“It’s gettin’ darker than the farm basement in the middle of the night,” Applejack muttered as she continued her trek through the narrow hallway. The stairs were far behind them now, leaving only a long path with a floor concealed in shadows. The mare trucked on despite the low visibility, used to more than one night of applebucking.

A small hum of agreement came from behind her, passing through the samurai’s shut lips. He followed behind, relying more on his ears than his eyes. The furred creature behind him answered with words, however.

“This far under ground, we’ll have more luck with glowing plants than sunlight.” Dust found himself slightly grinning.

“Glowing plants, huh?” Applejack echoed. “Sounds mighty handy ta have on hoof. Make a lot of late nights easier ta manage, though.” The pony had to admit, they would have also made the currently dark hall much easier to manage.

Thankfully they were not blind;  it wasn’t nearly so dark. She was sure there would was ground beneath her hooves and she could see the moss covered walls around them, but Applejack would have wished to see more than just the faint outline.

“Is it… normal for hallways to be this long here?” Dust ventured, knowing full well how odd it sounded. Then again, there were more than a few odd things going on already. Applejack shook her head at the comment, a gesture missed in the darkness.

“Nah, there ain’t no point in buildin’ something like this unless ya got the rooms ta add to them.” The farm pony thought of the multitude of castles she had been in since Twilight’s arrival in Ponyville. From the oldest castle to the newest one, they never had hallways like this. “If we were goin’ up, Ah might say yer on ta somethin’, but there ain’t a hole like this in any of our architecture. Not Unicorn, Pegasi, or Earth Pony.”

“Uni, Pega, and what now?” Dust found his paw scratching the side of his head, forcing his large hat upwards. “I thought you said this place was home to ponies?”

“We’re all ponies,” Applejack answered easily, never losing pace of her trot down the dark hall. She brushed off a low hanging vine that grabbed onto her shoulder. “Just cause we look different enough ta be called something else don’t mean we aren’t all the same.” She heard a chuckling from behind her. It was deep enough to know that it wasn’t Dust who enjoyed her words.

The silence stretched on for a small length of time following the exchange, broken only by the soft clapping of geta, paws, and hooves across the floor. The dark hallway didn’t become any lighter, but neither did it dim any further.

“Long paths are often the sign of great importance.” Jack finally spoke, much to the surprise of the mare in front. “Temples to spirits or rooms of treasure often were set at the end of halls such as these.”

“Wait, you mean you have paths like this where you’re from?” Dust questioned the samurai. It was too dark still to see if the white-robed man made a motion as he answered.

“Similar, but not the same.” He said simply. Applejack rolled her eyes, more than used to his under-detailed responses. “They were often through forests or within a shogun’s home. Not beneath the ground and not made of stone.”

“It ain’t exactly the same, but Ah reckin there is somethin’ to be seen at the end.” Applejack spoke in agreement with Jack. “Cause Ah seriously doubt we’re gonna just walk on outta here.”

“Maybe not, but I wouldn’t mind that.” Dust joked, chuckling lightly at his own joke. Applejack felt a small grin pull at her muzzle, but he spoke no more, neither did Samurai Jack.

Again the silence came, the same as it was before. That was, until, Applejack finally saw something. It was faint, but with the the best of her vision, through the outline of the vines and moss covering the walls, the mare knew she saw something at the far end of the hall, peaking just out of the vegetation.

“Ah think Ah see light just up ahead.” She found her pace increasing as she spoke, already itching to get to some place brighter than the hallway.

“Yeah, I see it too,” Dust agreed. Jack said nothing, but raised his pace to match the speed of the two on either side of him.

The farm pony found herself lightly beating a few more hanging vines and strands of moss out of the way, each one exposing more and more of the glow. It only took a few strides further until the light became much clearer. It was an outline, as most things in the shadows were, but the outline was only too easy to see.

“It’s a door.” Jack spoke from the middle of the group, noting what the light shined around. “Perhaps it is the exit.”

“I sure hope so,” Applejack quickly answered, not slowing her ever-increasing pace. “But Ah’ll believe when Ah see it.”

At the front of the group, Applejack was the first to reach the door, setting her hoof on the barrier. She immediately recognized it to be made of wood, kept up by two hinges and weighing something impressive. She estimated it weighed the same as her barn door back at the farm. She leaned into the sturdy material, pushing with her hind legs and offering a forceful shove.

It didn’t budge.

Giving a short scowl, the mare put both of her hooves on the wood, pushing forward with no small amount of her strength. The door creaked in protest, but it still refused to move.

