Cirrus was dismayed to find out that there was a lot of theory to be taught before Daring was willing to let her try to get into the air.

“Pegasus foals learn this stuff long before they go to flight school. Don’t worry – I’ll give you the cram course so that you can have a go at gliding this afternoon.”

Blaze was immediately curious, but he was quickly dragged away by his mentor.

“Trixie requires your undivided attention. Until you grow wings, flight lessons can wait. Rest assured that after Trixie earns hers, you will have the privilege of rounding off the rough edges of Trixie’s flight lessons.”

Trixie started with the basics – how to find his core and sense the magic stored there, and how to draw that magic to where it was needed. Blaze was surprised to learn that his horn was not the only destination.

“How else do you think hooves can manipulate objects? And just because you require a horn to cast complex spells, that does not mean that you can’t use other limbs to enhance and refine the results. The Great and Powerful Trixie has confounded other unicorns for that reason. Few unicorns learn more than how to cast a light spell and levitate more than one or two objects. Trixie expects much more of her student. Are you up to the challenge?”

Blaze grinned. “Try me!”

The stallion later regretted his cocky reply because the mare certainly took it to heart. However, he found that once he got the hang of the basics, moving on to the next level was not as hard as he feared. He even managed to startle his teacher by casting the featherweight enchantment without prompting.

“How, precisely, did you do that?” Trixie asked the smug unicorn with a frown.

“I’ve always had a very good memory for things that I’ve seen, and you kind of burned the spell pattern into my mind in flaming symbols thirty feet high.”

“Hmmm… in light of this, Trixie will alter her approach to your education. In fact, pattern-based spells may very well be your forte.”

“There are different kinds of magic?”

“Certainly! Besides pattern spells, there’s simple casting, enchantment, alchemical, runic, sympathetic, and more. However, at this stage, I want you to practice the essentials until you can do them in your sleep. Right now, Trixie would not trust you to carry anything for fear of you hurling them into the jungle or smashing them into other objects.”

Blaze’s ego was quickly deflated by that, even if he had only lost one of the rocks he was being trained with. Hopefully, it hadn’t landed anywhere near where Cirrus was training.

Both the pegasi had been startled by the sound of something crashing through the forest canopy nearby but, after pausing for a long moment and hearing nothing further, they put it down to some random animal.

Daring turned her attention back to Cirrus who was currently perched on one of the upper steps of the pyramid. “Okay, hold that wing position. Don’t try flapping this time. You just want lift, not propulsion. Feel your flight magic as it flows into your wings. Now… jump!”

Cirrus thrust herself off the temple, endeavoring to stay level to maintain an even glide. Unlike her first try, she did not tumble and crash to the ground… at first. She managed to travel a fair distance down the clear path between the trees before a twitch in one wing made her overcorrect and spin into a nearby bush.

“Damn! At least this bush is a lot softer than the earth,” she muttered as she extricated herself.

Daring trotted up with a grin on her face. “Not bad, but you keep jerking your wings. Low-speed flying requires smoothness. Stop worrying about minor adjustments. Once you build up confidence in your new wings, you’ll be able to use them as easily as you button your shorts. Your body remembers how to fly even if you don’t.”

Cirrus thought about how she had almost unconsciously put on her shirt and pants, but that was a slightly different situation. She had done the same thing as a human and the pony had let habit take over. She did not, however, have any experience with flying under her own power and was having difficulty just going with the flow. She figured that would take a bit more practice. “Let’s try that again,” she said with determination.

She made several more attempts, each more successful than the previous. Because the path through the forest to the camp was not straight, she had to steer her glide, and that brought more mistakes. Cirrus was at first shocked then surprised when Daring pointed out that the new flyer rarely repeated the same mistake. However, when she managed to make it all the way to the campsite without making an error, she realized that she had forgotten how to land properly. She angled her wings up into a stall, came to a halt mid-air, and then crashed down to the ground with a thud.

“Ow! My aching tail!”

Daring laughed. “That’s not the recommended way to land, but I’m sure you’ll remember that lesson.”

Cirrus rubbed her sore backside. “Yeah, you got that right. But at least I made it here.”

“Yep, and that’s good enough for today. You’re tiring and it’s just about dinner time. We’ll get into take-offs and propulsion in our next session. Then you can do far more impressive collisions.”

Cirrus groaned.

“Don’t worry – pegasi can shake off crashes that can rattle an earth pony,” Daring said with a confident grin.

That did not reassure the former human as much as the adventurer thought it would.

