//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Away and Afar // by PropsValroa //------------------------------// Collapse had waited and there was no reaction. Just as she heard the male voice was when she was going to take her first bite of the mushroom. She chews on it and when there was suddenly a voice that wasn't a part of their little group Collapse had gagged on the mushroom and almost choked on it before spitting the part she hadn't yet chewed out. She coughed and looked over to where the voice came from in sudden shock. She stood up and got into a fight or flight stance as her eyes looked to whoever caused it in shock. A few seconds passed and she breathed, to whoever spoke she would say to them, "We...are so...very lost..." she spoke awkwardly, but the seriousness within her words reigned true. As she spoke, the taste of the blue mushroom remained in her mouth. "Salty." she added. Next to her Collapse could see Magloria was also in a battle stance, though for whatever reason she hadn't raised her crystal spear yet. When she turned to the sound of the voice, she saw something extremely odd. "You look strange. No wonder you're lost." they said. There was a pony in the lake! A white stallion with a navy blue mane, swimming about in the water. His ears seemed longer and thinner than usual and he had some interesting marks on his neck, but that was still a pony! "Who are you, and how did you get here?!" Magloria practically growled. If the stallion took offense, he didn't show it. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Ivory Bush, and I swam here." he said. Collapse was also in a battle stance and she looks to Magloria and back to Ivory Bush. Surprised at there was a pony in the lake, the only way she could rationalize this currently was that she thought he was from a previous ship that shared the same fate. "Captain, calm down. We aren't here to make enemies." Collapse raised a hoof calmly and closed her eyes as she looks to Ivory Bush. "But I am glad you answered her questions as they are valid. I don't see how anyone could survive down here, but...I don't recognize you from the crew. Were you from a previous vessel that crashed? How long have you been here?" Collapse asked, noticing his strange appearance but thinking it could be because of effects of the mushrooms maybe? She didn't know what to think. Magloria immediately softened (somewhat) when she was answered. Knowing that the pony in front of them wasn't a threat made it far easier to be... tolerating of their presence. In response to Collapse's questions, Ivory took on a thoughtful expression, humming loudly. He got his answers after a second or two. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about buddy. I've never had a crew, and I don't know what you mean by 'vessel'. Are you talking about a pot, or something?" he replied. Jump Start didn't know what to make of that answer. How could someone live here but not have a crew previously? "And how long have you been living here? You didn't answer that." Magloria said, encouraging the final answer. "Oh that one's easy!" he said, giving a big smile. "I've been living here all my life!" Collapse was bewildered by his response but then it began to set in. There was entire underworld, wasn't there? The myths and legends were true! She smiled softly at him. "I believe I can explain what is going on here." she looked to Magloria and Jump Start, her voice hush and calm. "There is an entire underworld. It's all true. Although I have absolutely no idea how large, or how deep it goes you have to say for yourself, there is an entire mushroom forest with snails, spiders and lobsters down by the other areas, glowing fish. We've stumbled into an entirely unknown place. It's only a matter of time until we would have found something capable of...holding conversation." her eyes blink as she looks into Ivory's eyes. "If what you say is true, which I would think there would be no reason for you to lie about something so outlandish, than there must be an entire civilization down here. We are...explorers of sorts. And by vessel I mean, we were traveling along on the...ocean on the surface in a boat. If you don't know what a boat is, it's a construction that floats on water that we traveled around in. Above, we got lost in a whirlpool. We were unable to escape and the three of us got sucked out of the ship...then the next thing we knew, we ended up in this...underground place." she said with a hoof gesture. "But the three of us have more urgent manners. We have no water. No food. We cannot drink salt water, we require fresh water. If you could point us in the right direction or even show a more suitable place of...dwelling, I'm sure we would all be thankful for that. But one thing I don't understand is, how can you go under the water like that? We can swim, sure, but you don't seem to have any issues being under the water..." Collapse mused. The way she spoke was calm, cool, and diplomatic. Ivory Bush nods enthusiastically. "Oh! So you're some of those water walkers! The ones in stories that walk on top of the water instead of swimming in it! That explains why you look so weird!" he concluded to himself. "I have no idea what a whirlpool is. Do you mean the great water spout? It always drags many neat things from above." He began swimming towards the shoreline, with intent on answering the next question. Jump Start looked confused. "Wait, what do you mean we look weird?" she asked. By this point Ivory Bush reached the shoreline, and they could figure out why. "Well your flippers are all thick and stiff." he casually replied as he started waddling towards a clump of blue mushrooms. Instead of regular pony legs, he had white flexible flippers like a seal. "What...?" was all Jump Start could say, an absolutely baffled expression on her face. "Oh... that explains alot." Magloria said. "Food's no problem. The blue ones are safe, as long as you don't look at them." Ivory Bush said as he bit down on one of the mushrooms, just like that. "Fresh water through...? Uhhh... I think I heard something about a lot of fresh water to be found near Scorched Reservoirs. It's uncomfortably hot, but that's why the water is fresh!" he said. Collapse takes in this information and thinks about it further. “The great water spout, yes, that is what the whirlpool would be. We aren’t able to walk on water. We live on land…not really at sea more or less.” Collapse stated in an informative manner. Collapse chuckles upon seeing his flippers, and how he looks so different from them. “You definitely look built for living in water. That's cool!” She complimented with a wide grin. “Yeah we don’t have flippers. We uh, have legs and hooves.” Collapse showed him her hoof there. “And the blue ones are safe to eat? Thank you for telling us this! We are going to need fresh water without salt soon though…or we will die of thirst.” her look turned more serious upon that statement. "Oh, legs and hooves?" Ivory Bush sounded quite interested, waddling over to Collapse and taking the hoof shown in his flipper. "That feels so hard, it's like a bone sticking out." he stated. Meanwhile, Magloria is busy slicing through various blue mushrooms, harvesting them before sharing them out among the others. "Yeah, you wanted the unsalted water, I gotcha! I don't know where it is, but I know who to ask!" Ivory Bush replied, moving back over to the water and diving in. "I'm