Pancake trotted past a few other Coursers speaking among themselves, walking down a common area many traversed, a place for adventurers to find the horses they planned to explore the dungeon with. After a few glances across unfamiliar faces, Pancake finally found one she knew. Strawberry Parfait!

As the bay Courser got closer, he realized that other horses were in her company: two, cloaked Heraldics, looking down at Parfait. She stopped in her tracks.

Their hoods casted their faces in shadows, making their expression unreadable, but their noses and tall legs popped out against the dark surroundings of the dungeon, one blue and one red. There were colorful Coursers, sure, but not all of them were as garishly saturated as them–though, now that she thought of it, she supposed Parfait was a similar amount of colorful to them.

Pancake’s staring finally caught the attention of the blue Heraldic, the bay Courser catching their bright, blue eyes once she lifted her head, allowing torch light in. She spoke, and Pancake could barely hear it over the voices of other Coursers.

“Is that who you were talking about, mom?” There was a subtle frown on her face, inexpressive eyes looking over Pancake. Suddenly, Parfait and the red Heraldic turned towards them, and–

Wait. Mom?

“Ah, Pancake!” Strawberry Parfait chirped as she met Pancake’s gaze, ”Look who I found!” She tilted her head towards her… foals? Pancake cleared his throat, overcoming his initial surprise.

“Hi there!” Pancake greeted.

The two kids glanced towards each other, murmured between themselves for a moment, then turned back to Pancake, a mischievous smile crossing their muzzles.

“These are my foals, Blueberry Pie and Raspberry Tart! Made them from my very own cauldron.” Parfait continued, and when Pancake raised a worried brow in response, Parfait giggled,”Dungeonborn, of course. Who knows when eyes and ears will pop out from the crust of your desserts!”

Before Pancake could muster a reply to that lore drop, a loud HISS! Came from Pancake’s satchel, Miss Buttermilk swatting away a nosy, red Heraldic from Pancake’s belongings. Pancake perked their ears, mostly impressed by Raspberry’s nimbleness.

As Strawberry Parfait turned to scold her son, Pancake came to the realization that Parfait’s twins would be coming along with them. Ah… at least it should be fun!

…

They hadn’t gotten far into the dungeon before the hallways they walked in became shrouded in green, vines and moss growing around and between the grooves of the cobblestone walls. The air became thicker, the four Coursers stepping into a damp chamber.

“Blueberry, look!” Came the red and pink Heraldic, staring down a faint glow at the opposite side of the chamber. A thick mist obscured their view of it, but what Raspberry saw was treasure!

Blueberry rolled their eyes, scoffing,”Good luck with that, Red, you would be the first to be tricked by some monster’s glowing lure,” She snarked, Raspberry snorted, butting the side head into his sister’s cheek as a response. Being more muscular than her lithe brother, Blueberry pushed back into him, causing Raspberry to stumble back by an inch.

“Now, foals…” Strawberry began with a gentle smile, but Pancake didn’t get the hint of de-escalating the situation, her curiosity still piqued by the distant glow.

“Well, while you two roughhouse, I’ll go take a look at what’s ahead,” Pancake hummed, but was quickly caught off guard by an offended Raspberry’s dramatic gasp.

“As if!” the madder Heraldic shook off his sister, rushing forward towards the glow–he wanted dibs on that treasure! As he rushed forward, he found even more foliage covering the room before, but no matter, he could the glow was coming into view and–

“AGH!” Raspberry screamed as the vines beneath his hooves came to life, grabbing onto his legs with a ferocity he could not have foreseen.

As Blueberry and Parfait were stunned in momentary shock, Pancake grabbed her dagger, surging forward to Raspberry’s aid with the two others following her shortly after.