//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17: "A Strange Trip." 
// Story: Morning Meir Mysteries: Case 3: A Mayan Island Mishap 
// by XombieSlayr 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 17: "A Strange Trip."

I stood there in the darkness, not daring to move a muscle. Then, the darkness blew away as rows of torches ignited along the steps, leading all the way down to a large doorway that led deeper into the temple. But before I could take even a single step, the stairs folded back into the wall, leaving only a 30 story drop into darkness.

Not even a minute in, and this place was already trying to kill me. Great.

But I wasn't so eager to jump into danger yet. I decided to examine my surroundings and try to find a way to bring the stairs back.

On the large stone door, was a pattern picked out in blue. I recognized it from a book I read about Mayan Magic subculture. It was a large binding seal used to keep anyone from entering a particular place. Or in this case, from leaving.

Turning away from the door, I examined the walls, which had an intricate pattern in blue and gold. It appeared to be a scene of Tezcatlipoca and the Mayan god, Quetzalcoatl, fighting in the clouds over a Mayan city. Thunder and lighting was displayed in jagged gold patterns along the skyline. 

Next to this was a large image of a Mayan pony on the wall in ceremonial garb and crown. More usefully, there were also a couple of levers. They appeared to be made of stone (Big surprise, Meir.)

I tried to pull one down, but nearly dislocated my shoulder doing so. They were fake. Of course they would put fake levers in a temple built for a Mayan death god. This whole place was probably built to mess with me, to turn me around and make me confused. Scared. But I wasn't giving up that easily.

Ignoring the fake levers I looked around for anything else that may have been of use. It was then that I stepped on a loose stone in the floor which sank under my weight. The wall next to me then opened up, revealing an enormous device that now dominated the room. Decorated with the usual Mayan motifs, it held two great stone disks, each covered in glyphs.

"Huh. Alright, progress." I said to myself. Giving the device a look, it seemed to be an ancient Mayan pictogram of some kind. The rim of each wheel was outfitted in tiles that had strange Mayan symbols on them. I knew from study, that each symbol had a different name, and a different meaning when paired with another symbol.

"Hmmm....each one of these symbols stands for a particular aspect. But..." Looking at them, I saw that they all stood for a religious belief that the Mayans practiced. For example the symbol Chan meant Sky, which the Mayan's believed was the domain of the Gods.

"Okay, so all I have to do is turn the wheel till each symbol matches?" I didn't think that was it, but decided to give it a try anyway. I grabbed the side of the wheel and gritted my teeth as I pulled down hard. The massive disk moved easily with me, till the symbol lined up with the other one to form the word for Sky.

A terrible screech made me duck down and cover my ears, as I saw the first part of the floor fall away into the darkness. As soon as that piece had fallen into nothingness, the screech subsided and all was quiet.

I stood up cautiously and looked back at the wheel. "Okay. So, that wasn't it." I said, catching my breath. I heard this temple loud and clear. Make too many mistakes? Down you go, little pony...

Alright. That was the game, then I had to play it. I turned back to the wheel and examined every symbol carefully. Each symbol pertained to a different religion in Mayan culture. But wait....this temple was built for Tezcatlipoca. Which symbol pertained to him?

My eyes widened as it hit me. I turned the big wheel once more till I stopped it on the symbol for Moku which meant Death. Tezcatlipoca was a death god. So that had to mean...

The temple gave me its answer when the first group of stairs leading down, reappeared from the wall, stopping only halfway. "Of course!" I exclaimed. "This is the temple of Tezcatlipoca, so obviously those that entered had to be knowledgeable of him to even enter! This was probably set up to allow priests of his in, while killing off anyone else that dared enter. Smart!" (For a cult of psychotic death worshiping maniacs, anyway.)

I still needed at least three more right answers to be able to get the next part of the temple. But I knew what I needed to do now. 

I looked over the wheel for any more symbols that referred to aspects of Tezcatlipoca. I spotted Fel which meant Collapse and Ku
which meant Eclipse. 

I grabbed the wheel and moved it to the symbol for Collapse, but then I thought to myself, before I stopped it. These symbols had to be placed in a certain order, otherwise you just needed to know about Tezcatlipoca to pass through.

From what we saw though, everypony in the Emerald Keyes knew about Tezcatlipoca. So there had to be more to it than that.

What if each symbol had to be placed in the order of the prophecy. If that was the case then the next symbol wouldn't be Collapse but...I looked at the other symbols and saw the one that meant Chul'lak or Prophet, which would refer to Simon and his position as leader of Tezcatlipoca's cult. But, thinking of how far gone Simon really was, I instead moved it to a symbol more appropriate for Simon: Winik or Fool.