Trixie dismissed Blaze who trotted over to his spouse. “Looking good, Sky. Landing could use a bit of work though,” he added with a grin.

“Oh, ha, ha,” she replied, poking her tongue out at him. “Master of the mystic arts yet?”

“You two can tease each other later. Trixie requires your help in preparing the evening meal since somepony kept her busy until now.”

The four ponies busied themselves with food preparation, fire building, and coffee brewing. Conversation did not resume until they sat down to eat.

Daring said, “While it’s been an interesting day, none of us are here for magic or flying lessons. I intend to survey the human side of the temple tomorrow. May as well take advantage of the time differential. I’ll be able to spend all day over there while next to no time passes here.”

Cirrus frowned. “Speaking of time, I’ve been thinking about that. We spent roughly fifteen hours here before we returned to our side of the temple where we found five months had passed. That’s approximately 150 days, which works out to be about ten Earth days to an hour here. You can’t build an interspecies relationship on that basis, but the evidence shows that is exactly what did happen. So, what does that suggest to you?”

“Something’s wrong with the worldgate,” Daring replied.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Blaze said with a grimace.

“Trixie will examine it in the morning. We will make measurements of the time differential to determine if there is indeed a problem.”

Blaze nodded. “Good idea. Sky, since you pointed it out, would you like to help Trixie? I think I’ll work with Daring tomorrow, and you could start surveying this side once you and Trixie are done.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Cirrus agreed. “Trixie, would you back me up?”

The unicorn mare pondered for a moment. “Hmm… Trixie usually works with Daring to protect her from curses and traps. Are those risks the same on the human side?”

Cirrus shook her head. “Curses are myths, at least on our world. Traps have never been an issue with the Mayan ruins.”

“Then Trixie will be happy to lend you her expertise.”

“Thanks. Speaking of traps and temples though, I think you’d be amused by a movie… Wait – do you have movies here?”

“Yes, we do,” Daring replied.

“Oh, good. Give me a minute to fire up my laptop. This film is about the adventures of the patron saint of all Earth archaeologists – a man named Indiana Jones. It’s called Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Daring and Trixie rolled on the ground laughing at the absurdly entertaining first scene from the movie. Cirrus paused the video player app and shared a grin with her spouse. Both waited until the two ponies recovered the ability to speak.

“Dozens and dozens of deadly traps!”

“A giant rolling boulder?”

“Running through spider webs!”

“Only to fall into the clutches of a rival archaeologist and the deadly natives?”

“Not believable? No! This is utterly brilliant! If only Indiana Jones would – ha, ha – show a little backbone! Ha, ha, ha, ha!”

After the Equestrians sat up and wiped the tears from their eyes, Cirrus said, “Sorry to dash any hopes about exploring ruins on Earth, but this movie doesn’t have any basis in fact. Real-life archaeology is pretty dry and boring most of the time.”

The unicorn mare rolled her eyes. “Tell Trixie about it! She longs for adventures like Indy’s to make Daring’s quests more interesting. Trixie has the side gig of writing up her partner’s adventures under Trixie’s nom-de-plume A.K. Yearling, only slightly fictionalized.”

Daring chuckled. “Yeah, even I’m amazed at all the things that have happened to me that I can’t seem to recall for some reason.”

Trixie smiled at her smugly. “Perhaps it was the boulder that rolled over you when you entered the temple that caused you to forget.”

Blaze grinned. “And then we two rival archaeologists from another world snatched away the powerful artifact that you came searching for!”

Cirrus said, “I can see that your next book will be quite the thrill ride.”

Daring replied, “It can be occasionally. Trixie’s saved my butt a few times, I gotta admit.”

“How did you two hook up?” Blaze asked. “You seem to be an unlikely pair.”

Daring said, “Actually, I needed a competent mage to deal with some tricky problems that had stymied me at a site. Trixie was available and agreed to help. Turned out that we worked well together and we’ve been partners ever since.”

In contrast to Daring’s beaming smile, Trixie looked at the ground and her ears sagged. “There isn’t a reason to sugar-coat it, Daring. The Great and Powerful Trixie was once a famous traveling magician, wowing audiences from Van Hoover to Manehattan. Then Trixie got careless one day. Bad weather delayed her arrival at her next venue and she rushed the setup and forgot to secure her pyrotechnics. A curious foal got into them and was badly injured. Thankfully, the foal survived, but Trixie’s name was mud from then on. Word spread fast and no town would host her anymore. It was not long before Trixie was broke and starving. Daring encountered Trixie by accident when she was at her lowest and offered her a job. In time, Trixie found new purpose, regained her pride, and has someone whom she wishes to protect with all her heart.”