going to be heading down that way, if you want to join me." He pointed downstream of the river." Collapse lets her hoof be taken into his hold. She smiles at the feeling, “Well your flippers are soft, flexible. Perfect for swimming.” she complimented. Collapse takes the blue mushroom slices and thanks Magloria for slicing them up as she looked to Ivory Bush. “We have a ton of questions I am sure of it but for now some water, and knowledge of where it is will be most appreciated.” She looked into the water. “We can’t really go underwater. At least, I think?” she shrugs somewhat at that. “Water and blue mushrooms, living the life.” Collapse giggled. Magloria nudged Collapse. "He's not leading us into the water, he's leading us down the river." she said. Bringing forth her magic, she reconstructed the ice raft, since the old one had melted by this point. "Yeah yeah. You want knowledge, well then follow me!" Ivory Bush moving over to the part of the lake where the river continues. Magloria jumped onto the raft, followed by Jump Start. Collapse nodded, and sits down next to Magloria and Jump Start in the raft. "Ah, I see." she spoke to Magloria before looking to Ivory. "Well, how many of you would you say there are? And do you have a place of dwelling?" Collapse asked Ivory Bush. Once Collapse was on, Magloria started moving the raft to follow Ivory Bush. Soon they were back on the river. Ivory Bush nodded. "Certainly do have a place of dwelling. It's a nice place, you'd like it. I've got coral artwork and everything!" he said, "Oh and about how many of us there are? Well let's see... at least several thousand of us! Minimum!" He rose his front flippers in the air in excitement upon saying the last bit. "Now, I'm going to take you straight to the nearest settlement. Should be able to find someone that can tell you where the Scorched Reservoirs." he added. Turns out the nearest settlement was at least half an hour down the river, so they had time to talk if they wanted to. Collapse raised an eyebrow at what he just said. "So there is a whole race of you lot down here, beneath the ocean? Hmm, that is pretty fascinating. To give you an idea of where we are from, we've traveled on the ocean for about a week. Further than anyone has gone to our knowledge, in this area of the world. I've never heard of your kind, but I have read story books about mushroom forests underground." she stated. "As for this system of caves, how far does it extend too? Does it open up completely like one would be able to see a horizon? I have so many questions about it, I hope you don't mind." Collapse smiled curiously. "Walking on water for a week? That's impressive. Your legs and hooves must've been quite tired after walking for so long." Ivory Bush commented. "I don't really know how far these caves go. I've never been to the ends of them, and honesty? I'd rather not go down some of these rivers. Some lead to waterfalls or other deadly things, and it would be a nightmare to travel back." he shrugged, or at least they thought he did. It was hard to tell with him in the water. "But some of the places I've seen? They're maaaaaasive! I've heard that in some places after the great spout closes, the water goes deep enough that even we can't reach the bottom! It'll be really interesting to see that!" "So basically we are in an entire underworld of various caves, rivers and waterfalls. Are there more mushroom forests, or other such things? I wonder if the great spout has a regular interval of which it closes and opens, or if it is just completely random." Collapse asked. His comment about walking on water made her chuckle. "Oh, we can't walk on water at all. We sail on water on...boats like this, but they are made out of metal and wood, much much larger than this little raft. That's how we got here, because your so called great spout sucked us in and destroyed the ship we sailed here on." Collapse spoke in a more grim manner at that bit of information. Ivory Bush grinned. "Oh there's plenty of things here! You haven't seen the Lily Grotto yet, or even the Void Crags! And of course these mushrooms spread out across the caves, we'll definitely be seeing more of them later!" he replied. He nodded in understanding at what she was saying, finally realizing what she was talking about now that he could see a boat for himself. "You mean the sinkers, don't you? There's a bunch of them at the bottom the great water spout's lake. Has some of the best stuff, if you can get them." "Does he really call them sinkers?" Jump Start whispered to Magloria, who shook her head in disapproval in response. "We're almost at Descent. That's the name of the settlement, by the way. You're not going to be able to visit most of it though, but you don't need to anyway." Ivory stated. Collapse nodded to Ivory’s explanation. “Plenty of things just as I hoped! The Lily Grotto I imagine to be some sort of massive pond with lots of lily pads. Tell me about the Void Crags.” she spoke with an interested grin. Collapse looks to Magloria and Jump Start. She didn’t entirely understand this pony’s lingo. “We were just at that lake but we have no way of getting to the bottom of it. Tons of glowfish in there it.” she stated. “I presume we can’t visit since they are all under water.” Collapse figured Ivory shook his head. "Nah, no lily pads there. Just a lot of algae. Covers the whole lake in green. It was named after... someone called lily, I think!" he said. "The void crags are brilliant. Scary too! I hope none of you are scared of heights. The river we're on goes straight through a series of deep holes, completely filled with air! You'd fall straight down! Maybe one or two get a bit of the river's water, or so I'm told." he lectured. "And yes, most of Decent is underwater. Unless you're the water breathing type, and I don't think you are since you haven't dipped your head under the water ONCE since I've seen you You should try it by the way, it's very refreshing for dry skin... you won't be able to go into most of the settlement." The river turned, the mushroom forest having grown scarce a few minutes ago leaving only rock. Before them they saw another large lake with an island in the center, but unlike the other one, which it was black with glowing fish in it, this one... this one glowed. Everywhere under the water they looked, they could see lights of blue, green and mixed colours between. Hundreds of little windows and doors, each with their own light within. Seaponies could be seen everywhere, swimming about, doing stuff in their homes, playing, and there were even some on the surface, chilling about or entering the few buildings that could be found there. "Lily, beautiful name if I say so myself. A river going through holes filled with air? I've never heard of anything like that but I'd be willing to do it as long as it is safe. As we are land dwellers we cannot operate underwater without proper equipment which we obviously don't have." Collapse replied with a grin. Upon seeing the river turn, and the beautiful site that was granted before them Collapse's mouth drops and she goes silent at how pretty this area is. Collapse sees the massive sign saying "WELCOME TO AQUASTRALIA". It was quite remarkable upon how everything was, the lights, the buildings, it was amazing and Collapse has never seen anything like it even in fiction. "Wow....! This is so beautiful, there is a whole town here, the water is so