Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Our Timing Can't Be That Bad

Godfrey picked up a plank of wood lying on the steps before the entrance to the temple and raised an eyebrow at the dark archway. “Well, I see they’ve made their way inside already. There must really be something valuable to them in there if they’re willing to go through all this trouble.”

He walked up to the archway and peered down inside the hallway. Total darkness staring back at him.

“Very dark and very hot, huh? Can’t say that’s a surprise,” Godfrey said as he scratched his chin.

Looking down at the ground he saw several of the torn out nails and with the wooden board still in his talon he got an idea. He picked up one of the nails and struck it fast against the stone wall of the archway, generating sparks and flame as if striking a match. He put the board right next to it as he did so and the sparks caught the end of it aflame. Holding it up over his head, Godfrey smirked victoriously and started walking into the temple.

“Good. Finding them should be easy enough now—they must’ve left a trail for me to follow.”

He flapped his great wings and started gliding down the temple’s opening hallway, ignoring the heat and beating away the darkness with his makeshift torch.

---

“Now this is somewhat more concerning than the last chamber,” Gilbert said as the five of them stood in a small room right in front of a much longer room that at the moment none of them had taken a step into.

“I mean—I think we still could fly everyone over again...” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around it.

“But if something unexpected happens you wouldn’t be able to fly as swiftly or avoid things while carrying me or anyone else,” Daylight said. “And we don’t know exactly what this room might throw at us. Only that it’s very, very, dangerous.”

The larger chamber that they still hadn’t stepped into just yet was a large square room with a low ceiling and a smooth floor. Across the way they could see another tunnel leading from it as well as a statue of what looked like a pony holding something from this distance. None of them had attempted to get a closer look just yet because of everything else on the floor of the great chamber. Dozens of piles of pulverized bones, some smashed so finely they had been reduced to splinters or even powder. They were randomly strewn about the room, with absolutely no pattern or indication as to what had happened aside from most being gathered on the further half of the room.

“I think we found what happened to most of the other adventurers who came in here,” Breakwater said.

“Yeah… no kidding,” Rainbow said.

“There’s no other way to go forward though,” Daylight said.

“I’ll walk out there first and if anything starts to happen I’m sure I’ll be able to react in time to stop it,” Rainbow said. “The rest of you just follow close behind.”

“Let’s do it,” Senax said, a drop of sweat dripping down the side of her head.

“There are probably smarter ways to handle this but… maybe not a quicker way,” Daylight sighed.

Together the five of them walked out into the very foreboding room with Rainbow Dash in front and Daylight’s flashlight horn lighting things up for her. They walked slowly and carefully, minding where they put their hooves and talons, while Rainbow Dash also looked around at the walls and ceilings for any signs of trouble. So far so good. They were also being sure to make a line that would take them around any piles of bone. Obviously it would be a bad idea to step exactly where those unfortunate travelers had stepped.

At first it seemed like there was nothing that would happen—nothing moved, nothing looked out of place, and they had made it more than halfway through the room. But in the middle of the smooth floor now something clicked. It was almost imperceptible, Rainbow Dash was the only one in the group who noticed that first little click. It happened right as all five of them were in the exact middle of the chamber—the floor sunk down, quickly, and less than a quarter of an inch, but it still happened. At the other side of the chamber she also saw the pony statue sink slightly into the floor. Rainbow’s ears turned up at the click and she sucked in a breath, about to turn around to the others and say something, when the ceiling started to lower towards them.

It crawled down the smooth walls of the chamber at surprising speed and got ready to pulverize them all.

“Oh, that explains it,” Gilbert said.

“R-Rainbow Dash!” A much more panicked Daylight Gleam yelled.

“On it!” Rainbow shouted and zoomed at lightning speeds out from under the collapsing ceiling to the other side of the room, right by the statue and exit.

The others were running too but there was no way they could escape the trap, it was already about to reach their heads. Luckily Rainbow Dash had a decent idea about what she had to do. There had to be some way to stop and reverse this thing, it didn’t make any sense otherwise. And Rainbow Dash was pretty sure this statue was part of the trigger mechanism. Now right next to it she saw clearly what it was. Another decapitated pony holding a scepter of some kind. She grabbed it under its front legs and lifted as hard as she could to raise it back up.

It was barely an inch but she managed to pull the statue back up and it clicked into place. As soon as it did so, the falling ceiling stopped—two feet from crushing into the floor of the chamber—and started to rise back up.

Rainbow Dash looked on and saw four prone and shaking figures lying on the floor of the chamber. All intact and okay, just in time.