Daring blushed a little but smiled at her partner. “Like I said, we work well together.”

Blaze and Cirrus had heard late into the evening how well the two worked together but refrained from saying anything. The stallion sought to fill the awkward silence.

“Our story is quite mundane. Cirrus and I met as junior staff on an archeological team. We started dating and eventually got hitched. After a while, we decided to strike out on our own. It was following up an enigma that led us here. I have to admit, there hasn’t been a dull moment since then.”

Cirrus chuckled. “Yeah. As a result, you’ll get to write about the two-legged monsters that tried to capture you in your next book! Oh, is that why you use the pseudonym?”

Trixie nodded. “Trixie had no wish to drag Daring’s name into the mud.”

Blaze asked, “Do your books pay enough to bankroll your expeditions? God knows we had enough trouble raising the funds for ours.”

Daring shook her head. “As Trixie said, it’s her side gig. We get funding by Royal Charter. We track down magical items that may prove a threat to Equestria. Now that we’ve found one of the items we were looking for – or more specifically, one of the pair – I don’t believe they qualify as a threat, even if that one has caused you problems. Nevertheless, they should be taken to Canterlot where they can be secured and not accidentally triggered like you did.”

“And it’s in our best interests to help you find the other bowl,” Cirrus said.

“Which is our cue for calling it a night,” Trixie declared. “We need to get off to an early start tomorrow to make up for lost time.”

As the sun had been set and the moon risen, the rest agreed. Blaze set up the small solar panel to charge their portable power pack when the sun rose in the morning and then headed to bed with Cirrus.

“Is this going to happen to me every morning?” Blaze whined.

“If you were human, I’d say not, but I haven’t a clue what it’s like for pony stallions. Want to ask the ladies?” Cirrus said with a grin.

“Hell, no! It’s bad enough that you find it amusing.”

“The horseshoe is on the other hoof, so to speak. I’m making up for all the times you ragged me for it.”

Blaze sighed. “I suppose it’s better than the alternative.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“It was almost that time of the month. Believe me, an unwanted erection is preferable to having a period.”

Cirrus blanched. “Oh, shit! Does that mean that I’m going to go through that?”

“Calm down, Sky. I don’t think ponies have periods. Or at least ones on Earth don’t.”

“That’s a relief. I hope we get changed back to humans before something else does come up though.”

“I suppose so,” Blaze agreed.

Cirrus frowned at him. “You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”

The unicorn winced. “Well… umm… it’s just that I really enjoyed learning magic yesterday. I’m kind of looking forward to more lessons before I go back to being human.”

“Have you forgotten that we’re up against a temporal problem? We can’t afford to delay too much. Most of a year on Earth has already passed in the short time we’ve been here.”

Blaze gave her a flat look. “And who wanted flying lessons rather than starting the search for the second bowl yesterday?”

It was not possible to show her blush through her red fur, but the way Cirrus looked askance spoke volumes. “Maybe if I’d been turned into a pegasus stallion, it wouldn’t bother me so much,” she murmured.

Blaze gave his spouse a reassuring hug. “Look, Sky, I just want us to make the most of a suboptimal situation. Today, we’ll do some real work with our friends. With a bit of luck, we’ll find the bowl, and our options will be a lot greater.”

“Do you think we’ll find it that quickly?” she replied.

“I’ve been thinking about that. I can’t really see the ponies hiding it – they would have been in a pretty secure position and besides, the Conquistadors would not know to look for it even if they managed to get through. My educated guess is that it was put somewhere safe but readily accessible.”

“That sounds reasonable to me. Hopefully, centuries of decay haven’t changed that.”

Blaze grinned. “Let’s be optimistic. Today, we’re going to have a great day.” He got up and stretched. “So, let’s get started!”

Cirrus stared for a moment before saying, “Do you intend going without your trousers?”

The unicorn paused, then smirked. “Screw it! The mares said that stallions often prefer going nude.”

“And you believe them?”

“If they were fibbing, then they’re going to get a heck of an eyeful, won’t they?” He then parted the tent flaps and exited, leaving a stunned partner wondering if she had ever been that blasé as a man.

Blaze did garner some admiring looks at breakfast, but the lack of sniggers or lewd comments seemed to confirm the clothing situation. Cirrus had not been so bold and chose to wear her pants although she skipped the shirt for now. After all, it covered nothing but her coat.

