“Tom Sawyer,” Tom replied to Eric, gratefully taking a piece of jerky before turning to Wave, letting himself slide down the wall until he was sitting down. “Pretty certain we didn’t, Wave. If I hadn’t been too busy trying to focus on climbing the stairs, I would’ve told you that to us, Equestria is something out of a fairytale, we didn’t even know it was real,” he explained, trying to avoid using terms she’d no doubt not know. “How are you holding up? I think I need some sleep now.”

Eric nodded to each of them as they introduce themselves. “Some mysterious glowing writing, which I shall refer to henceforth as ‘Q’, offered me a favor if I came here to help someone, rather than go to a more advantageous and less adventurous location. I wasn’t sure how much help I could be, but I figured that… well… at this point I’ve effectively given up everything worth clinging to just by coming here. If I’m going to do something adventurous, now’s the time. If I wanted to just enjoy a nice easy relaxing life I should have stayed home.” He absently rotated his wedding ring as he spoke, eyes going a bit out of focus as he thought.

Wave Swimmer squinted a little at Eric. "Just a little adventure then? Like exploring ancient ruins, finding treasure, lost lore?" She pointed off to the side, where a golden wave was inlaid in the wall. "See, like that? I bet it's not even glued in there very well anymore."

Eric glanced at the carving then shrugged. “Is that a recommendation? It looks more heavy than useful. I think it’d be better to find a safe place before we worry about stuff like that. Besides.. uh, it’d be one thing in Greyhawk or the like, but I don’t think Equestria’s brimming with magical weapons or such that we’d need to buy ourselves. Though judging by the trap-filled corridors here, I obviously don’t know nearly enough about the place.”

Tom had tensed up at Wave’s words, his hand shooting out to grab at Eric’s pant leg before his words had stated that he had no interest in it. “We’re in a long forgotten temple dedicated to water gods, and Wave here is the guardian, until I started to help carry her out so she could help me find the way out… and do not touch anything here at all, Eric.”

Turning to Wave, Tom frowned at her. “Wave… seeing how he got here the same way I did, I truly doubt he’s someone you’d want to harm… don’t try to trick him into being a thief, okay? It’s not very nice to do.” With a sigh, he let his frown drop as he rested his head against the wall, peering up at Eric as he idly rubbed at Wave’s back once more.

She pouted a little. "He could still be a thief… What am I supposed to do with myself after we get out of here anyway?" She looked around and leaned out to peek in the direction the ball had rolled. "If you're ready, we can keep going, but keep an eye out for that dragon you mentioned."

Eric got a stupid grin on his face at the mention of a dragon, until the reality of the situation began to sink in and he got a bit more serious, with a much smaller smile. “Honestly, I think we all need to answer that question for ourselves. Though there’s no need for a long term answer just yet.” He packed his bag back up and shouldered it before leading the way. “And as amusing as it can be to play a temple raider in a game or whatnot, it’s never been my preference. It’s much more fun to play someone heroic, or at least stalwart. And I suspect the good graces of some water deities will be a lot more valuable in the long run than a bit of gold.” Eric offered Tom a hand to help him stand.

Tom let out a somewhat whiny groan, shaking his head at Eric’s hand before turning to Wave. “Unless you know of some way to deal with exhaustion, I need more than just a minute or five this time… I’m not all that much in shape, and I’ve been roughed up more today than I was growing up added up it feels like.” Closing his eyes, he let out a small sigh. “Everything hurts. Quite a bit… and Eric? I’ll be happy just to get somewhere warm and safe right now. And sleep.”

Wave looked around a moment. She tapped at her chin. "The only warm part here is you two, which I appreciate just fine… Hmm, well, if you want to rest, then we rest. There are no traps here, and I doubt a dragon will just come storming through this part of the dungeon. You called it a dungeon right? It's more of a temple, really."

Eric nodded, looking about. “It’s more of a generic term for a place full of traps, monsters, and other assorted dangers. Though if you say it’s a temple, let’s just go with that. Speaking of, miss temple guardian, if you don’t mind me asking. What are you?” he took the opportunity to slip back to the ground, getting as comfortable as he could.

