Goldenseed slowly trotted behind her comrades, looking nervously into the darkness as they went. It wasn't very cold, but it was damp. Firecoat was using a small fire that hovered above the group to light their way. The path they were on was so narrow that only three of them could have walked it at a time. To give room to maneuver, they were walking in lines of two. She and Shinybit were at the back, with the merchant carrying most of their supplies.

Besides the path the river flowed by. She kept glancing at it, but the darkness of the caves made the waters murky and hard to penetrate. She wondered how deep they were. A few inches, dozens of feet, who knew? She just wanted to be as close to the wall as she could be.

Crescent and Shatterstep took the front and kept their weapons ready in their mouths, preparing to strike at the first threat. Firecoat disturbed the aether as he went, but she had no problem settling it back down and calming any problems. To her surprise, the magic in the area felt quite calm already, as if it wasn't being misused. At least, it wasn't being misused yet. That, or their enemies had their own conjurers. The thought of that sent another chill down her spine and made her stumble.

“These caverns go on for miles,” the merchant mumbled in annoyance. “There's no telling what we'll encounter here. I should wait outside and--”

“You'll be dead in a few hours,” Crescent said firmly. “We can protect you here. There? We couldn't do anything to stop them from finding and ending you. Stop your whining. Unless you'd rather end up on the end of their blades?”

The merchant grumbled but didn't say another word. The path began to split into multiple directions, the river going under a small rock bridge. “We'll stick to the paths that the water goes through. When we camp, we'll go to the ones that don't. Espirit, do you have that map still?”

“Yes!” she said quickly.

“Pull it out, see if it's working.”

The conjurer nodded and pulled it out. She let out a gasp. It was filling itself as they went, showing the paths and marking the exits. It even colored the river as well. She'd been told about it, but it was still amazing to see in action. She wondered what--

“DOWN!” Crescent yelled. She yelped and dropped down, right before arrows flew over their heads, narrowly missing her. Shinybit let out a howl of pain as one of them pierced his flank.

In the river below them, three sea ponies floated, glowing green crossbows in their hooves. “RAWR!” Crescent leaped into the water, his axe flashing out at the nearest one and cutting through its crossbow. The others quickly pulled back, dropping the crossbows, only to pull tridents from the water. Shatterstep leaped off the ledge as well, his spear glowing red as he plunged it down through the water. Firecoat moved towards the edge, balls of fire forming over his head as he peered down at the fighting ponies.

Goldenseed froze, watched with horror and fascination as blood began to spill, dyeing the water red. A hoof went up to her mouth and she couldn't even hear Shinybit's whimpers of pain. Even in the water, the two crystal ponies moved with ease, their armor not holding them down. Then again, she imagined it was the magic in the garments. Within a few seconds two of the sea ponies floated in the water, dead. The other tried to retreat, but was finished with a spell from Firecoat.

The zebra couldn't move, no matter how she tried. She just stared in horror at the carnage, her mouth open as she watched the bodies float down the river. She was finally shaken from her stupor as her hoof was grabbed from behind.

“Damn it, mare! Heal me!” Shinybit yelled, his hoof lashing out and striking her cutie mark.

Anger billowed in her for a moment, before she realized what she had done. “I-I'm sorry,” she said before leaning in. She yanked the arrow free with her teeth, making the stallion yelp. She then reached out with her magic, gently guiding nature's power through her and against the wound. It slowly closed, the skin stitching up and melding back to a solid state. Soon the wound was healed and she distributed the magic back into the land, as well as removing the strain that Firecoat had caused with his drawing of aether, letting it all flow gently again. By the time she finished, the others had managed to crawl out of the water and back onto the land.

“Hey, you've got some of that magic for me, too?” Crescent asked. She smiled and pulled her hoof back before moving to the others, slowly knitting their wounds closed. There were little more than scrapes and small cuts, so they were far easier to fix. Nothing nearly damaging enough to require a true expenditure of her or nature's magic. When she finished the pony got up and stretched. “Well, that was easy enough. Come on, let's go. There's no telling what else we'll meet here.”

Goldenseed nodded and followed behind them. “I'm sorry,” she said gently.

“Huh? What for?” Crescent asked.

“I... I froze. I panicked. I saw the blood and the fighting and I couldn't do anything. I wasn't... I was just so scared. I thought--”

“It's fine,” the stallion said with a shake of his head. “Just don't let it happen again. Nopony expects you to fight like a warrior your very first time. You'll get used to it.”

