The Voyage of the Polar Star

[Trilobite]

As the chained debris continued its pendulum-like swinging, an odd discordant note entered the formery melodius mechanical rhythm. An ominous tick was followed by a menacing sproing, and grit sifted down on the trio. A small crack appeared, almost shyly making its way from the center of the ceiling toward one wall.

[Ginger Mint]

[colour=#BFBFFF]hi hi[/colour]

Ember Spark smiled as Emerath added his own suggestions to her calculations, making sure to write down some additional notes on what she hoped would be insights on the finer concepts of timing. She might have been able to figure out the whole mess of swinging motion using her knowledge of geometry, and if given enough time to study and measure the features at work, but Emerath was figuring it out just by looking at it.

[colour=#773344]"Oh! That sounds like a distinctively more tractable plan. I know those boulders are ponderous, but just think of it like playing on a swing, it should only require a delicate nudge at the correct..."[/colour] She started to speak as Pocket Change was getting ready to cast his telekinesis spell, but in the middle of her sentence, her ears picked up a sound that had no legitimate reason to come from a finely tuned contraption. She managed to look up just in time to get a face full of dust and grit.

She recoiled and sputtered, making a conscious effort not to rub her eyes. The crumbling stone might not have been particularly jagged, but she didn't want to risk injuring herself by aggravating it any further. Head held towards the ground, she shook herself back and forth and blinked rapidly while she recovered her composure. In that one brief moment, she had seen what was happening, and she could still hear the tiny fissure continuing its journey across the ceiling. [colour=#773344]Poor thing, giving so much and asking nothing in return. If only there was some way we could give it a helping hoof, or maybe a helping hand...[/colour]

[colour=#773344]"Uhg... Hey Emerath, Pocket Change..."[/colour] She tried getting her companion's attention, unsure if they were aware of the impending danger or not. [colour=#773344]"I don't think we have to worry about stopping the stones causing a cave in, I think we may need to worry about it right now."[/colour]

Giving her eyelids one last vigorous blink, she finally managed to get the irritant out of her eye, so while she wiped the tears out of her eyes and pushed her goggles firmly in place, the gears in her mind were already hard at work coming up with a solution. [colour=#773344]"If either of you is capable of holding up the ceiling, now would be an opportune time to interrupt. I won't take offense."[/colour] She paused for a second, more out of politeness out of any real expectation of a response, [colour=#773344]"Don't worry, I'm faced with the same physical deficiency. Since I'm pretty sure neither of you brought a couple dozen yards of bracing material, we're going to need a helping hand."[/colour]

She trotted briskly over to one of the griffin statues, one of the many with their hands reaching up to the sky. Perhaps reaching up to catch or to hold. [colour=#773344]"What do you say..."[/colour] she managed to interrupt herself with a strained grunt as she pressed her full, but rather insubstantial, weight up against the side of the statue, [colour=#773344]"Do you think we can roll a few of these into position? Tipping them... back up... shouldn't be... so bad."[/colour]

She was pushing as hard as she could, hoping the stone form might budge. [colour=#773344]"If we can't get this stable, we might have to find another way down... if there is one.[/colour] She didn't let her mind linger on such thoughts, instead she kept thinking of how to move forward, [colour=#773344]"Say, what do you suppose is at the bottom of that gap anyway?"[/colour]

[Emerath]

Emerath nodded as Pocket Change readied his spell. He didn't have a ton of faith in himself, but he trusted the stallion and mare that consisted of his companions more than he doubted himself, so when Pocket Change readied his spell, so did Emerath.

But before either of them could begin to cast, Ember Spark was having a bit of troubles with something he supposed they hadn't noticed yet. He let his spell fade as he looked over at her, only to see her shaking her head and some dust falling from her face. Her eyes were watering, so he assumed that some of it must've gotten there as well. He was about to ask if she was ok, as some dust and grit then fell a bit heavily on his back end. It wasn't painful, as they were small rocks and the like, but it was more than noticeable, as he turned his head to look up at the source, with a spark of realization.

The roof was going to cave in. The trap wasn't meant to be thought out. It wasn't meant to allow anypony to stand here and think about how to get through it. It was a timed trap, meant to ensure that anypony who triggered it either left, or moved forward, and quickly. He had read about traps like this in many novels. He realized something else due to his previous reading, and that was that the trap had never been triggered before. The crack snaking along the ceiling was brand new, and that meant that no creature, at least none that could walk, had been this way. They were the first.

He didn't have time to ponder this. His heart began to race and his brain began to work, as Ember Spark trotted over to a statue. He couldn't tell if she was talking to him and Pocket Change or if she was talking to the statue. He supposed it didn't matter.

[colour=#b22222]"No offense, Ember Spark, but I don't think I'm powerful enough to move that statue. I barely think I'm powerful enough to move a medium sized rock."[/colour] He shook his head and looked at the swinging stones. [colour=#b22222]"No, this trap isn't meant for us to be allowed to sit here and think of a plan. And it isn't meant to be stopped. Either that roof is going to fall on us, or we're going to move forward or go back."[/colour]

The stones continued to entrance Emerath as he looked at them. In his mind, they began to slow down and swing individually, each following a perfectly rhythmic pattern. There was a gap, he could see it! It was brief. Possibly a 15 second window. Maybe less. Whatever pony tried to make it through would have to get a running start and jump at the beginning of the gap to make it through the stones. He would need the trust of his companions to believe in his timing. And then the trust of himself to make sure he could make it through himself...

[colour=#b22222]"I think we're going to have to jump. Through the pendulums. If you can trust me, I can see the gap. It happens every 30 seconds or so. The pendulums aren't swinging super fast, and there's a decent sized gap that a pony can get through if they jump at the beginning. If you'll trust me to call it out, we already know we can jump the gap. It isn't super wide."[/colour] He said all this with a bit more apprehension than he should have if he wanted to instill courage in himself and his companions, but there wasn't much that could be done about that. They weren't fearless adventurers. But if they didn't get through this, he thought with a look back up at the ceiling, the crack ever progressing toward the wall, they wouldn't even be ponies anymore. They'd be mush.

[Trilobite]

A hoof-sized piece of stone clattered down against the statue that Ember was trying to heft and skidded across the floor, all the way into the pit. The mushrooms were going dark as the crack neared them, and increasing amounts of dust were beginning cloud the air. With a sproing, a spring shot free from the growing fissure, and the mechanism's action took on a strident note.