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding in. “Y-You guys okay?”

Gilbert was the first to stand, dusting his feathers off. “Well, that was a close one.”

Rainbow Dash snorted and shook her head. “Too close. Hurry up and get out from under there already.”

She didn’t need to tell them twice. Gilbert, Daylight, Senax, and Breakwater all swiftly ran towards her and practically threw themselves onto the safe ground. Everyone panted and collectively rested, trying to catch their breath.

“P-Pressure switch...” Daylight said. “No wonder most didn’t make it out of this chamber, it would take someone incredibly fast like Rainbow Dash or a unicorn capable of teleporting to get out from under the ceiling in time.”

Senax shuddered and looked at the piles of bone. “W-We might be the first to get this far...”

“Possibly. I guess we have to keep moving,” Breakwater said, doing a good job at keeping cool after almost being crushed. Aside from the slight tremble in his hooves.

“At least we won’t be in danger when we come back out, Gilbert and I will fly you over it again,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah,” Daylight nodded. “D-Definitely the best thing to do.”

“Well then… I suggest we get out of here and make our way into the next chamber,” Senax said. She was also trying to be strong but Rainbow could see the fear on her face.

Still, after that Rainbow Dash was certain she could handle anything else this temple threw at her. They could do this.

Daylight renewed shining her light in front of them and Rainbow Dash took point once more, the five of them now walking down the tunnel that exited out of the crushing room. It wasn’t long before they emerged into another large chamber but this one didn’t look like it was a trap. More buildings were carved all along the walls and through their doorways the group could see more tunnels going in multiple different directions. To their left, to their right, directly ahead of them, tunnels going up higher into the volcano and others going down deeper into it. They were stuck at a crossroads with no idea where to proceed next.

“Well isn’t this just great,” Rainbow Dash mumbled.

“A map of this place certainly would be useful right about now,” Gilbert said as he looked around at the various tunnels.

“We can’t check this entire place. We don’t have the time and there’s a big likelihood that there will be more traps down each tunnel,” Breakwater said.

“I know. I’m thinking,” Daylight said.

Senax meanwhile paced about, unsteadily looking from building to building as sweat gathered along her brow. The heat was getting pretty bad again—almost as bad as when they were in the same chamber as that lava river. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or a bad idea to follow the heat at this point. From looking at the tunnels there was simply no indication which one might be the right one and which one was the wrong one. They all were constructed exactly the same with no designations or anything carved around or outside of them.

Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin and shrugged. “I’ve got a dumb idea for figuring out where to go next.”

Daylight Gleam looked over and raised an eyebrow at her. “What is it? At this point dumb ideas are pretty much as good as any.”

“Oh, then I’ve got a few-” Gilbert started before Rainbow cut him off.

“Just this,” the pegasus said before walking into the middle of the chamber, sticking a hoof out, shutting her eyes, and then spinning around in a circle. After a few swift rotations she came to a stop, hoof now pointing directly at one of the tunnels. Rainbow Dash opened up her eyes and grinned. “Alright, let’s go!”

She started walking right into the tunnel without hesitation.

“That’s-” Daylight grimaced before sighing and shaking her head. “Ugh, whatever. I really don’t have a better idea.”

“She’s a lucky pony anyways, if we’re going to choose at random we might as well let Rainbow Dash be the one doing it,” Senax said.

“Yeah I’m not sure I entirely agree with this but… I don’t really have a suggestion of my own either,” Breakwater shrugged.

“Onwards!” Gilbert cheered and followed Rainbow Dash along.

It really was just like any other tunnel that the five of them had gone through before. It wasn’t as carefully and smoothly carved as some, feeling more like a natural cave, and there was an oppressively hot wave of air coming from further inside. More lava no doubt. Daylight kept her light shining along the floor and walls but there were no more statues or other sculpted objects after they had left that previous chamber. This tunnel now twisted and turned and steadily went downwards into the volcano, if they didn’t have a light they would’ve accidentally walked into the wall several times by now.

Finally they came to another door, but no door that could simply be pulled open—it looked sealed shut.

“Hm...” Daylight said as her light illuminated it. There was faded writing and other artistry on the door in gold paint that by now had become chipped and dulled, there was no telling what it might have once been.

“Any way to open it?” Gilbert questioned.

“I don’t see anything,” Daylight said.

“Maybe it’s a push door,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and pushed hard against it but it didn’t budge.

Daylight scowled at her. “That could’ve activated a trap you know?”

“I know.”

“Looking at it I think it just slides open,” Gilbert said. “Right down the middle.”