She gave a smile and trotted up besides them. “Thanks. I'll do better. I'll... try to do better.”

“I hired you ponies to keep me safe, not to flatter the piece of flank you haul around,” Shinybit snapped. “Keep your mind on the important things.”

“We're a team, we work together,” Crescent said harshly. “Healers are... difficult to come by, these days. We're training her.”

“Training her proper,” Shatterstep said, giving her a little wink. “The stripes especially make her--”

“Keep your mouth shut,” Crescent said, his tone harsh as stone. “Not another word.”

“Sorry,” the other stallion muttered.

Goldenseed smiled as she watched the marauder. Even if some of the group were a bit lecherous or foul mouthed, at least there was one person she knew she could trust. She wouldn't let them down, not again.

------

Goldenseed held out a hoof and focused her magic, gathering the magic seeping through the land. A few pebbles heeded her call and flew through the air, slamming into the sea pony that was trying to sneak up behind Crescent. It wasn't much of a distraction, but it was enough for him to turn around and cleave the pony with his axe. Besides her, Firecoat weaved the aether around, shooting balls of fire and ice as he wished. Occasionally she had to use her magic to stem the worst wounds on Crescent and Shatterstep, but for the most part their wounds were minor and she found herself sending out rocks and creating small winds to distract their enemies more often than not.

A tentacle suddenly rose up and wrapped around Shatterstep as he let out a shriek. Goldenseed thrust out a hoof as a barrier formed around him, creating a pocket of air before he was dragged under. Crescent dispatched the last of the sea ponies before diving under after him.

The zebra watched with baited breath, starring at the quickly reddening water. After a few more tense seconds there was a sudden splash and the two burst from the water, gasping for breath. The tentacle floated up besides them, a bloody, severed limb. She galloped down to the water line and helped the marauder haul the lancer from the deep. “Is he okay?”

“Y-yeah, I'm fine. That was some quick thinking there,” Shatterstep said with a light chuckle.

“T-thanks,” she said with a red face. “I just wanted to try and buy some time. I--”

“You're doing great,” Crescent said before giving the other stallion a firm smack to the back. “You okay?”

“Ow... yes,” Shatterstep said before getting back to his hooves. “It came out of nowhere.”

“It really did. Is everypony feeling okay?” Goldenhoof said nervously. “I... I think I've caught all your wounds, but--”

“You've been doing a fine job,” Crescent said before reaching out to pat her head. “It's fine.”

“I have noticed one thing,” Firecoat said as he looked her over. “Not to... sound like I'm picking on you, but is your magic weak? I've met a few conjurers in the past. Your offensive capabilities seem a bit... well...”

Goldenseed lowered her gaze. “I... I know. They're... they... I've never... my parents wouldn't let me develop my actual fighting capabilities. They were fine with me... learning to heal. But I'm... still a novice offensively. I don't really know...” She looked up and, to her surprise, they were smiling.

“Oh, don't worry,” Crescent said with another pat of her head. “We don't need you to worry about fighting. Just leave that to the three of us. You just focus on healing us. It's going to be fine.”

“We need to keep moving,” Shinybit snapped angrily. “Every second we're in these caves is another second I'm losing bits.”

The marauder sighed and glanced to Goldenseed. “Give me the map.”

She nodded and took it out, holding it to him.

He glanced at it and nodded. “Okay, this is simple enough. We've met quite a bit of resistance so far, but we've also hit quite a few dead ends. We'll head back to where it's dry and safe to make camp. We--”

The merchant sat up quickly. “Make camp? But we haven't found--”

“We're going to find our deaths if we stay here until we pass out,” the marauder snapped, grabbing the merchant and pulling him close. “Unless you'd rather I save you the time and just drown you myself, we're going to do what I say, understand?”

Goldenseed shuddered at the sudden angry side of the stallion. She took a step back before gulping. Of course, the merchant was just risking them, no wonder he was so mad. He was just looking out for them. But she couldn't help but be a little frightened by him. He quickly glanced to her and smiled.

“It's fine. Come on.”

She nodded and once again followed him through the dark caves as they made their way back. There was no telling what waited them in the darkness. Fortunately, they encountered only the barest opposition. They even came across a small water elemental once, but it quickly fell before their might. When they finally made it to their camp, she nearly collapsed on the ground, all the exhaustion hitting her at once. “This... this is h-harder than I thought it would be,” she said softly.

“Risking your life often is,” Crescent said as he started setting up his tent. Shinybit kept glaring at them, but she ignored him and got to work, collapsing onto her bedroll and almost dropping off. Unfortunately, she got nudged. “Not yet, still work to do.”

