It took them a while of looking around the outside of the structure to find something resembling an entrance they could use to get inside, since despite the damage that the brickwork has received, they found no holes have formed, or at least, none big enough that they could crawl through.
What they found was a passage that should've been a way in, but it was halfway collapsed with rubble almost completely blocking the way in, rain sprinkling on every crumbled brick. A small gap near the top was all that was left to squeeze through, but it might be able to be made larger if they dug away at the rubble a bit.
Collapse dropped the barriers around the three of them. It was something that had to be done in order to dig away at the rubble here. Collapse began to grab various bricks and began setting them aside to make room so the three of them could get through. She gestured for Magloria and Jump Start to help her. "At the very least we can see if there is anything worth getting at down there. If not, at least we can say we tried." Collapse spoke idly.
"Careful, if you remove the wrong piece, it could bring even more down and make it even harder to get in." Magloria said as both Jump Start and herself started moving away bricks. Usually ones that looked loose in the pile.
After a bit of work and at least one rumble from somewhere inside, they had enlarged the gap enough that they could crawl in without getting stuck, like the fatties that ponies were what with their addiction to sugar.
They could barely see inside the first passage as it was all dark inside, only the sunlight that passed through the clouds reaching it, but they could already tell that the inside looked far better than the outside. Almost no cracked or worn down bricks.
"Would there really be anything worth getting down *that?* It looks like a tomb." Jump Start whined.
Collapse would squeeze through the gap. "Well, that just goes to show you how fat we are. Eating all the cookies, chips, candy, twizzlers, and doooonuts...oh wait, we haven't had any of that." she giggles. "Well, thats probably for the best. If I was on my normal diet I probably wouldn't have even fit through that gap. Maybe you'd need a whole excavation team." she laughed louder, clearly exaggerating her weight for the fun of it.
"Alright let's see here. Let's illuminate our mysteries..." a small lightball formed on her horn and illuminated the interior of the inside of the passage as they reached the way inside. Collapse would get in first, and stand there and wait for the others to join her side in order to explore the place properly.
Magloria seemed to disagree with Collapse, but probably not in the way that she thought of. "I don't recall you being that large when we were back on the Constance. Or not much larger than right now." she stated.
The lightball revealed the rest of the corridor, showing that it was without a doubt much better than the outside made the it look like. If it wasn't for the large amount of dust covering everything, you could almost mistake it for only being a decade old.
Magloria crawled through next, and Jump Start came in last, her earth pony weight causing the rubble to shift as she leapt off of it, shaking the water from her coat. "We got here and we looked inside, now can we please just... wait until the rain stops then go?" she asked.
Magloria shook her head. "If we can't leave, we might as well explore. Besides, exploring was the whole reason we came here in the first place."
Collapse looked around at everything about the place. "Well suffice to say it's pretty dusty. Maybe someone left something important behind." she commented and looked back to Jump Start. "Why would we go back out into the rain? That was the whole point of seeking shelter in here in the first place." she said in a bit of a confused manner.
Then she would walk further on inside. "Magloria, what is your favorite type of cookie? I like Chocalate Chip." she grinned innocently as they began to explore and proceed throughout the area. Well, technically that was a lie. Magloria was her favorite cookie. The toughest cookie of them all, in fact.
As they walked, Jump Start replied. "No, I said we should leave *after* it stops raining, not before. And we don't go any further into this place than we already have." she looked around at the walls and ceiling, as if there were creature hiding in them.
They turned a corner into a different corridor. This one was slightly more decorated, with engravings of unknown design in the floor and roof. "Cookies aren't really my thing, I prefer ice cre-" Magloria replied, then stopped when she saw what else was in the corridor.
Several scattered piles of bones were lying around, some of them from similar creatures, and others different. What was most unnerving about them is they were all broken in some way.
"*Noooowww* can we leave?" Jump Start squeaked.
Collapse looks to the pile of bones there. She clearly is able to tell that they were broken in some way. Not really something she wanted to mess with that was for sure. Her previous topic of conversation is now gone from her mind.
“Yeah. Let’s go. I don’t wanna seek shelter in a place with…*that*.” she turned to leave but left the final decision up to Magloria, but in her mind they could very well find a tree to seek shelter from somewhere or something better.
“Although, those bones there have been here a really long time as the rubble was covering the entrance. So whatever did this is probably long gone now.” Collapse added,
Magloria's magic wrapped around one half of the skeletons and brought it closer for inspection, trying to figure out what would've caused this.
To her surprise, it didn't look like the bone had been broken *at all*. It just stopped, as if something had cut clean through. The end was also charred a slight blackish colour as well.
"Whatever did this is no common beast. If I had to guess it looks like they got magicked in half." Magloria stated, offering the skeleton half to Collapse so she could see. Jump Start turned away as she was not very thrilled with being offered the remains of a dead thing.
