"How did you find out about this place, Twi?" asked Rarity, lying on a colourful beach towel.
"Read about it in a book, of course," she remarked, lounging on a beach chair, "and Celestia thought it would be good for me to see a more exotic place. But it wouldn't be a place worth going without my best friends, would it?"
"No ma'am, it wouldn't!" Applejack said, with a spirited twang in her voice. "This place really is somethin' special, Twilight."
"This is just the place to be in the middle of winter," cooed Fluttershy, half-asleep in a sunny doze. "It's so warm here, so tranquil..."
"WHEEEEE!" called a distant voice, quickly breaking the tranquility. All the ponies looked towards the rolling blue sea, watching Pinkie Pie sprint along the shoreline at full gallop, kicking up wet sand in her wake. A tall wave would occasionally break near her, and she would rear up and spin about on her hind legs, splashing and gambolling in the surf. "You can't catch me, waves! You can't catch me!" she shrieked, as if the waves were her playmate.
Further out to sea, the peace was ruptured by a different sound: a quick, loud whoosh, as a rainbowy streak rocketed across the churning surface of the ocean. This streak rode along the edges of the waves as they were cresting, flying through the barrel just as they collapsed back into the surface. From the beach, the other four ponies watched this exuberant display with a rapt interest.
Soon, the other two tired of their play, and they rejoined the four resting ponies. Pinkie's fur was spotted with damp sand, her normally bouncy mane sopping with sea water. Rainbow Dash zipped in from the ocean and landed skillfully next to the group. Bowing their heads, they shook themselves dry, the other four turning away from the sudden spray of water.
"Burrr-rrr-rrruh!" Pinkie Pie babbled as she shook herself dry. "Who would have thought the ocean would be such a blast? This was a great idea coming here, Twilight!"
"Yeah, the air here makes me feel like I could fly forever!" Rainbow Dash followed. "Something about the salt really shakes my feathers!"
"Well I'm glad you two are enjoying it," Twilight said, shaking the droplets of sea water from her mane. "It must be exciting for you to see the ocean like this."
"Ooh, yes!" exclaimed Pinkie, stomping her front hooves in the sand. "I could play with it all day!"
"Seems a strange place to not know about 'til now," Applejack commented. "Why din't any o' us know 'bout it?"
Twilight rolled her eyes, deep in thought at the sudden question.
"That IS a good question," she said. "I guess places this far out of Ponyville haven't been of interest to us. Princess Celestia thought it would be a good place to visit, though."
"What's through there?" asked Rainbow Dash, pointing behind the group. Looking behind them, they saw a boundary of thick palm trees, too packed together to see through. They waved gently in the sea breeze, making the thicket beyond look like a shimmering mirage.
"We didn't go through there," Rarity pointed out, "the Princess flew us over that in her chariot. Didn't want us to be too tired when we got to paradise, I would say."
"Not just that," Twilight said, "it's an uncharted jungle. If we tried to go through that, we would surely have gotten lost. It would make Everfree Forest look like a backyard garden."
"Uncharted?" Fluttershy asked. "What's in there?"
"Nopony knows," she answered. "Could be all kinds of dangerous beasts in there, bushes and vines you could get tangled up in, all kinds of mysteries."
"Things to find, you mean?" Pinkie Pie said, with a lilt of intrigue. All the ponies looked at her, puzzled. She beamed at them, eagerly waiting for one of them to say something.
"Well... I guess," Twilight said, "but it's incredibly dangerous in there. If you go in, you could never find your–"
"What's an adventure without a little danger?" Pinkie said, rushing suddenly past them and into the overgrowth. The other five turned to where she disappeared, staring in disbelief.
"What's that crazy pony done now?" scoffed Applejack.
"No time for that," Twilight said, suddenly very alert, "we have to go after her! There's no telling where she could end up!"
Rainbow Dash made a keen expression, and began to hover.
"I'll take to the air," she offered, "I can spot her from the air, and guide her back. She'll be here in no time!"
"Good thinking, Rainbow," Twilight said, "but you wouldn't be able to see through the tops of the trees. If we're going to find her, it has to be on hoof, and we have to do it now."
"We have to go... in there?" Fluttershy said nervously. "How do we know we won't get lost, too?"
