Three ponies stood at the edge of the cave, each peering down curiously towards the abyss below. How deep was it? Nopony knew, except for the creators of this mysterious cave. The trio included two Earth ponies with one Pegasus in the front of the group, with a grin spread across her face. The other two seemed nervous, as if they were expecting some sort of creature to jump from the shadows an attack. Thankfully, nothing seemed out of the ordinary besides the three standing at the entrance. The Pegasus leaned her head forward, using her magenta colored eyes to search the cave before roughly turning around.
“Let me see here…” She quickly darted towards one of the Earth Ponies’ on her right, rummaging through the pony’s package before pulling out a torch. The Earth pony’s face was plastered with confusion, glancing at his partner who simply shrugged. The dull yellow Pegasus trotted forward, scraping the torch along the floor of the cave to strike up some sort of residue that was already on the torch. The torch ignited into a brilliant flame, brightening to three ponies’ faces up clearly as they soon began to venture in the dark cave. Their hooves echoed along the stone flooring as the trio advanced into the cave, and the two earth ponies seemed to jump at the sound of anything out of the ordinary.
The cave soon began to turn into something like a temple, having carved faces on the walls and a tiled flooring as well. The trio had been walking for some time, maybe about five minutes in before the dull yellow Pegasus in the front stopped abruptly. In front of them was an idol piece about six meters or so away. The two earth ponies gave the Pegasus confused looks before she held out a hoof. Timidly, she walked forward and pushed the butt of the torch firmly to the end of her mouth. She stuck it out forward before pushing her hoof down slowly onto one of the tiles in front of her.
An arrow immediately shot out from one of the stone statues that littered the hallway, striking the torch dead center. The two earth ponies behind her immediately jumped forward to hug each other tightly, shaking quite badly. The Pegasus lifted her head smugly, grasping the torch in her left hoof while she took out the arrow with the other.
“Hm, shoulda known.” She spoke to herself, sticking her tongue out to taste the tip of the arrow. It wasn’t poisoned, thank Celestia, but the think was deadly. One wrong step of the hoof and you’d be a goner. The Earth ponies had finally regained their confidence and stepped towards the yellow Pegasus, who was casually tossing away the arrow.
“What do you mean…’shoulda known’? Did you forget to tell us there would be traps waiting for us?” One of the Earth ponies spoke up, his voice shaking as he spoke. The yellow Pegasus looked at him before giving him a serious look. She stepped forward, staring into his eyes with a flat look.
“Well, you shouldn’t have come if you knew there’d be danger. My name is Daring-Do after all.” She growled between her teeth, pushing her muzzle into his as she spoke, “Man up and act like a real stallion. We’re wasting precious time.” The yellow Pegasus turned around sharply before pausing in the spot where she had originally been before the arrow had shot out.
“You two wait here…” She spoke over her shoulder at them. Daring-Do wasn’t about to risk their safety or her own if one of them managed to slip up. The two didn’t seem to object, because they merely stood there with their hooves shuffling along the tile flooring with unease. Daring-Do looked upwards, knowing she could use her wings to pass through this trap easily. Glancing upward, she quickly paused before she moved, setting down her torch in the process.
Any smart trap builder in Equestria would keep their wits about them while making sure all three species of ponies couldn’t easily avoid this trap. Daring-Do noticed the lighting in the room, though it was still dark there were a few patches of light coming out of the sides of the walls. They crossed in zigzag patterns and looped over each other occasionally, showing that there was another side to this puzzle. The dull yellow Pegasus thought for a moment, her eyes shifting below to her hooves to find some sort of object to test her own theory on. She found a rock, the closest thing she was going to get without risking her hat and her torch, before tossing it upward by striking it with her hoof.
The rock sailed upward into a light beam before the sound of metal struck against the rock causing it to fly in another direction. Just as she had thought, the light had managed to trigger another set of arrows. The two Earth ponies behind her had jumped again, and probably were breaking into a cold sweat by now. Amateurs, Daring-Do rolled her magenta eyes at this, wiping her brow with a hoof before spreading her wings. Now it was time for some combination of flying and walking.
