'This is nuts.' That was all Ryan could think to himself as he gripped a small hand hold in the side of the rock face, doing everything in his power not to look down at the endless drop. He looked around the rock face to find his next hand or foot hold, trying not to think about how tired his arms were or how sweaty his palms had become. After about ten minutes of heart racing climbing, Ryan had made it maybe half way to the cave on the other side of the endless drop. The weight of the backpack was constantly in the back of his mind, but the small handholds and the wet rocks were murder.
"This is the stupidest things that I have ever done. Ever. In the history of my life," he growled to himself, looking around for the next hand or foot hold. A small rock jutted out of the cliff face, a bit of a stretch for him to reach. Fortunately, a foothold was right below, so he placed his foot on the rock carefully, gently shifting his weight just in case the rock broke. It held and he placed his full weight on it, reaching for the hand hold. With an effort, his hand grasped the rock and he pulled himself to a better position. He looked around again, groaning when he realized he'd half to jump up to reach the next rock.
"There has got to be a better way," he grunted, launching himself towards the grip. One hand managed to grab it, but his left missed and hit the rock wall instead. Ryan clenched his teeth as he hung on to the grip with only one hand. As he grip began to slip, he desperately clawed at the cliff face, trying to find anything to give him something to hold onto. Ryan kicked one of his feet in and found a small crack he could slip his foot into. With the foot rest, he was able to stabilize himself and take a breather. He looked at his location on the wall, noting that he was about two thirds of the way across.
"Can't quit now." He continued moving across the wall, avoiding bad hand holds and keeping his eyes vertical, never once looking down. After ten more minutes of tense moments and almost certain death slips, he managed to make his way above the cave's entrance. He slowly moved in behind the massive waterfall, which had half hidden the cave. He smiled as he slowly began his descent, believing that he was finally finished. It was then his luck gave out. His foothold shattered under his weight and his grip slipped, resulting in a ten foot drop straight onto the caves slight extended platform. He landed on his back with a thud, rolling onto his side.
"Damn it...that hurt," he groaned as he slowly sat up. The fall had knocked the wind out of him, but that vest Ditzy had given him and protected his bones. But while his skeletal structure was safe, his hands had been skinned in the fall and he had banged his knee on a rock, tearing the pants leg. While he would normally ignore the pain, the blood loss would become a problem later. Taking a moment to rest and recover, Ryan reached inside his back pack and pulled out a much smaller role of bandages. He wrapped them around both his hands and his bloodied knee. As he patched himself up, he regretted not taking them medicine. It would have come in handy. Once he was in satisfactory condition, Ryan pulled himself back up and stared at the cave entrance. It was dark, foreboding and reeked with an odd smell.
"Seems nice enough," he said with a small laugh and headed inside. After a few steps, the cave nearly turned pitch black. Ryan didn't like to do it, but he pulled out his stun baton and flipped it on, holding up the electrified rod to light his way. Ryan continued to walk, noticing that the wall were bare and empty. When he had been walking for a few minutes, he reached a step descent in the cave. Ryan only gave it a small thought before walking down the slippery slope. He descended even farther into the depths, eventually reaching a small hole in the floor. He could still see the bottom even when he stood above it, meaning that the fall wasn't that far. He placed the baton back in his bag and jumped down.
Incredible. That was the only word that could describe the corridor he landed in from his drop. When he had landed and pulled his baton back out, the light from it was immediately reflected off of thousands of crystals. The blue light reflected in thousands of different patterns, resulting in a multitude of rainbows on the walls and ceilings. Ryan looked around at the crystals, finding that he could only advance forward. Ryan pushed in, keeping away from the crystals. He didn't like to touch crystals, since the last one he had touched blasted him across a room. He continued to move and advance until he reached something that always annoyed him. Something that wanted to kill him.
He had entered a circular chamber with crystals all over the walls. These crystals ranged in color from red to the weirdest purple, creating a room of rainbows. But none of the beautiful crystals or the massive door at the end of the room interested him at the moment. No what had his attention was the massive crystal centipede in the center of the room. It was about his size, but had a lot of legs and was a deep blue in color. The moment he laid eyes on it, it spun around and saw him, screeching at him in a threatening manner.