“Doggone it.” The mare muttered, annoyed. “Wouldn’t ya know it? Locked like a filly’s presents for her birthday.”

“Wait, maybe it’s just stuck.” Dust lightly offered, moving around the samurai in front of him. “Here, let me have a look.” Without waiting for a reply, the furred creature began to rub his paws down the side of the door, blocking the light that slipped through the cracks. The sound of light scratching and scraping echoed down the halls.

Dust played with the wood, rubbing across it, knocking on it, even putting his large ears against it a few times. By the time he was done, he knew only one thing more since he began.

“Well… I don’t think it’s stuck.” He spoke simply, letting the sentence hang in the dark hall before he continued. “I think it’s more likely its actually locked.”

“Locked.” Applejack repeated frustratedly. “Then how do we open the darn thing? Gotta find a key for it?”

“Probably, or something close to one.” Dust stood up as he spoke. “Which means… we gotta go back and look for it.” When the mare groaned, Dust was only too ready to sigh besides her.

“Ya gotta be kiddin’ me.” She complained, frowning. “Ah don’t mind a bit of hard work, but Ah hate wastin’ trips.” Even though there was only the faintest of light from the door to see, the earth pony could make out the large hat of Dust swinging up and down in agreement.

“Yeah, but that looks like we’re going to have to-”

BANG!

The pair jumped in place as the loud sound echoed down the hall. Applejack felt shivers beneath her coat, barely any breath in her lungs. Dust found his arms raised in defence, too used to ambushes happening with about as much warning. Instead of an attack, however, the pair found something far more appealing.

The door was open.

It wasn’t wide, hardly any more than before, but it was clear to all three occupants of the dark hall just how much larger the crack between the door and the wall had become. Swung inwards only by a hair, it still allowed far more light to seep into the mossy dark hallway.

“Done.” Samurai Jack spoke from behind the pair, his tone confident. Applejack couldn’t have hidden her surprise if she wanted to.

“Wait, Jack?” Applejack spoke the samurai’s name as a question. She followed with a proper one. “You opened it? How’d ya do that?”

“There was a lever.” Jack pointed backward.

Both the mare and swordsman beside her stared at the man, looking at his arm pointing towards the moss covered wall. Indeed, true to his words, there was a small lever placed against the wall. Applejack felt her face heat. Dust pulled his hat over his features, further hiding himself.

“Well… ya were right at least.” Applejack offered to her furred companion. “The door was locked.” Dust chuckled lightly besides her, keeping the brim of his hat pulled over. The mare kicked the dirty ground with her hoof idly. She felt much the same as the fox besides her. The samurai ended the display of embarrassment once more, now by a cough rather than a performance.

“Shall we enter?” He posed with his hand, waiting for the two to proceed. Applejack nodded, turning to face the door again. She put her hoof against the wood, pushing once more. This time, it swung with ease, as if it were freshly oiled and perfectly balanced.

The room they entered next couldn’t have been further from what they expected.

It was not another dark room, covered by growth or filled with a garden. It was not a large hall much like the first room they had entered. It was hard to call what they had stumbled into a room at all. To the mare, it felt more like void. To the samurai, it reminded him of nothing. For Dust, it felt like hatred incarnate.

All around them was darkness. No walls to be felt, no ceiling to see, only a floor to walk on, and so little of it at all. A void did surround them, an endless nothingness that was swallowed by the dark, like a starless night sky.

However, they could thankfully see. A lone trail of light descended upon them, lighting the floor with a brilliance Applejack thought only Celestia was capable of making. It showed them how truly endless the darkness was, but also the floor on which they stood.

Floor was a very generous term. They stood upon stained glass.

BEGIN

“What… is this…” Samurai Jack spoke the question slowly, thinking of the impossibilities that surrounded him. He gripped his blade with his opposite hand, preparing himself for what he thought would be an inevitable fight.

“Ah… Ah dunno.” It was one of the most honest things Applejack ever said. She trotted to the edge of the platform, stopping to stare into the darkness below. Even with the generous light illuminating them and the glass, she could not see a bottom to the pit and abyss around them.

She backed away from the edge, uncomfortable with the prospect of falling headfirst into nothing. She had enough of a fear of just being too high off the ground. This was beyond that to a degree she couldn’t fathom.

“Whoa… hey, hey!” The sudden urgency from Dust drew the pair’s attention. When they turned to face it, it took a moment to realize what was wrong.

The door they had entered was gone. Left instead was only a pillar of stone.

