Author's Note

Sorry about the delay. This was due to obligations and external circumstances.

Island Adventure a Go Go: Part 8

“Here! This is it, it has to be!” Rarity’s hoof shivered as it pointed at a wall that she recognized as a closed doorway, the sensation bearing an intense feeling of finality. She shined a light from her horn as she focused upon the seemingly flat, featureless wall, even placing her well-groomed hooves sliding against it. “There has to be a way to open it! But how…?”

Sloop, ceasing his pause after seeing the outline of the doorway, approached and placed his hand against the stone wall after covering it in a red aura with a blue outline. “Ah…! Figures that there’d have to be a ton of metal for a hidden door! Now where does it all lead…” He slid his hand up, down, and all around the wall, getting a little further by the second. He seemed to decide to go in one specific direction, and stopped as he reached an alcove with a single narrow faceted glowing crystal. “Ah-ha! Of course, nobody ever suspects the infrastructure!” He gripped the crystal and pulled, lowering it on an axis with a slight resistance before it stopped.

After a series of loud clanks and a drawn-out metallic groaning, the rectangle of solid stone slowly rose up, opening the way forward. Sloop and Rarity proceeded through this path, coming into a seemingly empty chamber. Suddenly, a voice cried out. “Quick! Go back before-” but the voice cut off as the doorway far behind them abruptly slammed down, then the voice let out a groan. “Great! Now you’re stuck in here too. With me!”

From out of a corner strode a despondent-looking Crazy Jane. Rarity clopped forward. “Whatever do you mean, Miss Jane?”

Crazy Jane sighed and hung her head for a moment. “I’ve been wandering this place for days, ever since I fell down here off the boat after it lodged into the rock of a mountain with a city built out of it high up in the clouds. Water was no problem to find, and with a bit of preparation I could improvise some heat and flame with my bomb element to cook anything that came my way.” Then, Crazy Jane raised her head and looked around the top of the chamber. “But about half a day ago, a stray shot from my cannon triggered something and opened an entrance to this chamber, but before I knew it, the doorway slammed shut on its own and I’ve been trapped here! I couldn't find anything else that could open the way from the inside, and the walls, floor, and ceiling barely singe when I try to blast my way out!”

Flinching, Sloop raced back to the long pathway with the entrance he and Rarity went through at the end. He engulfed his hand in the same aura as before and laid it against the same stone as he did before. This time, however, he felt absolutely nothing with his metal-detecting spell, even though he knew for a fact that there was a mechanism within the barrier. In fact, he should have felt the absence of metal from the feedback of the pulse it sends by touch, which is still something. But it felt like the wall was blocking anything of magical origin from penetrating its surface.

His magic fading with his falling spirits, he backed away from the wall. He materialized his arrowguns and combined them into bowgun form before stepping back and launching a few shell-like blasts at the doorway. However, when the light and smoke cleared away, the door remained unharmed. Sloop tensed up, then began frantically beating against the walls with his fists.

He suddenly felt a gentle touch against his coat and turned back to see Rarity give him a very concerned look. Sloop took a deep breath, then sighed as he laid his forehead against the doorway. “Darn it…” After a moment spent in silence, he turned back to Rarity. “I don’t suppose you know any teleportation magic?”

Rarity defeatedly shook her head. “Not part of my repertoire, darling. I’m afraid I’m not that kind of unicorn.”

After a minute of bereavement, Sloop and Rarity made their way back into the chamber proper. They were about to say something to Crazy Jane to get more insight, but they were interrupted by a newcomer. “What’re y'all standin’ around fer? Y’all wouldn’t wanna be caught in winter like a sharecropper who mixed up his irrigation water with picklin’ brine, would ya?”

The whole group whipped back to look at Applejack and Percival nonchalantly striding across the chamber towards the rest of them. Percival’s eyes went wide as he quickly pointed. “THE DOOR! HURRY!” The three occupants rushed past the newcomers to their shock and confusion, but they barely made it past the entryway to the other hall when the door slammed shut again.

Percival made his way over to them with a cocked eye hole. “What was all that about?”

