“What was that?” Reddling quickly drew Ausfall and pushed the hilt sideways into his mouth, looking over at Web.

“I don’t know…” Web replied slowly, crouching down and sulking forward towards the sound. The closer they got, the more audible the sound, or rather, sounds became. It was the noise of a hard, repetitive tinking, like two blunt metallic objects striking each other.

Let’s see… old gem mine, not extreme levels of darkness due to some manner of natural lighting provided from crystals, and a tinking noise… Reddling closed his eyes for a moment, thinking back to his studies of monsters. One quickly rang true as he stepped next to Web, already aware of what he was going to see in the next cavern.

The two bats found themselves looking down a small slope that lead towards a cavern somewhat larger than the previous one that they had been in. Five large, hairy canines appeared to be studying the glowing crystals here. Two of the canines had picks that appeared to be made out of some sort of savaged metal, while one next to each of them had a makeshift club composed of what looked like rotting wood and misshapen stone. Against the opposite wall was the fifth dog, who had some manner of armor on and had a large axe resting against his side.

“Web, leave please?” Reddling pleaded, removing his knife from his mouth and resting it between the ground and his hoof.

“Oh hush.” Web retorted, looking down curiously at the dogs. The bells on her necklace let out a faint jingle, one so faint that no pony would have been able to hear it.

Below, one of the miner’s ears twitched. With a less than graceful jerk of the head and upper body, the miner turned and pointed up straight at Reddling and Web. Standing on its forelegs and pointing, the miner let out a guttural exclamation of “Pony!”.

Great, Reddling thought. That’s just great. Always my luck with dark, horrible places right? and I'm going to have to fight like a new recruit tonight too. No sneak attacking here. Reddling quickly jumped up, still holding his knife and posing for the dogs with his wings stretched out. “Clearly, um …things, I am more of a bat.”

The big pony with the axe grabbed his weapon, moving forward and pointing his other foreleg at the two bats. “Dogs! Grab the pony! Pony will pull carts in the mines!”

Stupid animals. Reddling smiled as the dogs let out feral barks and growls, all five advancing towards him as he put his knife in the crook of his hoof. See, they can’t even count, there are clearly two of us.

A horrible pang went into Reddling's heart as he blinked and then looked at the spot next to him where Web should have been. There was nothing present beside him now- she seemed to have simply vanished. Reddling grinned back at the dogs as he sheathed his knife, backing away from them and towards the tunnel. “Uh, you see, while I’d love to stay here and uh, pull carts..” Reddling could hear the rasping of the dogs bitter breathing as they closed in now, “This is the part where I mm, leave.”

Turning and dashing into the tunnel, Reddling ran as fast as he could get his hooves to carry him. The way out didn’t seem to be that hard to remember, but there were a few odd twists and turns that threw his memory for a loop. Web didn’t appear to be anywhere, and the only thing to greet his eyes for some time was just the frustrating glares of half light from shining crystals.

“Oof!” Reddling let out a grunt as he rounded a corner, barely dodging a miner dog that had somehow managed to get in front of him and cut him off. Behind him, the sound of the other dogs pursuing was getting louder as the miner gave a growl, cracking the joints on their paws as they advanced forward. Reddling just sneered at the creature, shaking his head.

Both combatants moved at the same time, the mining dog moving forward for a grapple and Reddling drawing his weapon for a midair slash. He felt some blood travel down his side as the dog’s claw nicked his armor. While the dog had simply been trying to subdue him, Reddling really didn’t find himself in the mood for a brawl tonight. Ausfall found its mark in the Diamond Dog’s shoulder, slicing clean through the muscles and leaving it’s left limb hanging ajar, bone now exposed to the air. The creature was letting out a howl of pain, as Reddling grabbed it's snout. Reddling flipped himself around and quickly shoving Ausfall's hilt into his mouth before making one quick pull of the blade. The hallway splattered red as the diamond dog fell forward, grabbing at it’s now eviscerated neck as blood continued to spray onto the floor.

