//------------------------------//
// Depths 
// Story: The Crown of the Sunken King 
// by Zeck 
//------------------------------//

	Sea Swirl hadn’t liked being trapped underground in the massive cavern. Looking up at giant stalactites that stretched down from the ceiling had made her uneasy. Her mind had come up with countless different ways one of them could come crashing down and kill her or Symphony, and then there was the constant reminder that they might be trapped underground for the rest of their lives.
But now, as the Unicorn walked down the long hallway into the temple, she desperately wanted to turn around and run back outside. The walls in the temple felt like they were closing in on her, and she was constantly looking back to make sure one of the many stone doors hadn’t sealed them inside the building.
And then there was the singing. It was beautiful, but it haunted her. The voice’s grief bore its way into her mind, threatening to overrun her sanity. It didn’t help that the hallway seemed to be perfect for amplifying the song. She looked at the Earth pony ahead of her and wondered how she was dealing with the singing. Symphony had only commented on it when they had first entered and that was it. Was it driving her to darkness too, and she was just better at hiding it?
Sea Swirl couldn’t stand it any longer. “Symphony, that singing…” 
“It is rather beautiful,” the musician replied without turning around or slowing down. “Although it does sound rather bleak.”
“It’s driving me mad,” Sea Swirl responded quickly. “I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it. Like it’s eating its way to my soul. I…I don’t…”
Symphony stopped at turned around. There was no concern on her face, let alone care. Her cold eyes would have turned off any other pony, but Sea Swirl had gotten good at reading Symphony’s tells. Her eyes were open just a bit more than they usually were, and her ears were pushed forward. 
“Are you saying,” the Earth pony began, “that you find her singing more meaningful than my violin?”
“What? No, I’m not—”
“Because if that is how you feel,” Symphony continued, “then you can forget ever hearing me play again.”
“Symphony, I didn’t—”
“Perhaps I should just leave you down here with this singing pony?” she offered. She turned her head slightly and raised a hoof to her mouth. “Hello? I’ve brought you a new fan.”
“Symphony, please! Don’t leave me down here!”
“But clearly this music affects you more than mine,” the Earth pony said quietly as she looked back at Sea Swirl. “I think it would be for the best.”
“No!” Sea Swirl shouted as she stomped her hoof. 
“Hmph.” Symphony turned and smacked Sea Swirl, none-too-gently, with her tail. She took a few more steps and then asked over her shoulder, “Feel better?”
“I…” Sea Swirl stopped. She did feel better. The walls didn’t seem to be pressing in around her anymore, and while the singing still seemed haunted, it didn’t feel like it was slowly eating away at her. She looked at Symphony’s back and smiled. “Yes.”
The two ponies finally came to the end of the hall and found themselves in yet another room. Its walls were made of smooth stone, but there were no glyphs or carvings of any kind to be seen. To the left was a double door, which Sea Swirl immediately walked over to. She pushed it, but it didn’t budge. She put more weight into it, but it refused to open. 
“Guess it’s locked,” she said finally. “Symphony, you’re an Earth pony. Want to kick it in?”
Symphony raised an eyebrow. “Those doors are carved out of solid stone. You would have better results if you blasted it with your magic.”
“Right…” Sea Swirl said, feeling foolish. There was no way her magic was strong enough to blast solid rock into pieces. She sighed and walked over to Symphony who was standing at the edge of some steps that lead out of the room.
“Sea Swirl,” the Earth pony said as she looked down the dimly lit stairs. 
“Yeah?”
“If we’re trying to find a way out, why do we keep going down?”
Sea Swirl looked down the stairs too. “Try not to think about it.”
The two ponies walked down the stairs until the found themselves in another room, much like the one they had just passed through. Only this time, there were two ways out. One was directly ahead and led to more stairs, but a separate passage went off to the right. Warm firelight was coming from that one, so the two ponies went that way. 
They came across what Sea Swirl could only describe as a crypt below them. Standing coffins lined the far walls, with a single torch burning in the area. Many of the coffins had been smashed or were missing their lids, but the few that remained intact had carvings etched into them, depicting great warriors or weapons. 
The floor of the room was covered in sand, and in the middle of the room were two sarcophagi. Each one had a suit of armor resting on it, and Sea Swirl sensed a strange magic hanging in the air around them. She looked closely and saw that the suits appeared to be emitting dark flames. She had never seen magic like that before.
“Sea Swirl, look,” Symphony whispered. The Earth pony was pointing to the left of the room. There stood a Unicorn clad in armor, only it looked like those mist phantoms the two had seen earlier at the bonfire. It was just standing there, staring at the sarcophagus and the suit of armor on it. 
“This place is weird,” Sea Swirl whispered. “Do you think it’s a ghost?”
“I don’t know,” Symphony replied. “You’re going to go check it out, aren’t you?”
“You know me so well,” Sea Swirl replied. She dropped off the small ledge and landed on the sand below. Her hooves sank a little, but she quickly felt the stone floor beneath the sand. She froze, her eyes locked on the ghost Unicorn, but it didn’t so much as twitch. Silently, she waved for Symphony to follow her. The Earth pony dropped down next to her, her armor clanking loudly, but again the ghost stayed perfectly still. 