[tacobob]

As the rapidly deteriorating ceiling put an end to their original plans, the unicorn nodded slowly as he listened to Ember and Emerath as they gave out their thoughts and feelings. "So, it's going to be a jump then? I guess that won't be to hard. The jump that is.", he studied the pendulums as he backed up, double-checking the actual timing each stone made as it swayed back and forth. He needed to get this all down just right, from where he needed to start running, from the exact time he could make the jump and avoid getting clobbered by the moving stones, while this wasn't something he would be considered 'skilled' at, he knew he had to take a good look at all of his options, and he also had Emerath on hoof, at least he was able to determine when it would be best to get through this thing. Pocket didn't even want to think what was down in the pit. Probably jagged rocks or pointy sticks, he shook his head, "Well, wish me luck. If I don't make it, tell my sister in Canterlot she can have everything."

Once he was at the right spot, he waited for Emerath to give him the signal before breaking out into a full sprint. The other unicorn did say he had a good fifteen seconds to clear this sucker, which made it sound easy, but those loud crashing stones didn't make it seem that way. As he ran, he kept his eyes forward and simply followed his own light. Once he neared the gap, and he heard the stallion's yelp to JUMP, he made his leap and over the pit he found himself soaring, almost feeling like a Pegasus in flight. Once he made it to the other side, he glanced over at the others, "N-ext.".

"There's got to be a switch to turn this sucker off.", Pocket muttered to himself as he glanced around the new section of the room he was in. This always seemed to happen in the 'Daring Do' books. The fleet-footed Pegasus would nimbly make her way through epic traps, and there were always switches or levers she could pull or push to turn the deadly device of epic pony doom off, so her less than heroic companions or sidekicks could make it through. After noticing the lack of a cut-off switch, he sighed and glanced back at the others, "Good luck guys.".

While he was nice and safe on the other side, the unicorn was not over and kept an eye out for any falling debris. While he would not be able to stop those large rocks with his magic, he could at least keep any of the smaller ones from falling on his friends.

[Ginger Mint]

[colour=#BFBFFF]hi hi[/colour]

Ember Spark was just reaching down to pull her screwdriver from its holster, having planned to use it as a chisel to break the statue free from its base, when she saw that Pocket Change was already on the other side of the gap. Her heart began to race and, for a moment, she could feel her cheeks start to burn before her attention focused onto the problem at hoof. Little unpleasant distractions like the falling debris, her plan to roll the statues into position, or her inclination to tell everpony to back out of the hallway all together, stopped being a bother.

She bounded back into the center of the hallway and trotted in place while her mind was racing. [colour=#773344]"Too far, this is going too far..."[/colour] her voice sounded distant and was hardly audible above the sound of crackling and snapping stone, a pale reflection of the thoughts that were zipping through her mind far too quickly to speak out loud. [colour=#773344]We're pushing things too far. There's too much at stake and no margin for error. If we're on the other side and the hallway collapses, we could be trapped. Finding this treasure isn't going to do us any good if we end up stuck down here with it...[/colour]

The pendulums continued to swing back and forth, counting out their rapidly dwindling time. She knew what she was about to do would be dangerous -no safety line to hold her up this time- but as much as the gravity of the situation weighed down on her, she wasn't about to abandon Pocket Change.

Her eyes darted about as the pieces of her plan started to come together, and just a second or two later, she spurred herself into a gallop. Towards the gap, but not towards the edge, she aimed for the nearest possible statue. Ember Spark looked over her backside and called out to Emerath, [colour=#773344]"This trap isn't meant to be stopped or even circumvented at all, and ponies aren't meant for such places, but we are going to make it."[/colour]

She squeezed herself back up against the wall behind the statue and started scooting her way up to the top of it, one side against the wall, the other side against the statue. Her hooves slipped here and there only to catch a few inches later on a crack or a divot in the stone, but after some serious effort, she found herself perched on top of the stony griffin's head. Ember Spark watched the nearest pendulum swing towards her. [colour=#773344]I can do this, its just a single stone. It'll come back in exactly the same amount of time. One, two, three...[/colour]

Planting her back hooves firmly against the side of the griffin's face, she coiled up and let herself start to fall, then halfway through the tumble, she pushed off as hard as she could. It was a respectable jump, for a pony who was not by any means the strongest mare around. Having aimed herself diagonally across the hallway and out over the gap, there was nothing but darkness and presumably stone beneath her. She just had enough time to look back behind her when the pendulum's chain rushed up to meet her.

Stars. Stars everywhere.

[colour=#773344]"Aaah!"[/colour] Her entire world exploded in a multicolored kaleidoscope and she felt something go *crunch* up against the rapidly swinging chain as the wind was knocked out of her. Even though she had done everything she could to match speeds, climbing up to where the chain would be moving slower, and jumping in the same direction as its own motion, the pendulum still felt like an unstoppable force. It pinned her up against the side of itself, and it wasn't until it was reaching its peak and Ember Spark felt herself go weightless, that she instinctively grabbed on as tight as she could.

It took her a whole additional swing before she was able to force her eyes open again and take stock of the situation, but she didn't even need to look up to see that the roof was continuing to collapse, she could feel every shake and shudder as it vibrated down the pendulum's chain. She had managed to slide back down while knocked senseless, until the jagged stone block caught her at the bottom anyways.

She muttered a grateful, [colour=#773344]"See, you're not so bad after all. Thanks,"[/colour] before she started climbing her way up the chain, towards the gap in the ceiling and whatever was waiting on the other side. Carefully grabbing hold with two hooves on each side, she held herself steady with her mouth each time she had to reach forward again, though with each stretch, she felt another stab of pain in her side.

Even though simply breathing in and out was becoming difficult, for her companion's benefit, she dared trying to speak as she climbed up towards the ceiling. [colour=#773344]"I am going... to fix this..."[/colour]

[Emerath]

Emerath breathed a sigh of relief as Pocket Change reached the other side with his help. He was relieved that in his sense of adventure, he hadn't lost his knack for timekeeping. Although it was his special talent, so he would've probably been devastated had he lost it to something as silly as an adventure. He mentally gave a light chuckle as he prepared to guide Ember Spark across the gap successfully.

Only, she wasn't getting into position. She was already galloping towards the gap. She was going at the wrong time! The pendulums were going to hit her! Emerath began to cry out to her, but she had already lept off the edge. His voice caught in his throat as she landed between the wall and a nearby statue, and began to climb. This is crazy! She's going to get herself killed! Emerath's thoughts raced as he looked around for a way to stop her or save her should things go wrong.