Reddling looked up, putting the knife back in his hoof and watching as the shadows of the other dogs rounded the corner. Plunging his teeth quickly into the throat of the diamond dog, Reddling tore at the meat, ripping out a hunk of flesh and covering his front with blood. The two guards and other miner from before rounded the corner, then stopped dead, looking at the now growling bat pony before them. The miner’s face was one of complete shock and horror, but the guards only hesitated for a moment, quickly regaining enough of their composure to prepare attacks.

Backing up, Reddling watched as the three dogs formed a half circle around him. The tunnel was somewhat more open here, and forked off in a few different directions. The guards were starting to cut off escapes, leaving the scared miner dog staring at the blood soaked pony in front of him. Taking but a moment to gather his bearings, Reddling ran forward and spread his wings, jerking his hoof back and then throwing it forward. Ausfall flashed as it sang in the air, impaling the miner in the middle of its skull.

Not having time to regain his weapon, Reddling quickly continued forward, flying towards what he hoped was the exit. One quick turn later and Reddling could almost taste the fresh air before a shadow stepped in the way. Undoing his scarf, Reddling tried to fly past the large dog. He threw out his scarf in an attempt to wrap it around the dog's neck, but soon found himself smacking the wall as the flat side of the leader's axe smashed against him.

Looking up, Reddling saw the big dog move down to grab him before letting out a yelp and pulling back, grabbing at its back. Web had slammed her small dagger into the diamond dog’s shoulder, and was now gripping onto its neck. Blinking, Reddling looked around and quickly grabbed a rock, flying up and slamming it hard into the helmet of the dog. Staggering back, the dog dropped its axe, looking hazily at Reddling. Web pulled her knife out with a little flash and leapt deftly away from the lumbering canine. Her eyes were bright as she stood casually on the ground, eagerly watching the Big Dog.

Two seconds drug by, and then the dog stumbled forward, falling face first onto the ground. Its limbs were quivering. Reddling dropped to the ground next to Web, watching as the dog’s breath became labored and small flecks of foam appeared at the corners of its mouth.

Sad. Reddling thought, picking up his rock again and slamming it into the eye of the dog as it began to convulse on the floor. The creature gave no response to the blow, continuing to seizure and writhe around at the hooves of the two ponies. Growling, Reddling bit down on the dog’s neck, tearing out it’s throat as the two guard dogs rounded the corner, fearfully backing up at the sight of their fallen leader. Web was gone again, disappeared into the shadows as Reddling advanced forward on the guard dogs, blood dripping from his muzzle.

“You know the rules. No mercy.” Reddling chanted. The credo of a Silverfield assassin was burned into his mind, something that he would never be able to forget even in the heat of the moment. There was a scream from one of the dogs as Web appeared from the shadows, nicking one of the guards in the back. Already in full panic mode, both dogs turned and ran back into the mine as Reddling chucked his rock at them.

“Run faster and we won’t eat ya!” Reddling taunted at the guards as one of them fell over, his body shaking as he yelped and continued to dash away. Web let out a loud laugh as she watched the last dogs flee joyfully, grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh Reddling! That was wonderful!” Web turned and both of their eyes met. Web put a hoof on his forehead, wiping a bit of blood away. Reddling just licked his lips and then spat in the direction of the big dog, ignoring her touch.

“I wish they tasted better.” He replied. The dogs didn’t actually taste horrible, but Reddling was also not the best expert on meat or blood to make the distinction between good and bad dog.

Web sauntered over to the big dog, unbuckling its metal coif and pulling it back and giving it a little shake. “A spider bite might not look like much, but can be very deadly.”

Reddling just nodded his head, not paying much attention to Web as he cantered away from her back towards the bodies of the dead miners. The guard dog was laying on the ground near them, his body shaking with the same seizures that had overtaken the big dog. Seemingly from nowhere, Web appeared beside the sick creature, grinning down with a giggle at it.

