Heights
The black water had remained undisturbed for ages beyond counting. It appeared to be a sheet of glass across the ground, barring entry into the cavern. It sat there in perfect stillness and lonesome silence, without so much as even a fish swimming beneath its surface.
Slowly, a single bubble rose up, breaking the profound tranquility. It breached the surface and popped. The sound, barely above a whisper, echoed fiercely throughout the underground cave. It was soon joined by another as more bubbles rose to the surface, rupturing the water’s calmness.
Then the water broke as a head burst through it. Water splashed everywhere, touching the walls and ceiling of the small cave as the pony gasped for breath. She floated there for a second, savoring the air, before her eyes looked back down into the darkness. She took a deep breath and dove back under the surface.
Moments later she returned, but this time she wasn’t alone. She pulled another pony up above the water, and she too gasped for breath. The second pony began coughing violently as she struggled to breathe, and the first pony had to help her swim toward the edge of the pool.
The two ponies reached the edge and crawled out of the water. They took a few stumbling steps, and then they both collapsed on their backs. They sucked in as much of the stale air as they could while they stared up at the ceiling.
“You…you do that…for a living?” the second pony asked. “You’re…insane, Sea Swirl.”
“I…I don’t…usually,” Sea Swirl swallowed once and closed her eyes. “I don’t…usually dive that…deep, Symphony.”
After another few minutes of simply catching their breaths and allowing their eyes to adjust to the dimness, the two ponies stood up and took stalk of their equipment. Sea Swirl had insisted that they travel on the light side, because even with her magic, swimming in deep water with heavy gear was never a good idea.
Sea Swirl’s dagger was still clasped around her waist, along with her bag of herbs and flasks. Her grey robes were soaking wet and she could feel them hanging off of her as she stood. She were going to need to find some place to dry off, because there was no way she was going to be able to explore the sunken kingdom like this.
Symphony had it worse though. She was clad in knight armor, and because of that, her swim had been even more trying. While her clothes weren’t soaked, water had seeped into the plates of her armor and would no doubt remain there, slowly chafing her fur unless she took it off and dried it out. The same went for her sword. She would need to dry out its scabbard; otherwise she wouldn’t be able to draw it quickly if things went bad.
“Where’s the light coming from?” Symphony asked as she pulled off her helmet. She shook her head a few times and her purple mane splashed water everywhere.
Sea Swirl blinked a few times and wiped her face as some of the water hit her. “What light?” she asked.
“Sea Swirl, we are who-knows-how-far under ground and you’re not casting any spells.” The yellow Earth pony pointed at Sea Swirl dormant horn. “And yet, there’s a faint light filling this cave. That shouldn’t be possible.”
Sea Swirl blinked her raspberry eyes again, this time in surprise. Sure enough, there was a pale glow filling the cave. It clung to everything like a sickness, and it made Symphony appear ill to Sea Swirl’s eyes. She suspected that she didn’t look any better, what with her drenched appearance and haggard breathing.
“I have no idea,” the Unicorn said. “But it’s coming from that direction. Let’s go.” Without saying another word, she began to follow the light down the small tunnel, leaving the pool of water behind. Her hooves sloshed in her boots with every step and she had half a mind to take them off, but she didn’t like the idea of carrying them around until they found a good place to start a fire.
Symphony walked up next to her, her armor clanking in a strange way because of the water. “So, I take it this means the legend is true?”
“Not really,” Sea Swirl replied. “All we’ve found is some underground cave system. That doesn’t mean that Shulva or its lost treasures are real. There are tons of underwater caves throughout the land. We could…”
Sea Swirl trailed off as they turned a corner.
“Still having doubts?” Symphony whispered.
The two ponies had exited the small tunnel and were now gazing at what could only be the remains of the legendary lost city. The saw hints of crumbled buildings scattered throughout the massive cavern, and gushing waterfalls spilled into the place from the ceiling high above. A temple was off in the distance, and even though it was the tallest building either pony had ever seen, it did not even come close to touching the ceiling above. The light that they had been following seemed to pour out of the rock and stone around them, only it was much brighter now. No longer did things look like they were cast in a mild sickness. Instead, everything appeared haunted by the ghosts of all the ponies that had died when the city was lost.
“I feel…uneasy about this,” Symphony said in a whisper. “Like we shouldn’t be here.”
Sea Swirl agreed, but her curiosity refused to back down. “We’ll just have a quick look around. If the city’s real, then maybe the treasures are too.”
“And the dragon,” Symphony said darkly. “You know, the thing that caused all of this.”
“Come on, Symphony,” Sea Swirl said, as much for the mare’s benefit as her own. “Where’s your sense of adventure? We’re the first ponies to set hoof here in forever.”
“My sense of adventure does not overrule my common sense, unlike yours.” She patted the sword on her hip and narrowed her cerulean eyes. “That’s why I brought this.”
“Yeah, never hurts to come prepared,” Sea Swirl said with a smile, but she was comforted by the weight of her own weapon. She wasn’t nearly as skilled at fighting as Symphony, but she was still decent with her dagger. Plus, she had her magic. Between the two of them, they could deal with whatever they ran up against.
The two ponies carefully began to make their way down the path that would lead them into the city. While Sea Swirl’s water-soaked apparel made slogging water sounds every time she stepped, she was nowhere near as loud as Symphony. Each step she took caused her armor’s clanking to echo everywhere. Usually the noise didn’t bother Sea Swirl, but with just the two of them alone in such a vast place, she heard every single sound with painful clarity. In fact, she was so focused on the noise that she instantly turned around when the clanking stopped.
“What is—?”
“Ssh!” Symphony hissed as she put her hoof to her mouth. “Listen.”
Sea Swirl snapped her mouth shut and strained her ears. She heard the sound that Symphony was talking about. A deep, slow breathing was echoing through the cavern. It sounded like a growl whenever a breath was exhaled and it caused every rational thought in Sea Swirl’s mind to scream to turn back.