"Well, you must be what tries to kill me t-" Ryan couldn't even finish his sentence as the creature went straight into attack mode. He rolled to the side as the centipede barreled by him. He came out of the roll and brought his baton up, watching as the insect ran up the side of the wall and redirected itself back towards him. He watched it carefully as it charged straight at him, waiting for his chance to strike. He jumped to the side as it thundered past and brought his baton down upon its head with authority, having the surprising effect of cracking the creature’s skull. It shrieked and backed off, giving Ryan a chance to speak.
"Ha, not so tough, are you? This'll be-" He was cut off mid-sentence as the centipede screeched and suddenly disappeared into thin air. Ryan immediately started looking around, wondering where the hell it had gotten to. He heard a movement behind him and he turned around just in time to be flattened by the insect. It's hundreds of legs trampled him, but the vest protected his body and he put his arm over his head. When he was done getting stomped on, he quickly got to his feet and looked around the room, but the centipede was once again gone.
"Alright, you S.O.B, where are you?" he muttered, looking around the room carefully. He had figured that the centipede’s crystal body allowed it to blend in with its environment, giving it a natural camouflage in this kind of environment. Ryan had been fine with fighting it head on, but fighting it blind would be too much for him. He heard the sound of feet behind him again and he tossed himself to the side instinctually, the centipede thundering past and vanishing into the crystals. Ryan picked himself up, knowing that he only had a short amount of time until the beast attacked again. Just like with all his other fights, he needed a plan. Ryan looked at the multitude of crystals, noticing that each of them was a different color. The centipede must be able to blend in by shifting it's colors to match the crystals. But he had only seen it as one color, not six or seven colors. Maybe it could only be one color at a time? Ryan looked to the center of the room and noticed one massive crystal sitting on the floor, not too far from him. He looked from it to his baton, an idea forming in his head.
"If this doesn’t work, I'm screwed," he muttered, rushing over to the center crystal. He heard the centipede start it's attack again, knowing it was going to finish him off. He raced straight up to the crystal and rammed his stun baton right into its center. The light show that followed was spectacular. Rays of lights shot out in every direction, creating a cascade of colors that bounced all over the room. As more of the rays ricochet from the crystals, more and more of the rays struck Ryan and the centipede. While Ryan was unaffected, the centipede was bathed in a multitude of colors, rendering it's camo useless. Now that Ryan could see it, he could finish it.
"Now it's mine turn." He rushed straight towards the centipede and brought the weapon down on the insects head again. The crack from the previous blow spread out even further, causing the centipede to screech and retreat back into the room. It climbed up the wall until it was out of sight.
"That could've gone better," Ryan muttered, stretching out his injured body parts. It had been a learning experience that was certain. The creature had created away for it to use its environment to its advantage and Ryan had to overcome that. Had Zecora meant for him to learn how to use the environment to his advantage or to come out of nowhere and be unpredictable? Regardless, the bug was gone and the door stood before him. Ryan placed his hands on the door and pushed it open, preparing for whatever was on the inside.
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He had not been expecting this. As he walked past the doors and into the inner room, he was greeted by a huge underground lake with soft lights reflecting of the ceiling and the water. He slowly moved forward, drinking in the sight. Fireflies of all sorts floated above the lake, giving a sense of serenity to the room. Like the previous room there were crystals everywhere, but these were much smaller than the other room. He thought he saw something in the center of the lake and he moved forward to investigate.
"Hi!"
Ryan swung his baton over his head and his eyes scanned the room, looking for the source of the voice. He didn't see anything besides the fireflies, but it's was possible his ears had heard something. He lowered his baton and went to switch it off. He brought his baton in front of him to find a small creature sitting on his weapon.
"What's your name?" it asked him. Ryan processed what was happening on an unemotional level. A creature that was small with glittering wings was sitting on the end of his still electrified baton, apparently not affected. Judging from its small feature and fascinating wings, he assumed it was a fairy. That was what went through his mind as he saw the creature. What he did was to toss the baton into the air and leap backwards, tripping over a crystal.
"You're funny!" the now hovering fairy laughed at him as he brought himself back to its feet. He hated it when creatures surprised him like that. He got back to his feet and reclaimed his baton. The fairy flittered around him while he walked to the edge of the lake. He pulled the binoculars out of the bag and used them to look towards the center. Yep, there was a small pedestal in the center of the lake, with something placed on the top of it. He couldn't make out what it was, but he figured that it was the mushroom Zecora wanted. Ryan placed the binoculars back in the bag and was about to take a step into the water, when the fairy flew in front of him.
"Sorry, but that water isn't for swimming. You have to find another way," it told him with a smile.