They quickly filled their new prison mates in on the circumstances, and their confusion quickly turned to horror at what they learned. Applejack cantered down to the other side of one of the halls and stomped around next to the sealed doorway. Percival’s hand extended like a funnel over where his ear would be, then he nodded. “Yep, seems like the halls are made to dampen sound so any occupants wouldn’t be aware of a new door opening until it’s too late.” Percival then went down the hall himself and placed his hand against the door and concentrated, his face’s virtual brow furrowing. However, nothing happened, so he just sighed and dropped his hand. “And… I guess these walls really were treated with something that resists all magic…”

Crazy Jane strode over with an annoyed look. “What’s the point of going over all that? We’re stuck, aren’t we? No way around that!”

Percival stepped towards the warrior woman, his eye holes narrowed. “There’s always something new to learn from things like this. Everything that has to do with magic has some kind of logic to it, not always about energy but about complexity. To broaden the range of the things it can do one way, it needs to narrow it in another way. If we can find that area, we might be able to find our way out!”

Crazy Jane paused for a moment, wearing a tight look on her face pointed at the amorphous transformation elemental. Then it gave way to a more tired expression, and she turned away, throwing a hand in the air. “Fine! Do what you like! Until you can find something I can use, I’ll just be over here.”

While Percival and Applejack went around poking and prodding throughout the chamber and Crazy Jane sat sulking with sass in a corner, Sloop held his head low and slowly made his way to the nearest wall. Rarity took notice and trotted over, concerned. “Bit for your thoughts, dear?”

Sloop threw back his head and groaned, then he tipped it back, placing his forehead against the wall. “This is twice now. On this trip, I’ve been trapped, helpless, and utterly useless on this incident two times! And that’s not even counting the fact that I was the one that sailed all of us into this island of one insanity after the other!”

Rarity paused for a moment to contemplate her choice of words amid this delicate situation. “Well… if you hadn’t come here in the first place, you would have never found your sister.” Rarity then drooped her eyes and frowned. “I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to be separated from my sister for so many years, and I likely wouldn’t even know if she were alive or…” Rarity couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought.

Sloop definitely picked up on the sincerity in the mare’s words. “Well, I suppose I’ve definitely got some conflicting feelings about that. If I think about whether or not it was worth risking everyone, including the children, just to find Gyre thriving and free like she’d always wanted. You, Percival, Applejack, at least Crazy Joe and Jane are full-fledged warriors, Miss June-”

Suddenly, Sloop's head snapped straight up and his eyes went wide. He reached into his coat and pulled out one of Miss June’s beacons, getting a rearing-back gasp out of Rarity. He turned around and marched to the center as he fiddled with the bauble in his hand. He finally managed to get it to let out some noise. Sloop held it close to his face. “Hello? This is Sloop Masters, I’ve located and secured Crazy Jane, but we’ve all fallen victim to a trap, a room that can be entered easily, but is inescapable from the inside! Do you copy? Percival, Rarity, Crazy Jane, Applejack and I are trapped in a room that cannot be exited from the inside. Do you copy?”

After waiting for a moment, a reply came through, but it was garbled up with some kind of interference. Right when Sloop and Rarity were about to lose heart, a sharp ruckus came from the bauble and a clear voice came through. “Pardon the previous copy, Mister Masters. That was Mister Joe’s attempt at replying to your transmission. I got some of it, but can you go over that one more time?”

Then, another disturbance on the bauble rang out, followed by Gyre’s voice. “Hey, can I get in on this action, too?”

Sloop relayed the details of their situation once more. Eventually, Percival and Applejack took notice and they gathered with Sloop and Rarity. Percival’s eyeholes went wide. “Huh…! I guess since this transmitted magic isn’t touching this chamber’s walls, it’s not being blocked!”

Sloop felt the need to keep the conversation on the task at hand. “If you converge onto and follow my path, you should reach a semi-visible doorway that triggers the response on the mark I made! On the wall at about three o’clock, there’s a light in an alcove. Pull it, and you should raise the doorway. But do not enter! Signal us when the path is open!” For good measure, Percival gave instructions on how to find the entrance he and Applejack took to the chamber and how they opened the way.

“What are all of you going on about?” Crazy Jane strutted over to the convening group once she noticed. When she heard the details, she suddenly became incensed when they got to the part about Crazy Joe. “But… He fell off the boat too! When you found him, was his mask still on? Please tell me his mask is still on!” When Crazy Jane stopped shaking Sloop, he eased her worries, but when she was asked why it was so important that her brother’s mask remained where it was, she suddenly became quite demure, and fidgeted for a moment before answering. “Oh… No reason…”

Elsewhere, outside the chamber, Crazy Joe pulled down the glowing crystal with a bit more ease than the previous one who attempted to do so. However, Miss June shook her head as the hall she was keeping watch on showed no change. “Figured as much…” She took out one of her beacons and held it close to her face. “It seems that once a door has been used the first time, it won’t work again!”