“You have got to be kidding me!” The aggravation in the fox’s tone was clear, though the mare and samurai could little blame him. They walked over to him, stepping carefully across the glass. Though no one said it, they both knew that whatever was beneath the stained material was as endless as the pit around them.

Dust was pawing and searching over the pillar, perhaps trying to find a lever as Jack had before, or maybe just hoping to find anything at all.

“Ah don’t know what’s goin’ on,” Applejack began. “But Ah’m startin’ ta lose track of what’s what. Goin’ from a forest under the ground ta glass in… wherever we are.” A slow sigh left the mare’s lips, her eyes shut. She felt like screaming, but she was sure that there would be plenty of that to come.

“Perhaps your monster is playing more of his tricks.” Jack posed the question, staring now at the same pillar Dust was searching. His eyes saw nothing that he could take note of.

It was plain, almost incredibly so. No age marred the material and no etchings were carved into it in an artful way. It was a pillar of stone standing tall atop a platform of glass. It made as much sense as the abyss they were hanging in.

Dust, however, wouldn’t give up so easily.

The fox, lithe as he appeared to be, crouched down to the glass before jumping upwards. Applejack found her eyes widen a bit at the height he attained, easily jumping well over twice his height. She knew foxes in the woods to be spry critters, but it was something else to see one larger than she was. Jack, however, was unimpressed, watching with a stern face as Dust reached the top of the column.

The green-furred creature was atop of the pillar in no time at all, standing at the impressive height without a trace of fear or hesitation. Without wings, Applejack didn’t know how he could do it. He stared down at them, looking over the pair and floor for a moment. Then, he spoke.

“Hey,” he called to needlessly get their attention. “There’s… theres a pattern on the floor.” The statement itself wasn’t too surprising. Applejack figured with the different colors there was something to be seen. She just didn’t know what it would be from her angle.

“Well… What’s it look like?” Applejack called back. Dust was silent for a moment, shaking his head as he had in the dark hall before.

“I… I don’t know how to describe it.” He began hesitantly, raising a hand to the forehead hidden beneath the large brim of his hat. “I… I think it’s a picture of someone, holding a… dull sword, I guess.”

“Hmm…” Jack hummed thoughtfully as he looked down at his feet, unable to see the pattern that was now so clear to Dust. “And there is nothing else?”

“Well, yes and no.” Dust responded cryptically, but he soon clarified his meaning. “There are many other designs around him, but they all seem so… unneeded. Like jewelry on a sword.” Jack nodded at the words. Applejack, however, found her eyes squinting at the metaphor. She dismissed it as unimportant. “But there is something else.”

“What, a way out?” Applejack asked, not getting her hopes up. Her suspicions were confirmed when Dust shook his head.

“No, it’s actually… words.” He was kneeling on top of the pillar now, his paw running across the top of it.

And indeed, though it was beyond the sight of either Applejack or Samurai Jack, words were inscribed atop of the stone column. Small perfectly etched words aligned to one another. There were no gold trimmings or glowing symbols, but the words themselves were doubtlessly important enough. Clearing his throat, Dust began to read.

“The memories of ourselves are our lives. The memories of others prove our lives. Without memories of your own, there is no life. Without others to remember you, your life is a lie.” Dust’s paw slowly followed the words, reading them with a careful tongue.

The farm pony felt her stomach tightening at the poem, if it could be called that. It sounded mighty dark to her, like a riddle Discord would give before turning the tables on them. She didn’t like it for a moment.

“Wise words,” Jack spoke from beside her. The mare caught him nodding in agreement. She couldn’t fathom why.

“There’s more.” Dust spoke down to them. “And I think it’s important.” Without waiting for a queue, he continued on.

“To give one’s life is simple. Your life is remembered. To give one’s memories is torture. You are forgotten forever. Can you remember all that you have lost? Can you remember how to leave?” Dust stood up from the pillar as he finished, his confused features showing.

“Remember the way out?” Applejack repeated. “Didn’t this thing just take that from us? Pretty sure Ah haven’t forgotten that.”

“No,” Jack spoke next to her. He continued before the farm pony could argue. “It is a riddle, one that my father often told me. A training rite.” The samurai raised his hand to his chin, thinking on the words from past and present. Dust was far less patient.

“If you’ve heard it before, don’t you know the answer then?” Jack shook his head before answering the fox.

