The darkness of the cramped little tunnel proved to not permeate all the way through. Within minutes of their slow crawling pace a sort of blue ethereal light permeated the space around them. While they weren’t aware of it at the time, that light would become the hallmark of Luna’s magical influence. The light wasn’t a sign of the tunnel ending though, and it was a good few more minutes before the smooth, featureless tunnel came to an end.
When they did, at last, emerge, tumbling from the claustrophobic atmosphere, it was to a sight that neither of them expected. They had entered an enormous, high walled chamber, from which the blue light seemed to ooze out of the very walls. The size of the room was accounted for by equally enormous mountains of old-looking trinkets and boxes made of anything from metal to the white moon rocks that were everywhere in this world. This hidden passage was no mere dungeon for a single lost artifact, but an entire trove of virtually priceless treasures.
Shadow made a shaky attempt to stand up, falling again as he tried to rely on his wings. There still wasn’t anything like enough air to lift on, making his wings little more than deadweight against his sides. He groaned as he forced himself to hold with just his hooves, a little jealous as well as annoyed to see Lightning had made the transition much faster than he had. As a matter of fact she was already pawing through the nearest pile in search of the helmet.
“Slow down Light…” he said as he approached “You’re leaving all the ponies without earth hooves in the dust.”
Lightning laughed “Then get a move on yourself why don’t you?” she said “It might be hours before we find it with all this junk in the way…”
Shadow nodded in agreement as he began to dig through the pile adjacent to Light’s. It turned out that most of the articles of the pile were actually junk, little flutes or whistles that would probably be worth less than a bit back on Equestria, but even more prominent were the cubes. The toys, it seemed, were only the topmost layer of clutter in the piles. The central section that the rest was built on seemed to be made almost entirely of large stone or metal blocks, uniform in size, shape, and color. At the very least this would mean it would take less time to find what they were looking for, unless it was physically underneath these blocks, which could mean it would take even longer…
He groaned, bringing a hoof to his face, too many thoughts were having a negative effect on his brain. He looked around to see Lightning, still plodding through the garbage like a mare on a mission. With an enormous sigh he turned his gaze upward, wishing he could fly, to gain the ground enough to see at least the top parts of the horde all in a single glance…
That was when he saw it, a single metallic gleam from high above. He shook his head once, as if to dislodge the idea as any more than an illusion, but it wasn’t. Suspended in the air without wires or wind was the headpiece of Nightmare Moon’s armor. His eyes widened at the sight, wings flapping uselessly as he realized he had no idea how to go about retrieving it.
“Shadow?” Lightning asked, not oblivious to his sudden preoccupation “What are you looking at…?” she walked cautiously over, wary of some stunning or hypnotizing trap.
“I found it…” said Shadow, pointing upward to the spot his eyes were trained “How the heck are we supposed to get up there?”
Lightning looked up to the helmet, then to Shadow, back to the helmet, and then to the piles of junk. Gears were clearly spinning in her mind as she walked back and forth across the room, counting her hoof steps aloud as she went. Shadow gave her a quizzical look, wondering what sort of game she was playing with this ritual. When she finally turned back to him she had a huge grin on her face.
“This is an earth pony puzzle,” she said confidently “The piles aren’t just to distract us from the helmet, we’re supposed to use the blocks to get it! If we build a pyramid right underneath it we’ll be able to climb it like a staircase!”
“Oh…” said Shadow, realizing that this was indeed an earth pony puzzle, “That’s probably because they thought earth ponies were the least likely to get to the moon. You know, no wings or…”
“Yeah I get it,” said Lightning, shouldering him out of the way as she moved over to one of the piles “I think if we get a foundation of about twenty blocks, five by five, that’ll be high enough!”
“Five times five is twenty-six!” said Shadow, tossing trinkets off the main mass of the pile.
“Whatever!” said Lightning, easily pushing the huge cube to the center of the room.
Thanks to the less than normal gravity Lightning wasn’t the only one able to move them into place. Shadow was able to move them about with only a little difficulty. Lightning, with her superior strength, was throwing around the huge stones like they were nothing. When the pyramids first layer was completed Shadow was reduced to bringing over more blocks for Lightning to haul upward.
“This is really a lot of work…” said Shadow after what felt like the hundredth stone “Shouldn’t it just like give it to you once you’ve solved the puzzle…?”
“This isn’t a video game…” said Lightning from above “Stuff doesn’t work like that, sometimes you just have to…” she released a slow breath as the last block fell into place “Work for it… Now get up here!”
As Shadow started to clamber up, however, Lightning overstepped on the last block and tumbled down the pyramid, upsetting the structure, but not quite toppling it. Shadow backed away quickly, wary of the towers collapse. He started running around it again as it seemed to settle, feeling somewhat guilty to not have gone at once.
He found Lightning on the other side, struggling back to her hooves. She shot him an angry look as he approached, conveying a mixture of pain at her fall and annoyance that he hadn’t done something to help. Despite her outward demeanor though, she didn’t seem to be badly hurt.
“About time you showed up,” she spat “That thing could’ve fallen on me.”
