Fluttershy and Dinky accelerated into the unexplored room. The former went because her instinct to help others often outweighed her fear. The latter went because she knew the cry of anguish they heard had been her mother's.
The room they entered was more of a wide hallway that turned left tree times and ended up at a barred archway leading back to Oldie. The room felt much narrower as large bunk beds line the walls on each side. There were four other doors in the room, each of them requiring some kind of special key.
In the back of Fluttershy's mind, she realized that the barracks forms a square of sorts. The bottom of the square was Oldie's hallway. The room with Derpy's door in it formed the bottom right corner of the square. The bunk bed room formed the top right corner, the top, and left side. Two of the doors were in the top corners on the right and left wall respectively facing the center of complex. Two doors were in the center of the top, one facing each other form either side of the hallway.
The two concerned ponies found the general had walked onto a concealed pressure plate which had set off a projectile trap in the wall. Ahead of them, several more pressure plates littered the path up to the switch which was in a niche in the wall near the exit to Oldie's room. Fluttershy figured that this part of the room had no bunk beds probably because of the traps.
The general had small arrows embedded in her right wing and a large laceration on her right forehoof. Apple Bloom had already removed a medikit from her saddlebags while Scootaloo worked on cutting the barbs out of the arrows. Fluttershy worked with the Apple Bloom on applying disinfectant and gauze to the lacerated hoof, and Dinky supported her mother by Scootaloo's side.
After finishing the first aide, something peculiar occurred. The applied bandages, the rest of the medikit, and Derpy's wounds just vanished. The mares gasped, but Discord was unfazed.
“What happened?” Dinky asked aloud.
“You applied bandages, restoring Derpy's hit points, duh. Now, girls we got a trap to disable, so we can get more keys,” the parasprite chirped condescendingly. The mares decided not to question it as the Fluttershy flew off to disable the trap. Derpy could have flown but decided not to risk using her wings in case the injury had not really healed. It paid to be careful when you were in a magical dungeon where anything could be anything.
With the traps disabled and the archway debarred, the adventurers left the barracks. Oldie had gone asleep after the game. He had laid his wounded leg with the arrow in it out of the way of his other limbs. The remarkable aspect of the arrow was that it's was some crystal material. Only Dinky found it worth noticing, so wrote about Oldie in the log.
The adventurers also followed single-file behind Fluttershy. The pegasus thought this sould have been awkward given that equines dislike having somepony in their blind spot, but for some reason all the adventurers, Fluttershy included, acted as if following behind the pony who began the adventure in this manner was just normal. This just added to the list in the back of Fluttershy's mind of how very counter-intuitive Discord's old home was.
They soon reached the guest quarters. Fluttershy quickly gave them a summary of what she knew so far. “We will need as many keys as we can get,” Fluttershy explained.
“Scootaloo, see if you can take the keys off those sleeping gargoyles by the classroom without them waking. I will be trying my luck against Biggy,” Derpy said.
“Why don't you just talk it out? I am sure they would understand we need these keys,” Fluttershy suggested. Derpy looked at Fluttershy incredulously, and Discord laughed.
Fluttershy watched as Derpy walked up to Biggy who pulled out his sword in enthusiasm. She must have accepted his challenge to land three hits for a large collection of plain keys. Biggy jumped into the shortcut hole, squeezing somewhat in order to fit. Tiny beckoned the rest to join him down in the room that the ladder led to.
Fluttershy, Dinky, Apple Bloom, and Discord descended the ladder to find themselves in a well lit room with a glass window looking out into an arena. The arena was composed of crystals much like those below the real Canterlot castle. A few blue fire altars dotted sporadically around the ceiling of the arena chamber and their presence invoked fear in the yellow pegasus.
In the arena, Derpy and Biggy positioned themselves. Derpy had her face turned to the right so that she could center her left eye on him. She raised her lance parallel with her line of sight, flapping her wings calmly. The gargoyle on the other hoof summoned a claymore which was just the right size for him. Unlike most ponies with horns, he wielded his sword with his hooves. While Derpy seemed calm and collected, Biggy was completely restless. Despite this, Fluttershy noticed that both simultaneously attacked without any hesitation, and this unnerved the peaceful little pony.
Dinky cheered, completely unperturbed by the violence before her.