But once again, the Unicorn couldn’t resist.
Slowly, cursing her wet robes with every step, Sea Swirl crept forward along the path. The breathing only grew louder, and as she approached a bend in the path, the air began to gently rush past her face every few seconds, and then a foul stench reached her nostrils. Before she even turned the corner, she suspected what was waiting for her, but her mind told her it wasn’t possible. There as no way anything could still be alive after so long.
Sea Swirl turned the bend in the path and froze. There before her was a dragon. It was stone grey and bigger than any Sea Swirl had ever seen. It had massive horns on its head and its leathery, stone-looking wings were folded around itself. Its mouth was partly open and she could see its razor-sharp fangs, each one longer than her entire body. She wanted to turn around and run, but she couldn’t. Her legs refused to move out of sheer terror.
Sinh, the dragon that had inspired Shulva to be built, and had brought it to ruin as well. A beast straight out of the ancient legends, and it was sleeping right in front of her.
Sea Swirl’s mind would have drowned in fear, but her eyes noticed something strange. A giant spear was stuck in the dragon’s shoulder. The thing was massive, at least twice as big as a normal spear, and the implications of it baffled her so much that her fear left her. How had the dragon survived such a wound, and more importantly, how had any living thing managed to wield such a weapon?
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Sea Swirl’s eyes went wide as the sound reached her ears. She immediately spun around, but it was too late. Symphony had already caught up with her, her armor once again echoing throughout the cavern.
The echo was quickly drowned out by a low grumble and Sea Swirl froze. She heard the sound of shifting stone and felt air rushing past her. Symphony stood in front of her, but the Earth pony’s gaze was transfixed above Sea Swirl’s head. Sea Swirl closed her eyes and waited for the jaws to snap her in two, but the blow never came. Instead, a roar deafened her and she staggered forward from the blast of air. She slammed into Symphony and the Earth pony caught her with one hoof, but her gaze never faltered from where she was looking.
As Sea Swirl stayed in Symphony’s grasp, she finally managed to turn her gaze back to the Sinh.
The dragon was huge, even bigger than Sea Swirl has first thought. It spread its wings to their full length and beat the air, whipping Sea Swirl’s wet robes against her skin and chilling her to the bone. It looked down at the two ponies with piercing eyes and let out another terrifying roar as it thrust its head at them, but instead of delivering the killing blow, it took to the air. Rocks tumbled down from its resting place and fell from its body, and with a mighty flap of its wings, it turned and flew off toward the temple in the middle of the ruins.
“You’re shaking,” Symphony whispered after a while.
Sea Swirl didn’t even bother denying it. She simply stayed in Symphony’s embrace for a lifetime, listening to her pulse beat in her head and trying to slow the pounding blood in her veins.
“H-How?” the Unicorn stammered. “He…he should be dead.”
“Dragons live for at least a thousand years,” Symphony said calmly. Sea Swirl noticed that she still hadn’t released her and she couldn’t help but smile.
“But Shulva was lost eons ago,” Sea Swirl replied. “Plus, did you see that spear? Nothing should be able to survive a wound like that!”
“Now do you agree that we shouldn’t be here?”
“Yeah,” Sea Swirl said, reluctantly pulling herself out of Symphony’s embrace. “Let’s head back before that dragon comes looking for a snack.”
“He is probably starving,” Symphony said.
Sea Swirl looked at her in shock. “Did you…just make a joke?”
“No,” Symphony said, but Sea Swirl saw the hint of a grin on her companion’s lips.
The two ponies walked back up the pathway, but their hopes of escape were instantly crushed. A landslide, no doubt caused by Sinh’s violent waking, had blocked their way out of the city. They were now trapped in Shulva.
“That’s bad,” Sea Swirl said as she stared at the rocks. “What should we—hey! Where are you going?”
Symphony was walking back down the path. “To find a place to set up camp, so to speak. I need to dry out my armor and fur, and I’m betting those robes you’re wearing are starting to get pretty chilly.”
Sea Swirl noticed that her teeth were starting to chatter from the cold. Symphony was right. She quickly trotted down the path to catch up with her and the two ponies continued to make their way into the ruined city.
After a few minutes of walking down the path, they came across yet another thing that defied all reason. A small bonfire was burning in the middle of the path. There was a rod plunged into the middle of the gentle flames and bones appeared to be the fire’s fuel, but the warm light it offered was immediately comforting. Without thinking, the two ponies walked over to it and sat down.
“I think it’s best not to think too much about this,” Sea Swirl said. She pulled off her robes and boots and set them closer to the bonfire. As she did, she felt the warmth of the flames rush into her hooves. She sighed in comfort, allowing the warmth to soak into her body.
“We just saw a dragon that by all rights should be dead,” Symphony replied as she peeled off her armor. Sea Swirl tried not to stare, but she couldn’t help it. “A fire made of bones does not seem so strange in comparison. There’s a strange magic to this place, I think. Maybe Shulva was meant to stay lost.” She also set her armor closer to the fire and then tucked her hooves under her stomach and gazed into the flames.
Sea Swirl casually moved closer to the Earth pony. Without her armor, Sea Swirl was reminded of how beautiful Symphony was. Her coat was a soothing shade of yellow. Her mane and her tail were a royal purple, with long waves and luscious curls running through them. Her crystal cerulean eyes were half closed like usual, giving her that air of nobility that sent goose bumps up Sea Swirl’s spine.
“Too bad you don’t have your violin,” Sea Swirl said as her gaze drifted down to Symphony’s flank and her eighth note cutie mark. “I bet the sound would carry pretty well in this place.”
“And no doubt bring that dragon back,” Symphony said darkly.
Sea Swirl stopped moving closer and hung her head. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” She began to stare into the dancing flames too.
