Emerald, Link, and Navi atop his hair, entered the mine. Torches were placed several feet above the floor, and quite far apart from each other. Inside, Link felt the temperature rise slightly. Along the ground, he saw several unlit torches. Emmy looked ahead and asked, "You... don't know how deep this goes... do you?"

"Not a clue," he replied. "Bet it goes pretty deep. May be 7 layers, for all I know." He picked one of the torches off the wall and walked with it. "You were here. Don't you know?"

She shook her head. "No. I've only been to the second floor before I was found out. I'm sure it goes deeper though." Emerald touched down and began walking beside him. "Why are you even bringing a torch with? Your eyes should be adjusting just fine."

"I'm not a pony. But you're not wrong. It takes more time for me to get a clear view in the dark." He looked to his sides and saw two empty rooms, with no doors. "Okay, this isn't what I expected..."

"Hm?" she asked. She watched as he walked to the left room and looked around. It was a small room with a long table and a row of lockers. The other side was a mirror image of the first. "These must be their break rooms."

"Sounds right..." he admitted. "Navi, what do you think?"

"She got it right. The ponies likely used the first floor as their base, while the lower floors were used as the mine."

Link turned and saw that Emmy flew on ahead. "Emerald?"

"In here," she replied from the next room over. He followed the sound and came to a larger room with several rows of tables and a counter. "Must be their Mess Hall," she observed. "Big enough to fit most of the mining city from what I saw." She looked back and saw him looking around. Soon, he placed the torch in a slot on the wall.

Link sat at a table and put his gear to the side. "Emerald, come sit for a moment." She did so and saw him take out a pair of apples. "Here," he said, handing her one. "We could be in here a while."

"An apple? For ... me?" She took it and looked up at him again. "Why?"

"I need a reason? Just eat it. You'll need your strength. Can't have you falling to fatigue and be too tired."

She looked down at the apple, and took a bite. Then she heard him take a bite of his own. "So... I'm just an asset to you then?"

He tilted his head. "Where'd that come from?"

"You said you don't want me being useless, in other words." Emerald glanced up and met his gaze.

"In that explanation, yes. You are indeed an asset." She looked shocked and set the apple down. "I-in a good way. It means... ugh. It means you're my valued comrade. And you can bet that so long as you are, I've got your back."

"... Then thank you." Emerald picked up the apple and continued. "Say, which group should we go for first? The sentry things or the creatures?"

"I don't think it matters. The sentries we'll find regardless, and the creatures we'll be hunting. I can't guarantee we'll get them all, but we can try. Have you seen either?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but not up close before. The sentries are three times as tall as we are, and the creatures are green and crawl. Other than that, I don't know anything."

Link shook his head. "It's better than nothing. I'll be counting on you to help me. Part of being on a team." She nodded. "What's that?" he asked, looking past her to a wall. Or, more specifically, at a wooden frame hanging on the wall. He quickly finished his apple, tossed the core, and walked over to it. "Looks like ... a floor plan. For this floor only, but it's a start." He took the framed page off the wall and broke the frame. "That's better. Hope they forgive me."

"Why would you do that?" Emmy asked. "I could have carried it with me."

"And still help me in combat? Likely not. I'll be hanging on to it." He looked it over with Emmy hovering over his shoulder.

"What's these?" she asked, pointing at some squares on the map. "Look like boxes."

"Don't know. Let's find out." Link put his gear back on and followed the map to the opposite room. On the side of the entry, he read a sign that said "Smith's Workshop. Caution: Loud Noises and Bright Lights!". About the room, several anvils, bellows, and tables were scattered. He heard the crunch of Emerald finishing her apple and then saw the line of aprons on the wall. "Certainly brings the mine together."

In one corner, the far right corner, they saw three vertical pieces of equipment. Upon closer inspection, they saw that they were elevator shafts designed for travel between floors. "Check this out," Emmy said, flying near the ceiling. "'Out Of Order! Do Not Use!'"

