The three stood motionless and silent, looking down into the dark abyss that opened up before them. A whole in the floor, square with railings around it, and a ladder leading down. At the base of the ladder came another floor, and in the middle, a pitch black hole.

“Soo… do we go down?” The question came from Lilly, standing next to Anton with saddlebags filled with what food they could scrounge up that hadn’t been frozen.

“I guess.” Anton said. “Doesn’t look too inviting…” He’d removed his cloak and wrapped into an elongated sack that he had slung over his shoulder.

“I’ll go first.” Lilly said, then made a move to climb down the ladder.

Anton stopped her. “Wait, are you sure about this?”

“I’m a unicorn.” Lilly said in a flat tone. “I can light the way for us.”

With that said, she disappeared down the ladder. Willow followed second, and Anton came last. They all encircled the black hole in the floor, now even more hesitant to push forward.

“Don’t stare too long into the abyss.” Anton said with a quiet chuckle. The other two said nothing.

Lilly craned her neck to get a better view down into the dark, then fired up her horn and shot a tiny orb of light down into the hole. It looked a lot like a well, flat stone walls in a perfect circle, only broken by ladder steps protruding from the wall. At the bottom, a little bit of water had gathered.

"I thought your magic didn't work properly." Willow said. "I remember you telling me, back in Ashcraft."

"It doesn't." Lilly responded. "But every unicorn can lift things up or light the way, even I. Levitation and illumination are probably the easiest spells you can cast."

Anton knelt down next to her, grabbed the ledge of the hole and stuck his head into it to get a better look.

“I can see a hole in the wall.” He said, his voice echoing through the well. “To the side, probably where the water came from. That’s our way out of here, I bet.”

“Hey, guys, maybe we should wait a little.” Willow said carefully.

“Why?” Anton asked.

“I know this was my idea, but… are we really doing this? That hole doesn’t look big enough for just one of us, let alone three. Plus, there’s no telling what’s down there. Could be anything.”

“If it’s our only way out, we’ll have to take it.” Lilly answered. “I’ll go first.”

Willow didn’t protest as she walked around the hole until she reached the ladder leading downwards. Without saying another word, she began the descent. Willow reluctantly followed, but hesitated by the ladder.

“Do you see anything?!” Anton called down into the hole.

“There’s a tunnel here!” Came Lilly’s response. “I can’t see how far it goes, but it seems big enough for all of us! Willow! Get down here!”
With a sigh, Willow took the first steps down the ladder, and Anton followed right after him. The hole wasn’t very deep, around six meters, so they got down pretty quickly. The water at the bottom soaked into Anton’s cowboy boots.

“Ugh, it smells down here...” He muttered to himself.

He kicked his feet in the air to get off most of the water, then followed Lilly and Willow down the dark tunnel. Lilly was in the front, her horn glowing in a pale blue light, casting long shadows across the smooth, stone walls.

They moved in silence through corridor after corridor, room after room, without ever running into anything but walls and doors.

After a long while, they came across a big, bulky door of solid iron.

“What the hell is this?” Anton asked.

Lilly tried to push the door open. “It’s locked.”

“Well, can’t you just use your magic or something?” Anton asked.

“I could try. Wait a sec.”

The light emanating for Lilly’s horn changed shape into an orb, then floated away into the air and stuck to the wall like glue. Then, a new light shot out from her horn, this time in bright orange. Smooth as silk enveloped the door, sunk into it.

A heavy clank rang out through the hallway, and the heavy door handle turned slowly, creaking from rust and age. Slowly, the door slid open inwards, casting a blue ray of light over the cold stone floor.

“Wonder why they would need this down here…” Willow said quietly.

They carefully entered the room. At first they couldn’t see much, until Lilly sent more blue light out from her horn, and what they saw made them all freeze in place.

Cages. Row after row of cages lined the walls.

“… Vad fan är det här?” Anton whispered.

Rusty, old, black as if pitch covered the iron bars. Cages and more cages on top of them. And as the trio moved further into the room and Lilly’s light spread across the scene, they realized something.

The cages weren’t empty.

“Are those… Ponies?” Anton said, quietly as not to disturb the thick silence that had surrounded them. It was difficult to see what was inside the cages.

Lilly broke the standstill by inching closer to the cages. Anton instantly reached out to her.

“Lilly!” He whispered. “What are you doing?!”

“It’s fine, I’m just gonna take a closer look.”

Slowly she inched closer, her light getting closer and closer to revealing what was in the cages. When she came close enough, she let out a harsh gasp, then almost fell to the ground. Quickly, Anton hurried to her side and grabbed her, helping her stand up properly, and he saw what she had seen.

