The click-clack of hooves on stone echoed down the tunnel, the magic from Twilight Velvet’s horn casting a dim pool of illumination around herself and Daring Do. The two mares, by their standards, were traveling light. It was just supposed to be a quick jaunt into Flarehoof’s Temple to check for traps and other hidden dangers while the excavation team topside got organized.
 
“So there it was,” Twilight Velvet said, “Night Light’s old spoon set! And he’d insisted that he’d taken it out of the basement.”
 
Daring Do wore an amused expression as her friend recounted her more civilian adventures. She was glad Twi had some time to spend with her loved ones, at the very least.
 
“So-” a vase caught Twilight Velvet’s eye. “Ooh! Look.”
 
Quickly, she enveloped it in her magic and brought it up to eye level, turning it around to scan the faint inscriptions. She’d just begun to look into it when a big, fuzzy something jumped out of it and towards her face with a rattle. With a shriek, she ducked down, and the creature passed harmlessly over her shoulder.
 
“Phew.” Velvet wiped her forehead with a hoof. “That was scary.”
 
Daring snickered, looking back down the corridor. “We’ve been through wo-”
 
Something stopped Daring in her tracks. Velvet folded her ears back.
 
“Do Dare?”
 
“Run.” The pegasus whispered. “Don’t look back.”
 
But Velvet did. There was a much larger version of that something standing right behind them, just ever so slightly illuminated by the glow of her horn. She regretted looking back…immensely.
 
“Told you.”