Link shook his head. "What is it with these ponies and terrible sign placement? Who's their architect? For that matter, who's their maintenance lead?" He lowered his head and changed the subject. "Well, these elevators can't be the only way down." Again, he glanced at the map and saw a path leading into what looked like an empty void. "What's that?"

Emmy looked over him and saw it too. "That's a path that leads down. To the next floor. And if you haven't noticed, there're tracks all over this place."

"I've noticed, but... why do I get the feeling, the makers of the mine didn't have the final version in mind when they built it?" Navi came out and hovered around his head. "Thanks for the light, Navi." He looked closer at the map and saw several more lines decorating the floor. "Even the tracks are inconvenient!"

"You are going to complain about bad floor design the whole way down, aren't you?" Emmy asked.

"Of course I am. For a town of mining ponies, it shouldn't be that hard to construct a proper mine. I could even do better, with time." Emmy shrugged her shoulders and followed his lead out of the room. Sure enough, he saw tracks along the ground. They followed them left and down, deeper into the mine. First, it curved left, then right, then left again.

On the side of the second floor entrance, Emerald saw another map. "At least they put up maps. Hm?" She leaned close to it and squinted.

"Yeah. One good thing doesn't outweigh the several bad I've already said."

"Ugh. Just- Hoof me that map, will you?" Link chuckled at her use of "hoof", but handed it to her anyway. She flattened it out over the one on the wall and saw the squares lined up. "The floors are layered over each other. I can't believe they dug straight down."

"Criticizing the floor plan is my thing." He felt light shifting in the ground and turned away from the wall.

Emmy hoofed the first map to him, flew away from the wall and said, "Fine. The map is all yours. You want to degrade their ideas? You go right ahead."

"Emmy," he said. In that moment, a ... thing, leapt up from underneath the ground and into the air. She didn't notice until it clipped and cut open her left hind-leg. "Emmy!" he shouted. As the creature landed, Link drove his sword through it and into the ground. "Are you alright?"

She had fallen to the ground in surprise and looked at her leg. "I'm alright. Just a cut. Uhh..."

"Link! Watch out!" Navi warned, pointing down at its blinking red body. Quickly, Link let go of his sword, leapt over to Emmy and landed over her, careful not to crush her. Very few moments later, the creature exploded, causing Emmy to shudder in surprise. Link only braced himself for impact, and thanked his shield for taking the sudden shockwave.

"I ... didn't know they di-ow!" she said, accidentally hitting her wound on Link's leg. Quickly, he got to his feet and helped her up. "Thanks for saving me like that..."

"It was nothing. But, now you're hurt. Hold still..." He reached into his pocket and got out his first aid kit. In response, Emerald sat and extended her injured leg. Link got to work cleaning, and disinfecting her cut, and finished by wrapping her leg in gauze, pinning it off at the end. "That'll hold. It wasn't too serous, so you should be walking around in no time.Until then, may want to stay in the air." He put his supplies away and added, "If Twilight were here, she'd cast a spell to heal you in no time. But, she's not, so no point in hoping."

He cares about me? she thought, letting him fix her up. I didn't expect to see that. "Hey... there was only one here... When I was down here last, there were several, about three, in a group. All going after the others."

"So they attack in groups?" he asked. "If so, then it bothers me that only one showed up this time." He stood up and thought out loud. "To be fair, there are fewer of us down here, so maybe they react to heat? That'd make sense if they're not here anymore. The deeper the mine goes, the hotter it'll be... Which also means the further we go, the more in a group we'll be facing..." He took off his shield and examined it. "Looks like it held up against the blast. I wouldn't trust it to hold against 10 or more at once though."

"By the way..." Emmy asked, "what's that?" She pointed up at the ceiling.

He looked up and recognized the object immediately. Navi flew up to get a closer look. "Hey, it's your sword!" she said. "It must have got stuck up here from the explosion."