“Now what?” Symphony asked. Sea Swirl noticed that she was turning her head to draw her sword, but was keeping her eyes locked on the ghost. 
“I don’t think you’ll need to worry about him,” Sea Swirl said. “Ghosts can’t hurt you.” But just to be safe, she made sure that her dagger was still by her side as she carefully approached. 
The Unicorn managed to take two more steps before the ghost’s head whipped to the side. Its faded eyes locked on Sea Swirl as it turned its whole body toward her. Its horn glowed white as it pulled out two swords and began to levitate them in front of itself. 
“Uh…Symphony,” Sea Swirl said, backing up a step as she pulled her dagger out. “It sees us.”
The Unicorn lunged forward and swung both of its blades in a horizontal slash. The logical part of Sea Swirl’s brain told her that she had nothing to worry about from a ghost, but she couldn’t help but jump back from the strike a little. 
The blades slashed across her chest, barely touching her robes. For a moment, she laughed at herself for reacting in such a way, but then she heard the sound of her robes ripping and she looked down in shock. The blades had made a gash through the front of her clothes. 
“Crap!” Sea Swirl said as she backpedalled, struggling to keep her hoofing on the sandy floor. “Symphony, he can hit you!”
Symphony jumped forward, her sword clutched in her teeth, and plunged it into the chest of the ghost Unicorn. For a moment it seemed to work, as the Unicorn stopped and looked down at his chest, but then he brought both his swords up above his head and started to bring them down, aiming to cleave the Earth pony in two.
Symphony rolled to the side, her blade easily passing through the ghost’s body, just as the two swords slammed into the ground where she had been standing. The Unicorn brought the closest one up in a quick slash and Symphony brought her own weapon around to block the blow. Sea Swirl panicked, afraid that the ghost’s sword would pass right through Symphony’s and then sever her head, but the comforting sound of metal hitting metal filled the chamber.
“Shoot it!” Symphony growled as she held on to her sword and pushed the blade off. The ghost staggered backward and Sea Swirl fired a spear of magical energy at it, but much like Symphony’s sword, the spell passed right through the being with no effect.
“How the hay do you fight something you can’t hit?” Sea Swirl shouted as she fired another spell at the ghost, with the same results. 
“There’s another one!” Symphony shouted as she rolled out of the way of a sword strike. Sure enough, another ghost Unicorn was running toward them, levitating two swords. 
Sea Swirl’s mind began to race. These weren’t ghosts. Ghosts could be scary, but they couldn’t physically harm a pony. These were something else. Something magical. 
The Unicorn’s eyes snapped to the two sarcophagi in the middle of the room. The armor sets were burning brighter now, as if they were being fueled by the ghosts’ actions.
Sea Swirl charged the nearest ghost, putting her dagger out in front of her as if she meant to strike. The ghost looked at her and rushed forward, crossing his swords once again for a horizontal slash, but at the last second Sea Swirl slid to the side. She slammed into the nearest sarcophagus and drove her dagger into the armor resting on it.
A blast of wind whipped against Sea Swirl and the armor crumbled away, leaving only her dagger and a pile of debris on the tomb. She quickly looked at the ghost that had been coming for her, but her hopes were dashed when she saw that it still looked like it was made out of mist.
“Whatever you did, do it again!” Symphony called. Sea Swirl scrambled across the top of the sarcophagus just as the ghost reached her and took another swing at her neck. She fell on the floor on the other side, the remains of the armor tumbling around her, and she quickly glanced at Symphony. 
The ghost she was fighting was no longer a ghost. It was now clad it dark green armor and looked very solid. Sea Swirl’s belief was proved correct when Symphony blocked another strike from the Unicorn’s swords and then countered, slashing the Unicorn’s neck with her blade. His magic failed and his swords fell to the floor. He put his hoof to his throat as he sank to his knees, and then he fell forward, but before he hit the ground, his body dissolved into nothingness. 
Sea Swirl scrambled to her hooves and ran for the other sarcophagus, the second ghost close behind her. She jumped into the air and landed on top of the armor, smashing it beneath her hooves with one quick stomp. Again she felt the blast of air and the armor crumbled. She looked at the ghost and smiled. She focused her magic into a point at the tip of her horn, and then channeled it into the form of laser, which she dragged up from the floor and up the Unicorn’s body. 
The Unicorn froze as the laser traveled vertically up his body, leaving a dark burn mark as it went. He looked like he had been sliced in two, but Sea Swirl knew her magic wasn’t that powerful. It had done the trick though, because he released his magical grip on his swords and then sank to the floor before disappearing like his companion. 
“What type of magic was that?” Symphony asked as she walked over to the sarcophagus. She stared at the crumbled remains of the armor and carefully brushed some of it off. 
“Dark magic,” Sea Swirl said as she hopped down. “I’ve never seen anything like it, but I think it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing more.” She looked around and spied the exit out of the sandy room with the sarcophagi and led the way. 