amazing with all the little lights, the seaponies going about their business...so fascinating..." Collapse mutters in awe, leaning up against Magloria with dreamy eyes upon how beautiful the surroundings were. Jump Start was just as amazed as Collapse was, completely unable to keep her jaw from falling to the floor of the boat... metaphorically. Magloria was just as shocked... on the inside. On the outside only her eyes widened at the sight. Ivory Bush cleared his throat. "Thanks! I live here, so that means alot. Now, I'm gonna have to leave you for a bit to find who I'm looking for, so... just... umm... hang around for a bit. Go see the sights, the ones you can see, of course. See yas!" And like that he flipped himself around and dove, creating a splash. By this point, Jump Start's shock was over, instead replaced with awe. "Well... now what should we go do? Captain? Colla? Wait, what are you" she asked, then got distracted by Magloria. Magloria's magic started encasing some of the water around them and manipulating it into a form in front of her. A shift in her magic and it started freezing, taking the form of one of the buildings she could see. A sharp flash and the tiny ice model seemed to take a harder form, if that was possible. Collapse was too distracted by what Magloria was doing in order to react to Ivory Bush. By the time she realized he was gone it was too late for her to say anything. Collapse looks to the tiny model of the building that Magloria made with her magic, she watched it take shape and smiles sweetly at the model and looked to Magloria with a really sweet grin on her face. "Oooh, that's also amazing! How can you do that with your magic? Do you like memorize what you see and think about it, then your magic creates it?" Collapse squees in delight upon thinking of little ice sculptures of the three of them. "Maybe you could make little models of ourselves and attach them to the front of our ice raft here. Yeah, the three of us, exploring the unknown beneath the ocean, from mushroom forests, dangerous spiders, to amazing wonders. The three of us brave on...dun dun dunnnnn..." she seemed to get a little carried away in her thoughts before she inhaled, straightening herself and she quieted down. Magloria looked towards Collapse. "I can do it as an extension of my talent. Crystallizing water is a rather simple process once you know how to do it. The hard part is shaping it properly." she replied. "As for how I shaped it? No I didn't memorize it. I saw it and my magic made it take shape. It's so I can remember later." She huffed at what Collapse said next, somewhat uncaring about her enthusiasm, but part of what she said did have a point to it. "Alright fine, I'll add a raft with us three on it. Won't be able to tell the details though, I need my glass cutting tools for that. I'm not adding the rest of the stuff though!" she stated, starting up her magic. In a few minutes she had constructed a tiny crystal raft with 3 pony figures on it. Jump Start tapped them both on the shoulder. "Collapse, captain, should we do anything while we wait?" she asked. Collapse nods quietly and observes how Magloria constructs the tiny crystal raft with the figures on it. "Aww, thats so cute, Magloria. Nice job!" she said with a raised hoof and a cheery grin. Collapse looked to Jump Start. "Well, hmm. I don't really think we should go anywhere or do much until Ivory Bush gets back. But, what do you think of all this, in all seriousness? I don't really see any viable ways for us to go back home...we may very well settle down some place in here if we have to." Collapse's expression became a bit more serious at that. "And besides, while we are here in these underground rivers and environments we should take the chance and explore it. If we are able to find any writing utensils or paper, we should totally write down all we've experienced and do illustrations of it, I am sure our folks back home would really like to know what happened." Collapse states "There may still be a way out of here, even if it's not obvious at first. Exploring them, as you said, would be one of the better ways to do that." Magloria said, thinking about that for a bit before coming up with something. "Asking the seaponies would be faster. If there is a way out of this place, they'd know." "In case we don't find a way back, we should still consider what we'd do." Jump Start pointed out, turning unsure afterwards, "Though... I'm not really sure if I want to live in a cave for the rest of my life... Plus I wanted to do other things." she sighed. "I don't think the seaponies are capable of creating writing utensils and paper. The water would ruin it. We'll have to remember until we get back to Equestria, unless we somehow get lucky and find something of use." Magloria said. Ivory Bush suddenly resurfaced, this time with another seapony. A mauve coated mare with a twotone mane of light and lighter green. "Hi again! She knows how to get to Scorched Reservoir! Turns out it's just down that river over there!" Ivory said, pointing towards one of the halfdozen rivers flowing out from the lake. Collapse was about to reply to Magloria and Jump Start when Ivory Bush and the other mare revealed themselves. She turned to them and waved. "Oh, thank you for that information. But I do think it might be for the best if we have someone willing to be a guide and show us around, we don't want to accidentally end up in some place we shouldn't going into." Collapse stated before her eyes turned to the mauve mare. "I don't suppose you know of any points that lead to the surface, you know, the ocean above? Or of any points of land around on the surface?" she asked and then realized something. "Well, that knowledge around be appreciated but we would likely have to build a new boat from scratch, and have enough supplies in order to cross over into the ocean...so it seems more likely we might be finding a place to settle down at least for the time being." Collapse stated. "Well then, looks like you're going to have to stay with them for a little bit longer." Ivory Bush tells the mauve mare, who looks... displeased by the outcome. "Don't look at them like that. You needed to go there anyway." he added, earning a huff in response. From Collapse's observation, the mauve mare didn't have much features worth noting, aside from the thinner ears like Ivory, and deep blue eyes. But considering she could only properly see their neck and head, there was likely more to be seen underwater. In response to the next question Ivory shook his head. "Sorry buddy, but I don't really know about any places that lead out of here. Never really cared anyway!" he said. The mauve mare spoke up. "There's one way, others used it before, but now you're not getting through it. You'll try, fail and die." she said in a grave tone. Collapse sighs at the response she gets from them. “Well that is quite unfortunate. But would you mind explaining why that is the case?” Collapse asked the mare. “Lets see here. There are grottoes, mushroom forests, void crags, anything else we should know about? Maybe, any safe locations we could make a base camp or home at?” Collapse asked thinking about the possibility options. The mare she thought was pretty, she thought it was a shame that they couldn’t go underwater with the rest of the seaponies. “I wonder who is in charge though, out of everyone here, too.” she mused. The mauve mare was silent