“Wh-what was that?” Rainbow Dash, star athlete, clattered her teeth as her shaky hands held on to their only source of light in the darkness of the cave. The wetsuit she had on wasn’t good enough against the cold.
“What was what?” Pinkie Pie turned around , raising an eyebrow. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“Me too,” Sunset Shimmer pulled off her scuba goggles and took in a deep breath.
“Yeah, Dash, are you alright?” Home Run walked over, trying to get his spare flashlight out of his safety harness holding the empty gas tanks to his back. “I didn’t hear anything either. Must’ve been your imagination.”
“I definitely did not imagine a low guttural growl like that,” she said, panning the light across the cavern. “Something’s out there.”
“C’mon, stop kiddin’ around,” Applejack held on to a shaking Fluttershy. “You’re scarin’ Fluttershy with your ghost stories.”
“This is no ghost story!” Rainbow yelled, her voice echoing across the cave system they were trapped in. “Just you wait. Something’s going to jump out and we’re going to be killed!”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Jetstream waved his hands maniacally to get everyone’s attention. The night suddenly grew quiet around the campfire, the only sounds being the crickets in the forest and the crackling of the fire in the middle of the group of students. “You can’t say that in a horror story! That’s just ridiculous! You can’t predict your own deaths like that!”
“She can do what she wants, Jets,” Lightning Rain said beside him, one hand pointed at the other baseballer’s face while his other hand was around Roseluck, who was quietly listening to the conversation. “It’s her story.”
“Yeah, don’t interrupt, Jetstream,” Rainbow pointed a finger at the brown haired boy. “I’m telling the story, so I decide what happens.”
“Alright, alright,” Jetstream surrendered. “You’re the boss, boss.”
“Alright,” Rainbow rubbed her hands together. “Where was I?”
The group wandered the caves, following the only path ahead. Most of their gas tanks were already out, so going back underwater wasn’t going to happen. Rainbow thought perhaps she should’ve read up more on the cave system before bringing everyone out here to explore. She felt bad that her friends were all trapped here with her now because they’d gone too far in, so she felt it was her duty to get them out. After all, she was a really awesome athlete. If anything, she was better than everyone here in terms of stamina and skill. In fact-
“Rainbow,” Applejack frowned. “You’re goin’ off track. This is supposed to be a horror story, not a show-off competition.”
“Show-off competition,” Pinkie held back her laughter. “Good one. Pfffft…”
“Okay, okay, I’ll tone down on my awesomeness. Please, less interruptions.”
The students continued to creep around, the single flashlight illuminating the steep path before them.
“Be careful where you step, everyone,” Rarity warned the others, carefully placing a foot on the next stable rock. “Falling into the water here may be fatal. There seems to be rocks down below too. You don’t want to hit your head at the bottom.”
“I got my light!” Home Run cheered as he finally pulled free the spare flashlight from his harness. Just then, his left foot slipped on the rocky ground. The boy seemed to dance in the air for a few seconds before plunging down into the dark waters below.
“Home Run!” the collective gasped at the same time, rushing to the edge, looking down.
“Hey, you killed me off? First?” Home Run complained, stomping a foot on the grass. “Really?”
“Sssh!” Rainbow hissed at him. “Stop interrupting my story, guys!”
The awesome Rainbow Dash was first to the scene, seeing as she was the one with the light, shining it down into the water.
“Home Run?” she yelled down, careful not to step over the edge herself. “You alright?”
She could hear him breathing heavily down below. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. I missed most of the rocks. Scraped my arm a little, but… I’m fine…”
“How’re w-we going to get him back up?” Fluttershy trembled, looking from friend to friend to see if anyone had any ideas.
“Our harnesses!” Lightning Rain suggested, quickly slipping his off his shoulders. “We can tie them together to form some kind of rope.”
“You’re brilliant, Rain!” Rose gave him a quick kiss to the cheek before taking hers off.
“Nice one, Dash!” Rose giggled and squeezed closer against Lightning Rain. “Nice of you to add that in there. I never thought you were the romantic type.”