They walked down a short hallway and found themselves in a two-floored room. Two Shulva knights were in the room, one of them slouched against the wall. Sea Swirl stepped forward and the stone under her hoof sank into the ground. She looked down in surprise and then heard something click in the wall to her left. Immediately, she jumped back and a flurry of darts shot through where her head had been a moment before. They plunged into the chest of the knight against the wall. 
“Traps now?” Symphony asked in annoyance. “Remind me to never agree to go diving with you again.”
“Heh.” Sea Swirl smiled back at the Earth pony and then turned to face the remaining guard. He was lumbering toward her, his mace raised for a powerful strike, but the Unicorn knew how to deal with them now. She fired a single spell that pierced his chest and then she whipped out her dagger and slashed his throat before he had a chance to recover. He sank to the floor and remained still.
“Impressive,” Symphony said as she walked into the room, careful not to step on the stone that triggered the trap. “You seem to be—”
“Look out!” Sea Swirl plowed into Symphony and knocked her to the ground just as a black mass of energy tore through the air. It splashed against the ceiling and disappeared. 
“What the hay was that?” Symphony demanded as Sea Swirl lay on top of her. 
“I said we’d probably be seeing more dark magic,” Sea Swirl said as she picked herself up. She looked to her right and crept to the edge of the floor so she could glance down to the floor below. 
Like the sarcophagi room they had just left, the room below was covered in sand. Along its far wall were several enclaves, as if they had been meant to hold grand statues or sarcophagi at one time, but now they were empty save for a lone Pegasus Shulva knight who stood in one, resting a lance on his shoulder. A green miasma seemed to surround him as he glanced up at Sea Swirl, but he made no move to attack her.
“He couldn’t have used that spell,” Sea Swirl whispered as she stared at him. None of the Shulva knights they had fought so far had shown any sign of being able to use magic except those duel-wielding Unicorns, and they hadn’t fought with magic. Plus, he was a Pegasus, and unless the very laws of nature had been rewritten—Sea Swirl reminded herself that in Shulva, that very well could be the case—there was no way a Pegasus could use magic.
The Unicorn was still pondering that thought when she saw a flash of darkness to her right.  She turned to look and panic seized her. Another black mass was rocketing toward her. Without thinking, she scrambled over the edge and dropped below, the black mass slamming into the spot she had just vacated. She landed in the sand and sprang up, her eyes scanning the room for the spell caster until she spied her.
If not for the telltale horn protruding from the pony’s skull, Sea Swirl wouldn’t have known she was looking at a fellow Unicorn. She wore a long, black skirt that at one point had probably been impressive, but now it was twisted and corrupted by magic. Her limbs were stretched and thin, as if she had starved herself and then tried to save what little muscle she had left. All that was visible of her head was her mouth, and her teeth were no longer like a pony’s. They were razor sharp, two rows of knives that looked like they belonged in a piranha’s mouth, not a pony’s. 
A twisted headdress covered the rest of her head. It fanned out behind her ears like two bat wings, and it looked like two giant purple flowers had once rested on the wings, but now they were sickly and wilted. Her coat was pale and had not stretched along with her limps, giving her a look that was even more disturbing than the Shulva knights they had encountered. 
“What in Equestria happened to you…?” Sea Swirl whispered as she stared at the corrupted Unicorn. She didn’t have a chance to wonder very long, because the Unicorn’s horn glowed black and the familiar black mass formed above her head.
With a shrieking laugh, the Unicorn released the spell and the black orb shot toward Sea Swirl. 
“If it’s magic, then I can deal with it,” the Unicorn said confidently. She charged her own horn and enveloped herself in a white light. The black orb slammed against her magic barrier and dissipated quickly. Sea Swirl lowered the shield and grinned. “My turn.” 
“You idiot!” Symphony yelled, shattering Sea Swirl’s concentration for her spell. 
“What?” she asked as she started to look back up at Symphony, but her eyes locked on the Pegasus that was now advancing toward her, his lance grasped under his wing. She had completely forgotten about him.
Symphony dropped down onto the floor then, placing herself firmly between Sea Swirl and the Pegasus knight. “Deal with that Unicorn. I’ll take care of him.” Without waiting for a reply, she charged the Pegasus, swatting his lance aside with a swing of her sword. 
“Got it.” Sea Swirl turned around. She would have to trust that Symphony could cover her backside while—
The black orb slammed into Sea Swirl and sent her flying backward. She hit sand and the air rushed from her lungs. She tried to suck it back in, but pain tore at her body. She gasped for breath and slowly rolled over onto her stomach. Her whole body felt heavy, like she was wearing a full suit of stone armor. Her joints ached and her legs protested in fury as she stood. Her vision was clouded and dark, and no amount of shaking her head seemed to clear it. She blinked several times and struggled to keep her head from rolling around.
