"And what does Speck's shield do?" Gloomie asked, walking alongside Mosina while staring at Speck at the front of the group.
"I guess you can say it controls physics," Mosina answered, eliciting a furrowed brow from Gloomie. "You know, force. Gravity."
Gloomie whistled. "Wow. That's kinda powerful, don'tcha think?"
"It tires me out quite a bit," Speck called back.
"Yeah. When I use Wind Ruler, I feel like my breath is leaving me," Mosina agreed.
"And I pretty much blacked out when that big... monster slammed its hand against me." Speck passed a smile to Echo. "It's thanks to Echo that I kept up."
Echo returned a modest smirk and blushed.
"Still, it's nice to know that we have ponies with super-powers in the group," Gloomie joked before letting letting out a throaty laugh.
"Hey, guys, look!" Speck suddenly exclaimed, causing the rest of them to look forward.
The group had walked into a fairly spacey room, and interestingly enough, the floor was tiled with smooth cobblestone. From their entrance, two large exit tunnels faced them at each opposite corner of the room. Standing at the dead centre of the room was a stone statue of a pony with a crossbow.
"Hey, that's the same statue as was the one Night and I found early on," Echo pointed out, walking towards it.
"Echo, wait," Night Watch warned, earning a curious glance from Speck. "This... doesn't seem right."
"What's wrong, Night?" Speck asked. Echo turned around and listened for Night Watch's answer.
"Doesn't this seem ominous to you?"
"I... don't understand," Echo droned, her gaze hardening in confusion. "I think this entire cave network is ominous."
"Look up."
All of them craned their necks to look upwards at the tall ceiling. Humungous stalactites and large cracks caked the ceiling, as though it looked like it could fall apart at any moment.
Night Watch shifted uneasily in her spot. "We should pick a path, quick. We might only get to pick one."
The rest of the group looked at her like she were a ghost. For some reason, making a decision seemed hard to make.
Echo swallowed. "Okay, let's just get out of here—"
The light from all of their light crystals suddenly blacked out. In an instant, the group was left in complete darkness as though something had been pulled out of their eyes.
Speck let out a whimper, and Gloomie, Mosina and Echo let out startled gasps. That's when a distinct sound began forming up as though it were inside their heads.
Wailing.
Gloomie hopped in her spot, panicking. "Wh-what's happening!?"
"The light crystals! Why aren't they working?!" Mosina cried.
"Guys! Use sound!" Echo ordered, her voice reverberating around them against the stone walls and floor.
She began to click her tongue, the sound sending waves across the room. In a strange, sightless image, Echo could vaguely make out the ponies around her, the wailing still loudening. It sounded as though it were not interfering with her clicks.
Speck had her shield at the ready, Mosina fumbled with her spear, Gloomie squirmed uncomfortably and Night Watch stood solidly still. Soon, the girls processed Echo's suggestion and listened to her clicks, painting an image of the room with their hearing.
Finally, as it had before their last encounter, the wailing noise ceased. The ponies were bathed in silence, save for the rhythmic clicking from Echo.
"What... what's happening..." Gloomie whispered.
"Shadow ponies," Mosina muttered next to her.
All of their ears were perked up, listening intently to anything that might disturb the room around them.
Gloome spoke up again. "Maybe we should—"
A high pitched scream pierced through her words. Through the blackness, Echo could make out even darker strands of shadows snaking along the floor and walls. Despite her clicks, she could not make them out with her ears until they coalesced into a single, corporeal body of a pony. Then a second, and a third.
Her eyes widened as her clicks bounced off of their forms, allowing her to 'see' them clearer than she could with her eyes, before. It was as though they were surrounded by a dark, tainted aura, and their body matter seemed to vibrate and shift constantly, if subtly.
The wailing continued, but the bat ponies had already drawn their weapons at the ready, facing the monstrosities.
"Not this time!" Speck screamed, charging straight at the snarling figures. "Aaah!"
"Speck!" Mosina cried, running after her.
Night Watch, Gloomie and Echo charged after them, weapons ready. That was, until a fourth form appeared behind them.
Echo didn't have to turn her head to hear it. "Gah... I'll hold this one off!" she cried, skidding to a halt on the tiled floor and turning towards it.