“Still,” Symphony said suddenly, and Sea Swirl snapped out of her trance to find that the Earth pony was now sitting right next to her. “You are probably right. The sound would no doubt be amazing in this place, and we could certainly use something to take our minds off of this situation.”
Sea Swirl smiled. “Yeah…”
The two ponies sat in silence as they stared into the flames. Sea Swirl’s eyes grew heavy and her head began to drift forward. She was sure she was about to nodded off when she saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. She snapped awake, afraid that the dragon had returned, but what she saw was much stranger.
“Symphony, are you—”
“Yes,” Symphony said in a hushed voice.
What Sea Swirl could only describe as phantoms were beginning to appear before their eyes. They were wispy in appearance, as though they were made of mist and smoke. Slowly, the smoke began to take the forms of ponies. They were all clad in strange armor, and some wielded giant maces while Unicorns levitated two swords. They all stood on the pathway, staring at Sea Swirl and Symphony, but Sea Swirl doubted that the phantoms saw them.
Suddenly, an arrow appeared from the smoke and sank into the neck of one of the phantoms. It sank to the ground and vanished in a swirl of smoke. The other phantoms broke into a charge, rushing up the path with raised weapons and silent battle cries.
Sea Swirl instantly jumped to her hooves and readied her magic, but the phantoms vanished the moment she moved. She looked to her left and saw that Symphony was standing as well, her sword gripped in her mouth and ready to strike.
“What was that?” Symphony asked as she put her sword back in its scabbard.
Sea Swirl looked at the bones in the fire and a chill ran up her spine. “Whatever it was, I don’t think we should linger here any longer. Come on, our stuff should be dry by now. “ Sea Swirl didn’t believe that was true, since they had only been sitting at the fire for a few minutes, but the thought of spending any more time near it made her uneasy. She picked up her robes with her magic and began to put them on. She was pleasantly surprised to find that they were completely dry. She slipped her boots on and found the same result.
Symphony was slipping back into her armor as well, and it appeared to be dry as well.
“You, uh…want some help with that?” Sea Swirl asked sheepishly.
“No,” Symphony said as she put the last piece of armor on her body and then pulled her helmet down on her head. She looked as Sea Swirl and smiled. “But, I might need help taking it off. If we survive.”
Sea Swirl’s cheeks burned and her tail twitched against her will. “Um…well, I didn’t…”
Symphony began walking down the path again and her tail gently brushed against Sea Swirl’s leg. “Come on. Let’s hope there’s another way out of this place.”
As the two ponies walked, Sea Swirl couldn’t help but stare at the sights around her. To the left of the path was a sheer drop, but further out was the temple they had glimpsed when they had first entered the cave. She carefully peeked over the edge to see if she could see the base of the building in the depths below. She thought so, but she couldn’t be certain. The temple had multiple stories, and it looked like a bridge once connected it to the cliff side they were now walking on. That didn’t make any sense though. Why would there be a bridge that connected with—
“Look at that,” Symphony whispered and Sea Swirl looked away from the distant temple. Symphony was staring at the cliff on their right, only it wasn’t the rough stone Sea Swirl had been expecting. Instead, she found herself staring at a smooth stone wall. She blinked and looked around. They weren’t standing on a path. They were standing on the remains of another building. She wondered just how much of it was buried under the stone beneath her hooves.
“What do you think happened?” Symphony asked as she gently touched the smooth surface with her hoof.
“No idea,” Sea Swirl said. “Although, this place is pretty far beneath the surface and the water is pouring in.” She pointed off into the cavern at the giant waterfalls spilling from the ceiling. “Erosion?”
“Maybe…” Symphony said as she resumed walking down the path. Sea Swirl could tell that she didn’t believe that for a second, and honestly, Sea Swirl didn’t either. There was something wrong with this place.
As if to reinforce her previous thought, the two ponies reached another bend in the path and they both stopped. A single pony was slouched against the wall of some ruins in front of them. He was clad in the same type of armor that they had seen in the vision; only it was much more worn and tattered. A mace lay by his side that was nearly the size of him. He looked dead, but his body hadn’t rotted away. His skin was a sickly green color and blotched in many places. His eyes were hollow, locked in a death stare as his head hung to one side. He was clearly deceased, and yet Sea Swirl couldn’t help but feel like he was looking right at her.
“One of the soldiers we saw,” Symphony whispered. Sea Swirl could tell that she was also feeling uneasy about the body. “Probably knights of Shulva.”
“Who in the right mind would attack a pony able to wield a weapon like that?” Sea Swirl asked as she stared at the mace. She knew Earth ponies were generally stronger than Unicorns or Pegasi, but the weight of that thing seemed impossible even for them.
“I do not know, but they won apparently,” Symphony said. She took one last look at the body and then resumed walking. Sea Swirl followed her, keeping her eyes on the corpse until she passed it, but then she stopped when she heard a groaning sound.
No, it wasn’t possible…
Sea Swirl slowly turned her head around and her eyes went wide. The pony was getting up! He slowly rose to all fours and then bent down to his mace. He put the thing in his mouth and raised his head as if he had just picked up a carrot. He let out a low groan and then began walking toward her. He pulled his head back and broke into a slow jog until he was right on top of Sea Swirl, then he swung his head around, bringing the full weight of the mace with it.
“Sea Swirl!” Symphony shouted. Sea Swirl felt Symphony crash into her and she tumbled to the ground just before the mace could smash into her head. She rolled once and sprang up, whipping out her dagger with her magic as she did.
Symphony had her own weapon drawn and in her mouth. She jumped to the side as the knight brought the mace around again, trying to smash her like a bug. The whole ground shook when the mace impacted, but it didn’t slow Symphony. She jumped forward and landed on top of the mace and then swung her sword. Its blade bit into knight’s neck, but he didn’t scream or even really react to the blow. Symphony pulled with all her might and a second later the knight’s head rolled from his shoulders. He sank to the ground and didn’t move again.
