Hello again everypony, and here is chapter 5 of Equestria Girls Never say Never, oops, I mean Equestria Girls Never Say Die.
Applejack, Applebloom, Babs Seed and Pinkie Pie looked through the left path.
" Okay, looks like a normal hall", said Pinkie Pie.
" Yeah, too normal", said Applejack, suspiciously.
She took a step forward, only to step onto a pressure pad, a dart flew towards her, and she ducked back before it hit her.
They got a close look at the dart, and discovered a small bit of purple liquid coating the tip.
" It's a poisonous dart", said Applebloom, causing Babs to gulp.
" Okay, everyone watch your step, I'm not sure how fatal these darts are, they could kill you in and instant", said Applejack, as she took the lead, carefully walking across the floor, like it was a landmine, Applebloom and Babs Seed following ahead.
Applebloom accidently stumbled, and stepped on another pressure pad, causing another dart to be released, but luckily she managed to dodge it instantly.
" Watch it", said Applejack, as she finally made it through to the other side.
Babs Seed followed closely behind Applebloom, as they both slowly continued down the hall, Applebloom was nearly there, however, Babs Seed accidently stepped onto a pressure pad herself, and a dart was sent flying towards Applebloom.
But luckily, before the dart could hit Applebloom, Applejack was able to pull her younger sister towards her out of harms way.
" I'm not wanting to get an earful from your mother Babs, if you get hit, it's not my fault", said Applejack.
" Okay, the gap between me and the end isn't that long", said Babs Seed, " I'm going to make a jump for it".
" Don't be stupid now, you're already taking too many risks as it is", said Applejack.
" I'm sure I'll make it, I'll jump on three", said Babs Seed.
And so, getting herself prepared, she began to count.
" One, two, three", and after three, she leapt, and landed right beside her cousins.
" Don't you ever do that again", said Applejack, as she and Applebloom, helped Babs Seed up.
" Alright, my turn", said Pinkie Pie, then then stepped back, and then ran straight towards them, doing cartwheels, front flips and backflips as she dodged every single dart she triggered.
The others gawped at her in shock.
" Come on girls, we have no time standing like statues, and leaving our mouths open like fish", said Pinkie Pie.
Meanwhile, in another path, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Scootaloo and Sunset pressed onward.
" Hey guys, do you know in Daring Do, with that one scene where she had to walk down this large hall, but the tiles were so thin, that they break once touched", said Scootaloo.
" Yeah, I saw that one last month", said Rainbow Dash, she was about to continue, when she felt herself nearly falling, Fluttershy, Scootaloo and Sunset helped pull Rainbow Dash back as part of the floor crumbled, revealing a dark pit.
" Gee, Zus", yelped Rainbow Dash.
" Can we by any chance backtrack", said Fluttershy.
" No, wait, we may have uncovered a deadly trap, but that doesn't mean this path won't lead us onward, we just need to avoid standing on the thin tiles", said Sunset.
" But how, they all look the same, how are we going to sort out which tile is safe to tread on, supposing there are any", said Rainbow Dash.
Sunset then laid down flat on her belly, and began moving forward, carefully.
" I want you girls to grab my ankles, and keep hold tightly, worse case scenario, I'll fall, but I'll be hanging by my ankles", said Sunset.
And so, while the other three kept a secure grip on her Ankles, Sunset began to crawl towards the tiles, and began to slam her fist on each one, to determine which ones are weak.
Eventually she got back up.
" I think I get it now, it's the edges, the tiles that are safe to walk on are at the edges, just by the walls", said Sunset.
" And there's nothing to hold onto, if we were to walk on the ledges", said Fluttershy.
" Not unless we use our stamina, while our feet are on the ledges, we press our palms against the other wall, which could keep us firmly safe and secure, and then we just maneuver along until we reach the other end", said Scootaloo.
" Great thinking Scootaloo", said Sunset.
And so, she first moved across the abyss, between the walls, followed by Scootaloo, and with encouragement from Rainbow Dash, she and Fluttershy also went through.