[colour=#b22222]"Ember Spark!"[/colour] he said, registering what she was saying to him as she had leapt towards the statue.[colour=#b22222] "It's a trap! Of course it isn't meant to be stopped![/colour]" He ran to the edge and continued to shout at her. [colour=#b22222]"You can't stop it! You can't fix it! You need to get down!"[/colour]

His words rang against deaf ears as she was knocked senseless by the oncoming chain of the pendulum and he gasped as she slid down, and couldn't muster enough thought to begin a spell to catch her in his stunned awe. Thankfully she had managed to grab onto the chain and came to a rest at the bottom of the chain on the stone. However, the mare was too resilient and focused on her task, as she began to climb again. [colour=#b22222]"Ember Spark! Stop this! We can't lose you! Not everything can be fixed!"[/colour]

She didn't listen. Or she couldn't hear him over the collapsing rubble falling around her. So there they were. One pony on each side of the gap, and one in the middle, doing the most reckless thing Emerath had ever seen. If Emerath didn't cross the gap, he would be trapped and him and Pocket Change would become separated. That didn't even include what might happen to Ember Spark. He shuddered at the thought.

He couldn't do anything to stop the mare. He couldn't do anything to help her. This was crazy. He looked at the floor. She wasn't Daring Do and she was going to get herself killed, and Emerath couldn't stop her. Tears stung his eyes, as he backed up away from the edge, doing his best not to look at the reckless mare that he wouldn't be able to save if things went wrong. He had to save himself and Pocket Change at least, if things went wrong. The water in his eyes blurred his vision, and he shook his head. He could still see the gap in the pendulums, although with Ember Spark on one, the speed of one of the pendulums had changed, making the gap smaller. He recalculated it quickly and began to run.

Time seemed to slow down. He leapt off the edge and went flying into the air. For a brief moment, the pendulum Ember Spark was on swung in front of him. He saw the determined look on her face and felt another pang of mixed emotions run through him. A few seconds later, his feet landed on the floor on the opposite side of the gap. He looked at Pocket Change, as he collapsed to the floor, his knees giving out on all four legs. Tears now ran freely down his face. [colour=#b22222]"Pocket Change!"[/colour] he cried at the stallion who had been waiting for him on the other side. [colour=#b22222]"We have to save her! What do we do?! She can't stop this! We can't lose Ember Spark!"[/colour]

Did adventure mean losing friends...? If it did, Emerath found he didn't want to experience it anymore. He anxiously awaited Pocket Change's reply, unable to fight the emotions running through him.

[Trilobite]

There. The growing fissure had exposed the mechanism, support timbers and clock parts and gorgeous ornamental chains repurposed to form the ingenious system that drove the trap. But time had wreaked havoc with the jury-rigged system, and the stresses of operation combined with the load it bore were tearing it and the surrounding structure apart. It couldn't be fixed.

Well, not right away. But it could be stopped, Ember Spark could clearly see just what she had to do to shut the whole thing off. Then the walls wouldn't collapse and this whole thing could be repaired and reset later!

The chain slipped, and the earth pony slipped with it. Below, the abyss yawned, dark and bottomless. The chain caught and held, groaning with stress, the gear it was fastened on threatening to come loose at any moment. There was some distant shouting, and other noises, but the camshaft, the key to stopping this whole thing was close...so close!

Emerath and Pocket Change saw the chain come loose, slithering rapidly toward oblivion, pulled by the heavy weight of the rock which bore their friend. It stopped suddenly, but was already slipping again in slow fits and starts, as if eager to dive into the pit below. Ember Spark continued to climb, seemingly fixated on the mechanism above her.

[tacobob]

The unicorn stood on the other side and watched with confusion as Ember Spark appeared to have decided on something that did not involve simply leaping over the gap. While he was concerned that growing fissure would eventually lead to a massive cave-in, there was always a chance they would make it back in time to avoid it, and if it did happen, there were other ways. They could simply climb up the rocks and out of the cave all together, as they were not that far down, at least he did not believe they were.

He watched in horror as the mare was slapped silly by the chain, but she was a tough little pony and even that could not stop the girl from her task on hoof. Pocket Change quickly moved out of the way when Emerath made his way over to his side, "I guess she's trying to keep the whole place from crashing down on us. I can at least keep her from falling.", he cleared voice, "Ember! Tell me what you need us to do! I can keep you from falling, and I can also help you up the chain! Just tell us what we can do!". He knew this little group was going to have to learn to work together a good deal better than what they had been doing so far.

OOC: Basically Pocket can keep the mare from falling by using his telekinesis abilities if she is forced to let go of her chain, or even help her up it if necessary..

[Ginger Mint]

[colour=#BFBFFF]hi hi[/colour]

Even though Ember Spark was focused on her goal, the growing crack in the ceiling just barely big enough now to squeeze though, she could faintly hear Emerath calling out to her, urging her back. She tried to answer during the moment when she wasn't using her mouth to steady herself, but her voice refused to respond, a tiny squeak that was buried under the escalating rumble. [colour=#773344]"The entire Stormfast... is above... there's no telling..."[/colour]

She'd taken the span of three breaths, three tries, and she couldn't even hear her own voice, so she gave up and redoubled her efforts to reach the top as quickly as possible. Reach with the forehooves, push with the hind, steady with the mouth and then reach again, always keeping at least two points of contact at all times just like she'd been taught. It was supposed to keep ponies, who lack the helpful talons of a griffin, from falling.

No amount of technique would help when the chain itself began to fall though, and Ember Spark's heart nearly skipped a beat as it did. She twisted around, looking for the next chain over so she could grab hold, but it was too far away and it was swinging away from her.

By some miracle though, the chain caught on something else and held, though only just. She knew she was in trouble, but she forced the panic rising up in her neck back down and started climbing again. She had a long way to go, especially after having been set back several feet by the fall. [colour=#773344]Focus. Focus now, worry later. Can't dismount at this velocity, I have to climb higher. Come on, just a little bit farther. Hold together just a little bit farther.[/colour] She tried to encourage herself, but deep down she knew she was out of time. The chain was staggering forward, rapidly burning up what little slack she had left. If the chain would hold out until it caught up with its neighbor, she could try another jump, but it'd have to survive another pass across the bottom of its swing, the point where the tension would be highest.

