Yesterdays News - Final
Skipping The Normal Introduction And Going Straight To Exploring Tombs
So I logged in and found myself in the camp that Forest Trails and I had set up the day before, and where I had written the previous days entry. I left the tent and found Forest Trails finishing up lunch. The jungle above us was so thick that no direct sun shone down on us, instead the light filtered through the leaves in a defuse pattern.
Forest Trails put her her dish down when she saw me. “So did you manage to get everything done that you needed to?” she asked.
I nodded, “Yup. On of my friends stopped by and dropped off some stuff so that I wouldn't suddenly be forced to leave because my Pad ran out of power.”
“Good, let's get this camp packed up,” Trails looked at me with excitement, “I don't want to wait to see what is in that temple any longer!”
I started taking down the tent, “Did you get some scouting done?”
Behind me I heard trails packing up the dishes, “Yes I did. We aren't too far away, but we're going to have to take a detour if we want to actually make it to the temple.”
“Oh?” I asked.
“Yeah, turns out that space near the temple is really heavily folded and even getting there from here would be hard. I think it might be tied to weather up there, but I'm not sure. Either way while it is easy to see the temple, getting there is actually really hard.” I heard her voice get a little smug, “So it's probably a good thing you are with someone who is a specialist at finding paths to places.”
I chuckled, “Right, so what to do we have to do to get in, oh mighty pathfinder?”
“We're actually going to have to circle around and head in from the west. The entrance has been moving around all day, and I think that it is tied to where the sun is. This morning we could have gotten in from the east,” Trails explained, “And don't laugh, I nearly got a head ache trying to make sense of this place.” She stopped talking and we worked in silence for a few minutes before she spoke up again, “And don't try folding shortcuts around here.”
“Why not?” I questioned.
“I tried to do it earlier, and I ended up about half a mile away,” Trails told me, “In completely the wrong direction. I think this place is set up to mess with anyone who doesn't have the patience to walk.”
I nodded to show that I understood, and we finished striking camp. Forest Trails took the lead as we walked through the jungle. As we walked we talked and I enjoyed the surroundings. Sometimes we were far beneath the trees, but other times we would come to a gorge and would have to find a fallen tree to cross on. Other times we would pass through a thicket and come out walking along a branch high above the trees, and I could see the temple in the distance seemingly mocking our inability to get to it.
Finally we arrived at the temple. Unlike the ruins that I had seen previously, the temple didn't look half wrecked, in fact it seemed far newer than it should have. No trees grew near it, and the temple itself shone as if it were made of gold. Far up near the top I could see a large jewel shining in the midday light.
The strange thing was that there didn't appear to be an entrance. Forest Trails and I walked around the outside a few times checking to make sure we weren't missing anything. The only part of the temple that seemed different was a section of the wall that was just big enough to put a hoof into, which both Trails and I viewed with suspicion.
The first thing we tried was getting a stick and poking the hole, and I was very glad that we did. There was the sound of metal, and the stick got chopped in half cleanly. Realizing that that wasn't the answer we tried to think of other ways to get in. Trying to map the area was next to useless, so folding our way inside wasn't an answer, and there didn't seem to be any way to climb the outside to try to find a way inside from the top.
Finally as I was laying on the grass looking up at the clouds the answer struck me. A sunbeam poked out of the waving leaves and struck me right in the eye. I was reminded of what Trails had said about how the Temple seemed to need to be entered by a different side depending on where the sun was. I reached into my personal claudication, which thankfully hadn't been been disrupted by the folded space we had been walking through, and pulled out a mirror that I had grabbed at the suggestion of Free Breeze.
I took the mirror and reflected the sunlight into the hole in the wall. Suddenly what had appeared to be a stone walkway around the outside started to sink into the ground making a staircase down. Forest Trails had been standing on one and gave an adorable little yelp and scrambled to safety and I couldn't help but smile, though I made sure to hide it before Trails could spot my smirk.
After some discussion, where I pointed out that I couldn't actually get hurt, I took the lead as we entered the temple. I lit a torch, and carried it in my mouth to light the way. I made sure to watch the ground for tripwires or pressure plates. Trails on the other hand was excited pointing out the pictographs on the walls and making guesses what they talked about.
The passageway had quite a few corners in it, and after we had gone right five times in a row without a change of elevation I sent out a burst of power to see if I could figure out how the space was folding. The result was not what I had expected. We were walking in a pathway that was a square with no ways in or out that I could see. I mentioned it to Trails and she confirmed it.