Once Sunset made it to the other side, she helped Scootaloo.
" We're nearly there Flutters, just don't look down", said Rainbow Dash.
However, as Fluttershy shifted, she accidently moved her head down, looking down below, causing herself to freeze.
" I don't think I can do this", said Fluttershy.
" Seriously, now you're freezing up, especially as we're nearly there", said Rainbow Dash.
" Wait, I think I can reach her", said Sunset, as she moved forward, to help Fluttershy finish through the last few steps.
" This is horrifying", said Fluttershy.
" It's okay Fluttershy, you made it through safely", said Sunset.
And Rainbow Dash, who was the only one left, made it through, and joined the others.
" I hope the other two paths are worse than this one", said Rainbow Dash.
Meanwhile, on the final path, Rarity, Twilight, Sweetie Belle and Spike proceeded down the final path.
However, they looked in the hall, to see the walls covered in spikes, as Twilight took another step, the walls began to slowly close in, Twilight backed away, and as she did, the walls began to move back out.
" Wait, I think I get the system, as soon as walk on the tiles, the walls will close in, once no ones on it, they'll move back", said Twilight, she then pressed down, and began counting, and after moving her feet away, she stopped.
" Okay, so about 5-7 seconds, and judging by the distance of the hall, I'd say it's about 30 to 35 yards, how confident are you guys in running 4 to 7 yards per second, on a scale of 1 to 100, be honest, I won't judge", said Twilight.
" I'd say about 51", said Sweetie Belle.
" FIFTY ONE, ARE YOU KIDDING ME", shouted Twilight, shocked, only to maintain her composure after realizing that she wasn't supposed to judge, like she said.
" I'll go first, dogs are naturally fast runners", said Spike, and so, he prepared himself, and then he ran.
The others watched nervously as the walls slowly began to close.
After a few seconds, Spike got closer to the other end, while the walls were getting closer to impaling.
It was the girls watched as the walls closed in completely, they gasped, thinking he didn't make it, when the wall began to open again, and Spike called out to them.
" I made it", he shouted.
The other three sighed in relief.
" I'll go next, it's just a narrow run, no obstacles to trip on, I'll move back a bit, to gain some momentum", said Twilight, she then stepped back, and both Sweetie Belle and Rarity watched as Twilight began running down the hall.
" Would you like me to go next", said Rarity.
" Um, yeah", said Sweetie Belle.
And so, once Twilight made it to the other side, Rarity took her turn, she took off her shoes, and made a dash down the hall, it wasn't as fast as the others, but she took one big leap at the end, before the walls closed in completely, which she would've been crushed if she didn't make the leap.
" Okay Sweetie Belle, it's your turn", said Twilight.
Sweetie Belle however was a little hesitant.
" Do what I did, and move back a distance before running, gain some momentum", said Twilight.
Sweetie Belle then looked at the spikes on the walls, and realized something, she approached the wall, and climbed onto the spikes, and they haven't broken, they managed to support her weight.
" Why didn't I think of that", said Twilight.
" Just be careful Sweetie Belle, if you fall, I'm not sure if you'll have enough time to get out", said Rarity.
As soon as Sweetie Belle reached the halfway point, she lost footing and slipped, landing on her feet, but the walls were closing in, and she raced towards Twilight, Rarity and Spike, and managed to make it just in time.
Spoiled Rich, Cinch, Flim and Flam continued onward, until they reached the boulders.
" They've definitely been here, these boulders look like they've been dropped", said Flim.
" I don't see anyone, so none of them got hit", said Cinch.
" Except for that guy", said Flam.
The four turned to see the skeleton of Nigel Bellsworth.
" A...A... A corpse", stuttered Spoiled Rich before she fainted dramatically.
" Wait a minute", said Cinch, before she then pulled out the wallet from the corpse.
" Uh, I don't think he's going to have any money left", said Flim.
" Yeah, even if he did, it would all be out of date", said Flam.
" I'm not looking for money", said Cinch, before looking at the ID inside the old wallet, and her eyes widened in realization of the name.
" Nigel Bellsworth".
