Cave mystery

Unity-step's mood was superb. It was such a great day. A day where it seemed everything was going your way. The skies were clear of any clouds and blue as the clearest pond and songs of birds that was a perfect theme song for today. Even the healthy green grass seemed to wave a friendly hello as the gentle breeze pushed it. Yes, today was perfect for Unity. Well, it would've been but as is such on days like this it took only one thing to ruin it.

"You are hanging with me!"

This sentence uttered by her brother, Brash-step, always meant that embarrassment and a massive amount of annoyance was just around the corner. Things that Brash loved giving her. He was in a good mood of his own. Brash's perfect day always revolved around his sister's embarrassment. It always made it better for him when she was being her old gullible self but today she wasn't going for it. He flew a few feet in front of Unity, singing with glee, leading her towards the mountains a few miles away from Ponyville. Unity slowly followed, her eyes already filled agitation watching Brash bounce around in the air.

"You know, you don't always have to have so much energy" Unity mumbled more to herself than to Brash. Brash turned himself around to face her as he flew backwards.

"OH yes I DOOO. It is parrrrrrt of MY apPEALay and I have TO share my apPEALay. Tis one of the best-parts about MEEEEEE. . . " He said, his voice oddly jumping from syllable to syllable. "Oh come on! Cheer up a bit! I have something awesome to show you."

"Let's just get this over with, please." she sighed. Brash for a moment just stared at her oddly unaware of the angst he was causing her. With a shrug he turned back around and began to speed towards the mountain with Unity right behind him. After a few minutes of flying they made it to a cave that opened up near the summit. They landed and started to catch their breath as Unity darted her eyes from Brash, the cave, and back to Brash.

"Really? You bring me here for this? A cave?! Yeah, because I'm that dumb!" Her eyes sharp with rage. It was obvious to her that he was just going to try to scare her in there. She gritted her teeth with white hot anger powering her jaw. After a moment she regained her composure and turned to fly away, fearing if she stayed any longer she would get in a full blown argument with him "I'm sorry Brash but I'm leaving"

"No no no no no, c'mon Unity. You'll love it. I swear it's not a prank. You know it's not no fun no way no how unless others are around to see a prank and as you can plainly see there isn't a pony a round for miles to even see a prank. Besides, Don't chya trust me?" He gave her a big cheesy grin and his wings beated playfully. As soon as that smile crossed his face Unity began to flap her wings and hover.

"No Brash. I'm done. . .I'm sorry."

"C'mon . . . Your name is Unity-step. . . step up and be united on this team. Team Step or Team Unity if ya prefer? I mean, it doesn't really explode off the tongue as much as Team ADVENTURE does but I guess it still works, eh?" She floated away in a huff towards Ponyville.

"Then I'll go in and look at it myself! Ugh, I don't need some pansy pony pants as my sidekick anyway!" He yelled to her, as he started to walk into the darkness of the cave. "YOU DON'T EVEN COMMENT ON MY ACCIDENTAL ALLITERATIONS ANYMORE!" He called over his shoulder. As he walked in he began chanting Unity's name to annoy her more, his voice slowly following him into the cave. Unity didn't fly far, just around the bend to listen to her brothers voice, waiting for him to quit and come back. A few minutes passed and she could no longer hear his voice echo out the cave. At first her anger kept her from going in after him, her hoof smacking the mountain rock lightly but as minutes turned into hours she began to worry. She flew back to the cave entrance trying her best to peer through the dark while she stayed in the light.

"Um... Brash" She called out. "Okay, it's done now. . . please come out?" Her only response was her own voice. "Okay. I'm sorry Brash. . . Please just come out. . ." More of her own echoed voiced came to her ears and nothing else. She called out again and again for a long while before she knew something was wrong. She started to walk into the tunnel but her fear wouldn't let her past. In her panic all she could do is yell help as loud she can, pacing back and forth.

"Someone! Anyone! Brash!"

Stormy had been in cave for awhile writing the fun little paintings on the side of the walls. The markings were likely Pre-Relocation. Meaning ponies, or at least a tribe lived in this area for a time. Which means he was hot on the scent of what he was looking for. A bright white grin spread across his face as he heard sound.