"Emmy," Link asked, "Can you get that for me? I can't jump that high." She nodded, and flew up to meet Navi.

Carefully, she grabbed the handle and slowly descended. All at once, the sword got unstuck and she fought to regain her altitude. "There we go. That wasn't as stuck as I thought it was." She flew down and hoofed it over to him as he placed the two pieces on his back. "Small piece of wisdom: don't stick it through something that explodes."

"How was I supposed to know it did that?" She shrugged and chuckled a little, having almost said the same thing earlier. "Heavy Swing never mentioned their explosive ability." He paused his movement and thought, I bet there's even more he kept from us. Either intentionally or not. "We should move on." He walked back to the maps, pocketed the first floor map and looked at the second. Facing the entrance, he pointed to a room on their left. "'Storage'. Let's check it out."

Emerald flew beside Link, who walked, toward the room to the right of the entrance. The knob to the wooden door couldn't turn very far, convincing them it was locked. "That's alright. I can break it open," Emmy said, preparing herself.

Link turned to her and interrupted, "No you're not. Your leg is injured, so you're not bucking anything. We find the key like normal. Is that a problem?"

"No no, no problem. Just... feeling useless. No wait, not useless. Just ... Bored," she admitted. "Aside from that creature, nothing interesting's happening."

"And that's fine too." He walked with the map to the next opening along the wall, which turned out to be a mining tunnel. "Not everything has to be interesting. Sometimes the boring stuff, with the right embellishments, can be entertaining." They circled around, found nothing, and left the way they went in. "After all, too much excitement is bad for your heart, or so I heard."

"You heard from who?" Link shook his head. "Hey, got a question: where do you think the key is?" He stopped and turned left toward the wooden door. "To that door, I mean."

Link looked over the map, illuminated by Navi's light. "Hmm... 'Storage', then there's the elevators, but after that, the only other rooms here look like they are used for mining. Maybe hoping to expand once they get their cave back. I don't think it'll be on this floor. The storage room... I'd be willing to bet the bombs are in there. If so, then the key could be where they're made into the finished product. Where that is, is likely in the same room, or on the same floor, as where they grow."

"How smart are you, really?" Emerald asked. He looked confused, so she elaborated, "You come up with a logical reason in mere seconds. And yet it's so thought out. Is there even a chance you're wrong?"

"Of course there is. For instance, they could be completely clueless and leave the key in the room we're trying to open. Or it could be lying on the ground somewhere we've already been. With a stroke of insanely bad luck, there's a giant creature at the lowest floor with the key we need, and we'll have to fight for our lives just to get it from him. But, all of those situations aren't very likely, since I didn't use common sense."

"You know?" Emmy said, "Your brain must fire two or three times faster than ours. 'cause I didn't even think about that."

He sighed. "It's not that my brain fires faster than yours, it's that I found shortcuts in logic. It helps me plan ahead, find patterns in attacks, even play a simple game of chess. It also helps me be analytical. Finding a weakness was never very difficult."

Emerald looked amazed. "You are incredible. So, you are constantly looking at where there might be an opening?" He nodded. "Against more than one opponent?" Another nod. "Of three different sides?"

"Well, I've never had to do that, but I'm sure I could." She laughed at his admittance. "I'm not kidding. My sister played so many mind games with me, it became second nature to be this way. It helped that-" He stopped and knelt down, feeling the ground. Link looked to the side and saw they were beside the way to the next floor. "They're coming. Might be more this time."

"More?! More you just said?!" Quickly, she flew to the ceiling and watched. "Best of luck to you. I'll be out of range."

