“That’s too much for one night,” Rarity grumbled as she stumbled on an uneven surface of the floor. “First the sewers, now these forsaken caves…”

Midnight shot her an annoyed glance — Twilight barely moved her legs, but unlike that lady, she hadn’t uttered a word of complaint. If not for Lotus’s offer to help, she would probably still have struggled under her heavy saddlebags. Midnight felt rotten for not offering his help first, but the massive duffel bag was weighing him down enough as it was.

“Well, I don’t like this place either,” he snapped. “But I’m not complaining like a—” Midnight stopped himself from saying something he would regret.

Rarity turned her head towards the stallion, raising a lone eyebrow in response.

“There is no need to be so boorish, darling,” she said. “It’s been a hard day for all of us.”

Midnight’s ears wilted slightly. “Sorry, eh, Lady Rarity,” he said. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Oh, I’m not offended,” Rarity smiled, switching her place with Lotus to be closer to Midnight, who was walking at the tail end of their column. “As I said, it was a hard day.”

“It’s going to get harder if half of what Twilight read about this place is true,” Midnight said grimly.

“Yes, so I’ve heard,” Rarity nodded. The mare slowed down to walk alongside Midnight; their sides were almost touching. “I had no chance to ask, but how did you, a librarian, end up helping Twilight?”

Midnight’s face flushed red from such close proximity to the mare, but he tried to keep his voice steady, answering her question.

As the group made their way through the mine, Midnight told Rarity how he got to know Twilight back at the Academy. Though they had never exactly been friends, they had been on good terms, sometimes even helping each other with their assigned tasks.

“I was shocked when I heard the news,” he continued. “I didn’t really believe that Twilight did it, of course. So when I met her in the Library a week later, I decided to ask what happened myself.”

Twilight’s tired chuckle sounded from up ahead. “You almost gave me a heart attack when you called my name there. Sorry for eavesdropping.”

Their little conversation was a nice distraction after the madness of the previous hour, so Midnight didn’t even notice when they left the ponymade tunnel and entered the natural caves. Curiously enough, it wasn’t as dark here — naturally grown crystals inside the walls emitted a dim glow, though it wasn’t enough to illuminate their surroundings.

Soon they had encountered the first issue — the tunnel split apart on three different paths. Twilight stood at the fork for some time, examining each way closely, until she finally chose a direction.

“The tunnel goes slightly down here,” she explained.

The party walked down that way for what seemed like an hour, making a few more turns along the way. Twilight and Lotus kept silent, but Midnight and Rarity continued to chat, though their topics shifted to more pressing concerns.

“I’m actually surprised we haven’t encountered any danger yet,” Rarity said, throwing a glance at the sword that was hanging at her side. “Not that I’m complaining, of course.”

Midnight nodded. “Yeah. Now that you mentioned it, I feel kind of worried.”

“The upper levels should be mostly safe,” Twilight said flatly. “But we shouldn’t let our guard down.”

The next moment the mare stumbled, losing her balance and falling to the floor with a heavy thud. The others rushed to her to make sure she was alright, but she clearly wasn’t.

Her breathing was heavy and her coat was damp from sweat. Its fake colors were fading away, revealing Twilight’s natural purple. Midnight helped her to get back on her hooves, cursing himself for not noticing her condition earlier — the unicorn was suffering from mana exhaustion after escaping from the inn.

After a short conversation, the ponies decided to set up a camp right there, in the middle of the tunnel. It was risky, since there was a chance Everlight’s ponies might still be following them, despite all the obstacles, but there was no going any further for today.

Midnight searched inside the duffel bag with all their supplies, but found only one blanket with a small pillow — Twilight hadn’t prepared for such a large party. Sighing, he gave those to Twilight, who had fallen asleep already.

The rest of the ponies had no choice but to settle on the floor close to each other. Midnight got to be between the two remaining mares. While realizing that it was purely for keeping themselves warm, he felt weirded out at the prospect of spending the night with them.

Unbidden, the image of Rarity’s round flank swaying in front of his vision entered his mind. He had been able to ignore it back while they were walking, but it wasn’t so easy when her warm body was snuggled against his. With a feeling of dread, the stallion felt his member growing in size underneath.

Midnight bit his lip, glad that he was laying on his stomach.

This was going to be a hard night.

A well-lit stone ceiling was the first thing Twilight saw as her eyes opened. She frowned, staring up in confusion. Was she in a cave? It took her a couple of moments to remember the last day’s events.

Twilight’s ear swiveled as some voices sounded from the side.

“I don’t really think there are dragons down here, Rarity,” Midnight’s voice said.

It was curious that the stallion wasn’t using her proper title. Twilight turned her head slightly — the two ponies were sitting near her, with a glowing crystal on the floor laying between them. Lotus was behind them, keeping quiet.

“Are you sure?” Rarity asked, seeming relieved. “I’ve heard that dragons like dark caves.”

“A lot of dragons live in caves, that’s true, but they aren’t this deep,” Midnight explained. “Dragons are large creatures, you know. Don’t you think somepony would have noticed if they lived so close to the city?”

Rarity nodded with a slight frown on her face. “You make a good point, darling. But if not dragons, what else can live here? Manticores? Cockatrices?”