“You never leave two times the same way. Those were my father’s words.” Jack took a deep breath of air, closing his eyes in thought. “You leave a home through a door, a village through a gate, a mountain by foot, and a battle through steel. For every place you may be, there is a different way to leave.” He nodded at his words, sure that he was speaking the old tale properly.

“Gotta admit that sounds as wise as my grandma’s words, but Ah ain’t never been in a place like this.” Applejack motioned towards the abyss around her. “So Ah’m not sure if mah memories are gonna be gettin’ us out.”

“Same here.” Dust spoke from his spot high on the column. He had sat down on the edge of the stone, letting his feet hang down. “Like I said before, I usually just follow the glowing plants. I’ve never been in… this before.”

“That is the riddle.” Jack spoke to the pair. “You must always find your own way out, even when no one will show you. It is taught to all warriors at a young age, a reminder that no battles are the same as training, just as no mountains you may climb are the same as hills you may walk.”

Silence fell over the three, as empty as the darkness that encompassed the glass platform they stood on. Jack covered his mouth with his hand, shutting his eyes in a deep trail of thought. He lowered himself to a crouched position, stopping only when his knees were against the glass of the platform. He stilled himself in thought.

Dust folded his hands and placed them beneath his chin, letting his elbows rest against his knees. It was impossible to see with his large hat, but he doubtlessly had his eyes closed as well. It was always easier to think when there were fewer things to distract you.

Applejack was the only one in the trio who walked in thought. She paced the stained material beneath her hooves as her mind thought of a million different ways to solve the riddle. She twisted her head to and fro, jostling the Stetson upon her mane.

Riddles were usually Twilight’s department. They weren’t Applejack’s strong suit, she was sure of that. But if the going was tough, she couldn’t just wait for something to happen. She had to be like her friends and get up and start doing someth…

“Wait…” Applejack spoke aloud, her mind forming an idea she was vexed by. “We’re surrounded by darkness, right?” The fox and samurai exchanged a quick glance before nodding at the mare. Applejack continued. “And we got here by goin’ down a lot of stairs and a long hall, kinda like a really big basement ‘er cellar.” The pony slowed her trot over the glass.

“Whenever ya go down too far, you leave by going one way.” A smile pulled at the mare’s lips. She looked right to Jack when she spoke again.

“We gotta go up.”

Intentional or otherwise, Applejack spoke the magic words.

A slow shimmer began to form at the edge of the platform, sparkling above the void with a light separate from the one that illuminated them. It rang like small bells, easily grabbing their attention. The sparkles was followed by another just above the last, and another, then another.

Quickly, a trail of dazzling light, ringing through the dark void, formed beyond the glass platform. Each light was as brilliant as a shooting star, now hovering within the vast dark emptiness.

Dust leaned forward atop the column, watching the path grow out and beyond his path of vision, vanishing into the darkness beyond. Jack and Applejack did much the same, though with a much smaller range of vision than the green fox. When the ringing was beyond their hearing, and the stairs beyond their sights, only then did one of them speak.

“Well, guess we found the way out, huh?” Applejack chuckled at her words, unsure if she really trusted herself with walking on light. By the silence that came from her two companions, she suspected they thought the same.

That was until Samurai Jack started to stride forwards, walking to the edge of the platform and towards the stairway of light. Before Dust or Applejack could voice much else, the white-robed man extended one of his feet beyond the platform, preparing to let it set on the unfamiliar, yet warm light.

His foot rested easily on the light, holding him with only a slight ring to show his presence. He turned back towards the pair, looking at them both and offering a nod before turning back and ascending the path.

Dust jumped down from the pillar, landing easily on his feet and walking the short distance to Applejack. Both had their vision fixated on the man now leaving their sight, walking so easily and calmly above an endless void of darkness.

“Doesn’t lack in bravery, does he?” Dust questioned, eyebrows raised. Applejack shook her head in agreement.

“Can’t reckon if it’s proper courage ‘er just hard foolishness.” The mare sighed as she began to trot forwards, albeit with far more trepidation than the samurai showed. When she was just at the platforms edge, she extended her hoof out carefully, leaning back for fear it would simply pass through.

As she placed her weight down, she found the first step as sure as the glass she trusted her weight to. Leaning forwards a bit more, she placed more and more of her weight upon the light until finally she was standing on it. She risked a look down, regretting it immediately.

Unlike stairs in any home or castle, there was nothing beneath her to stop a long fall. Just an endless abyss with an up as clear as down. She swallowed hard on a ball in throat, unsuccessfully dismissing her discomfort.

“Do you want me to go first?” Dust asked from behind her, thankfully with a calm tone. Applejack wasn’t sure she could handle much more right now.

