Trials 4

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.

 

----------

 

>"Let's go my way, first," Night Watch said.

"Alright."

>After gathering up their things, Night Watch led Echo out of the sargophagus room.

>"It isn't too long of a walk. Maybe five minutes, tops."

"Maybe I should take the lead? I have the light crystal."

>"Oh, yeah. Sure."

>With that, the two of them trotted through the dark tunnels in relative silence.

>The decorated walls, floor and ceiling soon gave way to the natural cave.

>Stalactites hung from the ceiling, some of them dripping drops of water onto the ground around them.

>Several minutes into their walk, a faint sound of whistling wind picked up in Echo's ears.

>"Hear that? That's the sound I was talking about," Night Watch says, shivering. "We should be near to the fork."

>Echo nodded in response and continued leading the way, until they came to a small clearing posed with two passageways.

>"It's to the right."

>The rolling wind noise picked up significantly as they passed through into the tunnel.

>After a few minutes of walking, however, the sound started to change in pitch.

>Echo passed a glance to Night Watch behind her.

"I'm not sure that's wind..."

>Night Watch returned an uneasy look.

>"It sounds like it's coming from where we're headed."

>"Mm. I guess we'll find out what it is, soon enough."

>Soon enough, the rocky walls gave way to a fairly spacious room.

>The whistling noise loudened, still.

 

---

 

>Echo's light crystal brightened the vicinity, some of the minerals in the walls of the room sparkling in response.

>Standing ominiously in the center of the room were three stone statues of ponies, all of them in the shape of bat ponies.

>The light cast long, dark shadows behind each of the statues.

>Each statue was carved uniquely, each of them representing bat ponies wearing different gear.

>"Interesting..." Night Watch whispered, approaching the middle statue.

>Heavy armour covered the pony entirely, and two large shields hung from each of its sides.

>Echo hesitated, her head quickly panning the room.

"The sound... It's starting to hurt my ears," she said, her face grimacing.

>The whistling sounded as though it were all around them.

>Night Watch's eye twitched.

>Suddenly, from behind the statue in front of Night Watch, the dark shadow lashed out.

>Night Watch nimlby ducked, avoiding what looked like a blade formed out of the darkness.

>She jumped back, quickly drawing the spear from her back and pointed it towards the coalescing, indistinguishable black form.

"Night!" Echo screamed, drawing her sword and taking place beside her.

>The shadow settled itself and took the vague form of a pony, with two protruding limbs from its back sporting long, curved blades.

>It screamed an awful noise, causing the two bat ponies to wince and cover their ears, dropping to the floor.

>A horrible stench filled the room, like that of rotting corpses.

>The shadow lunged forward, its two, long weapons slicing the air in front of it.

>Echo hopelessly tried to dodge out of its way, only for Night Watch to come in and parry its blades with her spear.

>Night quickly retaliated with a slash and a few jabs from her spear, forcing the shadow pony back.

>Echo picked herself up and jumped past Night Watch, swinging her blade blindly at the creature.

>All of her swings were blocked by the shadow pony's blades.

 

---

 

>With a powerful kick, the shadow pony sent Echo flying into the armoured statue.

>"Get over here, you ugly pool of ink!" Night Watch screamed, catching the shadow pony's attention.

>Echo groaned and picked herself up again... only to notice the crystal shard on her shoulder brighten intensely.

>The sounds of parrying weapons filled the room as Night Watch dueled with the creature, only for it to turn its attention to the source of light.

>Echo looked down at her crystal, and then to the statue behind her.

>"Echo, watch out! It's coming for you!" Night Watch yelled as she tried to capture its attention.

>The shadow pony leaped towards Echo, only for Night's spear to whack it out of the air and onto the ground.

"I-I don't know what's happening..." Echo said quetly as she examined her crystal.

>It seemed attracted to the stone statue.

>Night Watch's grunts and more weapon clashes filled the air around them.

>Its wailing never ceased.

>"Echo! What are you doing!" she yelled from across the room.

"I don't know! I think..." she trailed off, her hardened gaze fixed on the statue.

>She pulled the crystal out of its pouch and set it at the foot of the statue, hoping for something to work.

>With a loud shriek, the creature made a final leap towards Echo with its blades flared out.

>Echo gasped, swinging her sword to parry the two longer blades.

>She managed to swat one of them away, but the other stabbed into her right side.

"Haaaugh!" Echo screamed, the blade sticking out from an unprotected gap in her armour.

>She heard a scream, and saw Night Watch's spear thrust into the side of the shadow pony.

>It wailed and relented, throwing its two blades out at Night Watch while backing away.

>She blocked the hits with her spear, but the force sent her across the room.

 

---

 

>Echo slumped to the ground, the shock from her wound freezing her in place.

>The shadow pony turned to her, bringing its blades back for a devastating slice.

>She closed her eyes, waiting for the worst.

>Only for it not to come.

>A piercing whine filled the air and drowned out the shadow pony's wailing.

>Echo opened her eyes, only to see nothing but light.

>The crystal she had placed on the statue had become blindingly bright.

>For a brief moment, the world around them was nothing but a heavenly presence.

>The shadow pony seemed to wail in pain, the light hurting it.

