//------------------------------// // Legends of the Fashion Unicorn // Story: Escape to Realms // by Flutterwhy4 //------------------------------// Escape to Realms Chapter 3: Legends of the Fashion Unicorn By Flutterwhy4 I open my eyes with a startle to a flood of sounds and sights. Music, this time very real, fills my ears. It’s easy listening, a tribal sound with soft, airy horns. The music competes with a loud clatter, almost like a heavy rainfall, but not exactly the same. I look to my left, there’s Rarity looking to have just awaken as I have. She looks to her right and our eyes meet. “Token! What in Equestria is going on?” she asks. “I’m just as confused as you are.” “Hwhaa!!” Rarity cries as she checks herself over. She’s wearing a thin, green garment that covers her upper body with holes for her head, and forehooves. There’s a pattern on the belly; it’s something gold, but I can’t quite see. “Eww, eww, EWW! Green?! How horrid!” she complains. I check myself and find that I too am wearing the same clothing. I look around to figure out where I am, but it yields more questions than answers. I’m in a building. The room is very large with an extra high ceiling. There’s tribal décor all around: ferns, stones, vines… a bit reminiscent of the Everfree Forest in ways, but less overgrown and more fabricated. The centerpiece of the room is a large maze of sorts, a two-story honeycomb of rooms, each of them open on the side facing us, and each of them baring the same aesthetic of ancient civilizations. I turn my head to look behind me and my heart skips a beat; a wall of fleshy, clothed creatures sit watching us. They’re making the rain-like noise I heard before by clapping their hooves together, except they don’t have hooves. At the end of their arms are flat appendages with five prongs, hairless like most of their bodies. Also, in my search, I notice Pinkie Pie is nowhere to be seen. I wonder where she went? “Alright, we’re back with the green monkeys and the red jaguars, both teams have a half a pendant at this point.” I look forward to see one of the peachy-skinned creatures, this one much taller than the others, standing over Rarity and I and talking to the audience behind us. He’s upright on two legs and dressed in blue. The white unicorn scans him skeptically, no doubt evaluating his fashion sense. I also notice two more fleshies on the other side of Rarity; they’re wearing the same garment as we are except for a red color and different pattern. “It’s anybody’s game because the next game is worth a full pendant. Olmec, tell us about it.” the tall one says. A disembodied, booming voice calls my attention to a giant face of stone in the set in front of me. Its mouth opens, the jaw moving up and down mechanically as it talks. The face’s oval eyes flicker a red light, yet its expression is emotionless. I scratch my chin as I listen. “On Lewis and Clark’s expedition, one of the ways they kept their party well-nourished was by foraging for fruits and berries growing in the wild. Before you are several bushes with berries and a sack to carry them. When Kirk gives the signal, one player will run to the bushes, grab a berry, throw it to their partner who will catch the berry in the sack. The team to put the most berries in their sack at the end of sixty seconds... wins!” the face explains whimsically. “What a silly contest. I shant be taking part in any of it.” Rarity says, tossing her mane in refusal. “C’mon Rarity.” I say. “I can’t say for sure, but I think we need to do this thing if we want to find the other ponies or get back to Equestria.” My argument gives her defiant pause, but seems to be convincing in the end. “Fine.” she whimpers. “I’ll play their little game.” “Great. You hold this, I’ll toss.” I say pointing to the sack. Rarity picks up the large, white canvas bag in her hooves with complete disinterest. “This one’s for the temple! Let’s put sixty seconds on the clock!” the cheerful host says. “On your mark, get set, go!” Music fills the room again, this time different, much more frantic. I take off like a rocket towards the fake bushes. I want to win this, but I don’t know why. Part of me can’t help but think success will give me a better chance of getting back to Equestria or finding the others; it couldn’t hurt. I stop in front of the bush of clearly fake leaves and pluck in my hooves a purple ball which I assume is supposed to be fruit. It’s the size of an apple, but perfectly round and light, very light. As I’m examining the fruit, I notice the other team is already ahead of me. One of the red fleshies is tossing fruits into his partner's sack. Some fill the bag while others miss their mark. I turn and lob the ball-like fruit to Rarity. Her horn glows and she yawns as she adjusts its path and guides the squishy ball into its final resting place. Without even looking towards my partner I begin lifting purple orbs from the bush and tossing them over my shoulder rapid-fire. The pace set is far faster than what the