Deep within the Forbidden Jungle of southeastern Equestria, a light blue pegasus hacked his way through the hot and humid jungle. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, slightly messing up his dark blue mane. The pegasus’ name was Slipstream and he was after a treasure that was in a cave somewhere in this jungle.
~~~
A few days ago after work, a friend of his claimed he found a map to a treasure that was in this very jungle. Slip naturally was skeptical initially, but his friend assured him it was genuine. So, being the good friend that Slipstream was, he relented and asked why his friend brought it up in the first place.
“I want you to help me get it!” The brown earth pony told him excitedly.
“Hold on a minute Spearhead, why?” Slip asked in confusion. Just because he believed him didn’t mean he was ready to venture out into the forest. From what he heard about the jungle the treeline was dense, too dense for flight. It was also full of venomous animals and native ponies who had a negative reputation with outsiders.
“Because I need someone who’s quick, nimble, and has my back...”
“Awww, than-”
“Plus I need someone who can fly”
“Oh...” Slip said flatly as he found out the real reason.
“Well, what do you say?” Spearhead asked, still giddy..
“I don’t know...” Slip said as he thought about it
“Did I forget to mention that its made out of gold?” he said with a smirk
“Solid gold?!” The pegasus inquired, his interest now piqued.
“Yep, probably worth at least 100,000 bits”
“That’s more than I make in a year!”
“Same...well, do we have a deal?” Spearhead said stretching out his hoof
“Absolutely!” Slip exclaiming, shaking the other stallion’s hoof.
~~~
A few days later, Slip had everything ready to go for the next couple of days, even though in theory the trek would only take a day.
The pegasus trotted over to his friends house and knocked on the door, but was met with a surprise. Spear looked pale and sweaty, he looked like he was barely standing up with his stuff on his back, let alone looking like he could trek through a jungle.
“Alright sniff I’m ready to go…” he said in a stuffy voice, coughing as he tried to push past his friend. Slip sidestepped and blocked the stallion off.
“There is no way I’m letting you go through this jungle expedition when you look like that!” he pointed to him.
“I’m fine, it’s just a small cold” he countered, coughing some more.
“No, you are not, you will literally die if you try to go through the jungle like this!” Slip retorted as he removed the stuff from Spearhead’s back; it was almost too easy to push the earth pony around in his weakened state.
“No...I can do this…” he wheezed, on the edge of falling over. Slip quickly grabbed him and got him to his bed without any complaints. The pegasus then went to get an ice pack for him and maybe an extra pillow.
Slip decided it was best to call a doctor just to make sure Spear didn't completely suffer through his cold. He went over Spear’s rotary phone and contacted the clinic, making sure to give them his address and his symptoms. He thanked them and went back to Spear, sitting on a stool next to him.
“Spearhead, listen to me. I contacted the doctor, they’ll look you over when they get here, but since I know this treasure means alot to you I’m going to get it.”
“Slip…” The pegasus thought Spearhead was about to argue with him before he said “Thank you, I shouldn’t push myself...just...come back in one piece, ok?” he told the pegasus, a soft smile spread across his face.
“I will, and when we get this treasure we’ll be rich” Slip said with a small laugh, getting a couple chuckles and coughs, out of his friend.
Spearhead gestured to his bag, saying, “The map is in the top pocket, next to some other papers...now get out of my house, I guess I need to rest,” he said to Slip.
“Sweet dreams,” Slip quipped sarcastically, grabbing the map and headed off to the train station.
One train ride and hours of hacking through the jungle later and Slip was nearing the tree covered mountains where the map said the cave was. He wished he could fly to it, but the jungle was too packed, he would easily miss the cave in the sky so he continued on hoof.
Pausing for a moment to gulp down some water, Slip heard a terrible crash followed by what seemed like calls for help. He quickly put his canteen away and raced toward the sound, but what he found next was completely unexpected.
Stuck in a pit of vines just through the treeline was a white and red female griffon, struggling to break free from the vines; her feathers were angled awkwardly on her right wing, making him think she hurt it.
“Hey! Can you get me down from here? I-” She started yelling before Slip quickly flew up to her and put his hoof over her mouth. He could see the angry confusion in her eyes and whispered to her, “Quiet! If you keep shouting the natives will hear you and then we’ll both be in trouble. Okay?” When the griffon saw that Slip was telling the truth, she quickly nodded, after which he began to cut the vines that trapped her.
As the last vine was cut, she landed on the ground with a thud and quickly righted herself.
“Thanks for the help, now I gotta get out of here,” she said, as if she was going to exit.
“But wait your w-” Slip tried to call out, but it was too late; the griffon was trying to take off.Her hurt wing reflexively went back to its normal down position, and she barrel-rolled straight into a tree.
“Dammit” he cursed under his breath, turning away slightly as he heard her collide with it, then galloping over to her. “Your wing is damaged from your fall, and now you bruised your beak…” Slip told her blatantly.
“I know that!” She yelled angrily, to which he shoved his hoof over her mouth again. “The natives!” he angrily whispered to her. After he was certain she wasn’t going to get them unwanted attention, he pulled out his medical kit, choosing the gauze and some healing gel.
“Can you please extend your wing and hold still, this stuff will sting a little but help you get better” She sighed and said “Alright…” and extended her wing. It was a little painful for her but she needed to get her wing healed. Slip could now see the extent of her damaged wing as she opened it up.
About half a dozen or so feathers were either bent, out of place or missing, there were some cuts along the front of her wings and her inner wing joint was bruised badly. He placed some of the gel along her cuts and bruised joint, then fixed the feathers that he could and removed the rest along with the broken ones. Finally, Slip gauzed up most of her wing to help it heal. Once he was done she folded her wing back up and gave the pegasus a look.
“So I don’t mean to be misinformed, but where are we?” She asked as she fidgeted with her now bandaged wing.
“The Forbidden Jungle” Slip said plainly, as if the word ‘forbidden’ didn’t mean anything.
“Thought so. Why are you in here with me?” She asked.
“I’m on an archaeological trip for a friend, gave me something important to find.” Technically, the pegasus was right, he just left out the part about it being valuable. He knew how greedy griffons could be.
“Okay then...can you show me the way out of here? Or at least where you came from?” The griffon asked.
“Of course,” Slip pointed to the clearing he had made with his machete. “If you follow my path then it should only take you an hour or two”
The griffon looked at him, puzzled. “You aren’t coming along?”
“This cave in front of me has the treasure my friend sent me here for, I’m not about to turn back now,” The pegasus replied.
The griffon looked at the path leading back through the jungle but then thought about how nice the pegasus had been, to selflessly help and bandage her up without even asking. She chuckled to herself, these ponies can be really kind.
“Let me help you get it!” She blurted out, startling Slip..
“Huh?”
“Well, you helped me. Bandaged me up without me even asking for compensation; that was really nice of you, the least I can do is help you.” The griffon elaborated, putting on her nicest smile..
“Alright! I bet this cave is dangerous though, there could be traps anywhere. Stick with me, okay?”
She nodded, her face full of determination. “Can do I’ve got your back”
“Great, follow me Ms…?” Slip asked her.
“Red Velvet. But you can call me Red for short” the griffon replied.
“My name is Slipstream. Slip for short” the pegasus said, sticking out his hoof. Red shook it politely before setting off beside him towards the mouth of the cave.