Putting his hoof to to his ear he heard the sweet Melody of siblings talking. How it brought back the memories of the times of him and his own brother. They hardly spoke without insulting on another or having some argument. 'That's my slice! Stop throw trains at me!' Stormy from then simply listened to their delightful exchange.


Stormy had another idea. "Oooooooooooooo. Who dares disturb my final resting placeeeeeee." Stormy had been working on his ghost voice, though one could wonder why a pony would try improving upon sounding like a ghost.

Unity turned back towards the tunnel, her mane seemed to stand on end. She was alone and no one was around to help. "You can do this you can do this you can do this." She chanted to herself. With a gulp her final ounce of frustration from her brothers actions evaporated into the mountain air. She forced her hooves forward, hearing her footsteps echoe off of the walls of the tunnel.

After a few minutes, and her eyes adjusting, she came upon a medium sized cavern. She could barely make out the slight shiver of wet walls. Her ears would occasionally pick up the sound of air moving into the caverns, a sound that made her think of heavy creepy breathing. She shook the thought from her mind and called out again sheepishly.

"B-brash. . . You there?" Her eyes darted around looking for movement. Just as soon as her sentenced ended, she felt hair brush the back of her ear. Her eyed widened in fear and she slowly turned only to find her eyes lined up with another. A screeching howl came from this face and Unity jumped backwards letting out a terrified howl of her own.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!" her voice rang. She started to turn to run away just as she heard a familiar laugh. Her heart sank as she felt her face burn up with an all too familiar rage.

She returned her eyes to where the source of the scream was just to see Brash rolling on his back snorting and having a seizure of happiness. "BWAHAHAHA! Oh Celestia, Perfect! Way way way way WAY worth the wait!"

"YOU MEAN YOU HAVE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR THIS LONG JUST TO SCARE ME!" She ranted doing her best not to loose total control of herself.

"Yes. It is called dedication. You should find someone to lend you some." His cheeky smirk was evident on every word he said.

Unity didn't want to fight, not here anyway. "Brash, I was worried about you and your trickery and pranks they. . . well they disappointed me. . . I just want to go home now." She felt defeated as she looked at him. This was her brother and she realized she couldn't trust him.

Brash noticed his sister's eyes shimmer with moisture as she spoke and he knew that this time she was serious. He started to apologize but his face was still stuck in a massive grin from the adrenaline of his prank. So he decided to make it up to her when they left the cavern. However this was all interrupted when a eerie voice seemed to blast them with fright.

"Oooooooooooooo. Who dares disturb my final resting placeeeeeee." They heard. The two pegasi jolted in fear as they heard the voice. Unity quickly back peddled her legs not knowing what to do with herself. Her hoof stepped on her long wispy tail and she fell over backwards and bumped her head on the cave wall.

"Ow!" she quietly yelped as Brash jumped over her and landed with his feet planted. His teeth gritted as he slowly scanned the room.

This is chance to shine and make things up to Unity. He thought

"I do-" He began to say but Unity's voice meekly interupted.

"O-o-oh no please don't say anyth-"

"Brash-step" He proclaimed proudly much to Unity's disdain.

Stormy couldn't even fathom how delightful this was. The brother had come up here to scare his sister, only to be scared himself! Stormy would of began busting up with his jolly laugh had the colt not returned with challenging voice. Maybe hehad found one of the few he was looking for.


"Brasssshhh-Steppp." Stormy though his voice along the cave as cupped his hooves to get a different effect. "You shallll beee cursed, as will as you kin unlessss you answer a questionnnn that none have ever been able to answerrrr. If you runnn I shall haunt youuuuu." Stormy paused as he waited for reply. He thought about if h could of worded that better, but he decided that they thought him a ghost already and it wasn't like ghosts all said the same thing.

Stormy had to think of question now and that was going to pose quite the problem. He had number of riddles at the ready in his book, but drawing a light cause them to see him. Funny how the darkness was he ally, but hindered him possibly in the long run.

Brash took a gulp as the ghost spoke, but his fear turned to disappointment as a light washed over to reveal a light brown colt standing there with glee on his face. Brash turned to see a familiar face on Unity. She was full of awe and anger.

She turned to Brash, "Need your friends to join in on the fun huh." She hissed.

"I don't know who that is. . . but you gotta admit he got us good." Brash said sounding as cheerful as he could. He turned back and spoke to this new pony. "My name is Brash nice to meet you!"

