Remy and Lance entered into a large ballroom, its windows covered in a thick layer and dust and mold. The once polished and sturdy floorboards now creaked under the pair’s hoofsteps.
“Look,” Lance pointed out quietly, pointing to a large wooden staircase along the wall to the right. Remy smiled up to Lance and saw he was still surveying the room.
“It’s clear,” Remy told him. But he didn’t reply. “What’s wrong Lance?”
“This is the only way the Captain could have gone,” Lance replied.
Remy looked around the ballroom but only noticed dust. “He might just be upstairs, or maybe he found another way!”
“Maybe,” Lance said. He turned and started walking slowly towards the stairs. Remy followed. The old ballroom floor creaked and groaned under their hooves with each step.
“Are you sure this is safe to walk on?” Remy asked.
“It’s a ballroom,” Lance chuckled. “It’s meant to hold large groups, Remy.”
Remy nodded and continued behind him. Despite his words of encouragement, she trotted slowly, like the dusty floor was actually a sheet of ice on a lake. She remembered her family's vacation home, a cabin on the outskirts of Ponyville. Her brother was teaching her to ice skate and-
“Remy are you coming?” Lance asked. He was already halfway up the staircase. Remy’s eyes went wide as she noticed she was no longer moving, that she must’ve been standing still for the last few seconds. She took a step forward and the floor below her groaned loudly. Another step, another creak or groan from the floor. She took another step. Then the floor cracked underneath her.
Remy fell, her hind legs dangling as her front legs gripped desperately at the dusty floor. Lance sprang into action, running down the stairs and to her. But as soon as his hooves hit the floor again, there was another loud crack. Lance froze as he looked out across the ballroom floor to Remy, only her front hooves and head visible, the rest of her swallowed up by a large hole. Through the growing cloud of dust he could see large cracks scattering in every which way out from the hole Remy was in.
Remy's heart was thumping in her chest. She tried to open her wings but panic was already setting in. She was frozen, unable to focus on anything but her grip.
“H-Help me! Please!” Remy pleaded.
“Remy the floor is caving in, I can’t go out there or the combined weight will make the whole floor collapse,” Lance yelled. “Just hold on as tight as you can, okay? I am going to find some way to-”
Remy screamed.
“Something is pulling my leg! There is something pulling me down!”
Without hesitating, Lance quickly gripped his spear with his magic and ran out onto the collapsing floor. Remy slid further down as Lance ran to her. She screamed again as her head disappeared from view. Only the tips of her hooves were visible, desperately gripping the floor. Lance slid and grabbed her foreleg. He pulled her up but only got her head above the hole when the creature below the ballroom yanked her down again.
The floor cracked again but Lance held onto Remy with all of his strength. He peered down into the hole to see what was holding onto his teammate. Down in the hole was a pony, but its neck was bulged out and its mouth was far larger than its head. The creature’s tongue was extended out and wrapped tightly around Remy’s right hind leg. The tongue itself was massive, probably 10 feet in length. The coat of the pony was gone, replaced by a slimy, amphibian-like, layer of skin.
Lance’s horn sparked as he aimed his spear at the thing in the hole, then sent it down, straight into the bulging throat of the creature below. Its tongue retracted and it let out a gurgling sound; the floor started to crack and then finally sank in around the two ponies. Lance’s horn glowed brightly, then sparked as the two were teleported to the staircase. Remy had her head buried in his chest as Lance watched half the ballroom floor collapse into whatever room was below.
Lance sighed then looked down at Remy who was shivering against him.
“It’s okay, you’re safe,” Lance told her. Slowly, she looked up to him, her face covered in tears. Suddenly the memory of what happened that winter at her family’s cabin began to flood back. “I-I almost died as filly,” Remy said, sniffing as new tears were flowing down her cheeks. “My big brother… he was teaching me to ice skate and… I fell through the ice. It was so cold. I wanted to scream. I thought I was going to drown. But my brother was there, he dove in and pulled me out… I… Thank you Lance.”
Lance blushed. “D-Don’t mention it,” Lance replied helping her to her hooves. The pair slowly ascended the staircase which led to a bar and lounge on the second floor. Glass lay scattered across the dusty carpet floor. In a heap on the floor, unconscious, was a batpony.