“Those are all surface creatures,” Twilight said, entering the conversation. Everypony’s attention turned towards her as she stretched. “They wouldn’t be able to survive here. The underground world has its own dangerous predators from what I’ve read.”

“Dangerous predators?” Rarity widened her eyes, wrapping her tail around her legs. “Like what?”

Before answering, Twilight took a sip of water and a loaf of bread from the duffel bag. While she had her breakfast, the unicorn brought her companions up to date on what kind of danger they might encounter here.

“Blind shriekers are not predators, but they’re dangerous nonetheless,” Twilight spoke, chewing rapidly. “They feed off of crystals and they don’t like to be disturbed. Their shriek might deafen you if you get too close.

There are also biters. They are predators. Although they’re pretty small, they move in packs. While those mines were still active, they used to attack those ponies who wandered too far from the group. A lone pony is an easy victim for them, so we shouldn’t get separated.”

Midnight pulled his staff closer, throwing a quick glance into the dark of tunnel. Lotus and Rarity joined side by side with their ears flattened, observing the tunnels as well. Twilight furrowed her brows — her companions had to know what to expect, but she didn’t want to scare them into panic.

“Eh, it’s not so ba—”

“That’s awful!” Rarity interrupted. “And to imagine that some ponies were foolish enough to work here…”

“I don’t think they worked here because they wanted to, Lady Rarity,” Lotus said without looking at her. “Perhaps it was the only way for them to feed their families.”

“Oh.” Rarity’s shoulders slouched. “Yes, perhaps you’re right.”

“She is right,” Twilight pointed out. “The miners were mostly poor, older ponies who had nowhere else to work. Despite how much the crystals cost back then, the mine owners didn’t pay them very well.”

Rarity hung her head as if she had been the one responsible. An uncomfortable silence settled in the cave.

“The mines were abandoned a few centuries ago when the Crystal Kingdom joined Equestria,” Twilight said just to break the silence. “Crystals became much cheaper afterwards, so the activity here was stopped.”

“House Belle would have never skimped on our workers,” Rarity stated, raising her head high. “We’re different from those greedy excuses for nobles.”

“That is true,” Lotus said. “Lord Belle pays us well, especially compared to maids from other noble houses.”

Twilight nodded, reaching for her pocket watch. Her eyes widened in surprise — no more than six hours had passed since they had entered those tunnels, but her mana reserves were fully replenished. After four hours of sleep! It was incredible. Twilight’s mind quickly found an explanation: the caves were saturated with an abundance of magic because of all the crystals, so what would have taken a couple of days, took just a couple of hours instead.

Exhilarated, the unicorn shared her discovery with the others.

“That would greatly help us,” Midnight said, scratching his chin. “But I can’t help but wonder how that would affect the creatures who live here.”

The smiles slowly vanished from Rarity and Twilight’s faces.

“Eh, sorry. It’s just a thought.”

After finishing their breakfast, Twilight took the duffel bag and laid all the equipment on the floor. In their hurried escape from the inn, she’d had no time to put on her barding or use any of the potions Rarity had bought for her, but for now their lives weren’t hanging on the balance.

The others simply watched as Twilight armored up. The barding was much lighter than the armor soldiers and guards usually wore, but it would still offer some decent protection for her legs, chest and flanks from any physical and magical attacks, thanks to its smart design and use of expensive alloys. Rarity had ordered it specifically for Twilight from the best smith in Canterlot, paying extra for it to be finished quickly.

Twilight refused anypony’s help for putting it on, wishing to learn everything on her own, so it took a decent amount of time. When she had finally strapped every belt and lock, the mare trotted from side to side, making sure her movements weren’t hindered. Satisfied, she added a harness with potions on her chest.

The last thing was a metal tiara with a crystal at its center to illuminate their path in the darkness. Twilight levitated it onto her head and poured a bit of magic inside. It glowed in a warm, bluish light.

Finally, Twilight was ready.

Unfortunately, her companions were far behind in that regard. Midnight was the most protected one besides Twilight, since he had taken an old cape from his house, which he claimed was magic resistant. Twilight doubted it would stop a serious attack, but it was better than nothing.

But Rarity and Lotus were completely naked, save for their coats. In case of an attack, nothing would protect their bodies from damage. At least Rarity had her sword, but her maid couldn’t even say that.

“Take this,” Twilight said, offering her a spare dagger.

Lotus shot her eyebrows up, eying the weapon like a dangerous snake.

“I.. I’m not sure I’ll be any good with that,” she said, taking the dagger nonetheless.

Soon after that, the party continued forward.

Twilight took the lead again, driving the darkness away with her bright light, while Midnight guarded the rear. The ponies moved in silence, trying to listen to the sounds around them. It wasn’t easy — the clopping of their hooves seemed thunderous in the otherwise quiet tunnels, drowning out everything else

Before their noise announced their presence to everyone, Twilight cast a bubble of silence around the group. She used her own version of the spell rather than the standard one. It suppressed all the sound inside while allowing them to hear the outside. The spell demanded a constant flow of mana, but Twilight had enough to maintain it for weeks if she really wanted to.

The only drawback was their inability to talk to each other, but at least nothing would sneak up on them.