At least she'll be out of the way. Link stood and drew his gear. He waited and closed his eyes, listening and feeling. In moments, one of them jumped at him out of the ground on his right. With a hard push, he bashed his shield against it, causing it to fall to the ground. Before he could end it, another one jumped at him from behind. Quickly, he side-stepped and split it in half as the two pieces made small dents in the ground with their resulting explosions. Another jumped at him from the left, near the floor entrance. Link got his shield up in time and saw it stick to his shield. He had to move like he was throwing his shield to get the creature to fly off. Once it hit the wall, it crawled over to him and jumped again. One thrust with his sword, and he pierced the soft underbelly of the creature. With no time to spare, he flung the thing off his blade toward the wall behind him.

Seconds later, it exploded, leaving a hole in the wall and a dent in the ground. "Great job Link!" Emmy applauded, coming back down to the ground. "What's up with this one?" she asked, pointing at the unconscious one. "It's not dead, or it would have exploded by now."

"Yeah... I wondered about it. Maybe I knocked it out?" He sheathed his sword and shield. "I got it!" Link pulled out his journal and pencil. On a blank page, he wrote "Bomb Creature (Working Name)". Carefully, he set the creature on its belly and began drawing it. From the side, then the front, finally the top. "There. I may never get a chance like this again." He looked close at his drawing and noticed something unusual about it.

"You are seriously drawing it?" He nodded and finished up. "Why?"

"So I can better prepare myself for the road ahead. That, and so I can show Epona when we get out of here. I promised her I'd tell her everything." He closed his journal and put the supplies away. "Now, onto the sad part." He drew his sword and pointed it over the creature.

"You're still gonna kill it?" she asked. Link paused, and looked at her.

"Well, yes. I don't need it anymore, and besides, it's the task we've been given." With no further argument, he stabbed through it and flung it away, causing it to explode a few seconds later. "I did learn about it though. It's got thick hide covering its back, strong enough to rip through flesh. However, I believe the underside secretes a substance that lets it stick to walls and other surfaces. It's also rather soft, in comparison to the rough hide. And, it takes about... three seconds? For it to explode. And there's one other thing... But I'll ignore it for now."

"Incredible. That encounter didn't last even 30 seconds and you picked up all that?" she said surprised. "That's awesome!" Her ear twitched and she turned her head to the side.

"What is it? Something else?" She nodded and flew toward the other side of the tunnel. "Careful..." Soon, he began hearing it too. A sound of grinding rock. "That's... different..." he admitted. At the next room, he caught up to her and looked around the corners. After a few, he saw it: a rock sentry. "Definitely different." He ducked behind the wall and said, "It should go without saying at this point, but stay here, and keep off the ground. I'll handle this."

With a silent nod, Emmy flew higher above the ground and watched. Link walked out into the tunnel where the sentry stood. It had its back turned and couldn't see him. At first glance, it appeared not to respond to his footsteps. That didn't matter, only because by the time he got close enough, it turned and saw him anyway. Link froze in place, judging its detection method. On sight, the sentry started lumbering toward him. Hastily, he ran at it and slid under its swinging arm, looking up at its features.

Rock body, slow steps, heavy limbs, thick. On the other side he back-flipped further away and watched as it turned slowly to face him again. Slow reaction time, reacts to visuals. Under his feet, he felt more shifting. More? Two at once, the green creatures emerged behind him. That could work. One of them jumped at him and landed on his shield. The other continued crawling. Link ran at the sentry, who raised an arm over its head. He raised his shield to block and deflected the blow to his side. Knowing the creature detonates three seconds after death, he pressed his shield against the body of the sentry and took the explosion, barely protected by his shield.

The force of the blast sent Link backward, far and hard enough to flatten him on the ground. As the rock sentry crumbled, an odd-colored stone rolled from it. The second creature climbed over his body and began biting his clothes. "Ok, that's-" Quickly, he threw it off of himself against the wall and watched it bury itself under ground. "Different..."

"Link!" Emmy cried, "Are you alright?" She flew to him and helped him to his feet. "That was awesome! Kinda a bummer about the creatures but cool!"

Link walked to the core and picked it up. "So, this is the sentry's core... It looks and feels like it's a softer stone than the others. Meaning..." He tossed it up and split it in half on its way back down.

