centaurus2 (ch56) - Lol isn't she just?

centaurus2 (ch54) - Because of reasons :P

PyroahXBlaze - You're welcome and thank you :D This chapter was already written, I only needed to edit it, but I wouldn't have been able to put my heart into writing new material for new chapters, that's why I said my writing would be sub-par

panonmyhead01 - Well, things are getting better, slowly

centaurus2 (ch49) - That sucks. Lol I was wondering why I hadn't seen you review for so long

Lone The Dark Hearted Wolf - Lol I don't think even Indy would be ready for what's in there...

PSYCOPATH - Oh, don't worry, I've never been self-destructive like that. Lol I didn't need to, I've read Sun Tsu's works (it's been awhile though)

bobfromsiam99 - Lol I thought so ;) And thank you

Guest - Lol very carefully...

xel101 - Hmm... we'll see ;)

PBJFanFiction - Thanks for that :D

HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210 - Well, here you go! Sorry for the wait though

DragonLovingBrony - Well, not so much that as Blake's a light sleeper

Kyguy - Lol perhaps all of the above? Or maybe none of the above ;)

darksoul78 - Yeah, that normally wouldn't be Blake's smartest move, but its easy to see how much Quickhoof values his honor, and he knows he can only earn it back by making sure Blake walks out of that temple again

ShadowfireAngel - I didn't mean to imply that you didn't, I was just implying that you should watch him on a regular basis\

Fusion Blitz - Thanks for the condolences, the understanding, and the offer, but I'm fortunately doing better now. Lol your mind may be your strongest weapon, but for some people that weapon is a wooden spoon...

Mikalzilla - That's what she said! (Lol sorry, couldn't resist) Yeah, he probably should have

Ponified Bacon Boss - I do have chapters in reserve, but I hadn't gotten around to editing any of them, nor did I have the drive to until recently, and I wasn't about to put out substandard material for you guys. Like Chef Gordon Ramsay says (sort of): I'd rather you wait a week for an outstanding chapter than give you crap now

DragonLord RyuKizoku - Lol we'll see how things play out ;)

A/N – Howdy everypony! I'd like to thank everyone who sent me their condolences over the past two weeks, as well as being patient with me for missing so many updates recently, you guys are awesome! I can't say much about what happened due to a pending police investigation, but I can say that my two nine year old cousins are no longer with us. I'd also like to apologize for the late update this week, my internet has been sketchy at best so far today. As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!

The temple gave off a foreboding, unwelcome feeling that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. We stood silent for a moment as Quickhoof and I got ourselves used to the feeling; we knew it would only get worse once we were inside. "I-I don't like that place… it feels… angry…"

I let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "I know Twi… I don't exactly like it either, but I need to do this…"

I felt a hoof brush my arm lightly. "I know… just, be careful in there…"

I leaned down and wrapped both of them in a tight hug. "Don't you worry; I'll be back in no time, and when this is all done, I'll have the greatest treasure of all… I'll be able to see all your smiling faces again." I felt the pair squeeze a little tighter.

Not wanting to delay any longer, I let them go and stood back up. "You ready Quickhoof?"

He gave a slight nod. "I will never be more ready than I am now, so let us do this."

We started towards the temple, and I decided that caution was the best course of action. With a well-practiced mental command, I summoned my armor, wings and all, to form itself around me, opening a channel in the left greave long enough for me to unholster my pistol and get it ready in case I needed it right away.

Quickhoof stopped next to me. "Wh-where did that come from?"

I shrugged. "I have a magic amulet that stores it, and I can call it whenever I want." I looked back to the looming temple entrance. "I figured it might come in handy in there."

"I wonder if the shaman can make me something like that…"

I chuckled as I dismissed a gauntlet and placed my bare hand on the ancient stone door in front of us. It had been intricately carved at some point, but like all ruins, they were worn away. "It's certainly handy, I'll give it that…" I slid my hand across the door, trying to figure out how to open it.