With no other sound to distract her, Twilight could hear a lot of activity. Sometimes a scratching came from a distance or an echo of a shriek reached her ears. It sent chills down Twilight’s spine, even though she realized that those were probably just the blind shriekers.

You’ve read about them, Twilight, she assured herself. You know what to expect.

As they continued to move through the tunnels, Twilight marked their turns with tiny arrows at the bottom of the walls. She didn’t want to leave the trail for somepony to follow, but even if her spell could let her know the direction of the exit, it may take too much time to find it with all the twists and turns on their way back.

Soon, the group found their first shrieker.

Shuddering in revolt, Twilight raised her hoof, ordering the others to stop.

She had taken it for a rock at first glance. The shrieker looked like a big blob of flesh the size of a grown mare, resting on the wall near a large glowing crystal. Its numerous tiny outgrows were in constant movement as if trying to grab the air around it. It had no obvious eyes, but its “limbs” were moving in agitation as if feeling the ponies’ presence. Were they oriented by sound or were they feeling the magic directly?

Despite the creature’s revolting image, Twilight was fascinated by it. She would have been happy to just stay here for a few days, studying it in detail, but alas, far more pressing concerns demanded her attention.

Backing down a few dozen feet, Twilight dispelled her silence bubble...

“That creature is repulsing,” Rarity spat out at once, scrunching her muzzle. “We shall eliminate it.”

Twilight shook her head. “It does look strange, but I think it’s fascinating,” Twilight said, ignoring Rarity’s shocked expression. “It won’t do anything unless we disturb it, so we just need to get past it very carefully.”

“Can’t we just turn the other way?” Midnight offered. “It’s not like we have a direction to go.”

“Wait, what do you mean no direction?” Rarity asked, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t you know where the Amulet is hidden?”

“I don’t,” Twilight sighed, looking away. “At least, not its exact location. But Lord’s Moonlight journal implied that it’s hidden deep below, so that’s where I’m leading us.”

Rarity’s ears fell flat, betraying her emotions.

“But don’t worry, I have a way to search for it once we’ve gotten far enough,” Twilight said, patting Rarity’s shoulder. “But back to the shrieker. While we can find some other tunnel going downwards, I think we need to push forward here. I doubt it would be the first shrieker we encounter and we can’t afford to go around every danger on our way.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Midnight admitted. “But what if it, well, shrieks? How bad would it be?”

Twilight shrugged. “I’ll cast a silence bubble that should stop any sounds from reaching us in the first place. Even if it fails, the shriek shouldn’t kill us.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?”

Nodding sharply, Twilight cast the original version of the silence bubble. No sound could be heard both from inside and outside. Satisfied, she waved her hoof, signaling the rest to follow her.

Twilight leaned close to the wall, slowly moving one leg in front of the other. The creature pointed its protuberances at her group, following their every movement. Since the cave was only about ten feet wide, they were coming closer and closer to it with every step, causing it to slightly twitch in agitation.

The shrieker jerked violently, flaying its limbs.

A moment later a high-pitched shriek cut into Twilight’s ears, bursting even through her silence bubble. She cringed when the recoil from the broken spell hit her horn. Flattening her ears, Twilight galloped forward.

The sound threatened to tear her head apart as she ran. Her only thought was to get away from it, but it traveled far in the enclosed space. Only when she took a turn to a side tunnel did its intensity drop.

Twilight finally regained her ability to think.

“Is everypony okay?” she asked, not hearing her own words.

She stopped, turning around to check on her friends and a sigh of relief left her when she saw them all present. A disheveled Rarity opened her mouth, gesturing wildly, but Twilight couldn’t hear her either with her ears ringing.

But there was no time to chat anyway — Twilight feared the sound would attract something else’s attention. Gesturing for the others to follow, she continued further into the tunnel.

Those shriekers were surely fascinating beasts, but Twilight’s desire to study them had dropped a notch.

It took a couple of hours for Twilight’s ears to recover.

Taught by their harsh experience, the party avoided getting close to the shriekers altogether. There were quite a few of them now, hanging on the walls near some crystal. Most of them were smaller than the first one — around the size of a foal — but Twilight had no wish to test the strength of their shriek.

Instead she teleported herself and the others past the shriekers. It used up a lot of her mana, but it wasn’t an issue down here. It would have been simpler to kill them from a safe distance, but Twilight argued against it. The thought of taking another life made her ill.

Though the mare tried not to think about what had happened, sometimes the image of her bloodied hoof and the gory mess underneath it haunted her mind. The sound of a pony’s bones being crushed under a heavy counter plagued her ears.

Twilight repeated to herself that those ponies had gotten what they had deserved, but it wouldn’t change the fact that she had become a killer. The thought was constantly in her head, especially in the quiet of her silence bubble.

Twilight twitched as something touched her withers. She turned sharply — Rarity was standing behind her with concern evident on her face. Her mouth moved as she said something, but no sound came out. Rolling her eyes, the mare gestured at Twilight’s horn.

“What?” Twilight asked, canceling her spell.

“I don’t know about you, but my legs are burning,” Rarity said. “And I’m hungry. Could we stop for a break, perhaps?”

