On its left shoulder, a bright white light burns with such pureness that shows it wasn't just a simple torch.
A cold breeze carrying the stench of moat blew in, and made the lantern flicker.
Although it was night, the very few crystal spires scattered around the cave walls assisted a bit in illuminating the cave
but the bulky shadows of the boulders danced in sync with the flames and crystals, projecting a writhing dark monster onto the cave paintings.
Four ponies stood in a row, a young pegasus stallion wearing a badly damaged suit of golden armor, and likewise poorly equipped three mares fumbled through the darkness.
The one leading at the front was the light brown Pegasus stallion named Flash Sentry who was bearing the lantern, followed by the batpony named Umbra, and the grey unicorn mare known as Silver Spell in the rear.
And the third pony in was the trembling lavender unicorn mare named twilight, clutching the mace given to her by her companions tightly.
The one who suggested this formation was the SIlver Spell herself.
With this, as long as there weren’t any forked roads along the way, they didn’t need to worry about being ambushed from the back.
As long as the vanguard didn’t mess up, the rearguard was safe and only needed to focus on supporting him.
"……It should be fine….right……?"
Still, the whispers of the lavender mare was filled with uneasiness.
Ever since they were teleport-ed to the cave, and the beginning of the search for the underground train station, her anxiety had only became worse and worse.
"We still rushed in even though we know next to nothing about our opponents……"
"Geez, you worry too much twilight. i thought it was the element of kindness who's supposed to be the worrywart."
The Pegasus' jovial voice didn’t match the atmosphere of the cave as it slowly disappeared in echoes.
"Even foals know something about changelings right, right? my grandmother used to me tell stories about them every night"
"Is being a good listener to an old hag something worth flaunting over? How unsightly, please stop bragging." Silver spell commented as she watch the path behind the herd.
"Besides, you always cry in fear when grandma finishes that story."
The thestral mare teased the the Pegasus in a low voice, yet the stallion retorted with a "I didn’t cry!!".
Umbra sighed as if she was helpless, yet she seemed to be enjoying it.
"Heh, even if they cut this loser up into minced meat, I’ll still send them flying! So don’t worry!"
"Hey, saying I’m a loser is too much isn’t it……"
The lantern shone on the Flash Setry's' dispirited face, but then immediately cheered up and raised the sheathed sword on his shoulder.
"It’s fine. Even if a dragon shows up, we’ll figure a way out even if it’s just the four of us!"
"……hope that's just not hot air."
Silver Spell mumbled softly, making Umbra chuckle. The sound of their voice overlapped with each other in the cave.
Worried if their voice would lure out some unknown thing from the depths of the cave, twilight didn’t dare to make a sound.
"Still, we would go become the new heroes of Equestria. Right?"
In order to go along with the nodding stallion and mare, twilight could only smile silently.
The smile was as ambiguous as the the impostor of her foalsitter, hidden in the darkness without anyone finding it out.
Would it really be like that
No matter how uneasy her heart was, twilight could't voice her question for what happened to her and their current dilemma kept on gnawing at her heart.
combined with a feeling of powerlessness with her magic bottle necked, only added to her anxiety.
He said "Even if it’s just the four of us"
Yet, they have only met recently. How can he have that much confidence?
Twilight knew that they weren’t bad ponies. She understood that.
But……
"Still, we should have prepared before we started exploring the cave……we didn’t even bring something with us……"
"Even if you say it like that, what can a bunch of useless junk do in our situation?"
The Pegasus didn’t mind the lavender mare's voice, showing that his courage was exceptional.
"And I am more worried about the kidnapped princess……if she were wounded, we could treat them too, right?"
"i can still use some small scale healing magic even with the binder."
"Then it won’t be a problem!"
I can only do it three times……
No one seemed to hear the lavender mare's unclear mumbling.
