//------------------------------// // Chapter 037: Deeper In // Story: Ultimate Equestria // by Leo Pachino //------------------------------// Dozens of colourful magic bubbles formed in the air as the crew readied to swim. They carefully casted the air bubbles over the nozzles, with Dash, Applejack, Applebloom, and Juliana sharing a larger bubble with their designated unicorns. Korsan led the way by taking a deep breath and diving down into the water. One by one, the ponies joined and dove under, following their captain as he swum in the dimly lit underwater tunnel. They paddled through the hall, their kicks silent in the dense water. It took fair bits of their strength to push the thick liquid behind them and propel forward. The warm water flowed through the ponies’ fur coats and cleaned their clothing. Eventually, the struggle to swim turned relaxing, as the team found themselves cruising through the water with little worry for air. Even Rainbow Dash found the experience pleasant as the liquid eases the tension in her stiff and tied regions. Korsan slowly drifted to the back of the group over time. He had to keep himself from over-exhorting and losing air. He didn’t mind. A couple of minutes passed, and a faint golden glow could be seen in the distance straight ahead. Excited, the crew started to speed up, especially Rarity. Isyan, just a bit ahead of her, remained awfully stoic. As Rarity drew closer and closer to the light at the end from this submerged hall, the more and more reckless she became with her air bubble. Rarity took another deep breath from her air pocket, not knowing it was her last. The bubble suddenly burst, and Rarity was hurled into the terrifying deep. Immediately, water poured into her open mouth and nose. She attempted to swim to a nearby pony, but she was too far from anypony else in the thick water. She reached her hooves out, screaming in the water. Her hooves tired and dropped helplessly under, next to her burning body. It felt as though her lungs were filled with acid, ever ripe and ready to burst. She attempted to call for help, crying for help, but her voice was muffled. Her hooves were clenched. Her fading blue eyes widened in terror. Her mouth slowly came to a still shut. Rarity pushed once more, reaching for anything. It fails. She tried to relax, but the burning inside kept her frantic. She gulped as much as she could, begging for this nightmare to be over. It exited her mouth and bloated her other parts, looking for any pathway it can find to finish her. More water soon came and refilled her mouth and throat, making the agony even more intense. Soon, the water rushed through her head and into the last crevices of her snout. At this point, Rarity had tried everything. She reached out for help with all of her might, as if a last resort, trying to grasp the dancing light, but she couldn’t reach it. The last bubbles of life escaped her mouth as she frantically reached for any form of oxygen. She felt, she expected, she knew she’s going to die. It seemed inevitable by now. She was out of air and too tired to fight anymore. She soon felt like crying, and she was sure she would have if she was above water. She reached one last time, a futile attempt in her mind, for the shimmering lights. Everything started to turn black as the golden heavens faded away. One last bubble lost its perch in her mouth and floated to the stone top. Random singular thoughts ran through the mare’s head as she watched the images of her hope fade. However, as darkness consumed her final visions, a bright light flashed in front of her eyes. A sudden relief pulsated across her entire body. Rarity felt fresh air flow through her, yet her skin still felt the thick water crushing her body. Her eyelids shot open, her pupils saturated with life. She was Korsan right in front of her. A realization hit her as she stiffly examined the position of the stallion right in front of her and her senses flaring up. His lips are locked with hers, as the captain pumped water from her and replaced it with his air. Rarity tried to gasp and pull away from the surprise, but Korsan held her close and tight. He was set to restore her life. Up close, Rarity could see the determination and passion in the stallion as barely any bubbles of air escaped the transfer. After giving her a fair share of air, Korsan pulled away and tightly shut her lips closed. He then frantically swam to the golden lights ahead, holding Rarity close to his chest with his front hooves. With all of his might, Korsan kicked his hind hooves and snapped his cape up and down through the dense liquid as he slowly sped to the exit. A solid minute of furious thrashing ticked on as the two ponies drew tantalizingly close to the surface. Both of the ponies’ internal air supply dropped more and more on each paddle. The burning unleashed itself inside both Korsan and Rarity. Now, only a metre away, vision started to fade away. With one final heave, Korsan lunged himself and Rarity towards the golden glow above before blacking out. As everything turned to black, the sounds of splashing water and fainted voices rung in their ears. Reaching the bottom of the staircase, Twilight and her followers took a moment to find relief and rest themselves against the stone walls. Ahead of the trio was a long golden corridor that was dimly lighted with small torches hanging from the wall. At the end of the maybe-kilometre-long stretch was a golden glow. The light was as welcoming as the sun. It had to be the heart of the temple. “There it is,” Twilight murmured in her heavy breaths. “We got this.” “Do you think Korsan and the others are already there?