Reddling passed the miner who had unwisely left his knife in its skull, ripping the blade out and wiping the blood clean on the dead dog’s shoulder. “Is that one dead?” Reddling asked, nodding to the dog on the ground as it began to go still, its eyes blank and unseeing.

“No,” Web grinned, pulling her knife out and then quickly and cleaning slicing open the guard’s neck, letting blood begin to form a nice puddle under the body, “...Yes.”

Reddling remained silent as he stared at the blood soaked walls around him. The fight had not been clean, and there was no doubt that this place would smell for weeks once bugs began to pick apart the bodies. Reddling ran his hooves over the bodies of the dead miners, pulling off small vests hidden under their fur and tossing them in a heap. Some of the pockets had multiple gems in them, all of which glowed with a lively purple that reminded Reddling of his own amethyst mane.

Blinking, Reddling watched in a mirrorlike flat side of the gem as blood dripped from his muzzle, his entire front painted purple and red with gore from the fight. Turning back to Web, Reddling cleared his throat as he tucked a few purple gems with small streaks of red in them into his pockets.

“We should take a few of these gems with us maybe, you know, for a souvenir…” Reddling paused, cleaning off a somewhat large gem with his cloth. “and we should probably also make a report to the Canterlot defense.”

“Good thinking.” Web replied, sitting down and pulling a rag out. She began to carefully clean the blood off her knife, hooves, and wing tips as Reddling did his best to freshen up with his own cloth.

“Heh, maybe we can pay for this whole date with these gems.” Reddling offered, tucking away one more gem before turning to Web and sitting down next to her.

“Maybe, but I don’t think there’s anything valuable in the mines. Dumb dogs probably saw something shiny and decided to try and steal it!” Web let out a laugh at her own slur, playfully nudging a corpse with a forehoof.

“Well, it’ll at least make a nice collectable to remember our first date by. You know, a memento.” Reddling said.

“Awww.” Web cooed as she finished cleaning her blade. Tucking the bloody cloth away, she sheathed her knife before turning to Reddling and nuzzling up next to him, still grinning at the dead bodies surrounding them. “C’mon, let’s get out of here before the sun comes up.”

Don’t touch me. Reddling did his best to not shiver and push the mare away from him. He did not hold the closeness and quickly stood up, moving mechanically for the exit.

An early dawn greeted Web and Reddling outside a familiar barracks on the outskirts of Canterlot, a few miles south of where the city was visable. His former camp looked mostly deserted, with almost no signs that any recruits had been here for at least a week. Web had wasted no time in landing near the officer’s barracks, knocking loudly on at the door of a small building that stood away from the rest of the quarters.

After a minute of no response, Web knocked again on the door, louder. A groggy but familiar voice called from behind the door to them “Do you know what time it is?”

“This is important!” Web said, pressing her face up to the door. Reddling stood at attention in the most professional way he could behind her as some grumbling and muttering about “bats” and “Web” came from the other side of the door.

As the door opened, Reddling simply blinked at Iron Hooves, who looked all sorts of tired this morning. “Web. What have you done this time?” The commander’s voice was stern, and his eyes showed a shadow that made Reddling suspect he had not slept in many days..Not waiting for Web to even open her mouth, Reddling thrust himself forward between them.

“Sir, it was my fault.” Reddling said, keeping his face resolute.

The commander sighed. “What has happened?”

“We- we went on an outing,” Reddling made up. “Web was showing me Canterlot, and in the caves below we encounted a small band of diamond dogs.”

“How many?” the commander asked tiredly. His voice was plain, and he was obviously not fully awake yet.

“Sir, we saw five dogs, two miners, two guards, and a leader.” Reddling listed off, counting them up in his head.

“And what were they doing…?” The commander asked, his voice betraying impatience.

“Tunneling.” Reddling said. Web had identified the gems the dogs had as being next to junk, even if they did give off light in complete darkness. Reddling wasn’t sure how exactly glow in the dark rocks classified as junk, but he wasn’t exactly an expert on rocks either. Still, the fact that there was nothing valuable there meant they were probably doing more than simply digging.