It looked like ponies, but emaciated beyond belief. They barely had more than skin on their bones. And their heads and necks where… gone. Instead, a mess of twitching, clutching appendiges covered what was the head and neck.

“What are they?” Anton asked.

“I’ve met them before.” Lilly whispered. “Before we came here, when I was looking for medical supplies to treat your wounds… I call them devils.”

“Are those… spider legs all over their heads?”

“They’re pure evil.” Lilly said, gritting her teeth. “… We should burn them all.”

Anton raised his eyebrows .”Really? I thought you didn’t want to harm others?”

“I don’t, but these things… trust me, they’re not meant for our world.”

Willow had snuck up next to them, pale and afraid. Yet he looked a little closer.

“I think they’re already dead.” He whispered. “They’re not breathing.”

They snuck a little closer, and it looked like Willow was right; neither Anton nor Lilly could see any movement.

“I think you’re right, Willow.” Anton said. “They’re dead. But…” He paused for a little while, and then looked around the room a bit. “This bids another question. Why would the hospital keep these things looked up down here?”

“I knew this place was too good to be true…” Willow said.

“Here, check this out.” Anton had found a small desk in the opposite corner of the room, and turned on a small table lamp on it. Golden light shot out from it, illuminating several documents and books scattered about the desk. Anton picked up one of the documents and started reading.

Three more subjects have died. I’ll have to remember to ask the Stalkers for new samples, but I must take care not to reveal the nature of this research. If I told them, they would probably refuse, and how would we get mare specimens then? Must also remember to check the locks twice, my assistant was almost torn to pieces yesterday when one of them broke free. I should probably ask for some sort of security. Weapons? I don’t know how to use them. Maybe I could hire some muscle to keep us safe, only problem is that the security would have to be…disposed of, so as not to risk the research. I’ll have to ask Topaz about it later.

Anton put the paper back on the desk. “Holy crap. Topaz knew… She knew.”

He looked to the side and saw something shining slightly in the shadows. He reached over the table grabbed the lamp, bringing it closer to the shadows, and what he saw made his skin crawl.

An operating table. And on it, several gleaming knives and utensils, even a bone saw.

“So they conducted experiments on them.” Anton said. “They kept them hidden down here and experimented on them, so close to innocent, vulnerable ponies… How the hell could they do this? I thought we could trust Topaz, but this…”

“We should get out of here, quickly.” Lilly whispered. “There has to be another way out. I doubt they got those monsters in here through the front door.”

“There’s another door here!” Willow called out from the other side of the room. “Lilly, use your magic on it.”

Lilly hurried over to Willow, stepping past the cages without looking into them. She had no desire to look upon those vile creatures any longer than necessary. In truth, she was afraid of them, but she would never admit it.

Her horn lit up, and the orange lines of silky smooth magic appeared once again, sinking into the door. Anton approached the door from behind them, and once again, a clank was heard from within the heavy door, and it slid open inwards.

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard behind them, and their hearts all stopped from fear. Merely a moment later, something moved and groaned from within the dark, then hoof steps against the stone floor.

“Jävlar!”Anton cursed. “Run! Go, go, go!”

And so they ran, as fast as they could, through the metal door. Anton quickly slammed it shut behind them, but the beast was faster and threw itself against the door. Anton pushed as hard as he could to keep it closed, but to no avail. He tumbled backwards, and then hurried back up on his feet just as the monster pounced.

“Anton!” Lilly called out.

“I’m alright, just run!”

The creature snarled and moaned, sounding like a dying, trapped animal, and the spider legs covering its head creaked and cracked liked dry wood.

Anton ran right behind the light of Lilly’s horn, guiding him through the dark and narrow corridors. The beast followed behind them, moaning and cracking as it ran.

After what felt like no more than seconds, they reached a set of stairs. And hurried up, towards a small glimmer och daylight at the top. Lilly threw open the door at the top and daylight flooded into the stairwell. Suddenly, something grabbed hold of Anton's leg, something thin and spindly, but he managed to kick it away.

The creature suddenly started wailing and screaming as the light hit its frail, emaciated body, giving Anton just enough time to slam the door shut and press his back against it. Soon the creature on the other side became quiet, and Anton dared to remove himself from the door.

“You guys alright?” He asked the other two, panting and heaving.

Willow and Lilly nodded in unison.

Anton leaned forward, pressed his hands against his thighs and panted heavily.

"Long time since I ran so fast." He said. "Holy shit, my heart is gonna burst."

"What was that, anyway? A test subject or something?" Willow wondered.

"Whatever they are and wherever they come from, they're evil." Lilly whispered. "They should be eradicated from the surface of the earth."

“We should leave here before that creature comes back.” Anton said, to the agreement of the other two.

Together, the trio hurried off into the distance, into the snow-covered streets of Manehattan.