for a moment, contemplating whether to answer Collapse's question or not. She eventually decided to talk. "Because it's blocked by those who would want you dead." Ivory Bush nudged her, giving the group a nervous grin. "Don't uhh... Don't take what she has to say to heart. She doesn't mean it." he said, chuckling with uncertainty. "Yes I do." she replied. "Anyway, moving on, I suppose we should get going first while I answer those questions?" he suggested, which Magloria and Jump Start agreed on. Soon they were heading towards the river that would take them to Scorched Reservoirs, being led by the mauve mare. Ivory Bush began answering her questions. "There's plenty of safe spots you can find around the place if you know where to look. Though the only ones I know about are under the water. Sorry buddy, but you're going to have to find the dry ones on your own." "We actually have several elected officials in charge down here. They take care of everything that happens, and shares responsibilities with others. They're busy though, so unless you can go down underwater to meet them, you're not seeing them." He takes a moment to think, "Though... you are unique, maybe you can get special attention given to you...? I dunno." Collapse was confused by the mauve mare’s statement. “Well that is quite ominous if I say so myself.” she stated, a bit taken back by that response. Collapse didn’t object to the idea of moving forward. “I am glad you are showing us around, So far the best option for us would probably be the mushroom forest but I would definitely like to find some place less weird. Perhaps a grassy plain or a forest with regular trees, birds, but that likely doesn’t exist down here.” Collapse said. “Unless there is some sort of spell that will allow us to breathe underwater I wouldn’t think we can. Although I can probably make a shield around us and we could go underwater for limited time, but we’d basically be in a bubble which would be a hassle. I also don’t know how one would talk underwater either.” Collapse stated, seemingly confused about that last bit. Ivory Bush swims back over to the raft, leaving the mauve mare to guide them. "Don't think about what she said too much. I'm sure she doesn't mean to be a doomsayer, maybe." he told Collapse. Jump Start and Magloria take part in the conversation about where they could stay. "I don't want to live inside the mushroom forest. It smells bad, and I think I might grow mushrooms of my own if we stayed there too long." Jump Start said. "I don't think there is going to be grassy fields around here Collapse. No sun, remember? The best we'd end up with would be a place filled with that glowing moss. Who knows, it might even be edible as well." Magloria said. Jump Start turned to Ivory Bush. "How do you breathe and talk underwater anyway?" she asked. Ivory pointed a flipper at his neck. "See these?" he said, pointing out the marks he had. "We have gills, as well as lungs. It lets us breathe and talk above and below water! Pretty good, right?" The caves they were in seemed to get a touch greener. It also started to feel like they were outside during a nice spring morning, instead of during the night. A slight increase in temperature. Collapse looks to Magloria and smirked somewhat. "Well, if we go deep enough we may very well find a real underworld. One that opens up and has a true horizon and wide open plains. You don't really need a sun to have forests and fields, maybe they just glow on their own. Or maybe there is a 'sun' if you go far enough, suspended high above the environment below. Could also be like, lava or crystals too." Collapse stated curiously. She looks to Jump Start and Ivory Bush. "Well, I still don't really understand how one would hear you talk underwater. Wouldn't your voices like, not transmit sound due to the water? I'd probably assume you have some sort of clicking or echolocation language like dolphins or sharks. It's a wonder your even actually able to understand our language." Collapse added as they entered into the warmer area. "Well, I can certainly feel it getting warmer. We're heading towards something hot, alright." she winked to Jump Start and Magloria. "This place doesn't look like it has any of that, however. Plants could not sustain themselves on their own glow, and there have been no exposed crystals around. Lava maybe, but the heat would wither the plants." Magloria shrugged, turning away to examine their surroundings. "Hmm... we must be deeper into the cave system already..." she muttered to herself. Ivory looked bewildered at Collapse's train of thought. "What? No. We don't talk like dolphins. We just speak underwater. The same way I'm talking to you right now! Watch!" He dove under the river and started speaking... well, it was speech, but it was muffled by the water's surface or something. By now the ambient temperature had risen to a nice spring day. A comfortable temperature, if a bit humid. "We're here." The mauve seapony told them. By now they could see off in front of them a large amount of the glowing moss, hanging from the floor, walls and roof. Many smaller pools could be found along the cavern, hosting a variety of frogs and certain insects. Every now and then water would drip down from the ceiling, often landing in the ponds. Collapse looked down at Ivory there and smirked. She didn't really believe it until she saw it. "Wow, you really can speak underwater!" she exclaimed in a bit of an amazed manner before looking back to Magloria. "Could be, could be, although somehow these plants and mushrooms survive down here. Just proves you don't really need a sun after all." she smirked as she turns to the surroundings. Collapse stretched her legs out upon feeling the ambient temperature on her. "That's a great change of pace from being all cold in wet water, in a dark cave." she said happily upon looking at the glowing moss, and the wildlife that was seen. "I truly do wonder how all of these plants and areas came to be down here. Back home, as far as I knew, there was no underground areas quite like this." she spoke. She turns to the mauve mare. "Whats your name, by the way?" she asked calmly. Magloria rolled her eyes. Another one who lacks knowledge on herb lore. "Mushrooms don't require sunlight, and certain other plants don't either. They have other ways of getting their energy." Ivory resurfaced. "I don't know how things got here, but I just know that they're here and that's what matters!" he nodded reassuringly. The moody marine mauve mare moves methodically towards the river edge, extracting herself from the water. "Unsalted water is in these pools." she said. They could all now see the rest of her. 4 flippers, just like Ivory Bush, except each of them turned a lighter shade of purple at the ends compared to the rest of her body. Her front flippers each had a tight silver bracelet wrapped around the upper parts, while her tail had a trio of silver rings, helping to keep it straighter. Finally her cutie mark appeared to be a compass, entangled by a series of kelp fronds. "Royal Shores." was all she said in reply to Collapse's question. Collapse nodded to Magloria. "Sorry, I don't know much about that stuff so I just have to inference from what little I do know." she said with a reassuring smile. Collapse looked to Ivory. "Well, I suppose that you have a point there!" she grinned before turning to Royal Shores, her eyes overlook her various