The storm batters on outside; the wind howls into the small cave you nestled yourself in. You let it chill your back as you sit between the opening and your small campfire. Keeping this fire alive is critical if you’re going to survive the night. You reach into your nearly empty pack and pull out a zap apple.
“Heh, you certainly weren’t lying about the kick these things have Applejack.”
You haven’t seen her in six months.
At least you think it’s been six months since you set out. Twilight helped you pour over mom’s old notes. Fluttershy told you how to reason with the animals. Pinkie imparted how important it is to keep your spirits up. Rainbow trained you until you were, “the fastest thing on two legs… when I don’t feel like jogging anyway.” Rarity showed you how to improvise with whatever you have. And Applejack, well, you’ve got a nasty kick and you had a pack of food that lasted you this long.
You learned as much as you could for the last eight years; almost half of your whole life. All the time since…
***
“Why can’t I go with you, mom?"
Your mom’s hoof plants itself on your chest.
”It’s too dangerous for you, monkey.”
Your pet name, it doesn’t exactly make you feel better right now.
”But I’m twelve years old! I can handle it!”
”Oh really?”
You weren’t expecting her to challenge you.
“Y-yes…”
In a flash mom whips your feet with her tail casing you to fall onto your butt.
“OW!”
Mom giggles and kisses your forehead gently.
”If you can’t even handle a sweep like that, then you can’t handle going with me. Please understand Anon, I only want you to be safe.”
Your tears are welling up in your eyes. A mixture of embarrassment and frustration is bubbling up in you.
“I don’t want to be safe! I just want to be with you, mom!”
”I know you do monkey…” mom says as she nuzzles your cheek, “But you’re the most important treasure I have, and I won’t risk losing you for anything.”
She turns to leave through the door. You reach out and grab the end of her shirt out of desperation.
“Mom, please stay!”
She looks at you and gives you a knowing smile.
”Anon, I have to go. You know that… but I’ll tell you what.”
She plants her hat on your head.
”This is my lucky hat. It’s really important to me, like you are. So as long as you’ve got it I’ll be sure to come looking for it, okay?”
The confidence in her voice does calm you down some.
“O-okay mom… I’ll keep your hat safe.”
”That’s my monkey,” she says proudly.
She turns again and stands in the doorway for a moment before crossing through and taking off into the sky. You see a glint of light from just under your view. You look down and see a small dark spot in the ground just past the doorway.
You look back up to the sky but you mom is nowhere to be seen.
***
And that was the last you saw of her. You would cash mom’s royalty checks so you were never in danger of starving. Eventually, Rainbow Dash and her friends came by because Dash was worried something desperate for the next book.
“I’m just worried Daring Do is in trouble,” is how she put it though.
You were sad, but it wasn’t until they showed up concerned that you finally broke. They offered to take you back to Ponyville with them while Twilight tried to figure out where mom disappeared at. You helped at every opportunity you could. Together you two were able to decode her notes and maps. The process was slow, but when you saw there was hope of finding your mom you started getting serious.
And so you studied and trained. Rainbow Dash was your biggest motivator over those eight years. She reminded you a lot of your mom. When you told her that she fell out of the cloud she was resting on. The memory elicits a chuckle out of you into the empty cave. For a moment the echoes make you feel like you’re not alone. But you are; by choice.
The others offered to accompany you, but you told them that this was something you had to do alone. You would follow in your mom’s hoofsteps. Or you would, if she didn’t fly everywhere that is. Giggle at the ghosties, right Pinkie? They fought you on your request to tackle this alone. You all had gotten very close over those eight years after all.
In a way you knew now what it must have been like for mom to tell you that you had to stay home. But if you… when you find her; she’ll see that you’re strong, you’re capable… she’ll be so proud…
The soft drips from your eyes carry the same volume as the small crackles of your little bonfire. You will never stop looking, not until you find her.
Images of the map flood your mind. A map you’ve poured over for years; a map detailing treacherous pits, labyrinthine caves, dense forests, and tall mountains. Nothing for a pegasus who can just fly overhead, and uses those dangers as guides. But it was nothing for you either so long as you had your trusty enchanted bow and equipment. And now, you’re at the last leg of it.