“Sheesh,” Rainbow blew at her fringe. “It’s a story. You need all kinds of elements in a story, right?”
The students began to remove their gas tanks, tossing them into the water below, seeing as they didn’t need them any longer. In fact, Rainbow had no idea why they had lugged the empty tanks all the way. They should’ve ditched them at the start.
“Come on guys, it’s fr-fr-freezing in here…” Home Run rubbed his shoulders as he stayed afloat.
Once they made sure the harness rope was safe, Lightning crouched down and lowered it to the blue haired boy.
Rainbow watched as the harnesses got closer to the water, but something on the other side of the water caught her eye. Something white in the dark.
“Hmm?” The star athlete pointed the light away to the water, much to the annoyance of her friends.
“Hey, Dash, we need the light here,” Applejack reminded her.
“It’s fine,” Home Run said, turning his own light on. “Here, one of you take this.”
Once he was sure they were looking at him, Home Run tossed the flashlight up. It fumbled in Applejack’s hands for a second, but she finally held onto it firmly. “Got it. Thanks, Home Run.”
“Wait, guys,” Rainbow raised a hand to hush them. “I saw something. Kinda looked like a snake or something. Oh no. Home Run, I think it’s in there with you. Guys, c’mon. Pull him up!”
“What, snake? Where?” Home Run turned in the water a few times, trying to see if there was anything moving in there with him.
“Home Run, grab on!” Lightning shook the harness.
The blue haired baseball player wasted no more time in grabbing on to it. With their combined strength, the rest of the students began to pull, gradually lifting him out of the water. Rainbow Dash kept an eye on the surface, constantly on the alert for whatever it was that she had seen earlier. Could it have been making the growling sounds she heard before?
Home Run was half up the wall now, kicking up the rocks with his feet as the others pulled him. Just as he was about to take his last step, something long and white shot out of the water and wrapped around his waist.
“Homey!” Jetstream yelled and ran forward to grab one of his arms. “We got you, boy!”
“What is this?” Home Run panicked as he looked down at the slimy white shape around him.
Rainbow stared in shock as the thing began to win, pulling harder than her friends were. Joining in, she grabbed onto Home Run’s right foot, helping the others save her friend from whatever it was that was pulling him. By the looks of it, that thing was no snake. It was part of something much larger.
“Home Run, you’re slipping!” Lightning grunted against the strain he was putting in to save his friend.
Rainbow knew he was right. Home Run had just been in the water earlier, and his hands and feet were still coated in water, making it harder and harder to hold on as the creature down there fought to seize him.
Then horror struck as Home Run was pulled from their grasps back down to the water. He thrashed and yelled as much as he could, but soon, he was nothing more but bubbles popping on the water’s surface, disappearing down into the watery abyss-
“Woah, woah, woah!” Home Run raised a finger and an eyebrow. “So you still just killed me off first? Really? I mean, I know this is supposed to be a spooky campfire story and all, but really? Me? I had to be first?”
“Well, someone’s gotta be first, right?” Rainbow patted him on the back. “Don’t take it to heart, slugger. See it that you had the honour of dying first. Besides, you have a better idea?”
“Well, usually it’s the funny one that goes first, right?” Home Run suggested. “That’d be Pinkie.”
“But I don’t want to die first!” she pouted and made a sad face. “Come on, Home Run’s already dead. Let’s just stick with that! It’s not like it’s real life right, Homey? I’ll make a balloon for you!”
“I don’t want a balloon. I wanna still be alive in that story.”
“Well, too bad,” Rainbow stuck her tongue out. “I chose you to die first, and you did. Can I please go on with the story?”
“Okay, fine, fine, you win, captain,” Home Run sighed and leaned back against his log. “Let’s just see what else happens.”
“Thank you. Now where were we…
“Home Run!” Rainbow Dash yelled and got down on all fours to closely investigate the water. “No, no, no. Home Run!”
“He’s gone, Rainbow,” Rarity placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing more we can do for him. We tried.”