My hand brushed a part of the wall that felt slightly different from the rest, and I pushed in on it. There was a loud rumbling sound and the ground shook beneath us as the door slid inwards and then disappeared into the wall. Quickhoof and I both took a step back as the uncomfortable feeling the temple gave us suddenly became oppressive, almost like a physical weight on our shoulders.

I shook my head to clear it, which had little effect, and took a step forward. I could only imagine that the temple was shrouded in darkness, which didn't affect me, but meant that Quickhoof wouldn't be able to see much of anything, even with the torch he'd brought. I steeled my nerves and took a step forward, into the entry chamber of the ruin. The place was big enough that the only thing I could see was the floor around me, as the walls and ceiling were too far away to be in range of my aurasight.

I called on my magic, and summoned a small, glowing orb into my hand before willing it towards the ceiling to light the way for Quickhoof. When it reached the ancient stone of the ceiling, I fed it more magic to make it brighter, since I gauged it to be about thirty meters above us when it finally reached its destination. "I see you know the ways of ancient magic." His voice echoed throughout the chamber. "But your Way is clouded, your magic is weak. You should let Chief Wanate train you to use it right."

I held my gun at a low ready position; we may have been talking casually, but I wasn't about to let my guard down in a place like this. I could tell my companion felt the same, as he'd drawn his knife and was holding it in a defensive stance of his own. "One of these days I might just come back and have him do that… right now though, I'm more worried about getting my sight back." Every step we took echoed through the chamber, and the sense of just how huge this place was made me uneasy.

The other side of the chamber finally came into view; a mortarless stone wall with a large, framed opening serving as the doorway to the next room. I paused and dismissed part of my breastplate, reaching into my shirt pocket and pulling out the small bellows Twilight had given me. I had prefilled it with the special ink Luna had sent me and plugged the nozzle so it wouldn't drip. I held it out to Quickhoof, who stood there and looked at it. "I can't detect those shadow-bones things, so if I'm going to help you fight them, I'm going to need you to spray them with what's in here." Quickhoof looked at the bellows for a moment longer before taking it and holding it in his wrist joint, switching the knife to his mouth.

He nodded to me and I walked up to the door and peered through as best I could. I couldn't see any of the walls of the room, but I could just make out the ceiling straight above me. I called another ball of light and sent it up towards the ceiling for Quickhoof, who walked up next to me and peered into the room as well. "So, why don't you have Wanate train you in magic?"

He pulled the knife from his mouth and stared at it. "My gift is weak; the shaman says I would never be able to lift anything bigger than a river rock, so I never tried."

I cocked an eyebrow. "That's a pretty lame excuse you know…" He glared at me, but I ignored him. "We may not have interacted much before this, but you never struck me as the type to let what anyone else tells you stop you from doing anything. I say screw the shaman, if he says you're weak, then you work every day to make your gift stronger and prove him wrong. And even if you can't do that, you can hold your head high knowing you gave it your all, and never backed down."

Quickhoof raised his head and regarded me for a moment. "I see now why you put me on the ground so easily… you have the spirit of a true warrior burning deep inside you." He smirked and turned his attention back to the room. "Do not think that means you are getting out of that fight though…"

I chuckled and walked past him. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't dream of it." The instant I entered the next room, something in the air changed.

My eyes darted around the chamber, looking for danger. I couldn't see through them, but I'd found that it helped me focus my aurasight where I wanted it to be. The chamber was empty as far as my aurasight could see, but my mind was still sounding the alarm for danger. Quickhoof walked up beside me, his own head on a swivel. "This place is warning us to leave."

I nodded to him. "I know, I feel it too, but we can't leave yet, not without that flower." I kept scanning the chamber as we started walking through it. "Wanate said that we'd see the shadow-bones when we got into the temple; if I were to guess, we'll run into them in either this room or the next."

I stopped as I felt Quickhoof freeze in place. "It looks like we already have…" He suddenly dashed to my left, and a stream of ink flashed through the air. It splattered against something midair and started moving around. The speckles of ink formed into a pattern that looked vaguely like a skeleton, the lack of substance making the thing even harder to see.