"Rainbow Dash might not be able to spot Pinkie from the air," Twilight answered, "but she can act as a scout for us. When we find Pinkie, she can fly straight up in the air, find what direction the sea is in, and tell us what direction to go."
"Got it!" Rainbow Dash answered excitedly.
"And Rarity," Twilight continued, looking suddenly at her, "I'll need your beach towel."
"My beach towel?" she asked. "What ever for?"
"We can hold it like a sack with a little hole in it," she explained. "We'll stuff it with sand, and it will make a trail as we walk along. We can use it to find our way back."
"You want me to fill my triple-weave, fine angora-fur beach towel with sand and drag it through the jungle?" she complained. "It will be positively ruined!"
"Rarity, there's no time!!" Twilight shouted. "We have to find Pinkie before she gets into any more trouble!"
"Oh, very well," Rarity said, standing up and starting to push sand into the towel with her snout. "It's silly to assume a beach towel won't be covered in sand, anyway."
Soon, the towel had a heap of sand piled in the middle. The ponies folded the four corners of the towel over it, and Rarity picked it up in her teeth.
"Dish ish preddy heavy," she said.
"We won't be long," Twilight assured her, "Pinkie's probably stopped by now. Come on, let's go find her!"
Twilight Sparkle trotted headlong into the jungle, the other four ponies following close behind her.
At first, they were in a full run, running through the thick underbrush brushing past them. The bright summer sun was darkened by the thick leaves overhead, and the soothing sounds of the beach were replaced by the sounds of shifting leaves, the call of strange animals, and the clop-clop of hooves against the ground.
"PINKIIIIE!" they all called, except for Rarity, her teeth full of beach towel.
"Stay together, ponies!" Twilight Sparkle called behind her. "We don't want any of you to get lost too!"
The ponies ran close together, packed in a tight formation. They all called out for Pinkie Pie as they ran, looking rapidly around them for a flash of pink amongst the dark green foliage.
"PINKIIIIE!!"
"YO, PINK!"
"PINKIE PIE, WHERE ARE YOUUU??"
"COME ON, SUGARCUBE! COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU AR–WHOA!!"
Suddenly, Applejack dropped through the ground, as if she fell down a hole. The ponies all stopped on a time, and turned around in shock.
"Applejack!" Fluttershy cried. She knelt down to where she was, pushing away the fronds, followed by the other ponies. Where Applejack had been was a small depression in the dirt, which looked like it was settling.
"Where did she go?" Rainbow Dash said.
"I don't know," said Fluttershy. "It was as if the ground just... sucked her up!"
"Applejack!" Rainbow Dash called into the dirt. "Are you alright??"
"Groan... yeah, I'm fine," she called back, her voice muffled.
"Where are you?" Twilight Sparkle called.
"I dunno," she said, "but I didn't fall that far. I'm at the end of some kinda long tunnel."
"A tunnel?" Twilight asked. "How could you know that? It has to be pitch dark down there!"
"No, there's, like, these glowin' plants growin' down here," she said, "they're growin' all the way down the tunnel. It looks like it goes on forever!"
"Applejack, we're going to get you out of there!" Rainbow Dash said. "Don't you worry!"
"I can't get back out," Applejack said, "the openin's filled in. What should I do?"
They all looked up expectantly at Twilight Sparkle, their faces full of panic. She looked back, equally panicked. After a few moments, her face turned quite stern, and she looked back down at the ground.
"Applejack, stay where you are," she said. "We'll find a way to get you out!"
"Naw, Twi, I think this tunnel goes somewhere," replied Applejack. "It looks mighty important. Maybe I'll find a way out at the end."
"But Applejack, how will we find you if you go down that tunnel?" asked Fluttershy. "It could go for miles, and who knows where it'll end!"
Just as Twilight opened her mouth to answer, there was a deep rumbling underneath them, and the ground caved in beneath them. Screaming, they plunged down into the earth, landing all in a heap. After scrambling and shouting confusedly for a bit, they all got off one another and, sure enough, found themselves staring down a long, circular tunnel, stretching far off into the distance. Small, leafy plants glowed along the tunnel's length, giving off green and blue light that seemed to get dimmer and brighter at certain intervals, almost as if the light was breathing.
"Grrn... where are we?" grumbled Rainbow Dash, getting up unsteadily on her hooves.