The ruined temple you spied with your binoculars is just a short walk away. Too dangerous to do in the dark, especially in the middle of a storm like this. You take the hat off of your head. Rarity had to work for hours to convince you to alter it so it would fit you. After all the close calls you’ve had so far you’re pretty glad she did, or you would’ve lost this hat at the start of your journey.
“I’m coming mom. Don’t you worry about me either; I’ve got your lucky hat. I’m bringing it back to you… so just hold out a little longer.”
Outside the storm continues roaring away. But your fire never dies…
***
“Tch, of course it wouldn’t be this easy.”
You kick a small pebble down the wide chasm only to hear it tumble into obscurity; too wide for you to jump, and too deep to climb down and go up when it narrows from what you can see.
And besides, you’re too impatient.
This is it. The temple you’ve trekked for six months to reach. The last location you know your mother was heading towards. You combed every inch of the path she had marked out. It’s why it took you so long to reach here. But eight years is a long time. And you could find no hint of her presence along the way. So this must be it; if you’re going to find anything. You’ll find it here.
And the only thing in your way is this deep chasm. Almost like the earth broke away from itself to keep any trespassers out. According to Twilight these were originally gryphon lands, so naturally there are no bridges or ropes to use. Your own rope, which has weakened significantly through the heavy use you put on it, doesn’t give you much confidence as a tool to cross this chasm. You wished you were born a pegasus like mom, then most of your trails would be a breeze.
But would she have loved you the same if you weren’t unique?
You can’t say. But she loves you as you are, and you won’t stop searching now. You glance around and spy some thin vines on the nearby overgrowth. Perhaps there’s something you can use with them…
“A designer doesn’t limit themselves to one trade, Anonymous,” says Rarity in a memory. “They simply chose to hone their craft to something they enjoy.”
You climb a nearby tree and start cutting the longest sections of vines you can find.
”A designer is, at its core, a creator. A problem solver! If somepony has the fire, and a little knowledge, there’s nothing they can't overcome in fashion. Filthy dungeoning is just a minute detail; the outcome is all the same. All I wish to do, Anonymous, is feed the flame I see within you.”
Urged on by Rarity words you keep tying segments of vine together, bundling them tightly and compacting them. They’re thin and weigh very little, but when you bundle them together they make for a sturdy tether. You continue to work with the vines you’ve cut. It’s not until it’s too late to reach for your bow that you hear the growls from the shaded parts of the forest surrounding you.
The hair on the back of your neck stands on its end. You fight to keep your breath steady. Red eyes pierce through the shade. Their forms are impossible to discern from here. Everything in your body is screaming at you to take to the trees, or run as far as you can. Your breathing quickens, but your legs refuse to budge. Slowly, large beastial forms slink out from the cover of the trees. Their blood red eyes are locked to your form as they encroach upon you.
Why won’t you run?
”Now Anon,” says Fluttershy in a memory, “That was really mean to Mr. Bear! He was just giving you a friendly wave! O-oh, I see… I guess if you weren’t used to him, he might seem a little scary. I’m sorry, Anon. Why don’t we all try for a nicer… gentler approach, hmm? Mr. Bear, why don’t you show Anon here your belly? He likes belly rubs, don’t you, Mr. Bear? Yes you do~... Now why don’t you try, Anon? Go on! He won’t bite.”
The beasts have you completely surrounded now.
”See, some things may look scary, but that’s just because you don’t understand them yet. Most critters in Equestria are friendly, despite how they look. You just need to know how to interact with them.”
The alpha lets out a low growl; it takes an aggressive stance at you.
”Hmm, let’s see, Anon, if you’re going to go in this area… I hear blood wolves are very common in this area. Oh my… are you sure you want to go alone? I-I could… f-find someone to accompany you I’m sure…”
You’ve reached into its territory; it must have thought your knife was a claw; a sign of aggression.