“No, no… It’s all my fault,” the pro athlete sat down and covered her face in her hands. “If I didn’t want to come here, he’d still be alive.”
“Well, if we don’t get out of this cave, we’ll all be dead,” Jetstream pointed out, looking ahead as best as he could.
“Not helping, Jets,” Lightning narrowed his eyes at his friend.
“Totally is helping,” Jetstream crossed his arms. “I’m trying to get us out of here.”
“Enough argument, please,” Fluttershy stepped between both of them and gently pushed them apart. Home Run’s gone, b-but we still need to go. H-he’d want us to go…”
The quiet girl broke down into tears, effectively stopping any further argument. Rarity and Pinkie moved over to console her while the rest remained quiet and looked at the water again.
“Okay… Let’s go,” Rainbow sighed and pointed the light forward. The path only lead in one direction, so they didn’t have much of a choice as to which direction to go. “We’ll do something for Home Run when we get out of here.”
“Happy, Home Run?” she looked back at the baseball player, resting both arms against his log. “That we’ll forever remember you in our hearts?”
“Flattered,” the boy said as he rolled his eyes. “Do go on, though. The story’s pretty interesting at least.”
The group had trekked down the narrow path they were on, entering into a large new cavern, filled with stalagmites and stalactites, and something they didn’t expect on seeing.
“A-are those hu-human b-b-bones?” Fluttershy pointed a wobbly finger at the floor.
Rainbow crouched down and picked one up. Being top in class in biology and anatomy, she immediately recognized it was a human bone. A pretty recent one at that.
“Wait, top in class?” Applejack tried to hold back her laughter. “Ya ain’t top in class in any of that, Rainbow. Ah mean, bein’ athletic and all is one thing, but top in class? Pffff ha ha ha ha!”
“It’s my story, AJ,” the rainbow haired girl mentioned again. “I get to decide what I say.”
The amazing Rainbow Dash carefully led her friends through the large cavern, avoiding all the bones on the floor as she walked. She had kept the one she had picked up earlier, just in case she had to beat the daylight out of anymore of those snakey creatures that had taken Home Run.
About halfway in, she heard it again. The growling sound she had heard in the previous cavern. Applejack and Rarity bumped into her as she stopped, but she quickly held up her hand to tell them all to remain silent.
This time, the others didn’t complain, able to hear the sounds too. Whatever it was, it sounded extremely close, almost like it was-
“Up!” Jetstream warned as the kids dived for cover.
Rainbow did an amazing combat roll forward as a blob of white dropped down where Pinkie Pie was standing, landing on top of her.
“NOOOOOOO!” the pink haired girl pulled at her face. “Not me! Anyone but me! I’m too young to go! I still have plenty of parties to plan! Come on, please Dashie? Someone else?”
“Come on, Pinkie, it’s a story,” Rainbow felt like smashing her face against one of the logs. “You won’t die in real life. Just let me do as I please.”
“But… what if we do die in real life?” Pinkie leaned forward and placed her eye against Rainbow’s.
“Ow, hey!” Rainbow pushed her back to her seat. “No one is dying in real life. Look, Home Run’s still alive.”
“True,” the blue haired boy nodded and leaned further back.
“So let me go on, Pinkie,” Rainbow said as nicely as she could. “Please?”
“You drive a hard bargain, Dashie,” Pinkie placed a hand under her chin, but quickly bounced back with a wide grin across her face. “But okay! Go on! All yours, capitan!”
Rainbow looked up, shining her light into the creature’s face. It looked like some kind of mix between a squid and a bird, having a sharp beak atop its slimy white head, along with at least seven tentacles around the bottom half of its body, which was just a single white blob, which seemed to stretch and bounce depending on how the creature moved.
“Pinkie!” Fluttershy gasped and ran forward. She picked up one of the rocks on the floor and smashed it into the side of the creature’s head multiple times-
“Umm… Rainbow?” Fluttershy spoke up, interrupting the story. “Not to intrude or anything, but… I would never hurt something so violently. I mean, I love animals…”
Rainbow sighed heavily and slouched down. “Fluttershy. It’s a story. Besides, wouldn’t you have done anything to help save Pinkie?”