Pocket Change's voice cut through the cacophony and Ember Spark didn't have to think about what to do next. She trusted him to keep his word, a lot more than she trusted luck at least. Her eyes clamped shut as she drew in a deep breath, trying to shout as best as she could, [colour=#773344]"Lift me up, to the ceil..."[/colour]

*Plink*

A seemingly innocuous note signaled the pendulum's release. Ember Spark felt herself falling again and her voice faltered, and with her eyes still closed tight, an old memory flashed before her eyes.

---

The first thing she remembered was the smell, the unmistakable fragrance of pine and coal. It was a sunny day, barely a cloud in the sky, but the warmth she felt was the flush of embarrassment as she dangled helplessly upside down by one leg.

[colour=#302030]'What were you thinking?! You could have been hurt!'[/colour] The stern voice came from up above her, somewhere out of sight, but she didn't need to look to see who it was. She'd recognize that voice anywhere.

Her own voice wavered as she gently rocked back and forth in the warm summer breeze. [colour=#302030]'Gwendolyn's... *sniffle* she let me borrow... *sniff* a- and I dropped it... *sniffle*'[/colour] It wouldn't have been a terribly long fall, she'd have probably walked away with a few bruises, but none so sore as the one on her pride.

[colour=#302030]'You've got to be more careful, especially around airships. I'm not always going to be around to catch you.'[/colour] Ember Spark remembered how much those words had stung.

[colour=#302030]'I know! *sniff* b-but, I-I thought... *snuffle* I could catch it before... *sniffle* ...now Gwen's gonna hate me!'[/colour]

She felt herself carefully being pulled back up, while that same familiar voice took on a more comforting tone, [colour=#302030]'Oh, Sparks... I'm sure she'll get over it. Its just a thing, we can always get a new one, but we can't ever get another you. Think about that next time, is it really worth it?'[/colour]

---

[colour=#773344]I hope I did the right thing. Saving somepony... yeah, I think it was worth it. Wait, 'was?' Pull yourself together, its not over yet![/colour]

Ember Spark opened her eyes and saw the wall along the side of the gap rushing up to meet her. Rapidly. She twisted herself around trying to make sure none of her hooves got tangled up in the now listless chain while she braced her head with a foreleg. She knew that if her unicorn friends couldn't catch her, her chances were slim, but a slim chance was still a chance and she wasn't about to give up.

[Emerath]

Pocket Change hadn't paid much attention to Emerath's pleas when Emerath made his way over the gap to him, and instead focused his attention on Ember Spark. He supposed that was just good enough, and decided to stand back up and turn to look where he was, at the mare who was foolishly trying to be a hero at the risk of her own life. He wiped away tears that had since began to subside as the wave of emotions had finished washing over him, and he was now more clear headed and focused on the fact that if Ember Spark was going to risk her life, he wasn't about to just let her die.

He watched her as the chain began to slip, and he barely heard her begin to say to lift her up to the ceiling, when the chain snapped and Ember Spark began her fall into the open abyss below. Emerath never was the best with spells, usually just a tidy here or moving something there, writing something on the go, stuff like that. But never lifting up or catching a full grown pony! He didn't have time to think though, as Ember Spark's descent grew more and more rapid. He quickly readied telekinesis and attempted to catch Ember Spark, but by himself, all he seemed to manage to do was slow her fall.

[tacobob]

Pocket grimaced as he quickly threw up his telekinesis spell to catching the falling mare. It had taken him a moment to think of something that could keep the bouncy little pony from hitting the rocks at the end of the long drop below. He thought of a soft, but strong pillow and quickly threw up the spell knowing that the other unicorn had given him just about the right time to do so. The mare would not see it, but she would feel the ‘invisible pillow’ at least. "Ugh.", he growled, "Emerath, give me a hoof here. We need to raise her up. Can't do it myself.”, he noticed a few fresh red drops of liquid near the snout and realized he was going to have a bit of a bloody nose to deal with along with a minor headache once this was finished. “Ember Spark, tell us where you want us to put you and we will move you there. Just be quick about it. Not sure how long I can keep this up.”

Once a proper spot near the top of the pendulums was pointed out, he will do his best to levitate her towards the spot so she could grab hold and make the climb. Once she was safe and secure, “Right. We can release the spell.”, he did not want to surprise the stallion by dropping the spell and not warning him. So he let his ‘invisible pillow’ float away for now. “Never had to release such a spell so quickly before. That was a bit out of my comport zone.”. While the unicorn wanted to sit for a moment and rest, he knew he had to be on his hooves for the moment incase any rocks fell their way.

[Emerath]

Emerath had already been casting when Pocket Change jumped in with his spell, and together, they managed to completely stop Ember Spark's fall, and evenbegin to bring her back up. Emerath's plan was to bring her to the edge, but as he directed his spell towards the edge, he felt a tug in the upward direction. It appeared that Pocket Change didn't have the same idea as Emerath, and could cause problems if they weren't working together. So instead of arguing the idea, he guessed that Pocket Change wanted her to finish whatever she was doing up there in the first place, as reckless as Emerath still believed it to be, and that meant he trusted her.

And so if Pocket Change was able to trust his companion, Emerath could too, despite his initial disagreement. He pushed the spell in the same direction as Pocket Change, upwards and towards a nearby pendulum chain. His breathing became a bit heavy and a few of his muscles tensed as he continued to hold the spell, the wear on his body becoming readily apparent. A few beads of sweat ran down his brow and along his face, but he refused to let the mare fall before she reached the destination.

As she got to the chain, he took a glance over at his companion, who appeared to be having a very rough time with carrying the mare to safety. Emerath wasn't having the greatest time of it himself, though, so he couldn't fault Pocket Change for being tired. Celestia knows, Emerath was exhausted, not only from the spell, but from all the events of the day, and wouldn't mind collapsing on the floor right that moment and snoozing the better part of a few hours away.

But he couldn't let those thoughts make him lose focus. Ember Spark managed to get a hold of the chain and as she did, Pocket Change warned him that he was dropping the spell. Emerath felt the strain of his end dropping, as he suddenly realized that he was the only one holding up the mare. His back end buckled as his hind quarters fell to the floor, but he held on to her, wanting to be completely sure that she had grabbed onto the chain. When Ember Spark grabbed onto the chain, much of the weight was lifted from the spell and she was now using her strength to pull herself up, but not all of it was on the chain, and Emerath knew that if it were on the chain, there was a chance this one would snap too. No... one of them had to help support her. It would be easier than outright carrying her, but would still be rather tiresome.[colour=#b22222] "Alright... Pocket..." [/colour]he said through ragged breaths,[colour=#b22222] "Keep your spell... ready... I'm going to keep holding her... so she has some extra support... as she climbs... but if I can't take it anymore... please be ready to catch her... but one of us should rest... and we can take turns as she... fixes the problem..."[/colour] Sweat was now pouring from his forehead as he slowly pushed the words out of his mouth. He wouldn't be able to do this for more than a few minutes, then Pocket Change was going to have to switch with him, should the problem not yet be fixed.