“Tunneling.” The commander frowned.

“Yes, digging up crystals.” Reddling said.

The commander let out another sigh. “Well? Digging, or tunneling?”

“Tunneling generally requires you to dig, Sir. So both.” Web giggled behind Reddling as his face remained stone cold, the commander letting out an exasperated sigh.

“If they were digging up crystals, then they’re stupid dogs looking to collect shinies. If they’re “tunneling,” then they’re making tunnels for other dogs to use. So were they digging, or tunneling?” The commander said frustratedly.

“I believe they were tunneling, based on what I understand Sir.” Reddling said. “One of the soldiers we engaged escaped us. It was not viable to pursue him.”

The commander frowned unhappily. “That is troubling… I’ll mentioned it to the Captain of the Guard.” The commander stopped, rubbing one of his eyes as he looked at Reddling, scanning his face carefully now. “You are- were the recruit from before, yes?”

Reddling blinked. Yes, he was the recruit from before, and when the dust had settled at Luna’s tryouts there had only been two earth ponies standing on the field- the commander and Reddling himself.

“The ruthless one as the Princess Luna put it? Yes, Sir.” Reddling replied simply. The commander bit his lip, as if he wanted to say something, then turned his head away.

“You are dismissed.” The commander said, almost in a way that seemed as if he was hurt. Before he could close the door however, Reddling put a hoof n the handle, holding it open.

“There is one other thing, Sir.” Reddling breathed quietly. He knew Web could still hear him, but his tone had dropped too low for any passerby to hear now.

“What.” The commander said plainly, still hiding his face.

“Is there something you want to say to me?” Reddling asked. “I feel like you’re holding something back, and secrets do betray trust.”

The commander was silent for a moment, still not meeting Reddling’s gaze. “I just hate seeing good Earth Ponies turned into bats. I’m going back to bed now.”

“I see. Pleasant Dreams, sir.” Reddling let the door slam as he turned back towards Web, his mind twisting at hearing the label out loud.

“Stupid daypony.” Web said. Completely oblivious to Web, Reddling stormed past her, trotting angrily away from the camp.

“Earth pony, am I? No! I am more!” Reddling whispered consolingly to himself.

Web trotted up behind him, tapping him very lightly on the shoulder, concern in her voice as she spoke, “You alright?

Reddling nodded. “I am not an Earth Pony…”

“Yes…” Web mused. “You’re a BAT!”

“Well…” Reddling started, but before he could finish Web cut him off with a trademarked giggle.

“I’ll see you back at camp, sun is coming up soon!” Web said. Reddling just stared at the ground darkly for a moment, trying to measure his next words out.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Reddling’s words were blank and meaningless, lacking the proper warmth he wanted to show Web. He was still angered that the commander had labeled him as some flightless mongrel.

“You know how to show a bat a good time, hehe!” Web quickly darted forward,hooking his chin with the bottom of her hoof before planting a quick kiss, pressing her fangs and lips against his. Web had her eyes closed, but Reddling's eyes were wide, mixed with confusion and surprise. Web broke away after about two seconds, giggling before she kicked up some dust and flew into the sky without another word. Reddling swiveled his head back around, staring at Web as she was swept up in the night. His mind tried to click a few gears together, but it was like something was stuck inside, blocking the proper flow of ideas.

“Huh.” Reddling told himself, shivering a little and brushing his lips vehemently with his hoof as soon as Web had become a speck on the horizon. The night had been so enjoyable, and Reddling couldn't wait for the next time he'd be headed out with Web. Sure, there was something creepy about her, and now that she was gone he felt a little lightheaded, and the entire night now seemed paranormal. Everything felt like a dream that left him drained and sore, and yet it was a dream he could not wait to have again.

The next chapter is ... quite long. In fact, it's the longest chapter in the entire fic.

I hope that you are enjoying the story so far <3, If you find any errors (I know I miss stuff) scream at me in the comments and I will work to fix them. Sadly I am only human.