“No, nah.” The farm pony shook her head in dismissal with her words. “J-Just give me a sec. Ah just gotta get used to it.” She flexed her legs as she spoke, trying to push some of her confident words into action.

She had already lost sight of Samurai Jack up ahead, vanishing into the void the light path trailed into. It was every bit as nerve-racking as she thought it would be. Still, going up and out was better than sitting and waiting.

Applejack took another slow step forwards, just as deliberate and careful as her first. The path held her just as well as before, and she strode forwards with as much haste as a tortoise. Step by step, hoof by hoof, she ventured forward. All she had to do was remind herself to keep her eyes up. With her gaze up high, it didn’t matter what was below.

Dust was just behind her, following the mare with no question for her to speed up. Heights were nothing he was afraid of, able to jump and leap impressive bounds himself. But even he disliked the idea of simply falling forever. If avoiding that meant walking at half the speed he was used to, it was a trade he was willing to make.

The pair, walking at a third of the speed of the now distant samurai, slowly ascended the path of light into the void of darkness.

STOP

“What do you mean they’re gone?” The worried voice of Sweetie Belle questioned. No small amount of terror shook her words. “You said they were just walking. What happened?” Chrona held the young filly tighter to his chest, fearing for the lives he did not know as well as Sweetie Belle did for her friends.

“I mean what I said,” Amon’s deep voice spoke. “They have simply disappeared. To where I cannot imagine, though if it offers you comfort, I doubt it was by any heinous manner.”

“So like what? They digistructed themselves at a waypoint?” Maya posed the question. When she saw the white mask turn to her, she knew instantly it was out of either confusion or annoyance. “Did they basically teleport or not?”

“I cannot say, for I do not know.” Amon’s answer told everything. “I see only their souls, not the rooms around them.”

A tense moment of silence passed through the group, leaving them staring at one another with hard and challenging gazes. Sweetie Belle whimpered as she tucked closer in to herself, hating the idea of any of her friends being in trouble. Chrona recognized the action immediately.

“H-Hey, it’s alright,” the pink-haired boy offered as best as he could to the filly. “They’re okay. I’m sure.” Sweetie sniffled at the words, looking up at the boy with wet eyes.

“You promise?” It was a promise no one could make, but it was one that nearly everyone easily accepted, especially those with a kind heart.

“Yes, y-yeah.” Chrona smiled uncomfortably as he nodded, pulling his arms closer. “They are all strong. The princess escaped with the boy, the pegasus and the Batman got out. They are all strong, so they’ll be okay. The strong are always okay.”

“Speaking of which,” Maya began. “Where are they now? Are they just walking around out there?” The siren’s hand waved out the large window, down at the impossibly large landscape. It was dotted with terrain that never belonged together and temples assembled in the most impossible of ways. It made it easy to point out parts, like a well defined map.

“Yes,” Amon answered easily. “Princess Luna and the white-haired boy are there.” His finger pointed towards the foot of a mountain. Though the landscape was clear, it was impossible for almost any set of normal eyes to see shapes aside from the largest of structures.

“Fluttershy and the Batman are over there.” Amon’s hand trailed across the landscape, past the large lake and small forest, stopping at a small canyon sitting between a desert and snowy mountain. “Both of them are making their way towards the new tower.”

“Yeah, that thing.” Maya didn’t need him to explain what tower it was. It was, after all, the only tower aside from the one they were standing in. Her golden eyes fixated on it, the large column towering over the already massive landscape. Its dial was notched, pointing just past the moon at the top of the circle.

It was only after Amon had spoken of the pegasus’s escape that the dial moved, notching itself a quarter of a complete circle to the right. But it was frozen again now, holding still as if it had never moved before. It was unsettling to the Siren, watching something she couldn’t predict. Oddly enough, she felt Amon had a similar feeling.

“It is a wonder what it is counting to.” Amon spoke the question as a statement. “One can only guess what will be shown when it reaches its pinnacle.”

“Nothing good,” Maya answered back. “Wouldn’t take a detective to know that.” The masked man chuckled at her statement, either amused or impressed by her sincerity.

“Doubtlessly, you are correct.” The two shared a look at one another, Maya offering a cheeky grin through her electric blue hair, golden eyes shimmering with a controlled power. Amon’s mask betrayed none of his features, as a mask was meant to do. However, the Siren could see him doing little else but smirking beneath the white face.