“Sorry,” said Shadow, a sense of awkwardness and shame taking residence somewhere in his stomach “I was scared it might just collapse on both of us.”
“Don’t be sorry, do something about it!” Lightning snapped, jumping cleanly up onto the first block “Now get your sorry flank up here so we can get the helm!”
Shadow was momentarily frozen in place, surprised as well as intimidated by her outburst. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts before joining her in the clamber upwards. She was probably tired, after all they had been doing quite a few strenuous activities in a record low amount of sleep. Deciding that all was still well in the world, he carefully pushed a few of the blocks more firmly into place and Lightning continued upward, a sneaking suspicion growing in his mind, but temporarily small enough to keep in the back corners.
“Finally,” said Lightning as they approached the helm “That took far longer than it should have, wouldn’t you say Shadow?”
“Yeah…” he said, the quickly shoved aside impression returning even quicker than he had put it out of his mind. Lightning never called him by his name, at the very least not unless they were exchanging morning pleasantries or calling across the castle. She never slipped it into casual conversation like that. As if that weren’t enough, the hungry gleam in her eye was not only alien to Lightning, but considering they were after an ancient artifact that they didn’t even know the purpose of…
A low growl snapped his train of thought to a sturdy halt. “I can’t quite reach it,” said Lightning, standing on the highest block and stretching a hoof forward “Come up here and give me a boost will you?” A wandering hoof managed to bat at the cold metal, only sending it floating higher, Lightning swore under her breath as this happened.
That was all the trigger Shadow needed, knowing that if he was wrong the worst he would suffer would be a quick verbal beating. He vaulted the last few boxes, leaping hard off the second to last and exploding into the air. He didn’t have Lightning’s muscle, that was certain, but his frame and build were lighter, meaning in the one sixth gravity he flew a lot further, even without his wings. He grabbed the helmet in his forelegs as gravity carried him down, slowly but still painfully, to the floor of the amphitheater.
“Nice catch!” said Lightning, jumping down step by step to land next to him “Now here, give it to me!”
Shadow shifted, wincing as he found one of his back hooves to be injured. “Why should I?” he said, holding back tears at the sudden pain shooting through his leg. How badly had he hurt himself in that fall?
“Because you’ll probably do something stupid,” said Lightning “You could drop it and break it or something. And just look at your leg!” she seemed to only just notice her injury “Come on, let me carry the helmet, you need to focus on getting out of here.”
The kind tone of her voice gave Shadow some second doubts, but he shoves through it. Not having anywhere else to put it, he slammed the helmet down onto his own head, not even noticing as his eyes flashed from red to blue. He limped backwards, tail brushing against the wall as he continues to glare forward.
“Stop giving me that look,” said Lightning, pushing forward so they were nearly muzzle to muzzle, meeting his silent glare with an angry scowl “Now just give me the helmet and let’s go.”
“Alright, I will…” said Shadow with sudden clarity “The exact moment you tell me where Lightning is, you can have it.”
Confusion passed not once, but twice over “Lightning’s” face. “How did you…?” she said, then paused “What do you…” she paused again “Say that again, slowly…”
“I’ll speak once everything is out there plain to see,” said Shadow, sudden plans whirling in his mind that he wasn’t even aware he was creating “Tell me who you are, where my friend is, then everything becomes clear again.”
“Lightning” blinked twice, apparently surprised by his calm and rational demeanor “Alright…” she said “Since we seem to be at something of an impasse…”
A brilliant flash of green light filled the cave for less than an instant, prompting Shadow to clutch the helmet tighter against him. When it faded he was astounded to see Lightning’s imposter to be a black figure that looked somewhat like a pony, but with a carapace instead of fur. Wide blue insect’s eyes stared him down and a pale green mane cascaded down from their head. A bolt of fear crossed him as he realized he was facing down a changeling, a female based on the curvature of her body and length of her hair. The fear passed quickly however as he realized she wasn’t much taller than he was, probably even about his same age.
“I already know who you are, Shadow,” said the changeling in a slow peaceful voice, a sharp contrast to her earlier outburst that made Shadow believe for a moment that he was talking to a pony “My name is Abdomen, Princess Abdomen of the Neverspring Hive.”
“Well greetings princess,” said Shadow “Now could you do me the royal honor of telling me where Lightning is?”
The princess buzzed slightly, her horn glowing green as one of the piles shifted aside to reveal Lightning, out cold on the ground. “I gave her the changeling’s kiss,” she explained “a swift bite to the neck, no pain. She was asleep before she was aware of the attack. I’m very good at my work.”
“How long will she be asleep?” Shadow asked warily, resisting the urge to run to her at once.
“Probably about an hour before the poison wears off,” said the princess “but how long she sleeps in the end is up to her, now prince,” she said, putting a special emphasis on the word “What’s it going to take to get that helm, hmm? My mother would be very happy to get her hooves on that…”
“Chrysalis…” said Shadow “Well then Abdomen, what is it exactly you want to offer me in exchange…?”
“Please, just Abby,” said the princess, visibly flinching at the name “But listen… we don’t want to hurt anybody, really… But you ponies don’t give us any choice!”