"It’s good that you’re so confident, but you wouldn’t get lost now, right?" Twilight reminded Flash Sentry
"Come on, we’ve been walking a road straight as an arrow until now. How could we get lost?" Flash sentry replied
"I wouldn’t say so. After all, you get carried away so easily, so I have no choice but to watch over you strictly." Umbra butted in
"Aren’t you the same……"
Flash Sentry and Umbra are actually foalhood friends and both joined the royal guard the same day.
It had been an uncountable number of times where they quarreled on the journey.
Twilight followed between the two, clutching her mace tightly as she chanted Celestia's name repeatedly.
'Please let us find that pace quickly and peacefully'
This prayer of hers had not echoed in the cave, but assimilated and disappeared into the pitch black darkness.
Maybe it was because her prayers has been heard by the Solar princess. Or it could be that she was immersed in listening the sound of the prayers.
"miss sparkle, we're slowing down. please Keep up the line" the silver unicorn pleaded to her
"Ah, sorry……" the lavender sheepishly replied as she picked up the pace
In the end, the one who first noticed something was off was none other than her.
As she was reciting her prayer, the grey mare that urged her on. Just as she was about to hurry up and keep up with the formation, suddenly——
*crumble*
A slight sound that sounded like rocks rolling entered Twilight's ears.
"……!"
"Miss sparkle? are you alright?"
With a shudder, Twilight froze in her steps. concerned, the Silver Spell questioned her actions.
Graduating with flying colours from the Royal Guard Academy, the unicorn mare who was proficient in incantations couldn’t understand the student of the solar diarch in front of her.
She was jittery and incomprehensible. this mare doesn't feel or acted like the heroine of Equestria the other guards told her to be, and it got even worse when they had began exploring the cave.
"I just heard the sound of something collapsing……"
"From where? In front?"
"behind us..."
Due to the lavender mare that had stopped moving, their distance with the two others grew further.
Yet, the two ponies in front who was still quarreling didn’t notice the situation behind them.
The grey unicorn sighed as their surroundings grew darker with their only source of light went further and further away from them.
"Are you sure miss Sparkle?, haven’t we’ve been walking in a straight line ever since we started? What could possibly be behind us---------"
Silver Spell turned her head back.
What happened next was her monotone voice changing into one more of a surprised cry.
"Changelings?!"
The cave wall had collapsed. No, it was actually dug through.
From the tunnel emerged numbers of hideous monsters, who then proceeded to surround both of them who were unfortunately walking at the end of the line.
Monsters with insectoid eyes, legs filled with holes, mouths filled with sharp teeth, horns curved upward like a scythe, and wings that belongs to a disgusting bug .
They were Changelings.
"HUH!?"
The grey unicorn made an unnatural sound. lowering her head with the galea adorning it. proof of her graduation from the Academy, she used her tongue that had turned stiff to recite an incantation.
while to most unicorns, incantations are already obsolete due to the improvements on rune and hex design and technology but, it had and advantage: it may take longer to cast, but it costs a lot less mana in comparison to runes. perfect for any unicorn who had a magic binder on their horns
but still, It was not as poweful as runes.
FIRE INFERNO SUN
"YOL!……TOOR!……SHUL!"
The grey unicorn concentrated on reciting the incantation that she had engraved in her heart. What came out of her mouth were powerful words that could even change the world.
Forming at the tip of her ringed horn that was as large as a hoofball, an arrow of flame emerged and flew towards the face of a changeling.
What came next was the disgusting smell and the crackling sound of meat burning.
"That’s one down!"
Silver spell was smiling bravely due to her concrete victory as she felt high spirited.
To be able to cast this incantation successfully again gave her a massive boost in her confidence.
"YOL!……TOOR!……SH-AAAGGHHH!!!!!"
Yet, there were just too many opponents.
Before the grey unicorn could finish chanting, the slender limbs of hers were grabbed by the changelings.
Unable to react in time, she was pushed hard against the rugged cave floor.
"HUH!? WHU!?"
Her helmed head hit the cave floor with a loud thud. With her vision blurry, her helmet was taken away right in front of her.