My first thought was that the temple was messing with how I projected my powers, so Forest and I split up to see what was going on. Two corners later we met up again. I decided to see if I could map through the ground instead of along it so I sat down and started pushing my power into the surrounding walls. It was slow going because I if I pushed my power out too far in all directions it became too diffused to be useful for mapping.
Forest Trails meanwhile had started going though the pictographs again. All of a sudden she excitedly ran over to me and showed me a set that showed a group of ponies walking through a passageway. The one beside it showed them putting out their torches, and the one after that showed them arriving in some sort of room.
I felt like hitting myself in the head. It was about light again. I mentally switched gears and agreed with Forest Trails when she joking told me that she was the smartest pony I would ever meet.
We extinguished our torches and walked along in the dark together. Eventually we turned a corner and saw a bit of light shining in the distance. We started to walk towards it, but I suddenly stopped with a horrible thought. Forest Stopped when she noticed I wasn't beside her any more, and it turned out to be a very good thing. When I managed to light the torch I could see that she was only a few steps away from a pit that looked bottomless.
The pit stretched all from wall to wall, but was small enough to jump over, and after we passed that obstacle I took the lead again. This meant that I was the first one to see how beautiful the next room was. Light shone in from all sides, and in the middle of the room, surrounded by a halo of light, floated an amulet in the shape of a sun.
Looking around I could see that the windows that were letting in light were made of stained glass, and showed ponies wearing the amulet and looking all powerful. Trails walked up beside me and we shared a look.
“How much do you want to bet it's trapped?” I asked.
“I'm taking a sucker bet my treasure,” Trails responded, “How much do you want to bet that it actually does nothing at all or is cursed?”
I paused thinking, “I don't bet, but if I had to make a guess I would say a two-thirds chance.”
Forest Trails laughed as we made our way way to the other side of the room. We stayed a good distance away from the pedestal. It turned out that there were stairs heading upwards, and I took the lead going up. I kept my eye open for any more traps, but it seemed like we were past most of them and we reached the top without indecent.
At the top we entered a room that was obviously a room of worship. Great statues of Alicorns were carved from rock, and the entire room was focused on a single dais that looked to be made of gold. There were large areas where there was room for ponies to stand or kneel. From high above the sun reflected from a massive diamond and shone down illuminating the area in a cascade of rainbows and light.
It was also occupied.
On the dais Celestia stood looking down on us serenely.
“Oh you have to be kidding me,” I complained, “Really? Really??”
“What did you expect Susland?” Celestia asked, a smile playing on her lips.
“I dunno,” I exclaimed, “Some evil pony god, maybe an artifact of ultimate power?”
Celestia laughed at that, “I believe that the amulet that you are looking for is downstairs.”
“It wasn't trapped?” Forest Trails asked as surprised as I was.
Celestia looked up with something resembling a smirk on her face, “Oh, I never said that...”
“Are... Are you trolling us?” I asked hesitantly.
Celestia's smile got wider, “Did you know that ponies build temples to the different aspects I have been given over the years?”
“Really?” I asked, starting to get nervous.
Celestia nodded, her face becoming serious, “On the other hand I'm not evil, so I'll even help you leave.”
I glanced nervously at Trails, “I think we can make our own way out, but thank you very much for the offer.”
“Oh, but I insist!” Celestia said, her smile becoming a too large for comfort.
“Young Jim Hawkins is waiting for us outside and if you teleported us somewhere he might have trouble finding us again,” I said backing towards the doorway slowly.
“Don't worry,” Celestia said, getting up and slowly walking towards us, “I'll make sure that he doesn't end up to far away from you.”
“Uh,” I said wondering if it would be a good idea to run or not.
Celestia reached into her main, and pulled out something yellow, “Oh, before you go Susland, Forest Trails, do either of you like bananas?”
I turned to run and heard Celestia Start to laugh as suddenly the world went white with a the flash of being teleported.
We came out of the Teleport on a beach. In front of us I could see ocean as far as I could see. I could see Young Jim Hawkins flying far above the water. When I turned to look behind us I could see palm trees and a mountain covered in what looked to be flowers.
On the top of the mountain appeared to be an oriental style temple.
Forest Trails and I shared a glance and started to set up camp. Wherever we were it couldn't be good. We both suspected that this was some type of parting troll.
