//------------------------------//
// The Sea Cave 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"Spooky cave. Evil monk dude. Where?" Valey rounded on the sarosian leader, staring her intensely in the eye.

The mare cringed back, eyes flicking between Starlight and Valey. "Why?"

"Why do we want to know?" Valey straightened up. "So we can follow Harshwater and drag her back before she gets into trouble. She's got no clue what's down there."

"She wants to help," Starlight clarified, pointing at Valey and knowing the round mare could understand her. "We're going to get the pegasus and bring her out. But we need to know where the cave is!"

The leader's ears pressed back, and she looked for an avenue of escape, but Starlight knew there wasn't one. "You don't have much of a choice, do you? It's not like you can go yourselves. Unless you think nothing bad will happen if anyone goes in that cave? We've heard stories about Yanavan."

She made things worse by trying to help, the round mare thought to Starlight, glancing at Valey. You'll do it again.

"I know that look," Starlight said, not wanting to spend time explaining to Valey how she could hear their thoughts. "That fight started because you and the Varsidelians were going to fight anyway. We want to help, and can do it better the more you tell us! Besides, you were just about to tell me about this cave when Valey showed up. It'll be okay."

Valey watched expectantly as the mare's resistance deteriorated. With a sigh, she limped to a railing, pointed precisely, and said, "Water cave."

"Cool." Valey nodded, fixing the direction in mind. "Who's up for a flight?"

Everyone sans Jamjars and Felicity were on the deck, all attracted by the commotion. Slipstream uncertainly flexed her wings. "I'm not sure how much use I'll be fighting ancient evil," she answered, blushing.

The round mare's ears rose in alarm. "No fighting!"

"Don't fight Yanavan. We'll have a bad time. Got it." Valey nodded, stretching her own wings. "Come on, who's with me?"

"Count me in," Gerardo declared. "I should be able to carry about one adult with ease, should the need arise."

"You might have to count me out," Shinespark apologized, eyes downcast. "I was just unconscious, and it would be bad if my horn gave out over the water."

"Well, I should be there," Maple decided, her eyes flashing with freshly-charged harmonic energy. "This works against Nightmare Modules, and I'm the one with a cutie mark that lets me use it. Gerardo? Can I get a ride?"

Gerardo bowed. "Indeed!"

"You three, then?" Amber tilted her head. "What about Starlight?"

"Yeah, uhh..." Valey glanced at Starlight. "Something tells me bringing you is either gonna be really good or really bad, due to the whole Nightmare Module thing. I can carry you if you wanna come, but..."

Starlight winced in realization. Having someone who could use Nightmare Modules against someone else who could do the same was a good way for them to be on even ground, and her new telepathy ability might prove critical... but it could be a weakness for her just as easily as it could for Yanavan. Of course, that was assuming they even encountered each other instead of finding Harshwater and bringing her back without trouble, but what were the odds of something going well for once? Even worse, the legend she remembered said he betrayed the other Monk Lords very suddenly. If there was something else involved and that wasn't of his own volition, could she be vulnerable too...?

But Maple would be there, and the harmonic flame. That could undo anything. If Yanavan was bad, it could stop him; if she needed to not be glassed, it had restored her before already. And there were all the ways in which she could help... She nodded. "I'm coming."

"Your, uh... Your call, kiddo," Valey said, slowly nodding, then glancing at Maple. Maple sighed, then smiled. "The four of us, then? Starlight with me, Birdo carrying Ironflanks?"

"No sarosians," the round mare interrupted, looking at Valey with concern. "No sarosians in water cave."

"Buh?" Valey tilted her head.

The mare touched her cutie mark. "Danger. Black rock."

Valey's eyes widened a little, then she nodded. "There's moon glass in the cave? Gotcha. I'll be very careful."

The leader looked worried, but stepped back and sighed.

"Alright! Sparky, hold down the ship and be cool to these dudes, and try to avoid messing with the Varsidelians until we get back!" Valey threw Shinespark a salute, hefting Starlight onto her back. "Take care of yourselves, take care of Felicity if she needs it, all that stuff. Birdo? This might actually be a good time for that creepy cursed sword of yours."

Gerardo patted his sheathe with satisfaction, Maple already on his back. "Good luck to all of us indeed. Haha! My blood is already pumping!"

"It's my ship, you know," Shinespark said with a wry grin at Valey. "And thanks. You come back too, alright? Not that we haven't fought legendary creatures before, but remember all you have to do is get Harshwater and leave. Don't wake anything up if you don't have to."

The round mare watched with a worried frown as Valey and Gerardo took wing, the four sailing off over the bay.