The next set of stairs appeared from the wall. Two down one to go.

The last one had to be Collapse, as was the prophecized end of the world that Tezcatlipoca would bring about. Or wait...was it Eclipse, instead? After all, he was supposed to make his return during a lunar eclipse. Which one was the right one? The Eclipse was before The Collapse, but there was only one answer left. I had to choose one or the other.

Or did I? 

It was a long shot, but I think I figured it out. I moved the wheel till it landed on the symbol for Collapse.

The next set of stairs appeared, and I only needed one more right answer. But this time I didn't touch the wheel. I just stood there and waited.

And waited.

After several minutes, the last set of stairs appeared and the way to the next part of the temple was complete.

"Because after The Collapse" I said softly, "There is nothing afterwards." But I wasn't going to let that happen. I was going to stop Simon. And with my friends I wouldn't need to do it alone. I was going to get through this place, and I was going to get Clover out of that crystal prison. I didn't care what stood in my way.

I took a minute to ready myself for the worst before I descended down the stairs and walked through the doorway to the next part of the temple. I wasn't sure what I was expecting. A torture chamber? A long narrow hall filled with swinging blades? A straight up drop into a pit full of snakes and spikes?

But what I wasn't expecting was my hooves to suddenly sink into soft green grass. Or for a light warm breeze to rustle my mane. Or to walk through a stone doorway and suddenly be standing in a wide open plain, filled with flowers and beautiful trees, with ripe fruit dangling from every branch. I didn't expect to see butterflies fluttering around me, every where I looked.

But most of all, I didn't expect to see Simon, standing there beneath a tree, looking straight at me with calm eyes and a smile. 

He wasn't in his wheelchair.

A Strange Place, Unknown Time

I wasn't surprised. I wasn't scared. Why? Because I knew this was just the temple trying to get to me. Trying to give me visions just like it had for Simon. To get me to snap. But I wasn't going to let it.

I didn't even look at "Simon" as I walked past him to the other door that stood by itself on the hill. But as I approached, the door suddenly moved back away from me, the hill I was on stretching back to prevent me from reaching it. I tested it by taking a single step and the door now seemed to be a mile away.

"I think you're smart enough to know it won't be that easy." said Simon who was now right behind me. "We need to talk about some things."

So that's how it was then. Fine. I turned around, giving him a look of disinterest. I had no desire to even look at this thing wearing Simon's face. But I clearly didn't have any other choice. Let Tezcatlipoca play his little game, I thought. It wouldn't stop me from getting what I came for.

"Fine." I said simply. "Let's chat then."

Questioning (Not Simon Cobalt, No other information given) 

I watched as a butterfly landed on Simon's hoof. He smiled as he gazed longingly at it, before letting it fly away. He then turned to me and chuckled, seeing as I was keeping a considerable distance from him.

"Are you scared?" He asked.

I looked at him. "Should I be? You aren't real. None of this is."

"I'm as real as you need me to be, Morning."

"If that were true, you wouldn't be here at all."

He laughed, the sound of it echoing off the trees. When he was finished, she just smiled and shook his head. "Why are you here, Morning?" he asked seriously.

"To get the spell to free Clover."

"And then what? Do you really think you can stop what's coming? Iv'e already seen it."

I shook my head. "You've been used as a tool. A puppet. You're the fool in the prophecy, not the prophet. And I'm going to stop you."

"So you say." Simon said dismissively, looking off to the distant trees. For a moment he said nothing, and I was beginning to grow frustrated with having to talk to this apparition. Then when I was about to voice my displeasure, he looked at me, eyes like two daggers. "Have you ever stopped to consider I'm doing the right thing here, Morning?"

I laughed before coming down on him. "You're trying to destroy the world, Simon! Please explain to me how that could ever be the right thing!" I snapped.

"I'm not destroying the world, I am saving it!!" He snapped back, eyes flaring behind his glasses. At his words, the grass around us turned brown and the leaves of the trees all died and fell like black snow.

Simon, now visibly angered, began pacing around as he spoke. "You say I'm a monster. A terrorist. A mad man, a psychopath. But you live in the same world I do, and it is dying. How many more Tireks or Changeling invasions or Discords does there have to be before you realize that our world will always be in danger? There is no saving the day, there is no stopping the bad guy. Why save the day, when the next day is already lost?"