“Yeah, yeah!” Pinkie bounced on her log, almost causing Jetstream, Lightning and Rose to fall off. “Save me! Save me!”
“Oh, well… okay, it is your story after all, Rainbow, sorry to be a bother…” Fluttershy smiled innocently and waited for the athlete to continue.
“Thanks, Flutters.” Rainbow cleared her throat before continuing.
The blob brought its beak down and pecked at Pinkie’s head, jabbing hard enough to draw blood.
“Leave her alone!” Fluttershy began to sob as she continued to bash the creature’s head in.
The others soon came to her aid, with Jetstream and Lightning Rain grabbing rocks of their own to help, while Rainbow clubbed at its beak with the bone she picked up. After three more hits, Rainbow had broken the beak, kicking it away into-
“Rainbow, Ah’m pretty sure ya know, but bones like that ain’t strong enough to break a squid beak,” Applejack said as she tossed another piece of wood into the campfire.
“Fine, fine,” Rainbow waved a hand at her. “I’ll change it.”
Rainbow had found a large rusted sword on the ground, picking it up in both hands to-
“Wait, and ya can’t do that either.”
“Do what?” Rainbow wore a confused look.
“Ya can’t find random weapons on the ground.”
“Why not?”
“Ah… Ah don’t know, ya just can’t!”
“Fine…” Rainbow groaned internally. “I’ll change it again…”
Rainbow Dash picked up one of the other rocks on the floor that was totally not a weapon or anything that she wouldn’t be able to find in the cave and clubbed the creature’s beak, breaking it after three hits. The blob groaned and flapped what was left of its mouth, thrashing around with its tentacles. One wrapped around Jetstream, but the others missed everyone else, flailing wildling in the cavernous space. Rainbow ducked under one as it sprang towards her, diving under a second one before somersaulting over a third before jamming the rock she had into its mouth as hard as she could.
The creature gurgled and tried to dislodge it with its other tentacles, but soon, it went limp, shuddering twice before collapsing down into a puddle of slime.
“Pinkie, are you okay?” Fluttershy bent down to help.
The Pink haired girl had a massive wound on the back of her head, pouring blood down her face.
“I’m sorry…” she said weakly. “I should’ve… been… more careful.”
“We’ll get you help, Pinkie,” Rose walked over, her eyes darting around for anything that could help.
“Just go…” Pinkie said with even less strength. “Get out… of here… Don’t… die down here too…”
Then she closed her eyes and dropped her head to the ground.
“No…” Fluttershy mumbled before bursting into more tears, falling to her knees next to her lifeless friend.
“Well… I did make a deal, Rainbow,” Pinkie Pie popped a balloon of a dog she was making with a pin, startling most of the others. “I’m sorry for making you cry, Fluttershy. You want a bunny balloon?”
Fluttershy nodded and smiled. “You don’t have to apologize, Pinkie. I’m not crying in real life. Though, I would love to have a bunny balloon if it’s okay with you.”
“One bunny coming right up!” Pinkie yelled as she pulled out a red balloon.
“Please, guys,” Rainbow looked at all of them with narrowed eyes. “Don’t interrupt if you don’t have to.”
The remaining students had carried on, going through more caverns, still searching for a way out. Jestream had hurt his arm when the creature had grabbed him earlier, but otherwise he was fine, complaining all along the way about how long they had to walk and why they were even here in the first place.
“Hey!” Jetstream cut in. “I don’t complain! When in my life have I ever complained about anything? Come on, captain! That’s not me! I don’t do that!”
“You totally do, Jets,” Lightning pulled the boy back down. “Just shut it and enjoy the story. Continue, captain. Sorry for this moron’s interruption.”
“Hey, you listen-”
“Jetstream, please!” Rainbow yelled and stood up. “I don’t know how many times you guys have interrupted me, but it’s irritating. Please, stop. Let me finish first.”