“Wh…what was…that?” she stammered. Somehow, she found the Unicorn in her vision again. Sea Swirl had been hit by spells before, and while they always stung, and sometimes even hurt, she had never felt anything like this. It had felt like an actual object had hit her, not magic. 
The Shulva priestess laughed, her teeth sparkling in the dim light, and began to form another spell. Sea Swirl wasn’t sure she’d survive another hit, so she knew she had to attack first.  Forcing her mind to focus through the swirling pain and darkness, she fired a quick blast from her horn. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as normal and when it hit the priestess, it did little more than caused her to stumble a step, but that was all Sea Swirl needed.
The Unicorn summoned the last of her strength and charged the dark magic user. She tried to pull her dagger out, but her mind was still blurry. She managed to bring it to her mouth and then clamped down on the hilt with her teeth. If Symphony could fight this way, then so could she. 
Sea Swirl lowered her shoulder just as she crashed into the Unicorn. They tumbled to the ground and Sea Swirl’s body screamed in protest. She bit down harder on the hilt of her blade, both to hold on to it and to dim the pain. She was vaguely aware that she was on top of the Unicorn, so without thinking, she began to whip her head back and forth in an attempt to slash at her foe. 
After what seemed like a lifetime, Sea Swirl’s dagger struck something hard and twisted out of her mouth. She fell backward and scampered away on her back, expecting to be blasted away at any moment. It wasn’t until she bumped into a stone protruding through the sand that she finally regained enough sense to stop and look at her opponent. 
The Unicorn lay on the sand, Sea Swirl’s dagger jammed into her neck. Sea Swirl stood and carefully walked over to the body. Dozens of cuts ran across the Unicorn’s face and sickly looking coat. Like the knights, there was no blood from the wounds, but the sight still made Sea Swirl’s stomach wretch. 
Sea Swirl reached into her bag with her hoof, in too much pain to use her magic, and grabbed the Estus flask. She swallowed once, trying to clear her throat, and then took a long drink from the flask. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the warmth flooded her and banished the pain from the very depths of her body. Her vision cleared and she yanked her dagger out of the priestess’ corpse. 
“Symphony!” Sea Swirl shouted as she remembered that the Earth pony had been fighting her own battle. She spun around, ready to offer her help, but only saw Symphony slouched on the sand, using her sword as a crutch to prevent herself from collapsing completely. 
“I’m…I’m…fine…” the Earth pony said through labored breathing. 
“What happened?” Sea Swirl asked as she ran over to her. The Pegasus knight was dead on the floor, the green miasma gone from his armor. “Are you hurt?”
“No…” Symphony said as she pulled out her own flask and took a drink. She shook her head once and then stood up. She sheathed her sword and glared at the Pegasus on the sand. “Poison. It’s like the very air around him was poisoned.”
Sea Swirl recalled the flames that had weakened both of them. “Sinh?”
Symphony glanced at Sea Swirl. “They did worship him.”
Sea Swirl shuddered. She had no idea what magic or techniques allowed ponies to wear poison armor without succumbing to it, but then she had just faced magic that she hadn’t even known existed. The further they went into Shulva, the more she became convinced that Symphony had been right. This place was meant to stay lost. 
“Where to?” Symphony asked as she looked around the room. 
Sea Swirl looked around as well. There was no way to get back up to the ledge they had dropped from. There were stairs at the fair end of the room, but the bottom half of them were crumbled and couldn’t be climbed. At the other end of the room, behind the priestess, was a giant stone wheel with two holes in it. One hole was small, barely big enough for a filly to fit through, while the other was large enough to pull an entire cart through. Unfortunately, both holes only led to stone the wall behind the wheel.
“That’s odd,” Sea Swirl said as she walked up to the wheel. “Why would they make something like this?” She could understand if the holes were the same size because then it would at least be symmetrical, but the way it was now was just an eye sore. 
“Most of this place doesn’t make sense,” Symphony said as she walked up next to Sea Swirl. She looked down and pointed. “It looks like it’s on some sort of track though.”
“You’re right,” Sea Swirl said. There was a groove in the floor and the wheel was sitting snuggly in it. “Maybe that means it moves.”  She debated trying to push it, but instantly gave up on the thought. There was no way she or Symphony could roll something like that. She looked around the room until she spied the stone that she had bumped into earlier. She walked over and looked at it. It had a flower etched into it and was sticking out of the sand. It looked like a switch. 
“Symphony, stand back,” Sea Swirl said. She carefully put her hoof on the stone and pushed. For a moment, nothing happened, but then the stone sank into the sand and the room was filled with a dull rumble. She turned around and watched as the stone wheel turned slowly. The small hole moved up to the top of the room, revealing a small passage with an archer. The big hole rotated to the bottom of the room, revealing a passage. Symphony quickly dashed through it, and Sea Swirl followed before the archer was able to get a shot off. 
The two ponies turned the corner in the passage and they both stopped in disbelief. 
“Who in their right mind thought this was a good idea?” Sea Swirl demanded.
“I am never going on an adventure with you again,” Symphony said. “Ever.”