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t know.” “What if it’s a trap?” “Then we better get ready for it.” Twilight rubbed her hoof across her mane and up to her horn, feeling the black strap still wrapped around it. “How is this thing still so tight after all this time? I should have found something to at least break the-” Twilight said. A idea immediately burst in her head. Twilight snapped her head back to the stairs. She saw a thin stalactite up a few steps, a solid metre above the floor. She quickly ran up to the spike and positioned the anti-magic strap right below the tip. Carefully, she thrusted the glowing device into the stalactite, piercing the strap. The green liquid spewed from the crack upon retracting her horn. Twilight wiped off the liquid matter from her forehead and turned back to her friends, both watching her in bliss of her success. “I got it!” Twilight cheered. “You sure did!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Can you do magic once again?” “Not now, it’s still leaking out. It may take a while. But right now, let’s go fight some pirates!” With the strength of pride and confidence on their side, the three mares galloped into the golden hall and charged for the golden aura that awaited them. An unheard choir sung for them in the hall, the voice of Equestria and the world cheered for their champions. “Korsan! We’re coming for you!” Twilight declared. As Twilight bolted down the long hall with her team, she recalled what has built up to this confrontation. Twilight’s inner voice spoke to her mind’s eye, Invading the Grand Galloping Gala, stealing the Diamond Eye, throwing us into a trap, attacking us at Thieves’ Hold, destroying Celestia’s ship, kidnapping Rarity and Sweetie Belle, tempting them into joining your crew, attempting to crush us, kidnapping Rainbow Dash, and now attempting to use the power of this island to cause global genocide of millions of innocent lives. No, I will not stand for this. You’re going down this time, Korsan. Prepare for justice! “We’re coming to save you, Rarity and Sweetie Belle!” Pinkie and Fluttershy proclaimed. What about those two, Rarity, Sweetie Belle… I’ve been avoiding thinking about them all this time. But now, I’m going to have to make a decision if they’re on Korsan’s side. Should I fight them? I have to, I must, no matter how much I don’t want to. I’ll try my best to convince them first. And what about Applejack? Is she still going to help us after the fighting we’ve been through? What if she joined Korsan’s crew as well? No, that couldn’t be. Korsan would never let an Earth pony join him, he’s too cruel. Right? “We’re almost there!” The mares galloped into the blinding golden glow. At the end of the hall, they found themselves in a massive underground grotto. It was a round cavern chamber about one hundred metres in diameter and fifty metres in height. A pitch black ceiling of darkness hung over the explorers’ heads, with small stalactites poking from the darkness. Small twinkles of an unknown moonlight shone in the dark ceiling. At the edge of this chamber was a moat of glistening water, only rising up to the mares’ knees. Past the water was a small hill of golden sand with an unseen flat top. Large boulders of pure, shimmering iron strutted out from the beach. Curious, the trio silently waded across the clear water and fluid sand. They ducked behind the iron stones in case if Korsan or any of his crew members were also here. As they climbed higher and higher, the mares started to see a tall, slightly decayed gazebo of stone peak out from over the flat top’s edge. It was covered in thousands of strands of thick moss, nearly covering the finely detailed carvings and designs the gazebo structure was made off. A small golden aura emanated from the center of the large structure. “What is this place?” Twilight whispered to the others as she neared the flat top of the sandy hill. Upon climbing onto the rock porch, the mare’s eyes snapped onto the source of the glow as if by instinct. At the center of the chamber was a large golden fountain, encrusted with millions of gemstones of various shapes and colours. The three tiers of the towering center pillar had pure blue water gently flowing from them and into the shallow basin below. Slowly, Twilight approached the great fountain, tracing her eyes along its height. She saw the night sky above the fountain via a small hole in the black ceiling. “Is this it? Is this the artifact that Korsan wants to use to make himself into an alicorn?” Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy joined by their friend’s sides and gazed upon the magnificent treasure. “Shiny.” Pinkie commented. “It most certainly is.” Twilight nodded. “What do you think will happen if you touch the water?” Fluttershy asked. “It looks weird.” “I’m not sure. I don’t think we should try touching it, something bad might happ-” Twilight immediately cut herself off as the sounds of distant voices echoed across the paddling of the fountain water and into her ears. “Shhh, I hear somepony,” Twilight whispered. Stealthily, Twilight hovered over to the other side of the flat with her wings. She peaked over a boulder and saw the origin of the noises. Her jaw dropped as her eyes looked over the seventy pirate ponies that came with Korsan to Alicorn Island, all gathered around an unseen event going on at the water’s edge. Twilight’s eyes darted