“Fine, fine,” Jetstream sat back and folded his arms. “My apologies, cap. I shall do my best to remain quiet.”
“Right. Thanks.” Going by how things were looking, Rainbow didn’t expect long before her next interruption.
Soon, they came across a waterfall, with an old rickety bridge spanning from one side to the other.
“Cool,” Rainbow, the star of Canterlot High, walked closer and placed a hand on the rope, giving it a little shake. “Seems stable.”
Being the heroic girl she was, she volunteered to go first, stepping foot onto the bridge. At first, the wood seemed to shift under her weight, but pinning it down as her imagination, she began to take more steps, moving further and further along the bridge. Looking down, Rainbow could see the waterfall emptying itself down into a dark chasm way too dark for her to see the bottom, or even a little bit of the frothing waters from the waterfall.
“Don’t want to be falling down that anytime soon…” she muttered to herself.
Without any problems, she soon found she had made it to the other side, unharmed.
“Looks good!” she yelled back to her friends and beckoned them over. “We shouldn’t take any chances, though! Come over one by one!”
“Come on, Rose,” Lightning pushed the red haired girl forward. “You go first.”
“Al-alright…” she gulped, trying not to look down.
Slowly, inch by inch, Roseluck made her way across the old bridge, gripping as tightly as she could to the rope just in case something were to happen to the planks below her feet. Rainbow Dash seemed to hold her breath as Rose made her way over, willing her to hurry. There were possibly more creatures in the cave, and she didn’t want to see another one so soon.
Finally, the young florist had arrived on the other side, letting go of the rope to grab onto the hand Rainbow was offering her, almost making the pro athlete wish she hadn’t done so. Rose’s grip was like iron, almost tough enough to break the bones in her hand.
“It’s fine, Rose, you’ve made it,” Rainbow assured, motioning the girl behind her as she beckoned the next of her friends over. “Next one!”
Lightning Rain was next, then Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Rarity and Fluttershy. When Fluttershy was about halfway, a growl sounded from the back half of the cavern, where Jetstream was still waiting by himself.
“Oh great…” the baseballer muttered and bent down to pick up the sharpest rock he could find, figuring stabbing the creature would be better than clubbing its slimy flesh. “Pick up the speed, Fluttershy, if you could.”
“I-I’ll try…” the pink haired girl whimpered, moving a little faster.
Rainbow Dash tried to look over past Jetstream, but she couldn’t see any signs of movement, nor did her flashlight beam reach that far. She and the rest of her friends were so busy looking to the other side, that they only managed to see it a second too late. Out from the stalactites up top, a blob of white fell, almost as quick as a comet, landing atop Fluttershy. The quiet girl’s scream pierced the cavern around the students, echoing down into the abyss below.
Rainbow Dash stopped her story, expecting to get interrupted. Just as she had predicted, Applejack cleared her throat before speaking.
“You’re gonna kill off Fluttershy? You can’t kill off Fluttershy! Just look at her.”
The pink haired girl in question was busy examining the rabbit balloon that Pinkie Pie had made for her, holding it close like it was one of her actual pets. “Yes? D-did someone say my name?”
“It’s fine, Fluttershy,” Sunset Shimmer waved a hand. “You can get back to playing with that balloon.”
“Fine, fine,” Rainbow blew hair out of her face. “I’ll change it a little.”
Sprouting wings at the top of its form, the blob let out a shrill screech before taking flight, lifting Fluttershy up into the air with its beak.
“Help!” the girl cried out to her friends.
Rainbow pushed past the others and ran down the bridge, going as fast as she could to help, but she had arrived too late. Fluttershy went sailing through the air with the creature, diving down to the abyss below.
“Fluttershy! No!” she looked down, but soon, she couldn’t even hear her friend’s screams anymore.
“Ya still killed her,” Applejack made a face.
“How would you know?” Rainbow put on a smug face and folded her arms. “I didn’t say she died. She might still be alive. I’ll leave it open. Some stories do that, right?”