“Oh, of course,” Twilight nodded, feeling tired herself.

She checked her watch — it had been almost four hours since their first encounter with a shrieker. Putting her tiara in the center of the tunnel, Twilight and the others sat around it. Grabbing some snacks out of the duffel bag, Midnight passed them around.

“Those tunnels look the same,” Rarity complained, taking a bite off her bread. “It seems like we’ve been walking here forever!”

“We must be deep inside the mountain by now,” Midnight said.

Twilight nodded. “That’s correct. By my estimation, we’re as deep as five hundred feet below Canterlot by now.”

Midnight raised his eyebrows. “Well, that’s good news. But we still have a long way to go.”

“Yeah.”

The ponies enjoyed their meal in peace, recounting what they had faced today. At one point, Rarity interrupted them.

“So, how exactly are we going to find the Amulet?” she asked, meeting Twilight’s glance.

“As I said, I have a spell I believe would help us,” the unicorn explained. “You wouldn’t understand the specifics, but basically it allows the caster to see sources of magic around themselves. Its range is massive, but it takes a lot of energy to cast and much concentration to control. I’m waiting until we get further down to use it.”

“Have you done it before?”

“Yep, back in Canterlot,” Twilight said, wincing as she remembered that day. Rarity caught her expression.

“I would guess the results weren’t to your liking?”

Twilight shook her head quietly. “There is simply far too much magic in Canterlot. It was hard to see specific sources among them. But those tunnels should be different.”

“How so?”

While Twilight tried to explain the reason, Lotus was simply sitting there, staring into the ground quietly. Dark thoughts stirred in her mind, sending shivers down her spine. It didn’t take Rarity long to notice her obvious distress.

“Are you alright, dear?” she said, touching Lotus’s shoulder.

The mare jerked, glancing at Rarity with her wide eyes. Eventually, she shrugged.

“I’m just worried about my sister, Lady Rarity,” the maid said in a broken voice. “I know that your sister was kidnapped too, but at least they need her alive, yes? Aloe doesn’t have that luxury. Those mean ponies might just slit her throat and throw her into some ditch...”

Rarity realized that Lotus’ words were likely true. The kidnappers seemed ruthless and had no real need to keep Aloe and her guards alive. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if they had finished them off already.

She knew better than to say it out loud, though.

“I’m sorry, Lotus,” Rarity said instead. “But you shouldn’t lose hope. I swear that I’ll do everything in my power to bring her back if she’s still alive.”

Lotus nodded in understanding.

An hour later the break was over and the party resumed their journey deeper into the caves. If they took too much time to search for the Amulet, their food supplies would run out within a few days, so Twilight pushed them and herself forward to cover as much ground as possible in a single day.

Shriekers had been their only problem so far, but Twilight didn’t let herself relax for even a moment. Her ears swiveled constantly, searching for anything suspicious, while her tiara illuminated the area ahead with a wide ray.

The mare stopped when she heard a rustling noise from behind her. It was nothing new on its own, but this time it was actually getting closer, which had caught her attention. Gesturing for the others to stop, Twilight pointed her hoof in the sound’s direction.

“Something is coming,” she said, dismissing her silence spell.

The others gathered close to her, getting their weapons ready. Twilight gazed into the darkness of the tunnel, trying to see anything beyond her ray of light. There was definitely something moving, but it was out of reach yet. Twilight’s legs were shaking slightly, but her mind worked rapidly as she recalled all the useful spells she had.

Finally, the first creature stepped into the light.

Twilight heard a gasp behind her, recoiling from the sight. Gritting her teeth, Twilight watched the little monster slowly approach. It was a biter, there was no doubt about that. It fit the description from the books to the letter — a small scaly beast walking on its two hind legs. Its sharp-looking claws on its front limbs looked capable of slicing a pony to pieces. A long, thin tail helped to keep the creature balanced.

However, the most unsettling feature was its jaw. Twilight’s knees felt weak just by looking at its open maw with layers of razor-like fangs. The unicorn quickly realized that she wouldn’t be able to scare it with light like she had planned — it had no eyes. In its place were two antennas that were moving around constantly.

“Twilight, what should we do?” Midnight asked, gripping his staff in his foreleg. “Is it going to atta—”

He stopped mid-sentence as more biters appeared in the light, following their leader from a distance. Twilight counted ten, including the first one.

She didn’t like the numbers.

Taking a wide stance, Twilight cast a shield around their group. The biter’s antennas twitched when she used her magic, focusing on her, and moved towards her with double speed, clanking its jaw.

“I don’t know if it will hold, so get ready,” Twilight warned the others, recalling her silence bubble’s failure against the shrieker.

The biter stopped near the shield, feeling it with its antennas. Slowly, it reached out with its front limb and touched the transparent surface. Twilight yelped as a jolt of pain went through her horn. The shield flickered, but she stabilized the spell before it collapsed.

“Whoa!” Twilight exclaimed, staring at the biter.

Her heart skipped a beat when the creature suddenly let out an angry squeal. It went completely berserk at her shield, scratching and biting its surface, each attack reflected by a sharp pain in Twilight’s horn. Its claws were ripping holes right through the surface. Panicking, Twilight poured more magic into strengthening the shield, but it disintegrated instead with a loud pop.