A Quick Synopsis Of Today To Get Everyone Up To Date
So today we didn't do to much. We flew with Young Jim Hawkins around the island and a short ways out to make sure that this is actually an island, and then we headed inland. We spent most of the day making our way up to the edge of the new temple. The folds on this island are even worse than they were in the jungle, and we've had to do a lot of parkour just to get this far.
It might sound tedious, but it was a lot of fun. I always have enjoyed platforming in games and this is an awesome form of that. That said from a story perspective it isn't that interesting. It was mostly enjoying the challenges of finding our way up the mountain and the fun of making tricky jumps. It was actually too relaxing and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Anyway I'll fill you guys in with whats going on Earth tomorrow. Also Quick Search has been busy with life so she hasn't gotten anything more written yet. That said she has been making me a meal every evening so we have been hanging out a lot. I'll cover more of that tomorrow.
Till then this is a rather lost Treasure Island.
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oh god, not the bananas!
In other news, I found a temple kinda like that. It was dedicated to the cake-loving aspect of Celestia. So... Much... Frosting...
3301707
I'm going to go commit seppuku out of sheer embarassment now. Oh my Celestia. I'm so sorry, Moonlight Shine.
-- Tidal Pool
Oh, haha. Yes, when Celestia gives you bananas, make lemonade. I won't spoil the fun here, but the mere mention of bananas guarantees you quite the adventure. If it weren't impossible, I'd have scars from the fun I had in my bananadventure.
Full. Blown. Trollestia.
You may be dealing with a form of non-Euclidean space that allows a plane (which is infinite) to be contained in a finite disc. Don't ask me how to navigate it though - I'm only math-savvy enough to know such a thing exists, but I won't be able to explain how it works, much less tell you how to navigate such a mind-breaking monstrosity.
So, assuming that's also a temple to Celestia... your princess is in another temple?
I wonder if you had put your hoof into that first trap/hole would that been a 'wake up in hospital' situation or would you be expected to limp for the next day or so?
Celestia, you troll
3317519
Hmmm I wonder if those temples each hold a certain aspect of Tia's personality like that one holds her propensity to prank people.
3318104
A temple to Trollestia, no less. No wonder I was getting a Tomb of Horrors vibe. (On that note: Trollestia. Alignment: Chaotic Good. Domains: Chaos, Good, Plant, Sun, Trickery. Favored weapon: Banana cream pie.)
I'd say you got off lightly, Susland. Just be thankful it wasn't a temple to Molestia.
Also, don't forget to give Forest Trails a chance to give her take on the situation. Quick Search isn't your only coauthor!
3318328 Considering that the whole thing is merely points and vectors in a simulation, there's nothing impossible about it. The key thing to remember is that it's a game- there will be a way through; it just requires observation, deduction, and a willingness to think "outside the box" (but also a willingness to embrace tropes and conventions).
Are you really sure you would like to share a banana? I mean Trails was looking into getting into a three way relationship but this seems to be a little fast for a Princess.
3318811Oh god, Molestia Temple. Imagine the Water Temple crossed with Tomb of Horrors crossed with the depraved mind of Herbert the Pervert. Times one thousand years. Also, in the Trollestia temple, how much you wanna bet that the "no-save statue" is a trip to tha MOOOOOOOOOONNNNNAAAAAAAAAAHHH, BEEEYETCH!!!!
(you all know what I mean if you ever ran Tomb of Horrors)
<Groan> OH man I was hoping there'd be an evil Aztec God in there. Sooooooo Lame.
..... Wait a minute Celestia was in there does that mean that? OH Crap
Susland be careful Celestia is really an evil Aztec God don't let her eat your heart.
3318899
I never said it was impossible, I just commented on how hard it is to wrap your mind around the concept and adapt your movent patterns to the contorted space.
3319168
But how else will the sun rise?
3318084 Okay! I'm holding you to that, and you don't need to commit a japeighnese ritual warrior suicide. Yet. Also, Main reason the bounty hunters scare me, is because they killed my Dragon familiar! So I will be waiting somewhere under the everfree castle and we can go from t---- *rest of the letter is indecipherable from a large splash of blood*
- Mo--lig--- Sh--e -- -----g
3319168
THAT is what the rest of us have been TRYING TO TELL YOU!
3321758
Hey, bounty hunter bastards. Didn't anypony ever teach you about the use of unicorn telekinesis to wield sharpened space as a blade, and blunt force itself as a shield? Because I'm here to CUT YOU DOWN until you give me back my Moonlight Shine! Izzy, cover me!
My cutie mark isn't a cape for nothing!
--Tidal Pool