Daring sat reading over the letter again and again as the exam was being taken. How it made its way to her she didn't know, but it told of an item with a magical aura unknown to the writer. She read over it again, supposedly there it was hidden, within the tundra north of the Crystal Empire. She looks up at the clock and puts down the letter. “Time’s up, put your pencils down. You have about seven minutes to turn in your exam before I count it as a zero.” Normally she was a bit calmer but the thought of a new expedition was definitely making her a bit antsy.
She rifles through the papers checking for names, seeing one without a name she drops it fluttering to the bin beside her desk, “Seems I've got a lot to do as soon as I get back.”
A younger voice sounded from the doorway, “Where are you going aunty?”
Daring looks over and smiles, “Just a small adventure Dinky, nothing big, just checking something out.” She folds the letter and puts it in her bag, picking up her hat.
Dinky bounces over, “ oh oh, can I come?”
Daring shakes her head, “You know how your mama is, she’d kill me if I took you there without her permission.”
Dinky sighs and nods, “I guess… Bring me back something cool for my birthday?”
Daring nods and ruffles the filly’s mane, “Sure kid, now go on, get back to your room” Dinky nods and gallops off as Daring walks in the other direction to collect her things. “Let’s see; whip, hat, map, train ticket, let’s get going.”
Daring stood at the train station, coat pulled tightly around her. “Come on, Daring,” she mutters, “It’s out there somewhere.” She looks out across the frozen landscape and starts walking. The second she steps off the train station’s concrete slabs a freezing wind whips around her, nearly sending her hat flying. Putting a hoof on it she chuckles lightly, “You won’t get away this time.”
She continues her trek, keeping her eyes open but knowing the time in case it gets too late, knowing the temperature will drop drastically as soon as the sun sets. She stops looking around, pulling the letter from her bag, “Half a mile north… it should be around here somewhere…” she stomps her hoof, cracking the ice below her. “Whoever sent me that letter is an a-aah!” The ice shatters beneath her dropping her into some-sort of dungeon.
She gets back to her hooves, looking around. The room she was in was completely made of ice, though stone could be seen a few inches past it.. Glyphs of all sorts littered the walls. None of which were any language Daring had seen before. She pulls out a camera and snaps a few pictures of the glyphs really quickly. She puts it away and walks down the hall, coming to a passage with snow covering the floor. Small holes about one inch in diameter litter the walls on either side of the snow.
Daring lightly presses down on the snow covered floor, hearing a click before an arrow made of pure ice snatched the hat from her head. “Well then,” she chuckles to herself as she collects the stolen hat. She examines the hallway, about a hundred meters in length and too narrow to fly. She shakes her head, “Who ever made this place made it well.” She then back up a few feet and readies herself. Easiest way through is probably the most painful way as well.
She counts to three in her head then takes off running; ice arrows whizzing past her ears as she runs. One arrow nicking her shoulder slowing her down for just a second, opening her up to a second one to come through and catch her ear. A fourth arrow finds its way to her saddle bag after the third had caught itself in her wing. She staggers to a stop at the end of the hallway, pain searing through her as she realizes just how many times she’d come close to major injury. She stops for a bit, to catch her breath and bandages a few of the more major injuries; this included her now flightless wing.
She continues down the hall way, coming to a large door with small squares with a glyph in each. “Ok then… Let’s see what we've got here…” She examines the rest of the room around her, most of which seemed to be a normal ice cave. One wall though held a single glyph in the middle of the wall. Looking back at the door that same glyph was repeated multiple times.
Daring sets to work pressing down on the corresponding glyphs, a bit of blood getting on the door where she had already pressed the square. The second she pressed the last one the middle of the door cracked, sliding away from each other to allow access to the next room.
The next room was much different. Large columns of ice extend from the floor,but the area without the large columns was occupied by sharp shards that if she missed a jump would definitely be the end of her.
She shakes her head. “This isn’t original or anything.” Taking a few steps back, she readies herself for the first jump. She takes the run up and jumps. Landing perfectly centered on the column, but being made of ice she cannot get traction and begins to slide. Panicking slightly she jumps to the next one, a bit too close to the edge for comfort. This cycle repeats for almost an hour.
Daring stands on the final column before the other end of the room. She puts all the force into her legs as she can and jumps, floating through the air. Her hooves make contact with the platform, but a loud CRACK is all she hears before the platform shatters beneath her hooves.