The burned body of the biter was left on the floor, motionless.

Twilight raised her gaze to see its friends rushing at them, squealing in rage. The first couple of them were met with a fire projectile by Midnight, sending their charred remains flying backwards. Snarling, Twilight smashed the following trio into each other with incredible force, but the others were right behind.

Stumbling, Twilight caught one in her magic mere inches from her muzzle. A stench from its clanking jaw assaulted her senses as it desperately tried to take a bite off of her face. Wincing, she hurled the biter against the wall, when a sharp pain pierced her foreleg.

She yelped, shaking it desperately, but the biter’s jaws were locked tightly. It had bitten just over her protective barding, tearing into the pony’s tender flesh and clawing at her with its hind claws. Twilight screamed in agony, desperately punching the little monster with her other hoof.

“Twilight, don’t move!” Midnight yelled.

Twilight forced herself to freeze as the stallion released a jet of flame from his staff. The wave of burning heat washed over Twilight’s coat as the creature was set aflame. Shrieking in anguish, the biter finally released Twilight’s leg and fell to the floor, squirming in agony. Midnight stomped on its head, ending its struggle for good.

“We got them all!” Midnight laughed.

Grinning like a madpony, he glanced at Twilight. His smile vanished in a heartbeat.

“Holy Tartarus… Are you alright?”

“I— I don’t think so,” Twilight groaned, examining the wound.

A stream of blood was flowing down her mangled limb, creating a pool of blood beneath her hoof. Her head was spinning, so she lowered herself to the floor, hissing in pain as she disturbed her injury. It didn’t look like something that could be fixed easily.

“Is everypony okay?” Twilight asked in a shaken voice, breathing heavily.

Her friends had managed to avoid getting hurt, however. Rarity had impaled a biter that had come for her, while Lotus had just received a couple of scratches on her foreleg. Twilight was the only one who had sustained a serious injury, being attacked by two biters at once.

“Good then,” she nodded after the others had finished retelling her the events.

While she listened, Lotus approached to disinfect the wound and put some bandages on it to stop the bleeding. Twilight nodded gratefully to the mare, getting a timid smile in return.

“Those bites are deep,” she said, drooping her ears. “The leg will take at least a month to recover.”

“What are we going to do now?” Rarity asked, frowning. “You won’t be able to continue in that condition, will you?”

Instead of answering, Twilight took one of the potion bottles from her harness. Unrolling the cap, she took a small sip, draining half of the tiny bottle in one go.

A shiver went through her body. She felt the skin around her wound moving as it mended back together in mere seconds, leaving a terrible itch behind it. Clenching her jaw with determination, Twilight stopped herself from scratching it.

Soon, the feeling had passed.

“W-what was that?” Lotus asked in shock, staring at the smooth coat where a deep bite had been a minute ago.

“That was five hundred bits down the drain,” Twilight sighed, knowing that there was no other way if she wished to continue the expedition.

“That was highly impressive, darling, but what if we run into those… monsters again?” Rarity scrunched her muzzle, eyeing the corpses on the cave floor. “They went through your shield so easily…”

Twilight nodded. “That’s true,” she admitted. “I was afraid something like that would happen. The local inhabitants we’ve met so far seem to have some way to disrupt magic. But I’ll be ready the next time.”

“I almost wish I would have tried my chances with Everlight’s brutes…” Rarity murmured.

A light frown flickered on Twilight’s face as the mare stood up to address everypony.

“I know that everypony is tired and scared, but we can’t back down,” she said firmly, looking at each of her companions in turn. “If we were to turn back, Everlight’s ponies would capture us and all hope for us would be lost. Even if we managed to avoid capture this time, it would only prolong the inevitable. Everlight would grow more powerful as time went on, crushing his opposition one by one. There is already nopony left to oppose him.” Twilight stopped to take a breath. “Finding the Amulet is our only chance to finish him off once and for all. With its power, I’ll be able to go toe-to-toe against the entire Royal Guard. I’m going to walk into the palace unopposed and force him to admit his crimes to the public!” Twilight stomped, leaving cracks sprawling from her hoof. “We’re going to face even more danger the deeper we go, but I believe there is no other way.”

The others stared at Twilight in surprise. Lotus turned her eyes down, whispering something.

“I’m with you to the end,” Midnight said eventually.

Rarity nodded. “Me too. As long as you promise to use this power to free Sweetie Belle first, of course.”

Twilight smiled, breathing heavily after her speech.

“I promise, Rarity.”

After taking a short break where Lotus’ scratches were taken care of, the ponies headed deeper into the dark tunnel, with their resolve somewhat strengthened.

“Those damn biters,” Midnight muttered, lowering his staff.

The still smoking remains of another biter were lying on the floor. The smell of roasted meat hit Twilight’s nostrils, almost making her puke, but she kept her stomach under control. Unlike the previous time…

After their first encounter with a biter pack, a couple of smaller ones had tried to dine on some pony meat, but Twilight’s party had dealt with those just like they had with the first one.

“They’re quite repulsing,” Rarity agreed with the stallion, covering her nose with her pastern. “Let’s leave this spot, please.”

