//------------------------------// // 5 - The Island // Story: The Wild Goose Chase // by Theevina //------------------------------// Twilight was nudged awake by Discord. She didn't know how much time had passed, so she removed her hat and glasses. Judging by the position of the sun, a few hours had passed. "What is it?" Discord pointed behind her. "Look! There's land!" Twilight spun around to see that they were indeed approaching an island. "So..." "So, I wanted to see where we are." Discord finished. "But don't you know every location on this world?" "Well, geography has changed a little since then. I would need to see the map." "Oh," she said, "I left it in the tent." "Ah, for the love of... alright." He made the tent appear, reached inside, pulled out the map, and made the tent disappear again. "Now let's see... oh right... that would be... Isla de los extraños. You know what a legend says? There's a treasure hidden there that nobody has found for thousands of years. I think we should see if the legend is true." "No, I vote that we continue until we find that goose." "But you've never let me have any fun!" He complained. "I'm sorry, but I'm doing this for our own good." He created a quill and parchment and began writing. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Dear Princess Celestia, we have come to Isla de los extraños which legend says holds a hidden treasure. Should we go out of our way to find it? Miss Sparkle says it's a bad idea. Sincerely, Discord." He blew fire and the message zipped away. "The princess is never going to let you do it." The unicorn taunted. "You might as well forget about all of your little plans to distract us from the business we..." A message appeared in front of her and interrupted her thought. It was a little faster than most responses and she wondered why it was meant for her. Cautiously, she unrolled it and read. Dear Twilight Sparkle, I think Discord is right. You should go to the island and find the treasure. Don't be such a grump! Sincerely, Princess Celestia Her mouth fell open. She couldn't believe the words she was reading. And the princess called her a grump! She had never said that about her before. Discord burst out in laughter from seeing her expression. "I'll take that as a yes." He concluded, using his magic to direct the boat towards the island. Twilight growled angrily, tore up the letter, and threw it into the sea. She would have to follow the princess's order, but she was determined she was not going to like it. The boat bumped the beach and the two of them stepped out. Discord dragged it back so the tide wouldn't take it away. Now that she was standing here, Twilight estimated the size of the island. It appeared to be circular and about a mile in diameter. "So where do you think we should start?" He asked her. "You mean, you don't even know where to look?" "Nope." She dropped her head. "I don't believe you..." "Well, I suppose we can start by searching this ominous-looking cave." he suggested Twilight turned to see what he was looking at. It was a gaping hole in the side of a rocky hill with stalactites and stalagmites that looked like teeth. "Oh yeah," she mumbled to herself, "this will be a whole lot of fun..." Discord picked up a large stick and ignited it with dragon-like fire. Then he led the way into the cave. As they went inside, it was a lot larger than Twilight had expected and it seemed to go on forever. It was slightly windy and there was the sound of dripping water. The path looked like it was cut into the shapes of steps leading them downward. And as they descended, it got colder and wetter. It got to a point where they were walking through an inch of water. The wind had stopped and the splashing of their feet was the only noise. He suddenly stopped, and fortunately, Twilight was able to avoid bumping into him this time. Discord used the torch to illuminate a wall. There were many strange symbols and pictures carved there. As he swept across the wall, she began to notice a map of the world and the images of many ponies. And then she saw something that looked something like a Draconequus. He quickly withdrew the torch from the wall and the images vanished into the shadows. "What did it say?" "Oh, you know, just some boring old stories. It's how history was recorded a very long time ago. Anyway, we have that treasure to find. I know how anxious you are to get out of here." They continued on their way. Twilight was actually feeling a little more relaxed, but Discord looked nervous. A few minutes later, they heard a funny chattering sound. "Uh... what was that?" she asked. "Let's find out." Discord smiled. He lowered his torch to the ground and saw a small, ugly gnome-like creature wading in the water. Its face was spotted with warts and it had a large round nose and dark blue skin. "Ah, it's just a snortle." "A... snortle. WHAT?" "They inhabit this island and are said to guard the treasure. We must be getting close." The snortle growled and pulled at Discord's foot, but it didn't seem to affect him at all. Twilight noticed that the water was getting deeper. After a couple more minutes of walking, it became about six inches deep. They entered a huge cavern with sparkling walls. Hundreds of snortles sat on ledeges around the room and growled menacingly as they entered. A large stone chest sat on an ornate pedestal in the middle of the room. They ran through the water right up to it. Some of the snortles hopped off their ledges and ran over to them, pulling at their legs. It was extremely annoying, but it didn't hurt them at all. "What do we do now?" Twilight asked him loudly above the noise of the angry snortles. "It looks like we need some sort of round key to open it." "I don't have a key." he replied. "Oh, I think I have an idea." she said. She picked up one of the kicking creatures and inserted his nose into the hole. It worked perfectly. "Aha! Now you're thinking with snortles!" he cheered her. Twilight opened the stone chest. Inside it was a wooden chest. She opened that chest and found another, and inside that was another, and inside that was another. The last chest was very small. She held it in her teeth and they ran away from the angry snortles. Once they reached the mouth of the cave, they stepped out into the blinding sunlight. Twilight was beginning to feel more excited now. "I wonder what it could be!" she said, sitting down on the beach to rest from the running. Discord took the tiny chest from her and opened it up. It only contained a single dusty gem. She was very disappointed. "That's it? That's the treasure? It just looks like a piece of junk!" He, on the other hand, was fascinated with it. "Well... maybe I'll just hold on to it for safe keeping." He made the gem disappear and discarded the box and the torch. They headed back to the boat to continue their journey. Twilight was back to her melancholy self. But unfortunately, there was a huge crustacean-like creature eating parts of the boat. It would no longer be usable. She charged at the creature and it ran away, while Discord cleaned up the old boat and made a new one. This one was made of an orange rubbery substance. They got inside and Discord looked around for the map. "Where did it go?" He looked down into the water and found it floating there. "It's a bit soggy, but still readable." he remarked. "So, which way do we go now to find that goose?"