other team can match, thanks to my lack of aim. Just as I had been glad to have Pinkie’s unique talents in the haunted graveyard, I too am happy to have a unicorn for this test. “Whoa! That’s it! Let’s stop them, bring ‘em to the middle here!” the host shouts as the music cuts out and the audience roars with applause. The time went by so quickly, I’m almost shocked it’s been sixty seconds. Rarity and I follow the other team’s lead in grouping around the host. As I move I grin at the distinct difference in the two teams' areas. Ours is neat and clean while our opponents’ area is strewn with fruit from missed attempts. It brings an even larger smile to my face. Even though I have no idea what’s going on, it’s always fun to win. “Great job, let’s check it out! The red jaguars had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven… eight fruit!” the host counts as he kneels and removes balls from the other team’s sack. “Let’s see how many the green monkeys got, looks like a lot! They got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen...” the host's voice crescendos with enthusiasm as he counts, “..seventeen… eighteen… nineteen fruit!! Amazing! The green monkeys earn the pendant; they have one and a half pendants, the red jaguars only a half pendant. The green monkeys are going to the temple!” The crowd cheers “The red jaguars did a great job too, they won’t be going away empty handed, we’ve got a great gift for ‘em and here’s what it is!” Another, different disembodied voice starts rambling something I don’t understand. I’m not even listening anymore. Instead, I turn to Rarity. “Thanks, you were awesome!” I say to my purple-maned partner. “Please. Catching balls and putting them in a bag is foal’s play. Not that I didn’t do it with grace and style, but it’s hardly a feat to be proud of.” she replies. “Well still, thanks.” “You’re quite welcome, now would you kindly enlighten me as to what is going on?” Rarity says, her face displaying complete frustration. “I told you, I don’t know any more than you do. I just opened my eyes and I was here. Before this, I was with Pinkie Pie.” I tell her. “Pinkie Pie? Where is she?” “I don’t think she’s here. I don’t know where she went. Something weird is definitely happening-” “You’re telling me!” she interrupts. “...but I don’t know what. There’s something familiar about this place.” I admit. It’s true. The whole place, the games and even the creatures are vaguely familiar, just as my ordeal with Pinkie had been. I still have no explanation, just a feeling. “Familiar? What do you-“ “Are you two ready for Olmec’s temple?” the host asks us. I look at Rarity and she looks at me. She’s obviously letting me take charge so I turn back and nod affirmative. He leads us over towards the talking stone face from before and turns to the audience. “The green monkeys have proven themselves worthy and have earned the right to enter Olmec’s temple, but first Olmec will give them some information to help them retrieve the lost maps of Lewis and Clark.” Rarity and I watch as the blank, stone face starts talking once more. The maze of rooms looms in front of us like a daunting obstacle. “You could start by climbing through the ledges and climbing down into the pit, then, race into the laser light room.” Olmec’s voice is quirky and resonant as he talks about the different areas, each of them illuminating as he names them. “Unleash the power of the special white laser and you could choose to go up into the room of the mandarin hand, OR, into the jester’s court. Press yourself against the correct wall-painting and you might have a chance to enter the dark forest where you can grab the lost maps of Lewis and Clark. Reach into the hole and find the key, but be careful, one of the trees could be inhabited by the spirit of a temple guard; if they grab you, you’ll have to give up a pendant of life. Next, plow through the wall and into the mineshaft. There, ride the elevator up into the room of the secret password. Find the tablet with the right password and shout it out to open the door to the shrine of the silver monkey. Assemble the statue and you may be headed for the king’s storeroom. Smash the clay pots to find the key which will allow you into the observatory. Put together the puzzle on the stone columns and swing on the rope back across the pit, then pass through the crypt, race down the stairs and back through the temple gate. The choices are yours and yours alone! You won one and a half pendants in the temple games, which of you will go first?” I begin to raise my hoof. “I am!” Rarity shouts, taking me by surprise. “What do you think you’re doing??” I ask, more forcefully than I should. “I have a plan. You want to win this right? Well, we need a little... creativity.” Rarity says with flair. She seems confident enough. I just hope she knows what she's doing. “Very well. If you can reach the lost maps, all the temple’s doors will unlock and the temple guards will vanish. Return through the gate with the