features in admiration. The seaponies were very interesting to look at considering how different they were. She takes note of her cutie mark. "I can see why you were the one to lead us to this place. You must know where a lot of things are." she complimented. Collapse looks to Jump Start and Magloria. "I reckon we get out and take a drink, don't you say? I'm quite thirsty if I say so myself. If the water is too hot to drink than you can cool it down, Magloria. I can't remember the last time I had a good cold sip." she stated. Royal Shores doesn't comment on Collapse's observations, though she does give a glare when Collapse was busy admiring her fla cutie mark. She's quick to waddle back into the water because of it. Magloria brings the raft to the river bank, beaching it so everyone can get out easily. Jump Start gets out quickly, rushing over to the nearest pool of water and sticking her face into it, drinking deeply. Magloria is far more composed as she walks over, offering a thanks to the seaponies as she did so. While the ponies were busy, they could barely hear Ivory Bush and Royal Shores talking to each other in a somewhat hushed tone. "Is that everything they need, or can I go back home?" Royal asked. "I don't know yet. They might still want to try to go back above." Ivory replied. "That's completely off limits and you know it! You know as well as I do why we don't go there!" "But they don't know." "And they won't know, at least not from me! I'm not going to risk my hide trying to guide them through a suicide mission. If they want to die, then that's on them. Leave me out of it." The argument ended after what Royal Shores said, Ivory Bush having no idea how to reply to it. Collapse noticed Royal Shore's stare and how she went back into the water. Collapse felt guilty for probably making her feel uncomfortable by her looks and comments, but she spoke nothing of that and proceeded onto the riverbank and heads towards the water. She smirks to Jump Start and gave the Seaponies a bit of a wave when she went and got a few drinks from the same pool as Jump Start. Once she was drinking the water, she held nothing back and drunk deeply as well. Upon her drinking she could hear the argument of the two seaponies. She was certain there was some kind of secret or forbidden area. Perhaps it could be some sort of cultural reason, or maybe there are some sea monsters or hostile forces that prevent ones from reaching the surface. But either way, in her mind, even if they did get to that point they don't even have a boat to go back home. What was the point without a working boat? After a bit, Collapse finishes her drink and licks her lips. "What do you think of the water?" she asked her two companions. Once Collapse was back on solid land again, she could feel the moss beneath her hooves. It almost felt like soft, short grass. If she imagined really hard, maybe she could believe that they really were in an open field on a nice warm day. The water pool, thankfully devoid of nearby frogs, was refreshingly cool, especially at the bottom. If they wanted, maybe they'd be able to find warmer waters further down the stream? Jump Start grinned. "So refreshing after having nothing to drink. We really should find a way to carry some with us so we don't have to keep coming back here all the time." she said. "I might be able to create a vessel that can hold the water, but it'll be rather expensive to make anything larger than a few water bottles." Magloria added, before glancing to her spear. "And NO, this thing doesn't take much. It's simple to make. A bottle isn't. Though speaking of which..." Suddenly Collapse gets the spear tossed towards her, impacting the ground next to her lightly. "You should probably have a weapon, as lacking in combat as you may be." she said, manipulating the pool's water to create a new one for herself. Collapse closed her eyes, and for a few seconds she imagined just that.She smiled sweetly, imagining herself home with her mom at the cherry orchards. Maybe a few other mares...maybe being surrounded by mares! But her thoughts were interrupted by Magloria's spear and her eyes opened at the sudden shock of it. Collapse lifts it up in her magical aura and inspects it. "Well, I hope that we won't have to fight but if we do, then we better be prepared. I admit, my combat sills are very lacking. I would be better if I had access to my fly ring, and my other tools I could have used for defensive and offensive purposes...but I don't have those." she stated as she overlooks the spear. "But definitely water bottles are a good idea. Perhaps the seaponies have some containers we could carry around on our backs and just bottle it up if they have bottles." Collapse suggested. "So that way, you don't have to create a vessel." she said to Magloria. Calling the crystal that was given to Collapse a 'spear' was maybe a bit of an overstatement. It was little more than a stick of clear crystal that gets thinner at one end, down to a sharp point. Difficult to use for someone without magical ability, but for those with telekinesis? It works just as effectively as a real spear could. "We could ask the seaponies, but I don't think they'd give us things for free. Besides, I'm not going to mooch off their kindness. I can do it, I'd just need a nice mushroom meal afterwards." Magloria responded, preparing to construct a couple bottles of water for them to carry. "I should mention that they're brittle, so try not to break them, either." she added before getting started. 10 minutes later, they had a pair of crystal clear containers in the shape of bottles, and one partially exhausted but still very capable blue unicorn. They also had a white seapony who had decided to play about in the water while they waited, and a mauve one who was bored. Collapse takes the spear in her telekinses and overlooks it in awe as Magloria spoke. She nodded and allowed Magloria to get to work. When she was done Collapse would equip the pair of water bottles onto her gently. "Thank you Magloria. I don't think we would have survived without you. You were the one that saved us from the spiders, allowed us to get to where we are, and you also made containers. Seriously, thank you." Collapse stated with a reassuring hoof on Magloria's shoulder for a bit. Her hoof was soft and warm. Afterwards, Collapse smiles at the two nearby seaponies. Magloria shrugged and looked away. "You're welcome, I suppose." It's not that she didn't approve of their appreciation, it's just she didn't like to be thanked. It made her feel things that made her uncomfortable. Jump Start and Magloria also turned to the seaponies. "Well I guess we're done here for now. We'll head back to Descent before deciding on what to do next." Magloria said. "Right you are." Ivory Bush approved before a confused expression fell on him. "Problem though, the river is now upstream. How are you going to get back?" "Uhhh... We can walk?" Jump Start mentioned. Ivory slapped a flipper to his face, realizing the obvious solution. "Oh right! Silly me, you've got your nonflippers." he chuckled. Collapse smiled at Magloria, but Magloria didn't see it since she had been turned away. She wanted Magloria to open up to her, but she knew that she wouldn't get anywhere by pressing further. She had all the time in the world to build a friendship, she thought. Jump Start was likely an easier one so to speak. But Magloria? She was the true