The ring of mountains encircling the bay was wider than Valey had estimated, even though their flight only had to go a quarter of the way around. Here, there were no beaches, the steep mountain slopes descending into the water at angles that would require pitons to find steady purchase. Layers and folds of the mountains wrapped down into the sea, making it hard to tell where the true shoreline lay, and they didn't even have to look closely to tell how a cave could be hidden here. In fact, Valey would have been surprised if there was only one.

"Split up!" she yelled to Gerardo as they drew close. Undisturbed by wind, the waters were calm, lapping against the rocks and creating no noise to hinder communication. "This is the right place, now we've gotta find the entrance!"

At a salute from the griffon, she started exploring the broken coastline, following sunken inlets as far as they would go. Most were dead ends, and a few lead to tiny stretches of stony shores that offered no escape to any castaway misfortunate enough to be stuck there. As she searched, she couldn't shake the feeling that the cloud cover had lowered.

"I believe I found... No, false alarm!" Gerardo called from near enough to be heard.

"Keep looking!" Valey shouted back. "Harshwater! Yo, Harshwaterrrr! Bananas, where are you!?"

Starlight clung to her back, feeling almost weightless. After Felicity's bulk, Valey was grateful to have a passenger smaller than a normal pony; Starlight was light enough she didn't even need to give her thought. She flipped over outcroppings, scanning the broken coastline, looking over and over for any sign of...

"Aha! This time I've definitely found something! Miss Valey, over this way!"

Valey was at Gerardo's side in seconds. "Hey, Birdo. What's... Oh, huh."

Narrow and winding enough to be a river, a small strip of water made its way between two of the mountain's roots. The rocky folds closed on each other like they did everywhere else, but here, they met only at the top, leaving a small triangle of darkness open above the water. The tunnel was just wide enough for a griffon wingspan, and made Valey glad she wasn't claustrophobic.

"Well?" Gerardo hovered at a safe distance. "On the one talon, this looks sufficiently foreboding. On the other, it's making me realize we forgot to bring a light."

"Got you covered, Birdo." Valey dug around in her saddlebags, pulling out her Varsidelian flash club and switching it to steadily on.

In the ensuing light, more of the tunnel became visible, bending out of sight instead of reaching an obvious end. Valey squinted, starting to wonder if she saw symbols carved into the walls.

Gerardo quietly cleared his throat. "Not to deny the primary principles of chivalry, but danger-detectors first?"

"Nyaah. Chivalry." Valey stuck out her tongue and flew carefully inside.





The tunnel walls couldn't decide whether to grow narrower or wider, but the further Valey pressed, the more obvious the glyphs on the walls became. "I dunno whether to be frustrated or glad I can't read those," she breathed to Starlight, slipping under a low-hanging spur of rock. "Probably either curses or warnings."

"At least there's no pipes," Starlight muttered back. "Why are all the evil places in the east underground? When you went downward in Ironridge, you found the crystal palace and the Tree of Harmony."

Valey shrugged. "Beats me."

Behind them, Gerardo flapped silently, occasionally hitting the water with the tips of his feathers. "How imperative is it we remain silent?" he breathed. "I'd imagine if anything's here to be aware of us, it already knows about Harshwater?"

"Nyeh. Good point?" Valey rounded another corner.

Finally, the tunnel widened out, a spherical cave the size of a comfortable bedroom greeting them at the end. The water ended at a low platform, two carved staircases descending into it on either side. Two braziers on stands were lit with illusory, smokeless flame, and a small altar shaped like a bowing pony was placed facing the entrance, a large stalactite hanging over its head. A stone door sat at the back.

Valey alighted on the platform, steering clear of the braziers and the altar. "...Well?"

"Something is definitely here," Starlight murmured, hopping down from her back. She surveyed the altar, the door, everything... but no matter what she did, she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched.

Maple dismounted too, tilting her head at the altar. "Is that a dusk statue?"

"I don't believe it is," Gerardo said, regarding the pony statue. "Dusk statues always depict alicorns, and this is a sarosian. Far smaller, too, and I see no jewelry or regalia present on it. Likely purely symbolic, instead of actually magical."

"Well?" Valey shrugged. "Anyone see anything to do but go on ahead? For that matter, how do we open this door?"

Starlight walked up to the entry and inspected it. The door was perfectly rectangular, a faultless stone slab without hinges or a handle, and even the frame was just as meticulously made. Whatever the rock type was, it left a smooth and unblemished face, and she had no clue how to open it. "Maybe it's sealed? If Harshwater was here, I don't know how she could have-"

Suddenly, the door flew open, retracting into the ceiling. Starlight was grabbed in a telekinetic aura and yanked through, and before she could so much as yelp, the door slammed closed again, separating her from her friends with a boom.