Pain.
The first thing she felt was pain, most of it pulsing in her head as though she had just woken up from a night of heavy binge drinking. She held her head tightly between her front hooves, her body squirming against a cold, hard floor. The air was thick, damp, and cold, but was completely still like the inside of an abandoned building, or a dungeon.
As she shifted, the sounds of her hooves displacing gravel and dust echoed across the room. She groaned, clenching her head a little tighter, until the pain finally decided to subside enough for her to pop open her amber, slitted-pupil eyes. After taking in a deep breath, she placed her grey hooves on the rocky floor and pushed herself up with a grunt. Her voice, smooth and clear, echoed surprisingly loudly against the surrounding walls, snapping herself to attention.
She was in a modestly sized cave-like room, the stony walls caked with uneven, rocky protrusions. Stalagmites and stalactites were scattered across the ground and ceiling. However, the room was bathed in a deep, orange light that seemed to dance; a lone wall-torch was mounted on a wall on the far side of the room from her. She shook her head a bit, gathering her bearings.
This was it. She had made it into the Trials.
With a final shake of her body and a stretch of her purple bat-like wings, she walked towards the burning torch. It burned innocently, but she guessed it wouldn't burn forever.
On her short trek, the open maw of a dark tunnel greeted her to the left. She paused for a moment to examine it, but she knew she wouldn't go down there just yet, being largely unprepared. It was then that she noticed a wooden chest off to the side, against the wall and near the torch. It rested behind a little rocky protrusion, the light from the torch barely highlighting the wooden box.
Reluctantly, she approached it, seeing as it was the only thing she could examine in the room. Upon reaching it, she tapped the box once. Something metal with a lot of components rattled inside
Slowly, she lifted off the lid and her eyes widened. Glinting against the orange light was what looked like a plate of chest armour with several leather straps. Plates of metal that were part of other armour pieces stuck out from underneath. She pulled out the chest plate and examined it, frowning when she noticed that it was a little rusty and worn.
---
She finished putting on the last component of the rusty armour; her chest, sides, back, haunches and legs felt more or less protected. It wasn't perfect, but it would be better than nothing. However, the wooden chest only provided a small, rusty dagger that strapped to her left shoulder. A pair of small saddlebags hung off of her sides—they didn't really seem like they could hold much.
Stretching a bit to get a feel of her armour, she felt reluctant, still, to go down the dark tunnel just yet, until a small glint of light caught her eye. Something metallic peered over a large rock to her right, hiding anything behind it in its corner of the room. She took in a deep breath and made her way around the boulder, whistling at what she found.
Hidden behind the rock and in the shadows was a weapon rack. Although the weapons looked a bit worn and flimsy, she deemed them a lot more satisfying than just a dagger. The metal glint that appeared above the rock was the head of a spear, attached to a wooden pole about one-and-a-half times as long as her body. Next to it sat a pair of hoof-claws, except they looked to be worn out the most. Finally, there rested a straight sword about the length of one of her legs, accompanied by a worn-leather scabbard.