Desires

by Skylight77

Chapter 3: The Mysterious Pegasus

6 days ago:

Somewhere in the land of Equestria, there was a temple. This temple lied deep in the woods, just beyond the Badlands. The temple doors were open. On the left side of the opened doors, there was a slot. An item was placed in this slot. This item appeared to be a gem carved into the shape of a pony. It appeared to be the key to said temple.

A loud commotion could be heard inside the temple. The sounds of wood colliding against each other, rocks falling from the ceiling, and tremors were all apparent. A single pony was traversing the temple, a mare pegasus, running through the traps and defenses this temple unleashed.

The pegasus’s coat was light brown, while her mane and tail were sharp red. She was also wearing a collar around her neck with the same shade of red. She had traveled around Equestria alone, traversing dangerous terrain, exploring ruins, woods, and temples, along with meeting all sorts of ponies in her time. She could never remember the ponies she met, or their names. But there was one name she stuck with for herself. Carousel, as her Cutie Mark very closely resembled.

Now here she was on another adventure, running from the dangerous hazards this temple unleashed. There were rocks falling from the ceiling. Carousel had to side-step from the left and the right in order to avoid being hit by them. As the arrows shot from the walls, she jumped over them or in between their paths. But, Carousel had to keep her wings tucked to her sides while she did this.

“*Gasp!*” Looking up ahead, a corridor was slowly closing. Carousel grunted as she picked up her speed. If she did not make it, she would be locked out. She was determined to make it and did not stop. By the time she got to it, the passage was almost fully closed. In order to make it, Carousel dropped herself and slid in order to slip right under the closing door.

Just as Carousel was sliding through, she caught sight of a large gap in the floor she could easily fall through. Adjusting her balance, she kicked off the floor with her front hooves while she was sliding, giving her the jump distance to cross it, landing gracefully on the other side on all four legs, keeping her wings to her side.

Carousel took a slight glance behind her, giving a low sigh while smiling back. She chuckled slightly, watching the corridor close off.

As soon as it fully closed though, Carousel immediately felt a tremor under her hooves. Gasping, she switched her attention back in front of her.

This one came fast, but she saw where it was coming from just in time. Carousel instinctively jumped backwards.

*Smash!*

The ceiling above Carousel smashed straight down; crushing whatever was in its path. Carousel was inches away from the impact; the gap she jumped over previously was her landing spot. She nearly fell through, but managed to reach far enough to grab on the ledge before going out of reach of visible ground.

Another tremor was heard coming from the hole she was about to fall in. Carousel gasped again and panicked. She immediately started pulling herself up and out of that hole. The ground between the hole and the wall that previously fell from the ceiling was very thin. But it was just wide enough for Carousel to stand herself straight on her fore hooves, just barely being able to avoid the wall that came crashing upwards from the hole, crashing into the ceiling.

Carousel kept her stance, nervously gritting her teeth while standing on her fore hooves in between two walls that nearly crushed her. It was rather silent now. She twitched her eyes left and right, looking and listening for any more signs of danger.

Seeing nothing more was happening, Carousel gave a sigh of relief. She dropped herself to the side in a cartwheel style, allowing her to shift her stance to an upright position. No longer upside down, she stood on her hind legs, resting against and in between the walls.

Carousel skidded along the slim path, sliding against the walls. The path wasn’t long, but it took a bit of effort to get through, slowly moving one hoof after the other.

Carousel managed to slide out of the corridor regardless. The walls that had fallen from both her front and her back didn’t take up the whole room, so she wasn’t trapped.

Getting out of the corridor, Carousel was now able to stand on all four legs again. She gave her tail a large flick in the air, causing some dust to fly off. She used her hoof to dust off the rest of the uncomfortable debris on her.

Carousel looked back towards the walls that were now blocking her path back. She put a hoof on it, giving a slight chuckle.

And then she dipped her head down, giving off a disappointed sigh.

