“AAAAAUUUGHHH!” Senax screamed in pain and terror as Godfrey stabbed through her tail-fin, impaling her and pinning her to the stone floor with his sword. It stabbed right into the rock and he let it go with a sneer, leaving Senax like a speared fish that couldn’t escape. The scream soon turned into a wheezing moan and Senax paled, going limp and her eyes glassy with shock.
“Senax!” Rainbow yelled and flew over to save her and attack Godfrey.
Godfrey contemptuously swatted her out of the air with the back of his talon. “Oh please, like this fight isn’t over.” He frowned and looked down at Senax. “This didn’t need to happen you know? But that’s the kind of thing that happens to ponies who make me angry. I was just going to leave with you too, but I feel like I have to teach you a lesson so you learn your place. Now you can give all your friends a real goodbye. Because you won’t ever be seeing them again.”
He opened his talon in front of her face to show off its sharp claws.
“Of course...” Godfrey smirked as he looked around the room at the other occupants all struggling to rise. “The question is which do I make you say goodbye to first?”
His eyes narrowed at his brother.
“Well. Guess we’re about past time on that.”
“No… you’re not… you’re not doing that...” Rainbow Dash said as she pushed herself to her hooves once more.
“Oh give it a rest already,” Godfrey rolled his eyes at her. “You lose, Rainbow Dash.”
Senax lay still on the floor, her eyes half-lidded and her mouth only half open as she breathed in shallow breaths. The symptoms of shock still wrapping through her and only a cold feeling coming up from her pierced tail. She didn’t even seem to acknowledge Rainbow Dash, Godfrey, or anyone else in the chamber anymore.
Rainbow Dash looked down at her merpony friend and grit her teeth before glaring at Godfrey. “I’m still standing aren’t I? We’re still tied one to one in my book.”
“Fine then, get over here and I’ll clean your clock,” Godfrey grinned as he raised his fists.
Rainbow Dash spread her legs and tensed her muscles to get ready to run right at him.
Before either of them could move a powerful rumbling shook the entire chamber and the floor and walls started to crack. Godfrey and Rainbow Dash both stumbled and fell over as the stone floor tilted and a fissure ran right between them. Daylight Gleam rolled out of the way of a piece of sculpted façade falling from the wall towards her, and the tunnel they had come from started to crack and crumble behind her. Gilbert was helped up by Breakwater as the two looked around in worry. The fake buildings all began to completely fall apart, shaking and disintegrating, huge cracks running up their fronts, and even more pebbles and bits of debris falling from the ceilings.
Finally, an even more powerful rumbling came from the fissure between Rainbow Dash and Godfrey. It cracked open further before bulging up and at last a geyser of lava exploded out from it. More and more blasts of lava erupted all over the chamber. Some coming from the floor and others from the wall, leaking from the buildings and already melting parts of the stone away.
“Wait, for real?” Godfrey said as he looked around at the volcanic terror happening.
“Oh crud,” Rainbow Dash grimaced.
“Rainbow! Everyone! We have to get out of here now!” Daylight Gleam yelled as more lava poured into the chamber and the entire place started to collapse.
The lava oozed across the floor to Godfrey and Senax so the griffon pirate flapped his wings and ascended to safety. Seeing what was happening, Rainbow Dash sucked in a deep breath and flew at full speed to Senax. She didn’t like what she was going to have to do, and she knew it was going to hurt Senax, but there was nothing else that could be done. Rainbow grasped the hilt of Godfrey’s cutlass and yanked it out of the ground and Senax’s tail all in one swift pull. She heard a slight gasp of pain from the shocked merpony and reached down to scoop her up—carrying them both into the air right before the lava poured over where Senax had just been lying.
Godfrey narrowed his eyes as he took in the situation. The volcano was still rumbling as quakes shook through it, they and the flow of lava weren’t stopping anytime soon. It seemed this place really was erupting. It would be a thrill to escape it, and something to brag about, but it kind of annoyed him that the eruption was getting in the way of his fun.
He clicked his beak. “Unbelievable.” Glancing over at Rainbow Dash he gave her a mocking grin and a wave. “Some other time then. Maybe, heh!”
Without a second look he flew into the tunnel that led back out to the temple’s entrance they had both come in from.
“Jerk,” Rainbow Dash said and flew down over to where Daylight was. Gilbert also picked up Breakwater and brought him so the whole group could be together. Rainbow Dash briefly saw a golden shine in the corner of her eye and looked over just in time to see the golden scepter and its ruby get swallowed up by the rushing lava. She rolled her eyes. Go figure.