'Ah, hrk……g-give that back! That gear is not allowed to be touched by bugs like like you……"
For Silver Spell, that helmet is not just a symbol of her achievement, it held the meaning of her pride.
Yet, right in front of the grey unicorn that was screaming frantically, the helmet was crushed with a boulder with a hard crunch.
In an instant, the calm mask of the royal guard unicorn disappeared as it contorted into one of rage.
"B-bastards……YOU BASTARDS!!!!"
she struggled with her arms and kicked with her legs that she had barely trained.
But what she had done was wrong. The enraged changelings immediately used an obsidian dagger to stab her gut without a moment of hesitation.
"—AAAAAAGGGHHH……!?"
The miserable cries of the grey unicorn who had her organs torn echoed within the cave.
Of course, the rest of the herd——No. Twilight naturally won’t just sit and watch.
"AARD!!!!"
the lavender mare used her own incantations to unleash a powerful kinetic blast from her horn.
Of course, even with its obsolescence, the librarian still studied the art of incantations.
Not to mention that she was able to improve the original incantations by shortening the words and adding her own wordings in it.
Yet, the lavender mare's attacks were superficial.
Moreover, due to her state of panic, she was unable to truly focus her incantation to a solid spell and had no luck of hitting the insectoid creatures effectively.
The kinetic blast hit one of the crystal stalagmites, only cracking it in the middle
Fortunate or not, the changelings hesitated and stepped back a step.
They either thought that she doesn't have a binder, or just hated to be hit by her. Either was just a coincidence.
Grabbing that window of opportunity, twilight quickly dragged Silver spell out from the group of changelings.
"you're gonna be alright……Hang in there!…..!?"
She didn’t get a reply.
"HELP!!! SILVER'S BEEN STABBED!!!! she quickly called for the others as her front hooves was dyed in a dark red color.
The grey mare still had the black dagger stabbed into her gut.
Her stomach was cruelly cut open, with her insides clearly in a bloody mess.
With such a horrible sight in front of her, twilight couldn’t help but gasp.
"ha……ha……"
Yet, her ally was still alive. Although she was convulsing, she wasn’t dead yet.
"There’s still time. I have to save her."
Twilight bit her lip, cleared her mind, and focused.
Another flaw in using incantations is that they require pure focus and a clear mind while pouring one's very soul into the words they are saying
"O dh'oine squaess, hi roch uin bor -o gurth an hen cuil na- vet na bui- cin with hen emel."
Holding the mace in front of her chest, the tip of twilight's horn came a flicker of light that glows brigher and brighter. And with the incantation complete, she lowered her horn and placed the tip on Silver Spell's gaping wound.
It is said that the first incantation was taught by the elk's human god of words: Tolkien to the magically adept creatures of the world.
Twilight recited her own version of the doe's prayer as if she had even focused her whole soul in it. At her horn, the bright light turned to a brightly glowing smoke and seeped into the female guard's gaping wound.
As the light slowly dispersed, the belly that was cut open slowly healed.
Of course, the changelings wouldn’t just wait for this long process to end. But——
As luck would have it, Flash sentry had finally noticed something was wrong behind and immediately came flying to protect his comrades.
Spitting the torch aside, he held his sword with his teeth and pierced through an insect’s throat.
Making the bughorse shriek in pain
"Nfkst!!"
Pulling his sword out from the corpse, he turned around and killed another changeling. The sword came slashing down vertically at the insect's barrel. instantly cutting it in two. Green blood splattering the cave walls.
"What’s the matter huh!? COME ON!!" The stallion roared between his teeth
The word ‘Bloodthirsty’ can be read in flash Sentry's eyes as he glares at the other changelings in front of him
"Wait, you can’t fight them all alone!"
Unfortunately, he's still a relatively new guard with little to no experience in the field of battle
Before Umbra could say a word , a green spell had already grazed Flash Sentry's stifle. Leaving a charred streak of fur and skin on the stallion's left hindleg
"RRRRRRFFFFFF!!!!!!!" the pegasus screamed while keeping his sword on his mouth.