Carousel turned away from the wall. After taking a look towards her wings to make sure they were still secured properly, she continued walking down her path.

The path contained multiple sets of unequipped pony armor on both sides. Each one contained a spear, but the top of each spear contained a lit torch, rather than a blade. It looked as if a red carpet was laid straight in the middle of the path, just for the explorer. It looked rather, unsettling.

But even more unsettling, was the feeling rushing towards Carousel’s head. She grunted, closing her eyes in an attempt to block it out. She knew it was futile, but she kept walking. The rush to her head grew. The pain made itself apparent, but she continued walking. Her breathing became a low growl. She tried to force the air to blow out through her gritting teeth. She endured the pain for as long as she could.

“Ahhh…” But she knew it was futile. The pain in her head would come. She stopped walking, dropping her body to the ground. She could no longer keep her teeth clenched together.

“Ahhh!” Carousel placed both fore hooves on her head. The rush in her head continued. Images were returning to her mind.

“Aaaaahhhhhhh!” She continued to cry out her pain. The sounds echoed through the temple corridors. If she wasn’t so deep inside the temple, or the forest that contained the temple, other ponies could probably hear it.

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The images returned to her. Carousel saw herself, traversing other temples, reliving all the pain and hardships that came from them. Rocks collided with her, arrows scraped her, and fires scorched her. She traveled many different plains, many different temples, and many different challenges. But she never recalled where or when these challenges occurred. The images didn’t even show light or color. She found herself running from the corridor she was just in a few minutes ago. But instead of dodging traps, she was running from a black void. The void was chasing her, and it was winning the chase. The void engulfed her.

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“Aahhh…” The images were disappearing and the pain was subsiding. The rush towards her head was now leaving her.

“Ahh…” Carousel was resting on the floor, panting deeply, but quietly. This wasn’t the first time she had experienced this rush, and she knew it certainly wouldn’t be the last. She just lied there, continuing to pant, recovering from the rush. While she couldn’t recall her previous adventures, she could still remember the reason for her being here.

Recovering her strength, Carousel was able to pick herself back up. She took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then exhaled.

“If this temple doesn’t end me, my head certainly will,” Carousel stated to herself while rubbing her head. “How Much Longer Must I Traverse These Halls?!” she suddenly yelled out.

This rise in her voice caused a small bit of debris to fall from the ceiling. Carousel placed her hoof up to the red collar that she wore around her neck. She shifted it around a bit, getting a feel to it.

“Huh…” Carousel thought as she felt her collar. “I’ve only been traveling for a few minutes. Why does it feel longer?” Carousel shook her head and sighed, dispersing this thought from her mind. She used her hoof to turn the collar around. Now that she had calmed down, she continued to follow the path through the temple.

The path continuously contained multiple stands of the same pony armor with the same spears of lit torches on both sides. At the end of the path, those pieces of armor led to some sort of inscription held on a stand. It appeared to hold instructions for what was next.

Taking a look past the stand, there was another huge hole in the floor, with no sort of way of crossing. At the end of it was an engraved hole. It would look like something could be inserted there. But before she thought any further on it, Carousel read the inscriptions on the stand.

“Beyond lies a piece of our treasure, one last test of abilities to prove. Demonstrate your strength and balance; the final key will meet your brute. Claim your weapon, and secure your goal.”

There was a large crank noise that sounded when Carousel finished reading the inscriptions. The stand was starting to move on its own. It was sinking in the ground. Carousel stepped back as the stand continued to sink. She then heard something else. Looking up, she saw an opening in the ceiling. Something was falling from in there.

Carousel moved her tail towards a spear that one of the empty pony armors held. She wrapped her tail around it, using her tail to remove the spear from the armor’s grip.

“Strength and balance…” Carousel thought out loud. She looked towards the engraved hole ahead of her. “Maybe in there…”

The sound was getting closer. With the spear in her grip, Carousel flicked her tail to extinguish the flame that was lit on top of it. She propped herself into position, swaying her tail back and forth in the air, keeping a close eye for the object to appear.