Derpy seemed to have the upperhoof in the beginning with her power lance strikes, earning two hits. Despite the obvious power behind Derpy's charges, the gargoyle was made of the sternest of materials so receive little-to-no damage.
The match changed after the second hit when Biggy became berserk. This made his reflexes and attack speed beyond compare. Biggy's sword became a flurry of strikes too numerous for a slow lance to block. The Biggy's increased speed also meant that Derpy couldn't even dodge out of the way. These two factors resulted in Derpy receiving several injuries including a blunt strike against her helmet, knocking her unconscious. This was definitely not the General's day.
The large gargoyle did not roar in victory as Fluttershy expected but rather fell down and panted, clearly having overexerted himself using that technique. It was strange seeing a magical construct show weakness, but nothing was normal in this messed up world Discord had created.
After regaining his energy, he picked up the limp body of Derpy and carried her to some place below the onlookers line of sight.
Dinky had become again fearful for her mother's health. “Tiny, where is he taking the General. I need to get to her and make sure she is okay!”
“Don't worry, girl, you will see,” the little gargoyle replied. As if on cue, a trap door in the viewing room opened revealing Biggy and Derpy. Biggy dropped clumsily the General's body down before her soldiers.
“Apple Bloom, she has cuts. We need to apply more bandages on her,” the little unicorn commanded.
“I don't have any more medikits. The one I had disappeared after I used it.”
“Fluttershy, do you have anything?” The pegasus shook her head. She had not thought of bringing anything this morning when she made the fateful decision to see Discord 'change Equestria forever.'
“What did I miss?” came Scootaloo's voice as she descended the stairs accompanied by a gay sound of keys rustling. All she had to do was look once at her general, and everything made sense. “How is this possible? Apple Bloom we need to take care of her immediately.”
“Perhaps I can be of help. I have a few hearts and she will be good as new,” Tiny suggested.
“Then give them to us,” Dinky and Scootaloo commanded simultaneously.
“Only if two of you can beat me in fight. All you have to do is hit me three times and I will give you the special key to the pony in the Pool room. You make even enter if you like.”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom volunteered while Dinky, Fluttershy, and Sweetie Belle stayed back and watched out the window. Apple Bloom equipped herself with two spears and a shield. The first spear could be thrown while the second would act for close range combat. Spears were significantly lighter and smaller than lances and helped in conjunction with shields repel flying enemies liked these winged gargoyles. Apple Bloom would be acting as the tank and perhaps could get a few hits off through her solid defense. Her defense required her to stand on her rear hooves, thus greatly reducing her agility. It was a great posture for being in the army but not for dueling.
Scootaloo only had a short sword and two daggers she kept hidden under her black cloak. She would focus on keeping under Tiny's radar and attacking when least expected from the back. Tiny had a claymore as well, but it was clearly too large for the little gargoyle. He would focus on using his ability to fly against his two grounded opponents.
The match began. Tiny immediately jumped into the air. Apple Bloom seemed to be shouting taunts at the gargoyle, gaining his ire, while Scootaloo moved to the edges of the arena.
“Don't let them get to you!” shouted Biggy from the stands in a voice that shook the viewing room. Tiny responded by calming his flying patterns and keeping track of his opponents. His flying also caused momentary eclipses of the altar light, which Apple Bloom found particularly disorienting.
For Tiny's first strike, he charged Scootaloo, thinking her the easy target. To his chargrin, Scootaloo had been ready for this and used her amazing land speed to get across to the other side of the room in two seconds. This charge led Tiny to come to a full stop in front of the wall Scootaloo had been at. This gave Apple Bloom time to throw her spear and earn an easy hit.
“Don't attack the orange one, she is too fast. Now the yellow one doesn't have her extra spear, spin around her until you get behind her,” Biggy aided his brother. Tiny heeded the advice and began to circle Apple Bloom. Scootaloo, being ignored, ready one of her daggers for a throw.
Apple Bloom found that despite the large weight in the gargoyle's hooves (i.e. the claymore), he could circle her faster than she could shift her position on her rear hooves. Finally, he had gotten directly behind her and went in for the strike. Scootaloo had the earth pony's back and threw her dagger.