The one who wounded the stallion was a changeling with a long laceration in its chest. Flash Senty's sword had become dull from constant slashing and stabbing against chitin that he failed to strike a crippling blow to the bug.
As the pegasus lost his balance, his body turned awkwardly at an angle. Still, he swung his sword desperately and finally manage to kill the creature.
But in a moment, another changeling had jumped on his back in an attemp to tackle him down……
"BRRCK! UFF!!!"
The pegasus spread his wings open to fling the changeling off, but a loud bang could be heard as left wing was shot by another changeling from afar.
It was the end.
The lamp that discarded on the floor burned out, leaving the crystal spires to glow on its own. Leaving an eerie, shadowy illumination of the pegaus stallion's fate
In the near pitch-black darkness, hoarse cries and pain filled whinneys could be heard clearly, making one worry with fear.
Because he forced himself to be brave, and even due to fact that his armor was damaged, Flash sentry's equipment could barely even protect him
The only effective protective gear he had left was a single leather breastplate.
In the end, he couldn’t escape the fate of being pulled down, torn up to pieces, and dying just like that.
"……Ugh! How did this happen……"
Umbra, who was too late to help stood frozen in place with a pale face as she watched the stallion she secretly hold dear to her heart do in front of her
She shook off her trembling and got into a fighting stance——To be able to do this in this kind of situation, she was quite composed.
"……The two of you, run!! Go to the station!!"
"B-but……!" for a student in the study of friendship, twilight couldn't abandon a friend. specially in their situation
But hearing the thestral's cold tone of voice, twilight wanted to ignore what the former said. But she understood, that with such a situation unraveling in front of her, she was powerless.
On her back was is Silver Spell, who was gasping for air weakly as her conscious slowly disappeared little by little even though her wound is mostly healed around the Black blade jutting out of her abdomen.
The changelings closed in slowly at the remaining prey.
They initially looked like they were cautious of the thestral mare, but still rushed at them in the end.
Twilight looked repeatedly at the Umbra, Silver Spell, and what is left of flash sentry who was still getting mutilated by the insects.
Seeing that both of them still didn’t move yet, she barred her sharp fangs and hissed at the bugs in front of her.
"SHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!"
with her mind made up, she gave a powerful roar and galloped into the midst of the changelings.
tilting her wings at a downward angle, she wall ran past the main swarm and land behind them. kicking and slashing each one with the clawed horseshoes she have on her hooves
'I can’t die here. i have my duty as a guard to defend my country. equestria won't fall under these bugs!"
"I can never ever forgive them, especially for killing Flashy!!!!!"
She sent a quick swing that she had trained long and hard in boot camp into a changeling's exposed neck, instantly cutting its throat.
The changeling fell with an audible gargle as its green blood spread across the floor. She bucked the body away and turned to lob off an insect's horn.
It was spot on.
The bughorse's curved horn flew off as it cries in pain before receiving a straight hit on the neck with a bladed hoof
In the same moment, she took the opportunity to use her right hind hoof and use a technique she invented herself.
using her wings to propel her lower body, she sent her bladed hind hoof to deliver a wide, far reaching sweep hitting Two changelings who were caught in it flew backwards into the cave wall. Blood spilling out as soon as gravity took them back to the earth.
"WHA THE!!???"
Yet, another changeling easily caught it as it bit her hoof.
The strength of its jaw made the thestral mare creak as her face went pale.
Ordinarily, changelings were only as tall as a normal pony. Yet.....
"*snort*"
the grunting, snorting, smelly bug was very large outdoing the celestial sisters in both height, and girth.
Pegasi, and even more so thestrals, are rather short, but she really had to raise her head to look at it.
Her caught hoof made a crunching noise as the pain made her scream loudly.
"Hey!! Ouch!! Stop it!!!!"
Suddenly, the giant bughorse swung its head hard and threw her towards the cave wall.