The Pegasus launched herself into the air, spreading and angling her wings as she dodged the light beams as best she could. When two intersected, she carefully lowered her altitude until she was level with the ground, trotting easily over the tiles below her. She was careful to avoid the ones that would trigger the arrow traps, taking a somewhat slow pace as she began to alternate between actually flying and walking. Eventually she did a small barrel roll underneath one of the light beams before sliding to the other end of the chasm with little grace. When Daring-Do got to her hooves and looked back, she could see the look of awe shining on the two Earth ponies’ faces from where she stood.
The dull yellow Pegasus grinned inwardly to herself before turning her hat-covered head. She was merely a few feet from where she wanted to be, and with that she carefully trotted forward. It was pretty quiet, and for the most part there weren’t any more traps to be set. Her eyes shifted to side to side as she approached the idol piece, getting a better glance at it up close. It was a round metal piece, shining like silver in the small skylight that was above it.
It had a few inscriptions on it, and a small blue center jewel that was surrounded by a crescent moon carved into the metal that surrounded it. Daring-Do found herself trying to figure out where exactly she had seen the writing inscribed before, seeing it was familiar to her. Being an archeologist usually did that to a pony, but she soon realized they were running out of time. Daring-Do had brought a satchel with her, carrying merely about a few pounds of sand inside of it. She untied it with her mouth from her green jacket, quickly popping it in her hoof before carefully aligning the two.
She crept forward, hesitating for a few seconds before switching out the bag of sand with the idol piece with ease. She gave an inward sigh of relief as the other two Earth ponies managed to see what she had done from the center piece before giving a cheer. Daring-Do turned around, casually putting an elbow on the edge of the piece holding up her prize while smiling. Now all they had to do was get back to the university and…
Click!
Daring-Do’s smile dropped clean off her face as she turned around back towards the bag of sand she had exchanged.
The pedestal where the idol had sat had firmly sunken in to the center stand where the idol had sat. The place began to rumble, pieces of rubble already beginning to chip away as the interior of the place began to go into a massive crumble. Without the support of the idol, the place was ready to collapse. Daring-Do quickly popped off her hat, placing the idol piece inside of it before returning it to the crown of her head.
The two Earth ponies had begun to panic as the temple began to collapse, running in circles like newborn foals. Daring-Do groaned as she leaped from the pedestal, trotting quickly after them while avoiding the arrows as fast as she could. Luckily enough, she had made it to the end of the chasm just in time as the inner walls of the chamber began to collapse.
“C’mon let’s go!” She screamed over the noise of the chamber collapsing, somehow shaking the two Earth ponies’ out of their trance. The both stared at her dumbfounded before giving nods and running back towards the exit of the cave. Daring-Do soon followed after them, her heart nearly lurching out of her chest as she ran behind the two. The cave’s floor was beginning to collapse underneath them, and was catching up to them fast. The trio kept running, just barely managing to keep pace ahead of the crumbling floor until Daring-Do’s hoof slipped just near the edge of the collapsing floor.
The yellow Pegasus slid towards the edge, gripping her hooves firmly into the side as best she could while kicking out her hind legs. By doing this, she managed to get one of her hooves tangled in a vine hanging from the edge of the falling floor. The floor seemed to stop falling for now, being that the cave entrance was just a meter away, but that left Daring-Do helpless. One of the Earth ponies looked back at her, quickly trotting near her at a face pace to her positon.
“Q-quick, help me free!” Daring-Do grunted as she scraped at the dirt in front of her, wings flapping helplessly to
escape the entangled vine around her hoof. The Earth pony in front of her seemed conflicted, staring down at the helpless yellow peasus.
“Give me the artifact, and then I help you!” He spoke quickly, glancing upward occasionally behind Daring at the chasm below her.
“J-just help me free first!” Daring-Do spoke curtly, losing her patience fast with the Earth pony.
“Give me the artifact.” He said a bit more sternly this time, now his eyes were focused on her. Daring stared back at him for a moment before grunting, flipping her hat off her head with a flick of her ear for it to land on the ground in front of her. The idol piece slid out of the fold in her hat, right in front of the Earth pony’s hooves. He grinned mischievously before snatching up the artifact in his mouth before placing it in his bag.
“Thanks Daring-Do!” He grinned before trotting after her accomplice who was waiting for him near the entrance. Daring-Do was left at the edge of the chasm, mouth agape at the scene she had just witnessed. She had been betrayed! It wasn’t the first time her plans had gone sour by a lying source, but still…the nerve! Those greedy…
Daring shook her monochrome mane in frustration before flapping her wings again. She needed to get free and chase down those Earth ponies! She needed that artifact! The dull Pegasus flapped even harder, pulling on the edge of the vine while pushing her hooves down into the dirt as she pushed herself forward. She leaned in even harder, putting even more stress on the vine before it finally snapped free from its perch on the side of the cliff-face.