Daring did recommend Blaze put on his trousers before they went out into the field. “Your undercarriage will thank you for it, believe me. Scratched and scraped teats aren’t fun either, which is why I always wear my shorts while in the field.”

The stallion nodded. “Humans always need protection. We… they don’t have a thick coat. Clothing is so necessary that not wearing it has become socially taboo.”

“No wonder you were both so obsessed about pants when you were first transformed,” Trixie commented.

“Shame and embarrassment are great motivators.”

“You’ve got nothing to be ashamed about,” Daring said with a wink.

Blaze decided to drop the subject before anything happened to prove her wrong. “I had an idea about measuring the time differential a bit more accurately.”

“What did you have in mind?” Cirrus asked.

“We’ll use our smartphones. The lock screen displays the time, even if it and the date are completely wrong, but that won’t matter. I’ll place mine on the human side of the worldgate so you can see it on this side. You can then measure how long an hour passes while I’m working with Daring to survey the Mayan ruins.”

“Makes sense, but just leave it there until you come back for lunch.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Think about it. If it’s going as fast as we think it is there compared to here, it’ll only take about fifteen seconds for an hour to pass. A longer period will let me get a more accurate reading.”

“Good point. Okay, I’ll leave it there for as long as we’re on that side. You won’t have to wait more than a minute or so. I’ll go fetch the phones.”

As Blaze headed for the tent, Trixie asked, “What are these phones you mentioned? More human magic?”

“Human technology, not magic. They’re multifunctional devices first designed for communications but, with the use of the internet and various applications, can do many useful things that I’ll explain later. We keep them turned off while out in the field to conserve their power because much of their usefulness requires connection to data sources accessed through the internet which isn’t available out here.”

“Trixie has no idea what half of what you said means. She is still amazed that you have a device just to show movies.”

Cirrus chuckled. “Oh, it can do a lot more than that! We’ll explain it all better tonight when we’ve finished work for the day.”

“And give lessons. Trixie looks forward to learning your mysterious human magic.”

Cirrus sighed and decided not to correct her for the umpteenth time.

As the foursome entered the temple, Blaze said, “It just occurred to me that I never noticed any of us moving slower or faster when walking through the passage.”

Trixie replied, “That would be because there is a transitional phase between our worlds. Otherwise, passing through would be like slamming into a wall going one way, and being yanked forward going the other direction. We have traveled in a group so far and probably did not notice the much lesser effects while close together.”

“How long is that transition?” Cirrus asked.

“Trixie is not sure due to the distortions of the worldgate, but she is fairly confident that the bowls were placed outside of it, so that would be a safe location from which to make your observations.”

“Works for me,” Blaze said. “I’ll prop up my phone at the broken pillar while you two stay next to this one. Do you think you’ll be able to see the display clearly from that far away, dear?”

Cirrus nodded. “My eyesight is really good as a pony. No problem.”

“OK, sounds good. Let’s go, Daring.”

“Way ahead of you, slowpoke!” she replied as she trotted down the passage.

Trixie and Cirrus watched as the two suddenly sped up so fast that they became a blur. Moments later, there was only the trivial amount of light coming from the time display of the smartphone placed as the stallion had said. Cirrus clicked the lap timer button on her stopwatch app as soon as she was sure of the time she read on the distant device. That was not easy because the minutes were turning over so quickly. And even though she tried to be alert for when Cirrus returned, it was still a surprise when the phone disappeared and the two explorers trotted back down the passage toward her only a little over a minute after they had left.

“Well, how did it go?” Blaze asked as Daring continued out of the temple.

“Give me a moment.” Ignoring the blue unicorn practically draped over her withers, Cirrus switched to the calculator, pasted in the total elapsed time from the fourth lap, and did a quick calculation. “Bearing in mind the very rough way we measured it, I still find that Earth is moving 245 times as fast as here.”

“That bears out our earlier estimate. If we’re still stuck here tomorrow, we can take another measurement. Meanwhile, Daring and I are going to have lunch.”

“That’s right – you’ve been working for over four hours already. What have you found so far?”

“Nothing atypical or noteworthy for Mayan ruins, although Daring finds it more interesting for obvious reasons. I’m just very glad that I can now use my horn to clear away debris. It sped up the process considerably compared to non-magical means.”

“I’ll have a look at your notes and any samples you brought back later. Trixie and I need to get started on this side soon.” She turned to the mare. “You wanted to check something first?”

The unicorn nodded. “Trixie will attempt to discern the condition of the worldgate.”