Nodding, Twilight led the others away from the source of the stench until the air became breathable again. She halted then. By her estimation, they’d made some great progress today, but her hooves were aching at this point. Though her goal was even further ahead, pushing towards it without some good rest would be a bad decision.

“We’re going to stop here for the rest of the day,” Twilight announced.

Her companions rejoiced at her decision, falling to the floor where they stood. Everypony, including Twilight herself, was quite exhausted after all the walking and then fighting in the last few hours.

After having a minute to catch his breath, Midnight spread out a blanket on the stone surface, offering it to Lotus and Rarity. Then he did the same with his own cloak, inviting Twilight to share it with him.

But instead of accepting his offer, Twilight dove into her own saddlebag, fetching a pony-sized white towel with circular patters drawn on it. She put it down carefully, flattening every fold.

“Is that a power array?” Midnight asked in surprise.

“Yep,” Twilight confirmed. “It absorbs the natural magic in the area to power up your spell.”

“Oh, I know what it does,” the stallion waved his hoof. “I’d just never heard of it being used… in that way. Are you sure it’s safe?”

“I’m sure. I’ve done it before a couple of times,” Twilight said, making sure the towel was spread as flat as possible. “As long as the lines are aligned properly, it works just as well as if I had drawn it on any other hard surface.”

“I see. Are you planning on casting your spell to look for the Amulet?”

“Yep,” Twilight nodded curtly. “The Amulet is likely far outside its range, but I think it’s worth a shot. Plus, I want to see how well this spell works underground.”

Rarity’s ears fell.

“I don’t like the idea of everything depending on that one spell,” she said. “What if it doesn’t work? What would be our options then?”

Twilight’s shoulders slumped briefly before she straightened them again. She pursed her lips, shaking her head.

“This will work,” she said, equally for her own sake as well as for the others. “There is no reason it wouldn’t. I’ve thought this through.”

Stepping directly into the center of the array, Twilight spread her legs wide. The mare took a deep breath, forcing all the thoughts out of her mind. Her horn shone with a purple light, brightening with every passing second. The array around her glowed next, humming as it accumulated arcane energy.

“Here it goes…” Twilight murmured, casting the spell.

Her coat hairs stood on end when waves of magic spread away from her in a sphere, going in all directions at once and detecting every sizable pool of magic for her to observe. With each pulse of her magic, her field of vision expanded even more. It wasn’t as intense as when she had used it in Canterlot, but the unicorn’s head still spun while her mind tried to grasp everything.

Twilight knew she wouldn’t be able to handle this for long, so she focused on her search.

The three ponies near her glowed like little torches in her mental vision — Lotus being just as bright as the unicorns — but Twilight moved her attention further away. Crystals, underground dwellers, the stone of the mountain itself — everything had its own magic. The farther away they were, the harder it was to distinguish separate sources.

Twilight’s inner vision shot in every direction, but there was nothing that would resemble the Amulet’s level of power. A bright shimmer above her was hurtful to look at, but it was simply Canterlot with all its ponies’ magic combined.

Twilight’s stomach jumped as she caught something at the edge of her vision.

It burned with a steady light, much brighter than everything around it. Could it be the Amulet? It wasn’t as deep as she had expected, but what else would have so much magic? It was worth checking out. Remembering the direction it was in, Twilight finally let go of the spell.

Her knees gave out as soon as it was gone.

“Whoa, are you alright?” Midnight rushed towards her.

The mare reached out her hoof and Midnight helped her to get up. She gave her friends a short glance, frowning. After being able to see so much, Twilight thought her vision to be extremely limiting.

Thanks to the power array, her mana reserves were only half drained, but the spell was a mentally demanding one. Twilight groaned as a headache began to settle in.

“I think I saw it,” she drawled, rubbing her temples.

Rarity’s ears perked up.

“You did? How far is it?”

“Surprisingly enough, it’s actually not that far,” Twilight answered. “Well, relatively speaking. We’re about halfway there in a direct line.”

“That’s great!” Rarity exclaimed.

Encouraged by Twilight’s discovery, Rarity wanted to continue right away, but quickly realized it was a bad idea with everypony being so tired.

“That was one impressive spell you did there, Twi,” Midnight said. “You deserved your position as the Court Mage.”

“Thanks,” Twilight nodded, hoping her blushing went unnoticed. “But I’m really not that great. I was honored the king chose me of course, but there were plenty of other good candidates…”

“You were at the top of the class, Twilight,” Midnight pointed out. “The top of the Academy, in fact.”

Twilight chuckled nervously.

“You were not so bad yourself,” she said.

“Eh, I was somewhere in the middle,” the stallion shrugged nonchalantly, but his ears lowered slightly.

Lotus cleared her throat, getting everypony’s attention. The maid’s eyes flickered over their faces eventually stopping at Rarity’s.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I think I can hear something.”

The ponies tensed up, swiveling their ears at the noise. Lotus was right — there was some rustling coming from both directions of the tunnel at once.

Twilight paled as she realized what had happened.

“The local inhabitants can feel the magic! My spell would be like a big firework—”

“I don’t think it’s a good time to theorize, darling,” Rarity interrupted her. “It sounds like there are quite a lot of them.”