The speckled skeleton charged me, and I raised my gun, aiming for where the creatures head would likely be since none of the ink had splashed anywhere but its torso. I pulled the trigger and my gun sang out, a deafening cacophony ringing through the room. I watched as the ink that had been floating in the air disappeared, and I could only hope that I had destroyed the creature for good; I really didn't want to be facing the things again after all.

I saw another flash of ink, but it disappeared into the room, out of my sight range. I kept my gun at the ready, deciding to play it safe and not rush into a situation where I couldn't see my opponent or my companion. I listened as hooves clacked on the ground as Quickhoof fought the shadow creature, the whole time worried that the thing would somehow manage to touch him and kill him.

Quickhoof came flying backwards into my field of view, looking like he'd jumped backwards, but didn't stay there for long as he jumped sideways and back out of my vision. I heard the telltale sounds of his knife scraping against bone as he fought the thing, probably lunging in for just a moment to attack before rabbiting backwards to stay out of the creature's reach.

I was about to throw caution to the wind and head towards the sounds of the melee when I heard a dry cracking sound, and metal scraping across bone. I walked over cautiously towards where I had last heard fighting, only to see Quickhoof standing there, holding his knife and panting heavily.

I looked around, but didn't see the other creature anywhere. "Where… can I get… one of those…?" Quickhoof asked, gesturing to my lowered gun.

I looked down at it reflexively. "Sorry, this baby's one of a kind… and it'll stay that way if I have anything to say about it; the last thing this world needs is weapons like this being handled by beings that hardly even know what it's meant for."

My warrior companion took a deep breath and stood up. "What was it like where you are from, that even you need such a thing?" He walked over to me and I relaxed my grip somewhat.

I sighed and looked around. "War was common enough once upon a time that my kind died by the millions fighting in them."

Quickhoof shook his head. "I do not know this word, 'millions'."

I knelt down. "You know how to count, right?"

"I can count to one hundred."

I nodded and drew a one and two zeros on the floor using my light spell. "Ok, this is one hundred." I added another zero. "This is one thousand, or ten one hundreds." Another zero. "And this is ten thousand, or one hundred one hundreds."

"Do you really think now is the time for this?"

I shrugged. "Hey, you asked. But you're right, I'll give you the short version." I added two more zeroes. "Now, this is ten thousand one hundreds… or one million."

Quickhoof's eyes went wide. "That is how many humans have died in your wars?!"

I shook my head. "No… that's how many humans died in each war… in fact, the last Great War saw the deaths of over six million non-combatants alone… those who couldn't fight… many were women and young ones."

Quickhoof stared at the glowing numbers for a long time. "Perhaps it is best that your people have not returned…"

I sighed and clapped him on the back. "Sadly, I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, I said much the same thing when I was first brought here. Fortunately though, thanks to some magical mumbo-jumbo, we don't have to worry about that. Now come on, let's get going."

Since I couldn't see the walls of the room, I let Quickhoof take the lead, after painting an arrow on the ground with my light spell that pointed back to the entrance. I was glad that unlike levitation or my aurasight spell, this one was practically self-sustaining once I cast it, so I didn't need to worry about focusing to keep each light lit, only needing to concentrate long enough to cut my connection to the magic when I was done; not unlike flipping an actual light switch.

The next room was as barren as the first, save for a small shrine of some sort against one of the side walls. The malicious aura that this place gave off seemed almost non-existent here, like it was somehow protected from the dangerous magics that still lurked in the ancient stones.

"Hmm… it would seem we have to make a choice in this room." I walked up next to him as he spoke. "There is a door here, and another over there."

I could just make out the first door he mentioned, which was set in the opposite wall from the one we came in through, but the second one, which was opposite the shrine, was out of my range.

"Can you see anything on the other side of either doorway?"

Quickhoof shook his head. "No, they are too dark to see anything." I walked over to the door I could see and sent a light orb through. Quickhoof walked up and peered through the doorway into what was simply nothingness to me. "This room has many things… I do not know how to call them… some look like rocks that look like ponies, others like your kind… and there are metal squares with what looks like our story wall, but only a single pony or human."