"That's one down! And a few of those explody things too! Where'd the other one go, anyway?"

"Somewhere else. Two came up, but only one of them perished." Link looked back at the hole and saw it had been filled in. "Back to warn the others I'm sure." He looked over his sword and saw several burn marks. "Aww, come on."

"What is it?" Navi asked.

"I didn't catch it before, but ... My sword might have been dulled from the blast. I'll need to sharpen it before we move any further." He put the gear away and walked back toward the path leading up.

"And you brought what you need to sharpen it... right?" Link nodded. "Good." She flew after him and asked, "Hey... Are you tired any?"

He glanced over his shoulder at her and replied, "Not really. Why?"

"It's night time now, and I'm tired. All the more reason to go back, right?" she asked. Link stopped and sighed. "What?"

"Just wish this place wasn't so deep, is all. Sure. Let's go back up and take a rest." He continued walking and said, "There's something bothering me... about those sentries..."

"What is it?"

"Well... It's their size. As small as the creatures are, why make big, slow sentries to combat them?" He shook his head. "It just doesn't make sense to me. What do you think?"

"I think... the creatures we found were just the babies." Link changed his expression to show his confusion. "When I was here, I did see the little ones. So I'm not 100% on this, but I think they get bigger further down."

"How much 'bigger' do you think they get?"

"Tons bigger, for all I know." They rounded the ramp and arrived on the first floor. "They could be big enough to swallow us whole."

"I don't even want to think about that. The last thing I need is to get eaten by some big monster like that. But it would make sense. The bigger ones would be slower, and with the stone bodies, it'd be hard to defend against it."

The exploding thing though... that's their last act." He nodded and walked in silence to the break room where she lay on the table.

Link pulled out his sharpening stone and proceeded to undull his blade. "I won't be long, then you can get sleep. Alright?"

Emmy was quiet for a minute or so, then asked, "hey... Link?"

"Hm?"

"can you... maybe... tell me a story?" she requested.

"A story? About what?" he asked.

"anything you want. it'll help me get to sleep." She rested her head on her hooves and closed her eyes.

"Well, I'm not so good at coming up with stories, so I guess I'll tell you one of mine." He set his stuff to the side and began. "As you could guess, I wasn't born in Equestria. I was instead teleported here from another world entirely. I don't remember much of the day, or anything for the first few years, but my sister does. Very well, in fact. I was 8 months old at the time, and I was wrapped in a green blanket with my name embroidered on its front. I guess I was a very calm child, given my surroundings. My sister was very kind to me. Even going out of her way to make sure I had all I"

Before long, Emmy had drifted off to a peaceful slumber. Navi dimmed her light and floated over to her sleeping form. "She looks so peaceful," she said.

"Sure does," he replied in a whisper. "Good thing she's on the table. Those creatures don't seem that sensitive to heat this far up. Made evident by the torches still being lit." He glanced toward the entry and saw it was indeed dark. With a sigh, he sat on the end of the table and opened his journal. On the next blank page, he wrote a second entry.

In the Mines of Copper's Bell, there exist creatures prone to self-destruct. Through careful analysis, they explode 3 seconds after death. Knocking them out, however, does not trigger this effect. They have a tough layer of hide protecting their top, and a soft underbelly. I noted they had side-facing eyes. It might be nothing, but if it means what I think, we could have trouble.

The sentries here are made of stone. Even their core. Having beaten one, I have 6 more, with the 7th, a bigger version and their leader, to defeat. They are tall, strong, and slow beings.

I'm also here with Emerald Storm, a pegasus, and likely one of three special ponies in this world. I don't know much else about her at the moment. She hurt her leg earlier today. Fortunately, I was able to patch her up no problem.

On an ending note, I am positive this will be a successful mission, despite the difficulty.

"That should do it." He closed his journal and put his stuff away. Link looked back at Emmy, who smiled, and turned in her sleep. He smiled himself, and turned forward, waiting for her to wake up.