"The hell do you mean, find another way?" he asked it. He hadn't risked his life climbing over a bottomless pit and fighting a crystal centipede to be told there was another way. He shook his head and tried to sidestep past the fairy, but it flew in front of him and placed a tiny hand on his chest.
"I said no," it said in a more serious voice. He rolled his eyes and went to push his way through, but the fairy applied a little more pressure and tossed him across the room. He slammed into the wall, the vest once again saving him, and slid to the floor. Why? Why was everything in this world infinitely stronger than him?
"Fine...you win. What's the other way?" he asked it with a groan, getting back up. The fairy smiled again and flew over to him.
"Alright, but before I tell you that, what's your name?"
"...Ryan."
"Okay Ryan, I'm Silverstar. Now, as to the lake, it's actually a test, same with the bug you fought back there. Kudo’s for managing to beat it. Now, the trick is to find a way to get to the item from the center without touching the water. Also, no flying or magic," she said with a frown. "Finally, you can ask me one question. But only one."
Great, he had to find a way to get to the mushroom in the center without being able to swim. She didn't even need to bother with the mention of no magic or flying, since he couldn't do either. Ryan sat down on the edge of the lake and shrugged his back pack off. He wasn't sure how to get to the center, but he needed to.
He sat there for hours, not a single idea coming to him. There weren't enough crystals on the ceiling for him to try and use them as hand holds, plus he probably wouldn't be able to hold on. Swimming was out and his rope would never reach the pedestal. And to top off his annoyance, the stupid fairy wouldn't shut up.
"You know, you can still ask me a question," she whispered in his ear. He ignored her the best he could and focused on the problem at hand. Nothing he thought of would work. And the fairy just continued to talk away, as if trying to keep his attention on her...Wait, that might work. Or it would fail horribly. Only one way to find out.
"...Alright, here's my question." The fairy floated in the air next to him, waiting for his question. "Can you get whatever's over there for me?...Please?" He waited for her reaction, fairly certain that he had wasted his question. But to his surprise, the fairy let out a happy laugh and flew around his head.
"I don't believe it! One hundred years I've been down here and nopony has ever asked for my help! As a matter of fact, nopony still has because you're technically not a pony!...But to answer your question. Yes, I will get it for you, but only because you're cute." With a wink, Silverstar flew out across the lake and came back a few seconds later with a strange silver armband with a blue sapphire in the center. She dropped it into his hands with a smile, while he stared at it in confusion.
"What's this?" he eventually asked. Silverstar looked at him in equal confusion.
"It's the anti-magi's armband, the one that can cancel out any magic that touches the wearer. I've guarded it for years. Isn't it what you came her for?"
"No, I came to find some sort of crystal mushroom, not this armband," Ryan informed her, turning over the item in his hands. The fairy looked at him for a moment before shaking her head.
"The mushrooms you're thinking of grow back at the top of the waterfall. If those were what you were after, why'd you come down here?"
"Because, I was told that the mushrooms were..." Then Ryan realized that Zecora had never specifically told him that the mushrooms grew inside the cave at the falls. She said that they were there, but not inside. She had KNOWN he would descend into the cave to find them. She had tricked him once again!
"ZECORA!" he yelled, jumping back to his feet in a rage. He placed the armband into his bag and started to head back to the entrance. However, Silverstar flew in front of him and held out her hand.
"If you're planning to go out the other way, I wouldn't recommend it. Since you didn't kill that centipede, it will be back with reinforcements. You'd be slaughtered."
"So what do I do?" Silverstar smiled and snapped her fingers. One bright flash later, Ryan found himself standing above the falls, next to a number of mushrooms made of blue crystals. He looked back to the smiling fairy, not believing how powerful she was. He crouched down and picked one of the mushrooms, placing it in his bag.
"...Thanks for your help," Ryan said to Silverstar. She smiled in return before looking around at the forest.
"Well, now that I no longer need to guard that armband, I'm gonna go see the world."
"Hold on, you said that this arm band will stop ALL magic, correct?"
"Yup, as long as you're wearing it, you're essentially magic proof. It's great when messing with unicorns!" She gave him one last wink and took off into the sky, leaving a confused Ryan watching her go. He shook his head and pulled the armband back out, looking at it in interest. Magic proof, huh? That might come in handy later on. Ryan slipped the band onto his shoulder and froze while an odd sensation, like cold water running through his veins, gripped his body. Once the feeling had passed, he turned towards Zecora's hut and headed off.