//------------------------------//
// Penumbra 
// Story: Frozen:The day the sun died. 
// by Brosparkles 
//------------------------------//

		Sol jumped in next, the water strangely calm. But as he swam downward,  the current threw him around violently. He fought against it, but ended up right back at the top, flung out of the pool. It was obvious this water was magically defended. Sol, exhausted from fighting the current, lay in the calm edges of the pool, his head on the edge of the pool.  Amethyst simply waited, not wanting to risk herself to help Aqua, of all ponies. The water being quite warm, Sol decided to remove his helmet, and bask in it. Aqua’s magic aura surrounded him, and the water. He felt relaxed, and content. Amethyst jumped in, and followed suit. She might not have liked Aqua all that much, but she could enjoy his magic. Spike was the only one of them strong enough to overcome the magic, and he couldn’t fit down there. Aqua only made it in because of his countermagic. Sol rose out of the water, and shook off his wings. He put his helmet on and flew around, both because he was restless, and because he hadn’t gotten to fly freely much until now.

Aqua climbed out of the pool, and saw the greyish walls around him. The walls were strangely smooth. His flashlight illuminated a cone in front of him, revealing his path ahead.  The cavern seemed to span endlessly ahead, but there was no way to go but forward. The entirety of the cave was frozen over, and would be quite difficult to walk over without magic. Aqua continued through the blandness of the cave for a while, looking around boredly. He began to sense a change in the water as he trekked along. It was getting warmer. The ice began to melt, slowly trickling down on him. 

“What’s going on up there?” Aqua asked. It’s getting warm down here.”

“I don’t see anything weird.” Sol said.

The cavern began to heat further, and Aqua removed his helmet, His soaked mane hung down his face, as he headed further in.

“There’s gotta be another way in here.” Aqua said.

“We don’t even know if this is the right place.” Amethyst said.

“It is. I know it.” Sol said. “Why else would this be here?”

“That magical field in the water certainly wasn’t natural.” Aqua said, into the radio on his helmet, which he levitated.

Steam began to rise, and the heat became increasingly hard to bare. Aqua felt, for the first time in his life, too hot. He removed his environment suit, which was sticking to him.

“It’s really hot down here.” Aqua said.

“How?” Sol asked.

“I don’t know.” Aqua said.

Aqua looked around, and found a small gap in the wall. He looked within, seeing nothing. The gap was just big enough for him to fit. He decided against it, continuing down the path. He felt the ground begin to vibrate softly.  The gap started to seem more and more appealing. He turned back, and squeezed within. The gap was pitch black, even with his light shining. He felt his way out, to find himself in a completely different room. A switch was on the wall, waiting to be pulled. The walls were much lighter, almost white. Aqua flipped the lever, at a loss for what else to do. The room shook, and Aqua was knocked over.

“Waaaah!” Aqua yelled, flung into the wall.

“Aqua, what’s wrong?” Sol asked.

The sudden shaking stopped as quickly as it started, and Aqua heard a crash from somewhere, followed by a rushing sound, and a loud bang.

“What was that?” Aqua asked.

“I figured you knew. The side of the mountain opened up somehow.” Sol said.

“You mean you had no idea you did that?” Amethyst yelled.

“Nope.” Aqua said.

“I can’t see anything.” Sol said, entering the new hole made in the mountainside.

“Even with a flashlight.” Amethyst said.

“I cannot see either, this is no normal darkness.” said Luna.

Aqua saw a piece of the floor begin to crack, and it fell into a dark pit. A look of terror shot across his face, as he scrambled back to the gap. The floor cracked further as he crawled into the gap, and he once more lost vision. He felt a chill coming from the pit beneath the floor, even as he was in the steaming caves once more. He looked behind him, and in the distance, seeing a new hole in the wall. This one was much bigger, more like a doorway. But it was pitch black within. Sol and the others materialized into the cave, with no sign of approach out of the pitch black tunnel. Spike was hunched over, barely able to fit through the tunnel. But in the cave he could walk more freely. 

“Whoah, what is this place?” Sol said, wonder in his voice.

“A cave. One that’s too hot.” Amethyst said negatively, removing her helmet.

Regrouped within the caves, the group headed forward into the mystery ahead.

“How did it become brighter in here?” Sol asked. “We’re deeper underground.”

“I don’t know, that darkness creeps me out.” Aqua said.