“Well… I guess so, yeah,” Sunset shrugged and looked at Applejack. “She has a point, AJ. Maybe Fluttershy’s still alive. I mean, what creature would want to kill her?”
“Alright, alright, ya win this one, Rainbow Dash…” the cowgirl left it alone and waited for the athlete to go on.
Just then, the sound of tentacles slapping against rock could be heard from the other side as Rainbow turned to look at what was going on. By the sound of it, something bad was about to happen.
Jetstream thought the same thing and turned around. “Go! I’ll hold them back! Get back to the other side!”
“What?” the best athlete in the world was taken aback for a second. “No, Jets, we’re not leaving you! Come on! Get over here right now!”
“Sorry, boss. Not this time.” Jetstream gave her the biggest smile he could muster and turned his back to the rest of his friends. “Go! You’re wasting the time I’m buying you!”
Rainbow hesitated again, not wanting to lose another friend, but Jetstream was right about one thing. She didn’t have the time to run over there to grab him. Turning around, she began dashing back to the other side, going as fast as she-
“Hold it, hold it!” Jetstream waved through the imagination again. “Sorry, but why didn’t I just run across the bridge? I probably could’ve made it. I play baseball, remember captain? I can run. All we have to do is cut the bridge from the other side, right?”
“Just roll with it, Jets,” Rainbow grumbled. “People always do dumb stuff in horror movies and stuff. Uh, no offense. Besides, you’re gonna go down like a hero! I thought you’d like that.”
“Now that you put it that way…” Jetstream rubbed his moustache. “Very well, captain, I’ll take this dance. It’s only a story after all.”
“Though you might probably pull something like that in real life too,” Lightning whispered a little too loudly.
“Hey, you shut your face!” Jetstream reached for him, but was stopped by Applejack and Rarity.
“Guys, quiet!” Rainbow stopped them again. “Let’s go on with the story. If you keep interrupting me, we’re not going to get any sleep.”
Rainbow Dash arrived back at the other side just as the first blob had arrived at Jetstream’s position.
“Coooooooome get soooooome!” the boy yelled and swatted his rock at the first creature, bashing it to the side.
He bent over it and stabbed the sharp end of the rock down on it over and over until it stopped moving. His clothes and skin had been splattered with the creature’s white blood as he stood to face the oncoming creatures.
At least a dozen of them could be seen lumbering over on their tentacles, almost like someone had rung a dinner bell.
“Keep going!” Jetstream shouted back to his friends, who were still watching him from the other side.
“He’s right, guys,” Rainbow Dash began to motion her friends further into the cave. “If we stay here, we’re wasting his sacrifice. We need to go. Now.”
Hesitantly, the others began to move off one by one, with Rainbow going last to make sure they were all accounted for.
Once the first creature arrived, Jetstream clubbed it away like with the first one, but this time, he didn’t have the time to finish it off as a second creature latched onto his right thigh and bit hard into his flesh.
“Aagh!” he yelled as he continuously bashed the creature’s head with his rock.
Unfortunately, it didn’t let go in time as another one reared up and bit into his left arm, pulling him lower for another to jump on his head.
Jetstream flailed around as the one on his head bit through his skin, piercing his skull. With no alternative, Jetstream stumbled back, getting as close to the bridge as he could.
“If I’m going down, you’re all going with me!” he yelled at the top of his voice before he brought the sharp end of the rock down on one side of the ropes supporting the bridge.
He brought it back and forth, cutting into the rope, weakened after years of existence. The creatures continued their attack, biting into every bit of exposed flesh the boy had, tearing at his skin, pulling at his meat and muscle. As soon as the first rope split in two, Jetstream slogged through the blobs around his legs, starting on the second, trying to go as fast as he could before he could lose too much blood. If anything, he was going to make sure his friends could get as far as they could.
“End of the line, boys…” Jetstream spat out a gob of blood at the nearest creature before the second rope snapped.
