• Part 1 Found Here.

    Rhonoa now understood the complexity of Huatar's trials - the one which resulted the in the Earthspear she now carried. The caverns, while they seemed miniscule from outside, opened up to be an unending chasm of darkness. Flames sprouted off on the sides to guide her path, and she stepped cautiously - planting a hoof before her with each step. Her hoofbeats echoed along the cavernous walls, her paws running along the surprisingly smooth walls.

    She felt the air grow thicker as she went deeper, and suddenly heard her echoes extend out further. Rhonoa narrowed her eyes, in an attempt to stare into the darkness, to decipher anything that may be before her.

    A flame - a burning, crimson ember - lit up in the center, and Rhonoa suddenly felt a sense of vertigo. An endless pit, with stone pillars jutting into the lightness of the cylinder chasm; Rhonoa took a step back, regaining her breath. She shook her head, then; she has been through much worse in her life. The Taureness closed her eyes for a moment, steeling herself.

    She reopened her eyes to study the bottomless hole. The pillars were each raised in a manner that they formed stairs, descending to the other wall. She narrowed her eyes, and noticed an opening on the other side. Rhonoa nodded, understanding the test.

    But she considered her state. Would it really be wise to be doing this, so far into her pregnancy?

    Rhonoa shook her head and stepped back several paces. She aligned herself with the first pillar - not too far of a distance, she discerned. She prepped herself for her launch, lowering herself to a near crouch. With great agility, the Chieftess charged out of the hole and took the leap. The wind blew past her as she flew through the pit. Her hooves had barely landed on the pillar, and she stumbled slightly. She regained her footing, already looking across to the next pillar. The next jump would be further, and as Rhonoa could barely land on the one she now stood on, she considered her options.

    A sudden move of the pillar caught her off guard, and off balance. The pillar wobbled as she stood on it, but before long she retained her balance, and so balance of the pillar. A new test?

    She planted her hooves firmly, now fully considering what options she had. With the pillar this loose, it would be near-impossilble, now, to be able to clear the jump across to the next pillar, which was most definitely the same as the one she balanced herself on. She took a cautious step, keeping herself as balanced as possible.

    The pillar leaned forward in the direction of the step she took. Rhonoa pursed her lips, looking around. There were not a whole lot of options she could have easily spotted. She knew that with the pillar off-balance, and shaking, it would be extremely difficult to land, successfully, on the next pillar. The distance solidified her thoughts.

    But if it meant continuing, she was willing to try anything. Rhonoa rebalanced herself on the pillar, allowing it to fall back into place. Suddenly, an idea came to her. She took a single step - a large one - forward towards the other edge. As expected, the pillar moved in that direction. The distance between her pillar and the next shortened, but not by a whole lot. She nodded to herself, and rebalanced the pillar. The room on the surface was large enough to necessitate a running start, and if executed perfectly she could just barely land on the next pillar.

    She took her chances and set them aside. She crouched slightly and began to charge towards the edge. The pillar tipped over, as was expected, but as she neared the edge the gap between lessened considerably - enough to at least grip the edge of the next pillar. She leaped, and the pillar toppled over, crashing into the next. Rhonoa used this to give herself an extra boost in her jump, as her hoof barely touched the unhindered edge. She extended her arm.

    She let out a breath of relief as she grabbed the edge, and slowly lifted herself with a pained grunt. She rolled over the edge, and expected the pillar to be unbalanced, like the last.

    But no such imbalance occurred. The pillar was perfectly still. Rhonoa mused to herself, thinking it was a trick. She tapped her hoof into the stone surface. Not a single move. Could it be that the last pillar was just a faulty mistake? Or is there more to it than she sees?

    Rumbling in the ground underneath her reconfirmed her suspicions. She looked around, and saw that the walls around her were growing. Rising.

    Or the pillar was lowering.

    She considered the distance between her pillar and the next. Not good enough, she thought. The distance was far greater, impossible to reach in a single bound. She studied the pillar further, and saw grooves in its design - all of them carved into the pillar, and all of them spanning a great distance up and down the stone column. But even if she made it, it would cause a certain number on her arms as she latched on.

    But then she felt the Earthspear. Maybe it was a chance for her to put it to good use.

    She slung the weapon back into her paws, gripping it tight. Wasting no further time, she began a running start and leaped. The Earthspear was raised high as she flew across the chasm, and dug the spear's point into the side of the next pillar. She hung, loosely, for a moment before finding a hole to insert her hoof.

    She held on, and pulled the Earthspear out of its place, slinging it around her back. Rhonoa began to climb the pillar, slowly at first - cautiously - and then picked up her pace. She neared the top, letting out yet another sigh of relief as she reached a paw over, and then an arm. However, while her arm swung over onto the surface, she instantly felt there was no surface.

    She peeked her head over, and her heart seemed to have plummeted. The pillar had a large, thick, and rather deep hole carved into the very center, with only a thin ring of stone surrounding it. Another test, Rhonoa thought to herself. A test of balance. She carefully lifted herself, keeping herself from leaning too far forward as she did so, and rose onto her hooves, which were perfectly balanced upon the thin ring. How long she would hold this balance, however, was a different story. She carefully took a step, and then another. She wobbled at the second, but regained her posture. Her arms were stretched out, keeping her in balance, as she continued along the path.

    She had lost it as the path suddenly dropped a feet or two, causing Rhonoa to once again lose her balance. She let out a yelp as she toppled over - not expecting the sudden drop - and fell towards the gaping chasm. At the last moment, her paw caught grip of the ring before she plummeted to her potential death.

    She held herself against the pillar, once again considering her options. She studied the outline of the column's "surface," seeing that it rose and fell at other points. She could not hold her grip any longer, and so lifted herself once again onto the ring.

    Rhonoa now saw the breaks and falls of the pillar, and continued along her way with new determination. She picked up her pace, quickly, nearing the edge that faced the opening. The distance was short, for which she thanked the Earthmother. With little effort, she leaped into the dark opening.

    But the opening itself seemed to be a trick. As she reached out to grab its edge, she realized the devastating truth.

    The hole itself was merely a jest, a play on the eyes. It was nothing more than a dark spot along the cavern wall. Realizing this, Rhonoa had no time to react. She clawed for any hole against the wall, but found none. She widened her eyes and let out a blood-chortling scream as she plummeted down into the chasm. The wind rushed past her in a blinding torrent, slapping against her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Rhonoa believed she had failed, and would no longer live to birth her - their - child. Her happiness soon drifted away.

    But Rhonoa felt a splash of water against her face as she fell, which had caught her attention. She turned herself in the air to see that she was falling into water, which began to cascade from the walls. Knowing this, she braced herself for impact. A brief sting, but then the comforting feel of fresh water overwhelmed her. She immediately swam to the surface, her hair now out of their braids, enveloping the Taureness' face. She looked around, moving her hair out of her eyes. She spotted dry 'land,' and swam to it.

    Rhonoa clambered onto the rocky 'beach' and laid on her back, staring up at the 'endless' hole that she had just fallen through. Barely a moment, and she was saved by pure luck. Her first trial was now over, but she had yet to encounter the second.

    She took a while to rest before walking off into the darkness once again.