A dark smoke began to creep into the cave, pouring through the walls. The room suddenly cooled. 

“We should probably get going” Aqua said, nervously looking at the slow crawl of the smoke.

“Right.” Amethyst said, trying to hide her fear.

Sol had grown considerably less cheery, but was still happily flying above the group. Spike looked into the darkness confusedly. He backed away from it slowly.

“Everypony step back.” Spike said.

Everypony stepped back behind him. Spike shot a blast of flames into the darkness. Near him it was swelteringly hot. The flame was swallowed up by the darkness, without even a hint of light. A chill still radiated from the blackness, the fire seemed to just disappear.

“This darkness feels... familiar.” Luna said, observing it.

The darkness seemed to slowly grasp at Luna, but not with hostility. A strange limb appeared, with many digits. She stepped back, but the dark limb continued. An eye appeared above it, and looked towards her with desire. 

“Let’s go.” Luna said, not wanting to stick around any longer.

The limb grasped her hooves, but was too weak to keep a hold on her, and she simply slid out of it’s grasp. The limb slid back into the darkness, scratching at the ground. The eye stared at her, untill it too slid back into the blackness. 

“What was that?” Sol asked.

Aqua was visibly shaking, staring into the dark. The others turned away and walked further into the cave, but Aqua was frozen in place. Another limb slowly reached out from the dark, and grabbed Aqua’s hoof. Aqua broke free and ran to the others. 

“Are you okay?” Sol asked.

“Just go.” Aqua said, continuing ahead.

They tried to keep calm, but the limbs began to rise up all around them. One pair of limbs seemed, different. Its claws hooked into the ground,pulling out a mass of darkness behind it. Bright purple eyes shone from the darkness following them. It looked Aqua directly in the eye, and he shook. The limb ran its claws across him, reaching to his face.   Frightened, Aqua bolted forward, and the darkness gave chase. A terrifying shriek broke through the room, as a scaly beast leapt after him. The beast was deep black, marked by contrasting white fangs and purple eyes. The group ran, but the beast was incredibly fast, and gaining. The cavern seemed to stretch on for quite a while, and they would never make it before the beast. More limbs pulled up from the darkness, and their situation seemed hopeless. The beast grabbed on to Amethyst, with a much stronger grip than before. She kicked at it violently, but wherever her hooves landed, the darkness simply shifted. Spike turned, and let out a roar. Flames shot from his mouth, washing over the beast. This seemed to affect it, as it let go, falling over. But it was soon back on its feet. Spike slammed his tail into the walls, the sound echoing throughout the cavernous room. A chunk of the ceiling fell onto the beast, crushing it. But black smoke continued to creep through the cracks in the boulder. The beast would soon reform. Wordlessly, they carried on, looking for any sort of safety. The floor began to seem more and more worked, and less natural. The stones were orderly, and paths were much clearer. But the potency of their lights seemed to grow worse the further they got. Steam no longer rose, the room was cold. Re-suited, Aqua touched his hoof to the mark on his face. Where the limb had touched, he was numb. Amethyst had a hard time walking, he assumed this was the same reason. She relied much more on her other hooves, her back left cold and unresponsive. Sol approached her.

“Let me help you.” He said.

“I can walk.” Amethyst said.

“Where are you hurt?” Luna asked.

Amethyst gestured to her lower left flank, which was paled Luna put her hoof to it, a wave of warmth flowing into Amethyst. Her body relaxed, and her leg unlocked. 

“How did you do that?” Amethyst asked, honestly curious for the first time in a while.

“I’ve seen this before. These beasts froze your muscles. I can deal with cold.” Luna said.

“Must be why those things reacted to my flames.” Spike said.

Amethyst could stand, although painfully, with the help Luna gave her. She did the same to Aqua’s cheek. 

“So...you call yourself heiress of the night?” A voice called out.

“Hmm? Who are you?” Luna asked.

“Interesting  I’ll let you play princess for a while longer.” the voice said.. 

“Who dares call my rule into question?” Luna yelled.

“A real princess of the night would know my name. I am the umbra. The true night.”
Luna looked to find where the sound was coming from, and saw a small glint in the corner of her eye. A scaled mouth moved in the darkness, not seeming to be attached to anything.

“Come, my little penumbra. Let us see if you are worthy of the night.” the mouth spoke, as it faded into the darkness.