Symphony sheathed her sword and looked at Sea Swirl. “Pay attention,” she said. “He could have killed you, and I probably need your help to get out of here.” She turned and began walking away.
“Uh, right…” Sea Swirl said quietly. She took one more look at the headless corpse. No blood flowed from the wound. She shuddered, kicked the body once to make sure it was truly dead, and then ran to catch up with Symphony.
The two ponies took a few more steps and then Sea Swirl put her hoof out. Her ears had adjusted to the sound of Symphony’s armor and the ambient noises of the cavern, but now she was hearing something new. It sounded like something stretching,. She recognized the sound, but she couldn’t quite place it.
Sea Swirl’s eyes went wide as she heard a second sound and her brain put the pieces together. It was a bow being drawn and then releasing an arrow! She frantically looked around, but a half second later, Symphony grunted and staggered backward as an arrow slammed into her chest.
“Symphony!” Sea Swirl screamed.
“I’m fine,” the Earth pony replied. She shook her head to clear it. “My armor caught it. Where is he?”
Sea Swirl looked ahead. Further up the path stood a lone pony. He had a bow planted on the ground and he was already stringing another arrow. He pulled back on the string and aimed at the Unicorn. Sea Swirl knew she didn’t have enough time to fire a spell, and her robes wouldn’t stop an arrow like Symphony’s armor, so she quickly looked around.
A small pillar, no taller than her, stood in the ground before her. It had strange glowing ruins on it in a script that Sea Swirl didn’t recognize, but at the moment she didn’t care. She dove behind the pillar just as the archer loosed another arrow. She huddled down on the ground and she closed her eyes, praying that the arrow would miss her.
There was a loud clink! as the arrow ricocheted off of the pillar. Sea Swirl sprang to her hooves and made ready to fire back, but the sight before her stunned her.
The pillar she had hid behind trembled and then slowly sank into the ground with a low rumbling noise. Moments later, the ground vibrated and the floor where the archer had been standing shot up on four pillars that sprang out of the ground. Sea Swirl briefly saw two other Shulva knights on the rising floor, but they were instantly smashed against the ceiling with a sickening sound.
“What the hay…?” Sea Swirl asked as the pillar slowly rose out of the ground again. She stared at the glowing script on it and desperately wished she could read it. She reached out and touched the pillar. It was cold to the touch, but nothing happened. She cocked her head to the side and pulled out her dagger. She swung it and the blade smacked against the pillar. This time, the pillar did react. It sank back into the ground and Sea Swirl looked ahead to where the floor had come up. Sure enough, the four pillars began to sink back into the ground and the floor came back down.
The crumpled forms of the archer and the other two Shulva knights were sprawled on the floor. None of them were moving.
“I would say good thinking, but I think you did that on accident,” Symphony said.
“Nah, totally meant to do it,” Sea Swirl said with a smile.
“There’s another one of those little pillars over there,” Symphony said. She pointed to Sea Swirl’s left and the Unicorn looked. There were more buildings off to the left, but there was a sheer drop into blackness between Sea Swirl and them.
“Where?”
“Behind that outcropping of glowing crystals,” Symphony replied. Sea Swirl looked at the crystals on the other side of the chasm. She could barely see the very tip of another one of the small pillars behind the crystals.
“How did you see that?” Sea Swirl asked. The light from the crystals blended perfectly with the glowing glyphs on the pillar, making it all but impossible to spot from their current position.
“Living in Canterlot teaches you to be observe everything,” Symphony replied. Sea Swirl caught the flicker of emotion that passed through the Earth pony’s eyes. “It’s…the only way to make it in that city.”
Sea Swirl wanted to point out that she was living proof that that wasn’t true, but she decided now wasn’t the time. “These seem to be switches,” she said instead. “It looks like they respond to weapon attacks.”
“That’s…well, that’s kind of dumb,” Symphony said flatly. “Who thought it was a good idea to smack something with a sword in order to get it to work? I thought the ponies of Shulva were advanced.”
Sea Swirl shrugged and looked at the glowing glyphs. Maybe they were instructions on how somepony was supposed to use the pillars. “Yeah, but this one did respond when that archer shot it and when I hit it with my dagger.” Sea Swirl stared at the pillar for a long moment and then an idea sprang into her head. “Hey, go get that pony’s bow and some arrows.”
Symphony walked away and collected the crushed archer’s weapon. She froze for a moment and looked further into the ruins, then quickly grabbed a quiver full of arrows and made her way back to Sea Swirl.
“There are more of them over there,” she said as she dropped the weapons off. “A lot more.”
Sea Swirl swallowed. “Did they see you?”
“I think so, but they didn’t move.” Symphony looked over her shoulder. “Hurry up before that changes.”
Sea Swirl gripped the bow with her magic and then strung an arrow as well. Archery had never been one of her strong points, but she was certain she could at least hit the pillar. She walked around a bit until she had a better view of her target and then pulled the bow back with her magic. She held her breath and focused on the magic she was using to keep the bowstring tight. She released just that small part and the arrow sprang from the bow. It slammed into the very tip of the pillar and Sea Swirl couldn’t help but feel a small sense of pride.
The pillar, just like the one she was standing next to, disappeared behind the crystal outcropping as it sank into the ground. Again, the ground trembled beneath Sea Swirl’s hooves and she looked down, terrified that the ground she was standing on was about to rise into the air and smash her against the ceiling like it had to the knights. Instead, a platform rose out of the dark chasm before her, forming a bridge between the path she and Symphony were on and the buildings on the other side.
“Ha, I’m pretty great, aren’t I?” she asked with a smirk. “Instant shortcut.”
“Shortcut to what?” Symphony asked as she carefully stepped off the edge of the path and dropped down onto the platform. “For all you know, we could be getting further from the exit.”