"Dunno," Applejack said, "but we're deep underground now."
Rarity set down her beach towel.
"You don't suppose... diamond dogs made this tunnel, do you?"
"Or a dragon?" Fluttershy said. "Some kind of... burrowing dragon? Who knows what kind of beasts there are here?"
"The worst kinds of beasts are the ones in your imagination," Twilight Sparkle assured them, "but I don't know what we're going to do. This tunnel could still go on for miles, and–"
"Wait! Look at this!" interrupted Applejack. The ponies all looked suddenly at her, and then down at the spot she was pointing at. It was a hoof print.
"It must be Pinkie Pie!" she exclaimed. "And look! They keep going down the tunnel!"
Looking up from the first print, they saw this was indeed true; the prints carried on down the tunnel's length. They were spaced close together, as if the pony had slowed to a walking pace.
"She can't have gotten far," pointed out Rarity, "perhaps we can catch up with her."
"We would need to go now, though," Twilight Sparkle said, "and we all have to stick together. We don't want to lose each other in this tunnel, just in case."
"Right! Let's go!" Rainbow Dash shouted, immediately galloping ahead. Before the others could catch their breath, they sprinted off after her, careful not to lose her. Fluttershy brought up the rear as best she could, and Rainbow's departure was so unexpected, she left the beach towel behind.
The gang was in full gallop along the length of the tunnel, the strange blue and green light shimmering quickly past them as they went. Before long, however, they slowed down to a canter, as the tunnel went on and on before them.
"This was a great idea for a vacation, Twi," Rainbow Dash commented, "but next time, I pick the destination!"
"Rainbow, how likely are you to pick somewhere that Pinkie Pie WON'T go crazy?" retorted Twilight. "Be reasonable here."
"Well hopefully it won't be somewhere full of diamond dogs and dragons and stuff," said Rainbow Dash. "We get enough of that back in Ponyville."
"Can we keep it down to a roar, guys?" Applejack said. "We haven't found a thing along this tunnel, and we haven't lost track of Pinkie's prints. Wherever we're going, we'll be fine."
"...Come to think of it," Fluttershy said, as if she would rather have avoided saying it, "we haven't found... anything at all, have we?"
At this, the group all stopped, and looked at Fluttershy. She looked away from them, frowning.
"What do you mean?" Twilight Sparkle said.
"Well... be quiet, for a second," Fluttershy said. The ponies looked nervously around each other, not making a sound.
"It's... very silent down here, isn't it?" she continued, almost under her breath as if she was afraid of the silence. "You forget how many sounds there are around you all the time. There's no sound of wind, no rustle of leaves, there's just... nothing."
The ponies all looked suddenly concerned.
"And what if this tunnel DOES go on for miles?" Fluttershy said. "What if it goes on forever? What if we're walking down this completely quiet tunnel for ever and ever? That would be scarier than any monster."
Sensing the others were on edge, Twilight Sparkle tried to allay their fear.
"Everyone just stay calm," she said. "It's just so quiet down here because it's underground. There's nothing to worry about; we'll get to the end, we'll escape, and we'll find Pinkie Pie, wherever she's–"
"Wait a second!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, suddenly. "Guys, look at this!"
Looking down, they saw that Pinkie Pie's prints had stopped abruptly, even though the tunnel still stretched far out in front of them.
"Well... maybe something rubbed them out," suggested Twilight, trying to keep the panic down.
"What would'a done that?" Applejack said. "There's nothin' down here!"
"Well, I can't see any other explanation," Twilight said. "We just need to stay calm, we'll figure this out."
As she spoke, the glowing plants, which at first glowed faint green and blue, all started to glow bright white, filling the tunnel with an almost blinding light. The ponies all squinted in the overpowering brightness, some trying to shield their eyes with their legs or wings.
"Twilight! What's going on??" Rainbow Dash yelped.
"I don't know!" she yelped back. "Just keep your head on, we'll figure this out–WHAAAH!"
Just then, all the ponies were lifted off the ground, as if being levitated by an unseen force. They spun slowly in the air, some of them kicking wildly, trying to right themselves.
"Well this explains how Pinkie's hoof prints stopped," said Rainbow Dash, "but now what?"