The entire bridge seemed to vibrate like a violent earthquake for a second, before the entire thing plunged down, swinging over to the other side. Jetstream simply let go of the rope, letting himself and a group of the tentacled horrors fall, pulling along what he could. Some of them still continued to bite him, but soon, it was all going to be over as the darkness below opened up into raging rapids, slowly getting closer and closer.
“Jets…” Lightning Rain straightened his back and saluted with a serious expression. “You shall forever be etched into our memories.”
“Why thank you, LR, my boy,” the ponytailed boy plucked a long blade of grass from the ground and stuck it between his teeth. “How it pleases me that my friends shall remember my heroic deeds.”
“I wasn’t finished,” Lightning smirked. “You will be forever etched into our memories of being the silliest person ever to stay behind and protect us.”
“Hey, hey!” Jetstream spat the grass blade out and tried to get up, but Applejack held him down.
“Guys! Story. Please,” Rainbow had to say again, losing count of the amount of times she’d been interrupted already.
“Jetstream was a good man,” Lightning Rain shook his head. “Sure we argued, but he’s always there for any of us.”
“You’re right…” Rarity sighed, picking at her wetsuit, noticing a tear just above her shoulder. “We should keep moving. Perhaps we’ll find a way out around the corner.”
“Keep dreamin’ Rarity,” Applejack picked up a rock for safety measure. “But let’s go on anyway.”
“I’m hungry…” Rose groaned, rubbing her stomach. “What if we die of starvation in here? The horror…”
“We’ll get through this, Rose,” Lightning Rain gave her a squeeze. “We’ll make it.”
“Hey, guys! Check out what I found!” The star athlete, Rainbow Dash had returned from around the corner, carrying a rifle of some kind in her hands.
“Rainbow, Ah’ve told ya before,” Applejack interrupted the story, waving her hands. “Ya can’t pull weapons outta nowhere.”
“Come on, AJ, be flexible a little!” Rainbow complained, on the verge of pulling out her rainbow hair. “I gotta find a way to get us all out of here, don’t I? Who cares if it's realistic. Movies do this all the time!”
“Yeah, it’s getting pretty late…” Home Run rubbed at his forehead and yawned. “About time she began closing this story up.”
“See, even Home Run gets it!” Rainbow threw her hands forward.
“Wait, what is that supposed to mean?” Home Run raised an eyebrow.
Rarity waved him away and swiped her violet hair back. “Just get on with the story, Rainbow.”
“Thank you. Ahem.”
Superstar athlete Rainbow Dash led the group, holding the rifle in her hands, panning it across the cavern walls as she looked out for any signs of trouble.
Those white blobby monsters had taken too many of her friends already. She wasn’t going to let them take more.
“Everyone alright?” she asked the rest at the back. She counted Rarity, Applejack, Lightning Rain, Roseluck and Sunset Shimmer. “We’ll make it out.”
“I hope so,” Rarity fished up a sizeable rock of her own. “This place is terribly dreadful. I want to go home.”
“We will, Rarity,” Sunset patted her shoulder.
The group entered a long cavern, with water coming up to their ankles. All the way on the other side, past the stalagmites and stalactites, was light. Sun rays, shining through a huge cave opening.
“We’re almost there!” Rainbow Dash, CHS hero, pointed and rushed on. “Come on, let’s get outta here!”
Anxious to get out, the rest of the group ran after their glorious leader, which was Rainbow Danger Dash.
“Okay, okay, seriously, Rainbow, can ya stop with the overwhelming self praise?” Applejack frowned and rubbed her head. “Ah mean, it’s such a shameless self insert you’ve done here. Come on.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll stop,” Rainbow folded her arms and sighed. She was almost at the end anyway.
Suddenly, a horde of blob monsters emerged from the tunnel they had come from, spreading their wings from their slimy backs as they began to take flight to chase after Rainbow and the gang.
“They’re coming!” Rose yelled fearfully as she clung to Lightning Rain.
“Go, go, go!” Rainbow stopped in her tracks and lifted her rifle to her shoulders. “Keep going, I’ll do what I can to slow them down!”