across most of the visible swashbucklers. She got a good look at their gleaming weapons strapped to them, ranging from swords, to crossbows, to axes, to maces, to daggers, to more abnormal weapons that the spying alicorn had only read about in books. She turned around to her approaching friends and frantically whispered, “It’s them! It’s Korsan!” “What?” Pinkie quietly exclaimed. “Let me see!” Pinkie poked her head above the hiding boulder and saw the mass gathering. “I don’t see Korsan.” She said. “Shhh, I think I hear them talking.” The three ponies lowered themselves firm onto the iron chunk and silently watched as the pirates talked amongst another. “Hey!” Grevious yelled at the center of the mob. “Make some room! Make a hole! They’re coming back!” The crowd quickly backed away and parted to make a clear path of view between the spies and the activity that was going on. There, at the edge of the calm waters, stiffly lied Korsan and Rarity. Rarity was being tightly held to the captain’s exposed chest. “Rarity!” Twilight silently screamed out. The two stayed motionless for several seconds before a faint pair of groans can be heard. The Korsan started to move first, sliding off of Rarity and collapsing onto the sand. He released a horrific cough from his throat, spewing water out from his lungs. Rarity soon followed as she began to roll in her place, coughing small gags and spitting drops of water from deep inside her systems. Korsan cemented his hooves into the moist floor and pushed himself upward, opening his icy-blue eye to examine his blurry surroundings. The stallion then said in a scratchy voice, “This is certainly not Heaven if you are all here.” “Captain!” The crew cheered, jumping up and down in place. They were glad to see their leader was back with his sense of humour still intact. His ears caught Rarity’s soft coughing. Korsan turned his attention towards the white mare, reaching out his hoof and gently grabbing her shoulder. “Miss Rarity?” He called to her. Upon unleashing a powerful bark to finishing clearing her throat, Rarity’s bright eyes opened and saw him. “Y-yes Captain?” She softly answered. “Thank goodness you’re still alive. Rest here,” “Ye-Yeah,” Slowly, Korsan unsteadily picked himself up onto his hind legs and took a brief moment to check the current situation. “So, where are we?” He asked. “Unsure, Captain,” Horus explained. “We’ve been busy taking care of you and Rarity.” “And how is the crew?” “All well and accounted for.” “Well, wherever we are, we made it without too much trouble. And you wanted me to blow up this place, how ridiculous.” “Ridiculous? You and Rarity nearly died.” Horus replied, a bit surprised. “We weren’t going to die. Seeing our lives flash before our eyes? Probably,” Korsan dismissed his concerns. “Do you think this is a game?!” Isyan yelled out. Juliana was aggressively pecking and screeching at her holder, Isyan. She was clearly mad at the stallion and had no qualms in expressing her anger. “You must be going absolutely mad if you’re really trying to blow this off with your cockiness.” Isyan berated Korsan. “Ow!” “No, I just prefer to see everything in a better light, unlike you. And what the hay did you do to Juliana? She’s going nuts on ya,” Korsan replied. “I didn’t do-Jack!” “What can I do?” The stallion known as Jack asked from the back. “Get this parrot off of me!” Isyan begged. Korsan rolled his eye and scoffed his cousin, “Sheesh. Come, Juliana.” Promptly, Juliana flew onto her master’s shoulder, chittering into his ear. “Take it easy, take it easy.” He whispered to her, stroking her damp feathers. Korsan then paced up the hill. He walked towards and around to the other side of the boulder Twilight and the others were hiding behind. “Quite an interesting cave,” he said, oblivious of them. “A bit rough around the edges, but nothing a bit of dusting and a decent chisel can’t fix.” His one eye peered over the sand hill to the gazebo in its whole. He stopped on the spot. His jaws turned into mush and dropped and his mechanical systems locked out. His eye grew into a size relative to that of a child’s wish come true. “…” He silently gasped. “What is it?” Isyan asked. “I-I-I-I found it. There it is. There it is! There! It! Is!” Quickly, the other crew members hustled up the sand dune. They saw the fountain and immediately froze next to their captain. “The Fountain of Balance! I found it! We found it! We all found it! After over five years, it has finally payed off! Ha, ha, ha!” Korsan cackled. “You found it?!” A familiar voice echoed over the iron boulder. The trio of mares looked over to the right side of the rock and saw Applejack and Applebloom, walking right alongside the others to look at the legendary fountain. Overcome with rage, surprise, confusion, and a million other emotions, Twilight screamed out without any regards to secrecy, “Applejack?!” Applejack, as well as everypony else, looked back and saw Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy. “Twilight?!” Applejack exclaimed. “Twilight?!” Korsan gasped. “Twilight?!” The rest of the crew roared. “Twilight?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed from her hovering log. Twilight looked over to saw the trapped Rainbow Dash. She instantly used her magic to shred the ropes to pieces. Now freed, Dash kicked Chopin in the back of the head and flew down alongside her friends. “Twilight?!” Korsan bellowed in rage, reaching for his cutlasses. “You’re darn right!” Twilight exclaimed with fury. “I will not be stopped now! Attack!”