//------------------------------// // The Bubbly Deity in the Buried Temple // Story: An Equestrian Journey // by Aslfrasle //------------------------------// Purple and Blue had been flying on the violet creatures back for several minutes before they reached the ruins it was flying towards. Seeing how fast they had traversed over the several dunes, Purple almost wished this creature would stay with them, as it was a much faster way of travel compared to slowly walking over each dune of the endless desert. AS they reached the center of the ruins, the creature (from here on known as Violet) lowered and let the two adventurers off of its back. The first thing Purple noticed about the structure was crumbling wall that was hiding another story wall. She called to Blue and swayed her head towards it, indicating that they should head over. The story wall had more of the monuments, which Purple ignited with her magic, which in turn depicted the ancient lore this wall had to impart. Upon the mural Purple saw the same city she had seen in earlier walls, though this one was ruined and in complete disrepair. She also realized that where her kind had been plentiful in earlier tales, there were barely any of them in this story and those that were there were sequestered in small buildings keeping solemn watch over the scarves and cloths they had collected, never looking away for fear of losing them to the imaginary beings that seemed to be hiding in every shadow of the crumbling buildings. Purple realized that their greed for the power of the scarves had consumed them, and their fear of losing them superseded even the need to eat or sleep. Purple could not begin to imagine what could make them act so deranged. It was then that she realized that these walls were not left as a way for them to figure out the history of her people and their way of life but was instead a cautionary tale, warning against depending on the power of the scarves. For while the scarves powers did vastly improve the standard of living, they also contain unfathomable power and as they say, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Purple etched the story’s warning into her mind so that she would never forget and it suffer the same fate as those that came before. It was at this time that Violet flew up to the them and began wildly chirping. They decided it would be a good idea to for her as she might have found something. Hidden inside a collapsed corridor, Violet had a discovered a secret passageway deeper into the ruins! They followed the sandy ancient passage further downwards until they came upon a dead end, a large stone wall blocking any incursion deeper into the structure. The stone wall was very intricately created and someone pristine and new compared to the surrounding ruins. Violet called to the pair and urged them to venture through the gate almost as if it knew what was on the other side. Purple attempted to tell her that it was impossible, that they had now way through the gate but she didn’t seem to understand, she just kept urging them on. Purple then decided it would be best to humor her and show her that it was not possible. She began to approach the gate, yet as she did she felt something strange. It was almost like a voice, though it was speaking strange words she didn’t understand. Part-way through the disembodied voice’s speech, she thought she heard something about magic. She had no clue about how to open this stone gate, so she figured she would give magic a try. Summoning all the magic she had in body, she channeled it through her horn into the most massive wave of magic she could muster. Aiming her wave of energy at the door, she took a deep breath and then let loose. The great wave of magic surged forwards and as it collided with the stone there was a strange reaction. Instead of hitting it and bouncing back, or simply passing through it the magic seemed to be soaked up by the stone, as if it was drinking the magical energy through it’s stony pores. Once the magic had been entirely devoured by the gate, there was a jarring, mechanical sound. With a clank of metal and the whirring of gears, the stone gate slowly slid open, inch by inch, until it was fully agape. Purple peered inside the newly opened tunnel and she could tell it had not been opened in a very long time as the halls were clean and sand-free, it was even less ruined than the ruins she had seen so far. She quickly scanned the area for anything that may be hostile, though like the rest of the desert it seemed they were the only ones here. Once Purple gave the a-ok Blue immediately shot ahead into the tunnel, though her dash was cut short abruptly as Purple grabbed Blue’s tail in her mouth.Blue looked back with a look of anger and unhappiness on her face, though Purple chirped back with a look on her face that said We need to be careful, who know what could be in there!. Blue immediately understood and stepped back, rejoining the rest of the group. The three of them entered the corridor slowly making their way down the winding passageway. It was a very simple path, one single path that continued forwards with no distracting side paths divert those traveling it. They continued down the path for several minutes until they reached some sort of atrium for a temple of sorts. Somehow this area had remained entirely pristine and unscathed by time and the desert sands. The only thing there was in the area that reminded of the desert was the thin layer of sand that covered the floor. They made their way through the atrium and into the temple proper...and what they saw they could not have imagined. The atrium’s doorway fed into a massive golden temple with a gargantuan tower in the center that went as far up as they could see. On the surrounding walls there were smaller shrines and places of worship all the way up, along with floating platforms that connected the shrine to the tower via scarf bridges. While they were amazed by the majesty of this magnificent jewel of a temple, a creature had been slowly sneaking up on them from behind. It was shaped like Purple and Blue were though it had no cloak to protect it’s body from the desert winds, and instead sported a goatee and turban. It also walked around on two legs as opposed to the four that the adventurers walked upon. What was strangest of all though...it was pink. It had almost reached it’s prey, slowly stalking, never making too much noise lest it alert them. The moment it reached them, it stretched out it’s body, making itself as tall as it could, reached it’s arms out to both sides ready to strike, and then it scooped them up...in a great big bear hug. “Oh my gosh, new ponies!” it shrieked. “It been a while since I’ve seen anyone new in here, though I actually haven’t ever seen anyone in here, but that doesn’t really matter right now cause I get to make new friends!” The group of adventurers had no idea who this creature was, why it was hugging them, or