Rainbow Dash sniffed the late afternoon breeze and stared at the flat expanse of green that opened up before her. She hovered a few hundred feet above the ground, giving her a fantastic vantage point of the surrounding landscape. The mountains gave way on either side to gently-sloping foothills and flat grassland even further to the south.
And beneath her, trotting stubbornly that direction, was Applejack.
Nosing over, Rainbow dove and kited to a halt next to her friend, flapping just a few inches off the ground. "Lots of grass, but no temple that I can see. You sure you're reading that map right?"
"'Course I am, darlin'. We should be about right... here..." she said, pointing at the scroll and skimming the papyrus carefully.
"Well, you're wrong... somehow."
"I don't get it," the farmpony said, furrowing her brow and looking around. "We should be able to see it by now. Ain't a hill from here as far as the eye can see..."
"Well, I don't know what to tell you, AJ." Rainbow shrugged and floated down to a rest, leaning back on her haunches and against a dead log. "I flew way up. Sky's clear, and I could see for miles, and I'm telling you right now, if there was a temple out here somewhere, I would've seen it."
"But that can't be right!" the farmpony insisted, laying out her scroll. "Princess Celestia wouldn't've sent us all the way out here if she knew we weren't gonna find nothin'."
"You sure about that?" Rainbow pulled an apple out of her saddlebags and took a bite. "Twilight always told me she liked pranking as much as the next pony." A pause, and flipped out a pair of sunglasses and settled them on her muzzle. "It'd be cool if I wasn't the one getting pranked..."
"It's got to be here somewhere..." her friend continued. "We should be here by now, starin' it straight in the--"
She was rudely interrupted by the sudden sensation of smashing face-first into a brick wall.
"Staring us right in the...?" Rainbow asked from her position a few yards away.
"...in the face..." the farmgirl finished, eyes widening and lips curling upward. She reached up with both hooves and leaned against the invisible barrier, whatever it was. She felt its stone-like surface, pawing at its angles and poring over the details she felt. Pressing her cheek against it, she felt a cold sensation, much like exposed rock. "I think we were closer'n we thought."
"You find something?" the pegasus asked, looking up from her log. She stared a moment, blinking over her glasses. "How are you leaning against thin-air like that?"
"'Cause this here..." Applejack said, tapping on the surface, "is a hidden temple."
Rainbow flipped up her glasses and stowed them away in her bag. "Lemme see..." She hovered forward and held out her hoof, making contact with something firm and rock-like. "Holy balls..."
Her friend grinned and rolled up the map, running back to her saddlebags. "See? I told ya! It was here all this time, and you didn't believe it!"
"Well, bully for you! But what the crap are you doing over there?! The Hall of Rock is right here!"
Applejack dug into the depths of her bags and produced a large amethyst-colored gem that slotted perfectly into her hoof.
"Oh."
"If I can just find the right spot to slot this here sucker in, the temple should be visible again and we can get in!" she said excitedly, running back over to where her pegasus friend hovered.
"Well, what're we waiting for?! Let's find us a... slot... thingy!" Landing, Rainbow Dash began feeling along the base of the structure.
It was smooth, for the most part, with whatever it was constructed of holding up well over the centuries. Only the occasional crack marred the surface, but otherwise the base of the invisible structure was flawless as a cut diamond.
Applejack worked her way around the temple from the opposite side, finding the same flawless surface that her friend did, and before long the two met on the opposite side.
"Anything?"
"Uh uh," the pegasus shook her head.
"Horseshoes..." the farmgirl cursed, scowling at the invisible behemoth. "C'mon, sugar! Ya gotta work with us a little bit!"
Without thinking, Applejack lashed out at the invisible wall with her gem.
A flash of ancient wall appeared around the stone. Startled, the pair stumbled backward, gaping as the cloak enveloped the visible portion of the monument again.
Applejack looked at her hoof, then to Rainbow. The two stared at each other. Respective grins formed on their muzzles.
“You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?”
“Lemme see that.”
Rainbow snatched the gem from her friend's hoof and pressed it against the invisible temple once more, skimming along the base.
It took a few moments of searching, but at last, Applejack heard her friend shout from the opposite side. “Hey! Over here!”
Cornering around to the opposite end of the monument, the earth pony looked skyward. Her friend hovered a several dozen meters in the air, maybe more, and was examining some kind of indentation closely.
She bit her lip and pressed her hoof over a slot.
The energy in the air changed and became filled with what felt like static. Applejack's hairs stood on end, and Rainbow yelped, backpedaling in mid-air as a bright light emitted from the gem.
Then the light grew brighter, blindingly so, and both had to cover their eyes with their hooves.
Gradually, the energy subsided, and a cool, calming wind drifted by. Rainbow uncovered her eyes cautiously and cracked an eyelid.
“Holy Towheato!”
Applejack looked, and gaped as a large, stacked pyramid stood where once there had been only open air. Rainbow Dash hovered near the top of a stack of stairs, leading straight to a closed door. The gem had become lodged in a carved channel specifically designed for it by all appearances.
The “door” ground inwards and lowered, becoming – what Applejack could only guess – was some kind of fancy elevator.
“Wow, AJ... you were right...” the pegasus said, hovering down next to her.
“When're you gonna learn to trust me?” the farmgirl asked smugly, dusting her friend's muzzle with her tail. “I'm tellin' ya, bein' stubborn pays off.” She started up the staircase and bit her lip, admiring the ancient stonework, and how well it had weathered the elements.
She felt like she had traveled higher than she had. The temple could only have been two hundred feet high or so to the platform, but she felt as winded as she had crossing the Great Flats to reach this point.
“So now what do we do?” the pegasus asked, hovering up next to her and eying the opening.
“What do we do?” Applejack repeated. “Well... I reckon we go inside and have a looksee...”
“Whoa! Are you sure that's a good idea?”
The farmgirl turned back to look at her friend.
Rainbow regarded the structure with a nervous suspicion. “I mean... Daring Do's books say these temple places are always full of traps and stuff to protect the treasure that's in 'em.”
Applejack put on a smirk and stopped mid-step, looking over her withers. “Why, Rainbow! I never noticed 'til now that yer belly was yella'!”
Her friend glared at her, her face turning rosy. “It is not!” She flopped to the ground on four hooves and trotted ahead of the earth pony, straight to the threshold of the lift. “I just... do we even know what we're looking for in here... or how we'll get out?” She looked at her friend and fidgeted. “And what if there are traps?”
Smiling at her, the farmgirl nudged her friend onto the lift and stood next to her. “Well, then I guess all that Darin' Do nonsense ya read'll come in handy for a change, won't it?”
Rainbow mumbled a rude reply and looked at the walls of the lift.
“So how the hay do we even work this thiIIII—!”
The pegasus's voice was suddenly drowned out by the sound of stone grinding against stone as the floor dropped out beneath the pair.
The last thing that echoed out of the maw of the temple entrance was their startled yelps before a large, heavy block slid into place, closing off the monument entrance...