Daring leapt forward, sliding easily onto the cave flooring as soon as she was freed from her bonds. Putting a hoof to her head, she shook it quickly before getting onto her hooves. Oh now she was mad. She stepped forward before she heard another rumbling sound, slowly turning around behind her to see what else was ready to ruin her day. There it was, a giant boulder looming just above her from a small perch.
“…A Rock!?” Daring-Do nearly screamed at the boulder, flattening her ears as she quickly scooped up her hat. She must have ticked off that rock, because as soon as she yelled the boulder began to move forward. Her face formed a quick frown before she placed the hat upon her head and began running. She ran as fast as she could with the boulder just nearly on her heels, managing to drop from its perch and chase her towards the entrance of the cave. She barely had made it out before the rock slammed itself against the entrance, causing Daring-Do to lurch forward as she landed hard outside of the exit.
She managed to land on her belly, grunting before glancing upward. She was still alive for the most part, quickly getting on her hooves before dusting herself off promptly. Daring turned her head to stare back at the boulder blocking the entrance before giving a sigh. Now to find those backstabbers… The dull yellow Pegasus quickly galloped forward, not bothering to use her wings now before running after the trail.
The jungle surrounded Daring-Do as she raced to catch up with the thieves, thick and dense as the Everfree forest she had explored once. It wasn’t too much of a problem for Daring, but it did hinder her flight capabilities if she came to a rough spot. She had managed to catch up with the two Earth ponies, who decided that Daring-Do was left to her fate and began walking, and soon confronted them.
“Stop!” She growled, causing the two earth ponies to whip around suddenly. The two had faces of sheer surprise, almost as if they had seen a ghost when they saw Daring-Do. Quickly, one fumbled around in the other’s pack before pulling out a modified handgun of sorts. Daring-Do was quickly put off guard, stepping back casually before raising one of her hooves.
“Who’s got who now, Miss Daring?” The other Earth pony grinned, watching Daring as she fumbled over her own thoughts. Drat! She had her own handgun in her side pocket, but she couldn’t pull anything with the other pony aiming at her head. She was in a tricky situation, and there was really no way out for now. She simply glared back at the two Earth ponies who were chuckling to themselves now.
“We’ve got the Moonlit Amulet, and now we can return this to Ahuizotl, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Now if you’ll excuse us.” The Earth pony spoke again, turning his attention towards the trees. Suddenly a whole tribe of Zebras appeared from the foliage of the jungle, each armed with their own weapon of choice. Some bow and arrows, others simple pipes with poisonous darts stuck inside of them. Daring-Do grimaced at the name ‘Ahuizotl’ especially when he whole tribe of Zebras managed to appear from nowhere. Now she was really stuck…how she was going to get out of this jam, she didn’t
even know yet.
“Now, we must be off so goodbye Daring-Do!” The Earth ponies quickly backed up before trotted away, one of them nodding their heads towards the Zebra tribe. They took it as a pretty good sign, for their weapons quickly shifted into a more aggressive one at that sound. Oh Celestia this was bad. Daring-Do quickly looked around her before spreading her wings, realizing it was her only option to fly now. She managed to spot an opening in the web of tree branches in front of her, glancing upward before looking around at the Zebra tribe.
“Sorry boys, not today.” She grinned, launching herself skyward as the Zebra’s began firing their weapons. The branches tugged and scratched away as Daring-Do flew upward, but she continued flapping her wings moving upward. She could feel a few arrows graze her olive green jacket, but not enough to be lethal. She soon made it above the canopy, flying over it while wiping sweat from her brow with a hoof. She could just see Ahuizotl’s men getting away, using a state-of-the-art tugboat along the Amazodiac River.
She cursed Celestia’s name under her breath as she watched them float away, now left without any treasure in her hooves and an angry University Dean to deal with once she returned.