The object came into view.

Carousel readied herself as soon as she saw it, not even thinking about what it was. As soon as the object came into striking distance, she swung the spear, trying to hit the target.

But, she missed. The force of her swing caused the spear to continue its momentum and circle around, hitting the back of her head. The sound of the object colliding against the floor, and a bladeless spear colliding against Carousel’s head, sounded at the same time.

“Nnnrgh!”

A large grunt could be heard coming out of Carousel’s mouth as she stumbled with her steps, causing her to twist and turn her movements to opposite directions. She collapsed to the floor on her back. Her head nearly collided against the object. The spear fell out of her grasp, sticking to the floor. Carousel grasped her hooves to the back of her head, gritting her teeth in the pain she just induced herself.

“Mmph…” Carousel rubbed the back of her head a few several times. It was rather refreshing compared to what she experienced earlier, but at the same time, irritating. Carousel tilted herself backwards and then kicked off the ground with her forelegs. This allowed her to stand back up immediately. Carousel gave off a visible snort through her snout, stomping both her fore hooves on the ground, twice, looking towards the engraved hole past the stand while letting a bit of steam loose.

After that short moment, Carousel took a glance back at her right wing, making sure it was okay. She looked towards the object she tried to hit with the spear earlier. All she could identify about it was that the object was shaped like a cube. She looked towards the engraved hole, seeing that it matched the shape of the cube, making it obvious that it was the key.

Carousel glanced back at the spear she had dropped earlier. She walked closer to the cube, using her tail to pick the spear back up.

“Okay, fine!” Carousel shouted, taking a good look at her target. “We’ll play a different game, happy?” Carousel lifted the spear over her head, prepping herself carefully. Carousel swung her tail with a strong force, making the spear collide solidly with the cube.

*CRACK!*

The cube went flying towards the target. The impact caused the spear to snap. The cube connected swiftly inside the hole in the wall on the other side of the gap.

“Perfect!” Carousel exclaimed with a smile, throwing the broken spear away. “Wait, was there anything over th-” *Crank!* “-Ahh!”

Carousel was suddenly cut off when a large cranking noise sounded again, causing her body to jump. The ground under her was shifting. The path towards the gap where the cube now rested was closing off. If there was anything else that was in there, Carousel wasn’t going to see it now.

No, the path wasn’t being sealed, the ground was moving down. The path behind also looked to be sealing off. Carousel looked up to see that the ceiling was moving with the rest of the room.

“Nnnh… dang it,” Carousel thought out loud nervously while checking her surroundings.

The room continued to descend to the lower levels of the temple. Carousel glanced carefully around the area as it moved. Lots of grinding could be heard; dust flying around the walls could be seen.

“This is good, right?” she said nervously. “This is going to end well… this will end well.” Carousel’s wings jittered uncontrollably. Carousel had to press her hooves against her wings in order to keep them still. Carousel waited in anticipation for her destination to be reached.

As the next room came into view, Carousel’s body shut down.

“Huu…” Carousel gave a depressing sigh as she managed to regain control of her body.

The ride reached its destination, not before causing a loud thud as it connected at ground level with the temple’s basement.

The room that had been revealed before the ride came to a full stop was enormous. Carousel gasped in awe at the sheer size of it. She slowly preceded further inside.

The room was shaped like a dome, the path surrounded by a circle hole at the edge of the walls. Carousel proceeded to walk towards the center of the dome. When she saw the temple from the outside, she did not expect to see something like this on the inside, even if it was all underground it seemed.

Carousel reached into her right wing while she lifted it from her side, revealing what she had been holding in it all this way. She now held it in her hoof.