Tom let out a yawn, opening his eyes back up to find Wave so that he could hug her. “Thanks a lot, by the way. For, you know, helping me through all of the traps and stuff. And letting me see in the dark, however you managed that,” he muttered, arms wrapped around her loosely. “I’d be dead or dying without your help, Wave. It means a lot.”

Wave Swimmer smiled, exposing her wicked fangs, "I can't claim to be selfless. You're my ticket out of here, but you're nice, and you don't deserve to die just yet, so we're in agreement, let's get out of here." She turned to look at Eric, snuggling back into Tom warmly. "So you're from the same place?"

“To within a rounding error, I’d guess. Seattle, eastside,” Eric said, glancing to Tom. “You?”

“No clue what you mean by a rounding error, but near New Orleans, so same country, Wave,” Tom replied as he lightly bopped Wave on the nose with a fingertip. “I’d hope I don’t deserve to die ever, not till I’m old and all that stuff. I’m rather attached to my life, Wave. And, selfish or not, you’re helping me, I’m helping you, even once we’re out of here, yeah?”

Wave rubbed at her nose with a fetlock, snorting softly. "We all deserve to die eventually, even if it's just old age or disease or falling off a ladder you were certain was secure." She chuckled a little and rolled her arm/legs, tail flopping as it got in on the act. "Can we go swimming?"

“Tom’s wiped out, and I gather you can’t really walk? If there’s a spot nearby I don’t mind giving you a lift, but otherwise… it’ll have to wait. You two seem awfully affectionate… known each other long?” Eric answered.

“It’ll probably have to wait, yeah… and Eric, she’s kinda comfy, I’m tired, and she has apparently been alone for… a few thousand years? Besides the ponies she led to their death in the traps,” he added on with a shiver. “More not wanting to be alone, I’d imagine… gonna close my eyes, get me up in an hour. Gonna still be sore as hell, but… staying here won’t get us somewhere better.” Tom remarked, nodding to Eric before closing his eyes and resting his head against the wall.

Wave let Tom rest, and slipped to the ground. She pulled herself with her hooves over to the other human, regarding him curiously. "Do they have temples like these where you're from? You look like you're out of your element."

Eric pulled out his smart phone, tapping a few times to set a timer for 90 minutes, so they would know when ‘an hour’ was up, before slipping it back in his pocket. “Temples, yes. Like this? Not in the slightest. Maybe some really ancient ones, if you stretch the meaning of ‘like this’. The closest I’ve been in are fairly comfortable wooden structures consisting primarily of a large room with a ton of seating to gather in. Not usually as much wealth built into the walls, and no death traps. What guardians they have are mostly to keep the visitors safe from anyone wishing to harm them, especially the children. And most of the time, said guardians don’t have much to actually do.”

Wave peered at the curious device the human was holding. "What's that?" She climbed up into his lap since it was so nice and available. "Show it to me." Shameless and forward, Wave Swimmer seemed to see nothing wrong with her reasonable demands.

Eric tensed a moment when Wave entered his lap before nodding and reaching in his pocket. “It’s called a ‘smart phone’, but most of what it does won’t really work without the devices it’s supposed to communicate with.” A few touches dismissed the lock screen again, displaying a bunch of incomprehensible icons. “Each of these buttons opens a different function of the phone. The one I used just now…” he reopened the timer, showing the countdown in progress. “...makes it make a sound at me after a certain amount of time has passed. So we’ll know when to wake up Tom.”

Wave Swimmer reached out a hoof, trying to tap at the screen like Eric is doing. As it turned out swiftly to become obvious, hooves were not proper pointing devices for such surfaces. She frowned. "It's broken."

"Let me fix that for you." The owner of the voice peeked around the corner. A familiar dragon with a toothy grin. "I'm very good at fixing things, like intruders in my lair."

“Not broken, just not designed with hooves in mind,” Eric said before looking up at the dragon. His expression became unreadable as his obsessive fanboyishness toward all things draconic warred against the very real concern of becoming dead in the near future. “Terribly, sorry, sir, dragon, sir, thing. Is this your lair? I must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque, right, yes.” Eric stammered. “Mercy?” Next Chapter: 5 - Drowning in Gold Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 10 Minutes