“What do you mean they got away with the idol?” The dean’s sharp voice echoed through Daring-Do’s ears as she sat across from him in his office. It was a small little office, holding pictures of students from the university as well as trophies sporting aspects of what the school had accomplished. There was a large mahogany desk in the middle of the room that took up most of its interior, housing a small PC with many papers littered along the desk. There was a large brown stallion sitting behind it, hooves firmly crossed on the desk while sporting a slick black mane pulled back while a mustache came just underneath the stallion’s nose was curled in a curly fashion. His face shone with displeasure especially when he stared at the dull yellow mare in front of him.
Daring-Do still gave the appearance that she had just returned from her spat with the two Earth ponies she had been traveling with, her monochrome mane unbrushed as well as her clothing scuffed up. Dirt littered everywhere along her mane as well as on her clothing, and she hadn’t even washed up properly before seeing the Dean. Now she sat there taking a full blown scolding from the dean of Royal Canterlot University. She was head of the Department of Equinology, but Daring-Do still got repeatedly scolded when she didn’t bring back artifacts that were supposedly going to be sent to the museum. How she would love to keep those pretties to herself for more study…
Daring-Do’s thoughts snapped back to reality when the Dean continued to stare at her, letting out a sheepish grin.
“Well, they had me cornered! I don’t expect you would react stupidly and pull out a gun on them when they had me surrounded by Zebra tribesponies.” Daring retorted, grumpily sitting back in her chair with her hooves crossed. The Dean’s face didn’t change, but he still gave a grumpy look towards the mare.
“Listen, we need that artifact back for the museum. There is going to be a big exhibit on the Temple of Nightmare Moon, and we expected to have the real replica of the Moonlit Amulet said to show the location of the temple! With that sum of money gone, who knows how angry the museum curators will be!” The Dean was nervously shifting his hooves while he spoke, obviously distraught by Daring-Do’s failure. Daring simply rolled her eyes before putting a hoof down on the desk.
“No, you listen. I am just as mad about this as you are, but right now that is the least of our worries. Ahuizotl is behind this, the world renowned worshipper of Nightmare Moon’s ideals. With that Amulet he could find the real location of the Temple!” Daring said firmly, her eyes narrowing at the sound of Ahuizotl’s name rolling off her tongue. Obviously, the Dean didn’t see the importance of this information. He seemed a bit confused by this information, causing Daring-Do to inwardly groan. She always had to explain this legends to the dean.
“It is said the one who gathers the three artifacts of the Lunar queen will be shown the way to her temple, which was once where she planned to rule. Legend says this used to be Nightmare Moon’s castle while Celestia gathered the first sparks of the Elements of Harmony. When the three artifacts, The Moonlit Amulet, the Staff of the Night, and the Ring of Folly are together, this will allow the user access to the temple. If one proves themselves worthy of the Temple’s treasure, the power to grant Eternal Night will be bestowed upon them. You do realize what this means?” Daring-Do quickly spoke the legend, staring intently at the Dean the entire time. He seemed to be half-listening, flicking an ear absentmindly while his panic was focused still on the museum. Daring groaned again, putting more emphasis now in her voice.
“It means if Ahuizotl gets his hands on that power, he could plunge Equestria into eternal night!” She pounded both her hooves upon his desk, suddenly waking the brown pony from his trance. He coughed into his hoof slightly before waving at the yellow mare on his desk.
“Calm down, Miss Do. Please, I just had this table waxed,” He spoke calmly as Daring-Do removed her hooves from his
tabletop, “Now, you said three artifacts? How many has he found, one right now?” Daring-Do paused for a moment, nodding her head once she had registered that Ahuizotl did only have one.
“Now, all we have to do is find the other two and take back the third, correct? That should be easy for you, Miss Do.” Daring frowned at how easily the Dean though this task would be, but sighed. He was right, she did need to find the other two artifacts that remained and this time she would be careful who she trusted.
“Alright, thank you Reggie.” She spoke calmly, getting out of the chair and heading towards the door. She shifted her
hat as she grabbed the doorknob with her hoof, tilting it in his direction.
“I’ll be off to do some research, but I’ll be able to teach my class today.” She spoke quickly towards the Dean, who simply smiled.
“Alright, but please do take a bath before then.” Reggie grinned, shaking a hoof at her back. The dull yellow mare nodded before opening the door and stepping through. Another adventure for Daring-Do, and she was looking forward to it. Even if Ahuizotl had one artifact, it didn’t mean he had won just yet. The yellow Pegasus closed the door behind her, making her way towards her apartment near the University. She had some studying to do, and a staff to find!