”Well, if you have to go alone then I’ll tell you all about the critters in the area. They are a … well they’re really scary looking. But I promise if you just show them kindness in a way they understand, then they’ll show it to you in return.”
The only way to reassure it and its family that you’re not a threat…
You move quickly and slice open your palm. The alpha snarls at your sudden movement, but doesn’t move, and, as such, neither does its family. Its nostrils flare and you slowly open your palm out to show the alpha your wound. In your other hand you pocket the knife back into its holster. The alpha treads cautiously to you.
You do your best to keep your stance non-threatening; you don’t even speak for fear of a miscommunication. The beast stands before you now and sniffs your bleeding palm. Its tongue laps at your wound. The healing properties in the saliva of the bloodwolves takes effect instantly. Your palm tingles fiercely and you fight to keep from giggling at the sensation, despite the immense danger you’re in. Or, well, were in.
The alpha lets out a happy bark and his family joyfully approaches you so they can smell the blood you pooled on the ground before you. The alpha nudges your healed palm and you scratch its ears in kind; satisfied with deeming you a non-threat to its family, the alpha calls for the family to follow along back towards the forest proper. You let out a huge sigh of relief and thank Fluttershy for saving your skin just now.
The makeshift rope you were “creating” seems long enough and you tie it around an arrow. You draw back on your bow and fire it into a sturdy looking boulder on the other side just past the chasm. The enchantment in your bow lets you plant an arrow deep into anything you fire at. Thankfully, you can activate it at will, otherwise every misfire would be an arrow lost. You tie off the other end of the vine to a nearby tree. Its close, but you made it just long enough.
Shame it took so long to make, because now the sun is going down. But it shouldn’t matter. Day or night, the temple will be dark inside regardless. So you make your way across the chasm as quickly as you can.
There it is… finally.
You pull out the torch you fashioned out of an old rag and thick branch. Your tiny jar of fireflies is shattered against the torch, igniting it proper. You enter the ruins just as the sun creeps past the tree line.
***
With your wits about you, and quick reflexes, you manage to skirt some of the early dangers in the tomb: arrow traps triggered by a loose stone, hidden levers and switches high up in the rooms were easily dispatched with a well-aimed arrow, talon locks are picked with your knife, venomous snakes allow you passage after some interpretive dance. That was a particularly embarrassing lesson at the time with Fluttershy, but you’re certainly not complaining now.
The map you’ve been drawing leads you to believe that this next room should be the way down...
***
“But if they can fly, then why didn’t they put the chalice waaaaay up top?”
Mom boops your nose and gives you a smug grin.
”Because all the best stuff is deep down in the temples, monkey.”
“That doesn’t answer my question, mom.”
Mom shrugs and continues tucking in the sheets around you.
"I guess everypony, past and present, comes to the conclusion that putting important things under stuff feels safer.”
You ponder her reasoning and start applying it to your situation.
“So... is that why you have to tuck me into bed every night?”
Mom giggles at your reasoning before giving you a tired smile.
"You got it, kiddo.”
She plants a soft kiss on your forehead.
“Love you, my little monkey."
***
You smile at the little memory, but that quickly turns into a frown when you enter the room before you. It was unfortunately a dead end; a literal dead end, trapdoor spike-pit combo. Par for the course if your mother’s stories were anything to go by...
Your breath catches in your throat when you spy what looks like a familiar olive green vest in the center of the pit.
“No… No NO!”
You catch yourself just before jumping in. You jump back and fall on your ass. You sit there trembling.
“She can’t have… she’s a pegasus! MOM!”
You have to be sure; after coming this far.
You look down into the pit. Then you wipe your eyes free of tears so you can see a little clearer. The spikes are spaced close together. Close enough to kill just anything that was smart enough to survive this far. It looks like you can shimmy your way between the spikes if you go through sideways though.
Very carefully you ease yourself down into the pit. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, you barely slide your way past the spikes. Some are too close for you to be able to slip past so you have to finds ways around. The spikes are tall and you could easily lose your way. Thankfully the ancient gryphons loved ceiling murals, and you’re able to use it to guide your way to the center. The spikes are jagged and weathered. You accumulate many scratches and cuts to both your skin and your clothes, but you don’t stop. Not until you can know for sure.