With every word, the once lush garden around us, became more and more twisted and dark. "That is why we have to wipe the slate clean. Get a fresh start again." he looked over at me, eyes suddenly calm and almost melancholy. "The sun must set, for a new day to come." he said softly. "That's how it has to be."

But I shook my head. "No. It isn't." I replied, moving closer to Simon and looking into his eyes, as I narrowed mine. "I once had almost the exact same conversation with a mare who had been lost to her greed and lust for power. I couldn't save her, and she paid the price for it." My eyes softened as I smiled at him. "But there may still be hope for you, Simon. You and my dad used to be the best of friends." I said happily. "And you were my friend too, once."

Simon just looked at me as his eyes softened as well. I reached out my hoof. "You can still be that pony again. You still have a chance to stop all of this. I know there is still a good stallion in there somewhere, Simon! You just have to find him." I pleaded, hoping I had managed to reach him.

Simon took my hoof, and for a moment it looked like he would take it. But then he let go, as he pushed it away he simply said "I've come too far now, Morning. This is all I know now." He turned away and spoke to me without looking back. "The Collapse will come. Lord Tezcatlipoca will be released from his bonds. And if you get in my way....I'll have to stop you." he said sternly.

Tears formed at the corners of my eyes before I quickly wiped them away. "Then I'll have to stop you too."

He didn't turn back around. "You can go now." The doorway appeared behind me, as the garden around us was now dark and devoid of life save for me and Simon. "In the next room, you'll face one more trial. Clover hid her spell in the mouth of the great jaguar statue at the far end of the room. But you will not survive long enough to make it there."

I shook away my tears yet again as I said simply "We'll see." Before exiting through the doorway. My hooves hit stone as I saw I was back in the temple. There was no longer a doorway back to the garden behind me, but a solid wall. Simon, or whoever it really was, was now gone.

The Temple Of Tezcatlipoca, Inner Chamber, 11:20 am

I now found myself in a large hall that lead to a massive doorway, that seemed to be the final room in the temple. It was a vast arena type place, empty save for the massive jaguar statue that glared menacingly at me from the other side of the room. I knew that it wouldn't be as easy as strolling across the room, grabbing the spell and leaving this place.

And as I looked down at the floor, I saw my assumption to be correct. It was a grid of panels, and each was marked with a symbol from the Mayan pantheon. Kukulcan, Topilitzin, Acatl, Xolotl, Kuniche and- I flinched as I instantly recognized the cruel, scowling, ugly mug of Tezcatlipoca, inscribed on only a few tiles (I still hated the look of that...thing.)

Looking out at the scope of the room, I saw that the entire floor was made up of these tiles, each one a different Mayan god, with good ol' Tez only appearing on a few of them, that I could see made up a path up to the base of the Jaguar statue.

"Huh. Alright then. I get it" And I did. Step only on the Tez tiles or, well death, probably. Actually, given the environment, death was almost certainly guaranteed.

Scanning the room I saw that there was only a total of 15 Tez tiles, some lined up next to each other, a few were separated by groups of other tiles, but they all made up a makeshift path up to the Jaguar statue. In order to make it across, I had to only step on the Tez tiles.

But just as a test, I picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it onto the floor, hearing it clatter as it landed on a tile depicting Xolotl, the Mayan god of wind currents.

I jumped back as a massive flume of fire erupted from that spot and scorched the ceiling, only to vanish another moment later. Looking back at the spot, I saw that the tile was gone and a smoking hole now stood in it's place.

Honestly, I had been expecting much worse. Of course there could also be a different trap fro each tile. But I had no time to think about that now. Clover's spell was in reach and I only had to land on the Tezcatlipoca tiles to make it there.

I calmed my nerves and saw that luckily the first tile wasn't too far from me. If I timed my jump I could land on it easily as long as I made sure to jump with all hooves off the ground. One misstep would mean at least one of my hooves would land off center on another tile. I took a step back, ran forward and jumped landing perfectly center on the first Tez tile.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I made sure I had all hooves on the tile. One down. Fourteen left, I thought happily.

But as soon as I was about to make another jump for the next tile, I gasped as the tile I was standing on sank into the floor and the entire room began to shake. I looked on as I saw a number of Tez tiles fall away, revealing the floor sat over a seemingly bottomless pit into darkness. Now there were only ten of them left on the floor.

"What?!" I exclaimed "How is that fair? You get one right and the temple decides to take away four of the only tiles safe to walk on? Who built this place!?" I demanded out loud. A moment later it occurred to me exactly who had built this place. "Doom prophesying psychopaths...right." I then decided on two things.