[Trilobite]

The mushrooms had gone almost completely dark, and the only light in the tunnel was the glow of magic surrounding Ember Spark and coming from the unicorn's horns. Sparks popped and flared, accompanied by a sharp jolt running through their horns and down into their hearts. It wasn't painful, exactly, but definitely unpleasant: a combination of the feeling that came with being over-cannfinated and the sensation of hitting one's funnybone. The bright, flickering glow clearly illuminated Ember Spark's goal as she was lifted toward it.

[Ginger Mint]

[colour=#BFBFFF]hi hi[/colour]

Ember Spark felt the tickle of magic wrapping around her first, causing a moment's confusion. Only a moment though, because as soon as the magic took hold, her plummet abruptly halted in a sensation not unlike hitting the water after a jump from a tall diving platform. Tossed about and springing back again, she tried to orient herself again as quickly as possible and found herself just a few inches away from the unforgiving stone wall.

She wanted to jump for joy, but that would have been impossible, seeing as how she was suspended in midair by magic. She settled instead for an ill advised hoof pump, which she only got halfway through before her rib reminded her of what she'd just put herself through. The sharp jolt of pain did, however, quickly set her mind back on track. With a meek wave to Emerath and Pocket Change, she pointed with her good hoof up in the direction she was hoping they'd take her.

The ascent was nerve wrackingly slow to start though, and Ember Spark tried not to think about how much time they might really have left as the pendulums continued to swing past her. They had already used up their fair share and then some, but she couldn't let herself start thinking they were acting on borrowed time. [colour=#773344]This has got to work. It must. Work![/colour]

The lifting magic gradually picked up speed before it started to shudder with the strain. Having studied in Canterlot, Ember Spark knew enough about magic to realize the spell was about to give way, so she shifted from pointing at the ceiling to pointing back over into a pendulum's path. When the next chain rushed up to greet her, however, she was able to reach out and grab it. She didn't waste any time getting moving again, but with Emerath's subtle spell holding her steady, she was able to skip an entire step in her climb. Reach with the forelegs, push with the back, rinse and repeat.

She practically swam up the side of the chain, and in spite of the still growing ache in her side, she tried to shout out, [colour=#773344]"Don't stop, whatever it is you're doing. It's perfect!"[/colour]

All the crumbling stone and dust was making it difficult to see out her goggles, now covered in a fine powder themselves, but she knew her target. The dark, snaking crevice in the ceiling was burned into her mind, and the further along on the chain she got, the easier the task became. She pulled herself right up to the ceiling and with one last push, she squeezed herself headlong through the gap in the stones, only to get stuck halfway through.

[colour=#773344]If these blocks give way completely, I am going to make a very poor capstone.[/colour] The pressure on her sides felt like a gradually tightening vice, but at least her forehooves were resting above the ceiling, just within reach of the mainspring. She craned her head backwards to try to reach her monkey wrench, but found that it was jammed up against the stone wall, helping to keep her stuck in place. She settled instead for a screwdriver and, as delicately as possible, she poking, prodding and prying at the device. It was complicated and apparently delicate too, but lacking the time to study it thoroughly, she had to settle for using brute force.

Fumbling around half blind from the dirt and dim lighting, she wedged her screwdriver into the interface between the camshaft and the mainspring, and misused the poor little tool like a crowbar until she felt the two pieces come loose and pull apart. With the mechanism's fittings no longer being twisted under tension, the rumbling and crumbling quickly subsided, although a few residual bits of debris continued to trickle down, bouncing off her dangling legs. Along with the tension on the device, she felt the tension in her limbs unwind now that the immediate danger seemed to have at least subsided.

[colour=#773344]"There there, you can rest for now."[/colour] She gingerly patted the device on its top before putting her screwdriver back in her tool belt, and while she looked around the opening on the top side of the ceiling for some pieces of loose stone to help fill the crevice back in, she realized one flaw in her plan. [colour=#773344]"Emerath? Pocket Change?"[/colour] her voice was barely a whisper, [colour=#773344]"...how am I going to get down?"[/colour]

[tacobob]

Pocket Change could not help but be very impressed in the little mare, so much so he wanted to let out a rousing cheer, but there was always a chance he could set off another avalanche, so instead he just smiled at the girl as she held on. "You could just jump, it's not that far. You just need to find a good spot on one of those pendulums and leap down. It shouldn't be too hard for somepony as agile as you. Just be careful. I don't think I'll be able to use any magic for the moment...I believe I did something wrong with my first spell. Maybe I started it too quickly.", he pulled out a small cloth which he used to stop his stout from bleeding all over. He waited and watched as Ember Spark made her way down.

"If you don't mind, Emerath and I should give you a quick look over. Make sure you didn't break anything when you got clobbered back there. I'm not a doctor, but nearly every dig I've worked on required that I was at least certified for both CRP and First Aid. While crypt and cave spelunking were pretty rare for us, even outside on a flat surface there are still more than a few places a pony could injure him or herself on." Once they found a safer place to stop, and after the mare gave her approval, the unicorn will give her a quick and proper examination, making sure to get a good look at where she was struck earlier. He hoped the sturdy pony did not break any bones, but he could at least be able to make a brace or splint for her if she did. Hopefully she just got a few black and blue marks instead.

Once that was taken care of, Pocket declared his desire to sit and rest for the moment, "I'd hate to be the one to slow this down any further, but I'm going to have to relax for a bit and rejuvenate my magical store of er. mana. That little show back there did a number on me and I'd like to get my mind back in shape. You two don't mind eh? If not, I doubt I'll be able to use my natural unicorn magic and who knows what's going to be facing us down the hall? Shadow monsters? Zombies? Vamponies? Shadow Vamponies? Just need to rest...Just for a moment."

The stallion collapsed into a well padded ball. He did not sleep, but he instead closed his eyes and mediated.