what it wanted. It looked like they did, but without the cloak, yet it seemed to be making the same noises that Purple heard outside of the great stone door. Even the voice seemed similar and Purple began to believe that this strange being was the one who sent that message. The pink creature then released them from it’s death grip and began speaking in that unintelligible tongue again. “So what are you guys doing down her? Because I’ve been here for a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, time and I’ve never seen anyone come down here, though I already said that didn’t I, anyway I’m Pinkie Pie, who are you guys?” Purple simply looked a Blue with a confused stare. She had no idea how they were going to communicate with this ‘Pinkie Pie’, it was the first thing they had found that did not speak their shared language of chirps and calls. Purple was trying to formulate a plan when she heard Blue chirping away at Pinkie. Purple was about to get Blue to stop, believing it to be impossible when Pinkie spoke up a third time. “OH MY GOSH,” she shouted, “can you guys like, not talk or something because I feel like you’re trying to tell me something but I can’t hear anything other than just squeaks and chirps, and I think it would be kinda hard to be friends if we can’t talk to each other. “Well, we can do the first step of being friends though,” she exclaimed with joy, “you already know my name, but I don’t know yours. Since you can’t tell me, I’ll just try to guess your names!” Pinkie walked over to Purple and began looking her over. “You look really smart and that purple color reminds me of nighttime, so I’m going to call you Twilight. She then did the same for Blue. “Those wings look like you could go really fast, and you’ve got that really pretty rainbow mane. I’m thinking your name is probably Rainbow Dash!” “This one here is a challenge,” she exclaimed while staring at Violet, “all that spotless lovely white looks super fancy with those neat purple letters. You’re probably the only thing I’ve seen that looked so fancy, you’re such a rarity...that’s it, I’ll call you Rarity! The three of them looked at each other and burst out in smiles, and chirps of laughter escaped from their mouths. Purple, now Twilight, had never laughed or felt happy like this before, she liked it. After days of endless trekking through the barren desert, along with almost dying, having a chance to just stand around and laugh may not seem like much but to her, it was the greatest thing she could ask for. “Now I’m sure you’re probably wondering who I am and why I’m here, right?” she asked. “Well, I was originally the god of this temple, and I granted the wishes of the Travelers who came here during their pilgrimages. Though one day all the Travelers stopped coming through and instead just spent their time hoarding the scarves, some of them even went as far as taking them from my temple! I know right, I was like ‘Are you CRAZY!’ though they just kept taking them and that caused me to lose almost all of my powers.” she sighed at her current situation. “Now I’m just stuck here with nopony to come see and make wishes…” as she said this her poofy mane that was sticking out of her turban began to deflate. Twilight felt bad for the discarded deity, and she quickly chirped to Rainbow and Rarity to make some sort of wish, in an attempt to cheer her up. Twilight herself wished for a someway to get to the mountain. She may have taken a rather long detour though she still wanted to get there in the end. “Huh...Somebody’s wishing...but the only ones here are...You GUYS!” her mane instantly poofed back up as she became happy again. “I can’t believe you would do that for me, but Now I’ve gotta do something for you...hmmm, what to do, what to do...I got it! At the top of this tower is a tunnel that opens up to a small city right at the base of the mountain. That’s where you wanted to go, right?” Twilight shook her head happily, though she lost a little head-bobbing momentum when she realized one crucial problem. “You’re wondering how you’re gonna get all the way up there, aren’t you?” the pink deity asked with amazing precision. “Don’t worry, I’ve got a friend who can get you up there lickety-split.” She whistled loudly, the sound resonating through the entire temple. A roar was heard as a titanic beast began floating about through the air above them. It looked like Rarity did, though instead of looking like just a fish, this one looked like a gigantic, fully formed shark. The beast started slowly descending from the upper levels of the temple, until it was resting among the sands behind Pinkie. “This here is my good friend, Fluttershy. She’s kinda shy so she doesn’t like meeting new people, though if I’m there she’s usually fine. Back on point though, she can actually carry you up to the top on her back! Isn’t that awesome!” Twilight and her companions were awestruck at the massive proportions of the great beast. It was beyond anything they had ever seen, hay it was even bigger than some of the ruins they had seen on the way. And to think that this gargantuan beast was afraid of them!? It was inconceivable. “Flutters here can carry you up, though unfortunately there is a catch,” she began slightly dejected, “Rarity, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to stay here. If they do go up there, you can’t follow. There are dangerous monsters and brutal, piercing cold winds that would tear you to shreds, and with you being one of the few remaining live scarf creatures I can’t let you get harmed.” Twilight and Rainbow were devastated. They had only known Rarity for the space of a day, though they had gotten attached to her. She had saved them both from certain death and nursed them back to health. She helped them find the ruins and even found the secret entrance as well. She was the one who never gave up and always pushed them to try something else. If not for her, even if they did find the secret door, they would have abandoned it the moment it seemed un-openable, though she got them through it. They were considering finding another way to the mountain, when Rarity spoke up. She began chirping up a storm, pointing and shaking her head towards Fluttershy and Pinkie, urging them to go on despite her sacrifice. It was their duty, it was their destiny...and they needed to see it through, no matter the cost. After a series of heartfelt goodbyes and see you laters, Rainbow used her wings to float Twilight and herself onto Fluttershy’s back. The two watched Pinkie and Rarity get smaller and smaller in the distance until they were nothing more than specks among the sands. Once they were no longer visible, they turned their tear-filled eyes skywards, towards the top of the temple and the city they were heading for. Leaving Rarity was the toughest, most painful thing Twilight ever had to do. She hoped she could finish this adventure before anything else like that happened again.