As if answering, the ponies were all suddenly launched down the tunnel at blinding speed. The ponies screamed as they were all hurtled helplessly forward, twisting wildly out of control like leaves in a gale.
Before they knew it, the ponies slowed to a stop. They breathed a sigh of relief as the sickening sensations of speed left them, but they were still left floating helplessly in the air.
"Sheesh... that even put my mane on end," Rainbow Dash remarked. "Where are we now?"
Looking around them, the group saw that they were no longer in the tunnel, but in a large, egg-shaped room, made of brick. Dozens of holes pocked the curved roof, possibly tunnels leading elsewhere.
"I can't tell," Twilight said, "but Pinkie Pie has to be around here somewhere. Everyone keep an eye out."
"Um... what about down there?" said Rarity.
"Down where?" asked Twilight, turning her head around to see the floor, and seeing there was none. Below them, surrounded by a few of the glowing white plants, was a deep, dark hole. The ponies all stared silently at it, too nervous to say anything. A faint wind echoed in the pit, suggesting it was very deep.
Finally, the apprehensive silence became too much for Fluttershy to take, and she quietly said "Now what?"
With that, the force that held up the ponies suddenly gave way, and they dropped down the hole, shouting with fear. Rainbow Dash tried to fly her way to safety, but her wings only flapped ineffectually in the darkness.
"I can't get airborne!" she yelled. "It's as if we're not just falling down this tunnel, but like we're getting pulled down it!"
"Is it a good time to panic yet, Twilight??" Rarity shouted over the howling wind.
"Yes, I think now is a great time to panic! WUAAAAAAAGH!!!"
"What are you all shouting about?" came a familiar, perky voice from below. Twilight's eyes widened with shock, and she turned her head to see Pinkie Pie flash in front of her, her pink colour standing out against the dimly lit black hole.
"Pinkie??" she yelled.
"What are you–" Rarity shouted as she fell past.
"Doing here??" Applejack followed quickly.
"What's going–" Rainbow Dash yelled.
"On??" finished Fluttershy.
"Come on, you silly billies!" Pinkie joked. "You're not falling, you're just spinning around in a circle."
"We're WHAT??!" they all cried in unison. Suddenly, they all landed in a pile on the floor, and scrambled their way back to their feet. Sure enough, when they looked up, they could see the top of the pit, about twenty feet above them. Rather than falling, they had whirled around and around in this dark room.
"Was this some kind of trick?" Rarity said indignantly. "Was someone trying to fool us?"
"More of a trap, I think," Pinkie Pie offered. "You probably would have just kept spinning and spinning in there until one of you noticed that you weren't falling at all. I caught onto it pretty quickly."
"Well good fer you," Applejack said. "How did ya stumble across this place?"
"Hee-hee, the same way you probably all did!" she giggled. "Fell in that little tunnel there, followed my way down it, and ended up here. But that's not important right now; I've got to show you this thing I've found!"
"You found something?" Twilight said, tilting her head.
"Yeah, it's really awesome! Come here, you've gotta see it!"
Pinkie ran off through an opening at the bottom of the room. The other five ponies all looked at each other, shrugged, and followed after her.
Soon, the ponies were in an enormous dark room, stretching out to either side of them. Their footsteps echoed hauntingly in the huge chamber, as they looked around curiously. High above them was what looked like the inside of a chimney stack: a tall, tapering roof with a hole in the top. Pale white light shone into the room from the hole, filling the room with an otherworldly atmosphere.
"Pinkie, what is all this?" Twilight asked.
"Well, you took so long getting here that the sun set," she said, "but you should still be able to see this when the moon rises. It's going to blow you away, I can promise you!"
"This really is strange..." Rarity said. "Why would something like this be out in the middle of the jungle?"
"A long-lost civilization may have built it," Twilight Sparkle said, "but I've never seen something like this! How could they have done it?"
"What's that thing up there?" asked Applejack, pointing to something only half-seen on the opposite wall, up from the floor. The ponies had to crane their necks to see it. It was hard to tell what it was, but the ponies could see it was some kind of tableau, carved into the wall. Thunderstorms and vast jungles were half-seen in the pale light, and a great mass of strange creatures gathered underneath it all. All the images on the tableau seemed to be focused on something in the centre, but whatever it was, it was shrouded in darkness.