[Ginger Mint]

[colour=#BFBFFF]hi hi[/colour]

Ember Spark twisted in place, tried pushing herself up, then back down again and side to side. Briefly, her hind legs treaded helplessly in place, trying in vain to find purchase on something, anything at all. In the end though, she found herself stuck tight in the little crevice and had to be content with simply dangling for a while. She wiped the dust off of her goggles, which took a little bit of effort, considering that her hooves were covered in dust as well. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the lack of lighting up in the crawl space, or whatever it was, and wondered if she shouldn't have eaten so much food at the banquet. [colour=#773344]But it was so good![/colour]

Eventually though, she acclimated enough to pick out some lumps of rubble laying around her and, with a bit of stretching, grabbed hold. [colour=#773344]If it weren't for the fact that this is definitely stone, this might count as playing with fire.[/colour]

After a few false starts, she found a good spot to wedge the stone block into the crevice. Pressing it in between the two halves of the ceiling, she could feel the pressure ease off on her sides, not only making it slightly easier to breathe but also giving her just a smidgemeter of leeway to move. She had heard, or at least she thought she heard, Pocket Change's call for her to climb down, so as soon as she felt her monkey wrench slip free, she left the relative safety of the crevice and wiggled back down into the hallway.

Reaching out with her hind legs, she was able to grab hold of the swinging pendulum that she'd climbed up in the first place, however, not being in any immediate danger, she took her sweet time in making sure she had a good grip. From there, she had to leap from chain to chain, going down the line of pendulums to where Pocket Change and Emerath were resting. It was a lot easier to do up near the top of the ceiling, but in spite of Pocket Change's vote of confidence, she was no acrobat.

On the second to last jump, she slipped.

With a startled [colour=#773344]*Eeep!*[/colour], she felt the chain pull itself away and she began tumbling towards the darkness below, head over hooves until, after a few pony lengths at the mercy of gravity, the last pendulum's chain caught her and tossed her into the hallway wall like a rag doll. Finally coming to rest on the hallway floor a few feet away from her companions, she unsteadily lifted herself up to a sitting position, but quickly thought better of it and decided to lay back down until the world stopped spinning.

[colour=#773344]"Ow, ow-ow-ow-ow, ow!"[/colour] She gingerly pulled her saddle pouch off and unclasped her tool belt in order to get a better look at her side. The hit from pendulum had left a large, tender bruise under her coat. While Pocket Change was examining for any broken bones, she reached into her saddle pouch and pulled out her little box of peanuts. It had been crushed right down the middle.

[colour=#773344]"Awwww! These were supposed to be a gift."[/colour] she said with a little pout. Her distress was short lived though, as she busied herself trying to bend the container back into shape. [colour=#773344]"If we do meet any shadow monsters, maybe they'll like eating peanuts more than they like eating little ponies... ooooor, they should be distracted long enough for us to run away."[/colour]

While she still winced in pain as Pocket Change finished his examination, without her saddle pouch jabbing into her side, it was a lot easier to breathe, and she couldn't help but smile. Once again, things were starting to look up.

[tacobob]

Pocket Change leaped to his hooves as Ember Spark attempted to make her way down from the chains and pendulums. He scurried about in his limited space, hoping to both avoid having her crash into him, and maybe even try to catch her. He was able to to do one of those. Once she made it safely to the ground, he scurried over to the distressed mare, "Just sit still for a second.", he quickly pulled out a first aid kit from his saddlebags as he gave the little mare a proper examination, "Peanuts? Thank Clestia it was only that. That loud 'crunch' noise nearly scared the colors out of our coats. Not sure what the two of us would have done if something serious happened to you. Your legs look fine..er..", he let out a nervous cough, "As in not broken...Your ribs, I was worried the most about. Could you breathe in and out? If it hurts to breathe...Er...We'll just worry about that if you do a have any issues breathing..but for now, I just see a rather nasty bump there.", he let out a worried sigh.

"This might feel a bit on the cold side, but this works like a charm.", he pulled out a small pad and strapped it to his hoof, after removing the protective covering from the other side of the pad, he slowly applied it to Ember's bumps and bruises, "This isn't a magic potion, but a lotion made from a flower called the 'mountain arnica' or 'leopard's bane'. I always like to keep a few of these pads during my digs. You'd be surprised how many little accidents that can occur when you have a small army of over-eager, over-excited and over-caffeinated shovel bums swinging pick-axes and shovels about while on a dig. There!", he put his first aid kit back. "Again, this isn't magic, but you should start feeling better right away. And unlike most lotions or potions, this sucker went right through your coat and over your skin. No messy oily residue to worry about."

As he sealed his pack, most of his worries had started to vanish, "If one of those nasty shadow monsters try to bite you, they'd probably end up with a row of broken teeth. For such a little pony, you're pretty tough. They'd have better luck chewing on rocks..Still, we need to sit and rest for a moment. You need to stay off your hooves for a moment, and Emerath and I need to rest our magic brains.", the chatty unicorn sat back down and closed his eyes, "Please make sure If I fall asleep, I don't sleep too long."

[Emerath]

Emerath had practically collapsed when Ember Spark managed to get herself into the crevice where she had fixed the device, and his magic had inevitably faded. His breathing was ragged, as if he had just ran a mile or two, and his heart was racing. But despite how tired he was, he couldn't help but jump back up for joy as the shuddering of the walls stopped around them. He saw Ember Spark hanging from the ceiling, and held his breath as she steadily made her way back down to them, until she flew across the room due to a misstep and landed near them.

He stifled a chuckle. He shouldn't have laughed at her, and he knew that, but watching her fly across the room and hit the wall was still rather comical. As he pushed away his thoughts of laughter, he walked over to where she had landed with Pocket Change, and watched as he looked her over. He didn't know much about first aid, really. Aside from the few trips and falls on stage or a prop landing wrong, very few of his actors and actresses ever really got injured. Besides that, his father was the one with all that kind of knowledge. Emerath was the bookworm and director, not the tech person. He shrugged, leaving things in Pocket Change's capable hands.

[colour=#b22222]"I'll be over here..." [/colour]he said, his heavy breaths now returning to a much more normal pace. [colour=#b22222]"I'll just... lay down."[/colour] he said, managing to finish his words before his legs buckled and his head fell neatly onto his front legs. Not wanting to fight the sleep overtaking him, he just curled more up into a ball, and fell into a light sleep, not more than a few steps away from Pocket Change and Ember Spark.

[Ginger Mint]

[colour=#BFBFFF]hi hi[/colour]

Ember Spark winced as she breathed in and out. It hurt, but now that her toolbelt wasn't being jabbed into her side, it was far from unbearable. Sore she could live with, so long as she was able to take a deep breath without struggling, she knew she'd be able to keep up. She tried not to fidget too much as Pocket Change worked, but as soon as he put the first aid kit away, she tried to get back up to her hooves. Her legs were still a little wobbly, but she could feel the solid ground underneath her, and after a few deep breaths, the world had stopped spinning.

