//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: The Fourth Temple // Story: Daring Do and the Tears of the Clouds // by TheLegendaryBillCipher //------------------------------// An ominous wind whipped at the ropes and rigging of the airship as they approached the final island to the southwest. Yearling gripped her pith helmet as she disembarked, followed closely behind by Elytra. The air was clear around the last island. The clouds billowed about in gusts of wind what whistled through various floating stone rings about the tornado-shaped island. Ahead was the temple and its stone door—and from a distance, Yearling could see the way in. There were four small windmills surrounding the door, each resembling a child’s pinwheel. Two were vertical, and lay flush against the stone of the door, while two others were vertical, and extended out on either side of the door on metal struts. Despite the howling winds, their coppery blades didn’t so much as budge. “The currents funnel around the door,” Yearling said, looking around. “We’ll need to guide them to those windmills. I’ll need some help.” “I’ll try,” Elytra said. “What do you want me to do?” “It’s possible to shape currents by guiding them with your wings. If you used Pegasi wings, we could work together to angle them towards the door,” Yearling explained. Elytra nibbled her bottom lip. “Show me how to do it, I’ll get a pair of wings,” she said. Yearling nodded, flying upwards. She reached out with her hoof until she felt a gust against it, then rolled into it. Straining with her wings partially curved, she angled towards the door and rolled out of the current. One of the windmills on a metal strut began spinning in the wind. Elytra flapped over, now sporting a feathery pair of purple wings. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said, flying up in search of her own current. She rolled into one and tried to guide it towards one of the windmills on the door, but missed it. “Focus on where you want it to go, then roll out of it,” Yearling said. “Watch.” She flapped up into another current of wind, and Elytra watched carefully as she curved her wings and angled the gust towards the door, causing the second windmill on a strut to start spinning. Elytra huffed, flying up until she felt a particularly strong wind. She rolled into it and curved her wings, grunting with effort. She didn’t roll out of the current until she was pointed perpendicular to the door. Both of the windmills against the door started spinning in tandem. A tornado symbol flashed white on the door, and it groaned open. Yearling nodded in approval as Elytra flapped down next to her. “Great work.” “Wherever did you learn something like this?” the changeling asked her. “Flying school,” Yearling said, flapping inside. Elytra changed her wings back and quickly joined her. They both stopped at the plaque inside the final temple, much larger than the rest. Yearling quickly started translating it: "This final tablet we inscribe is a plea. The leaders of the earth ponies and unicorns have agreed to unify with us, to form a kingdom called Equestria. Their leader, an alicorn, has promised she has found a prison for the monsters, and with their power of friendship, we will have no need for the Tears of the Clouds, and we fear what might happen if they're discovered. "We are sending these floating islands south over an uncharted ocean, and the Tears of the Clouds with them. We hope our magic will give out eventually and send them crashing into the depths never to be seen again. Should you be reading this now, it means we were not entirely successful. Our plea is thus: free our Sister in the centermost island. We sent her as a safeguard, in the scant chance that we would need the Tears again. She holds the key to wielding them. "Please, if you find her, and if there is a chance she is alive, I beg you to free her, and finish what we started - send the Tears into an abyss, so that they may never be used for evil." “So they abandoned these islands and sent them shortly before the Unification of Equestria,” Yearling explained. “But who is this ‘Sister’?” “A failsafe, and probably the last Pegasus who knows how to use those gemstones,” Elytra surmised. “Which means we need to find her as soon as possible. Let’s get that gemstone.” Yearling nodded, flying quickly to the back of the temple to the altar. The last gemstone was pale grey in color, and its glow flickered like a candle’s flame in the breeze. As Yearling picked it up, she felt a tingle in her wings, and the coolness of a breeze against her hooves. As she tucked it away into her saddlebags, she nodded to Elytra, and the two of them flew out of the temple. A gust of strong wind halted their progress, and blew away from lazily floating clouds nearby—revealing a chunk of floating debris that was currently occupied. “Look!” Elytra cried, pointing to them. The masked, furry creatures, realizing they had been spotted, started up their small airboat. Elytra and Yearling watched them disappear into the dense fogbank that hung on the ocean far below. Elytra started to fly after them, but Yearling stopped her with a hoof. “We’re not alone. We need to get to that center island come first light and get out of here,” she said. Frowning, Elytra nodded, and the two made a break back for the airship.