“Er, right,” Sea Swirl said, her pride suddenly deflated. She slung the bow over her shoulder and tied the quiver of arrows to her side. If there were more switches that they needed to hit, she figured the bow would prove useful. She stepped off the edge of the path and followed Symphony across the newly raised platform.
Symphony reached the other end and looked into the building to her right. She looked back Sea Swirl and made a ‘be quiet’ motion with her hoof and then pointed into building. Sea Swirl walked up next to her and looked inside. Another Shulva knight was slouched against the far wall, and much like the first one they had encountered, he looked dead, but Sea Swirl had learned that meant nothing here.
“Let’s keep going,” she whispered, gently nudging Symphony away from the building. Hopefully another exit was somewhere further in the sunken city, and they could avoid any more of those knights.
A loud noise suddenly filled the air. It was a constant clicking noise, but it was mixed with a horrible scraping sound and a screeching that seemed like it was coming from a dozen different places. Symphony winced and folded her ears down while Sea Swirl covered her own with her hooves.
“What is that?” Symphony asked over the noise.
“I have no idea,” Sea Swirl said. She slowly made her way forward, trying to ignore the horrible noise. She began to cross a small walkway that connected to yet another building when she spotted something to her left. It looked like a huge raspberry. She looked closer and realized that it wasn’t a fruit, but a giant bug. It clung to the wall, clicking it mandibles against the side of the building and emitting that horrible screeching.
Sea Swirl pointed to it and then beckoned Symphony forward. Then finished crossing the walkway and came to another building, but both points stopped at the entrance. The screeching was even louder in the room, and worse, there were what Sea Swirl guessed were giant egg sacks for that insect. The pulsing, berry-looking egg sacks glowed with a pinkish red light, bathing the entire room in an eerie glow.
“You don’t think those things are…cocoons, do you?” Symphony asked nervously. “You don’t think they…eat ponies, right?”
Sea Swirl noticed that the Earth pony was slowly inching her way closer to her. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” she said with a half smile as she put her hoof around Symphony’s neck. “Stay close.”
Sea Swirl walked into the room and immediately her hooves began to stick to the ground. She looked down and saw that the floor was covered in thread. She shuddered and continued walking, trying to ignore the noise as she avoided the egg sacks as best as she could.
There were two ways out of the room. One was straight ahead, but it looked like it just ended in a drop. The other was to the right, and that one appeared to have a path, so the Unicorn began to edge her way around the eggs toward that exit. The screeching became louder with every step she took until it felt like her head would explode. She closed her eyes and pressed her teeth together in an attempt to fight the noise, but then she heard a muffled thud!
Sea Swirl opened one eye and recoiled. A bug was blocking her way to the exit. It had long, ant-like wings coming out of its midsection. Four red eyes dotted its face just above its two tiny mandibles. It walked on four legs, and its butt was swollen to the point where it looked like it would burst if the thing so much as brushed up against something too hard.
“There’s another one!” Symphony screamed and Sea Swirl turned around just in time to see another one of the bugs drop from the ceiling and begin closing on Symphony. The mare began to back up frantically until she hit one of the egg sacks. The thing burst in a flash of pale yellow liquid and it coated Symphony. She panicked and whipped her sword out. The insect took the to air and flew at her, but she swung her blade in blind terror. It sank into bug’s body and it burst apart, just like the egg sack she had stumbled into.
A blinding pain suddenly tore through Sea Swirl’s back. She whipped her head back around and saw that the bug had sank its mandibles into her side. She stifled a scream and pulled her dagger out, struggling to keep her magic focused through the pain. She sank the blade into the bug’s head all the way up to the hilt. It fell away and she gasped for breath.
“Sym…Symphony…” she said as she staggered across the room. Blood was gushing from her side and her robes were turning dark from it. She needed to heal herself, or she would bleed out in a matter of minutes. She tried to focus her eyes, but the pain was too much. She began to fall forward.
“Hold on, I got you.” Symphony caught the Unicorn before she hit the floor. “You can heal that, right?”
“Y-Yeah…” Sea Swirl said. She closed her eyes and began to focus her magic into life-giving energy.
“How long do you need?” Symphony asked quickly.
“Just…a few…seconds.” Sea Swirl channeled the magic into her horn and her body strained against the effort.
“You have five seconds,” Symphony said. “More of those zombie knights are coming.”
Sea Swirl rolled her head to the side as she continued to focus her spell. She saw two knights rushing up the pathway that she had been heading for. She needed to hurry. She closed her eyes again and focused even harder.
Sea Swirl released the energy and her raspberry eyes snapped open as light enveloped her. She felt her flesh slowly knit back together and her strength flooded back into her. She stood up refreshed and pushed Symphony toward the other exit.
“Go!” she said as she turned to face the two oncoming knights. “Now!”
The first knight reached the room and Sea Swirl grinned. Symphony was a better close combat fighter, but Sea Swirl excelled at magic. She channeled her magic and fired a blue spear of energy at the knight. It slammed into his chest and he staggered, but he kept coming. Sea Swirl gave the being a baffled look because the blast should have stopped him cold, but she didn’t have time to complain. She readied another spell and fired it at the knight again. This time he went down and Sea Swirl allowed herself a small grin, but her victory was short lived. The second knight was right behind him, and she didn’t have enough time to ready another attack.
“Sea Swirl! Come on!” Symphony called as she jumped off the ledge.
Sea Swirl turned and ran toward the other exit. She reached it and jumped, praying that the drop would be survivable.
A second later, she hit the ground. She found herself standing in the middle of a stairway. Symphony was to her right, pulling her sword out of the back of yet another knight. She looked at Sea Swirl and then pointed behind her in panic.
