Trials 24

>"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..."