" You mean that explorer who disappeared centuries ago", said Flim.
" The same", said Cinch.
" So, what do we do about her", said Flam, gesturing to the unconscious Spoiled Rich, " Because I'm not carrying her".
" I say we ditch her, a three way split is better than a four way split", said Flim.
" And a 50/50 split is even better than a three way split, even if I went along, and the three of us ditch Spoiled, who's to say you two won't do the same to me", said Cinch.
It was then Spoiled Rich woke up.
" Don't even think about it, I can ruin the three of you instantly", said Spoiled Rich.
" It was her idea", said Flim and Flam, pointing fingers at Cinch.
The twelve reunited after going through the separate paths, Rarity then glared at Applebloom.
" Applebloom, you may be friends of my sister, but if you ever drag me into another life threatening adventure, I'll kill you", snapped Rarity, glaring at Applebloom.
" Leave my sister alone", said Applejack, staring at Rarity.
" I nearly got crushed to death, not like any of you suffered any worse than I did", said Rarity.
" I nearly got poisoned, by a dart, if you think you have it bad", said Applejack.
" Compared to what I have to go through, you all have it easy, I nearly fell into a deep abyss", said Fluttershy.
" But what gives you the right to take it out on my sister", snapped Applejack.
" I'm not, she is", said Fluttershy, turning to head to Rarity.
" Well if you must know, your sister is the reason we are all in this mess to begin with, this whole adventure was her idea, her fault, I would've gotten out of that well, if she hadn't talked me out of it, and some of us nearly died a few minutes ago", said Rarity.
" Girls please, now's not the time to be arguing, yes, we all had our bad moments, but that doesn't give us the right to take it out on others", said Sunset.
" You should've learnt that yourself three years ago, and maybe then you would never have been a she demon or a bully", snapped Rarity out of frustration, her eyes widened as she covered her mouth, realizing what she just said, " I'm sorry".
Sunset sighed, even though it still hurt having her past brought up, even though it's been happening a lot less lately, she knew Rarity didn't mean what she said, even though she technically wasn't wrong.
" Let's just keep going", said Sunset, continuing onward, meanwhile, Twilight stared at Rarity, disapprovingly.
" What", said Rarity, " I said I was sorry, I only said that out of frustration, I couldn't control myself, if you were frustrated, you would do the exact same thing".
" Can we please stop the arguing", said Pinkie Pie.
" Pinkie's right, it's nearly noon, and we're just wasting time arguing with one another", said Applebloom.
Rarity sighed as she turned to Applebloom.
" I'm sorry I lashed out at you, although I'm still shook about this whole ordeal, it doesn't give me the right to take it out on you", said Rarity.
" It's okay Rarity, you were frustrated, I understand that", said Applebloom, she then turned to everyone else.
" In fact, I would like to apologize as well, this whole ordeal is my idea, and everything we have gone through, the disasters is my fault, if I hadn't suggested coming here, we wouldn't have risked dying, we nearly lost some of us here, and back to where the boulders were", said Applebloom.
" Applebloom, listen to me, this is not your fault", said Applejack, placing her hands on her younger sisters shoulders, " You were just doing what you thought was right, I mean true, you did sneak out of the middle of the night, but you were doing what you thought was the right thing to do, hoping it would save our farm".
" It wasn't just about the farm", said Applebloom, " I was hoping, for once, that I would get to go on this amazing adventures you and your friends would always go on".
" It's funny, how you want to join us on our adventures, when most of us don't even want to do any of these adventures, but only do them because, we don't have a choice", said Applejack.
" And also, the main reason I wanted to do this, was for Ma and Pa, if we leave Sweet Apple Acres behind, we leave them behind too", said Applebloom.
The Rainbooms, CMC's, and Spike continued their journey until they made a stop.
" This is a dead end isn't it", said Rainbow Dash.
" I don't get it, this is supposed to be the path leading to the treasure", said Pinkie Pie.
" Maybe it's another cave in", said Twilight.
" Hey look, I found another clue", said Applejack, pulling out a small scroll from behind a rock.