“Are the rest of the girls okay?” Sweetie Belle asked Amon in a worried tone, breaking the moment the Siren and he shared. “What about Apple Bloom, or Shining, or anyone else?” Amon’s mask turned back towards the window, staring out to the faux horizon before answering.

“I see no others aside from the two groups your friends belong to.” He spoke with as much emotion as he had any time before. That is to say, basically none. “Though the group of four your younger friend belongs to are conversing far more than the stallion and the wizard. I cannot hear their words, but I can tell they are speaking to great length. There may be an obstacle for them of great size or magnitude.”

“For the last time you scrawny, half-sized, fish-bone of a Viking, we are going left and that’s final!” Gaige stared down the boy in front of her with a growl, furrowing her brow with her arms straight and tense by her side. Though light was limited in the cave, her ferocity was as clear as a lantern. Hiccup, however, didn’t back down.

“And I’m trying to convince you that right is the right way to go. Next to having the direction in the name, I can tell its much cooler that way, temperature wise, and I’ve had enough near death experiences to know you don’t run into a fire.” Hiccup Haddock the Third extended his arms to his sides, exasperated by the debate he was having. The girl may have been his size and had a few years on him, but she knew about as much with exploring as he did with fighting. Almost nothing.

“Didn’t you study thermodynamics of planetary crust in school?!” Gaige shot back with pure exasperation. “It gets cooler the further down you go. We want to go where its warm, you know, where the sun is!” Her metallic hand swung upwards toward the cave ceiling, motioning towards the glowing ball they knew was somewhere in the sky.

“It also gets a lot warmer near dragon nests or Hel Pits!” Hiccup effortlessly argued, his arms pointing the much warmer of the two tunnels. “You think Toothless is a big dragon? The one that killed me was, like, I don’t know, big enough to use Toothless as a toothpick! Do you have any idea how big a dragon has to be to generate heat to travel down a tunnel this long?”

“You moron, that assumes there is another dragon at all!”

“The ponies here seemed pretty darn sure Toothless was a dragon without my say so. Besides, you’re assuming the heat difference is great enough for us to be able to feel it!”

“You’re an idiot!” Gaige scrunched her face frustratedly.

“Oh, wow, good point, guess that means I’m wrong then, huh?”

Apple Bloom watched the pair yell at one another, back and forth. What had worried her some time ago was now starting to tire her, punctuated by a large yawn coming from her small face. The dragon beneath her copied the motion, opening his large maw and showcasing his teeth-retracted gums.

The Night Fury licked his scaly lips as he smacked jaw together, eyes drooping with his head. Apple Bloom wasn’t far behind, already lying on her belly atop the dragon’s massive head. The filly, dwarfed in size, felt like a mouse compared to the great black beast.

It was some time ago they had come across the fork in the cave, so to speak, long past finding the posture of the strange girl. The cavern had remained as unchanged as it had before, the same red rock with the same long path, unchanging and unwinding. The fork had only shown up seemingly out of nowhere, materializing where the quartet had once thought the path continued on unobstructed.

The debate had begun as to what had made the pathways at all, Hiccup accusing it of being some new form of dragon fire or God’s magic and Gaige arguing it was obviously some form of digistruct barrier they passed through. Apple Bloom simply thought it was kind of cool.

It was around then Gaige used her metal arm to measure some stuff the filly couldn’t see. Apple Bloom didn’t understand it, but with friends like Twilight and the princesses coming to her town so often, she was used to being either left out of the loop or just generally in over her head.

When the redhead told them they should head down one path because it was warmer than the other, Hiccup raised a finger, quick to disagree. Queue a few minutes of light banter and scolding, wait through some general insults, then they were right where they were now, the two humans yelling at one another like a couple.

Like a couple… Apple Bloom found herself giggling at the idea, imaging the two sitting next to one another and talking about how nice the weather was, or something romantic like that. The small muffled laughter gave way to a grin.

The dragon beneath her twisted, his long reptilian ears twisting at the sound above him. Apple Bloom noticed almost immediately.

“Sorry,” she apologized to Toothless, hanging over the bridge of his scales to look the dragon in the eyes. “Ah just thought of somethin’ silly.” Toothless lolled his tongue out as his large green eyes stared at the filly.  The filly giggled again as she rested her head on the black beast.

“Yer just like Winona back on the farm. Except, ya know, yer ‘bout as large as mah whole family put together, and Ah got a big family, too.” Toothless let out a few excited pants like a dog. It made the her giggle even more.

