the two of them were left in the light of Echo's crystal.
>They stood up, ready to go down the tunnels once more.

So, that's chapter 3, and we come to our next decision:
Should the duo go to Night Watch's unexplored path, that held sounds of wind?
Or to Echo's, which had the sounds of water?