The ponies stood back-to-back to each other, looking into the darkness of the tunnel with wide eyes. Twilight levitated her tiara up, fixing it to the ceiling, so everypony could see what was happening around them.

A dull pain was pulsing through Twilight’s head, getting worse when she used magic. Not to mention how tired she was. After some brief hesitation, she took the Ironcoat potion off of her harness and drank a few drops, passing it along to the others. Then she sipped from a few others, getting increased speed and strength for the upcoming fight.

“This potion makes your coat as hard as iron, but even iron can be broken,” Twilight warned. “Stay together and be careful.”

Just as she had finished talking, the first biters jumped out of the dark.

Snarling, Twilight struck them with a bolt of electricity, but the others followed right behind. Twilight’s eyes darted to Lotus as the mare yelped, swinging her dagger at the biter that was dashing for her.

Before Twilight could help, another biter snapped its jaws on her foreleg. Twilight groaned, shaking it off, but two others replaced it, tearing into her leg. Their jaws pressed with a tremendous strength, but they couldn’t puncture her coat.

Twilight screamed in anger, bucking, stomping and throwing herself against the walls madly while the swarm of biters tried to get a piece of her. At times a deadly spell would shoot off her horn, smashing an unlucky biter. If not for the potion, Twilight would have been torn apart already, but even so her whole body ached from countless bites.

She gasped when some jaws clenched right at her ear, pulling at it with great strength. Yelping in pain, Twilight smacked the biter with her hoof until it let her go. Growling in rage, she stomped on its head before it could get up.

Breathing heavily, Twilight looked around in search for another biter. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw a whole heap of them swarming over somepony.

She rushed at them and sent the first two flying, blowing them up in the air. Aiming her horn at the rest, Twilight shot a rapid barrage of spells at the rest of the swarm. They fell off the body in quick succession with their heads severed, gushing their thick red blood all over the poor pony.

Breathing heavily, Twilight threw a quick glance over the tunnel. No new biters were in sight — Rarity and Midnight had just finished off the last one. Their coats were covered in blood, but it was too dark to be theirs. Frowning in concern, Twilight turned her attention back to Lotus.

The mare was lying on the floor, curled up in a ball. Her sides were moving up and down, so she was alive at least. Twilight let out a sigh of relief. Because of all the biters’ blood on her, it was impossible to see if she was seriously hurt, but Twilight was certain that the Ironcoat potion had done its job.

Midnight and Rarity trotted closer, concern evident in their eyes.

“Is she alright?” Rarity asked, arching her eyebrows.

“Lotus, it’s over,” Twilight said, carefully poking at the maid.

The pony’s ear twitched, lifting at the sound of Twilight’s voice. She raised her head, staring at Twilight with terrified eyes. The unicorn smiled encouragingly and offered her hoof. Slowly, Lotus accepted it and stood up with a yelp of pain, wincing.

“Are you hurt, dear?” Rarity asked as she wiped the blood off of her with Twilight’s towel. Twilight cringed, but made no comment. She had the array memorized anyway.

“I don’t know,” Lotus said with her voice shaking, stepping from one hoof to another. “I think I’m okay. But I will have a lot of terrible bruises tomorrow.”

“I don’t think we would have made it if it wasn’t for the potion,” Midnight said, rubbing the blood off of his foreleg. “How much of it do we have left?”

Twilight checked.

“More than half the bottle,” she answered. “We’re good for two or three fights like that.”

After that, the party decided to move away from this spot in case anything else came their way, drawn by Twilight’s powerful magic. They didn’t get very far, stopping after just a couple of minutes.

Everything seemed quiet now, but they still set up a watch in case something came while they were resting. Twilight could have used her magic to cast some alarm spells, but with the enemy they were facing, it would only cause more trouble.

Midnight volunteered to be the first, so while he sat with his back at the wall, the others quickly succumbed to sleep, exhausted by today’s events.

They resumed their journey in the morning. Though with the tunnels being underground, only Twilight’s watch could tell the difference. The ponies had managed to get some good rest over the night, though each of them had suffered from countless bruises all over their bodies.

As per usual, Twilight led in the front. Her hooves clopped on the floor loudly, not suppressed by any magic for once. She was reluctant to use her silence bubble, fearing that it would only attract more attention to them.

Midnight and Rarity were having an argument about the role of the nobility in Equestria, but Twilight was listening with only half an ear, engrossed in her own thoughts.

Lord Moonlight had had some mercenaries with him when he had ventured into those caves. If they had been any good, they would have been able to handle the biters with ease — even Twilight’s own ragtag group had managed to stand their ground against them — but according to his journal the mercenaries had all perished.

Did it mean there was something far worse than biters?

Twilight was scared to think about the possibility, but she had to in order to survive here. She shared her theory with her friends, causing them to forget about their argument for a moment.

“That’s… quite disheartening,” Rarity said, her eyes darting to the sides as if she was expecting some horrific abomination to jump right out of the wall. “Keep your potions ready, please.”

Twilight nodded.

But as the hours went by, they hadn’t encountered anything more than the occasional biter pack or some relatively harmless shriekers. The biters were easily dealt with before they even managed to get close, and the shriekers were passed via teleportation.

Suddenly, Twilight froze in the middle of the tunnel.