It was an amulet, a yellow amulet, possibly gold. There was a single piece missing from the amulet. With the final piece inserted, it seemed like it would form the shape of a clock, or a watch. There was an engraving on the back of it. It read, “STB 10-” the last number couldn’t be identified yet.

The other side of the amulet appeared to hold a small mirror. But no reflection could be seen, possibly due to the missing piece. The amulet was small enough to fit on Carousel’s hoof. This amulet was the reason why she was here now.

Getting back on track, Carousel came to a stop when she noticed something in front of her path. She lifted her head up to take a look at what it was.

Carousel’s mouth opened slowly in awe at the sight. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her amazement caused her to drop the amulet, as she dropped her hoof to the floor.

“Hhhaaaaaaa…..” Carousel let out a sigh of astonishment.

Carousel lost control of her wings again. They started fluttering rapidly. She could barely exhale at her amazement. Her fluttering wings beat faster, causing her body to lift in the air. Before she went too high though, she wrapped her tail around the dropped amulet to scoop it up with her. Carousel’s wings continued to beat faster, allowing her altitude to climb higher, but slowly.

In front of her was a sculpture of a large and massive dragon. Its wings were spread gracefully, its jaws held open. Carousel had never seen anything like it. Her wings beat so fast, they were creating a breeze that blew close to the dragon’s form, blowing off its dust. She looked at the dragons form, gazing her view upwards.

“…Incredible…” Carousel placed a hoof on the dragon’s model, sliding it upward as she continued to climb.

“I’ve, never seen, anything like this…” Her altitude continued to climb, spotting a platform at the head of the dragon. Her wings took her to the platform, where she landed at eye level of the dragon sculpture. If she wasn’t so excited, she would’ve noticed the sets of stairs leading up to said platform on both sides.

“…What… what is this?” Carousel asked, placing her hoof on the dragon’s snout. “It’s a dragon… but…” she was at a loss for words, trying to think why it was here at all, what it represented.

Carousel slid her hoof along the dragon’s frame as she walked along, searching it. Despite how amazing this dragon looked to her, this wasn’t what she was here for, and she wasn’t here to figure out what it meant.

Carousel’s search took her towards the jaw of the dragon. There, she found what she was looking for. The dragon’s teeth showed outside of its jaws, and one of them contained something. It was a small yellow object that contained an engraving. The engraving was nothing more than the number, “4”. Carousel moved her tail towards that small object, comparing the object with the amulet in her tail’s grip.

The colors matched. This was the final piece of the amulet.

That piece was wedged in between a small hole in its teeth. Carousel used the feathers on her left wing to feel around the amulet, testing its grip. This wouldn’t be easy to take out; she had to use forcible measures.

Leaning against the tooth with her left hoof, she used her right to strike at the teeth. She struck again, and again, each strike followed by a grunt as she continued to apply more force each time. Carousel continued to strike the tooth near the area where the amulet was gripped at, causing it to loosen.

With one final strike, the piece of the amulet chipped off the tooth, causing it to fly past and behind Carousel, now released from the dragon’s maw.

Carousel turned away from the dragon to collect the piece of the amulet. With the rest of the amulet held in her tail, she brought it in front of her, while scooping up the final piece with the feathers on her right wing. Carousel examined the shape of the piece with the rest of the amulet. The final piece was shaped like a slice of pie from a one and eighth circle, which fit perfectly in the actual amulet.

The dragon sculpture behind Carousel suddenly blinked. Its eyes gazed down toward her.

Carousel smiled at the sight before her, the final piece was now connected to the amulet. It gave off a shine as it was completed. She was too distracted to notice the dragon sculpture behind her moving. Its jaws were slowly opening.

Carousel turned the amulet over to catch a look at the mirror-like area that originally had no reflection. She held it in the air, excitedly anticipating a response from the amulet. The mirror created light, a light that grew very bright and very fast.

*Screech!* the light’s flash was like a bang.