“Dodge brother!” Tiny rose immediately to the threat he had not seen. Instead of hitting the gargoyle, they nicked Apple Bloom's ear causing blood to run down the right side of her face. The earth pony could be seen yelling expletives to her partner.
“Private Belle, we have to help. Ready a Carry Sound Spell,” Dinky commanded the as to now ignored Sweetie Belle. Fluttershy notice the emerald aura that surrounded the pony's horn. “Major, Specialist, I will be acting commanding officer during this mission. Be prepared.”
Scootaloo was the only pony who acted as if she noticed since Apple Bloom was too preoccupied with defending herself from Tiny who was not flying above her head to get behind her instead of circling. Tiny did this several times before attacking.
“Dodge,” Dinky said in a a calm voice and Apple Bloom did just that, rolling to the side over her shield to avoid the claymore. It was a close call but Apple Bloom was safe. “Scootaloo, you will have to attack next time, or Apple Bloom will get hit.”
Dinky's mind raced as she figured out the best way to continue. “Private, silence big brother so that he cannot tell him to dodge.” The white unicorn's horn intensified its illumination as more magic channeled through it. She seemed so in her element that this did not seem to phase her. Biggy only smirked at this strategy.
The next time Tiny came down to strike Apple Bloom, Scootaloo was ready.
“Dodge!” The earth pony did so. “Strike!” The grounded pegasus did her job as well. Scootaloo hit her mark, earning them a second hit, but Apple Bloom did not dodge far enough from the claymore, earning a hard hit to her armor and knocking her out.
Tiny then change his tactics to dealing with the faster Scootaloo. With his attention directly on the little pegasus, she couldn't just mask her presense. Tiny continuely charged her but kept away from the walls to prevent having to make emergency stops.
“Scootaloo, you need to keep him moving, stay in the center.” Scootaloo, who had been using the wall for obvious cover, gave an incredulous look at the windowed room, but obliged as a loyal soldier must.
The gargoyle attack several times and Dinky gave Scootaloo information when made clear signs of making a charge or a flanking maneuver. After time, it became clear that Tiny had overextended himself like his brother and the fighting had worn him down significantly. Seeing the slowed gargoyle, Scootaloo took this opportunity to engage him the next time he came down to the ground. When Tiny noticed the change to aggression, he was too tired to fly up in time to avoid the fast pegasus. Instead, he opted to prepare an attack to keep her off him. What he did not expect though was that Scootaloo predicted the attack and halted right before the sword landed, jumped on top of the giant thing and tapped the gargoyle on the horn before being blasted by a magic shot in response.
“Scootaloo are you okay?!” Dinky asked. Of course, we could not hear them.
Sweetie Belle dropped her spells and Biggy could talk again. “Good game, you guys forgot that these little things.” The large gargoyle pointed to his horn.
Ignoring the gloater, the adventures went down the trapped door into the arena. They met an exhausted gargoyle in the hallway leading to the arena. He was frowning. “I am sorry for hitting your friend like that.”
“What do you mean?” asked Dinky as Fluttershy flew passed towards the injured mares.
“She had already beat me and I attacked, which is unfair.”
“Nothing is fair in a fight,” the lavender filly responded.
“Well, here is your prize. There are plenty of them, so don't be stingy.” Tiny handed a box of heart-shaped red objects from the hallway. They did not look like the organ but the symbol for a heart.
“How do we use these?” Dinky asked reaching towards them with her forehooves.
“Just touched them when you are injured and you will regain your health.” Dinky pulled her hooves back. “They do not disappear on touch if you are not injured, so don't worry.”
With that Dinky took three hearts and went up into the viewing room. “Private take the rest to the Major and Specialist.”
Moments later, all the girls were healthy but tired. Dinky bragged to her mother about how she effectively took command just like a proper general. Tiny and Biggy went up the guest hallway.
“Hey where's our key?” Scootaloo asked.
“Right here. Feel free to enter this room. I know that key doesn't open this door, but I hope you find some more friends. Biggy wants to fight again.” Fluttershy took up the key. Again she read its ideographs. The first side had something along the lines of “The City Changer” and the other side had one ideograph that was clearly not a name but a position of some sorts relating to governance.
Scootaloo used one of the keys she had swiped from the sleeping gargoyles. The “Pool/Pond” door disappeared and a sudden chill fell upon the group of adventurers.