“Then maybe I can try pulling it open with my magic… if I can get it to open an inch the rest of you can start to help pull the slabs apart,” Daylight said and lit up her horn with her powder blue magic again. It caused her normal light to disappear, but so close to the door and the glow from her magic was enough for them to see anyways. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. “Here goes.”

Daylight had to grit her teeth and put all her magical strength into prying open this door, it wasn’t exactly her strong suit when it came to magic. A powder blue aura enveloped the door and strained to pull the two halves of it apart so they could reach whatever was inside it. With a deep and heavy groan a seam appeared in the middle of the door as it split just a fraction of an inch open, Gilbert, Breakwater, Senax, and Rainbow quickly moving to try and dig into the door and pull it further. Together they all worked together and after an inch or two it was like something suddenly came loose and the rest of the door was slammed back into the tunnel walls, opening up fully for them.

An all new wave of heat and light came at them and nearly knocked them to their flanks. They had to squint their eyes as the nearly visible heat and surprisingly bright light washed over them. But when they recovered and stood up they were finally able to look and step into the next chamber—something completely different from what they had seen before.

“This… this might be what we’ve been looking for,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “I think that’s a given.”

The room was an expansive, circular chamber with a high ceiling covered in stalactites aiming down at them. However, for the most part there was no floor. It was just one big pit with a bubbling pool of lava at the bottom. Directly ahead of them was the only ground to walk on—a narrow bridge that led to a single platform, a single pillar rising from the middle of the pool of lava. Centered on that pillar of stone was a statue of some sort with something glinting in the middle of it and the party of five tentatively walked out towards it. They minded their steps in case there was some other trap or the rock bridge they were using fell apart.

Luckily it was safe and they made it to the central pillar where they were able to see just what the statue and shiny object were.

A pair of decapitated ponies rising up on their back legs and holding a scepter together, holding it up high to the sky. The scepter was made of solid gold and a brilliant ruby larger than Rainbow Dash’s hoof sat atop it.

“That’s definitely a golden treasure,” Rainbow Dash said.

“But it’s not the golden treasure we’re looking for,” Senax sighed in defeat.

“Another dead end then,” Breakwater shook his head. “Just a wild goose chase.”

“Sorry, Senax,” Daylight frowned at her friend.

“Well it’s not a complete loss,” Gilbert said as he scratched his chin and inspected the golden scepter. “Let’s look on the bright side—this is still a magnificent treasure! If we bring it back to Malkonrik with us we won’t have to worry about money at all anymore!”

Rainbow smiled. “That’s a good point, Gilbert. Here, I’ll get it.”

“Wait, it could be-” Daylight tried to say but she wasn’t quick enough to finish before Rainbow Dash easily popped the scepter free and held it up for them all to see. “-booby-trapped.”

Everyone stood around still and silent for a moment. Waiting to see if something was going to happen like the pillar collapsing into the lava or a boulder flying out from somewhere to smash them. But nothing did.

“Looks like it’s safe,” Rainbow shrugged.

“We should hurry back out of here then… I don’t like this island. I’m really sorry everyone that it wasn’t the Necklace again,” Senax said. She somberly looked down at the ground. “I-I know lately I’ve been short with you all… and moody. But I-”

Whatever Senax was about to say next was interrupted by the shaking of the chamber they were in.

No, that was incorrect.

The entire volcano shook as an earthquake rumbled up from deep beneath where they were. Dust and rocks came down from the ceiling, cracks ran through the pillar and bridge they had walked over, and the bubbling of the lava right below them increased in ferocity, violent jets even shooting up from it. There was not just one single quake, a few more minor ones came after the first, and they didn’t seem to be stopping.

Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hoof down her face. “I, uh, I think we probably need to get out of here. Fast.”

Daylight gulped and nodded. “I agree.”

“Bad luck on our part,” Gilbert nervously chuckled. “Seems we’ve also figured out why everything else on the island left in a hurry.”

“And we arrived at the perfect time to find that out,” Breakwater shook his head.

A tremor of fear ran through Senax’s body as she hugged herself. Fear and guilt.

Comments

[redmar]

I hope that Godfrey won't hinder them too much in their attempt too leave. The Scourge is still too damaged to be able to follow them at least.

[Cosmic Potato]

It in fact is that bad

[RoboRed]

1) I wonder how that thing isn't burning hot from sitting in an ambient lava room since antiquity.
2) Oh boy, now getting out is gonna be real fun.
3)

A tremor of fear ran through Senax’s body as she hugged herself. Fear and guilt.

Something has really been eating at Senax but I have no idea what.