"Hmm… sounds like some sort of art room to me; let's save that room for later, right now, I say we go through the other door." Quickhoof nodded and I followed him over to the other doorway.

The next room looked to be some sort of small dining hall, which was a strange thing to be next to a shrine, but I was just glad that the decrepit, but somehow still standing furniture so far hadn't come to life and attacked us. The next room happened to be a small kitchen, and I guessed this area was for the priests who had tended to the shrine to eat their meals. The kitchen had been a dead end, but there were two more branches back in the dining hall.

Three rooms later, we finally came to a dead end, with no sign of any other 'tests'. After backtracking back to the shrine room, we entered the art room, and I started getting a bad vibe from the place. If Quickhoof felt it though, he didn't say anything, so I chalked it up to paranoia and we proceeded through the door on the far wall; it seemed each wall in this room had a door, but we decided going straight for now was the best choice.

The two of us froze in place as we reached the middle of the second room after the art room. Some overpowering feeling of dread had washed over us, and it felt something else was in here with us. I jerked my aurasight to the left as a sudden rustling sound sprang from the floor, but there was nothing there to cause it. This room was just small enough that I could make out all but the corners of the room, making it hard for anything to hide from me.

I took a step towards the far side of the room, but my aurasight showed me there was no door there. I looked to the left and right and saw that those walls had no doors either. I felt Quickhoof tug at my greaves, and I followed his pointing hoof to see that the door we had come though had vanished as well.

I released the focus of my aurasight and allowed it to bathe what of the room it could, making it more likely for me to know if something was coming close to us. Both Quickhoof and I continued to jump around as sounds kept springing up from seemingly random places around us, always outside the range of my aurasight.

My companion let out a growl. "I can hear something in this room, but the coward will not show itself and fight like a stallion." He was clenching his knife in his wrist joint, holding it in a stance that seemed to be equally ready for either offense or defense.

I snapped my fingers as a thought came to me. "Quickhoof, get close to me, I'm going to try something." The Kokello warrior complied, getting almost close enough to touch me.

I called on my magic and formed a square forcefield around us, just big enough for the two of us to fit, and reaching from floor to ceiling. I then extended the edge of each side to the four walls, making an off-center three by three grid of small areas throughout the room, trapping anything in here with us in one of those partitions. I looked around for anything moving in any of the partitions, but froze suddenly as I felt something press up against one of them, then pass straight through it. "Oh… that's not good…"

Twilight

"I don't understand how you can be taking a bath at a time like this Applejack!" I was standing at the edge of a stream not far from the Kokello camp, where Applejack had wandered off to and was now scrubbing herself off.

"Ah'm takin a bath cause Ah'm tired o' this cloud o' funk hangin' 'round me all dang day Sugarcube."

I let out a frustrated groan. "I mean; how can you be so calm when Blake's in there, fighting for his life?! You heard his gun go off, didn't you?"

The country mare nodded. "Sure Ah did, but Ah also heard 'im talkin' after, so Ah know he's ok. Ah'm worried about 'im too Twilight, but there ain't nothin' we c'n do 'bout it right now."

I stamped my hoof in frustration, and cringed as something squished beneath it. "Then why are you taking a bath Applejack? Shouldn't we be back at the temple?"

"Ah'm takin a bath cause Ah need ta be doin' somethin productive; if Ah just stand around waitin' and worryin', Ah'll lose mah cotton-pickin' mind."

I didn't say anything, I was too busy thinking about what she'd said. Finally, I let out a sigh. "You're right Applejack… it won't do either of us, or Blake, any good to just stand around pulling our manes out." I took a step towards the stream. "So, think there's room for two in there?"

She grinned and jerked her head to the side, beckoning me into the water. I set a hoof into the clear, flowing water and gasped; that water was cold! "Heh heh… yeah, it takes a sec ta get used to…" I took another step into the water and then a third, and before I knew it, I was up to my flank in the cold, slowly flowing water. "Ah got a bar o' soap on that rock over there Sugarcube."