“Yup, yer just like her alright.” The filly confirmed with a nod of her head. “Alls Ah need ta do is start throwin a ball with ya and it’d be like Ah was right outside the barn.” Those words were all that was necessary for the filly’s grin to fall away.

She slumped herself against the dragon as her eyes surveyed the large hall for the umpteenth time. Toothless noticed almost immediately, letting out a deep but curious gurgle from his throat.

“It’s nothing,” Apple Bloom spoke to the dragon, sure that he was curious if she was alright. It was what Winona did when she was feeling blue. “Just wonderin’ if we’re ever gonna find our way outta here.” She let out a small sigh. Turning herself over, she twisted her hooves until her back was lying atop the large black dragon. She stared up at the ceiling, stretching her rear legs across Toothless’s scaly hide.

Her hoof absently kicked something resting on the dragon’s back.

The filly lifted her head at the sound of the small clanging, watching as the monkey they had found from before had fallen away from its resting place between Toothless’s spines. The filly let out a small sigh as she twisted over again, walking over the great dragon’s back like the floor of her room to pick up her toys.

She slid down the scaly hide, plopping on the ground with a dull thud, the monkey right beside her. The bickering teens continued on just behind her as if nothing had happened, reduced now to insults more than logic. It sounded like the clubhouse when Sweetie and Scootaloo were at odds with what to do.

Her hooves reached around and grasped the small monkey, looking it over again. Gaige had already analyzed it now too long ago, failing to twist the metallic screw on the back no matter how hard she tried. Hiccup didn’t even bother to give it an attempt.

Apple Bloom grasped the metal prong between her forehooves, securing the monkey between her hind legs as she sat on the rocky surface. She pouted her lips, sure as dirt that nothing was going to happen.

That was wide her lips widened in surprise when the metal prong twisted with the greatest of ease.

“Huh…” the filly let out, still from the sudden movement she didn’t expect she could make. “Maybe Gaige was just playin’ ‘round. Wouldn’t be the first time somepony fibbed ta keep me from tryin’ somethin’,” Apple Bloom spoke to herself as she started to wind up the mechanical monkey.

She had seen a lot of toys similar to it at Sweetie Belle’s home, a lot of mechanical gears and gadgets that all fit together to do some small action. There were little chariots that would fly for a small period of time, little doll houses that would imitate pouring tea, and even small unicorn that would have its horn glow. Sweetie didn’t like to play with that one.

Apple Bloom, however, loved playing with them. She enjoyed trying to find out how twisting a few gears could make a propeller spin or wheels go round. They were always so tiny when she held them, it was hard keeping them in the center of her hoof. They were always different, though. Different size gears, different numbers of components, different parts, different frames, they were all so different that she couldn’t stop liking them. But she saw something else about them. They were all similar, but only in one slightly obvious regard.

No matter what the toys did, it was never random. It made her curious for what the little monkey would do when she wound it up. As her hooves left the wind-up gear, she knew she’d have her answer.

Almost immediately, the monkey started to bang its cymbals.

The noise immediately stopped the bickering Hiccup and Gaige, both of their gazes falling to the foal and the small monkey. It small paws swung back and forth, creating a small clang with each hit of its golden cymbals. For no short amount of time, it did little more than that.

Then it started to spin. Like it was on a dial, it started to twist in an endless circle. Apple Bloom backed away from the device, now far more wary than curious of its workings. That didn’t stop it from continuing to spin.

“What the heck?” Gaige asked in more of a whisper than anything else, twisting her head in curiosity. “That thing wouldn’t budge when I tried to spin it.” Her tone was disbelieving.

“It didn’t?” Apple Bloom turned her cautious look back into a curious one as she looked at the red-haired girl. “It didn’t take me much force at all. Easy as corin’ an apple.”

The implications of what that meant was left aside as the monkey came to a swift, sudden stop. It was so sudden, so swift, that it took a full moment for the quartet to realize that it really wasn’t moving anymore. No sound, no twist, nothing at all.

Nothing but its cymbals pointing down the right hand hall.

“Huh…” Hiccup let the noise leave his throat much like a sigh. He wanted to sound smug, though with the girl he was dealing with he thought better of it. “Does… Does that mean we should go right or…” He turned his gaze towards Gaige, waiting for the girl to shoot another argument his way. He found himself blinking when she did little more than shrug.

“I…. Yeah, I guess. Damn,” she cursed as she scratched the back of her head with her metallic hand. “I guess it was magnetically locked or something. Makes sense that it should act like a ‘key’. I’ve only seen something like this a dozen times before.”