"it seems that I have been figured out. If you must know my name it is Stormy Hugeheart." A tall, bright orange colt appeared from behind the curtain of darkness that fell at the mouth of the cave.


"I must say it is a pleasure to meet you and although I'm not exactly the ghost that you had been expecting I should warn you been up so high can have it's dangers, though I'm not one for stopping a curious heart. Ahahaahahahahaahaha." His laugh was jolly and genuine as he held his chest before rising his head up with a grin. "You could almost say it's a crime to prevent someone of such a name as yourself for exploring such place. Might I ask we'll bring you up here? Besides to tormenting your sibling?"

Stormy's jovial manner made this dark dank cave feel extremely comfortable. He stretched his wings with a little yawn before continuing. Unity walked a few feet towards one of the walls and folded her long wispy tail into a bun and she started to fix her mane.

"Well, I flew by this place a few days ago, I started to walk around in here but I decided I needed a scribe to record my expedition and exploits." He said, his smile beaming. Untiy's eyes darted to the back of Brash's head but quickly returned back to her mane.

Stormy wore a smile as he saw the beginning of a young adventurer. He remembered that feeling of going to the unknown. He saw the burning passion in the colt had had once had into himself. "These caves are quite interesting. They have writings of the Soggalong Indian tribes. They had lived in a small settlement in these mountains before moving on. I'm currently on the hunt for a Legendary DreamCatcher. It's said to be able to trap nightmares."

Stormy pointed to the wall. "Would you like to see?"

Brash's eyes widened with wonder. His short tail began to wag violently like a dog and a grin appeared ear to ear.

"Oh no. . ." Unity said to herself sensing Brash's excitement.

"A dreamcatcher that actually catches dreams!? This a dream come true!" He said his voice dissolving into a high pitch squeal as his sentence went on. Unity silently stood up doing her best to not be noticed but Brash's thoughts turn to her. He walked over to her and patted down her vest a bit to help clean her up.

"Nope. You gotta come Unity. I mean you normally not all grumpy like this and a bit more assertive than normal. How about we actually go on an adventure?" He said calmly. At first she refused to look at him but she gave in quite quick. Their eyes met and she saw her brother that was always there for her with the same goofy grin, even though sometimes him being there was ab bother.

"Fine, Brash. I'll come with." She said with a weak but genuine smirk on her face.

His eye's brightened up with the same intensity it did when Stormy spoke about the Indian tribe. "I am in, and my scribe is along for the ride too! What do I need to know. How far have you explored so far. Tell me more about these Soggalogues, or was it Sogging Bogs?" He spoke quickly.

"Soggalong Tribes." Unity corrected. She walked over to Stormy and held out her hoof. "ummm Hi. I'm Unity. . . sorry for my attitude earlier." She said giving him an apologetic smile

"Madam, it is the pleasure to meet you." His grin was ever present on his face as he did a little bow of his head. "Your brother tells me that you are a scribe, though likely is one of his other subtle jokes." He grinned once more as he pulled out what looked like pure light. He threw up and the cave filled with light.

Inside along the walls were old markings of ponies of long ago. There coats brown and there manes black. They all seem to have similar cutie marks. Marks it depicted them all around great campfires, smoke coming from the mouths as three other sister around them looked like they were feeding upon it.

"Their language is dead but in their language they are known as 'Those who dream'. They use dream catchers to ward off bad dreams, but apparently there's little bit more to it. In fact I have reason to believe that they did have a magical item that actually had that ability. unfortunately if this existed I have no idea where it is. My hope is that these paintings will depict where they would've put it." He explained as he ran his hoof along the wall.

"But enough of that, and about yourselves. Are you explorers at heart by myself. Also you both seem to be devilishly young. Though once you get to the humble age, everyone looks young." He said with a whimsical tone.

Unity's and Brash's eye lit up as their eyes beheld the cave drawings. Unity walked over to one of the drawings that caught her eye most, just a solitary pony that seemed to look back at her. She stood there and stared at it quite hard not knowing why she was taken with this one. Her focus was thrown off by a pony bumping into her, she turned to see Brash briskly walking along the wall being too energetic to look at one portion of the wall more than a second or two mumbling quietly to himself like some sort of mad pony

"Well. . . I'm more of a plants kind of mare myself. They are usually less volatile than ponies." She motioned to Brash, "He is pretty much and explorer. . . but I'm pretty sure he wants to be more like Daring Do than actually discovering anything."