Sea Swirl spun around and instantly ducked as an arrow shot past her head. On a ledge at the top of the stairs were two more Shulva knights. One of them was an archer and was already stringing another arrow, while the other was dropping down onto the stairs, carrying that all-too-familiar giant mace.
“We have to get out of here!” Symphony cried with her sword in her mouth. She waved at Sea Swirl to follow her and then took off down the stairs. Sea Swirl didn’t hesitate to follow, jumping to the side to avoid another arrow as she ran.
The two ponies reached the bottom of the stairs and followed the path to the right. As she ran, Sea Swirl felt something splash against her hind leg. She looked back, terrified that another one of the bugs was coming after her, but all she saw was a strange collection of green statues at the base of the building they had just jumped out of. She stared at it for a moment, but then the Shulva knights came around the corner and another appeared from the side of the building.
“Time to go!” she said and spun back around to continue following Symphony.
The Earth pony was a few paces ahead. She slowed and looked over her shoulder to make sure Sea Swirl was still behind her, so she never saw the attack coming.
An arrow from further up the path slammed into Symphony’s helm. The mare staggered and fell to the ground. Her helm split apart like a pumpkin and tumbled away from her motionless form.
Sea Swirl screamed in terror and stared at the body of her friend. Her heart jumped into her throat and threatened to choke her. Hey eyes blurred from fury and despair. Her ears buzzed with the dull roar of blood rushing through her body.
The pathway before her went up a shallow slope, and at the top of it stood several Shulva knights, many of them with bows. There was no real cover between Sea Swirl and their position, but the Unicorn didn’t care. She was going to tear each one of them apart, with her bare hooves if she had to. She pulled her dagger out and began to charge up the path.
As Sea Swirl passed Symphony’s body, something tripped her. She slammed down on her chest and dust flew up into her face as she skidded across the ground. Moments later, two arrows flew past her head. Cursing, she looked back to see what she had tripped over.
“That was incredibly stupid, even for you.”
Sea Swirl’s heart soared when she saw two crystal cerulean eyes gazing back at her. “You’re alive!”
“Not for much longer if we stay here.” Symphony stood up, quickly collected her sword, and gestured to the left. There was a steep path that led into the base of yet another towering ruin. The two ponies scrambled for the path, dodging arrows as they did. Symphony slid down it and into the room at the bottom. Sea Swirl quickly followed, only she tumbled down instead of slid. She winced as her body skidded to a stop inside the room.
“Well that was—whoa!” Sea Swirl looked up to find herself staring at another Shulva knight. He raised his mace with his mouth. As he brought it down, Symphony caught the back of Sea Swirl’s robe and yanked her across the floor. The mace landed on the tip of her tail and she yelped as several of her purple hairs were yanked out.
Symphony jumped forward and started to fight the knight. Sea Swirl rose to help her, but she quickly spotted a second knight entering the room from another entrance. Without thinking, she rushed to meet him. She had noticed that, while those giant maces would no doubt smash her into pulp, the knights couldn’t swing them very fast. She could dispatch this one if she was fast enough.
Sea Swirl plunged her dagger into the knight’s exposed neck. He groaned, but Sea Swirl didn’t let up. She pulled the dagger out and stabbed him again and then her body crashed into him. She put all her weight into the body blow and the knight staggered backward and then vanished from view as he fell off the edge of the building. Sea Swirl barely managed to stay on the ledge herself.
“Who the buck designed this stupid city?” she asked as she stared over the ledge. There was nothing but open cavern straight ahead, with a small pathway leading around the outside of the building to her right. Why ponies thought it was a good idea to have doorways that lead to nothing but sheer falls was beyond her.
Sea Swirl turned back around to see Symphony dodging the attack of the knight she was fighting. The Unicorn fired a quickly spell into the knight’s side and he stumbled. Symphony used the moment to sink her blade into his stomach. She pulled it back out and the knight sank to the floor, hopefully dead.
“We need to keep moving,” Symphony said as she sheathed her sword again. “If they follow us in here, we’re dead. It’s too small to fight them.”
“Hope you’re not afraid of heights then,” Sea Swirl said as she gestured to exit. She walked out the door—or maybe it was a window—and onto the ledge. She hugged the wall to her right and slowly began to move along the outside of the building.
Thankfully, the ledge only lasted until the edge of the building. When Sea Swirl turned the corner, she found cracked stone stairs before her. She thankfully walked on to them and then called back for Symphony to join her. Unfortunately, they now only had one way to go and it didn’t look safe at all.
Yet another building loomed before them and a walkway connected it with the area they were now standing on. However, the walkway had crumbled into near ruin. What had once been a slow decline of stairs across the void was now little more than lose and broken stones that looked as though they could collapse at any moment. About halfway across, the width was cut in half because half of the path had completely fallen away. Sea Swirl almost thought it would be safer to turn back and take their chances with the Shuvla knights than cross.
“We better get moving,” Symphony said as she walked up behind Sea Swirl.
“Yeah…” Sea Swirl said as she swallowed. She cautiously stepped out onto the walkway and waited for it to fall away under her weight. When it didn’t, she took another step. She slipped slightly then and she heard Symphony gasp behind her, but she quickly regained her balance. The stone she had stepped on fell off the edge and Sea Swirl couldn’t help but watch it fall down into the depths below. She took a deep breath and continued along the narrow pathway at a painfully slow pace.
After what felt like years and her blood pumping so quickly that her whole body hurt, Sea Swirl finally reached the far building’s outer platform. Her legs nearly collapsed beneath here, but she managed to stay upright. She turned around, expecting to see Symphony starting the dangerous trek across, but she was surprised to see her companion already halfway along. She didn’t seem to be bothered by the height or the apparent danger as she casually strolled down the crumbling pathway, but nevertheless, Sea Swirl kept her magic ready. If she needed to, she could reach out and catch Symphony. Hopefully.