apple of Collapse's eye. So mysterious, she wondered what she was like before all this. Something for her to think about. Collapse turned to the seaponies and giggles at nonflippers. "Yes, we'll walk back with our nonflippers. I think I'll start calling our hooves that instead. It has more character to it." she chuckled. With her spear carried on her bakc, she would proceed to walk back alongside the others. As they walked back to Descent, the seaponies remained alongside them, travelling in the river. They had the strength to be able to swim upstream, unlike the raft, so they had no issue. Eventually they came back to the lake with the hundreds of seaponies below it's surface. "So... what now?" Jump Start asked out of earshot of the seaponies, who were busy talking somewhere further away. "It's obvious isn't it? There is a way out of here, we just need to find someone who we can convince to help us get there and teach us about it's dangers. I'm not a fool, there's a reason why they don't want to go there, but I want to find out why and decide if it really is too risky or not." Magloria replied. Collapse looks to Magloria. "I very much agree with that. I really want to find a way out of here myself, but if it is safe to get out of here that will grant us another problem. How would we even get back to Equestria if we manage to escape? We don't have a boat." she said quietly in a manner so the seaponies wouldn't overhear. "I think they are hiding something, but I can't really be sure since we've only met two of them so far. I think it is evident there is some sort of danger in the area of exit that they are unwilling to handle." she stated. "Well of course they're hiding something. Everyone hides things from strange new creatures that they only just met, especially something as important as a way out from under the ocean. Plus we already know it's a danger they're unwilling to handle. Royal Shores said she wasn't risking her life, remember? What's troubling is what it could be." Magloria told them. "As for the boat, that's a simple matter of resources. There are plenty of resources already from what I've seen and there are likely much more elsewhere. A way up to the surface implies an island, which could also have what we need." She paused for a moment as she thought something over. "And if all else fails, maybe I can eventually construct a boat of pure crystal. It would take at least a year though for a properly durable one though. I'd say the hard part is finding a way to get the boat moving. Engines don't grow on trees, and so far I haven't seen thing we can use for sails yet." Collapse agrees with Magloria. "Well, I know that I built my inventions from scratch so if we find the resources to build something from scratch I very well could construct an engine, although I've only done small engines before for like smaller machines so it would require some prototyping, trial and error, that sort of thing so it would take a really long time but... then lies within the issue of even finding the resources and crafting them, because I don't have any of my tools to do so, so it is highly unikely I will be unable to build an actual engine." Collapse sighs. "So our best bet would be making sails. If there is an island we'd probably have to cut down some trees and fashion parts of our boat out of it. Perhaps making a small raft for shorter expeditions to possibly look for better areas to build off from. We have a lot of possible options we could do, and that all depends on if there is an actual island or not." Collapse ponders. "Say if there is no island, and what they are talking about is just a hole that goes to the ocean floor, that will be no good for us will it? An exit to them may be an exit to the ocean floor and not the surface of a landmass." she said in a bit of a grim manner. Magloria thinks about what Collapse said. It's true that the exit may just be a water tunnel that they would be completely unable to use... Or would they? "We may still be capable of using a water tunnel, but we'd need to build something completely different from a boat. It would have to be a... underwater... shielded boat... or something. Far harder to make, but if we could keep the air within contained, we could use that to rise up to the surface." she points out. "That's if it's a water tunnel." Jump Start jumps in, "We don't even know what it is. It could be anything. Even something like a vent for magma that sits inside a volcano!" she said, raising her hooves up in exclamation. Magloria looked to Jump Start, giving her an odd stare that caused Jump Start to shrink back. "Sorry. My mind got ahead of me." Jump Start apologized. Collapse smirks at an idea. "I have an idea. I know I have been able to perform an antigravitational spell before. Although that fly ring makes it far more focused and I can really control it. So, what if we make a boat that can also fly as well? Fly right over the waves? But also being able to be a submersible boat too out of durable crystal. But like I said, I don't have my materials so I would have to find entirely new ones." she stated. "For starters I'm going to need gravite ore. It is varied across the landscape, usually I would get it from sales and deals I'd make back home but if not then its possible to find it in its natural ore state. It has a very unique yellow shimmer to it and if you touch it will make you feel lighter and I can cast a spell on it that can make you float around if you have enough of it with you but you won't be able to control where it goes." Collapse planned. "So we would likely need sails on our crystal thing, that are both retractable and able to withstand the pressures of the ocean depths but flying over the waves by using sails would mean we would likely avoid any nasty storms and be able to travel home much quicker than on a boat, but that is if the ore is even around in these areas." she spoke and looked to Jump Start with her eyebrow raised, but didn't say anything. "You might need to put that idea on hold. I doubt that ore can be found here, and even if it was, we wouldn't likely have methods of refining it..." Magloria hmmed for a bit, "Where exactly is such ore found, just from curiosity? Might put that idea on the shelf for later, in case it could happen." She waited for Collapse's answer, then continued. "We should make plans on getting to the exit from this place first though, we can worry about making a boat once we have more information." Magloria signaled to the seaponies, who swam over. "Do you know where we could find someone that would lead us to this exit that you've been talking about?" she asked. Ivory slowly shook his head. "Not here... we're too far away to bother with that sort of stuff, but I bet you could find someone in the next settlement! It's much closer, the closest one to the exit, if I remember correctly!" he said. "The ore is usually found closer towards the surface. Because of its properties, it usually forms at low depths from the surface. It can also be accompanied by other ores as well and even be combined with them, such as iron or copper." she states. "Sometimes it can be found in ravines at lower quality though, but that is more common. However there, the process of refinement is more complex." Collapse nodded to Magloria, finding her conclusion to be sound. "Well, can you tell us about this exit? Why is the exit so dangerous? I'm getting the feeling that there