They stood at the top of a small flight of steps. Once again, the room before them was covered in sand, but countless spikes were sticking up through the sand now. There was a walkway running through the middle of the room, and the massive pillars supporting it formed arches. In one of them, Sea Swirl spied the same strange flower stone that she had stepped on in order to move the wheel. She shrugged and readied her bow.
“What are you doing?” Symphony asked.
“If that switch moved the wheel, maybe this one lowers the spikes.” Sea Swirl strung an arrow and let it fly. It slammed into the switch and the switch sank into the wall. The same rumbling sound filled the air, but to the ponies’ dismay, the spikes didn’t lower into the ground. 
“Nuts,” Sea Swirl said as she slung the bow back on her back. 
“It did something,” Symphony replied. She looked across the room and then nodded. “Look. The spikes don’t go all the way to the wall. Stay close.”
The two ponies hugged the right wall, well clear of the spikes. They reached the first arch from the walkway above and they were able to look into the rest of the room. The right side of the room was also full of spikes, but there were also several bodies impaled on them. They didn’t look like ponies though. Sea Swirl looked closer.
They were griffons. What were griffons doing in Shulva? Sea Swirl recalled the smoky vision she had seen at the fire. The Shulva knights had looked like they were repelling an attack. Had it been griffons?
“I suppose that answers your question,” Symphony said as she stared at the bodies.
“What?”
“A trap. They lured them into this room and then somepony triggered the spikes. No doubt they had archers standing on the walkway above us to finish them off.” 
“I guess that pony forgot to turn the trap off,” Sea Swirl replied with a weary smile. 
“Or they were killed,” Symphony said coldly. 
Sea Swirl shuddered at the thought. She continued to look around the room until she spied something in the far corner that made her heart jump. Despite the danger she and Symphony were in, she couldn’t help but smile. 
A chest was tucked away in a small enclave at the far end of the room. Without saying a word, Sea Swirl began to make her way toward it, hugging the pillars to avoid the spikes. She reached the enclave and jumped over the last few spikes, landing safely in the room. 
“Finally,” she whispered. She slowly opened the chest, her heart racing as she thought about what treasure could be waiting for her. Whatever it was, she was going to turn it into the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever crafted. She would give it to Symphony as an apology for dragging her down here, and perhaps as something else as well. 
Sea Swirl was still going over all the things she could possibly make as the chest opened, but her dreams were quickly dashed. The chest only held a chunk of stone. It was oddly smooth and shaped like an egg, but as far as she could tell, it was just a hunk of rock.
Disappointed, Sea Swirl reached in and lifted it up with her hoof. Maybe there was more to it than—
A piercing scream tore through the entire chamber. Sea Swirl spun around and raised a shield around her body. She recognized the sound as one of the priestesses, and sure enough, she spied one on the walkway above. Her horn was glowing black and the familiar darkness was beginning to form above her head. 
“Sea Swirl, get—argh! Get out of there!” Symphony yelled. Sea Swirl looked down from the walkway and saw that Symphony was desperately fighting off another of the duel-wielding phantom Unicorns. She was somehow managing to block or dodge all of the attacks despite fighting in such a small space, but she wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever. 
Sea Swirl frantically began to look around the room for the cursed armor that would turn the Unicorn back into tangible form, but as she did she spied another one of the phantoms, and it was coming toward her. Worse, the spikes didn’t hinder it at all. If she didn’t get out of the small enclave, it was going to trap her inside and cut her to ribbons. She shoved the strange stone into her bag, leapt over the spikes to land near the wall, and ran back to Symphony. She pulled her dagger and sent it whipping through the air and into the phantom’s neck. It staggered for a moment and Symphony jumped up in a move that would have severed the Unicorn’s head had it been solid. As it was, the phantom simply staggered backward again, shook its head once, and then attacked again. 
“This way!” Sea Swirl said as she pulled on Symphony’s lush, curly purple tail. The two ponies hugged the pillars and moved as fast as they could, knowing that one misstep would impale them on the spiked floor. Sea Swirl heard the priestess’ spells crashing against the floor above them as they reached the far side spiked room. 
Sea Swirl broke into a sprint but came to a stop as she came up to a sudden drop into blackness. Half of the stairs had crumbled away and she struggled to stop herself from falling over the edge. Symphony pulled on her tail and took the lead, jumping to the left where the stairs were still intact. Sea Swirl followed, risking a glance over her shoulder. The two phantom Unicorns were still following them, but the priestess was staying on the walkway, screeching at them. 
“There’s another one!” Symphony yelled as she reached the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner. Sea Swirl hoped the Earth pony meant that there was another priestess, because they could at least kill her, but luck was not with them. As she reached the bottom of the stairs and followed Symphony around the bend, a third phantom Unicorn rushed toward them, swinging its swords in a rapid slashing attack.
Symphony blocked the first strike and leaned into the second one, allowing the blade to bounce off of her armor. She rolled away from the phantom then and continued running down the hall, taking a sharp right again at the end of the room. 