"Well maybe this is some sort of trap and we should get out of here before it happens to us. Could be something in the walls, like a trap?" Collapse suggested, almost nervously. Looking to the bone there, she winced. "Definitely seems to be cut. Not by a saw or anything, but definitely by magic. Whatever did this, I definitely don't want to know." Collapse said, not as squeamish as Jump Start was, but it was still not the most pleasant of things.
"So you think a trap did this?" Magloria asked, looking over to the corridor containing the skeletons. "Well I guess there's a way to find out." And with that, she threw the one she had down the corridor.
They very quickly found out that whatever killed those creatures was still very much operational. Green lights lit up in spaces within the walls and roof before sending out a concentrated beam of what could only be described as plasma (or a 'magical energy' to non-scientific creatures).
As the skeleton passed through the air it was effortlessly sliced into dozens of pieces, landing on the opposite side with a loud series of clatters, rolling to a stop where nothing else happened to them.
Assuming Collapse wasn't panicking at the thought of *herself* getting shredded like that, the beams had come out in a pattern that didn't seem like it would completely block someone from walking through... assuming you knew where to walk.
Collapse winced at this and sighed nervously. "Well - now we know." she remarked in nervousness. "Very advanced defense system. We could mess with it but I don't know if we should. Perhaps try to disable those plasma beams there." Collapse pointed out to them curiously. "At the very least we know it's not some monster waiting to kill us all." she noted, watching the remains of the skeleton settle into place there.
"Begs the question if anyone else hasn't been able to get down into here - then may we be the first, if we can find out a way to disable the beams?" Collapse suggested.
"I didn't see anything around that could disable them? Did you?" Magloria asked, looking around the corridor and pressing against the various walls in case there was a hidden button or something. Her attempt wasn't very successful.
"What about breaking them? Couldn't you just use your own magic against them?" Jump Start suggested as she gently kicked a single bone around.
"What you need to do is let me charge up a fire spell - and when I am ready, you will throw a bone and activate the beams. The best I can try to do is destroy the beams using the fire spell maybe, but we'll wanna stand back just incase." Collapse suggested as she started charging up a fire spell. If Magloria and Jump Start let her she would stand there for about two minutes and constantly charge. It was quite a powerful spell, by then, and she would stand back, gesturing for them to do the same while she motioned for Jump Start to throw one of the bones to activate the plasma beams up ahead.
Magloria looked over to Collapse and tried to figure out what she was even going for. Did she know what would happen? "Ok then, if you really want to try it *that* way." Magloria said, moving back preparing her own spell, for some reason.
Jump Start carefully picked up one of the bones, not wanting to be too close to the intense light that Collapse's horn was emitting. Upon Collapse's command, she threw the bone, causing some of the green lights to shine again and slice the bone into pieces.
Now that the green lights were seen Collapse's horn lights up brilliantly with a double helix shape and a very concentrated stream of fire arcs through the air of both sides of the helix before swooping towards the the lights, aiming to get directly at where they are coming out of. Depending on what the lights are made of and how it is designed, it may either do nothing, or it may result in heavy damage.
Like magical energy striking more magical energy, Collapse's stream of fire caused the beams to shift the direction it was being projected and slightly disperse, but nothing else seemed to happen.
It's safe to assume that whatever can project bone-slicing hot energy is probably resistant to it, and any other forms of heat coming from that direction. In any case, once the bone had passed the beams shut off again.
Magloria dispelled her own magic, seeing as it wasn't needed. "Good thing you didn't discharge all your magic in a single burst, otherwise we might've needed to pick ourselves up afterwards." she said.
Collapse sighs in a very disappointed fashion at her spell not doing anything to it. "Hmm. How interesting how it didn't do anything whatsoever. I wasted a lot of my magic, there." she huffed in annoyance.
"Why don't you try with your ice magic? Maybe you can make some sort of ice spear that can spear through the wall, but that wall probably isn't going to break from that." Collapse said to Magloria curiously. "I am not sure how we would work about disabling it though, any ideas?" she asked Magloria.
"You did still do something. You blackened the ground and the walls." Jump Start said, hoping to make Collapse feel better. In all honesty she didn't really think that what she said was going to help much, now that she thought about it.
Magloria looked down at one of the traps, shrugged and summoned up an ice spear, a large one, just to be sure Collapse was satisfied with her attempt.
The spear was launched at the wall near the trap, which activated its beam due to proximity as expected. The sound of ice breaking on the ground was heard, followed by a large amount of hissing of water evaporating as the spear ended up too close to the beam. A large plume of steam now filled the corridor, and the wall was barely chipped.
