The Trials

by Zee

Ch 28: Pre-Buff, Now

"Split!" Night Watch spat out, jumping to the right and running into a sprint. A quick, dumb-founded glance from Gloomie later and she was off on her own along the left side of the room.

"Mosina, to the statues! Night Watch and I will distract them!" Gloomie yelled.

The two axe-wielding shadow ponies moved into action immediately, flinging one axe at each of the sprinting bat ponies who both dodged them with ease. Aux disappeared in a small bang, leaving behind a cloud of black fog that dispersed into the air.

Heart racing, Mosina looked to the closest guard-pony statue to her right and began to sprint towards it. As she sprinted, she glanced over to see Night Watch closing in on one of the shadow ponies, ducking under another axe throw before lunging out with her spear at it.

On the other side of the room, Gloomie twirled through the air over another axe. However, a loud bang interrupted the whir of the axes whistling through the air and Aux reappeared in thin air, intercepting Gloomie's descent to the floor. The two of them rolled across the ground, Gloomie kicking him off with her hind legs and lunging at him with her claws.

Soon, Mosina stopped in front of the statue, dropping her saddlebags to the floor. The crystal in her front pocket began to vibrate gently, as if attracted to the stone figure. Its brown stone sword, nearly the length of its body, was tucked in neatly by its right side, ready to slice through aberrant flesh.

"Okay, now..." Mosina muttered to herself, taking the crystal out carefully and placing it at the base of the statue.

Amidst the clanging of metal in the distance, a low-pitched whine began to form, raising in volume slowly. Looking back to the fighting, she saw Gloomie lunge at Aux with her hoof claws, only for her attacks to be blocked by his broken crossbow while retaliating with his umbra hoof-blade.

"Gloomie, watch out!" Mosina yelled as the shadow pony near them began to raise another axe to throw. Deftly, she swung her Wind Ruler forwards in a downwards arch, summoning a quick gust of wind that carried itself across the room.

Before the shadow pony could throw its axe, it was thrown off balance from the wind, nearly toppling it completely over. Gloomie shot an accepting glance at Mosina before returning to her duel with Aux.

Mosina was snapped back to the statue behind her, whose humming crystal began to grow higher in pitch. Soon after, the crystal began to glow blindingly bright, and Mosina closed her eyes, washed in a soothing, heavenly sensation. She couldn't tell how the rest of the room reacted, other than the painful wails from the two shadow ponies.

As soon as the light had come, it faded, and Mosina slowly opened her eyes. The statue was gone, but in its midst was a glowing pony, seemingly made from light. Her jaw gaped and she stepped back in awe, unsure of what to say.

"Mosina, summon another one!" Night Watch yelled from across the room, snapping her out from her stupor.

With a quick gasp, Mosina composed herself before turning to see the state of her comrades.

Gloomie seemed to have subdued Aux on the ground somehow, and her attention had turned towards one of the shadow ponies who seemed dazed from the summoned light. Night Watch was in a similar situation, her shadow pony clumsily swinging its tail-club and axes at her for easy dodges.

Before she could react, a loud, ethereal noise alerted Mosina to the being beside her, as if the light pony had announced its presence with a horn from heaven. It unsheathed its large sword and, in a single motion, leaped off of its pedestal and began to sprint towards the battle.

Immediately, Mosina dove into her saddlebags and began to fish for another light crystal, bringing it out with her teeth. She sprinted to the next statue as the crystal began to vibrate again, quickly placing it at the base of the stone pony's hooves.

A loud blast sounded off from the battle, and a quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that the light pony had lopped off one of the axe-limbs of Night Watch's shadow pony.

To Mosina's shock, Aux was not on the floor by Gloomie anymore. Her muscles twitched, feeling the Wind Ruler slung across her back. A loud bang sounded overhead, and Aux came tumbling through a dark portal towards her with his blade outstretched.

Mosina moved to parry, but was interrupted by the sudden, loud whistling from the statue beside her. A bright light engulfed her once again, but she felt no blade stab through her. Aux was thrown backwards, repelled by the light.

Mosina came to her senses quickly while a sigh escaped her lips. Regarding the light pony in front of her with a stoic nod, she moved to grab her spear.

The metal clanging in the distance came to a sudden stop, and she turned to see that the first light pony had thrust its sword straight through the shadow pony's chest. Night Watch had taken the opportunity to lop off the other axe-limb with her golden spear, and then stabbed it straight through its skull in a blast of golden sparks. Both the shadow and light pony froze in their places, both of them beginning to melt into the air.

Meanwhile, Gloomie had dismembered the thick club-like tail of her shadow pony, but had a large gash across her right side. Her white leather armour was almost coated with crimson, but she continued to dodge the wide sweeps expertly.

"Gloomie!" Mosina cried, charging forward with the other light pony close behind.

However, she was soon met with a tackle from the left, Aux rolling with her across the stone floor. The light pony continued forward, ignoring Aux and going straight for the shadow pony.

"Dammit, get off!" Mosina grunted, using the butt end of her spear to throw Aux away.

She sprung up from the floor with her spear pointed at him, ready to lunge. Nimbly, Aux cut at her spear and ducked underneath, his blade meeting with hers in a blast of violet sparks. He lunged forwards with his blade quickly withdrawn, ready to spring out again while safely past the Wind Ruler's point.

Mosina jumped out of the way, dodging to the right before Aux could slice through her. But he was too quick, cutting deep into her left forehoof.

Before she could scream out in pain, a golden spear came down from behind him, its staff bludgeoning into his head and knocking him down. Mosina threw herself towards Night Watch, taking place beside her while struggling to hold her spear up.