is something forbidden about it." Collapse asked Ivory. "Oh it's not forbidden to talk about. It's just that... no one really talks about it because no one wants to go there. Those that do are quickly told how bad an idea it is." Ivory said, a worried expression came over his face. Royal Shores spoke up. "It's suicidal because it's guarded. They came about several decades ago and stayed. No one has ever had a good look at them, at least no one alive. They have ways to stop us even underwater, so we don't approach." Collapse looks to Royal Shores. "So it is guarded by those which you've never seen before, and they don't come and pose a threat? Seems strange. Do you think they are other seaponies or at least, intelligent like us? Or are they just like, giant lobsters or something?" Collapse asked. Royal Shores snorted at the audacity of this mare. "You dare say that those things are seaponies?! Why would we murder ourselves like that!? You know what, screw this." She snapped, turning to leave, "Have fun with whatever you weirdos do. I'm out." Before any of them could stop her (with nontelekinetic methods) she dove under the water. "Uhh... hmm... maybe you shouldn't have said that..." Ivory Bush commented. Collapse did nothing to stop her and she said nothing in reply. She didn't understand why Royal Shores would say that. In Collapse's mind, perhaps there was a rival group of seaponies that kept them from reaching the surface. Collaspe strangely enough seemed relatively unphased by that, but internally she was quite sorry for pissing her off but didn't get the chance to say anything before she left. Collapse looked to Ivory Bush. "...Probably not." she said hesitantly. Ivory looked awkward for a moment, uncertain about what to do before getting his thoughts back on track. "Yeah... so you'd want to go to the next settlement. It's the closest to the way out from here." His ear flicked as he remembered something else. "Oh! While we're on that I should mention that it's still pretty far away. At least a couple days of swimming actually. It's the closest settlement, but no one wants to build anything closer. They don't want to risk the chance that they could be attacked." "I can lead you to the settlement, but no further." he finished. Magloria look satisfied with the offer, ready to take him up on it. "Sounds good to me. Unless you have anything to say, Jump Start, Collapse?" Jump Start shook her head, saying a quiet "No." as she did so. Collapse doesn’t object to the idea of moving on. She was more silent than she usually was and it was noticeable. “Yup. Sounds good.” She sighs and her usually happy demeanor wasn’t there, she really wanted to apologize to Royal Shores but she was gone. “What is the settlement named? What can you tell us about it?” Collapse asked. It was probably a good idea to know about it before they went there, she hoped that it would be alright. Jump Start noticed Collapse's fallen expression. Magloria didn't, she was too busy with Ivory Bush. "Don't worry, you couldn't have known she'd react like that." Jump Start said, giving Collapse a pat on the shoulder in comfort. "Well the place, called Pearlth I think, is one of the larger settlements around here. You see, it's the best connection to around half a dozen places! You could almost call it our main settlement, but I've heard there's another elsewhere called Toscail that's slightly larger." Ivory Bush answered. "Still though, you'll see a lot more seaponies than here, or you would, if you could breathe underwater. Well, maybe you still will." he shrugged. Collapse leans into Jump Start and smiles at the pat. To return the favor Collapse reached down to one of her hooves and gave it a gentle squish. "Thank you, you are a good friend." she whispered into Jump Start's ear. Collapse looked to Ivory Bush. "We'll keep that in mind. Perhaps when we go there we'll ask around in Pearlth and ask around to see if there is a path to Toscail. I really think we should find a place to settle down though. Since we likely won't be coming out of here overnight were going to need a place of dwelling." Collapse stated to the group. "Also by the way, Ivory. If you can, you can tell Royal Shores that I'm sorry for making her mad like that. I didn't mean it at all." she stated. Jump Start's hoof flinched when she got squished, as she was not expecting it. "You're welcome." she replied, moving back to her original place. "You're not going to be making it to Toscail without getting exhausted and finding a place to sleep first. You'll need rest along the way to Pearlth, and Toscail is even further away." Ivory explained. Magloria huffed at the mention of getting a place to stay. "Well while I do not approve of settling down, it appears we may have no choice in the matter. If Pearlth is as big as you say, we'd easily be able to find a place there." she looked to Collapse, addressing her directly. "And near the exit to this place as well. If we really have no way out, then we'll venture off to Toscail." Ivory nodded at the request. "Yeah, I can apologize to her on your behalf. She won't forgive you immediately, I know that much, but little steps!" He swam a little bit away into Descent Lake and pointed a flipper towards one of the larger rivers leading out. "That one over there is how you get to Pearlth. You go through Lily Grotto for half a day, then a bit more. I don't know what else is between here and there though, but it should be fine!" Collapse nodded to Magloria's statements before looking back to Ivory. "Well, I suppose we should get going then! Unless if you'd think we would be okay with checking out more around descent but that it's up to our captain here." Collapse looks to Magloria with an innocent smile. "But do you happen to have a map or some sort of guide we could take with us? It'd be a really good idea for us to have something like that." she suggested. "Also by the way, has your records ever said anything about others like us? Perhaps arrivals like us long ago, even in legends or stories from long ago?" Collapse asked with wonder. Might as well know what she could before they headed off. Better to be prepared and in the know. "I don't have anything left here to do, we may as well leave as soon as possible." Magloria stated, beginning to walk around the edges of the lake in the direction of their destination. Jump Start and Ivory Bush followed along. Ivory nodded. "Yep! We've got a map of the various rivers that you could have a look at ohhh." he realized something, "You said take with you. Sorry, it's not going anywhere. Big stone slabs tend to be hard to move... and you can't go underwater anyway. Heh... nevermind!" He nodded again. "Yep! There have definitely been others like you as well. Well, maybe not exactly like you. They were different from you, not described as a seapony with stiff flippers like you are. But there definitely have been others. They don't appear very often. One of my favorite bedtime stories was about them!" Collapse looked to Ivory in a disappointed manner about the tablets. "Ah, thats unfortunate. I know that I could probably make some sort of bubble and we could go down there and look but I don't really think my bubble would last long underwater." Collapse sighs. She rose an eyebrow at the comment about the bedtime stories. "Can you tell us about those stories? It will be interesting to hear and I'd like to know about that." she spoke