[colour=#773344]"Uhg... Any landing you can walk away from, right?"[/colour] She groaned as tried cleaning off her goggles again, taking a few deliberate steps away and trying to shake the dust out of her own coat first. [colour=#773344]Thank you, both of you, I know carrying my prodigious frame couldn't have been easy."[/colour] Once she could see clearly again, and seeing as how there were no horrible shadow monsters around, she couldn't help but smile.

[colour=#773344]"Don't worry about me, I suspect I will be fine. In fact, I'm feeling significantly improved already. Just make sure you take care of yourselves."[/colour] she looked up towards the ceiling, deep in thought for a moment, before returning her attention to her companions [colour=#773344]"My parents always said to drink plenty of water if you push your magic too hard..."[/colour] she was trying to sound serious, but couldn't hold back a giggle completely, [colour=#773344]"I know, its not very applicable advice on my account. I'm afraid I neglected to bring any with me though, or I'd have offered to share. You wouldn't happen to have brought some along, would you? If so, now might be a good time... especially after that big feast we just had."[/colour]

The thought of some dangerous monster breaking its teeth by trying to bite her brought on another bout of giggles, and reminded her that her side still had quite a large bruise. [colour=#773344]"hehe *ow* heh, nah I'm not that tough... but, if they do decide to take a bite,"[/colour] she tapped a hoof on her battered up oil can, [colour=#773344]"I hope they like the taste of engine oil."[/colour]

She didn't say anything as Pocket Change sat down to rest, instead she took her time making sure her toolbelt and equipment were properly re-secured. [colour=#773344]With any luck, they wont snag, bind or get twisted up on each other now.[/colour]

When Emerath laid down for a nap though, she felt compelled to say something. [colour=#773344]"Speaking of not sleeping too long, you're an expert on timing, right? How long should I let you two rest?"[/colour] Ember Spark looked down the gently sloping hallway. Even though the mushrooms gave off a gentle and comforting glow, she still remembered how they had faded from sight earlier. Her ears perked up, listening to the distant rhythm of dripping water while a subtle draft brought to her nose a number of still unidentifiable smells, not all of which smelled like dust. [colour=#773344]"... Its just that I get the feeling we shouldn't stay here too long, not after making all that noise."[/colour]

[Trilobite]

A tendril of darkness, like a coherent stream of smoke, slithered up from the pit behind the trio. It flowed along the floor, snaking this way and that, until it reached a few spilled peanuts. In a flash it seized them and was gone.

[tacobob]

Pocket Change slowly woke up from his dreamless nap and glanced around the dark hallway they had stopped at for their break. Thankfully, the two other ponies were all there and were looking much better than before. Emerath appeared to be well rested, and while he could still make out a few light bruises that still remained on Ember Spark's side, she probably wouldn't even notice them unless she looked. As he glanced away from the two, he thought about his own family back in Canterlot. What were they doing? While he was unaware of what time it would be at the moment, he knew his mother was probably in the process of cranking out yet another one of her raunchy romance novels or even a 'tell-all' book which she normally wrote under another name. Her books were usually cranked out in a day or two, were a true affront to the senses, sold for just a few bits, but sold like crazy. His father was either in the process of hitting the local taverns, drinking himself silly while talking the shoes off all those nearby or waking up from the previous night's worth of 'socializing' on the couch with a horrible hangover. As for his sister, he knew she was probably buried under a pile of books at the small publishing company she worked at, and the plants he had kept in the small apartment they both shared were probably floating off to whatever afterlife plants all went to. It never failed, he would leave for a week or two and she would always forget to water his plants. Speaking of water, he glanced over at his saddlebags and snatched out his small canteen. He knew not to drink too much but just enough to get him going for the moment.

Once he was finished with his water, he quickly returned the bottle and slowly got up from the hard stone floor. As he did, he let out a few pitiful groans as he felt a rather unpleasant amount of stiffness in his back. The suit he had prided himself on wearing had kept him warm, and would shield him from harm if he ended up on the receiving end of a swinging pendulum or chain, but it made him look a little peculiar and was somewhat heavy and was not the most comfortable thing he could have slept in. As he slowly made his way up, he did a full body stretch, feeling and looking more like a great big cat than a pony. He was not sure if Ember had been sleeping or at least was resting her eyes, but the other unicorn in their merry little group was still in Slumberland. A quick nudge woke up the sleepy stallion and it was only moments before he too started to get his things in gear. Turning back to the mare, Pocket could see that she was already prepared, "Good morning!", she smiled back at the two with her cute little Infectious smile. While things rather rather dark and creepy in the griffon's catacombs, with the earth pony around to keep spirits up, it was very difficult not to grin when she was up and about, "Or actually, good afternoon, or maybe even good evening! I'm not sure what time it is outside. And did you guys eat some of the nuts? I know you might be hungry, but they were on the floor and all, and you could have just asked for some. I do have some fresh in a bag.", she rattled off.

"Could be mice. ", Emerath muttered, "Hungry little devils probably don't get much substance around here, if there are actual living creatures down here. I w..", he was cut off by Ember whose eyes seem to get bigger, "Mice. Cute little fuzzy mice. If I knew there were wild tundra mice around, I would have brought some cheese balls along with me. Actually I might have.", as she started to dig though her saddle bags, Pocket walked ahead, "Or maybe rats.", he grimly added. This did not please the mare, "Rats! Yeck! No cheese balls for them.", she quickly closed up her bags as not to let any sneaky rats get their non-adorable paws into her things. The stallion flipped on the small helmet light, and started to canter on. As they moved on, Pocket Change noticed a new series of frescos that depicted what the unicorn assumed was, "A griffon's versions of 'Hearts And Hooves' day.", he mumbled to himself as he got closer to the ancient murals. As he got closer, it took him a moment before he realized he and his little group were standing not on a stone floor, but sand. "What the hay?", the stallion glanced back at the others for answers. The three started to move away from the sand, but as they did, what appeared to be a squeaking sound emerged from under the sand, "Ooh! Mice! I knew it!", she quickly pulled out a cheese ball, "Just hope they don't mind eating away from the sand. Er, I can't move. That's funny".