Navi flew over in front of him and asked, "How long will she be out, do you think?"

"Don't know. She didn't seem all that tired. A few hours? Maybe 5 or 6? Why?"

"Just asking."

Several hours later as predicted, Emerald rolled herself awake to the sound of an apple being eaten. Sitting up, she asked, "Do you still have the blanket?"

He turned around as she stretched in her sitting position. Quickly, he turned forward and replied, "I don't. My sister does, though." She finished her stretch and flew over in front of him. "I'll probably be buried with it."

"Aww, don't talk like that. You're still young. You've got at least ... how many years do you humans live?"

"I'll be around for at least 50 more years." Link pulled out another apple and handed it to her. He also drew his sword and set it on the table beside him. "Those are for you. The apple your meal, and the sword your weapon."

She picked up the sword and looked it over. "It's all new and sharp and stuff. What do you want me to do with it?"

"Guard me while I sleep here." He tossed his core and rolled back onto the table. "Don't let me die, alright?"

"Count on me," she assured.

In mere minutes, the young boy fell asleep. She picked up the sword and looked at her reflection.

Emmy looked at her reflection in the sword. Seeing how old she had gotten since she left home many years ago had surprised her. If somepony told her all those years ago that she'd be an adult, she'd have laughed in their face.

Her home was enjoyable. Nice little forest village, quiet life, and lots of work. There was trade, there were some gardens... It was home. It felt natural.

Then one day, she left. Said she had to see what the world was really like; to find out why the townsfolk vowed never to leave. What made them so afraid of death out there in the world they shut themselves away from?

With her boss in charge of the town, she made her bid to leave. He refused, naturally, but since she was a free spirit at heart, he knew he couldn't stop her.

So, Emmy left her little town, and left the woods entirely. Eventually, she came across a little town full of vibrant colors and ponies of all sizes and shapes. It astonished her that ponies could be colors other than green.

She flagged down somepony bigger than her and asked, "Where would I go to find others of my stature?" In response, they pointed up to the clouds. Emmy flew up and found herself in Junior Speedsters Flight School. With enough money saved up, she enrolled and met her best friend in the world: Rainbow Dash...

Noon came, and Link woke up. Out of habit, he lay there awake, yet still, listening for anything.

"Haah! Hut! Hyaaah!" he heard. Curious, he sat up and looked around. "Huah!" He got to his feet and leapt off the table. Quickly, he dashed around the corner and found Emmy practicing with his sword. "Raaah!" she cried.

Link leaned against the entry way and grinned. "Not bad. Your swing's a little wide, and your tail's not being properly used for balance." He walked over to her as she looked away shyly. "But not all's bad. Your form is great for using a left handed sword. On top of that, I feel your energy."

"I should hope so," she replied. "It may be a little shorter than what I'm used to, so I had to improvise a little." She hoofed it back to him. "Sorry."

Sheathing it, he continued. "It's alright. I'm actually surprised you know your way around a sword like that."

"I've learned a thing or two. Travel Equestria as long as I have, you're bound to pick up a few cool tricks." She looked at him and grinned. "Ready to move on?"

Link nodded and walked toward the way down. "We cleared the second floor of sentries, so rechecking that floor shouldn't take very long."

As expected, going through the second floor again was easier than before. Only after fighting 4 more creatures and winning, did they finally arrive at the way down to the third level. Immediately, the two felt the temperature rise a little. "Alright... so it gets hotter."

"Of course it does. It is a volcano after all," Navi said. "It's likely got a pool of lava heating up the mine."

"Will you be alright, Navi?" Emmy asked. "You don't seem too able to handle the heat."

"I'll be fine. I don't feel the severity of temperature changes as ponies and Link does. It's my light. It keeps me safe from such things."

On the third floor, he took down the map and gave it a look. "So," he said, "looks like it's got rows of rock, and a room at the end down there." Link pointed at the end of the room. "Says it's a ... 'Flower Bed'?"