After what feels like an eternity you are standing below the spike that holds the olive green tatters. You can hear a crunch beneath your feet. The glint of white underneath you makes you sick. You can’t even bare to look any further. You know what you’ve stepped on, and if it really is her…
You swallow the bile that was building up and focus on the task at hand. There was barely any room for you, so taking your bow was a no-go. No options left other than to climb up. Despite the myriad cuts you have, you’re somewhat grateful that the spikes aren’t smooth; you’d never be able to climb this if they were.
Carefully you ascend to the cloth above. You pray to the sisters that it be anything other than mom’s. It’s in your reach now. You steady your breath and reach up to grab it. Instantly you hand jerks back.
The grime coating your fingers causes you to recoil. You look up again at the fabric. It’s tearing as a result of you having tried to pull it, but from here you can see spots where the grime wiped off on your fingers. It’s a heavily ruined yellow underneath. Emotion starts rushing through you at the sight. It wasn’t her!
Of course it wa – Before you can even hear the crack of the spike you’re holding on you’ve already started falling.
Instinctively, you press yourself into the spike as much as you can to slow your decent. Your left side and arm are getting scraped to all Tartarus, but it’s better than the alternative. You hit the ground hard and the spike you slam into cracks and falls forward into a few others causing a domino effect on the weakened stones. You’re sitting in the center of a small clearing of toppled spikes that, thankfully, didn’t topple back around on you. The cloth flitters down before you and lands in front of you.
You sit up and pinch the cloth to give it a good whip. This clears some of the grime off, enough for you to make certain what you saw was correct. It’s a dark yellow color that was probably bright yellow some time ago.
The feeling you have is… mixed. On one hand, you’re relieved that it wasn’t where she… is. On the other, you still have no clue where she is after searching for so long. Your tears start flowing freely. What you promised yourself in the cave… you meant it, but...
The determination you have has been constantly wearing away since you started. This last bit wa –
”Hey! I better not be seeing you crying over there silly bones!”
That sounded like…
”I’m serious, Nonners. We both know you’re more than carpable of doing this.”
You look down and see the skull that belonged to the skeleton you stepped on.
“Pinkie, is that you?"
”Nope! I’m whitey! Duh! What are you, some kind of numbskull?”
You can hear her giggling echo out into the chamber. You’ve officially lost it, haven’t you?
”I don’t think you have Anonners, I just think you’re a little sad… but that’s okay! Because I’m a bone-afied party skull!
”Do you get it, Nonny? It’s because I’m dead!”
You bust out a round of laughter at the anti-joke.
”I’m sorry, Nonny. I guess that one was low quality, huh? I must be running out of skeleton puns.”
You’re calm enough now that you’ve reduced to a few sniffles.
“D-Do they have to be humerus?”
You can hear the skull giggle.
”No, just the bare bones will work!”
You start laughing along.
“Are you sure? I’m sure I’ve got some rib-ticklers.”
”I dunno, Anon. Are you sure you’re hip enough to pull it off?
”Lemme get sternum with you for a moment though… you can do this, Nonny. You know that, and so do all your friends. They wouldn’t let you go alone if they didn’t think so.”
“Yeah… I guess I just needed to let it all out for moment.”
The skull says nothing. It never spoke in the first place. But Pinkie always knew how to brighten your spirits. Even imagined, she manages to pull it off.
You stand up and dust yourself off. The way out is… over there. You take a deep breath and let it out so you can start squeezing your way back through. Free from the pit and re-equipped, you feel like a new human, according to Twilight.
You tuck the yellow cloth into an empty pocket of your bag and make your way to the only room left that’s not completely ruined. At a quick glance it didn’t look like much, but if this is the last room you can access easily, then you should take a good look around. The runes that adorn the walls are unlike anything you’ve ever seen. You brushed them off as artistic, but now that you’re looking intently…
You can see a lot of repeating symbols. In fact, it almost looks like a set number of repeats. Could these be words? But the “language” is nothing like that of the ancient gryphons you’ve been studying for months. There must be something to this… but where do you start?
