“Aha!” Amy cried out as she galloped further into the cave. A pink pegasus followed cautiously behind her, followed by a grey earth pony. While the three ponies walked further into the cave, the pink pegasus uneasily looked around at the gargantuan rock walls that surrounded them.  
_“Uh Amy, did you finally find what you wanted?” the pink pegasus asked, his eyes still darting around the cave.  
“As a matter of fact, I did!” the purple unicorn Amy answered before she galloped away from her friends towards the center of the cave where a stone pillar stood. When the purple unicorn reached the pillar, her eyes lit up in excitement as she looked upon a glittering gold statuette.  
“I knew it!” Amy muttered to herself as her friends joined her at the pillar. “See Chal? The Gold Stallion of Yucatana!” Amy squealed, examining the statuette.  
*“I was the one who told you about the statuette.” the earth pony Chal responded cooly. *  
“Mmm, yes yes.” Amy mumbled back to Chal as her horn began to glow. Soon the statuette glowed and hovered from the stone pillar.  
“Amy, what are you doing?!” the pink pegasus stuttered nervously as he watched the statuette float away from its resting spot.  
“Breeze, this wonderful artifact belongs in a museum!” Amy exclaimed. “At the very least, I can show it off to Professor Sunburst and prove I was right last class.”  
“Amy, do you not know the legend of the cave?” Chal asked her sister as she gloated. “The cave will collapse on those who try to remove the stallion from his home.”  
“Oh Chal, what a silly story, as if this millions of years old cave would suddenly collapse because of a gold statuette?” As the mares continued to talk, Breeze felt a sudden rumble. When he looked up, he saw small rocks beginning to fall.  
“Uhhhh ladies!” Breeze stuttered nervously, his feathers beginning to rustle. “I think we need to leave now!”  
Suddenly a loud boom echoed in the cave, followed by more rumbling and rocks falling. With the statuette still magically hovering, the three ponies retreated, dodging falling rocks as they ran. Without a moment too soon, the three ponies managed to escape outside of the cave, the entrance filling with boulders behind them. All three breathed heavily from their narrow escape from the cave. Meanwhile, Amy continued to beam in triumph, the gold statuette now her treasure. As the ponies finally gathered their breath, they managed to find their footing again and began the long walk back to Ponyville. As they walked away, Breeze looked behind him to see the large boulders forever blocking the cave entrance.
 
“Why do I keep going on these adventures?” Breeze asked himself quietly before trotting to catch up with the mares who continued to talk about the golden statuette.
 
––  
Amy loves adventures, Chal loves artifacts, and Breeze joins along to get out of the palace. Sometimes these “treasure hunting” adventures get somewhat dangerous, and the poor crystal prince is the only one who sees the actual danger.
 
And yes, Amy is stubborn enough to trek through dangerous jungles, find lost artifacts, and risk her life and the lives of others just to prove her history professor wrong (who also happens to be her best friend’s father). Blame her mother Starlight.
 
 
Enjoy!
 
Shinning Breeze, Amethyst Swirl, & Chalcocite (c)