Symphony made it across the walkway much faster than Sea Swirl and she didn’t look stressed at all. Her purple mane was starting to stick together in spots and cling to her armor, and she had several scratches and patches of filth on her face, but otherwise she looked fine.
In comparison, Sea Swirl looked terrible. Her robes were tattered and coated in grime. There were two huge holes in her side from where that bug had bit her, and the fabric was dark red from the dried blood. Her fur felt like she hadn’t washed in weeks, and a terrible taste clung to her mouth. Her boots, which had started out brown, were nearly pitch black now from filth and her back hind leg was stained with some sort of green liquid. She assumed it had come from whatever had splashed against her when they had been running.
“In there,” Symphony said. She pointed into the building they had just reached and walked in. Sea Swirl followed her and they found themselves inside another room that was identical to the others save for two things. There appeared to be some sort of trap door on the floor, which they hadn’t seen in any of the other rooms, and there was also a stone button with a flower engraving on the floor.
Without thinking, Sea Swirl went over and pressed the button with her hoof. Nothing happened. She pressed it again, harder, but still nothing happened. She shrugged and looked over at Symphony. “Must be broken.”
Symphony just nodded. She pulled out a small bottle and drank its bright, sunlight colored contents. She sighed in contentment and placed the bottle back in her pouch. “I don’t know who came up with this Estus drink, but it does wonders.”
Sea Swirl pulled out her own bottle and took a gulp. The strange drink flooded into the mouth, and while it didn’t have any taste, she immediately felt its effects. Warmth flowed through every inch of her body and chased the exhaustion from her bones. She wanted to take another drink, but she stopped herself. She didn’t know how much further they needed to go to get out, and she didn’t want to waste the stuff.
The two ponies looked at each other in silence for a long moment. Sea Swirl desperately wanted to apologize to Symphony for dragging her into this mess, but she didn’t know where to begin. Shulva was just supposed to be a myth, a legend told by firelight. If she had known it, and by the danger, was real, she never would have brought the Earth pony down here.
She never would have come down here.
“We’re not going to find the way out staring at each other,” Symphony said finally. She moved to the exit.
“Right,” Sea Swirl replied as she walked out of the room and back into the open cavern. The crumbling pathway lay directly ahead of her, but she didn’t want to risk crossing it again, so she turned to the right and followed the large balcony around the side of the building. It led to another long stone bridge that connected to yet another distant building. The bridge was in better shape than the stairs they had just crossed, but it was still showing signs of wear. Several sections of railing had crumbled away and the stones were worn and uneven in many places.
Sea Swirl sighed and rolled her eyes. “You ever get the feeling that these ponies had a twisted obsession with dizzying heights and long bridges?”
“They worshipped a dragon,” Symphony replied flatly. “Being this high up probably made them feel closer to Sinh.”
Sea Swirl briefly wondered just how high this city had stretched into the sky before the ground had swallowed it, but she pushed the thought aside as she looked across the bridge. Two knights blocked the way, and they both had lances resting against their shoulders. The pathway was too narrow for close fighting as it was only wide enough to accommodate one pony abreast, but that wasn’t a problem for Sea Swirl and her magic.
“Stay back,” she said as she walked out onto the bridge, keenly aware that it could fall away from under her at a moment’s notice. “I’ll deal with these two.”
The Unicorn took six more steps before a deafening roar tore through the air. She froze as she recognized the sound.
Sinh was back.
The massive dragon came flying out from the far reaches of the cavern. It was all Sea Swirl could do to stand there and watch as he approached the bridge. His wings beat the air with the force of a hurricane and she felt her mane, tail, and robes whip against her body. He opened his mouth, revealing his terrifying teeth once again, and despair rose in the Unicorn as an orange light began to build in the back of the dragon’s throat. Seconds later, two massive fireballs leapt from his mouth and slammed into the bridge with enough force to knock Sea Swirl off her hooves. She stayed on the ground and whimpered as she waited for the flames to engulf her, but she never felt the searing heat, so she looked up.
Sinh hovered above the bridge for a moment and looked down at her. He roared once again and Sea Swirl was certain she was about to be roasted alive, but the dragon flew off, disappearing into the far reaches of the cavern yet again.
“Sea Swirl, are you okay?” Symphony shouted as she ran up to the trembling Unicorn. She knelt down and offered her hoof. “I…I thought I’d…”
Sea Swirl forced a weak laugh. “Ha. That was a little close, wasn’t it?” She was breathing rapidly and she forced herself to take several deep breaths. “But, look on the bright side.”
“You’re not dead?” Symphony offered.
Sea Swirl smirked. Despite all her aloofness, Symphony cared, whether she admitted it or not. “Well, there is that too, but it’s not what I meant. He took out those two knights.” The Unicorn pointed down the bridge. Flames were still lingering from the dragon’s attack, but there was no sign of the two knights that had been blocking the path.
Sea Swirl stood up and, despite her legs feeling a little shaky, began to cross the long bridge. Symphony followed close behind. As they approached the first dwindling flames from the dragon’s attack, Sea Swirl’s head suddenly began to swim. She stopped for a moment and put her hoof to her forehead to steady herself. Why did she suddenly feel so nauseous?
“Are you okay?” Symphony asked from behind her.
“Yeah…just, feeling a little sick.” Sea Swirl gagged a little in her mouth. This wasn’t normal. She had felt terrified when Sinh had attacked, but this was something different. She literally felt ill, like she had eaten a bad apple or something. Still, she couldn’t risk collapsing on the bridge. It was too exposed, and if Sinh came back she would make an easy target, so she pressed on, moving past the dwindling flames.
“Ugh…” Symphony moaned suddenly. Sea Swirl turned around, surprised that she was feeling better so quickly, and saw that the Earth pony was struggling to stay on her hooves.