“This is quite the catastrophe we’ve found ourselves in,” Gilbert said.
“We’ll just have to go out the same way we came in,” Daylight said and pointed at the tunnel. “So long as you and Rainbow Dash can carry us, we just need to retrace our steps like Godfrey is!”
“Yeah, we can carry the three of you easily,” Rainbow said.
“Senax should get on my back,” Gilbert said and bent down to let the merpony climb onto him. She was still shaky and pale but she managed to wrap her hooves around his neck and stay in place. He then got ready to grab Breakwater as Rainbow did the same with Daylight.
“Okay, let’s go!” Rainbow shouted.
The moment she did so the wall over their exit tunnel cracked as the ceiling of the tunnel collapsed and tons of rock and lava fell over it, completely blocking their way and sealing the exit.
“Dang,” Rainbow frowned.
“Uhh… any ideas for what we do now?” Breakwater asked.
“Pick another tunnel at random and hope for the best?” Gilbert said.
Daylight Gleam nodded. “Actually Gilbert, that’s the smartest thing you’ve said in weeks. Rainbow Dash? If you could be exceptionally lucky again, it would be really helpful.”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Follow me, Gilbert! And don’t worry, if we’re all relying on me then there’s nothing to fear!”
She looked around the now lava-filled chamber for a tunnel that was still intact while more streams of lava shot up from the floor and spilled in from the walls. Across the way, one stuck out to her. She had a good feeling about it. It was on the opposite side from the tunnel they had used to find the golden scepter and it looked like it went upwards, probably to the exterior of the volcano if she was going to guess.
“That one!” Rainbow shouted and flew with Daylight below, Gilbert following right behind with Breakwater and Senax.
The entire floor was now lava, meaning the tunnel was also partially flooded with it, but they could still travel in and up it to momentary safety. Rainbow Dash spared one last glance behind her as they did so and saw the lava continue to rise up until it blocked vision of the chamber entirely. The speed at which it was going was dangerous, this tunnel would become like another lava tube that it would soon shoot through. She had to hope they’d get out of here fast, either by finding another big chamber or by getting out of the volcano entirely.
“We can’t slow down for a second!” Rainbow shouted.
“I wasn’t planning to!” Gilbert shouted back. He had more weight to carry and already wasn’t as fast as her though, Rainbow Dash could see him straining and putting his all into it. The heat from the volcano was making things tougher as well.
She just had to trust in him. She knew Gilbert would never willingly give up in a situation like this. Right now she had to focus on being the one to get them out of here. That meant flying in front and not hitting any walls or getting lost somewhere. There just had to be another way out of this volcano temple, there had to be. The quaking of the volcano as it started to erupt was causing a lot of fuss in these tunnels as dirt and rocks constantly rained down from the ceilings and walls, it made flying even more hazardous but they couldn’t really slow down. Daylight at least was keeping her horn lit to give them all enough light to see where they were going now that the glow from the lava was well behind them. Similar to the tunnel that had led to the golden scepter, this one had a lot of twists and turns to it, but it was less “random” than that one had been. These turns were more angular and the walls of the tunnel appeared more carved and not left like a natural cave. It was more like they were going up a long ramp that kept zig-zagging upwards.
There had to be a purpose to it. Rainbow Dash was pleading in her heart for it to not be another trap, or not just end in another chamber with those fake buildings and sepulchers.
As they flew past another curve, part of the wall collapsed and lava began pouring out into the tunnel. Rainbow Dash and Gilbert had to fly up, right below the ceiling, to completely avoid it splashing onto them. It was hardly the last time that happened either. The rumbling was getting far more powerful with each passing second, larger chunks of stone were falling from the ceiling and walls and the floor of the tunnel was cracking and breaking apart everywhere.
“A-Are we actually okay?” Daylight asked from below her.
“I’m making sure of it, just keep that light on,” Rainbow said.
Behind her, Senax tightened her hooves around Gilbert’s neck. The blood loss from the stab wound had made her light-headed and woozy, despite the chaos and noise around her she was having difficulty staying awake. Each labored breath brought her closer and closer to fainting. “I’m scared, Gilbert.” She whispered into his ear.
“Nothing to be frightened of,” he responded, trying to grin back at her. “We’ll be out of here and back on our boat in a jiffy.”
Senax couldn’t manage a spoken response, so she just nodded.
Meanwhile Breakwater grimaced. “I really hope that isn’t just you being as optimistic as always… I’d like to not horribly die in a volcano like this.”
