Stone Smasher was not a smart pony, as his name would imply, and he was on the lowest totem pole of their shadowy bosses’ little gang. Meaning he was left with the worst tasks, like watching the well while their new boss made the finishing touches on the wards. He sighed, tossing another stone into the well and watching as it slowly vanished into the inky blackness.
Tossing a second stone, he continued to watch its descent only to blink when it began to grow instead of shrink. “What the hell?” He muttered, leaning close to the well and watching as the circle grew larger and larger, until he noticed it was not his rock returning to him, but instead something with beedy blue eyes filled with hate.
The stallion couldn't even muster a scream before a terrifying amalgam of pony and shark tore from the water, as well as his throat. His head, now freed of his neck, flew through the air, making several revolutions before the pony realized that he was now in fact, quite dead.
Bursting forth from the well, the being formerly known as Swift Light landed on top of another thug, who she quickly bit into, tearing most of his face off and noisily chewing the meal before swallowing it. Reaching down, she gripped the stallion’s sword and looked around, wary of another attacker.
The attack she had assumed was coming, was not there, and most ponies looked on in a mix of horror and confusion, all save for a hooded pony. “What are you just standing there for? Kill it!” He yelled, pointing his blade at the creature formerly known as Swift Light.
The nameless thugs came at her in a sporadic, uncoordinated assault, some having grabbed whatever was nearby as a weapon, items that ranged from simple clubs and swords to table legs and digging equipment. Grinning cruelly, the being who used to be Swift Light, tore through their ranks gracefully, the creature using its powerful tail that had replaced its back legs to launch herself through the air. After nearly a dozen ponies met their end at her blade and bite, the thugs broke rank and ran, leaving behind a now terrified and shaking hooded stallion.
“W-what are you?” He asked, lifting the ancient blade and placing it between him, and her.
The creature shifted its weight on its powerful tail and breathed heavily through its new gills, her lungs not liking the sudden shift much, but holding out, for now. “Your death.” She spat, her voice having changed to become deeper, raspier, and strangely alien, as if her throat was not built to speak the language.
With a primal snarl of rage the creature lunged forward, jaws extended, and blade forgotten. She knew the weapon would aid her, but she didn't care, she wanted to taste his blood, to feel his flesh slide down her throat and nourish her new, and altogether different form.
He swung down with the ancient blade, determined to drive it into the creature’s half muzzle, half shark like mouth and push it back. That plan however, vanished the second she twisted herself in mid air and bite down lengthwise on the blade, her powerful jaws shattering the weapon completely.
With nothing between him and it, the stallion panicked, the only thing he could do before it landed on him being the utterance of a panicked, confused cry. A second later and the creature’s bulk suddenly slammed against him, driving him to the ground and pinning him completely.
Pushing magic in his horn, the now, no longer hooded stallion tried to summon forth a simply bolt of force, only for his horn to vanish in a flash of white teeth. His ensuing cry of pain and confusion was cut short when the creature bit through his jaw, reducing the cry to a wet gurgle of agony. She had aimed it perfectly though, leaving the stallion alive but unable to do anything but make wet squelching noises as panic gripped him.
Pulling back, the creature smiled toothily down at him, making the stallion realize she now no longer had lips, and that the changes had also altered her eyes, making them more shark like while also giving her flesh the same strange texture as the great hunters of the sea. With a smirk on her lipless face, the creature beamed down at him, pride emanating from its alien features.
“That was easier than I expected.” She began. “I’m almost a little disappointed, I had an entire plan on how I was going to take you down.” It leaned in close, her blood tinged breathe hot against his face. “And yet here you are, about to die, and having not even put up a fight.”
Before he could muttere another sound she leaned down and bit clean through his neck, leaving him to gurgle weakly as his lifeblood pooled around him, unable to do anything as the creature began to consume him, peice by peice, not even waiting for him to expire before it feasted on his still living body. As the creature polished off his second limb and began to tear his entrails out, consciousness left him, and moments later, he perished as the creature tore out his heart and ate it.