”It’s not too difficult to put together Anon,” says Twilight in a memory. “Do you see this part here?”
You hold the torch over to a less “wordy” section.
”Solving things can be a challenge, but you’ve already got the biggest tool to help you: your brain! The trick is to take it a little at a time.”
Your hand runs along the faded runes chipped into the wall.
”Sometimes it helps to start out really small. Think of it like a puzzle. You can’t start putting it together if you don’t understand how a piece looks or acts, right?”
You stare at the runes until you notice which ones are used most commonly. It seems to be about five different ones; it’s very possible that those may be your vowels.
”Then, when you have a solid grasp on how the piece works, you can start using it with other pieces.”
You scribble down every unique rune you can find, as well as your alphabet and that of the ancient gryphons. You can start to see some similarities in the three.
”You do take well after your mother you know? Rainbow would probably never believe this, thinking that everything your mom relied on was skill, but your mom was quite brilliant.”
You think you have a working alphabet now, and you scan the walls and images of this room and others, hoping to find something to confirm your alphabet with.
”My point is that she was able to apply all her knowledge to keep herself out of harm’s way… Oh! Uh, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean…"
Your grimace fades away when you can confirm that one message does read “Light here” next to what used to be a sconce.
"S-so there will probably be overlapping in the temple you’re going to. It was in a much trafficked area by other ancient races, and it’s very likely that friendships were made. And, more relevant to you, that information was shared.”
You painstakingly decipher each passage you can find in the room.
”Which means that you need to be as sharp as possible if you aim to traverse safely”
Ancient Taurens were the ones who helped design this room.
”I can’t prepare you for everything, Anon. You’re going to have to solve things on your own, but I know you can do it!”
The riddle is child’s play compared to learning how to read it; the wall, well, former wall, slides upwards as it reveals the hidden passage to you. Just beyond it you spy something coiled. It looks somewhat like a snake skin; from some really big snake. Some really big and… brown snake?
It almost looks like…
It can’t be…
IT IS! Mom’s whip! You’d know it from anywhere!
In your rush to reach the whip you trip whatever plate was in the ground. A wall raises and falls fast enough for you to run face first into it and fall to the ground. All of your stuff goes flying everywhere and your back is aching from the impact. This position gives you a pristine view of the door sliding back down onto you. You can’t react quick enough to move. Your body does the moving for you and your legs go up to hold the wall and keep it from crushing you.
It’s heavy! Really heavy! You can’t hold it up much longer, and you’re pinned under the weight.
”C’mon, pardner! You can do it!”
You groan as your legs tighten to bear the weight.
”Hard? O’course it’s hard, Anon!” says Applejack in a memory. “Ya ain’t doing none of that frou-frou trainin’ Dash has you doing.”
Your bow is just out of reach; you dig deep and try stretching out more.
”This here’s real work. Yer gonna build some good muscle so long as ah’m showin’ ya the Apple way!”
Your thighs burn from the strain and your fingers can just barely graze one end of your bow.
”C’mon Anon, that was barely two buckets! I know ya kin do better’n that!”
Your legs are trembling, but you hold firm. The bow is just barely in your grasp and you quickly yank it which sends arrows spilling out towards you.
”That’s the way, Anon! Shoot! You keep this up and Ah’ll be asking’ ya to help out with the harvest."
You’re about to give! Your body is soaked with sweat. It’s getting into your eyes, and your fingers can barely nock the arrow.
”Whoo-Whee, Anon! When y’come back with yer mom in tow, would ya consider staying here in Ponyville? I could use somepony like you on the farm.”
”Now don’t y’all be gettin’ all teary eyed on me, Hoss. Yer gonna find yer mom. I kin feel it in mah hat, y’know?”
You sprawl yourself out on the floor, completely exhausted.
”I know what it means to carry that weight on your head… so you listen to me now, ’Nonymous. Yer gonna find her… so let’s not worry about it anymore. We got a whole field left ta do.”