What happened next was the dull sound of something dry cracking.
The shock, concussion, and pain, rendered Umbra incapable of making a sound, but the changeling once again threw her. This time, towards a crystal stalagmite. Cracking its surface, then back to the cave wall.
"OOF!!, AGH!?, OUGH!! ARGH!!"
She made sounds that even batponies would find hard to make as she spit a mixture of blood and bile on the floor.
The leftover changelings immediately swarmed her.
The therstal mare cried out as the insects began to trample her and teared her already battered armor.
Towards the ponies who dare ruin their Queen's plan, they had no mercy.
The mare who faced their wrath made a sharp cry.
But they're also after one other thing from the therstal mare: her feelings towards the pegasus.
For changelings, emotions are their main source of nourishment.. Love being one of the most valuable.
But in the noisy environment, twilight heard Umbra's plea..
"——R,run……"
"……! Sorry……! I'm so sorry........!"
Twilight folded her ears shut in an attempt to drown out Umbra's cries as her heart and soul is being siphoned out by the starving bugs like a parasite echoing throughout the cave as she stumbled while escaping with the other unicorn on her back.
She dropped her mace and went to full gallop, When she felt like she was falling, she stomped hard on the ground to regain her balance to keep running.
In the near total darkness, she couldn’t see the rugged rocks on the uneven cave floor properly, but on and on she forced her legs to move.
"……rry……s,sorry……sorry,sorry…." She muttered as tears flow down her cheek.
If only her friends listened to her. If only she just faced cadence's impostor alone, if only she's capable of just ripping the ring off her horn so easily, if only....
She desperately gasped for air as she opened her mouth painfully.
There was only the faint glow of the crystrals to guide her directionless path Even though she knew that she was forcing herself to run deeper into the cave……
What scared her the most was the sounds of hoofsteps and buzzing wings coming from the chasing insects coupled with the echoing clicks and hisses nearing her.
She never stopped running, not even stopping to look back.
Even so, all she could see was the faint path.
The old mare's tale saying that changelings are just simple minded, insentient creatures was correct.
But, what if 10 or more changelings rushed towards you with the simple orders to kill, what would you do?
even the personal student of the solar diarch never considered such details.
Alone, she is weak, inexperienced, non-violent and unlucky. Not to mention the number of changelings were just too many.
These kind of things……never happened to the lavender mare in her life till now.
"Ahh!!...."
Twilight stumbled on a piece of rock and fell clumsily.
Her cheek was scratched painfully by the gravel, but she was more worried about her last companion she had let go from her back.
Twilight hurriedly scuttled to Silver spell's side.
"S,sorry! Are you alright?"
"*cough* *wheeze*" was all the grey unicorn could muster as reply as foamy blood formed on her mouth.
Because she had been galloping this whole time, she didn’t notice Silver Spell's whole body convulsing and having a high fever. Her sweat had already soaked her wool gambeson through.
"H,how……!?"
Twilight initially suspected that she made a mistake in her incantation at the heat of the moment
Thinking about that, she used her precious time for escaping to remove the remains of her blue armor along with the undershirt with her hooves to inspect the wound.
But the Healing indeed had an effect. Although it was slightly stained with blood, the belly fur was smooth and didn’t look like it was even wounded in the first.
"…W-why? What should I do in this situation? What should I……"
She may have read the basics of elementary first aid, and practiced some healing spells during her free Time as a filly but, she is by no means a trained doctor or a medic.
The lavender totally had no idea what she was supposed to do next.
But then, even if she used the incantation again, would Silver Spell be healed? Or should she find some other way to this?
Not to mention, she was in the state of panic. Could she even recite the incantation properly?
"Ummm, AHHH……!?"
Unfortunately, a moment of hesitation could be fatal. An immense pain overwhelmed the the lavender mare as she fell to the floor before she could even scream.
At the side of her peripheral vision, she saw a bright green streak from the darkness, and then she felt a burning pain in her right shoulder next.