"What is that?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I've never seen anything like it!"
"It looks like it's from a storybook," Fluttershy said, "but really, really big. I wish we could see it properly."
Pinkie Pie craned her neck further, up towards the open ceiling. She could see the full moon sliding into view across it.
"Well, you've got your wish, Flutter," she said, "here it comes!"
As the moon crested over the top of the chamber, a huge spot of brilliant moonlight moved across the room, illuminating the tableau, and it was as if the moonlight made it come to life, right before the pony's eyes. The lightning bolts in the thunderstorm glinted for a moment before disappearing again, lined with veins of silver to make them seem like frozen claps of lightning. The rain in the storm shimmered as the moon passed over it, making it look as though it were a heavy downpour. Thin veins of silver glistened on an enormous sea, brightened by a stone sun above. The crowd of creatures became illuminated, lined with silver as they shone out from the wall. They looked a bit like the ponies, but there were certain unusual things about them; they did not have manes, like the ponies, they were simply covered in bushy fur, almost like a large sheep. They had very long necks and skinny legs, and large, woeful eyes, all focused on the large object in the centre.
The moon climbed and climbed, and the room soon filled with the intense, unearthly white light, which left the ponies in awe. It was then, just as the room became so bright it was as if it was day, that the centre of the tableau, the main image, suddenly appeared. The ponies all gasped in amazement.
In the middle of the tableau, surrounded by rainstorms and thunder and sunlight and vast jungles, adored by the throngs of strange animals, was a crescent moon. Standing atop the moon, looking down at them all with a kindly, if stern face, was a pony. Long threads of silver flowed from her dark mane, her wings were spread wide in glory, and a horn protruded from her forehead, stretching into the heavens. And when the moonlight above was fully on her, her single large eye, staring down at the assembled ponies, gleamed with an exquisitely brilliant light, as if the pony's eyes were filled with stars.
"I-is that..." stammered Fluttershy.
"It can't be!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, it is," Pinkie Pie said, coyly.
"...PRINCESS LUNA!" they all cried in unison. She was rendered a bit strangely on the tableau, as if its carvers drew her similarly to the other creatures assembled beneath, but the resemblance was unmistakable. This was Princess Luna, the same one that fell from ponykind's favour thousands of years ago, and was exiled to the moon when she was twisted into a wicked beast of darkness. The same one that staged a coup against her older sister in the hopes of creating an eternal night in Equestria, to plunge the world into a never-ending nightmare.
And yet here she was, being worshipped by a long-vanished civilization. As Twilight Sparkle looked up at the tableau, at the Princess' blindingly glistening eye, she began to imagine the jubilant cries and praises in the strange, ancient language of these strange animals. She imagined why they would be praising her, what Princess Luna meant to them, and why it was not her own Princess Celestia, her own deity they looked up to that moved the sun and moon in the sky, that these people did not worship.
And as soon as it had come, the tableau was gone again. The gleam dimmed from Princess Luna's eye, the assembled animals withdrew, and the clouds and the jungle and the sea vanished once again into the gloom. The ponies still stared at the place where the image once was, astonished by what they had seen.
"Pretty cool, huh?" said Pinkie Pie, the first to break the awe-inspired silence.
"That was incredible," Rarity said.
"I've never seen anything like it..." said Fluttershy.
"Do you know what this means?" cried Twilight Sparkle, suddenly extremely animated. "There was a civilization here that worshipped Princess Luna, even after she was imprisoned in the moon!"
Twilight Sparkle began to pace in front of the ponies, rocking her head back and forth as she continued to ask questions.
"How did they know about her? Do you think she knew about them? What did she do for this culture that they worshipped her? Does Princess Celestia know about them? I can't imagine what kind of things we could find here, now that we know this! We could find out so much! There's so much to discover! We have to–"
"Twilight?" interrupted Pinkie Pie. Confused, Twilight Sparkle looked up at her. With a mischievous smile, Pinkie nodded towards a set of stairs underneath the tableau, leading out of the room.
"Maybe we should finish our vacation first..." she remarked. Twilight Sparkle looked away bashfully.
"Oh... um, yes, of course," she said, "our vacation."
The ponies all shared a good laugh, and with one last glance at the dark space where the tableau was, they left the great chamber.