“Wait, where have you seen this before?” Apple Bloom asked. Gaige was able to answer easily.

“Video games, movies, mostly comics and fanfiction though.” She shrugged her shoulders in dismissal. “Doesn’t really matter now though. Guess we’re heading down into the cold dark cavern. Heck, maybe we’ll score some sweet loot in the least.”

“Not what I’m looking for, but fine, yeah, that works.” Hiccup nodded his head as he turned around. “Are you ready to go now too bud?” He gave Toothless a confident grin as he spoke.

The dragon ran his tongue up the boy in response. Gaige couldn’t have stopped the laughter that bursted out even if she had tried. Then again, after how much trouble he had just been for her, she didn’t even bother holding back. Apple Bloom responded much the same, giggling with her snout in her hooves.

“Augh, Toothless…” Hiccup groaned as he tried fruitlessly to push the black dragon away. “C’mon, you know how bad this smells.” Those words only spurred the dragon on.

“Hmm… that’s two now.” Discord mused as he took a sip of his glass. The sparkling water remained perfectly untouched. “Two roaming free, two searching for the end, and probably two more still putzing around in nowhere.” He twisted in lips in thought. They circled his head three-hundred and sixty degrees before stopping on his jawline again.

“Nah, that’s too dull… too eeeeven for any real entertainment.” He threw his half-glass and water away. They dissolved into the air. “We’re gonna have to fix that, and there’s only one real way to change the numbers.”

With small crack, he dislodged his paw, holding in his claw as if it were a bouquet of flowers. Discord adjusted the digits in his severed paw, watching as they flexed.

“Enie Haily Mini Mail…” He began to sing, flicked the digits as he went. “Catch a pony by the tail. If she hollers let her wail. Then we’ll know she really failed!”

His claw gripped his middle digit. Discord’s normally mischievous grin sharpened like a sword.

“Oh goody! That’s gonna be a fun pair to watch!” Discord dropped his paw, letting it fall through the air and out of sight. His claw absently scratched at the open end of his forelimb, drawing out a new paw to replace his old one. “Darn thing was starting to cramp up anyhow, but enough of that.”

The mad draconequus turned his attention to the monitor showcasing the quartet of heroes already awake, but unmoving all the same, a band of misfits that had taken more time to enjoy the scenery than to explore the land. Doing nothing but watching wasn’t a favorite past time of the mad god, not while nothing changed.

“I guess we’ll have to give them a little… incentive.” He chuckled to himself, enjoying every idea that flittered and paced through his mind.

Each step that Jack took on the path of light was as sure as his last, never faltering no matter how deep into the darkness he ventured.

So many trails in his life have been in the dark, whether they be in his mind, his heart, or body of another. It was nothing he feared now. It was nothing he ever truly feared. The darkness could be cruel, taunting the foolish and whisking them away. But he was not a foolish man, only curious.

After walking for what seemed to be minutes up the endless staircase, he could only wonder what was at the top. Would it be the way out? Would there be another riddle? Would they find and end to the abyss? Would he find his own way home? So many questions, too many questions. But he never could stop thinking about them.

“That’s a good look you have.”

Jack drew his blade in a flash.

He twisted on the golden steps with ease, undaunted by prospect of falling. He pointed the sacred blade at the sound of the voice, hearing clearly where it came from, despite the nothingness all around. Still though, he kept his opposite hand on the sheath of his sword, should he have need to create a guard. Though he expected to see a figure where the voice was, it was still odd to see what he saw.

It was a figure indeed, sitting on a platform little different than his own, but it was one he did not see any moment prior in his walk. Much like the staircase he was on, the figure simply appeared with the platform he sat on. Another small square of light, strong enough for the man to stand on, but apart from the path Jack currently ventured. The man himself, however, simply smiled down at Jack, unperturbed by the blade being pointed at him or the abyss he was sitting above.

“It seems I’m making a habit of finding odd people in odd places. I wonder if it’s a vice.” He giggled at his own words, twisting his leg as he spoke. His hands leaned down on the light, his body leaning back and away from the abyss. A long coat of orange was donned over his shoulders, long enough for it to create a small barrier between him and the platform of light. That was where the simplicity of the man ended.

He had a face marred by gray scars.

He had a bird sitting on his head, a raven with eyes of red.

He had a hand colored gray, a color that blended into his shirt.

He had a grin so cold it belonged to the abyss Jack found him in.

“Do tell me, what are you looking for? Maybe we’re looking for the same thing.”

Jack was already wary of the man.

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