With a sound that sounded like a vocalized attempt to mimic a radio crackle, Gyre responded. “Same on my end, too. I did run into a trap like this once that had a switch which opened the room from the inside. But… It was also a trap that slowly filled the room with water until I did so. Since they’re not in any immediate danger, this one’s likely different.”

After a moment of silence. Sloop’s voice came back out of the beacon. “There may be another way. There might be another, different mechanism in the stone close to the outer dimensions of the room! Take paths that circle around, and if you can’t find any, try to find something either above or below.”

After another brief stint of silence, Gyre answered again. “Hm! That’s a really good idea! There are actually a couple places down here like that!”

Miss June had an idea. “Mister Masters. Please perform your metal-detecting spell again and touch it to the beacon! With your permission, I should be able to osmose and copy it into my archival construct for the rest of the day and deploy it as a function through my beacons as an intermediary!”

With one last brief pause, Sloop gave his answer with an impressed tone. “That's… Really neat! I mean, you have my permission, Miss June! I’m using the spell… Now!”

Miss June summoned her archival construct and saw the prompt to osmose and copy the magic’s essence and aspect. She danced her fingers across her glass keys, then held up her beacon, which she and Crazy Joe both agreed that she should hang onto after a few clumsy mishaps on his part early on, and gave it a few taps and swipes across its surface. She went up to the sealed doorway and placed it against the stone wall, feeling a sound and vibrating pulse.

Gyre’s voice let out an exclamation from the beacon. “Now THIS is really nifty! I just might have to take you out to dinner a couple times myself if my kid brother insists on being so hesitant!” After the cacophony of the siblings’ argument silenced across the network, Miss June followed the mechanism in the wall by the pulse from her beacon while Crazy Joe kept a vigil on their surroundings for any more sneak attacks from the labyrinth’s bizarre endemic life.

After chasing away several herds of giant urchins after smashing apart their assembled forms with a few good swings of his wrecking ball, Crazy Joe gave his all-clear grunt for Miss June to come into the next chamber. She expeditiously swept the beacon all across the wall that would have curved around the sealed chamber. Eventually, it led her to another pool in the floor. This one went very far down, noticeably difficult to see the bottom.

Miss June turned back to Crazy Joe. “Madam Applejack mentioned that she’d discovered a variety of crystal that allows the holder to breathe underwater. It’s a solid blue stone with a lighter blue core. Do you think you can find it?” Crazy Joe nodded and gave an affirmative-sounding grunt, turning back only to take the beacon so he could find his way back before taking off.

After a few minutes and several loud blasts ringing out through the halls, Crazy Joe came back into Miss June’s chamber with his typical booming lumber carrying a pile of several different-colored crystals while his wrecking ball dragged behind him on its chain. He sat down and spread them all out on the ground between himself and Miss June who managed to pick out two of the particular variety she needed for herself and her present partner. “I think I’ll hold on to a couple more that we know the properties of just in case.”

Crazy Joe gave another affirmative grunt as he reached out to take his crystal. However, he paused as he appeared to be contemplating his actions as he passed the crystal between both hands. Eventually, he held it up to one of the breathing holes in his mask and managed to cram it halfway through. Miss June quickly realized that this may have been the best course of action as he definitely required the full range of motion of both hands to optimize his fighting style in the present conditions, impressed as she often was by the simple and incredibly practical ideas the warriors she knew often had.

Miss June and Crazy Joe got up and approached the pool. Crazy Joe went in first with another butt bomb, his weapon allowing him to quickly descend to the bottom. Miss June paused a reflexive deep breath before diving in headfirst, making her way to the bottom with a vertical crawling motion. At the bottom of the shaft, there was a passage leading forward to a space directly beneath the sealed chamber.

At the end of the channel was an entrance to a larger chamber roughly the same size and shape of the sealed chamber above. The only difference was the presence of three extra-large pull-levers in cardinal points in the corners of the chamber. Crazy Joe didn’t hesitate and dog paddled his way over to the nearest one, planting his feet firmly on the chamber’s floor and pulling it into place.