Swift shook her head vigorously, looking around the grimy tunnel in confusion. “What the hell?” She whispered, her mind trying to hold onto the strange, and fleeting images she had seen only seconds earlier.
Yet, no matter how hard she tried to cling to them, they would not stay, and within a minute she could no longer even remember what she had been trying to focus on. Shaking her head once more, Swift Light turned back to the task at hoof, the guard staring down through the crack in the floor as she scanned the area.
The hooded figure and the historian were still in the midst of an argument, one that left the hooded stallion angry, and he stomped away from the wall of force, empty hooved. “I’m going to take a force and look for the next artifact, you lot keep her working, and when the dynamite comes, just blow your way in, use as much as you need but make sure you don't bring down the cave.” The figure stopped at one of the taller thugs and clapped him on the shoulder. “You're in charge Rock Break.”
“Err, you got it boss.” He announced, saluting the figure as he ignored him and walked out of the room.
“What an idiot.” Swift Light muttered to herself.
With a smirk on her face, the guard crawled deeper still, careful to not put too much weight in one spot or the other, some small voice reminding her of the distinct possibility that falling through the ceiling was. Making her way deeper, Swift Light made a mental note that she was coming to the end of the mapped area. Ahead of her, the tunnel continued, making its way over where Swift Light knew the shimmering wall of force was.
The ceiling slowly lowered, until the mare was forced to crawl deeper, using only the dim light of her horn to guide her. A few seconds later and her hoof glided across something smooth, a slight downward slope beginning only a few feet away. Pushing forward another foot told the guard that the slope was relatively steep, and didn't seem like it was going to stop anytime soon. She laid there for a moment, half down this oddly smooth, slidelike indent, pondering what she would do, until she realized that she couldn't very well move back.
“Well shit.” She muttered, her eyes unable to pierce the darkness and see where the slide ended.
Gulping down the fear that burned in her chest, Swift Light conjured a shield of light before her, and set her hooves wide, ready to brace herself as soon as the slide ended. With one last deep breathe, the guard pushed forward and began to slide down the tunnel. Speed quickly built, but as quickly as it built, it vanished, as the slide ended suddenly, sending the mare tumbling end over end after she impacted a suddenly flat ground.
The mare winced, and slowly righted herself before patting herself down, making sure her armor was secure as was her weapon. With everything now as secure as it was going to get, Swift Light stood up, and poured more magic into her horn, lighting up the room and revealing a large circular stone door.
Turning around, she noticed there was a second door, though this one was bare, while the first one had writing all around the edges. Figuring that the one behind her was the way back towards the thugs and the hooded pony, Swift turned back to the writing door and began to read. Or at least that's what she had intended on doing, as it turned out to be in another language.
“Makes sense.” She muttered to herself, as this tomb was older than modern Equish likely was.
Peering closer, Swift Light recognized the characters quickly, figuring out that they were from the ancient earth pony language referred to modernly as Terran. The second word was in a different language entirely though, though this took even less time to decipher, as it was one she had studied in high school. Wind speak was the language, and it was spoken by the ancient pegasi before the founding of Equestria.
The words alternated back and forth between the two languages, making deciphering easy. “Speak friend and enter.” Said both the door, and Swift Light.
“Well that's easy, Vanalia.” Spoke the mare, the last word being the ancient tongue of the unicorns, a language called Celestial.
Sure enough, a second later some distant set of gears began to grind, and the door slowly slid back before rolling into the wall, revealing a small room at the center of which stood a simple pedestal. Peering closer, Swift Light was able to instantly recognize the sight of the ancient sword. Lighting her horn, the mare scanned the room both magically and visually.
Minutes ticked by, the guard making sure to scan every last inch of the room before stopping and taking a step back, an odd look on her face. “Nothing.” She muttered.
With a shrug of her shoulders the guard took a step forward, and after lighting her horn, gripped the sword and lifted it from its pedestal. When nothing happened, the mare shrugged once more, levitating the sword before her and grabbing the hilt.