“We’re not leaving you,” Sunset pulled on the athlete’s arm. “We stick together.”
“It’s fine,” she squirmed out of Sunset’s grasp. “I’m a runner. I’ll catch up. Just go!”
The fiery haired girl looked between her friends before nodding, running off with the rest as Rainbow took aim at the closest creature.
“Good night, monsters.”
She opened fire, killing each one with headshots as they swooped down towards her with their beaks and tentacles ready to grab at her.
Then one of the squid creatures managed to land on her shoulder, biting down with its jaws, drawing blood.
“Agh!” Rainbow yelled as she rolled back, smashing the creature against a stalactite, knocking it off, along with a chunk of her skin.
Then she had an idea. Aiming up, Rainbow began firing at the rocks above, slowly spreading cracks along the cavern roof.
“Wait, you can’t do that, can you?” Jetstream butted in. “Bullets can’t break a ceiling like that.”
“Jets. My story. Let me finish. Then we can all get to sleep.”
Then the ceiling started collapsing, raining debris down around Rainbow and the creatures, instantly crushing one as it lunged for her, its tentacles still searching for the st- athlete as she turned and hightailed away from the crumbling ruins.
“Come on, Rainbow!” her friends called to her from the cave exit. “Keep running!”
Rainbow Dash picked up her speed, moving as fast as she could. If she were running a race now, she’d definitely be coming in first place, except that her only competitors here were a bunch of squid monsters and falling debris, but her middle name wasn’t ‘Danger’ for nothing.
Just at the exit, a huge piece of debris fell, just above her. Determined to get out to be with her friends, Rainbow Dash dropped to a slide at the last second, the boulder just narrowly missing her by the hair, blocking off the cave exit completely as more rumbling was heard behind it, along with the shrieks of the strange cave creatures within.
Rainbow Dash coughed as the dust began to clear, standing up and waving the air in front of her face.
“Rainbow, you’re alright!” Sunset was the first to give her a hug, before the rest came over to do the same.
“Yeah, of course I am,” she raised a fist to the sky. “And so are the rest of you!”
“And we’re out of that terrible cave!” Roseluck hopped around in circles, glad to be back under the sun.
“Come on,” Applejack chuckled and rubbed at her dirt covered face. “Let’s go find a way down. It’s time to head on home...”
“The end,” Rainbow Dash leaned an arm on a knee and grinned, looking at her friends around the campfire.
“Cool,” Home Run nodded his head in approval. “Not bad, captain.”
"Yeah, I like the part where Fluttershy saved me!" Pinkie waved her hands around really fast. "She was so brave and brave! Did I say brave?"
"Oh, it's just a story, Pinkie," Fluttershy pushed a lock of pink hair behind an ear.
"It was exciting, I'd give you that, Dash," Roseluck gave the athlete a high five.
“Could’ve been better,” Applejack stood up and stretched her joints. “But its still somethin’ Rainbow. Good job. Just… lay off on the self praising and all that next time.”
“Well, I’ll try, but I make no promises,” the athlete shrugged and placed her arms on the log she was leaning against.
“Alright, then I think it’s time to get some shut eye,” Rarity started walking back towards the tent as she stretched her arms. “Goodnight, everyone.”
“And I declare this meeting officially over,” Jetstream smiled and reached behind a log, returning with a bucket of water.
“Jets, what do you think you’re doing?” Lightning looked down at the smiling boy’s face.
“What?” Jetstream raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t you seen those campfire shows? You got to end it like this…”
Then he tipped the bucket over and emptied all the water over the fire, putting it out.
“That’s how it’s done,” the ponytail boy spun the bucket and placed it behind his back.
“Great,” Home Run stood up and dusted his jeans. “Now how are we going to find our way back? We didn’t bring any flashlights.”
“Good question, home boy,” Jetstream searched for his shoulder, but found Lightning’s face instead, much to the taller boy’s annoyance. “Eh… A question saved for another time, perhaps.”
“What?”