Trials 3

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.

 

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>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.

 

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>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.

 

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>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."

 

 

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>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?