“AAAHHH!!!” Carousel tossed her eyes away as the light blinded her. The sudden flash caused her to stumble backwards, causing her to trip and fall to the floor. But she didn’t lose her grip on the amulet in her tail.

The dragon gave a loud growl as it closed its jaws, aiming for the blinded pegasus. Carousel rubbed her eyes with her hoof as she regained vision, only to see the mouth of a massive dragon closing in on her.

Carousel immediately gasped and ducked forwards before the set of teeth closed aggressively behind her, piercing right through the ground underneath her, causing it to crumble away.

The dragon’s teeth connected with the amulet in Carousel’s tail, causing her to grunt. The dragon’s teeth were strong, but that amulet was practically gold. The amulet was made of material that was so hard; this dragon’s teeth's material wouldn’t be able to penetrate it. As a result, part of the dragon’s teeth chipped off when it collided with the amulet.

The dragon let out a roar upon contact, as if it were in pain. Its jaws flew open while its breath released a massive cloud of smoke from its mouth. Carousel was blown away from this smoke, sent on a collision course towards the moving room that had sent her to this basement-like area.

Any sounds coming from Carousel were muffled by the smoke as she was being pushed by the dragon’s breath. She collided on one of the corners of the mobile room. The smoke that had cloaked her presence quickly evaporated after the impact. Her backside was what broke her fall, while her right closed eye broke the amulet’s fall after she lost her grip on it.

*Crank!*

The mobile room started to climb back up. Carousel opened her left eye after recovering from the impact. She saw the dragon sculpture moving, but only the upper part of its body was moving. It gave a loud roar, causing the whole room to shake. The bridge and stairs that led to the dragon were crumbling. Debris all across the room was falling.

Carousel lost sight of the dragon as the mobile room continued to climb back up the temple. Explosions could be heard outside. Explosions suddenly reached inside the room. Carousel flinched, tossing the amulet out of her eye. She used her tail to catch the amulet as she got back to her hooves.

“Oh, this is bad…” Carousel shifted and turned her positions randomly, casting her sights around the temple. There was a lot of debris breaking off of the temple walls. Fire shot up from under the ground.

“Whoa!” Carousel jumped in surprise as she saw the flames shoot up. “Ah!” Another flame shot up from behind her. She jumped out of the way to put some distance between her and the flames. More explosions came about randomly. Carousel casted her sight upwards in the direction the room was moving.

“Come on, hurry up!” Carousel had to impatiently wait for the mobile room to reach her destination. She couldn’t go anywhere until the next room was present. More flames shot up from the ground, breaking through it, but stopping when it reached the ceiling, causing more debris to break away.

An opening made itself present towards one of the sides of the mobile room. Carousel flared out her wings. Once the opening was big enough, she jumped towards it, using her wings to give her a speed boost. She grabbed the ledge and quickly climbed up it, getting out of the mobile room.

Carousel could still feel the temple shaking. It was as if the whole temple was collapsing. She started running down the hallway, avoiding all the debris that was falling. The lines of pony armor were crumbling apart as she ran past them. More flames shot from the walls, attempting to block her path.

The blockades from earlier came into view. They were collapsing along with the temple, allowing a mostly possible path with minimal resistance for Carousel. With her treasure still grasped in her tail, she spread her wings and leaped across the crumbling piles. She changed her running to flying.

There was a slight blockade on the other side of the gap she jumped over before, but it was weak enough to break through. Carousel used her speed and wing power force to crash through the debris, a trail of flames nearly catching her on the way.

A lot of the smaller debris kept hitting her body and wings as she sped through the collapsing temple halls. Flying was faster, but more difficult thanks to all the obstacles. She continued to soar along the path, avoiding as much of the debris and flames that had crossed her path. The flames were just firing out of the walls randomly.

The path was long and treacherous. Getting out of the temple was proving to be quite as challenging as it was getting in. When the path turned, she turned. When debris fell, she avoided them. When explosions occurred, she flinched and stumbled. All of these were obstacles trying to stop her.