"Flower bed? Down here?" Emmy asked. With her leg feeling better, she walked in front of him. "It's a dark and spooky cavern. Why would anypony make a flower garden all the way down here?"

Link looked up at her and answered, "It's most likely the bomb flowers. If that's the room they grow in, then the key we need will most likely be there. And with our luck, a sentry's guarding it."

"Oh great. Another one," Emmy groaned. She walked to the left side and added, "How many did he say there were?"

"7, and the bigger one controlling them makes 8." He followed and said suddenly, "Wait up a minute."

Emerald stopped and waited. Link got ahead of her and peeked around the corner into the first hallway. "What are you doing?"

"Watching myself." With no sentry, he moved on to the second one. "I'm making sure no sentry gets the jump on me." Around the second corner, he saw one. "Like that one." He ducked back as the sentry turned. Carefully, Link looked around the corner, keeping hidden. "Something's different about this one. It's turning much quicker than the first one." While its back was turned, he rolled across the hall before the sentry turned again. Safe on the other side, he stood and looked at it again. As if to examine something, he glanced at Emerald where he left her. "Alright, when I motion, fly over here-"

"Like this?" she said beside him. He looked over at her as she smiled. "I crossed when you did." Link remained silent. "Wh-what?"

"How ... did you do that?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Do what?" she asked nervously.

"Show up at my side when you were over there a moment ago."

"Like I said, I flew over when you ro-"

"Don't try to spoon-feed me that lie. As fast as she is, even Rainbow Dash pushes the air when she flies. When you 'flew beside me', I didn't feel anything. On another note, I watched you vanish into thin air!" Emerald stayed silent and listened to him. "Now try again, and don't lie. How. Did you. Do that."

"I... I... I thought I was being careful..." she managed to admit.

"You were. More than I'd like to admit. I first thought something was up when I talked to you a few days ago. I wondered how you got into the mine undetected. Then in the village, you showed up above me, without making a sound or pushing any air."

Emmy sat down and hung her head. "you know then...?"

"I know you can teleport at will, and I think it's cool." She lifted her head and shook it. "No?"

"No, it's not cool!" she denied, causing Link to step back. "It's unnatural! I'm unnatural! I'm a magic-using pegasus! I've always asked myself why and how, but I never found an answer. That's one of the reasons I'm traveling the world!"

Link thought for a moment, regained his composure and replied, "Years ago, you raced Rainbow up in Cloudsdale, right?"

"That race was a joke," she argued. "I cheated and teleported to the end before she even got half-way," she admitted, holding back her bottled emotions. "Since then, I've feared what I could do. So I hid it, from everypony. But she pressed, and pressed. She'd never left me alone. So I had to make a choice. Confess my curse, or run from the truth. I... regrettably chose the latter..." Emerald curled up on the floor and finally began crying.

Link knelt down to her and put a hand on her head. "Hey. Can I tell you something?" With no response, he continued, "You're not alone. I know of another pony who, like you, has an incredible gift." Emerald glanced up at him. "So I'll make you a deal: help me get the key to the storage room, and I'll tell you all about her. Alright?"

Hesitant, she nodded and rose to her hooves. She wiped away her tears and smiled at him. "A-Alright. Deal." With Link leading the way, and checking each hall, they soon arrived at the end of the room. Sliding across the wall, he peeked into the open room at the end. He saw a table on the left, something shiny on top of it, another sentry, and a field of bomb flowers on the right.

He ducked back around the corner and said, "Alright, here's what I want you to do, and don't go ahead this time." She nodded. "I'm going to get the sentry's attention long enough for you to get the key on the table. Once you've got it and are out of the way, I'll blow it up with one of the flowers. Got it?"

"Got it." She watched as he drew his sword and looked around the corner. "Hey... nevermind. Good luck."