At first, a new series of metallic clanks echoed through the water, then, four doorways opened up in the middle of each wall in the chamber. Miss June, after altering her beacon to compensate for the water, was about to ask if something happened in the sealed chamber. However, her attention was caught by a nearby blast and flash as she saw Crazy Joe disperse an entire school of sharp-toothed fish that came out of the closest doorway to himself. She had a sudden epiphany about the situation and turned her body around with a twist, then awkwardly kicked and cycled her arms to dash backwards through the water as fast as she could as fish from the opposite entrance closed in on her.

Crazy Joe took notice and moved into position to intercept, extending an arm to deploy his only waterproofed attack spell: A light red bubble that shimmered with a chromatic surface, lazily floating forward as he attempted to deploy it with as much forward momentum as he could pass into it with his limited agility. The fish converged upon the shiny bait before scattering and going belly-up, stunned by the blast.

Crazy Joe kept a vigilance, but relaxed when no other fish entered through the new passages. He then made his way to another lever, but Miss June had no way of getting him to stop after she noticed that the lever he pulled earlier flipped back into place on its own. After Crazy Joe pulled the next lever in place, another series of metallic noises filled the water before a much larger entryway appeared out of a corner whose stone opened up in an elaborate series of foldings and retractions.

Out of the new passage swam the biggest beast yet. It was some manner of alligator gar, and its body as a whole would have been as long as three ponies lined up. Remembering his role, Crazy Joe attempted to draw its attention by rattling the chain of his wrecking ball. The alligator gar hardly gave Crazy Joe time to clumsily guard with his chain-covered forearm as it darted to him like a torpedo, passing him with a hollow clink from its teeth striking the steel as it passed and made a wide turn back around.

It definitely became apparent that while this beast only had one definitive way of attacking, it suited it just fine in this environment while the same couldn’t be said for Crazy Joe as he could barely move his arm into position while the big predatory fish was already repositioned for another pass, much less summon the focus to make his specialized underwater bomb. At this sight, Miss June knew she had to do something. She attempted to go through the crystals she had on her person, but dropped them as the alligator gar passed very closely to her this time, nearly choking on the water as she found herself holding her natural breath.

Miss June quickly decided on her priorities and grabbed at one of the light green crystals, squeezing it while concentrating on a very specific image. Right when the alligator gar was about to make a sure-to-hit snap right at its prey’s neck, it froze as it sensed a new occupant in its waterspace. Even if it couldn’t see the detailed image of the giant non-gar alligator, its instincts flipped a switch in its mind to I am the hunted now!

As Miss June saw the giant predatory fish’s tail disappear back the way it came, her lungs started to burn and she turned her attention back to the group of crystals that now lie on the floor of the flooded chamber. She quickly grabbed at one of the blue ones, but nearly choked as the mouthful of water obviously provided no respite.

However, as her vision started going out of focus, she found herself drawn to the arrangement of big and small blocks making up the walls of the chamber. The lines between them suddenly started flashing a lighter blue that she realized was the same color as the stone she was holding, not the darker blue of the one that provided underwater breathing. Then, new images began imposing on top of the arrangement of lines, mathematical numbers and symbols. Her computing mind realized that it was a code, one that revealed the proper order of switches to throw to engage… something. Right when she was about to see what, her vision started darkening completely as she lost consciousness.

…Suddenly, her lungs were filled with something nourishing and she snapped back to consciousness. She found herself in the arm of Crazy Joe as his other hand was enclosed around her own made to squeeze the darker blue crystal, one she noticed he pulled from his own mask. After recovering with a minute of deep breaths, she was able to float into a standing position on her own.

Holding her breath for a moment, she managed to gather all of her dropped crystals, then she took one of the light green ones and pointed to the levers, making a 1, 2, and 3 of light appear next to them in the order. Crazy Joe, his own breath crystal back where it was, momentarily hesitated, but then proceeded to pull the remaining lever. He flinched as the sounds rang out like before, but relaxed as nothing seemed to happen. Once he flipped the ones he did before in the right order, a whole bunch of sounds rang out.

First, some narrow openings appeared across the floor that drained the water out of the chamber. Then, on the side of the wall, a staircase popped out beneath an entrance in the ceiling. As they proceeded to the base of the stairs, Sloop appeared at the top, gesturing at them to come. “You guys might want to see what dropped in up here.”