//------------------------------// // What's an Adventure Without a Cave? // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Rarity broke through the surface of the water on the other side. At first she could hardly see anything, save for whatever sunlight managed to follow her through the water. It illuminated a small, open space with suffocatingly thick air. Water dripped off of somewhere above her and into the waves surrounding her body. Somewhere, hooves echoed off of the rocks, making her all the more confused and disoriented. “Rainbow?” she shouted, surprised at how loud her voice sounded in the little cave. “Rainbow, are you there?” “Yeah, Rares, chill,” Rainbow shouted back from somewhere nearby. “I’m looking for a light.” “A light?” Rarity’s hooves found something solid to hold onto, and she hauled herself out of the water. “We’re in a cave, Rainbow! I don’t think there’s a flashlight just sitting here waiting for us!” “No, but there are… aha!” Rarity vaguely saw Rainbow’s outline bend down and pick something up off the ground. A moment later, she heard wood clatter on the ground and a shower of sparks fall onto it. It took several tries, but Rainbow managed to light the damp torch, finally shedding some light on them. She spat out the flint she held between her teeth and dropped the ring of steel she held in her feathers next to it and smiled. “We need to remember these on the way out. So much easier than spinning a stick back and forth!” Rarity shook her coat off and moved a little closer to the torch to try and warm herself up. “Certainly useful in the future, but more importantly, where are we?” The cave they were standing in was barely tall enough for them to stand fully upright. A small stone platform ringed three quarters of the edge where it abruptly fell off into the water below. Next to them, a tunnel led further inward, and a few bugs crawled between the damp stones. Rarity made sure to stay well clear of them, using Rainbow as a shield. “I think we’ve found what we’re looking for,” Rainbow said, straining to see down the dark tunnel. “Come on, let’s check it out.” Rarity swallowed hard. “Are you sure about that, darling? This is… ominous.” “You’re just upset because it’s dark and dirty and filled with bugs.” Rainbow stuck out her tongue and bopped Rarity on the nose. “You can stay here if you want.” “Stay here? With the bugs?” Rarity moved a little closer to Rainbow. “I’d much rather stay with you. At least you’ll distract them with your colors and everything.” “Yeah, yeah, sure.” Picking up the torch, she hunched over and started walking down the narrow tunnel. “Eh shee wuh e ot.” Rolling her eyes, Rarity fell in behind Rainbow. “Elegant as ever, darling…” They walked the length of the tunnel, keeping a close eye out for anything strange or different about it, but all Rarity could see was smooth, wet rock and creepy crawlies. There certainly weren’t any cobwebs or bats, though, so she could at least check that off her list. Centipedes were disgusting, but at least they weren’t spiders. The tunnel opened up again into a larger chamber, this one slightly more regular than the last. Rarity was the first to notice it, and she immediately struck off toward a corner. “This cave was expanded,” she said, eyeing the stone. “The edges have been squared off, or at least, I assume they were. They’ve weathered horribly. And is that…” She raised her head a bit and brushed at a dark spot on the wall. Beckoning for Rainbow to bring the torch closer, she strained to make out any detail until the light fell on it. When it did, she saw faded blue stains on the rocks in semi-regular patterns. “…paint?” Rainbow spat out the torch, letting it burn on the floor so she could speak. “Cave paintings! Wow! This is just like a Daring Do book!” Her eyes darted over nearly every wall in the hopes of finding something valuable, but all the paint was too badly worn away to make anything out. “This has to be what those other ponies were after! There’s something under this island!” “Maybe it can explain why the minotaurs rarely set hoof here,” Rarity said. She eyed another tunnel leading deeper into the mountain, but this one looked more like a hallway instead of a natural tunnel. “Perhaps we should explore further?” The light shifted in the cave as Rainbow picked the torch up again. “Ure!” she exclaimed around the wood in her muzzle, moving down the hallway. “Eh-ee el in uh-en-oh!” “I can’t understand you in the slightest with that thing in your mouth,” Rarity muttered, following Rainbow through the tunnel. Rainbow flicked her tail but continued onwards, Rarity close behind. They passed by several carved alcoves that perhaps held something once upon a time; now, they were just empty. The hallway elevated some, perhaps ten feet in all, before leveling out again. Rarity saw the light glowing off of rocks in front of them, but she wasn’t ready for Rainbow to flinch and jump back, bumping into her. “What is it?” she asked, a tone of worry creeping into her voice, and she struggled to see over Rainbow’s shoulder. The torch fell to the ground with a thud. “It’s… i-it’s a skeleton.” Rarity forced her way past Rainbow’s side, but she immediately wished she hadn’t. It wasn’t just a pile of rocks at the end of the hallway; half of a pony’s skeleton stuck out from under the stones, a unicorn by the looks of it. Tattered clothing still clung to the skeleton’s forelimbs, and its mouth was open wide. Whether that had happened before or after the pony died, Rarity didn’t know. “Cave-in killed them,” Rainbow said, looking at the rocks. She left the torch where it was and moved a little bit closer. “Pinned their legs. They couldn’t escape.” She swallowed hard. “Celestia, I feel like this place gets nastier by the day.” Rarity picked up the torch and moved it a bit closer to Rainbow. She set it down at the side of the hallway before speaking. “There has to be something on the other side of this cave-in,” she said. “They had to have come from somewhere.” Rainbow nodded and thought for a moment. “Help me take the rocks down, okay? They don’t look like they’re stacked too thick…” Cracking her neck, Rarity moved to Rainbow’s left and placed her hooves on the rocks. “I certainly hope so. Otherwise we’ll have to start making trips to that other room just for somewhere to put all the stone.” “We’ll make do.” Working her hooves into a gap, Rainbow pried out the first stone and heaved it down the hallway. It loudly clattered and rolled before it came to a stop. She smiled faintly and wiped her hooves. “Well, that’s one!” Rarity sighed and started digging into the wall. “Yes, one and a million more…”