Loud cracks and rumbles come from the raising door. The last of your strength is used to roll away just in time to see it coming down. Onto your bow and hat! The sound of stone snapping wood sounds just in front of you before you even realize it. Your hat is firmly in your grasp, until the adrenalin you were running on wears out and you lay your face into it. The soft crackling of your nearby torch is the last sound you hear before falling asleep.
***
Your tired eyes pry themselves open; at first glance though it’s as though you haven’t opened them at all. The tomb you’re sealed in is dark. But your eyes adjust somewhat. You try to rise only to face excruciating soreness from your waist down.
“AH! Damn…”
Very carefully, and with heavy use of your arms to support you, you rise to your feet. Every step feels like you have lava for muscles. You shuffle along the walls, using them for support, until the pain tempers down to a more tolerable level. Hopefully you won’t be running anytime soon.
You bend down, without bending at the knees, and grab your pack off the ground. There’s very little left in it, but you do have one zap apple left. Your stomach growls in response, but you fight off the urge when you can’t find another jar of fireflies. This makes your torch effectively useless now.
You look around on the ground, but your limited sight only lets you discern so much. One thing you do make out is a dark coil. Your mind seems to jump back to speed when you remember what it is.
Your legs, however, are still pretty raw; so the opposing forces merge into a slightly painful and awkward, but quicker, walk to the whip. You scoop it up in your hands. It’s aged, but not by as much as you’d think for something that may have been lying around for eight years. The handle is begging to come apart, but the rest of the whip seems to be holding well. You can’t say much about the color in this darkness. The whip finds its way safely into your pack.
You look around the dark room and try to remember what it was like when you did have the torch. All of your memories from that time are tarnished by the sight of mom’s whip and the crushing wall. You look down at your torch and pick it up. If only you had a firefly, or something to…
”Y’all be very careful now with theses zap apples, y’hear? They’re chock full of that cosmic mojo that makes em s’dern peppy! Ah’m serious, youngun! And don’t you go holdin' up anythin’ metal to em, that’s just asking fer trouble.”
The last bit of advice you got from the apples. Well if you’re not counting Mac’s “Eeyup” as final advice anyway…
You plant your back to a wall and carefully slide down so you can try something. The torch is planted between your knees while you hold the zap apple in one hand, and your knife in the other. Slowly you bring the two closer together, just above the tip of your torch. They don’t seem to be reacting though, even when you touch them. Maybe Granny Smith was pulling a fast one on you? You let out a sigh and take a large bite out of your apple. The apple gives off a dim spark of light, and you can see your cheeks glowing as you chew. This is something you’ve never noticed before…
Though, you’ve never eaten a zap apple in complete darkness. Maybe now…
You carefully hold the bitten part of the apple to the torch and bring the knife closer to the flesh of the apple. When you bring the two close enough little multicolored sparks begin arching to the blade of your knife. You lower your hands so the sparks have to run over and into the burnt rag on your torch.
“Come on…”
Some small bits of the rag begin to smoke and glow.
“Just catch…. please.”
In your impatience you accidentally touch the tip of your blade to the flesh of the apple; thicker streams of rainbow lightning arcs to you knife; the moment your torch goes between each end of the current it bursts into a multicolored flame. Your knees go out from the surprise and you scramble as quickly as you can to keep from lighting your pants on fire as the torch falls.
“Owowowow…”
You replace your knife into its holster and scoop up the torch. As you now eagerly munch on your last source of food you hold the torch out and look around the room. At the far end you can see something that looks like a stairway down.
Finished with your energizing meal, you rise and very carefully make your way towards the stairs. Just because minotaurs were friends with the ancient gryphons here doesn’t mean they were good friends going by the number of ground related traps you’ve encountered. Having stairs rather than just an opening for fliers has you very concerned that this could be a trap.
Now that you’re somewhat limited for mobility, you can’t afford to have to rely on reflexes to save you. A walk that would normally take thirty seconds takes you a few minutes, but you are standing at the top of the stairs. With even greater slowness you make your way down the stairs, partly because of potential traps, and partly because each step down hurts. You reach the bend in the stairs and an eerie glow can be seen further down below. The bend must have prevented most of that light from reaching you up top. Finally at the bottom of the stairs you can see a long corridor that has some large glowing… thing in a room at its end.