This was not funny at all to Pocket who struggled against the sand, "Oh feathers! We're sinking!", Emerath yelped as the three slowly started to shift down into the sandy ground. "There's got to be someway to stop this thing!", the three tried to find something they could grab onto, but there was not. "Oh nutbunnies!", the mare yelped as she dropped her cheese ball into the sand which quickly sank into the ground, "Oh well sand mices, it looks like you're gonna get your cheese aft-.", she stopped when she heard what appeared to be a light 'thud' from underneath the sand, "Curiouser and curiouser!", she watched the two stallions struggle for a bit, before adding, "Guys. Just rest for a moment. Stop struggling. I think I know how this works. Just stay still! Don't struggle!"

The two unicorns wanted to protest, but they both realized they had no choice. The moment the three stopped frantically moving about, they quickly sunk down into the sand. Where they found themselves in another room. "But..The sand?", Pocket glanced up at the ceiling as he shook his head, "How is that even possible?" He watched as Ember Spark made her way over to her cheese ball, which she quickly dusted off and returned to her pack. She smiled at the two as she silently made her way towards a doorway.

[Ginger Mint]

[colour=#BFBFFF]hi hi[/colour]

Ember Spark had stopped trying to get the sand out of her coat by the time they reached their sixth dead end. If she didn't know any better, she'd have sworn that the corridors were re-arranging themselves as they went, just to make things more confusing. Whenever they backtracked along her trail of oil drops though, they where always able to end up back where they started. And while the architecture and intricate stone structures were a wonder to behold, with each hallway telling some new but ultimately unintelligible story, she kept hoping to catch sight of some small furry creature.

[colour=#773344]"If there are any diminutive critters living here, they probably know their way around."[/colour] She chuckled lightly to herself as she tossed the idea around, [colour=#773344]"Its just too bad we cant ask one for directions."[/colour]

Thankfully, corridor number seven turned up something different at the end. An old, battered door gave way at the hinges, letting the group into a small room with a much sturdier looking wrought iron door on the opposite side. However, the promising doorway wasn't the most interesting part, even though its engravings and imagery were every bit as magnificent as the noble stone statues of past hallways, and it held the promise of forward progress behind its sturdy frame. Rather, lining the walls were shelves and in the corners where long crumbled crates, and piled in each place was a musical instrument of some sort. Perhaps most majestic of all was the old keyboard held up on a still standing wooden frame, though what sort of sound one of the piano like keys would produce, Ember Spark wasn't about to find out.

While most of the other wooden instruments had not withstood the test of time well and the drumheads had long since disintegrated, the piano, harpsichord, organ or whatever it was, looked like it might have been brand new, if not for the dust. Ember Spark was caught up in trying to figure out how it worked while Pocket Change tried in vain to get the wrought iron door to open, though no amount of prying, pushing or pulling seemed to make any difference. Emerath on the other hoof, carefully took stock of everything that was in the room, both large and small.

Each instrument, no matter how poor its condition, was an archeological find in and of itself, but he noticed that they all shared a common thread. The way they were constructed, the apparent age of the parts, there were countless little clues that bound them together. If Emerath had allowed himself to be distracted by the clearly out of place keyboard, he might never have found the one other instrument that looked out of place amongst all the others.

A simple set of wind chimes.

Three silvery chimes, set apart from the tarnished remains surrounding them by a polished gleam that could barely be seen beneath the layer of dust. When Emerath picked it up with his telekinesis, the resulting chord was as clear as glass, followed shortly afterwards by the subtle click of a door unlocking.

[Emerath]

As the door unlocked, Emerath finished pulling the wind chimes to him. Unlike everything else in the room, they had entranced him. The music they made as he moved them was beautiful, and he just didn't feel the need to put them back. So he turned to his saddlebags and carefully placed them in there, and wrapped them up carefully in the blanket he brought. A souvenir for his mother and father of his adventure.

He couldn't dispel his smile, despite how gloomy and dark their surroundings were. To give Pocket a moment to rest his magic, he had taken the lead and was walking down the hallway with his horn aglow so that they could cut through the darkness surrounding them. The dim mushrooms still illuminated a bit of the space around them, but it wasn't much compared to the bright magical light.

After about ten minutes of walking down a hallway with the only company being each other and the various statues towering over them in the dark, they came to a T shaped intersection in the hallway. There were arrows with ancient looking writing pointing in each direction. The writing had been untouched by claw marks as the pictures had been, and had only been somewhat aged by time. Mostly they were just covered in dust, as Emerath blew against the wall and wiped it away with a hoof. He couldn't read what it said at all, but as he turned to look at his companions, he could see Pocket Change's eyes were positively glowing brighter than the light from his horn.

He knew the unicorn loved archaeological finds, and this would be on that list.[colour=#b22222] "I'm hoping you know how to read this." [/colour]Emerath said to his giddy companion. [colour=#b22222]"Because I sure don't, and it might have a clue as to which way we need to go."[/colour] Pocket Change nodded and stepped up next to Emerath to read the writing on the wall. "Ahead are many paths," he began to read slowly, "Each one the same, and only one leading to safety. Just remember, the sun rises in the east, sets in the west, and rises again."

Emerath considered this for a moment after Pocket had finished reading. "Simple enough," he said to his companions as he thought aloud, "We go right, left, then right again." His companions considered this for a moment and everyone seemed to be in agreement. They began to follow the directions and found what they could only assume meant the correct path, which was a staircase leading even further downward into the depths below. As they walked down the staircase, some of the statues lining the walls seemed to have been sliced or even decapitated. A shiver ran down his spine as he considered something. They very well might be nearing the monsters' lair...

[Trilobite]

If the instructions had been simple, following them was much less so. Numerous cave ins forced them to double back, and claws had deeply marred every surface, making further labelling unusual. The trio passed through narrow crevices opened by the shifting of stone and squeezed over barricades that had been thrown up in the battle.

Everwhere there was rust and dust, dust and rust. And emptiness. The chambers, built with so much hard work and so much pride, now lay totally empty, silent. All the hopes and happiness and sweat and dreams that had gone into building them had been for nothing. All the fire and courage and dedication of those who had defended them had been for nothing.

They were empty now, dark, and cold, like the world itself, the whole world. Empty and without meaning, like the efforts of the Iceguard, like their expedition, like all effort, everywhere...

The words echoed in their heads, in their hearts.

...pointless...

Every sound seemed hollow, the light gray.

...futile...

There was something on the floor of this vast, scarred chamber something familiar. A tarnished bit of silver and gold, surrounded by useless weapons, that drew their eyes. It summoned a memory, but what was the point?

...fleeting...

Above them, a black cloud descended, a dozen red eyes glowing in it, tendrils reaching down toward them.