“Symphony!” she said as she took a step back toward the mare, but the illness returned in an instant. She immediately retreated and felt better. “Okay, that’s weird.” She looked around, trying to find what could be making them feel so ill, but she saw nothing. They were standing on a bridge in the middle of the air. The only other things on the bridge were the stones it was made out of, and lingering flames from Sinh’s breath.
The flames!
“Symphony, walk toward me,” the Unicorn said quickly. She beckoned with her hoof to encourage the mare.
“O…Okay…” Symphony struggled to put one hoof in front of the other, but the moment she started moving away from the flames, she started to look better. When she reached Sea Swirl, she was once again standing upright and carrying herself with pride. “What did you do?”
“I think it’s the fire,” Sea Swirl said as she stared at the flames. At first they had just looked like regular fire, but when she examined them closely, she could see a faint green haze around them. “I think they’re toxic.”
Symphony rolled her eyes. “Because why not. Zombie ponies with insane strength, a flying lizard probably older than Celestia, and now poisonous fire.” She glared at Sea Swirl and the Unicorn felt very small. “If we ever get out of here, you are buying me dinner. For a year.”
Sea Swirl’s ears jumped up. “Is that a date?”
“No.”
“Aw.” Sea Swirl was about to say more but she stopped when a loud crack! echoed through the large cavern, followed quickly by a shaking under her hooves. She looked down at the bridge and saw a giant split was running through the stones beneath her. Slowly, she looked up and met Symphony’s gaze.
The Earth pony slowly put her hoof to her lip and then carefully pointed to the other end of the bridge. She mouthed for Sea Swirl to go slowly, and the Unicorn turned around and began to make her way to the far side. They managed to take a few more steps before the stones started to fall away.
“RUN!” Symphony screamed.
Sea Swirl broke into a mad sprint and she found herself racing the crack along the bridge. It zigzagged back and forth in front of her and she watched in horror as the bridge began to come apart.
“Symphony!” she called over her shoulder.
“Faster, you fool Unicorn!” the Earth pony shouted back.
Sea Swirl risked a looked over her shoulder as she ran. Symphony was right behind her, her eyes focused straight ahead and her nostrils flaring as she galloped as fast as she could, but it wasn’t going to be enough. The bridge was falling away behind her, and its collapse was quickly catching up with the Earth pony.
Sea Swirl swallowed and jumped ahead. She landed, spun around to face Symphony, and without thinking she enveloped the Earth pony in magic and lifted her into the air. She then threw Symphony over her head and further down the bridge. She heard her land with massive thud! and started to turn around, but she was too slow. The bridge fell away from her hooves.
For a brief moment, Sea Swirl imagined that the weightlessness she was feeling was the closest thing to flying she would ever experience. It was sheer bliss, like when she glided through the water with ease, but the joy vanished the second gravity took over. She began to plummet, and the thought of being smashed against the floor below flooded her mind. She was so frightened that she couldn’t even scream; only open her mouth in a silent yell as her body plunged into the depths.
A second later, a burning pain raced through her flank and up her spin. This time, she did let out a scream, but she stifled it when a few of the arrows in her quiver tumbled by her head and into the void below. She wasn’t falling anymore. Confused, she twisted around and looked up.
Symphony was hanging over the edge of the collapsed bridge. Her mouth was clamped down on Sea Swirl’s purple tail, causing the Unicorn to hang in the air like a piñata. She mumbled something and began to walk backward, slowly pulling Sea Swirl up.
“What did you say?” Sea Swirl asked. Her flank bumped into the bridge and she let out a yelp, but she didn’t complain. She was too grateful to be alive and not a smear of flesh, bone, and blood at the bottom of the cavern.
Symphony finished pulling the Unicorn up onto the bridge and spit the tail out of her mouth. “I said nice view.”
Sea Swirl’s mouth hung open and she stared at the Earth pony. Despite the fact that she had narrowly escaped death, she couldn’t think of a single thing to say to Symphony’s comment. Eventually, her mind cleared. “Well, if you’d like to see more…”
“I meant the drop, fool,” Symphony said as she turned around to face the building they now stood in front of.
Sea Swirl stood up and dusted herself off. “Um, Symphony? Thanks. For saving me.”
“You’re welcome,” the musician replied. “And…I suppose your flank isn’t bad either.”
Sea Swirl’s cheeks burned.
The two ponies gazed up at the building that now loomed before them. It was built in the same pyramid fashion as the tower they had seen when they had first entered Shulva, only it wasn’t quite as tall and grand. There were no visible entrances except for a few small windows further up the tower, and Sea Swirl doubted they would be able to fit through them even if they could reach them.
As if the building could read the Unicorn’s thoughts, the wall directly in front of them began to move. Dust and bits of rubble fell as the giant stone slab lifted up into the building, revealing a passage that dead-ended shortly, but then the wall began to lift up again, extending the length of the passage. The ponies heard a deep rumbling within the building and they assumed that the stone doors were being raised all the way along the passage.
Finally, the rumbling ceased. The two ponies looked at each and then down the path. Sea Swirl opened her mouth to say something, but then a new sound reached their ears.
A soft voice from deep inside the temple reached their ears. It was singing some sort of song and Sea Swirl found herself drawn to it. She wanted to run into the temple and find the voice. She began to act on the impulse, but she felt a hoof reach out and stop her. Angered, she whipped around to see who would dare stop her from reaching the voice.
“You get the feeling that we’re being led into a trap?” Symphony asked.
The sound of the mare’s voice snapped Sea Swirl out of her trance. “Yeah,” she replied. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
Symphony walked into the building and began moving down the long entrance. “May as well go spring it. We have nowhere else to go.”
Sea Swirl nodded and began to follow Symphony. The singing continued, but it no longer had the allure that had nearly pulled her in. Instead, it now sent chills down her spine and made her fur prickle under her robes. It was sad and haunted, and she could feel the magic that tainted it.
Whoever was singing wasn’t a normal pony.