Lost Lands: Ripple's Stash

"Oh Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, why is my luck such complete shit!?"

"I don't know Ripple, maybe it's because you keep sticking parts of you in places you shouldn't?!"

"Chew me out later Sil, Just keep running!"

"No shit kid! Do I look like I want to die any time soon!"

The ancient temple was falling around my mentor and partner, Silver Rush, and I. The ceiling was seconds from falling on top of us and the floor we where racing on was threatening to swallow us whole. Every now and then we had to jump across a hole that had opened up suddenly. Silver rush got head of me as I cleared one of those such holes. As I came out of a roll I saw Silver Rush jump over a huge crevasse. I speed up, but as I got closer and closer the hole opened up even more and my mind started racing as I approached the a launch point.

"Oh shit!" I screamed as sailed over the gap. My body slammed onto the rock body holding up that portion of the walk way. I let out a sigh of relief, but it was short lived as the ledge I was holding onto began to crack and crumble under my weight.

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" I yelled with panic in my voice. As I began to fall somepony pulled me back up.

"Thank Celestia almighty. Holy shit that was close,"

"Indeed it was, Mr. Ripple,"

"Oh for Fucksake, why can't I get a brake,"

As my words left my mouth, something slammed into the back of my head and I blacked out.

_____O-_-O-_-O-_-O-_-O_____

8 Months Earlier

I was sat at a beach-side bar on an island on some forgettable island that was a part of an almost all forgotten island chain off the coast of Equestria waiting for the notification of the payment for the last job I did for a local collector. As i sat at the bar I was going over some notes on a long time project that I started when I was still in an orphanage. I rubbed my eyes and took a long swig of my hard apple cider. As I put the glass down somepony sat beside me.

"You're a hard pony to find Gold," said a stallion. His voice had a familiar roughness but I couldn't and didn't want to place.

"Yeah it's a no brain-er when you've pissed off as many ponies as I have,"

"Well don't you think you should have left a clue for you're old partner and," A second voice behind me stopped as though looking for the right words. "Old acquaintance,"

I turned to see my long time partner, an old brown earth pony with graying black mane and a cutie mark of yellowed treasure map. With him was a mare my age, her coat was an eye catching pink with a light blue mane. She had a cutie mark of a rolled up news paper and a camera. She levitated out a small book with yellowed pages and my partner slid over an old brown decoder with a carving of an ancient tribal zebra mask.

"Why and how did you find that?" I questioned shocked they managed to find both of them. One I'd figured they find, but both should have been impossible.

"Kid I worked with you for 10 years. Unless you learned some new tricks in the last 2 years to hide them you should have just put up signs,"

"Plus Gold, we know where the last missing piece is. I'm betting it's safe to say that you also found it,"

"No, I haven't. But I have an idea as to where to start looking. Which if I know either of you, you only have a slight guess as to where to start,"

Both ponies looked at their hooves, which pretty much confirmed my thoughts. I might not have the journalist intuition that News Write did or nearly as much experience as Silver Rush but I did know the most about ancient things like this, which is why I can make a living retrieving artifacts for collectors.

"So I'm gonna guess you want the score of the life time?" The question directed towards Silver Rush.

"I, uh," Silver Rush stammered looking for the right words. "Look kid, work with me on this and we can be done, one final score,"

"Sil, there will always be one final score after this one it's part of the life why do you think that I gave it up,"

"Yeah, but you always get pulled back in," News chimed in.

I almost forgot she was there, which brought the thought of what she gained from this. Then, I figured that Silver Rush promised her for scope of a life time. I milled over the thought of finally finishing a life's goal as I took a long swig of my drink.

"Okay give me two days to compile my notes and well decode the that journal, but if what I'm thinking is right, that book might not be the right first step." I finally said as ran it over.

The unicorn and earth pony finally agreed as I got the notification of the payment and we "parted ways". I made my way into the city to start my research.