This much was enough to rattle him to the core. There was one lesson he had been told about changelings. When he was only two or three he had wandered to the edge of the forest and received a sharp warning of monsters and changelings in the lands beyond. It was a common stereotype, nailed into foals’ brains from childhood that they were mindless monsters. But the emotion Shadow saw behind those wide blue eyes, and the sudden hurt in her voice, it wasn’t animal in the slightest.
“I know you hate us…” said Abby, scooting herself back to a respectable distance as intimidation gave way to a sort of desperate pleading “But do you think we want to be the way we are? Did you never think that we would give anything to receive the love we feed upon without all this deception…?”
“I don’t see how getting this helmet is going to change that…” said Shadow, weighing his words to the nearest ounce.
“You didn’t know…?” said Abby, seeming genuinely confused “The helm of darkness is one of the four shards of Nightmare Moon’s armor. My mother desires to take on the power of her spirit in order to challenge Canterlot. She says that if changelings can’t become a part of Equestrian society by choice she’ll force them in.” her tone changed somewhere in the middle of this speech, becoming more passionate and determined than before.
Fear managed to creep back into his mind to wrestle against his newfound pity. He had to keep reminding himself whose side he was on in order to overcome the continuing strong desire to give into her begging and pass over the helm. Something seemed to be working a little harder in his brain as a plan suddenly formed behind his eyes.
“Alright, well I did promise…” he said, gaze flickering from the pyramid to Lightning’s prone form, then back to Abby “I said if you gave up my friend I would give you the helmet… but you have to bring her over here…”
Abby nodded, a look of relief crossing her face as she scuttled over to Lightning, demonstrating impressive strength as she lifted her limp form over one shoulder and started to hurry back. Shadow took a deep breath, waiting for the perfect moment to trigger his nasty plot.
“Alright,” said Abby as she approached “Here you go, can you make it out of here with her alright?”
“Yeah…” said Shadow, the concern in her voice tripping his guilt even further “Now… the helmet.” He lifted Lightning himself, grunting as the exertion pressed down on his lighter frame “It’s all… yours!” he punctuated the last word by throwing his head backwards, the helmet flying off and rebounding against the wall; flying forward and striking the already off balance tower of blocks.
“What?” Abby gasped as it swayed precariously, the helmet bouncing ledge by ledge down the other side “What do you think you’re doing?”
Shadow, already at the exit, smirked to deliver one last snarky retort “I’m holding up my end of the deal!”
The sound of scraping rock filled the cavern to form a cacophonous symphony of grating noise. The tower of blocks rubbed grossly against each other as the balance gave way completely, leaving it to collapse on itself. Abby hissed angrily, wings buzzing as she shot toward the falling structure, desperate to retrieve the helmet as gravity took back its own painfully slowly. Shadow turned, not wanting to see what happened next as he began the plod back up through the tunnel.
Salvation came halfway through the dark corridor as Lightning groaned and squirmed against his shoulder. Relief shot through him as he came to a halt, setting her gingerly down on the stone floor, glad to be able to take the weight off his hurt leg again. She was slow to rise, seeming to still be a little bit drugged.
“Hey, are you alright?” Shadow asked, worried that she didn’t immediately speak.
“I’m… I’m fine…” said Lightning, slowly shaking her head as if dislodging cobwebs “What happened? My neck really hurts…” she felt toward the pain center, finding two small pin pricks that had scabbed over.
“There was a changeling down there…” said Shadow “She must’ve gotten there before we did. I think she’s the one who knocked you off the tower. She said she gave you some kind of sleeping poison, do you feel okay?”
“I feel dizzy…” said Lightning, a cold weight dropping into her stomach at the word ‘changeling’ “But it’s starting to go away now… did we get it?”
“No…” said Shadow “But I think I buried it enough that neither will the changeling.”
“I’m tired…” said Lightning, sliding back down to lay on her stomach “Can you carry me for the rest of the way…?”
“Look, I got you this far,” said Shadow “And my legs hurts like a dragon bit it, so get up and haul your own sorry flank the rest of the way.”
“Okay… sorry…” mumbled Lightning, managing to force a smile, stumbling forward in the dark as Shadow limped after her. It was hardly a dozen paces before they collided, opting to lean against one another for support.
When the low glow of the lunar landscape finally came into view they found the strength to force themselves forward at a quicker pace. They burst out of the mouth of the cave, wearing an identical grimace, happy to be outside again, dreading the bleak landscape and Luna’s disappointment. On a whole they were quite ready for this particular venture to be over and done with.
But what they saw on the glossy moonscape was something far worse than what they had imagined. Luna was no longer waiting for them at the cave’s entrance, but standing on the edge of a wide crater, murder in her eyes the like of which they hadn’t seen since her venture against Discord. And the cause of her fury was all too obvious; a black figure, speckled with green, wearing a gnarly crown of blackened metal and opalescent jewels.
“Changeling!” Lightning screamed, fear and adrenaline sobering her enough to scoot backwards into the crook of Shadow’s wing.
“Chrysalis…” said Shadow, eyes narrowing at the sight of the hideous changeling queen “She’s here for the helm…”