"See anything over there?" Scootaloo called. She stood in front of one of the pews, having just looked up from the seats.

"Nope, not over here," Kevin replied from across the room. "Just benches with nothing on 'em. Well, besides dust. There's no shortage of that."

"I think one of mine has spiders," Flight said, squinting downwards

"Like, a big spider with a star sticker?" Scootaloo asked immediately.

"Er, no—they're those little baby yellow garden spiders, kinda in this little swarm around their web. Dunno how they got down here, though."

"Eugh... I hate spiders," Kevin mumbled.

"I'll admit, I'm not really into them either," Scootaloo agreed. "So, nothing besides that? Darn. Don't they usually have, like, stuff coming off of the benches? Like, religious texts or some jazz like that?"

"Usually, yes," Flight replied. "No church on the Bureau planets is complete without copies of the Asterismos for each pony, plus there's usually a little hymnal too. But it doesn't even look like there's a slot for whatever books they'd have."

"Huh, weird. Guess we'd better be on our way, then." Scootaloo looked up at the far end of the room and was glad to see the open doorway that had been hewn from the stone wall.

As Scootaloo shuffled out from between the pews, so did Kevin and Flight and the three of them converged in the aisle, trotting together up the few stairs to that doorway. Kevin's hornlight revealed that the doorway led to a long passage whose end the three young ponies couldn't make out; nonetheless, with no other options, they proceeded single file ahead, Kevin leading the group because of his hornlight.

The only sound in the stone-walled hallway was that of their hooves clopping on the ground, reverberating quietly but noticeably down its lengths. To either side, the smooth grey surfaces looked sheer and pony-made. Scootaloo, bored, ran a hoof along the wall until the scratching sound became so unbearable than an irritated Flight snapped from behind her.

After just a few minutes of walking, Scootaloo noticed that the green light emanating from Kevin's horn was starting to flicker. "Hey, dude, are you okay?" she asked.

Kevin stopped and turned to flash the filly a weak smile. "Urgh... yeah... never... been better."

"You should put out the light for a little bit, Kev," Flight urged him. She wore a worried look on her face. "That can't be good for you—you really don't look good."

"Heh, thanks," Kevin replied with a grin.

Flight rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean! Seriously..."

"Flight's got a point," Scootaloo says. "Better to rest so we can have light when we really need it and you won't need to kill yourself for it."

"No, no, it's—" Kevin started but suddenly he winced and the light flickered out as his horn shot sparks. Scootaloo, Flight, and Kevin were immediately thrust into darkness. "Aureate be damned...!"

"That's one way to stop him," Scootaloo said. "Just wait 'til he runs out of energy."

"Ugh... sorry, guys."

"Ah, yes. Be sorry for doing exactly what we'd asked you to do," Flight said sardonically.

Kevin sighed. "Well, whatever. I dunno how long it'll be until I can get the light back up again, so we'll be in the dark for a while."

"We should keep moving, though," Scootaloo interjected. "The best way to get more light is to, y'know, be on the surface."

There was a pause. "Oh, dang it," Flight said after a moment. "I was just nodding for like thirty seconds until I realised you couldn't even see it."

Scootaloo facehoofed, and then cleared her throat. "Oh, and Kevin, could I take the lead for now?"

"Sure thing," the colt replied from ahead. "I'll just go over to the side here and—ow!"

"Heh, sorry," Scootaloo said, with a sheepish grin—she'd taken a step forward only to realise that she had picked the same side to walk on as he had chosen to move over to and that she stepped down on the edge of his hoof. Once they'd figured that out, Scootaloo easily slid past the colt to take her position at the head of the group.

What she couldn't see through the darkness was the blush that had crept onto Kevin's face as the filly's folded wings brushed against his side.

"Alright, let's go," Scootaloo declared. "Be sure not to step on each other's hooves—I hear it hurts."

Kevin sighed but began trotting forward in the dark. It was an odd and somewhat unfamiliar sensation, being completely stripped of his sight; although he had his hooves and ears to rely on, he wasn't so used to needing them so much and felt clumsy as he stumbled through the path. One false step, however, and his hooves would fall prey to those of Flight behind him.

All in all, Kevin was feeling pretty excited to either get out of the cave or at least for his magical power to replenish itself.