Sea Swirl held her breath and ran straight toward the new phantom. It turned to her and readied its blades, but Sea Swirl simply sped up and ran straight through him. A chill went through her body as she passed through him, but she didn’t slow down because she heard the frightening sound of his blades slamming into the floor as he missed. 
“It’s a dead end!” Symphony called as Sea Swirl followed her around the bend. She found herself in a terribly claustrophobic hallway. Symphony was at the end of it, banging on the wall with her hoof. Sea Swirl looked back over her shoulder and saw that all three phantoms were closing on them. There had to be a switch or something somewhere!
Just before Sea Swirl reached Symphony, she felt a cool blast of air on her right. She stopped and saw that there was a small passage leading out of the hallway. She waved to Symphony and then ran down it. It ended at a ledge above a room, with a set of stairs to the right and left that led down. Sea Swirl broke to the right and dashed down the stairs, but before she reached the bottom, Symphony reached the ledge above and simply jumped off. She landed on the floor just as Sea Swirl reached the bottom of the stairs. Both ponies turned and looked up at the ledge, expecting the three phantoms to appear any moment.
After a solid minute, Sea Swirl let out a nervous laugh and turned to Symphony. “Nice jump.”
“Mm-hm,” Symphony replied, her eyes locked on the ledge.
“There’s a body,” Sea Swirl said. Directly under the ledge was another passage, and resting against the doorway was the body of yet another griffon. As Sea Swirl approached it, she realized that it had been burned. She carefully reached out and touched it, and it collapsed into pile of ash. That probably wasn’t a good sign. They had come up against weapons, dark magic, and traps, but they had yet to face something that could burn them to cinders.
Except for Sinh. 
Sea Swirl swallowed and carefully walked into the passage. It led to another room like the one she had just been in, and there was no sign of Sinh. She turned and waved for Symphony to follow her, and then walked further into the room. 
“It does not look like they’re following us,” Symphony said, her sword still in her mouth as she walked into the room, looking over her shoulder. 
Sea Swirl thought about the feeling she had got when she had run straight through one of the phantoms and it made her shudder. She brushed herself off, feeling like she was covered in cobwebs. She continued walking into the room, making her way to the exit down on the right side, when dark red flames suddenly began to burn at the end of the room. 
“Now what?” Symphony asked, dropping into a fighting stance. 
The flames began take shape and slowly, a pony appeared on the floor. She stood up and look at them as the flames vanished. She was covered from head to hoof in red, but there was no mistaking her. She had a wild, spiky mane and wore a bodysuit. She had wings and she stretched them once and flashed a confident grin. Her eyes were half closed in the sultry look that drove so many stallions and mares mad.
“Spitfire?!” Sea Swirl said as her mouth fell open. What in Equestria was the famed flier doing down here in Shulva? How had she even gotten down here? And most importantly, did she know a way out? “Spitfire! Thank Celestia. We’ve been looking for a way out of here.”
Spitfire cocked her head to the side and flashed a one-sided grin. She raised her front hoof and a ball of flame appeared above it.
Sea Swirl remembered the charred griffon they had just passed. “Uh…Spitfire?” she asked as she took a step back. 
Spitfire’s eyes opened fully and her grin was replaced with a sinister smile. She pulled her hoof back and threw the fire like a ball. Sea Swirl ducked just in time and the fireball slammed against the wall behind her. 
“Spitfire, what the buck are you doing?!” Sea Swirl shouted.
The Pegasus rose into the air and brought her front hooves together. A massive fireball formed in front of her. It grew until it was nearly as big as her, and then Spitfire raised it above her head and hurled it toward Sea Swirl. The Unicorn screamed and dove to the side as the massive ball of flame seared the air around her. 
“Spitfire, stop!” she called as she stood back up. “We’re not your enemies!”
Symphony charged forward and jumped at Spitfire. The Pegasus flew to the side, easily avoiding the blade. She landed and reared up on her hind legs. Her front hooves glowed with fire and she slammed them down on the ground. Giant pillars of flame erupted around her. One of them began to erupt under Symphony and the Earth pony barely managed to jump out of the way before she was incinerated.
“Symphony, stop!” Sea Swirl yelled. “That’s Spitfire! The Captain of the Wonderbolts!”
“Then the Wonderbolts are going to have to find a new Captain,” Symphony growled as she glared at the Pegasus. 
“You can’t mean that!”
“She is trying to kill us, Sea Swirl,” Symphony snapped. “Now either help me kill her, or get out of my way. If you want to burn and die down here, fine. But I’m not going with you.” She rushed Spitfire again. The Pegasus rose up on her hind legs again and moved backward in a graceful spin as one of her front hooves glowed. Once again, fire formed from her hoof and she flung it around like a whip, keeping Symphony at bay. 
The Earth pony watched the dancing flames for a moment, and then jumped through an opening in them. She slashed at Spitfire’s neck, but the Pegasus easily dodged the blow. She threw another fireball and it slammed squarely into Symphony’s armor. The Earth pony yelped and jumped back, pawing at her armor with her front hoof. It was still in one piece, but it was probably a bit warm now. 