"Well, assuming we know where each trap is, we could probably just walk through it all." Magloria said, staring down at each of the spots that they had seen beams appear from. "Now that I think about it, they do look sort of similar... and familiar somehow."
Collapse smiled sweetly at Jump Start when she said that and gave her a slight giggle in reply. Well, at least she understood the thought process behind what she said.
Meanwhile Collapse would observe the results of the spear contacting the beam ahead. It was basically as she thought. Little to no result and a whole lot of steam. “Well, at least now we confirmed our suspicions. You say it is familiar, somehow?” Collapse rose an eyebrow.
“Well, that is quite interesting since when I was in that dream after touching the white thing - I felt a sense of familiarity as well. Maybe that feeling is connected to what you are referencing? After all, maybe the same builders applied to that thing and this place, as well as the other ruins we have seen.” she commented.
Magloria paced back and forward in front of the the trap segment, pondering over things out loud. "Perhaps it is connected to that. I can still see the glow of marks in my mind, so... I wonder..." she said, then moved towards the trap.
Jump Start reached out to try and stop her, but didn't want to risk getting herself caught by a beam she didn't notice.
Magloria passed through several meters of corridor, seemingly taking random swerves while occasionally ducking under nothing. One beam appeared, slicing off part of her mane and igniting it, but she quickly put it out with her cold magic.
She reached what she thought was the end, turning back at the others and looking at them. "Huh." was all she said.
Collapse looks to Magloria curiously, and was quite concerned by that. "So, you somehow know the feeling of where to go and what to do? Just like I did, when I went about and flipped the levers within the temple. This is definitely connected. I understand it, now." Collapse said but did not move towards where Magloria was since she herself didn't have the form of perception that Magloria did.
"Do you know enough to where you can tell us what moves to take to get us through the trap here?" Collapse asked further, wondering if her and Jump Start could make it through like Magloria just did.
"I could tell you where to go, but half of it isn't even that." Magloria said, then pointed down at one of the traps. "See the differences between the traps and the actual bricks?"
She looked like she muttered something to herself, probably at their expense, but focused back on the task at hand. "Whenever you're ready. Just if you lose a hoof because you moved too far, don't blame me."
Collapse stayed put. "I'd rather not risk something like that." she said in a serious manner. "I mean, it would be rather stupid of us to walk right through like that." she looks down at the bricks. "Whoever built this is obviously not that intelligent, it'd be better to just have some hidden trap that nobody would have any way of telling."
Magloria shrugged. "I don't claim to know what they were thinking when they designed this. Maybe they had a reason for it... like I dunno, they forgot their keys. But as long as you keep an eye on where the trap bricks are, you should be fine. I'll give you directions and warnings so you don't end up frying yourself." she said.
"Well, you better." Collapse said as she looked into Magloria's eyes there as she stepped forward. Collapse rose a hoof in the air, indicating to Jump Start for her to follow after Collapse was done. When Magloria gave the directions and warnings - Collapse would be sure to follow them to the T.
Jump Start began to follow behind Collapse, but with all the danger surrounding them she made sure to be as close as possible so she didn't end up making a mistake. Collapse could practically feel her body warmth on her tail.
After a few precarious minutes, with Collapse getting her mane, eyebrows and *almost* her forehead charred by a beam she failed to duck under, and Jump Start yelping when a hindleg got too close to a beam, resulting in it getting scorched, they made it to the other side.
"Let's hope we can find something to turn those off when we return, or that we can find another way out elsewhere." Jump Start said, nursing her reddened hindleg.
Collapse took out one of the plants from her saddlebags and would gently rub it onto the spot where Jump Start got burned there. "Yeah, you got that right. I don't want to end up being an archeological study in the next century myself. You alright?" Collapse asked Jump Start, having noticed how nervous she was. She remembered the warm feeling of Jump Start against her. At the very least Collapse got physical contact but under the circumstances she wasn't thinking of it the way she normally would.
Jump Start repeatedly winced during the application procedure, given that rubbing a whole flower onto a tender spot wasn't exactly the easiest way to go about it, even if Collapse did so gently. Maybe turning it into a paste would've worked better.
"I think it's going to hurt for a while, but I can still walk if that's what you're asking." Jump Start replied, rubbing the sore spot to sooth it before looking around, letting out a shrill yelp when she saw some large shape that didn't look like a structure in the darkness up ahead.
"There's a giant thing over there!" she shrieked.
Collapse looked to Jump Start and immediately stood right in front of her in a clear protective manner. Her eyes instantly dart towards where Jump Start was looking. "Where, what do you mean?" Collapse asked quickly, rapidly getting in the mindset for a fight. She could feel her adrenaline surge as soon as she would lay eyes upon what it was. What was it? Well, time to find out.
The moment Collapse looked ahead and her light shone properly down the corridor she saw what Jump Start had been talking about. A massive insectoid creature with a dusty carapace, very similar to a giant centipede that they would see down in the underwater caverns.