>Just as quickly as the light had appeared, however, it died down.

>Echo gasped, forgetting her wound for a moment.

>Standing in place of her crystal was an armoured pony, similar to the statue behind it.

>Unlike the shadow pony, it seemed to be made out of light.

>It stoicly stared forward, slowly pivoting its head towards the shadow pony.

>In response, the shadow pony let out another loud screech that forced Echo to wince in pain.

>However, the light pony stood vigil, the shadow pony advancing quickly to it.

>Just as one of the shadow blades was about to connect with the light pony, it unsheathed a large, ornate sword and thrust it deep into the shadow pony's chest.

>The shadow pony whined in pain, but brought its blades back for another strike.

>Without hesitation, the light pony forced its blade upwards, severing the shadow pony in two from the chest, up.

>Finally, the wailing stopped, and the deformed body of the shadow pony melted into the air.

 

---

 

>Echo stared in disbelief, and held her breath when the light pony slowly turned its gaze to her.

>It then looked to the opposite corner of the room.

>Echo followed its gaze, only to discover that a large, wooden chest lay where the light pony had indicated.

>With what sounded like a releasing sigh, the light pony looked to the heavens before disintegrating into nothingness.

>The crystal that Echo had placed by the statue shattered into dust.

>Darkness consumed the room, but it didn't feel as though there were a malicious presence anymore.

>Silence finally reigned, and Echo simply lay there, drinking in her own breathing.

>That is, until a clicking noise echoed through the air and Echo could sense Night Watch finding her way through the darkness.

>"Echo! Where are you? I saw you got stabbed!" Night called out before zeroing in on Echo's location.

>She continued to make clicks with her mouth as she made her way over.

"I'm here!" Echo called back.

>She winced, the pain from her wound catching up to her.

"Gah... it hurts..."

>"Dammit..." Night Watch muttered, kneeling in front of her.

"The light pony... there is a wooden chest at the other side of the room."

>"I'll go have a look really quick," Night said.

>"Maybe there is something in it that can help you."

>Echo 'watched' as Night made her way to the chest, clicking all the way.

>She heard the sound of her opening the chest and rummaging through its contents.

>"There seems to be glass bottles or flasks. Also, a lot of tiny boxes," Night called from across the room.

"Nngh... tiny boxes?" Echo asked out loud.

>"Yeah. Leather-bound."

>That caught Echo's attention.

"Open one! It might have more of those light crystals."

>After a small struggle, Night Watch finally got one of the boxes open and a familliar light poured into the room once more.

 

---

 

>"Got it!" Night Watch said, peering into the wooden chest with her new-found light source.

>"The bottles... they're filled with an opaque, reddish liquid."

>Echo let out a sigh of relief.

"Ah... healing potions!"

>Night Watch swiped one of the glass flasks in her mouth and quickly galloped to Echo.

>She unscrewed the cap and held it towards her, who accepted it with her mouth and greedily drank the contents.

>The potion went down her throat warmly, tasting a little bit like a fizzy apple cider.

>Almost immediately, Echo felt the pain in her side decrease significantly.

>She guzzled down another gulp before parting her mouth from the flask.

>"That was a bit... sensual," Night said, winking. Echo rolled her eyes.

"Ugh."

>The potion rewarded her with a boost of energy, prompting her to stand up.

>Quickly, she turned to see the wound in her side.

>Through the new hole in the tunic between her armour plates, the wound had closed up to nothing but an irritating scratch on the skin.

"Interesting," she remarked.

>"Wish we had this stuff in real life," Night Watch said.

>Ignoring her comment, Echo trotted towards the still-open chest on the other side of the room.

>The light crystal that Night Watch had taken out was lying on the floor, tossed aside.

"These..." Echo said, staring at the crystal. "They're more than just light sources."

>"Quite," Night Watch said. "The spirit-pony that came out of it was kinda hot, too."

>Echo rolled her eyes, again.

>She approached the chest and rummaged through it.

 

---

 

"So, that's seven light crystals and three-and-a-half flasks of healing potion," Echo said, taking inventory.

>"And a little gardening shovel that could come in handy," Night Watch cheerily added, her saddlebags rattling with the object.

"I guess we can still use the crystals as a light source," Echo said.

>She glanced to the statues at the center of the room.

>The statue to the right of the armoured one was in ceremonial robes and held a staff in between its hooves.

>A crescent moon sat at the head of the staff.

>The other statue was clad in what looked like hooded, leather armour.

>A crossbow was draped across its back, and a quiver full of bolts was strapped to its left shoulder.

"I wonder if we can use them to summon more of those light-pony guardians if we ever need them."

>Night Watch fiddled with her saddlebags and the light crystal sticking out of her right shoulder pocket.

>"If we can, we should use them sparingly. Only for last resorts."

>Echo nodded.

"It looks like the only way out is from where we came," she said, scanning the room.

"Let's go to the path I didn't take, then."

>Night Watch shuddered, falling into line behind Echo as they began their walk.

>"Imagine if I had taken this path, first."

>Echo winced.

 

And that's the end of Ch. 4. No decision to make, this time.

 

Writing style is in a more, traditional narrative-like structure now, 'cause that's what I'm used to working with. Also, I'm gonna upload them somewhere.