“We’ll see,” Gilbert awkwardly smiled.
While Rainbow Dash continued to zoom in front and take them up the tunnel, after one more turn she saw something unexpected coming from ahead. Something that could be either a blessing or a curse. There was a light coming from the end of the tunnel. Whether it was the glow of lava or the light from outside, she wasn’t sure yet. The heat around them was so oppressive that if it was lava she couldn’t even tell from that. It all just felt like an oven already.
“Please let me be lucky again,” Rainbow said.
“You see it too?” Daylight asked her.
“Yeah. Whatever it is, we’re about to get out of this tunnel.”
“I’ll believe in your luck the best I can then...” Daylight said.
Rainbow Dash briefly looked over her shoulder at Gilbert. “We’re about to get out of this tunnel, so be prepared for anything!”
“Right!” Gilbert nodded.
In another second she and Gilbert both zoomed out of the tunnel and came into a room with much more open air, the two of them paused briefly as they looked around to see what new situation they were in. It unfortunately wasn’t exactly what they wanted. They were in another similar large chamber where the far wall—which must’ve been the exterior wall of the volcano by Rainbow’s guess based on where they’ve traveled through the temple—was made of more sculpted fake buildings. The light was most definitely not natural sunlight either, but lava oozing and pouring down from the walls and gathering on the floor. It was preparing to pour down the tunnel they had just come from, so they had at least gotten lucky to have gotten out of it just now.
“What do we do? Where do we go from here?” Gilbert asked.
Rainbow Dash and Daylight Gleam both looked around for any sign of an exit or at the very least another path to buy some time. But they saw nothing more than rock walls and lava pouring down.
“I-I don’t know!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“Is this it?” Breakwater muttered.
“It’s moments like these I really wish I knew how to teleport...” Daylight said.
“Oh come on! You guys can’t give up on me right now, there’s gotta be a way out of this!” Rainbow Dash said as she kept looking around.
“I’m sorry… everyone,” Senax weakly said from on top of Gilbert. “This is all… all my fault...”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip at Senax’s words, still not about to give up but not knowing what to do. Come on, come on, anything!
Another massive earthquake tore through the entire volcano—an incredible rumbling rising up from its depths. They could hear the volcano in the throes of eruption and feel it all around them as the massive explosion that would signify the true eruption came near. But as that earthquake continued to shake, the far wall of the chamber became filled with deep cracks and fissures. The fake buildings began to cave in and crumble to pieces, taking more of the volcano’s wall with them. The entire group watched with shock as a small portion of the wall completely fell away and beams of sunlight from outside poured into the lava-filled chamber.
Rainbow Dash grinned and looked at the others. “See? I’m really lucky.”
“Less bragging more going please!” Daylight yelled at her.
“R-Right!” Rainbow Dash kept her grip tight on the unicorn and zoomed at full speed to the hole that had opened up on the side of the volcano.
“And away we go!” Gilbert yelled and followed right behind her.
Rock was still falling all around the hole but the two knew they couldn’t possibly hesitate or worry about that. It took a little dodging and zipping around but soon the two were able to shoot right through the narrow escape route and into the open air outside. Everyone took a deep breath as it felt like they had passed through an invisible veil, the heat suddenly not so oppressive, the claustrophobic feeling inside the volcano gone.
They were outside.
They were outside.
They still weren’t safe.
“W-We have to still get back to the Heart of Azure!” Daylight Gleam yelled.
“Yeah, I know!” Rainbow said. “I hope you’re not tired Gilbert cause-”
A deafening blast rang out across the island, so powerful that Rainbow Dash nearly reflexively reached up to cover her ears and dropped Daylight. Instead she grit her teeth as she and Gilbert turned around and all of them looked up to the peak of the erupting volcano.
The ashen gray sky was muddied with orange and red, though the very top of the volcano itself was still intact as lava flowed down from its sides. The explosion they heard was just a warning shot. A preliminary blast before the volcano blew its stack. A powerful quake came from the volcano that shook not just the fiery mountain but the jungle around it, and maybe the entire island, precipitated the true eruption. For a second it looked like the top quarter of the volcano was imploding before the exact opposite happened and the entire peak erupted in a massive blast. A shockwave that nearly shattered the eardrums of the group hovering in the volcano’s shadow spread throughout the island and the pressurized lava and fire formerly in the volcano’s heart was freed.
Uncountable tons of lava and ash were shot into the sky over the Smoking Island. And it began to rain fire and molten rock.