Sea Swirl looked at Spitfire and shook her head. Symphony was right. The Pegasus was trying to kill them, and if Sea Swirl didn’t help, she probably would. She dug her hooves into the stone floor and began to focus her magic. Spitfire might be able to manipulate flame, but Sea Swirl could manipulate magic. 
Symphony charged again and Spitfire reared back on her hind legs while her hooves began to glow. She slammed them down and the pillars of fire roared to life, but Symphony had been expecting it this time. She jumped to the side to avoid the nearest pillar and charged forward. She slashed at Spitfire and the blade bit into the Pegasus’ shoulder, but she jumped away before the blow could do any real harm. 
That was when Sea Swirl struck. 
The Unicorn unleashed her most powerful magic, sending several massive spears of light screaming toward the Wonderbolt. Spitfire managed to dodge the first two and they splashed harmlessly against the wall, but the third one caught her in the chest. 
All of the magic poured into the Pegasus and overloaded her senses, burning out her nerves and causing her body to stiffen in agony. She fell to the ground, her body smoking from the magical energy, and struggled to get to her hooves. She was trembling as she stood, and she barely seemed to have enough strength to raise her head.
Symphony rushed forward and plunged her blade deep into Spitfire’s side. She sank it all the way to the hilt and Spitfire’s mouth opened in a silent scream. Symphony twisted the blade and then yanked it out, and Sea Swirl’s heart broke as she watched the Pegasus sink to her knees. She looked up at Sea Swirl with pleading eyes, and then fell forward, but before she hit the ground, her body vanished in a red mist, much like the phantom Unicorns had. 
“Spitfire…” Sea Swirl whispered. How was she supposed to explain that she had just helped kill one of the most famous ponies in Equestria? 
“Get your head on straight, Unicorn,” Symphony spat. She sheathed her sword and stormed over to Sea Swirl. “You dragged me down here. I told you that we should have turned back, but you insisted on exploring this forsaken place. We’ve almost been killed over a dozen times now. We’re dealing with forces we’ve never seen before, and I’ll be damned if your…incompetence gets me killed. If you freeze up like that again, I’ll leave you behind.”
Sea Swirl shrank back at every word, until she was huddled down on the stone floor with her ears pressed against her head and her eyes closed to hold back tears. She hadn’t known it would be like this. She had just wanted to go on an adventure with Symphony. They were just supposed to hunt for treasure and spend some time together, not fight for their lives. Why hadn’t she listened to her and turned around when they had first arrived?
Symphony turned and walked toward the exit. She reached the doorway and then stopped. Without turning around, she said, “If it makes you feel better, I’m not sure that was Spitfire. At least, not entirely. Now come on.”
“Okay,” Sea Swirl said, glancing one last time at the spot where Spitfire had died. 
The two ponies walked out of the room and found themselves outside once again. Sea Swirl looked up and saw the massive temple above them and realized they were now at its base. Had they really gone down that far? She stepped forward and jumped as her hoof touched water. She looked down and saw that they were at the bottom of the cavern, and the place was filled with water. It only came up to just past her hooves so it wasn’t deep enough for her to swim in, but she still found it comforting. She was at home in the water, and she had missed its cooling embrace. 
Massive stalagmite formations rose through the underground pond, trying in vain to stretch up to their stalactite brethren above. They seemed to form little castles, and Sea Swirl thought the entire cave looked rather peaceful. If not for all the danger she and Symphony had faced, she would have liked to come back and just relax here. 
The ground shook slightly and a sloshing sound echoed through the cavern. Both ponies looked to their left and Sea Swirl’s desire to come back to the pond vanished. A creature was stomping through the water. It was huge, almost a third of the size of Sinh. It walked on two massive legs, but other than that it had no limbs. Its body looked like a mutated tadpole, with a short stubby tail and its scaly black flesh, but its mouth was unlike anything Sea Swirl had ever seen. It stretched the entire length of the monster’s face, if it even had a face. Its mouth was the only feature on it, and was filled with giant teeth, each one bigger than a pony. 
“What in Celestia and Luna’s names is that?” Symphony whispered. 
“I have no idea,” Sea Swirl whispered back. She went over every legend she had ever heard about the sunken city, but nothing matched what she was looking at. Shulva had worshipped Sinh, and the dragon had slept in the city until one day it awoke, bringing death and ruin before the city sank beneath the waves. There was nothing in the legend about hideous monsters. 
“Whatever it is, we should probably try to avoid it,” Symphony said. She began to walk out into the shallow water, keeping her eyes glued to the creature in the distance. 
“Easier said than done,” Sea Swirl said as she stepped into the water. She pointed to the right to reveal two more of the giant creatures roaming the pond. Symphony looked at them and slowly shook her head, but kept walking.
“Looks like there’s an exit on the far side of this pond,” she said as she made her way through the water. 
The two ponies moved as fast as they dared through the water, trying to keep their eyes on the creatures. Occasionally, one of the beasts would let out a roar and the ponies would freeze, silently praying that they hadn’t been spotted. They made it halfway across the pond and hid between two clusters of stalagmites while they stopped to catch their breath. 