Link nodded and rolled out into the open, instantly getting seen by the sentry. As before, it lumbered toward him, slowly. Link stepped back and around toward the bomb flowers and nodded his head to Emmy, resting his foot on a bomb. She flew quietly over to the table and got the key. She heard the snap of the flower as the connection was severed. Hissing filled the room as she made her safe retreat. Good, she got the key. 3. He stepped over the bomb and put his foot under it. Surprisingly, the sentry stood still, ceasing its chase. That's new... 8. At the count of 11, he launched the bomb at the sentry. With surprising speed, the sentry leaned to the side and watched it approach. The timer expired and the bomb exploded, taking with it the right half of the sentry's upper body. Now exposed, Link ran up to it, dodged a swing from its remaining arm and drove his sword into the core.

Quickly, the sentry was reduced to rubble. "Alright! You did it! Way to go, kid!" Emmy cheered.

Link stood over the crumbled stone body and said, "Something's not right..."

Emmy flew over to him and asked, "What do you mean? You won, right? What else matters?"

"It's how I won. Didn't you see it? This could change the way we tackle the others later on."

"I... don't follow. What happened?"

"It leaned away from the bomb. It learned that things explode when it hits something, so it dodged. The first one didn't even try to, yet this one could dodge fast enough." Link kicked one of the rocks. "They are learning, and I don't like it..."

"Well, if they are learning, then you'll need to get more creative with your methods, right?" Emerald asked. He nodded, and she continued, "So.. what's the plan for the one in the hall?"

"There isn't one... If they keep learning, then they'll get harder and harder to beat. They aren't linked to each other, otherwise the mining ponies wouldn't need to make one to govern the others. So we'll avoid them, while still getting rid of the bomb creatures. With any luck, the sentry at the end's defeat will stop all contact between the others, making them incapable of learning, because ... no, that won't work at all..."

"Wha- Why not?"

"Because, it's the core. The core is the spell, not the body. And Heavy Swing wants us to bring the core back." In anger, he grit his teeth and clenched his fist. "There's just too much we have to do in here!"

"Woah, calm yourself. I'm sure there's an easy solution. Just... keep calm, and gather your thoughts." Emmy hoofed the key to him. "This should help at least."

Link took the key and looked it over. "The key to the storage. Let's go."

After sneaking past the sentry, defeating a few creatures, and climbing up the hall to the second floor, they arrived at the door to the storage room. Easily, Link inserted the key and turned it, unlocking the door. Inside, was another table with a few unfinished bombs, a bag tied with twine on the floor, and a set of tools that didn't make any sense to either of them.

"Here we are," she said. Emmy watched as Link picked up the bag and put the whole thing in his pocket. "That's still cool, no matter how many times I see it."

"It works like a special dimension. Whatever goes in, goes to a second space for my own storage. My sister made them for me. Two of theses pouches. With these, I can store anything smaller than a cubic yard. As many as 20 different things at a time. The bag of bombs? Easily fits." Link smiled and looked at her.

"I see. Kinda. More focused on... the story you're going to tell me."

"Riiiiight..." Silently, he walked out of the room and up to the first floor. With Emmy, he sat at one of the cafeteria tables. Navi landed on the table beside Emerald and listened. "First off, her name is Ruby Inferno. And like you, she has a gift..."

"More?! More did you spake?!"
~~~~~~~~~
Part I of maybe 3? Don't quote me on it.
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Going into this, I had made a layout of the whole dungeon, so it makes sense to me. Getting it to make sense for all of you was the hard part.
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Originally, the first encounter with the sentry played out differently, but was changed last minute due to the fact I didn't like how it played out. Also, the creatures don't nom on Link, they just do contact damage.
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Emmy... Oh boy... Emmy. You might have guessed she cheated, might not have. Not much of a big reveal, but I tried. If you don't like how that turned out, you can skip it? But I don't suggest doing that, because her emotions then is the reason Link's telling her the story.
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Questions? Fire away!