calmly. "Sure!" Ivory agreed. "So how I remember it is that one time when the great water spout opened up, a big wooden structure came crashing down, sinking to the bottom, like all the rest. But then the group of creatures that was on the wooden thing swam to the shore. They eventually met us and we became friends with them." "Noble creatures with big feathery bodies and wings, soft fur like ours and sharp claws. They protected us from the nasty things that live out of the water, when we are at our most vulnerable. In return they were given what they could not reach under the water." He finished the story. Ivory turned away slightly. "Later I also found out that they eventually passed away from old age, and their children died protecting us. I guess this place was just too dangerous for so few of them to survive in." Collapse sighs at that. "What you are saying is that a ship crashed and the occupants were stranded, just like we were. I believe what you are talking about are Griffons." Collapse nodded with a fascinated expression. "You see that explains what happened to us almost perfectly. A big wooden structure is what a ship is, that's what we are going to need to return home, or at least, something similar to it." Collapse stated. "Weeeeeell I don't think I can help you out by making a ship... heheh! I've seen one, or at least part of one. I have no idea what goes where, only that the others pulled out some cool stuff from inside!" Ivory Bush said casually. "Griffons though? That's what they were called? The story called them Feathercats. Seemed accurate, and it was just a bedtime story." The group arrived at the entrance to the river that they needed to go down to get to Pearlth (or the closest place without swimming). Magloria started the construction of another ice boat. "Uhh... I'm wondering if I could go find myself some padding...?" Jump Start asked. "The boat is cold, and I don't really want to sit on one all day." Magloria nodded, giving permission. Jump Start thanked her before rushing off. Seemed she was busy tearing some moss off the walls, and even chipped the rock wall in her haste. Collapse looked to Jump Start. "You have a good idea there!" she smirked as she ran off and then looked back to Ivory. "Well, as a matter of fact on the Constance, that our ship was called, I was the chief engineer. I was responsible for basically stopping it from falling apart and making sure everything was in working order. Lots of stuff to do! Tightening screws, fixing pipes, making sure the mana core was working among other things!" she stated. "When we got into the great water spout we lost control due to the battery core being overloaded. I had to fix it and when I was fixing it the engines were off, meaning the spout pulled us closer and closer and it took me too long to put the battery in but either way it was too late. One of the propellers snapped and then from there, the ship went on its side and we got sucked on...the three of us got separated from the ship and we expected to die!" Collapse exclaimed, shaking a little bit. "But we made it...everyone else likely didn't though..." Collapse was shaking more at that. Ivory listened intently to the story that was being told. It wasn't so much the technical side of things that interested him, but the fact that it was a story very similar to the ones he enjoyed, and entirely new! He could go and tell others about the story and spread it around! "Wow, that sounds amazing! I'm not sure about half the things you said, but it sounds like you had a rough adventure! Sorry about your friends." he said. Jump Start came back, her back loaded with several sheets of glowing moss. Magloria levitated the moss over to the raft, creating 3 spaces which they could lie down on. "Alright, we're ready. Hop on." Magloria said, leaping onto the raft, shortly being followed by Jump Start. "I'd like to hear more stories, but it seems you must be going. Maybe if you return?" he asked, looking a little crestfallen that they must separate. He would follow, but he still has obligations in Descent. Collapse hops onto the moss by the others and stretches down. "Ahhh, so much better. Now I won't have a frozen butt when I sit down." she laughed before looking to Ivory. "Thank you for all you've done. Feel free to tell the others! Maybe you can make a new story for your children, if you have any that is. You've been so nice to us and I am sure that someday we can do something to help you out." she would reach over with a hoof of hers towards him to give him a pat or a hoofshake. "Nah, I have no children. I plan to have some someday though." Ivory rose a front flipper out of the water to shake it with Collapse, when he suddenly wrapped it around her hoof, then shook it. Sort of weird, but a much firmer grip. "Well, goodbye you lot, safe travels!" he said, releasing his grip and swimming down into the water. It looked like he was gone, but then he suddenly rose back up out of the water at speed, launching into the air with a somersault before splashing into the water again, swimming away for good this time. "Nice guy. Well, let's get going." Magloria said, her magic activating to gently push them over to the start of the river to Lily Grotto, and later Pearlth. Collapse shook his flipper and savored the feeling of his slippery yet soft flipper wrapped around her hoof. "Stay safe!" she called out when he had swam away. She watched him until he went away. She was sad that he was gone now, but upon thinking of it they truly had to find a way out of here if she wanted to see her mom or other friends back home ever again. "Lets go." she sighs as she turns away and looks to the bottom of the boat, once again seeming to lose her demeanor. Now that he was gone, the true severity of the situation began to set in to her mind. With one final shove they were onto the river, slowly taking them away from Descent. Jump Start thought Collapse looked a bit down from having to leave Ivory behind. Reaching out a hoof, she wrapped it around Collapse's shoulders. "Cheer up. We'll see him again someday." she said. Magloria, while somewhat concerned with her crestfallen crewmate, knew that Jump Start could take care of things. So instead she kept an eye on where they were headed, and kept the raft from hitting the riverbed. The river went though boring looking caverns for a while, but eventually they could see tiny green dots of light in the distance. On an unrelated note, Jump Start's glowfish was starting to wish it could go back into the water. It could not communicate this however, as it could not speak. Collapse sighed and leaned into Jump Start's embrace. "Thank you. I hope we do. I really wish this didn't happen. I just wanted to make my family proud by going to somewhere where nobody has ever been..." she realized something and smiled wearily. "But I've already done that, and when we get back, I'll have the story of a lifetime to tell." her smile grew. Looking to Magloria she could see how focused she was. Collapse respected that, and didn't bother her. However she did notice the Glowfish was still on Jump Start's head. "You should probably put him back into the water." Collapse patted the fish's head gently. "And besides, I'll be able to light your way." she said hopefully as her horn softly glowed gold for a second. Up ahead she notices the green lights. "That might be the start of the so called Lily Grotto that we were told about."