“Symphony, listen,” Sea Swirl whispered. “If…if those things do see us, run, okay?”
“That was the plan,” Symphony said coolly. “I don’t think we can fight them the same way we’ve fought everything else down here.”
“Um, yeah…” Sea Swirl said.
The two ponies peaked around the stalagmites and watched as one of the creatures walked passed. The ground shook with each step and Sea Swirl’s teeth felt like they were going to fall out of her mouth, but the thing kept moving and took no notice of them, so they began walking again, heading toward the distant shoreline. 
Another roar echoed through the cavern, only it wasn’t like the ones the creatures had been making before. Sea Swirl swallowed and picked up her pace a little, not daring to look back. 
The ground began to shake at shorter intervals and the thundering sound of the creature’s footsteps grew louder and louder with each passing second. Panic rose in the Unicorn’s chest as she broke into a trot, still not looking back. 
“Uh, Symphony…”
“I know.” 
The ground began to shake so bad that Sea Swirl was having trouble staying upright as she trotted through the water. She risked a look over her shoulder and fear gripped her heart.
One of the creatures was running toward them, its head lowered and its mouth wide open. It crashed through the water with frightening speed and its teeth were bared. Somehow its strange mouth looked even more terrifying than Sinh’s. 
“Symphony, go!” Sea Swirl shouted, but the Earth pony had already broken into a full sprint, kicking up water as she moved. Sea Swirl was right behind her, struggling to keep. She imagined the creature right behind her, leaning forward to snap her up in a single bite. That fear drove her legs even harder as she dashed through the water, fighting the drag as best she could. The beast roared again, so close that Sea Swirl’s ears hurt. She wasn’t going to make it.
Symphony had reached the shoreline. She ran out of the water and up on the stone beach. She drew her sword and spun around. Her eyes met Sea Swirl’s for a half second and then they looked behind the Unicorn and went wide. Sea Swirl closed her own eyes and put on a final burst of speed and then jumped as far as she could.
A second later, Sea Swirl slammed into ground. She heard her robes rib and felt the stone tear into her fur and flesh, but the pain didn’t register. She scrambled up the beach, half running and half crawling, until she felt a hoof reach out and pull her up. 
“You’re bleeding,” Symphony said calmly. She nodded to Sea Swirl’s shoulder. 
“I’m fine,” Sea Swirl said as she looked at the wound. It stung, but the pain was nowhere near the level of the bite she had suffered earlier. She then looked back at the pond and was relieved to see the creature staying far away from the shoreline. It roared at them once and then turned, wandering back into the pond. 
Sea Swirl took a deep breath and used a healing spell on her shoulder. The wound closed instantly, leaving only the ripped robes and blood behind. 
“Must be nice, being a Unicorn,” Symphony said. 
“It does have its perks,” Sea Swirl replied as she looked around. They were standing on a raised part of the cavern floor. She could see the temple they had left behind across the pond. They were now closer to a second temple, and as Sea Swirl looked up at it, she recognized it as the main temple they had seen when they had first entered. Her heart sank as she realized they had just been going around in circles the whole time. They were never going to get out of here. 
“You’re not dead yet,” Symphony said as if she was reading Sea Swirl’s mind. “Let’s check out that shrine over there.”
The two ponies walked over to a strange shrine. It was a stone wheel placed on its rim atop a pedestal. A piece was missing from it, and Sea Swirl couldn’t help but feel that the missing shape looked familiar to her.
“What do you think it is?” Symphony asked as she stared at it. “Perhaps a way to summon Sinh?”
“If that’s the case, we don’t want to be anywhere near it,” Sea Swirl replied, taking a step back, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of the missing section. Why did it look so familiar to her?
The stone! she thought suddenly. Without saying anything, she pulled the chunk of stone out of her bag and levitated it over to strange shrine. She turned it slightly until it lined up with the slot in the wheel, and then slowly pushed the thing in. 
There was a low rumble and the shrine began to sink into the ground. Sea Swirl jumped back and drew her dagger, her eyes scanning the cavern for any sign of the dragon, but the shrine sank all the way into the ground and there was no sign of the beast. 
“That was…odd,” Symphony said. As she spoke, another rumbling shook the cavern and two ponies looked toward the main temple. A giant pillar began to rise out of the water. It kept going until it reached the bridge that linked the temple to the cliff face and then it stopped, completing the bridge.
“I take it we’re going there next?” Symphony asked. She didn’t wait for an answer, but instead began walking away from the shrine and toward an exit from the underwater pond. 
Sea Swirl looked up at the bridge and then down at Symphony. They were lost. They had started up on the cliff face and had been chased and herded throughout the entire ruined city, only to end up at the bottom of the cavern and still no closer to finding a way out. And now, they were going to somehow make their way back up, probably to where they had started, only to cross a bridge and go inside another temple.
“I’ve killed us both,” the Unicorn whispered as she began to follow Symphony.