Her friends tensed up, readying their weapons. They took their positions next to Twilight, staring ahead at what had caused her to stop. Something was lying in their way, just at the edge of the light. The ponies exchanged a glance before slowly approaching.

Those were dead bodies.

A cold lump rolled through Twilight’s stomach, but she took a deep breath, calming herself. The bodies had been here for decades judging by their condition. Three skeletons with what remained of their barding was all that was left from what once had been living and breathing ponies.

The others were quiet while Twilight examined the bodies from up close.

“Do you think those were Moonlight’s companions?” Midnight asked.

Twilight shrugged, not taking her eyes off the remains.

The pieces of barding were badly corroded and dented and a lot of bones were broken. It was impossible to know who they had been in life, but Twilight hoped she wouldn’t end up the same way.

“That’s a morbid sight,” Rarity said, shaking her head. “I don’t want to linger here for too long.”

“Just give me a few minutes. I want to know what killed him.”

Rarity shifted from one hoof to another, throwing a helpless glance at Midnight, but the stallion shrugged, joining Twilight in examining the bodies. The lady huffed, falling on her haunches and wrapping her tail around her base.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight returned to her task.

“I don’t think those were biters,” she said thoughtfully, picking up one of the broken bones. “I see no bite marks here…”

“Are you a doctor now?” Rarity snapped. “Why does it matter how he died? It was obviously years ago.”

Twilight’s ears fell. She dropped a bone down, turning to face Rarity.

“Knowing what killed him would help us to prepare for any potential new danger,” Twilight explained steadily. “It’s important.”

“I didn’t mean to sound harsh, dear,” Rarity said, lowering her gaze. “My apologies.”

Midnight sighed. “We’re all on edge. How long have we been down here?”

“It’s the second day,” Twilight answered instantly. “I believe we’ve reached the base of the mountain by now. If our rate of descent remains the same, we’ll reach the place we need by tomorrow.”

Soon, Twilight had sated her curiosity. All she could determine was that those ponies had died an unnatural death, which didn’t take a genius to figure out. Her ear flickered nervously — even the Ironcoat potion wouldn’t save them against something that was strong enough to break bones. Their best defense against that kind of monster was to avoid it.

Luckily, they didn’t encounter it right away, but only when the party had gotten hours of distance from their find, did they finally allow themselves to relax. Not fully though — the caves were still dangerous.

“Not that I’m complaining,” Rarity said, “But we’ve had little trouble today so far.”

“I don’t mind that at all,” Midnight murmured.

After walking some more, the ponies stopped for a bathroom break.

Privacy in those dangerous caves was a difficult thing to achieve, so they had to do their business in pairs, while guarding each other. Twilight and Rarity went first, taking a turn to a side tunnel. They stopped just out of the vision of their friends.

“I’ll go first if you don’t mind,” Rarity flashed an apologetic smile, rubbing her hindlegs on each other. “Please, turn around.”

Twilight shrugged, doing as she was told, and prepared to wait. Rarity’s hoofsteps sounded behind her. A few seconds later something cracked loudly and the mare shrieked. Twilight’s heart leaped into her throat.

Summoning her magic, she turned around, ready to blast whatever had attacked them, but saw nothing. Her eyes widened in panic, searching for Rarity, but the mare wasn’t there! When a groan of pain sounded from below, Twilight finally noticed a gaping tear in the floor.

She rushed towards the hole, dropping on her stomach to look over its edge. A sigh of relief escaped her throat — Rarity was alive. She was floundering among the rocks at the bottom of the small pit, cursing loudly.

“Rarity, are you okay down there?”

The lady glanced up.

“Oh dear… I don’t know.” She attempted to stand up, but dropped back with a yelp. “No, I don’t think I am. My leg…”

“Damn it,” Twilight muttered.

She turned sharply, hearing a commotion behind her, but it was just Midnight and Lotus. Twilight quickly explained what had happened, turning back to Rarity.

“I’m going to lift you up, okay?”

“Well, of course! I don’t want to stay here forever!”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

Trying to use as little magic as possible, she took the mare’s body in her grip and raised her gently. Rarity gasped, pulling her hindleg closer to her body. Carefully, Twilight put her down on the floor. Rarity squirmed, taking a more comfortable position without disturbing her injured leg.

“How could I miss that accursed hole?” Rarity winced, throwing a glare at the large gap.

“There wasn’t a hole there before,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “The floor looked just fine to me.”

Twilight jumped on her hooves in alarm. If that hole was purposely hidden from view, it meant it was a trap. Twilight’s crystal flashed with a bright radiance, illuminating the caves for dozens of feet in all directions to make sure nothing was watching them.

Something was.

She froze, looking at the small bipedal figure in the shadows.

The rest saw it too, rapidly drawing their weapons. Lotus kept her dagger in front of her, though her foreleg was shaking. Even Rarity levitated her sword while lying on the floor. All the while the figure remained motionless, its green eyes reflecting the crystal’s light.

“Eh, hello there, ponies,” the figure waved, stepping forward.

Another chapter is ready!
I hope you enjoyed it.
By the way, the updates may slow down to 1 chapter per 2 weeks in the future because I can't keep up with this schedule.