Carousel heard an unsettling rumbling behind her. Taking a glance back, she did not like the sight. As if the flames shooting randomly around the temple weren’t bad enough, now there was a huge wall of fire engulfing the path behind her, and chasing her.

More panic engrossed on her face. Carousel brought her eyes back in front of her. To her luck, the temple’s exit was within her sight. Both targets were closing in fast. It was now a race between the pegasus and the flames to which would exit the temple first.

Carousel was closing in on the exit while the flames closed in on her. She put all her focus on the amulet in her tail, and that exit. She had to make it out. No other thoughts were made. She even closed her eyes for that single thought.

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Escape.

The images returned to her without pain.

Escape.

She ran through the flames that brightened her path. Nothing else was more important than running, flying, or anything else that would succeed in…

Escape.

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As soon as Carousel reached the exit, she flung open her eyes. She could feel the flames so close to her body. Carousel darted her direction, all too close to the flames.

“Nnnnggg!” Carousel cringed.

The flames had made the slightest contact on Carousel’s right wing. She lost control of her flight pattern and was now tumbling towards the ground, deep in the forest. She impacted the ground, losing her grip on the amulet. She slid a few meters distance from her landing site, along with her amulet, bouncing along a few distances ahead of her.

Carousel’s sliding stopped abruptly, her back legs landing on the ground with a thud.

Sunset had fallen, and night was near. The crumbling of the temple could still be heard. Carousel rested where she laid with her eyes closed, catching her breath from all that running and flying. Her right wing was sprawled out and in pain from the burn. She wanted nothing more than to just rest where she lied.

So that’s what she did.

The crumbling sounds of the temple soon stopped. Things were pretty silent now. The wind blowing across the forest could be heard.

But then, moments later, another sound came. A distance sound of wings flapping could be heard. There was a landing sound nearby.

“Whoa! What have we here?”

Carousel’s ears perked up at the sound of a new voice.

“Looks like it’s my lucky day, I just struck gold!”

Carousel lifted her head up to cast her sights in the direction she heard the voice. She could easily identify what it was in front of her. It was a griffon, holding the amulet in their claws, the amulet she had worked so hard in putting together.

“Hey… that’s mine…” Carousel exclaimed, struggling.

The griffon had a puzzled, yet disgusted look on their face.

“Eww, that voice, who made that?” The griffon caught sight of the injured pegasus. “Did that come from this pony?”

Carousel attempted to get back on her hooves as the griffon closed in on her. She looked towards the amulet, then the griffon, while the griffon did the same.

“Nah, that couldn’t have come from you-” the griffon raised one of its claws. “-because you, were never here.”

The last thing Carousel saw was a claw coming straight for her face.

Everything went black.

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Current day:

Rainbow Dash carefully listened to this story that this pegasus, Carousel, was telling.

At some point, Fluttershy seemed to have found some bandages around the wreckages inside this, what they would call, abandoned laboratory. She was wrapping those bandages around the injured parts of Rainbow Dash’s body, mostly focusing on her dispositioned wings.

Fluttershy cringed at the thought of those wings. There was just no way that it had happened the way it did, but she was finding it difficult to deny. Her eyes teared up as she worked on bandaging those wings. It was all she could do now.

Rainbow Dash’s pain was easing very well due to Fluttershy’s contact on her wings, but her nerves were far from being eased. There was just something wrong about this… Carousel… about the story Carousel was telling. Not about what was happening in the story, but rather what she was telling.

Either way, it seemed like they reached the end of what she could recall now. As such, Rainbow Dash had to continue with hers.

The problem was, whether her part would be related or not, so she had to tell as much as she could until that connection came up.

“Why am I doing this again…?”

Author's Note:

Alright, now that we're done with this chapter, let's get back to what Rainbow Dash was doing. I'll be keeping the chapter's focus separated.

Next Chapter: Beauty of Flight.