She groaned, but grudgingly got to her hooves. “Guhhhh. Fine, what next?” she asked with a yawn.

“We need to cook something to eat. You'll feel better once you've had some grub,” the stallion said as he got to work. “While we prepare everything, you get first watch.”

She sighed and gave a nod. “Fine,” she muttered before trotting off the way they came. At least keeping watch was easy, if boring. Her exhausted muscles welcomed the relief of her dropping to the ground once she got back to where the path split. She could almost feel the soreness and exhaustion seeping out of her body, like sap dripping from a tree. She didn't know where this loss of energy came from, she couldn't remember being this tired. She stared out into the caverns none the less, intent on keeping ready in case anything happened.

“How you feeling?” Firecoat asked, making her jump. She turned around and saw the stallion making his way towards her. She gave a small smile.

“Good. No, actually, I feel awful,” she said with a groan.

“First day will be like that, you'll get over it in the morning,” he said as he sat by her. He held out a small bowl of delicious smelling stew.

“I guess. Why did it hit me so suddenly?” She took the stew and held it to her lips, the nutrients filling her.

“It's the adrenaline. All day we've been moving forward, inch by inch. Never knowing when we'll be attacked, tension all the time. Now you're starting to relax and it'll hit you all at once. No distractions to keep your mind off it. You get used to it.” He smiled at her. “So, your little... techniques are pretty useful. With a bit of practice you might be able to do a bit of real damage.”

She smiled and nodded. “I try. I'm mostly better at fixing damage, though. You're all pretty good fighters though. You don't really seem to get hurt much.”

“Lots of experience. We don't usually have anypony around to fix us when we get hurt, aside from some bandages and I do know a little healing magic. It's going to be nice having you around.”

She blushed. “Well, I can't be around forever. I mean, I have... well, there's places I have to go.”

There was a low chuckle from the thaumaturge. “Well, we'll see. I know the boss would be happy letting you stay. You should think about it. It would be a good chance to get some experience, learn about the world. You're still young, why rush?”

Goldenseed chuckled. “Maybe. But I've... kind of got a time limit. I have to be home before... well, things go bad. I'll do my best in the mean time.” She paused and glanced to him. “Is... it hard?”

“What?”

“Killing.”

That made him pause for a few seconds as he looked her up and down. “What do you mean?”

“I... I've noticed you ponies never seem to... hesitate when you do it. You just... do it. Is it hard?”

He gave a shrug. “No idea. I've never really thought about it. They're trying to kill us, so we just kill them back. Easy as can be. You've done it. I've seen you chucking the stones.”

She glanced away. “I... can disrupt them. But... I don't know if I could actually kill them.” She mumbled before closing her eyes. “I mean, I... I know it has to happen. I've seen it happen. Death... happens.” She took a slow deep breath as she thought about the first time she'd seen a pony die. It hadn't even been on purpose, it had been an accident. There had been a fire and the house had collapsed. The conjurers had tried to save the pony, but the burns had been too severe. She'd been a fil-- a colt then.

“But you've never done it yourself?” he chuckled. “There's not much difference, you know. You can try being high and mighty all you want, say you're not killing them. But you're just as responsible as all of us. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. These ponies would gut you in a second. They'd happily stab you through the face for looking at them wrong. Don't feel bad just because you got them first. Don't let it stop you when the time comes, either. We might not always be between you and them.” He got up and trotted towards the camp. “Shatterstep will be out to relieve you soon.”

Goldenseed glanced down at his stew, only half empty. Her mind reeled as she thought about what he'd said. Was it true? Was she a killer now? She'd always been told how important each life was. But she hadn't felt bad watching them die. Well, she had a little. But they were trying to kill her and her friends. On more than one occasion an arrow had actually come close to killing her. From so far away she felt like she was just helping her friends. That was all she was doing. All she had to do.

Now she wasn't so sure. She looked down at her hooves. Were they stained with blood? Was she so cold hearted that it didn't even bother her? What kind of conjurer was she? What kind of ruler would that make her one day?

When the time came for her to crawl back to the camp and lay herself to sleep, one thought flew through her mind.

Was she even worthy of the crown she would one day inherit?

Author's Notes:

Woo, back to this story! Those who are fans of it will be happy to know that this one of two fanfictions that will be my current focus(along with an actual book I've been writing). The outline for this one is all done, so yay! Now I just need to write it out.