"Stay in this, Mosina! He's not out, yet," Night Watch said, withdrawing her spear for another hit. Aux rolled to the right, the blade of Night Watch's spear catching a pouch at his midsection, cutting it open. Several crossbow bolts spilled out, rolling across the floor.

"N-Night Watch!" Mosina grunted, dropping her spear from her injured hoof. "Don't kill him!"

Night Watch jumped forward to match Aux's movements, bringing her spear down again.

"Ngh! I'm not trying to..." she paused, lunging forward again with her spear as Aux dodged again. "Just... have to... hit him!"

Another ethereal sigh permeated through the air, and Mosina glanced back to Gloomie. The light pony had stabbed its sword through the shadow pony's side, and Gloomie was drunkenly sifting through her saddle bags for a healing potion. Frozen in place, both ethereal ponies evaporated into the air.

Night Watch kept up her offensive on Aux, who had continually dodged every attack. He glanced around the room with his corrupted eyes to see his defeat, gritting his teeth before parrying another lunge from Night Watch. He leaped into the air and kicked her in the face, throwing her back.

Mosina moved to pick up the Wind Ruler, but stopped as Aux began to backpedal slowly while Night Watch recovered. He turned away, disappearing once again in a blast of shadowy entrails, leaving the room to silence.

"Dammit!" Night Watch screamed, throwing her golden spear down. "Dammit all!"

Her hoof bloodied, Mosina calmly walked over to her saddlebags to retrieve a health potion.

"When this is over, I'm gonna screw him so hard," Night Watch continued to yell. "SO hard!"

---

The three regrouped at the centre of the room, Mosina taking inventory.

"...That's another health potion gone. We've got four of those light crystals left," she stated, mostly to herself while Night Watch paced back and forth.

Gloomie sat contently, just taking the moments of rest. "One brand-new white metal spear to replace Night Watch's old one," she added, gesturing to the areas where the shadow ponies had been defeated.

"And a white dagger. I guess that goes to you," Mosina finished, offering the blade to her.

Gloomie smiled and took it. "Not sure if I'll really have a use for this, but thanks."

"Everything's had a use so far. I think," Mosina responded. "I like this. Kinda like loot in an RPG."

"Nerd," Gloomie teased, standing up from her spot with a new found bounce in her step. Mosina rolled her eyes.

"I suppose we should move, then," Mosina said, standing up while fixing her saddlebags onto herself. "I guess we've got to go through that." She pointed towards the far end of the room where the large doors rested, large enough to fit an ursa minor.

"Mhmm," Gloomie agreed, falling in step beside her as they walked towards it. A large cut in her armour across her side announced her previous injury, though there was no scar underneath. Night Watch silently followed, a tense air surrounding her.

As the ponies wordlessly reached the door, Mosina felt the new crystal on her front pocket begin to vibrate.

"How do you suppose we open this?" Gloomie asked as Mosina stared a little longer at the door, the familiar vibration from the crystal failing to move her. She examined the intricate carvings that populated the door's surface; a series of seemingly uncollected tendrils sprouting from an eye at the top of each door. Eyes similar to the one etched on the Wind Ruler.

Two large tendrils, one from each eye, both fell down along the entire height of the doors, meeting each other at the floor. After taking in a deep breath, Mosina reached down and brought the little crystal out, its brightness more intense than usual. Gloomie and Night Watch watched curiously as she placed it on the ground at the base of the doors where the two large tendrils met.

As the other crystals had before it, this one began to release a loud, high-pitched whine before becoming blindingly bright. The three ponies closed their eyes and let the light wash over them until it immediately died down.

The light, now etched onto each of the door's tendrils, began to climb upwards. It swam across the etchings, filling all of the tendrils slowly until reaching both of the eyes at the top. The eyes became engulfed in the light, bright flashes accompanying their new found lustre.

Suddenly, the room shook, and the doors began to budge. The sound of ancient stone grinding against stone filled the room, and dust began to fall from the ceiling.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Gloomie commented, stepping back. Mosina and Night Watch reluctantly followed, waiting for the doors to open completely.

The room beyond was engulfed in a familiar greenish-blue light, and was seemingly large. It was very wide and circular, seemingly almost as large as the twin giant spider room that had awarded Mosina with the Wind Ruler. She gulped.

The ceiling was an endless black, the blue light failing to reach the top. As far as Mosina was concerned, it reached the sky. Dotting the walls all along the cavern were glow worms, giving off dull, blue light, like they had encountered in the caverns before. At the far side of the room, the ground gave way to a large, seemingly deep pool of water. Gloomie watched forth with an open mouth, enraptured at the display.

"I've really got a bad feeling about this," she assured.

Finally, the loud grinding stopped, and the stone doors settled in place.

"Well, no place but forwards," Mosina shakily said, taking her first steps into the room. Gloomie reluctantly followed, and Night Watch, stoicly, after her.

Mosina and Night Watch didn't flinch when the doors began to move again as they all entered the room. Gloomie, however, made a panicked yelp and turned, only to see the doors closing in on them.

Amidst the loud grinding, a familiar, loud bang rung out across the large room. Far across the room, in front of the large pool, appeared Aux in a flash of shadowy tendrils.

"Graaaah!" Night Watch screamed, charging forward without hesitation. Gloomie whimpered, and Mosina sighed.

"Time for the boss," she muttered, drawing her weapon.

Comments

[Zee]

LOOTATIONS:
+White Spear
+White Dagger
-2 x Light Crystal
-1 Health Potion

Bonus XP (x3.5): 7,000 per bat
LEVEL UP! (Mosina)
+AGILITY 3
LEVEL UP! (Night Watch)
+NEW ABILITY: ANGRY SEX

thank you see you later

also, Night Watch better keep her Jenkins impulse in check

[plmhc2]

You also intends to continue?
It would be great to continue reading this story .

[FOXTrot2]

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