//------------------------------// // The Grayroot Forest, Part four: Finding the exit. // Story: A New Tale In Equestria. // by Sylif Daring Doo //------------------------------// ____*Strange room*____ Firefly walked into the room and sighed. 'Thank you for not giving me an annoying puzzle.' The room that Firefly was in was circular in shape with a large gray wall at the opposite end, the room itself looked to be made with a sand like stone, she felt a nearby there were two levers on walls opposite of each other and a button in the center. "Let's see what this does eh?" She asked herself. Firefly walked towards the button and examined the room for anything suspicious like a trap, while there were some odd looking paintings and statues around the room, there seemed to be no traps so she continued. When Firefly reached the button she noticed that the button had a face that was almost skeletal with two small horns on each side of its forehead, she simply shrugged. "Why not?" She pressed the button. A loud grating sound rang through the room immediately after Firefly pressed the button, the Pegasus turned around only to see a large black metal wall slide down to block the exit. The metal wall slammed loudly when it reached the ground. "Wonderful." Firefly commented as she heard another loud grating noise behind herself, she turned around as the large gray wall rose up into the ceiling to reveal an open pathway along with a group of armored Changelings entering the room. Firefly could only process a single thought as the Changelings let out a feral roar and charged her. 'Shit' Firefly immediately started to run from the Changelings. The Changelings simply followed Firefly around the room.....clumsily but quickly. Firefly looked behind herself and noticed that the Changelings weren't using their magic, in fact they didn't even use their wings. "I wonder......" Firefly leapt into the air and used her wings to keep herself airborne as she flew up to a good height, when she looked down at the Changelings they seemed to be almost skeletal and had a frenzied look in their eyes. 'Ok then.....Zombies?' Firefly decided to confirm her hypothesis by fighting them. "Ok....so maybe if I shock them I could......" She did not get to finish her sentence as golden lighting surged through her body and arced down towards the zombie Changlings electrocuting them harshly. Firefly's jaw dropped as the Changelings simply fell over limp, she looked at her hooves which had golden sparks running across her fur. "If this is what I can do now......Sweet!" She cheered as she lowered herself to the ground. A loud click came from the doorway the zombie Changelings came from and the door opened. 'Huh, didn't even know it closed.' Firefly landed on the ground and felt a tingle from her wings, she looked at them and noticed that they were crackling with golden electricity. "Well that's just great." She said sarcastically. Firefly looked around the room and sighed as she made her way towards the newly opened pathway, "Wonder what's down here?" She asked herself as she approached the pathway. "This has got to be a Friday." She commented. _____*Two minutes later*_____ Firefly stepped into another chamber and looked around, the room was square in shape with three large wooden doors and the one behind Firefly, it's only purpose seemed to be to connect the four pathways as it had no buttons, levers or switches. The three other doors had seals on them as well, one had a gold hexagon seal, and the other two had a green braizer seal, Firefly groaned and walked towards the door with a golden seal, she put her hoof to the seal and it quickly dissipated as gold sparks danced across it. Firefly opened the door and walked through it. The next room was small in comparison to the chamber she fought the zombies in, it was circular with a flat ceiling and a single lever at the far end, there was no other doors and the walls seemed to be made out of sandstone, she decided to pull the lever and flew towards it. Firefly flew right up to the lever and hovered above it for a moment. 'This could be a trap' "......Ah what the hell?" She pulled the lever and the sound of chains moving and stone sliding immediately rang through the room, Firefly frantically looked around for the source of the noise and soon found it in the form of an opening in the ceiling, the sound of stone moving stopped but the chains did not. Firefly decided to take a closer look and flew up to the opening and looked through it.....only to get beaned in the head by a rapidly falling cocoon and the world went black. (Ouch![1]) _____*twenty minutes later*_____ 'Ouch.' Firefly opened her eyes and groaned at the sight before her.....the cocoon that knocked her out was currently on her chest. "Damn it." She looked around the area for something to help, and to her disappointment she found nothing. "Ok then.....hey! who is it!?" She shouted. Apparently the person in the cocoon could hear Firefly as it responded. "Mm, mm." Firefly sighed and pushed the cocoon off herself receiving a muffled scream in the process. "Sorry." Firefly apologized. "Mmph, mpph." Firefly looked around the room and saw that the door now had a green braizer seal on it. "And I remove that HOW?" She asked. Instead of waiting for an answer Firefly decided to attempt to open the cocoon, she walked up to it and started to pull. _____*two minutes later*_____ Firefly fell backwards as the cocoon rebounded...she was about to try again when she had an idea. "Ok uh, I have an idea.....this may sting." She warned before she gripped the cocoon, she released some of her lightning and pulled as hard as she could. "Come on come on come on!" She prayed as a satisfying ripping sound came from the cocoon. Firefly looked down as she pulled the cocoon apart.