One: I hated this place, the lunatics who built it and I just wanted to get Clover's spell and leave.

And two: Screw this.

Abandoning all planning and throwing caution out the window, I began galloping as fast as my hooves could go across the booby trapped floor, ignoring the tiles and just deciding I was done playing games with this horrible place. The entire floor behind me erupted in flames as the whole temple began to crumble around me. I ran for the statue, but the floor ahead of me suddenly collapsed revealing a pool of lava. The room was suddenly sweltering with blazing heat as the red glow of the lava filled the room, turning the room a light crimson. 

“Of course there's lava! Anything else you want to throw at me!?” I yelled, annoyed and shocked at just how dangerous this place really was. I retreated to the other side, as lava slowly filled the room. Great pillars from either side toppled over and crashed down into the  rising lake of lava. There was no way out.

Bu then I spotted it. Up in the Jaguar's mouth was a large scroll of parchment sealed with a green ribbon. It sat there in the great maw of the stone beast, and in the back I saw the mouth was a tunnel leading down. Where did it go? I didn't care. I only knew that I would end up as barbecued pony if I stayed here any longer.

My heart was beating out of my chest as the floor beneath me began to buckle and crack apart. Thinking quickly I jumped onto one of the overturned pillars, then onto another. The heat in the room was unbelievable.I could practically feel the stone beneath me melt away from the lava. The pillar swayed in the sea of fire ans as it leaned towards the Jaguar's mouth, I leapt towards the opening, catching the edge of the beast's maw with outstretched hooves, and barely pulled myself through the opening. Hot air from the lava suddenly blasted me down the tunnel, but not before I snatched the spell at the last second. I clutched the scroll tightly as I sped down through the darkness, as I felt the entire temple rumble and shake violently around me. I closed my eyes as a blinding light met me at the end of the tunnel and exiting the tunnel I fell several stories before landing in a deep pool of water. 

I scrambled up onto the familiar marble rock of the sea caves, where Daring and Oracle came over to see me as I laid there on my stomach, desperately taking in lungfuls of the salty air to replace the salt water in my lungs.  Daring looked down at me with wide excited eyes. "That was amazing, Morning! We felt that explosion clear from down here! I couldn't have done it better myself!....okay, I probably could've, still, great job!" she congratulated me with a smile. 

I opened my eyes to see Oracle was beside her, looking at me with concern. "I'm alright, Oracle. Trust me, I would know if I wasn't." 
I checked to make sure I was uninjured. I was battered, but still alive. I still had the scroll clutched in my hoof as I said, quite seriously, "But I'm not doing it again."





After taking a moment to catch my breath and rest a bit, I unfurled the scroll, with Daring and Oracle both at my side, curious to finally see what it contained. On the parchment was an extremely complicated looking spell, made up of a vastly interconnected mandala of many nodes and sequences that were named after parts of the equine brain, and seemed to be associated with the concept of using magic to enter another pony's mind.

It sounded impossible, but I had learned a while back that impossible has no merit when it comes to the unknown. I knew what I had to do. "I have to go into Clover's mind and wake her up from there." I said simply.

"Whoa. That's new, even for me." Daring said, amazed.

"That sound's incredibly dangerous." Oracle said, visibly worried by the prospect. Indeed it was. But I had no other option, and I hadn't jumped over a boiling lake of lava just to worry about what could happen. 

"You're right Oracle. But we don't have any other options left." I explained. "We need Clover. The world needs her, and the rest of us. I have to do this."

Oracle still looked scared but nevertheless nodded in agreement. With that, I walked over to the large blue crystal that Clover resided in, and unfurled the scroll. The instructions were simple: Use the mandala as a conduit and channel my own magic into one node which will then connect to Clover's own, via the link spell she inscribed herself in the mandala. Simple. Or at least as simple as ancient unbelievably powerful magic like this could be.

I sat down on the marble rock, laid the scroll out in front of me and closed my eyes. I pictured Clover in the crystal and our magic linking together via the mandala. I felt the warmth at my side as my cutie mark began to glow. Concentrating hard, the magic began to circulate through my body, and surged forth into the mandala.

It was then that I felt another stream of magic, emanating deep from within the crystal in front of me. Felt it's power surging all around us, electricity coursing through the air and through our veins. My mind cleared as it all happened at once.

The link was made, I felt myself fall away, felt the world turn to water around me, and I fell through down into a spiraling pool of light.

When I opened my eyes again, everything was different. 

The world was gone and I couldn't begin to imagine how I got here.

And yet...I knew exactly where I was.