“How dare you! I am Princess Luna of Equestria! The leader of the Equestrian ponies, and heiress of the night! Sovereign of the moon!” Luna said.

But, as strong as she tried to seem, she felt afraid. Whatever this being was, it had immense power, and was confident enough to declare itself the ruler of the night.

“What was that thing?” Aqua exclaimed.

“I don’t know. “It seems so...alien.” Sol said.

“This dark, it feels so familiar.” Luna said.

“Do you know what this is, Princess?” Sol asked.

“No.” Luna said.

“You  said it was familiar.” Amethyst said.

“I can’t place my hoof on it, but I’ve felt this before.” Luna said.

“I can only imagine what we’ll find ahead.” Aqua said.

"But we have to carry on.” Sol said.

“I don’t know, we couldn’t even touch those things. If it weren’t for Spike, who	   
knows what would have happened?”” Aqua said.

“I can’t turn back. What would I do? This world is ruined. This is the only lead we have. Of course, if you want to leave, I’m not stopping you.” Amethyst said.

“Exactly. You saw it up there. Down in the shelters, too. This world is falling apart.” Sol said.

“Alright. If you really think the answer to our problems is down here.” Aqua said.

“I do.” Sol said.

The ground ahead was increasingly smoothed out, as they continued.

“We’ve still got no way of standing up to those things, other than Spike.I tried kicking it, nothing would hit it.” Amethyst said. 

“That took a lot out of me. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it again.” Spike said

“Don’t worry, you won’t get the chance to.” the mouth said, behind Spike. A claw grabbed him by the neck from behind, and pulled him to the ground.

“Urk!” was the noise that come from Spike as his head slammed into the ground. 

Several more of the beasts came from further in the tunnel. Sol bolted, Aqua right behind him. Amethyst, Spike, and Luna were right behind them. The black smoke had re-formed in front of them, they were surrounded. 

“What’s the matter, Luna? Afraid of the dark?” the mouth spoke.

“Princess, what do we do?” Sol asked.

“Run.” was her only response. 

“Run where? You’re surrounded!” the mouth said.

“Enough!” Luna yelled.

Luna’s wings began to flap, she hovered above the ground slightly. Her eyes shone bright white, anger spreading through her. The breeze from her wings became a gust.  Her fur seemed to darken slightly.

“We are Princess Luna! You shall obey me! We are the darkness!” Boomed Luna.

The beasts were unaffected, and continued watching her hungrily, their scaly mouths hanging open. The beasts were similar to alligators in appearance, and in lethality. 

“Capture Luna.” the mouth said. “Kill the rest.”

The beasts lunged, but were stopped halfway.

“What are you waiting for? Kill them!” the mouth said.

Luna’s horn shone brightly, and the beasts went soaring across the room, slamming into the walls. 

“We shall not be captured by the likes of you.” Luna said.

Her eyes returned to normal, she landed on the ground, and her horn stopped shining. The cave was silent for a few seconds, untill Sol spoke.

“Luna, you’re amazing! How did you do that?” he exclaimed.

“And why didn’t you do it sooner? I could have died!” Amethyst said.

“We...I have no idea, it just sort of, happened.” Luna said.

“It doesn't matter, we need to get out of here!” Aqua said.

“Right.” Spike said.

“Get up! Kill them you imbeciles!” the mouth yelled to the unconscious beasts.

The group retreated through the way they came in, much more cautiously than before.

“Go ahead and run! You can’t escape the night!” the mouth yelled.

The group headed back out of the mountain, through the pitch black passage.

“Luna, did your coat get darker?” Spike asked, once they were outside.

“I can’t tell, it’s always so dark out here.” Luna said.

“How would it get darker, anyway? Sol said.

“I don’t know, I’ve always been the same shade of blue.” Luna said.	

“I must have been mistaken.” Spike said.

Once the group was within the castle, they headed upstairs to discuss what had happened.

“What were those things?” Aqua asked.

“I’ve never seen or read about anything like it before.” Spike said.

“We need to be prepared before we go in there again.” Sol said.

“Right.” Luna said.

“But how do we prepare against something like that?” Aqua said.

“I don’t know, but we can’t go back in there now.” Luna said.

“I can search the library for something.” Spike said.

“Thank you. We need to know anything about this that we can. But we could use some rest for tonight.”

“Agreed.” Spike said.

“Then we’ll meet again in the morning.” Luna said.

Everypony headed off to bed, exhausted.