lost maps in three minutes and you will both be handsomely rewarded!” Olmec instructs. “The green monkeys think they can do it, so let’s see. Get into position.” Rarity steps forward as the host talks. “Let’s set the clock for three minutes. Olmec, lower your gate.” A gate of iron bars lowers with the sound of ratcheting chains while the stone face groans. I can’t imagine what Rarity is planning, but she mentioned creativity and nopony is more creative than her. She has an almost juvenile pride in her ideas and her work, but from all I’ve known of her she’s quite talented and never disappoints. “On your mark, get set, go!” With that, pendant tied to her hoof, Rarity dashes forward up a short staircase and through the now-lowered gate. She immediately disregards Olmec’s suggested path and races up the stairs into the crypt, a room with three skeletons holding tomes. Frantic music playing loudly, Rarity peels a book from one of the skeletons, but nothing happens. She races to another and pulls downward on the book, opening a door which she then gallops through. A short travel later, Rarity stands on a ledge overlooking a pit of green balls. The host narrates her progress for the audience as she goes. Her horn glows blue and a rope from the other side of the pit swings towards her allowing her to sail across the gap, avoiding the balls and shortening her path. She pounds a button on the wall with her hoof and a new door opens. Rarity races up to the observatory where a jumbled column of three rotating slabs with matching pictures awaits her. I watch her movements with baited breath. Using her magic, the three slabs rotate all at once and lock into place and she speeds forward into the next room. She seems to have cleverly chosen a path to make the most use of her magical abilities. Three clay pots stand on columns. As Rarity enters the room, a second door opens and a creepy figure sporting a mask and tribal garb rushes the white unicorn and stops her just long enough to free the pendant from her hoof. The temple guard satisfied, she wraps the three pots in her aura and they shatter in midair. Pieces of clay fall everywhere leaving a cylindrical key which she levitates into a hole on top of the columns where the pots had once sat. The door opens and she races into the next room, the shrine of the silver monkey. A second temple guard pops out of a door and pulls Rarity inside; it’s now my turn. I peel up the stairs and follow the path my partner has cleared in incredible time. I fly by solved puzzles and open doors until I reach the shrine where I go to it. Working swiftly, I grab the base of the monkey statue. It's quite light for its size. I place it in a square fitting at the head of the room. Next, the body. Finally, I line up the head and plunge it onto the rest of the statue. The door to the dark forest unlocks audibly. I slide down a ladder into the room with two fake trees and sweep a scroll into my hooves. I’ve retrieved the lost maps. I can hear the affable host narrating, but I can’t focus on what he’s yelling, I’m not in the clear yet. All the doors now open and temple guards are gone. I retrace my path. Up the ladder, over, over, up, down, across the pit, into the crypt, down the stairs and through the gate! The audience wails and cheers as I make it through with time to spare. Rarity is back waiting for me when I return. “You did it!!” she hugs me, tighter than I'd expect. “Nah, you did it! You did all the work! That was amazing!” Her eyes sparkle as I look into them, filled with joy the likes of which I’d only expect from Pinkie Pie. I return her hug then wave the scroll over my head as a trophy to our teamwork. There would’ve been no better partner for the challenge we’ve just mastered. Rarity saw that maze and plotted it out carefully as if it were a design for one of her dresses. She never had to stop and think; she had everything under control and knew what to do. Sure, her magical abilities saved time, but I can’t help but think that if I had gone first I would’ve wandered through aimlessly just trying to keep the same general direction, unlike my white unicorn friend. “The green monkeys made it out of the temple with the lost maps of Lewis and Clark!” the host shouts, his loud, overly-friendly personality now seeming totally justified. “You did a great job! Tell them what they’ve won, won, won, won... won… won… won…” I watch his mouth as he repeats himself. The audience has stopped clapping and the music has faded into nothingness. I panic and turn to Rarity. She passes through my vision, but rather than stopping in my gaze, the room keeps spinning. Colors and shapes blur together and I fall into dizziness. Tears run down my cheek, but I can only just feel them as my senses become numbness. The blurring is extreme as it reaches a terminus. The once, carefully decorated studio is now a wash of white light. All my perception of orientation and movement is gone; I’m simple existing in some undefined space and form.