Turning her head backwards, she saw her lavender coat burned off exposing a charred piece of her skin.
She didn’t wear any protective gear, so the spell easily went through and emptied its lethal payload straight to the lavender mare's slim shoulder.
The only ones protective gear in her herd was the guards, and they too already had their armor damaged.
But again, the primary reason was because the isn't enough of it to go around for them.
Whenever she moved her body even by a little, the charred muscle and tissue cry out in protest. It felt as if she was being clamped with a pair of hot pliers.
"Ahh.... Hah.. *Hic*"
All the twilight could do was to weep tears of pain as she looked at the changelings with tears flowing down her face.
There were only two changelings who were approaching her.
Fangs barred out from their muzzles.
Maybe suicide by biting her own tongue was better now.
But as the student of princess celestia, she cannot do such thing, so she was bound to face the same fate of her short lived friends.
Will she be torn in pieces, or will she lost her emotions, or was she going to face both?
The lavender mare's teeth began chattering uncontrollably.
As if she wanted to protect her fellow unicorn, twilight hugged her tightly. Suddenly, she felt her lower body becoming a little warm.
As the changelings smelled the stench, their faces contorted with disgust.
Twilight closed her eyes as she chanted her mentor's name.
Yet, salvation didn’t arrive.
But——
"……huh……?"
In the darkness, a ray of light could be seen.
It was likeluna's moon shining proudly in a evening sky engulfed in darkness.
That small, but bright clear light slowly approached her.
At the same time, she could hear unusual yet firm steps.
The insects turned their heads in curiosity. Did their comrades let another pony get in?
And then, looking over the changeling's head, she saw it....
A tall, bipedal creature.
It is clad from top to bottom with a some sort of armor
On its left shoulder, a bright white light burns with such pureness that shows it wasn't just a simple torch.
"——No……! Don’t come here……!" Twilight tried to warn her could be rescuer, But her tongue had frozen with fear, causing her to be unable to mutter out a single sound.
She felt very embarrassed, because she didn’t have the courage like Umbra, Flash Sentry, or even rainbow dash.
The changelings probably thought the same too. That a powerless pony like her could wait.
Both of them turned to face the creature. One of them lit up its horn and launched a spell towards it.
The spell was below average at best. Not to mention the changeling's marksmanship was also subpar.
But in the pitch black darkness, the changelings had an absolute advantage over them.
With a normal pony’s eyes, it would be impossible to dodge the oncoming spell——
And the creature was hit almost at the center, hitting its shoulder.
But instead of the creature falling to its knees, the spell blew out into bright, yellow sparks.
not even fazing the biped as the thumps of the armor on its lower limbs continues.
The other changeling who didn’t notice this abnormality jumped towards the creature.
Aiming for the slit between the shoulder and the neck, it stabbed with the dagger hard.
"*GASP!!!*" twilight gave a sharp cry. After the cry, all she heard was the sound of glass shattering.
Something under the armor had stopped the dagger.
The insect felt confused, but swung its dagger again
Grave mistake.
With a heavy thud, the creature shoved the insect hard against the cave wall.
threads glowing crimson grew out and around the arm holding the insect in place.
And creep towards changeling
The sound of it’s shrieking cry as the open orifices on its body began to vent out flames shocked the remaining quadrupeds to their core.
The changeling struggled desperately. But because it was being pushed hard against the wall with an armored limb, it couldn’t even reach for the monster's helm.
In the end, the bugpony could no longer move as its limbs limped towards the ground, and with a pop and crunch, its ligaments gave and dropped each of its limbs to the cave floor
Only did the the creature released the remaining charred exoskeleton of the now dead insect and it fell to the ground shattering like glassware.
Striding over the remains, it continued walking.
This situation was completely baffling. The one who felt fear towards the situation in front of her wasn’t the lavender mare herself.
The changeling that fired the spell stepped back unconsciously. Even if it abandoned its kin here, it would have been understandable.
