Barnacle's Adventure: Pony Pirates on the High Seas

by Paradise Oasis

The Haunted Mine

"Blimey, are you sure this is the right way to go?" North Star asked, as she and Fizzy trotted towards the mine entrance. "I mean this place looks so bloomin' dark and creepy, maybe it was some other dark, shadowy hole in the ground that we were supposed to enter?"

"Aww, quit your complaining, North! This is the kind of adventure you wanted when we first signed up for this crazy cruise!" Fizzy growled, shoving the other mare deeper into the mine entrance. "This is the mine the cat lady told us was haunted, and the Abyssinians will be totally grateful if we can get rid of the ghosts and ghoulies haunting this place for them!"

Fizzy magically lit her horn like a torch, and the two entered the mine shaft, cut high into the face of a towering mountain on the southern tip of the island. The two past old broken wooden beams that barely held up the cavern's ceiling, and descended deeper and deeper into the unknown depths. The seemed to grow colder the farther they went into the earth, and a chill that had started to form in the pit of North Star's stomach only seemed to grow with each step.

" Odds bodkins, this place gives me the willies!" North Star commented, shivering as she flapped though the tunnel. "Fizzy, how can you possibly not be bothered by any of this at all!?"

"Are you kidding me, North? We live in dream Valley, we see worse than this on a daily basis." The unicorn chuckled, her twinkle eyes flashing in the glow of her horn. "Besides, I'm not the type to let my emotions get the better, like the rest of you silly fillies back at the castle."

"Well, you'd better be careful down in the dark of these caves, or you could lose those shiny eyes of yours." North Star warned the unicorn. "Remember, you're a twinkle-eyed pony. Your eyes are fragile enchanted gemstones, that permit you to see without real eyes. If those things fall out and break, you won't be able to see anything!"

"Oh, quit being such a worrywart, North!" Fizzy sapped back, holding her head up high. "I'm not as air-headed as you and Wave Runner are! I'm not going to bump into something, and lose my eyes right out of my head!"

The two continued their trek though the ancient mine, finding an old mine cart tack from ages before. The two followed the rusty old metal tracks, until they came to a large cavern, filled with ancient mining tools like broken carts and pickaxes. The two ponies looked around in awe at all of the signs of mining and excavation, trying to comprehend the vast scope of the Abyssinian cat's work.

"My word, can you believe how deep these cats have dug?" North Star muttered in wonder. "They must have been mining down here for centuries, I've never seen an operation this big or well-coordinated before!"

"Whoa, you're not kidding about that!" Fizzy exclaimed, looking around at all the ancient gear. "From the looks of all stuff, it looks like they were ready to dig to the center of the earth!"

"From what Katrina told me, these mines were the economic heart of the Abyssinian civilization." North Star replied, looking around with a shudder. "Many miners supposedly died down here in accidents, too. Some of the cats actually believe the spirits of the deceased miners still haunt this place, troubling the living who dare enter their domain..."

It was at that precise moment, that Fizzy tripped, and and fell over on her face. Her twinkle eyes popped out of her head, rolling across the cavern floor, and falling through a crevice deep into the earth.

"Ouch! That hurt!" Fizzy whined, picking herself up off of the cavern floor, and stumbling around. "Oh, this is just great! Now I can't see anything!"

As the unicorn stumbled around in the dim light, everything in the mine chamber suddenly sprung to life. Shovels lifted into the air, and began to dance around the chamber as if they were alive. The pickaxes began to rock back and forth where they hung on the walls, and the mine cart began to slide down the tracks on it's own. Suddenly, a phantom-like blob appeared above the two ponies, a pair of two glowing red eyes in the center. North Star took one look, and began to scream in terror.

"Aieeee! Fizzy, it's a ghost!" North Star cried out, clutching the unicorn mare in terror. "The ghosts of the mine have come back to haunt us!"

"What?! What ghosts? I don't see any ghosts!" Fizzy called out, as the terrified pink Pegasus dragged her along. "Slow down, North Star! I can't see where I'm going without my eyes! Are you sure there are ghosts down here?!"

The two ponies raced down the shaft, chased by a bunch of shovels and pickaxes flying through the air. Fizzy felt helpless as she was dragged along, the unicorn was uncertain about what was actually going on. Finally, the two ponies hit a portion of the tunnel that shot straight downward. Caught totally off guard, the two ponies plunged deep into the abyss, tumbling downward into the murky blackness.

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" *CRASH!*

"Blimey, that fall really hurt me bum!" North Star muttered, rubbing her bruised flank with her hoof. "Are ye all right, Fizzy?"

"Ouch! Damn it, North Star, that really hurt!" The unicorn snapped back. "You big idiot, why did you pull me along when you panicked and imagined a ghost! Now my eyes are probably back farther up the shaft, and I can't see a darned thing down here!"

Fizzy stumbled forward, and put her hoof into a pile of cold, ice-like crystal scattered all over the floor. After feeling around with their hooves, the two ponies quickly realized what the huge pile of shiny rocked beneath them actually were.

North Star's eyes went wide. "Good gracious, Fizzy! I think these crystals actually are-"

Fizzy whispered in disbelief. "North Star, I think we landed on a big pile of-"

"-Diamonds!" The two exclaimed in unison.

"Golly Fizzy, we must have stumbled onto the Abyssinian's lost diamond treasure!" The Pegasus yelled excitedly. "We'd better not touch these diamonds, though. If what Katrina told me was true, these diamonds are crused, and we don't want to-"

"Forget it, North! I'm tired of all the stupid you've gotten me into these past few weeks!" Fizzy snapped, levitating two of the emerald-cut gemstones up in front of her. "First roping me into joining this stupid voyage, then having to deal with that moron Barnacle and his obnoxious crew! And finally having to deal with those smelly cats! Well, I'm sick of it! I am sick of getting pulled along when trying to save your sorry flank from your own reckless decisions!"

"But Fizzy, that's not fair...." North Star protested, stung by her friend's harsh words. "Blimey, why do you always have to be so bloody mean?"

"Oh, you think I'm mean now?! I'm gonna be downright CRUEL to you losers once I get my eyesight back!" Fizzy growled, levitating the two gemstones up to her eye sockets. "With these new eyes, I'm finally gonna stop playing nice, and deal with stupid ponies the way they should be dealt with! I won't be some dumb, giggling bimbo who just goes along with everything you say, North Star! From now on, I'm gonna be the cruelest mare who ever lived!"

"Fizzy, No!" The Pegasus pleaded, racing over to try and stop the unicorn. "Those cursed diamonds could-"

ZAP! "EEEEEEEEEEEK!" Fizzy cried out, as she set the gemstones into her empty eye sockets, and a magical electric shock passed through her body. The unicorn seemed to light up like a firecracker for a moment, screaming in pain as her body shone like the sun. Then she fell back to the ground, lying there still and silent, as the magical shock from the cursed gems had rendered her unconscious.

"Oh my word, I KNEW those gemstones were bloody cursed!" North Star ran up to her friend, turning the unconscious unicorn over to see if she was still alive. "Fizzy are you all right?"

Suddenly, the unicorn's eyes fluttered open, and she stared at her friend with her now-pink gemstone eyes. With a look in her eye that North Star could only call 'blissful ignorance', the unicorn finally spoke;

"Tee-hee! hat do ya mean, North Star? Of course I'm okay!" Fizzy giggled in a ditzy voice. "You're such a silly Pegasus, you know that?"

Comments

[FleetlordAvatar]

I think those gems fried her brain a bit.