Night Watch gave a knowing nod before throwing herself into the fray, her spear at the ready.
"I'm getting really tired of your shit!" Night Watch yelled, running up to one of the shadow ponies, swinging her weapon.
With both of its arm-blades, the shadow pony parried the golden spear with ease, Night Watch quickly retracting it to make another quick jab. This time, the shadow pony was too slow. It let out a loud shriek as the blade sliced into the right of its jaw. Golden sparks flared out from the contact, bathing the room in a brief, golden flash.
Left in the darkness again, Night Watch let out a few clicks to gather her bearings. Before she could pull away, however, the shadow pony knocked the spear out of her hooves before pouncing on her. She gave a blind kick to its body, knocking it to her side.
Homing in on her spear, she leaped at it and grabbed it into her forelimbs, pouncing back towards the creature. She flew through the air and flared her wings out, her spear in front of her. The unlucky shadow pony tried to knock away the spear before it met its body, but she had too much momentum.
“Graah!" Night Watch snarled as her spear pierced straight through its chest, golden sparks igniting inside of its body. It wailed loudly in pain as she twisted the shaft, causing more gold sparks to burst. However, with a sudden surge of strength, it grabbed the shaft and forced its body forwards, digging the spear even deeper.
Helplessly, Night Watch tried to pull her spear out, only for the shadow pony to climb down her own spear at her. When it got close enough, it let out a scream before reeling back its arm-blades to mince her...
...Only for the arms to get lopped off in another burst of golden sparks and fall to the floor.
Gloomie strafed past the shadow pony through the air, her hoof-claws held in front of her.
"Thanks for the boost, Speck!" Gloomie called back to the heavily armoured pony, who had her shield held in front of her. Another shadow pony was hot on her trail, its arm-blades slicing through the air at her.
"W-warn me next time!" Speck cried, turning to fend off the third of the shadow ponies.
Grateful for the assist, Night Watch turned back to the screaming, defenceless shadow pony in front of her.
"Fuck..." She tugged her spear sideways, causing it to slowly rip through the shadowy flesh. "You!"
The entire left side of the shadow pony burst open with an explosion of gold light, almost blinding Night Watch. It immediately ceased screaming, toppling over onto the floor. As it hit the ground, its body shattered into smoky strands of shadow before retreating from the room.
Her eyes still open, Night Watch noticed that the room seemed a little brighter, the light crystal on her chest giving off a faint light.
"Hey, I can sort of see, now!" Gloomie called out from her side of the room, still being chased by a shadow pony.
"Gloomie, watch out!" Mosina cried, running towards her. She swung the Wind Ruler at the chasing shadow pony. "Hah!"
A gust of wind forced the shadow pony to stop. With another strong swing of her pole-arm, she sent a powerful wave of air at it, sending it flying backwards.
Gloomie came up beside her, panting. "Think you can launch me at it?"
Mosina blinked. "Er... yeah. Flare out your wings..." Gloomie did as instructed, and Mosina lightly swirled the Wind ruler. "Here goes...!"
She swung it in a horizontal arc over Gloomie, and a rolling wind immediately took over.
With her wings flared out and the wind pushing from behind, Gloomie pushed off of the floor. As soon as she was airborne, she felt the wind guide her body through the air, picking up speed. Straight ahead of her was the recovering form of the shadow pony.
"I don't know who you are..." Gloomie muttered under her breath as she quickly approached it. "But you're... uh, ugly!"
With her gold hoof-claws in front of her, she smashed straight into the shadow pony. Her claws dug into the front of its neck, the gashes in its flesh glowing yellow from the contact.
It wailed before quickly spinning in its spot, sending its arm-blades in a vertical swing at her. Nimbly, Gloomie hopped over them and landed on the other side of the shadow pony.
"Raugh!" she snarled, strafing towards it. She twirled her body, her deadly claws spinning through the air. They connected and gouged into the shadow pony's flesh, clipping off one of its arm-blades from the base.
Desperately, the shadow pony swung again with its one arm-blade, but met air. Gloomie had ducked and slid underneath, coming up to its belly. With her hoof-claws at the ready, she jabbed and jabbed upwards, her claws eating away at the flesh very quickly. Each strike sent more sparks outwards, the golden metal burning the shadows.