Blaze said, “Let me know how it goes. I’m hungry. Seeya!” He followed in Daring’s hoofsteps.

Trixie lit up her horn and moved toward the portal until she was confident of being in the optimum position. She closed her eyes and Cirrus could see nothing happening at all for a long moment before a web of magic suddenly built up over the boundary of the worldgate. She watched in fascination as it seemed it was being tugged from the other side. Then it disappeared and Trixie opened her eyes. She frowned and then turned around and headed out of the temple.

Cirrus quickly followed. “What’s going on, Trixie?”

“Trixie will tell all of you at once,” was her short reply.

They found their companions preparing sandwiches, but they halted when they saw the unicorn’s expression.

“What’s up, Trix?” Daring asked.

“The worldgate is degrading quickly. It is barely hanging on due to a huge intake of magic from Equis. That is why there’s such large time differential. No two universes will have the same time rate, so the worldgates adjust to keep them in sync. However, the older the gate, the more strain there is on it, and the synch starts to slip. It then requires more energy to compensate. This need keeps increasing over time until the gate can no longer hold it and the times get out of phase. The gate keeps trying to bring it back in line but that takes even more energy and creates even more strain that causes further slippage. It’s a positive feedback loop that will inevitably end in the worldgate’s failure.”

“Oh, shit,” Cirrus cursed. “How long before it goes?”

Trixie shook her head. “Trixie cannot tell. Worldgates are so rare that little is known about them, and no pony has ever studied one this near to collapse. Trixie bases her conclusions on her observations alone, and they aren’t enough to give a firm answer.”

“How about an educated guess?” Blaze pleaded.

Trixie scowled. “An hour? A day? A month? A year? Trixie can’t tell.”

“You mean to say that it could collapse any moment?” Cirrus gasped.

“That is what Trixie said, yes.”

Cirrus turned to Blaze. “We have to find that bowl now! We can’t go back as ponies.”

The stallion nodded. “I’ll spend the rest of the day on this side helping you explore the ruins here.”

Daring said, “I want to finish the survey of the human ruins—”

She was cut off as Trixie’s magic dragged the pegasus to be nose to nose with the unicorn. “No, you will not! Trixie will not risk losing her partner. Got that?!”

Daring blinked in shock before replying. “Umm… aren’t you overreacting a little, Trix?”

“Trixie is not. Did you not understand the implications of what Trixie just said?”

“I did. I also know that we got half a day’s work done in a minute here. That time until the gate collapses – is it measured in time here or there? Because, if it is the latter, the worldgate probably would be gone by now. I’m prepared to risk another couple of minutes here to finish my job.”

Trixie glared at Daring for a long moment before dropping her. She turned away, saying, “If you are wrong, Trixie will never forgive you.”

Daring smirked. “With you to look out for me, I’m not worried.”

Cirrus and Blaze were in no doubt as to how the pegasus got her name. Cirrus put a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get started on our search and let Blaze and Daring have their lunch.”

Trixie reluctantly nodded, and the two headed out.

Blaze joined them after he had eaten as promised, and surprisingly, Daring did too a few minutes later.

“Turns out it was only a couple of hours before the sun set,” she explained. “No luck, I’m afraid. So, how’s it going so far?”

Cirrus and Trixie had already laid out a search pattern that revealed that the pony settlement had been quite large. The buildings and dwellings had varied in the degree of decomposition, but the stone structures had faired well in comparison to the ones made of less sturdy materials. No effort was placed into exploring the latter yet. Everyone agreed that the missing bowl would far more likely be found in one of the stone buildings near the temple. However, there were several of them, and the jungle had done them few favors. The four had not found the object of their search before night fell.

Both Daring and Blaze were exhausted. They had been working a day and a half due to time shenanigans. Cirrus and Trixie prepared dinner while those two recuperated. Blaze spent the time explaining the workings of human technology while Daring enthused about how his tablet had been such a boon to documenting their finds. Trixie was impressed by the photographs that they had taken but wondered where they put the film.

After the meal and clean-up, they watched the remainder of Raiders of the Lost Ark, by which time Trixie was utterly convinced that humans had magic too but would not admit it. The Peregrines stopped trying to convince her otherwise, reminded of the old adage – ‘Any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic.’

Despite the failure to find the bowl, Cirrus and Blaze went to bed that night with a feeling of accomplishment. They were doing what they loved and in the company of like-minded people, even if they were ponies. Tomorrow was another day and hope still remained.

# # # # # # #

Author's Note

Art by Scheadar.

Editing and suggestions by Airy Words.

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