Except it never moved towards them, or anywhere else. For all intents and purposes, it acted very dead, and had been for a long time if the amount of dust on it was any indication.
Magloria slowly approached it, proper spear ready in case it did something. Once she was close enough she gave it a light jab, causing a metallic ringing sound. "It's a statue." she said, "Or some weird suit of armor of sorts. Why would they make this?"
Collapse would relax somewhat upon realizing that it was a statue there. "Maybe that is what they looked like, actually. There is no reason to say that the builders of this were Equines nor Panthins, but something else all together - but they ended up dying out a long, long time ago." Collapse said as she walked up to the statue here. "Whatever they are, if this is not what they looked like, perhaps it could be a cultural thing of some kind. Like a god they worshipped? Or something else?" Collapse pondered with a hoof up to her chin.
Magloria shrugged at the whole theories that Collapse had presented. "Perhaps. Though in my opinion it's supposed to intimidate trespassers that got past the trap before it." she paused, thinking about what she said, "On second thoughts, no. That sounds stupid." she said, giving the head of the metal insect a nudge with her hoof.
The statue must not have been constructed very well, because the entire head came loose and fell off, clattering to the floor and rolling around before eventually stopping some distance away, showing the hollow insides of both the head and the rest of the body.
"Eh, it didn't need that part anyway." Magloria sighed.
Collapse laughed at what happened with the head there, but found what Magloria said was even funnier. "Well, if it was pony sized I guess it would make a good Nightmare Night mask, were you ever into costumes, Magloria?" Collapse asked her with a grin as they proceeded further. "One time I dressed up as a giraffe as a filly." she spoke.
Not that Collapse would say it, but she would think that Magloria would look good in a maid outfit. "Hmm, I wonder if you've worn any costumes, Jump Start?" Collapse asked, looking to Jump Start. "You'd make a good orange." she giggled playfully.
Magloria shook her head, looking around the corridor they were in and making sure there wasn't anything else around that would disturb them. Ahead in the dark there were another couple of the same statues, covered in dust and unmoving.
"I didn't attend Nightmare Night, the... place I lived at didn't celebrate it. I did however get to try a variety of masks, though they were ritualistic, and weren't for playing around in." she replied.
Jump Start slowly nodded. "Some costumes, but not an orange." was all she said.
The talk of ritualistic masks, that was interesting. "Well, you mean Zebra masks, with the rituals they do? You did say you lived on the border of Zebrica." Collapse rose an eyebrow at Magloria there, and then looked to Jump Start. "What kinds of costumes?" she asked, and would walk forward, keeping her focus just incase there were any sudden actions in front of them.
Magloria hesitates for a moment, then gives a nod. "Yes, zebra masks. I was close enough to a tribe and I... occasionally participated in their practices, once they trusted me enough."
"I remember one time I dressed up as a bat. Not a thestral, just a normal bat. Everyone thought I was a thestral though so I had to keep reminding them what my costume was." Jump Start explained. She looked a little less creeped out about this place, now that she had been distracted by everyone's stories.
Collapse started to get how own vague feelings of familiarity when the corridor started branching off into different directions, with the first branch they took leading to a completely desolate room, the only things that remained intact were what looked like a stone table and stone chairs, half of which had crumbled. It had a similar layout to living quarters, if she thought about it.
Collapse looks into Magloria's eyes deeply for a second. "From what I know they are very superstitious about things and have an affinity for alchemy, potions, and the natural world itself. It might explain why you know so much about plants and the environment, too." she spoke, but knew that Magloria was likely hiding something. "Strict cultural practices, general distrust, and sometimes exclusion of outsiders..." she added.
Collapse looked to Jump Start. "Ah, sounds interesting. I also dressed up as a...Door Knob one time. Not kidding, I just thought it would be funny. And it was." Collapse said, grinning a bit at that statement.
"I know that I am starting to feel familiar about this place." Collapse spoke, and then went on to explain how she was feeling about the familiarity about things.
"Things that anyone can know if they seek it, and ways absolutely anyone can act, believe me, I know ponies who act just as 'distrustful' as you think of me." Magloria stated, her tone growing into a more no-nonsense form. "Besides, a town as remote as Creamwood with non-pony neighbors, eventually we were going to interact with each other."
Jump Start wasn't sure how to react to Collapse's admittance of such a costume, so instead she awkwardly smiled. "That sounds... uh... funny, as you said..." she replied, with no laughter in her voice at all.
After hearing Collapse's explanation on her feelings, Magloria pointed down a random corridor. "So you should be able to tell us where we are then, right? You did after all knock yourself out, figuratively and literally, to end up with this feeling. Lead us to... wherever we're supposed to go." she suggested.