After going through the symbols, Sunset read through the clue.
" It says there should be a small hole somewhere, around one of the walls", said Sunset.
" Check that area, the one covered with moss", said Twilight, pointing at a part of the wall.
Sunset approached the wall, clearing away the moss, revealing a small hole.
" Wait a minute, look at all the pieces", said Sunset, showing a set of what looked like puzzle pieces in the hole.
After recognizing the picture, Sunset turned to Rainbow Dash.
" Rainbow, you remember that pendant you found in Nigel Bellsworth's bag, do you still have it", said Sunset.
" I gave it to Twilight", said Rainbow Dash, Twilight then held onto the pendant.
" It's a puzzle piece, for that puzzle, I knew it had something to do with Tokamak's treasure", said Twilight.
" But there are other pieces already in place, but Nigel Bellsworth didn't make it to this point", said Applejack.
" It must've been them", said Pinkie Pie, pointing at a few skeletons laying at a corner, causing a everyone to shriek.
" I though they were Tokamak's disciples or something", said Rarity.
" Maybe, or they could even be explorers themselves, now that we've uncovered the wishing well, they could've even entered through that, maybe Tokamak forgot to block that entrance before he died", said Twilight.
" But if these skeletons were explorers, how did they..", Rarity was cut off after noticing a sword in one of the skeleton's chest.
" Murder, I mean, it's just a theory, but maybe they tried to kill one another as an act of betrayal, that way their share of the treasure increases whenever one of their crew members die", said Sunset.
" So, if we solve the puzzle maybe it'll reveal a secret passage or something", said Rainbow Dash.
" Okay everyone, brace yourselves, worse case scenario, this could be another one of Tokamak's booby traps", said Twilight.
And so, Twilight placed the puzzle piece inside of the puzzle board, and they all looked around after a moment.
" Nothing happened", said Scootaloo.
It was then they heard a click, and looked back into the middle to find another gold key, this time, one with an amber gem, sticking out of a small rock.
" Another key, that means we only need to find one more", said Pinkie Pie, as she pulled the key out.
However as she did that, a trapdoor opened from beneath her feet, and everyone watched as she fell down a deep dark hole.
" PINKIE", everyone shouted as they gathered around the hole, worried for their friend.
" It's okay", they heard Pinkie Pie call out from underneath, " I'm fine, I landed safely, and you guys should go down too, I found the next room".
Everyone sighed and cheered in relief that their friend is fine, and after realizing what Pinkie Pie said, they went down the hole, one by one.
Meanwhile, Cinch, Spoiled Rich, Flim and Flam arrived at the waterfall, where they discovered, hundreds of gold coins.
" We made it to treasure before they did", said Flam.
" And somehow, we overtook them, without noticing them", said Flim.
" Please tell me that water is fresh", said Spoiled Rich.
" Wait, this isn't Tokamak's treasure, it's the old wishing well", said Cinch.
" How do you know", said Flim.
" I used to come here when I was a little kid, above the surface, I mean, how naïve I was back then, dropping money in the well, believing your wish would come true if you did so, then as I get older, I put those foolish fantasies out of my head for good", said Cinch.
" And every time someone came up there, and made a wish, this well would be a few cents richer", Flam said, he looked at Flim and they both grinned, knowing they both have the same idea.
Flim and Flam then pulled out their notebook, and wrote down on their list of new scheme idea's, Make a wishing well.
" What if they escaped the well, what if they chose to give up, if they did, we have no reason to continue this hunt, as either way, we'll win", said Spoiled Rich.
" I doubt they'll give up, regardless of whether or not they did, are we willing to take the risk, if they did, that opens the door to us, and if they didn't, we still need to press on to stop them from getting that gold", said Cinch.
Once everyone was down into the next chamber, and gathered together, they all looked around.
" I recon that small opening over there leads us further", said Twilight, pointing at a small opening.
" Hopefully we don't have to split up again", said Sunset.
" Wait, what time is it", said Pinkie Pie.
Twilight checked her watch, " It's after twelve".