Of course it’s a long corridor.
"Couldn’t it be some ancient chair with wheels and a ramp?”
Your sulking mood lightens when you realize that that glow is the first thing you’ve seen that wasn’t more ruins. It might be important to finding mom!
You nod to yourself to confirm your renewed vigor and start making your way down the corridor. In your haste to make it to the room at the end you forgot one of mom’s golden rules:
“Always look down and always look up in any long room.”
A thread snaps against your forehead, something you didn’t notice because your eyes were focused on the ground beneath you. Your head snaps back to face the loud rumble coming from behind you. A round gap opens up in the space just above the stairs; you already know what’s coming.
”Rolling boulders, Anon!” says Rainbow Dash in a memory. “They always have rolling boulders in Daring Do’s books! So we gotta make sure you’re faster than any dumb rock! Uh, d-don’t tell Pinkie's sister I said that…”
Your feet start moving, but the burning sensation makes it difficult to move faster.
”You call that fast? Oh boy, we have got a lot of work to do here.”
The rumbling is getting louder and you’re straining to move faster as the soreness starts giving way to the adrenalin in your blood.
”There ya go. That’s it! Keep moving just like that!”
You hurt everywhere now; the pain in your legs seems to have lightened up only to spread it around to the rest of your body.
”You aren’t hurting yet, Anon. I’ll have you hurting like a Wonderbolt yet!”
You’re sprinting through the pain, but you’re so tired… the zap apple could only give you so much to work with.
”Tired? Good! Tired doesn’t mean, ‘I’ve got nothing left to give,’ it means ‘I can still keep going!’”
Your breathing is rapid. You can hear the thundering sounds of the boulder hitting the floor of the hallway.
”And you’re going to keep giving and keep going. Do you know why? Because your mom is counting on you, kid. I’m going to make sure you won’t let her down when the time comes!”
The floor just ahead of you has fallen through.
Of course it has!
”That’s the way, Anon! Come on and keep it up! I…”
The boulder is gaining on you; you can feel it in your feet.
”…want to see you…”
The pit is just ahead, and the door way right past that. The rumbling is louder than ever as you reach the edge of the pit.
”FLY!”
You jump. The boulder grazes the heel of your shoes. You don’t even focus on the landing; you’re just grateful you didn’t get smashed. That was maybe three or four rolls? You got scrambled around pretty hard when your legs gave out the moment you touched the floor of the glowing room. Thundering pounds echo through the room as the boulder tumbles its way down the pit.
You lie there gasping for breath for a while. It seems like the soreness has gone away now that you’re “limbered up.” The down side is that that soreness has been replaced with pain, but pain you can manage.
Shakily, you rise and inspect the room around you. The glow is blinding in here, but at least you don’t need the torch you dropped during your sprint. You shield your eyes somewhat from the glow and can make out some kind of darkness in the center of it. That darkness has a familiar shape.
Kind of like a …
Like your…
“MOM!”
Damn the pain! Damn everything around you! You hobble your way around to the other side of the glow’s “end”; the side where your mom is. It’s her! IT’S REALLY HER! That or you died during the run, but you could hardly care at this point!
“Mom… I finally… I…”
You fall to your knees as the unbridled joy overwhelms your body. Your tears fall freely and your voice is too broken up to speak. The glow isn’t as hard on this side of it, and you seem to have adjusted somewhat to the brightness. You take the moment in, scared that it’ll all be taken away from you in an instant. She’s standing there, caught at the edge of the glowing dome. Her right arm is outstretched. Her sharp pink eyes, black and grey mane, sandy colored coat all there, frozen before you. Completely untouched…
Her face is frozen into a look of surprise. She looks just the same as the day she left. But this can’t be, can it? You look towards where her hoof is pointing and see a tall stone with several buttons attached to the top of it. You can make out some writing on the stone; it’s in ancient gryphon this time.