For a moment nothing happened, only for a sudden searing pain to erupt from the guard’s gums. The stone blade clattered to the floor, the guard dropping to her knees as she cried out in pain. Through the haze of agony, she felt several objects fall from her mouth and clatter across the ground, the guard only half aware that these objects were in fact, her teeth.
Several agonizing moments that were completely unaffected by a snap healing spell, passed by, and just as quick as the pain came, it left, leaving the mare confused as she lay there for several more seconds. Looking down, the guard realized that her teeth were indeed littering the floor, leaving her confused as to why she still felt as though she had teeth in her mouth.
Using her tongue, she gently prodded a random tooth, only to recoil when she felt not the teeth of a vegetarian but rather the sharp point of a predator. Recoiling in surprise, the mare quickly conjured a reflective surface while maintaining her light spell. What she saw made her gasp in surprise, revealing a row of sharp, pointed teeth as well as a pair of prominent fangs that poked out from her top lip.
“What the fuck happened to me?” Swift Light muttered.
She continued to stare at her new chompers for several seconds, and after poking each one and finding that they were indeed real, dismissed her simple mirror spell. Casting a more elaborate healing spell was a simple matter, yet when she used her tongue to touch her teeth, they were as sharp as they had been a moment earlier.
With a sigh of irritation, the mare reached down, grabbed the blade and after finding that it was undamaged, slipped it into a hidden pocket just large enough for it. Looking down, Swift Light realized her teeth were still littering the floor and with a grim sigh of resignation, she reached down and scooped them up before putting them away in another pocket, knowing full well the spells and curses that could be enacted if someone found one of her teeth.
With her prize now secured, and her terror roughly shunted to the back of her mind, Swift Light turned back to the tunnel she had emerged from. Lighting her horn, she conjured a row of hard light constructs in the shape of stairs, allowing her to crawl up the tight passage, all while ignoring the strange sensation of her new fangs rubbing against her bottom lip.
Crawling back through the tunnels she paused in order to listen to what was going on below, but after finding that little had changed, chose to instead proceed back up the winding passageways that lead to the surface. Though it took nearly twice as long to get back up as it did to get down, it was still possible, and several hours later, the guard emerged, moonlight bathing her sweat covered form. The guard paused and quickly enacted the same simple illusion spell she had used on her cutie mark, only this time she used it to ensure that her teeth returned to normal, her fangs being rendered invisible.
A quick look into her conjured mirror told her that everything was back to normal, and with that done, she removed her armor, stowed it away in the saddle bags she had hidden away, and began to make her way back towards town. With the moon high overhead Swift Light trotted back to town at a leisurely pace, already imagining what manner of lie she would tell if she happened upon a local on her way back to town.
Thankfully, no one was up at such an hour, meaning she made it back quickly, and easily, slipping into her room at the inn with no one seeing her. As she gathered up her things she considered her options, and after thinking it over, chose to continue her quest, deciding that Celestia’s need for the artifacts outweighed the freakish change that had just occured to her. She would also need to move quickly, as Celestia’s guard force was getting here, and the hooded figure that seemed to be in charge of the gang of thugs, was getting away.
Hefting the rest of her supplies onto her back, the guard made sure her saddle bags were secure before placing the necessary bits on the end table, and writing a note of apology for having to leave so suddenly. Next she slipped down into the inn and out into the cool night air once more, making a beeline for the docks.
As she walked, the guard considered her options, only to come to the realization that chartering a boat to Saddle Arabia may not be in her best interest. She could not keep up the illusion overnight, and even if she recast it right before going to sleep, it was still unlikely to last the entire night. She might be able to cast an alarm spell in order to wake up in time, but that came with the chance of adding on a not inconsiderable amount of suspicion on her part.
Her hooves slowed and she diverted her course away from the docks, and towards an ill used section of the dock, where no boats were, pretending to look out over the ocean as she considered things. The possibility of charting a boat was tempting, as it would be comfortable, but there was also a good chance that someone would recognize her, or possibly discovered her change, both possibilities which would lead to uncomfortable questions. As she continued to pace back and forth along the dock, the mare began to notice a light rising from the depths, and growing closer by the second.