" We've got less than six hours until we lose the farm", said Applejack.
" Does anyone feel hungry", said Pinkie Pie.
" Do we even have food", said Twilight.
" I still have some snacks left when I bought them from the convenience store", said Babs Seed.
" And I have some food well prepared already, for the trip", said Pinkie Pie, pulling out some sandwiches from her bag.
" Wow Pinkie, you came well prepared, as if you knew this was going to happen", said Sunset.
" Oh I always do this, have some prepped sandwiches in case of emergencies", said Pinkie Pie.
" Alright, we'll give it half an hour, after that we really need to keep going", said Applejack.
" There's no need to rush really", said Pinkie Pie, giving everyone her sandwiches.
" Actually there is, we're running low on time, six hours can go by very quickly, plus the gap between us and those creeps is getting thinner every minute we stop", said Twilight.
" I don't think there's anyone following us", said Rainbow Dash, " We would've known by now".
" That and we have stopped a lot more than we thought, they should've caught up by now", said Applejack.
" Maybe they didn't notice the opening back at the mine", said Pinkie Pie.
" Also they to have to go through the traps like we did", said Sunset.
" Well even so, we've still got less than six hours left, who knows how much left we've got to do, not to mention getting back is also a problem", said Twilight.
" Don't worry Twilight, we should be fine, I have a great feeling we're nearly there", said Pinkie Pie.
" And we still have only one more key to find", said Sunset.
Meanwhile, Cinch, Flim, Flam and Spoiled Rich approached the three paths, and they chose the path with no floor.
" How are we going to get across", said Spoiled Rich.
Cinch looked up and noticed something, and yanked a long piece of vine, tying a loop before flinging it up a long hook on the ceiling.
" Those knot tying, rope climbing, and rope swinging lessons really sure have paid off", said Cinch, before she swung on the rope, across the abyss.
Once all four were across, they reach the chamber where the jigsaw puzzle was kept, and they were just above the hole, because of the break the Rainbooms have taken, Cinch and her group caught up.
" This must be it, I'm starting to smell bubblegum probably from that pink haired girl", said Spoiled Rich.
" Shh, I hear talking down there", said Cinch.
" We've actually caught up with them", said Flim.
" So", said Spoiled Rich, turning towards Flim and Flam, " Which one of you two is going down there first".
It was then Flim and Flam both pointed at each other.
Pinkie Pie finished up packing her food, and she got up to find Applejack looking at the tunnel they went through.
" Hey Applejack, what's up", said Pinkie Pie.
" Shh", said Applejack, " I think somethings up there, or someone".
" How do you know", said Pinkie Pie.
" Because I heard voices", said Applejack.
" That probably came from the others", said Pinkie Pie.
" No, I meant from inside the tunnel", said Applejack.
" Hopefully it's someone looking for us, and not that creep with the gun", said Pinkie Pie.
" We can't be too sure", said Applejack, " I'm going to go and check it out, I might be wrong, it might just be a false alarm".
Applejack then approached the tunnel, and looked up, after a moment of hearing nothing, she sighed in relief.
" Maybe I am just being paranoid, I mean, there's no shame in admitting your mistakes, but there's no shame in being aware", Applejack then stopped after hearing voices.
" I'm not jumping down there", said one voice.
" Oh grow a pair why don't you, there's a rope tied safely", said another voice.
" Okay, then, why don't you go down first", argued the first voice.
Applejack's eyes widened in horror as they realized that not only they were being followed, but she recognizes their pursuers voices, she turned to the rest of the group.
" Everyone, run quick, they're following us, they're just above us, and it's the Flam Flam brothers", she warned.
Everybody was shocked after hearing that, but they all overcame that as they began to enter the next cave.
" Quick, follow me", said Applejack as she entered first, followed by Applebloom, Sunset, Rarity, Sweetie Bell, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Babs Seed, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, with Spike taking the rear.
Little did any of them know, the entrance to the cave looked like a giant skull.
And that is it for now, another chapter done and out, only three more chapters left to do, until next time, that's all for now.