Finally, it stopped wailing, Gloomie having done enough damage to its body. The shadow pony began to melt into the air, its body almost nearly sawed in half.
"Yeah! That's how you do it!" Gloomie exclaimed, pushing herself up and punching into the air. The room brightened a little further, another shadow pony having been defeated.
At the other side of the room, Speck expertly blocked another blow from the shadow pony in front of her. She effortlessly blocked every attack, and it seemed to only anger in frustration.
"Give up already!" she cried, only for the shadow pony to scream in rage. Relentlessly, it swung its arm-blades, each strike deflecting off of the Keel Regalia in a purple flash.
"Alright, that's it!" Speck warned, suddenly pushing herself forwards. Helplessly, the shadow pony tried to block with its blades, but her shield smashed straight into it. With the force of a freight train, she sent it backwards, slamming into the wall behind it.
Ominously, the ceiling shook overhead, but none of the ponies in the room noticed.
The shadow pony leaped up and reluctantly faced Speck again, her shield proving difficult to bypass.
Mosina came up from the side, her pole-arm pointed forwards. "Haah!" she cried, a gust of wind announcing her presence. The force caused the shadow pony to stumble, unable to block the Umbra spear.
It pierced straight into its side, indigo sparks erupting from the wound. Before it could respond, however, Speck came up from the front and slammed her shield into it again. She hit like a hammer, snapping its head backwards.
Without even stepping back to ensure that the shadow pony was defeated, however, Gloomie came in from above like a missile.
"Yaah!" she cried, her hoof claws slamming into the shadow pony's neck. Almost immediately, the shadow pony dispersed in a small explosion of shadowy strands.
The final shadow pony in the room was locked in an intense blade fight with Echo and Night Watch. They flanked each side, fencing with each of its arm blades individually. Each swing whistled through the air, and each blade that collided gave off a loud clang.
"Nngh, Night! Let's face it from the front, together!" Echo called, blocking a slice from the long shadow blade.
"Alright!" Night Watch answered, blocking a swing towards her. She hopped to the front of the shadow pony, meeting Echo who had strafed her way.
Two shadow blades lunged forward, only to be blocked by a golden sword and spear. The bat ponies returned an attack, only to be parried.
Echo recovered, stepping forward and slashing fiercely, the shadow pony using both blades to block her. Taking the opportunity, Night Watch thrust her spear between the blades straight at the shadow pony's neck. It slid one of its shadow blades down Echo's sword to block the spear, only to nick it.
The spear cut through the side of the shadow pony's neck, and it let out a painful scream.
"Grr... no match for us, now!" Night Watch growled, jabbing again. This time, she pierced into the shadow pony's mouth, thankfully silencing the screams. That's when Echo and Night Watch felt wind from behind them, only to see a Gloomie-torpedo sail past them and straight at the shadow pony.
"Wooo!" Gloomie, for the third time during the fight, slammed into her target with her claws viciously held out. As she sailed past the shadow pony, three large, golden cuts were lined across its face.
Its strength weakened, Night Watch and Echo wrenched their blades loose.
"Aaah!" In one synchronized swing, they sliced the shadow pony's neck, together.
It crumbled, the dark, corporeal flesh failing to hold together. The mangled body of the shadow pony fell, melting into nothingness before it hit the floor.
"Guh... that's the last of them...?" Echo asked through her heavy panting. She looked down to her light crystal, thankful that it was shining brightly again.
"What's... that sound?" Night Watch whispered, almost to herself.
The wailing had finally stopped, but a different sound replaced it.
Gloomie touched down beside her, seeming no worse for wear, and Speck and Mosina ran up to them, panting. The sound gradually got louder, and the bat ponies curiously looked around them to see where the source was. However, it was through their hooves when they realized that the room was shaking.
As one, they looked up at the ceiling. The cracks had largened.
"Get—"
A loud bang rung out, and the rocky ceiling collapsed. Giant rocks and stalactites fell, threatening to crush the ponies underneath.
"Aaah!"
"Oh, geeze!"
"Run!"
"Fuck!"
"To the tunnels!" Echo cried through the noise.
Taking the suggestion, each of the bat ponies ran for one of the entrances.