//------------------------------// // To the Crystal Sphere of Khumn // Story: Fraternal // by Melody Song //------------------------------// Daring felt an eerie sense of deja-vu as she whacked the vines and branches of Hayseed Swamp out of the way. Sweat poured down her face. This time, however, there was a rainbow-maned mare behind her, helping to swat away the foliage. "How much farther?" Rainbow asked "Not too much, if the map is right," Daring replied, glancing down at the map in her hooves. "Let's see. We just need to go a little farther-" Daring's hoof caught on something, sending her falling forward. "Daring! You okay?!" Rainbow asked, and Daring grunted, sitting up. "I'm fine. What did I trip over?" she asked, looking down. "Well, that's one way to find a stone." The stone was insignificant to any other ponies who happened to trip over it. But to Daring, it was a sign. The markings were similar to the ones on the map. It had hinges on it too, so small that they would be easily looked over unless you had an eye for small details. Which Daring did, so long as it led her to treasure. "The stone hinge." Rainbow breathed as Daring brushed some dirt off the ancient stone. "Yep. Now, how to open it." Daring muttered "Will this help?" Rainbow asked, pulling a book from her saddlebag. Daring read the cover and smiled. "Now you're thinking like an adventurer." Daring grinned "I borrowed it from Twilight. Since the map was written in Old Ponish I figured the stone might have Old Ponish writing on it too." Rainbow shrugged, and they opened the book. "It says there's a way to open the stone. But the rest is too faded to read." Daring sighed, placing her hoof on the writing. Rainbow put her hoof on the writing too. There was a sudden, soft click. The stone slid to the side, revealing a hole just large enough for a pony to slide into. A soft blue glow shone from inside. Rainbow and Daring looked at each other. Daring reached into her saddlebag. "We should think this through-" "Last one in is a moldy carrot!" Rainbow called, then dove straight into the hole. "Rainbow Dash!! Oh, imma kill you." Daring muttered, jumping in after her. She immediately felt herself land on a slippery tube. Daring could hear Rainbow shouting and laughing ahead of her. It was like a slide, and surprisingly, enjoyable. She whooped and raised her hooves in the air. There was a dripping sound coming from below them. "Is that...water?!" Daring thought. "Rainbow! Hold your breath!" Daring yelled, right before she was plunged into water. ------------------------------------ Rainbow resurfaced and gasped, looking around. "Daring?!" Rainbow called, and the mare burst out of the water, coughing. "I'm here!" Daring assured her, reaching for her pith helmet. She put it on and looked around. "Where are we?" Rainbow asked, swimming closer to Daring. "Looks like an underwater cavern," Daring replied, and Rainbow gasped. "This is why you could never find the Sphere! The entrance was underwater!" Rainbow cried "Of course!" Daring said, slapping the water with her hoof. "Why didn't I figure it out sooner?!" "Well, come on, we've got a Crystal Sphere to find!" Rainbow cried, about to dive down. Daring grabbed her by the mane and hauled her back. "Hold it Rainbow. Did you forget that we can't breathe underwater?" "Um, yeah. Thanks." Rainbow said sheepishly. Daring pulled her saddlebag out of the water and opened it. "Well, the map is ruined." Daring sighed, holding up the ink-stained paper that had been their map. "Well, there were no directions on what to do once we found the entrance, so it's pretty useless now." Rainbow shrugged. Daring took a calming breath and dug through her saddlebag some more. "Alright, well, we need something to get us down deep." "To bad we're not merponies." Rainbow said "Let's just dive as deep as we can, and look around as long as possible. But first, we should see how much of this cavern has air pockets." Daring swam further out and looked around. "It looks like it goes on for a little while. Let's go." "Wait, there's a ledge over there, we should put our bags there so we don't lose them." Rainbow said, pointing. "Good idea." Daring agreed, swimming over. As it turned out, there actually was a ledge underneath the slide that had spat them into the water. It was the top of a rocky underwater cliff, and seemed like a good place to set their things. "We must have been going too fast on the slide to get stopped on the ledge." Daring commented, pulling off her bag and placing it on the ledge. Rainbow did the same. Then, the two dove underwater and swam further out. Rainbow swam ahead of Daring and looked around, beckoning her forward. Daring followed her and her eyes widened at what she saw. They swam upwards and resurfaced. "Did you see what I just saw?" they asked each other, then laughed. "Yes, I saw it." Rainbow said "I can't believe it was there this whole time."