[2] Firefly grinned as she looked at who the captive was. "Nice to see you here sis." She said while holding her hoof out. Gwen gave her sister an annoyed glare but took the hoof anyway. "Ha ha." She said sarcastically. Firefly stepped back and pulled her sister out of the cocoon. "How you holding up?" She asked. Gwen did not answer immediately as she stood back up, she looked at her sister. "Better now that I can move, I feel a bit weird but it's probably vomit." She replied. Firefly rolled her eyes as a tingle ran through her body, along with golden sparks. Gwen raised an eyebrow at this. "Firefly, are you high?" She asked calmly. Firefly shook her head and looked around for an exit. "No but we should probably get out of here." She said. Gwen chuckled and looked at the door with the green braizer seal, she raised an eyebrow and walked towards it. "Hey Firefly, you feel something pulling you?" She asked. Firefly shrugged. "I don't know, I'm numb from the Lightning." She replied. As Gwen walked forward to the seal it started to glow brighter, she felt her hoof being moved towards it and she complied as it started to bother her. When Gwen's hoof touched the seal a strange laugh rang through the room and the seal faded away. Firefly sighed in relief as the seal faded. "Let's get out of here." She said. Gwen nodded and opened the door. "Let's get going." _____*ten minutes later*_____ Firefly and Gwen entered the square chamber from one of the green braizer doors, all it contained was a strange crystal and an amulet with the symbol of Jandoka, they walked up to the last door and Gwen opened it. "I hope it's not a puzzle." Firefly said. "That makes two of us." Gwen said. The sisters entered the next room with caution, they walked through a vast hallway for about five minutes before finally reaching the door at the end, the sisters entered the room with haste. The next area was a large rectangular room with racks upon racks of weapons and armor. "Dibs on the crossbow." Firefly said quickly. "Damnit! fine.." Gwen replied. With that the sisters searched the armory for said weapon, after a while Firefly had obtained her preferred weapon. "Let's get going eh?" Firefly said. Gwen nodded and looked at a nearby lone sword on a stand, she raised an eyebrow and walked forward to examine the sword, it had a bone like handle and body but a dark steel blade "If you want it Gwen just take it, not like anyone's gonna care." Firefly said. Gwen sighed and grabbed a nearby sheath and strapped it on, she then took the sword and put it in the sheath.....it was a tight fit. "Great, now all I need to do is get hands and I can use it." She said sarcastically. Firefly chuckled and pulled off two identical swords from the racks. Gwen raised an eyebrow at this to which Firefly said. "Figured Fang and Roxanne could use a sword each." And with that the two left the armory after sheathing the two other swords. _____*back at the first chamber thirteen minutes later.*_____ Firefly and Gwen walked through the chamber and up to the levers. "Ok Gwen get ready to pull that lever!" She said. "WHICH LEVER!?" She asked dumbly. "THAT LEVER THERE!" Firefly shouted. Gwen nodded. "OK!" She shouted back before pulling the lever after Firefly. "OK THE GATE IS OPEN!" Firefly shouted. "YES THE GATE IS NOW OPEN BECAUSE I PULLED THE LEVER!" Gwen shouted like she was reading a script. (Couldn't resist.[3]) Firefly sighed. "Ok I get it." She said quietly before she started to walk towards Gwen. Gwen grinned and walked towards the green braizer seal as the wall went up. "Ok then, let's get out of here." Firefly nodded as Gwen put her hoof up to the barrier and it flickered but didn't disappear. "Uh....Gwen?" Firefly asked worringly. Gwen grunted. 'If I had some help I could.....what was that?' She asked herself. Firefly turned around and gasped at the sight, four human like skeletons were now walking towards them. "Um Gwen, you might want to hurry up." She said nervously. Gwen chuckled. "I would If I could." She replied calmly before standing upright and putting both front hooves on the barrier. Firefly had an idea as the skeletons slowly walked forward. "Ok Gwen, I know this may sound weird, but try to ask that power you have to speed up." She suggested. Gwen did a half nod before doing a double take. "What?" She asked. Firefly growled. "Just do it." She ordered. Gwen chuckled. "Alright then." She replied. 'Um.....hurry it up slowpoke?' As if on cue the skeletons picked up their pace and moved right past Firefly and for the seal. Gwen heard footsteps coming from her left and right, she looked only to see skeletons put their hands on the barrier and the barrier faded. Firefly could only blink. "Gwen......I think you can control the dead." She said simply. "How'd ya guess?" She asked sarcastically. Firefly shrugged. "No idea."