Because it was never ordered to face an opponent of unknown origins, just to kill the remaining ponies in the cave.
But then, the obstacle behind the insect was no other than the bearer of the element of magic.
Twilight finally made a move.
Even if she was shot with a burn spell, wet herself, scared till she was unable to stand and kept relying on her dying friends,
She still used her arm that was still movable to slightly lean in front of the bugpony.
Her movement was an instinct without any further thoughts. Her resistance were also actually futile.
But this futile resistance was enough to make the the changeling hesitate for a moment.
At that moment, it became its first time to be confused of what to do.
But before it could make a decision, a loud crack like a snap of a whip, erupts behind the changeling as its head was turned to smithereens in a mere split second killing it on the spot.
and dousing the element of magic with green liquid and brain matter.
As it ended the fight capable of making even Rainbow Dash feel nauseous, the creature stepped on the corpse of a changeling.
Its coal black armor, built from some alien material as black smoke seeps out of the cracks and crevices.
on one of its arms, a magic circle glowing red rotates on its axis as it binds itself on the creature's wrist like a bracelet. 
Meanwhile, a mare lay paralyzed on the ground, shivering in both pain and fear, her shoulder burned. her face had twisted unbearably from her sweat and tears.
"——This... What is it??"
Twilight felt that she had seen a creature like this before
While she endured her fear and pain, she asked him.
"What are you?"
..............................
Back at the train:
"WHAT THE BUCK DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE???????" starlight yelled at a batpony stallion as they make head or tail of what happened to them after the crash..
"L-L--L-Like I just said agent shimmer... The human was already gone by the time we woke up!! We looked everywhere i swear !!" The batpony stallion replied shakily as he hid his face his hoof while Lying in front of the fuming eclipse agent towering over him.
"That damm monkey.."
"He may have a reason to leave us after pulling us out of the wreck starlight.." An orchid mare with a bandage on her head said while approaching her fellow agent.
" why didn't anypony even told him of his importance???" the lilac unicorn lectured to the remaining ponies and to herself around their crash site.
"neither did you starlight. and you were supposed to be one guarding him in the first place" Tempest shadow shot back as she aid the mayor of stableside in lifting a piece of wreckage in search for any more supplies that the could use.
but despite all this, everypony is pretty grateful to Faust and their supposedly captors for a few things:
first: the cocoons the bugponies used to hold them in the train's caboose more or less saved them from any major injuries during the crash. second: by the time the guards woke up from their slumber, they're neatly lined up on the cave floor a safe distance from the crash site which they believe was done by their human cargo.
which is nowhere to be found by the time the first guard woke up.
not everyone came out alright though as some guards were found to be unresponsive and looking into space with their eyes devoid of any life. and any attempts by the medics proved futile.
"ummm.... ma'am? we think you might want to see this..." a grey unicorn stallion barely spoke as he prostate behinf the fuming eclipse agent.
starlight only gave a slight nod to the stallion as he stood up and took the lilac mare to one of the intact cargo wagons. with a glow of his horn, the door slid open revealing its contents: a few assorted weapons line up the shelves, a few scrolls neatly stowed in a glass box with a book on its side, and a huge iron vault that is pried open like a paper bag.
all bearing the cutie mark of a pony starlight least wanted to be entangled with: 
Lighting up her horn, starlight fired a simple spell, lighting up prints on the floor and the vault door.
Footpfrints and fingerprints littereing the room was all she needed.
"any idea what was in the vault?" starlight's cold voice shook the stallion's already weak will as he struggles to answer the mare.
............................................................................................
initializing........
starting up apps......
translator app corrupted.. Skipping...
startup complete.
running diagnostics.....
checking current load-out....
stats:
armor integrity: 100%
LM/DM ratio: 0 to 6 warning. warning. destabilization possible. please re-adjust
skills accumulated:
Basic kinesis
Transfusion
Basic alchemy
Basic marksmanship
Master mechanic
lunar control
flora manipulation.
synchronization to user: 00% complete.......