“What costs nothing, but is worth everything?
“Weighs nothing, but can last a lifetime?
“That one cannot own, but needs at least two to have?”
The buttons each have what looks like answers. After thinking on it for a moment, you can see two possible answers. And you can see that mom’s choice was apparently the wrong one. She chose “family.”
That would make the most sense out of all the choices given, but the ancient gryphons weren’t very fond of family structures. They had an interesting society, or maybe it’s only interesting because you studied it so much. But to them there was one thing that had worth above all else; the thing that leads a lot of beings to believe that gryphon shamans were the first beings to use magic.
“Friendship,” you say as you press the button.
”–llshit! I chose th–“
You turn around and look at your mom.
She’s looking up at you completely shocked.
You have a bit of an unfair advantage given that you already let out the shock from seeing her.
“Mom… It’s me… Anon.”
Her eyes go wide from hearing your voice. Your vision blurs.
“Mom… mommy…”
A sandy blur tackles you to the ground and forcefully hugs your face. The familiar smell of sweat and dust floods your nose and you hug your mom even tighter.
”Monkey! Wh-what… how?! I was… I chose…”
“It doesn’t matter now, mom! I don’t care! I have you back! I… I worked so hard and I… I’ve got you back! Finally...”
”Anon, I can’t believe I would be so foalish… I should’ve listened to you! I should’ve stayed home! Just look at you… my little monkey… how much time I lost from my special boy…”
Now it’s your turn to comfort her as you gave her a brief summary of what happened in her “few days” absence.
”You went through all of this, ON FOOT… monkey, I-there’s no way I deserve this… I’m such a horrible mother! I just… this mission would’ve been my last one! My heart was breaking every time I had to leave you, this last one… I knew it had to be my last.”
“It’s o-“
”And don’t you dare tell me it was OKAY! Look what I did... I just, I missed you so much, monkey…”
Mom is sobbing into your chest as you pet her mane gently.
"I wanted to be done with this life and spend the rest of it with you… I knew the gryphonians valued friendship, but I was so focused on you that I messed up… I really messed up!”
You let your mom cry into your chest, trying to think of something… anything to say. You remove your – her hat, and you plant it onto her head. She tenses at the sensation and looks up at you with puffy red eyes. The hat is far too big for her now with the alterations. She almost looks like the kid if an outsider were looking at you two.
“It’s not all your fault… I had your lucky hat, remember? You weren’t at your best in here, but I was able to get to you as a result… so why don’t we share the blame?”
”Anon… You are the best son an ungrateful mother doesn't deserve, you know?” she says with a tearful smile.
“Don't you ever say that about yourself. I love you, mom.”
She hears the seriousness in your voice and gives you a small nod.
”I love you too, Anon.”
You both embrace in the dim light of whatever trinket was revealed by your button press. Just as the riddle stated, there was nothing worth separating yourself from your mom for…
***
“Yeowch!”
”I told you, it’s all in the ne… er, wrist?”
“You don’t even know how I’m supposed to do it!” you shout as you rub your upper back.
”Doesn’t mean you didn’t do it wrong, monkey.”
Mom’s been trying to teach you how to use a whip ever since you two got back from the Lost City of Silver, and you missed a roped arrow. There was a lot of pressure from the wave of bat ponies chasing after you.
“Mom, don’t you think I might just be better off with my bow? I can use it much better.”
”I suppose… you sure seemed to use it just fine during the bat pony incident.”
“One time! It was one time. And I don’t hear you ever bringing up the emerald temple.”
”Wh- Th- Just… fine! Use your bow then!”
You walk over to your pouting mother. When you’re about to pet her mane, she whips around to sweep your feet. You jump back and instinctively crack the whip, knocking her new lucky hat off of her head.
”Ha! I knew you had it in you, monkey! Doesn’t matter if you’re from another world or not… you’re a Do through and through!”
“You’re reDoculous mom…”
”Yeah yeah, now do that again! Twilight says there’s some new temple she found on her magic map!” she orders with a smug grin.