I looked over to the rock she had pointed to, and sure enough, there was a yellow bar of soap resting on it, sitting in a rare beam of sunlight that penetrated the forest canopy. Her beloved hat was resting next to the soap, just out of the light of Princess Celestia's sun. I grabbed the soap in my magic and took a deep breath before plunging my whole body into the cold, cold water. I popped back up a moment later and took in a fresh lungful of air. With my coat and mane thoroughly soaked, I brought the soap bar over and started running it across my body, lathering myself up quite nicely. My magic was a huge help in getting all the hard-to-reach spots along my back and towards my rump.

"Hey Sugarcube, would ya mind givin a mare a hoof?" I looked up to see she'd turned away from me, presenting me with her back.

I gave her a small smile and a nod, and went to work, scrubbing and lathering up all the spots she had trouble reaching on her own. She sighed in relief as the bar passed over the base of her neck, just below her mane, and I guessed that that was one of the hardest places for her to reach.

I stopped for a moment and looked up when I noticed Applejack wasn't really moving. I trotted up next to her and noticed she had a fierce blush on her face. "Applejack… is something the matter?"

She shook her head, sending droplets of water flying from her mane. "It's nothin Sugarcube… just thinkin'…" I couldn't help but wonder if her thoughts had anything to do with the fact that we were both bathing in the stream together, and I kept thinking she might suddenly be uncomfortable with me here too.

I turned to her, letting her know she had my full attention. "What is it Applejack? You know you can tell me anything."

She kicked the water with a hoof, making little splashes in the stream. "Ah know… Ah was just thinkin' about somethin' Princess Luna did a while ago…" She turned to me, but her eyes never left the water. "She uh… she kinda… hit on me…" My friend's eyes suddenly snapped up, like she'd just realized what she'd said. "She was just playin around though! …Ah think…"

I had to literally scoop my jaw out of the stream at what I'd just heard. "Wh-what?" I stuck a hoof in my ear to make sure I wasn't hearing things. "Why were you thinking about something like that?"

Applejack sighed and rubbed her leg. "Ah dunno… Ah guess Ah was just kinda wonderin' if… y'know… Blake might like somethin' like that…"

I wasn't sure if I believed what I was hearing; I'd never imagined Applejack of all ponies would ever even consider filly-fooling, let alone talk about actually doing it, even if it was for her coltfriend. "I… I don't know… I mean, it sounds like something a stallion would like to see, but I get the feeling that Blake is one of those stallions that would rather be involved than just watch."

Surprisingly, my friend let out a sigh that sounded more disappointed than relieved. "Yea", yer probably right… Ah just thought it might be nice ta surprise 'im one o' these days, y'know?

I opened my mouth to say something, but let it close again as I thought about what she had said. I was quiet for a long time as I tried to come up with an answer for her. "Well…" My own voice startled me after such a long pause. "I guess the only way to know for sure is to ask him…"

Her eyes went wide at the suggestion. "How tha hay're we s'posed ta ask 'im somethin' like that?!"

I dunked my body under the water to wash off the soap and popped back up a moment later. "Well, we obviously wouldn't just come out and ask him; we'd have to be discreet about it… I know he mentioned something about a friend of his talking about that a while ago, and he kind of liked the idea… we could use that to bring the issue up, then go from there."

"That… that just might work Sugarcube… Ah think it might be a good idea ta wait till after we're all home safe n' sound though."

I shook my mane out and dunked it again to make sure I'd gotten all the soap out of it. "That sounds like a good idea. Now, why don't we get dried off and go get something to eat while we wait for them to pass all their tests and come back out?"

Applejack smirked and bumped me with her flank. "Heh heh… Sounds like somepony's a little more relaxed…"

"Yeah, I guess you were right; just standing there worrying was just stressing me out, I just needed to do something more productive to help put my mind at ease."

"Now yer learnin Sugarcube! No sense no sense getting' all worked up over somethin' ya can't change."

The two of us headed back into the village, smiles on our faces, but worry still creeping into our hearts. I really hoped Blake would be ok.