"nononononononononoNONONO!!" Brash said his mumble turning into a roar Unity shirking back away from his voice.
"um. . .What's the matter?"

". . . How did the cave get tattoos? Doesn't make any sense at all." He smelled the damp cold cave wall with a big sniff. "Smells very old as well."

Unity spoke to Stormy, "Also I am never sure if he acts like that on purpose or if that is genuine him." She looked back at Brash as he continued to smell the cave then back at Stormy, "Anyway, what signs should we look for to indicate where this dream catcher is?"

Stormy's eye lit up as heard him suggest they tattooed the wall. Maybe they were what he was looking for, he only needed a few more ponies. He walked over to the drawing that caught Unity's eye. He watched it fr a awhile himself as they spoke on. She stood there and stared at it quite hard not knowing why she was taken with this one. Perhaps BrashStep could make it as a Daring Doo. Though he might need just a /little/ help.


"You know there once was a story about twin that would hunt Hydras... ahahaha nevermind." He winked at Unity as he turned. "BrashStep and UnityStep where do they hang Dreamcather?"

Maybe they would be able to solve this.

"Hydra hunting!? Oh yeah, We would be the best Hydra hunters!" Brash exclaimed.

"I uh. . would rather go through life never seeing a Hydra." She said as she briefly turned away from the drawing.

Brash scratched his head as he thought of an answer which Unity started to answer, "They hang them-"

"Where they sleep! Let's go to their bed chambers or whatever they have." He said and began to gallop off into some random dark corridor as Unity sighed.

You will should tear but how absolutely brilliant they were. The hope someday when he found the right mare that his foals would be like that.

He wiped the tear from his eye as he cracked soda took a long drink from it before entering the cave.

deeper into the cave you'll see that it became more of something that had been built, something chiseled and smoothed the sides of the cave. What was left were the crude remains of an old culture. Bits of cloth, moth-eaten sleeping rolls. more paintings on the walls and broken tools. Things that once look like they were pottery, now little little more than bits of ash.

Somewhere in this room is a Dream Catcher.

Brash burst into the stale air of the room that the cavern led to followed by Unity and Stormy. With a thud he planted his feet firmly into the dirt. A somewhat insane grin was plastered across his face, his eyes wild with excitement. He began running from dusty bed roll to dusty bed roll, looking around the area for anything that looked like a Dream Catcher.

"Dream Catcher. . . You cannot hide from me. I own you. You are now mine. Then one day we will move in together and get a condo in Manehattan." He said softly.

Unity started to carefully lift some of the scattered items looking for the Dream Catcher. After her hoof touched something dusty she wiped it off on her vest. After a few times of this she urgently checks her tail to make sure it is still done up and off the ground then back to the items. All these items just broken and crushed under the weight of time. She didn't see any bodies anywhere. It seemed to her these people just exited in a hurry and left all their belongings here.

"Stormy. Why did all these people leave?" Her curiosity perking once again.

"Cutie poxes my dear." He said with a grin as he directed her attention to a wall. "for the longest time they kept themselves up in these mountains until disease cause them to scatter. You goes far as Stalliongrad and you can probably find someone with a little bit of the blood of 'Those who dream'. They believe that the disease was a punishment for pony starting to build cities instead of living off the land." He said and was going to explain further until something caught his eye.

He walked past her into the chief's tent. He softly pushed away the rotting cloth as he examined something.

Unity's ears lowered at the thought of a whole civilization getting scattered and dying out. She let out an audible gulp. She turned and scanned the arrangement of the tents hoping to find something that called out to her and said I'm here.

Brash took his head out of a pot and shook dust from his mane. Sneezing at it as it encompassed his head. He trotted up to the chief's tent where his new colt friend and stuck his head in. "What you see?" He asked calmly.

Stormy was leaning over a burnt out fire with a frown. All those lives could of been saved had they known the cure. "If only they had listen to the zebra. Don't worry. I shall tell your story."

Stormy tapped his black leather bound book twice as he rose up slowly, then suddenly turning with goofy face. "BOO!" He yelled as he tucked something away with his book.