Hidden Depths

Pandora dug through the chest, looking at the shiny coins. Something felt weird to her, however, and she bit down on one.... only to discover it was a fake!

"Rubbish," Pan muttered. Poe landed on the rock where Abraxas and Menodora had laid the map, and clicked his beak a few times, almost seeming to laugh. "Oh hush you," Pan added as she kicked the chest over.

Fake coins spilled on the ground around her hooves, and in the corner.... another map?

Nosing through the pile, Pan gently grasped the map with her teeth. She pulled it out and unrolled it, looking at a second treasure map.

"Rubbish," Pan muttered again. Looking at the map it led to the sea!

Pan stood silently, considering the map for many moments. Poe hopped down and began pecking at the coins, hopping around being quite distracted by the shiny objects.

Perhaps it was the questing spirit, perhaps it was just curiosity, but Pan picked up the map and began to follow the path. Poe played with the fake coins for a few more moments before grabbing one and taking off, following after Pandora.

A few hours later Pan found herself at the shore. Now the hard part came. Neither she nor Poe could really swim down to the spot marked. Her magic was useless here.

Unless.... Hearing a splashing sound, Pan set off along the coast. Perhaps it was luck, perhaps it was fate, but she came across a bay mare entering the water.

"Are you perhaps a good swimmer?" Pandora asked, Poe settling on her shoulder.

The mare looked up, a bit cautiously. "Perhaps, and who are you?"

Pandora shifted slightly, and nodded to herself. "Pandora, and you?"

"Aphrodite," the mare replied. "Why are you asking me if I swim?"

Pan dropped the treasure map on a rock and rolled it open.

"Sunken treasure, by the looks of it," Pandora gestured to the mark on the map. Aphrodite walked over, and looked at the map.

"Seems about right," she commented.

"You up for a treasure hunt?" Pan asked.

It made things easier, having a hippocampus by your side. Pan used her wingless flight, soaring high above looking for any signs of treasure, while Aphrodite dived beneath the waves. Poe circled around them both for a while, before he winged back to shore, his wings getting tired. Plus, the raven wanted to play with the fake coin he had stolen.

"Anything yet?" Pan asked, as she took a moment to consult the map.

"Looks like there might be something a bit that way!" Aphrodite called back. Pan nodded, the map suggesting the same, and she tucked the map away again as they headed to the marked spot.

Pan waited, hovering above the waves as Aphrodite dived under.

"Yep, we got treasure!" Aphrodite announced as she came back up.

"Okay, if you can bring it up I can carry it back," Pandora offered, and Aphrodite dived back under.

The chest was heavier than Pan expected, and they were a far way out. But she persevered, lugging it back to shore, Aphrodite swimming below.

Poe abandoned his fake coin as they neared, and hopped over as Pan landed.

"Well, lets see what we have got!" Pandora said as Aphrodite shifted back and approached from the shore. The two mares stood above the chest, Poe at Pan's feet, as they opened it.