Daring Do and the Diamond Compass
Daring Do and the Diamond Compass
Chapter one
Daring Do looked triumphantly at her newly collected prize; the Griffin’s Goblet. The sunlight that managed to escape through the gap in between Daring’s curtains reflected off its silver body, casting a brilliant white light throughout the small room. Daring squinted as she closed the curtains fully, relieved to be able to admire the goblet once more. The Goblet really was a sight to behold, yet it was one of a few dozen trophies Daring had accumulated over time. It was always satisfying to her when she added something new to her collection, yet it only progressed the craving of finding lost treasures even further. Her wing was fully healed now; she was still a bit rusty when it came to flying, but given time, Daring Do would soon be back to her old self.
She looked around her cluttered apartment: Maps lay stretched out on benches, clothes covered most of the floor and dust that had been laid dormant for months was still settled on the furniture. It wasn’t the classiest place to live, nor was it the most spacious. In reality, Daring had hardly even used the small apartment. It was merely a place to fall back on after each expedition. A sanctuary after weeks or possibly months trekking through a expansive tropical forest, a lonesome sandy desert or possibly even a bristling jungle, you name it. It didn’t matter to her, as long as she got her hooves on her prize.
The familiar sound of a grumbling stomach reminded Daring that she hadn’t eaten all day. She took off her white pith hat and laid it on a nearby bench, before trotting to her apartment door and heading into town. The sky was empty of clouds and was a rich light blue, allowing the sun to gleam down on Daring’s mane. She looked around at all the townsfolk, family businesses flourished everywhere, all carefully hoof painted by the ponies that lived there. In a way she envied them- she never had the chance to live the way they did. Her parents paid little or no attention to her and thought the best thing at the time for her was her education. To Daring’s satisfaction, they were horrified at what their daughter wanted to do for a living, but looking back on it, she didn’t regret it in the slightest.
Whilst wandering through the small town of North Gait, Daring walked past a cosy looking coffee shop and decided it would do. She partook in a slightly dry hay sandwich, but it’s what she had come to expect from hay. Even though it was not to her liking, it somewhat satisfied her before she began her trek back to her apartment.
It was midday by now, and by now it seemed that the sun was at its peak. Daring regretted leaving her faithful pith at home. As she trotted in a trance-like state through town, a small yellow unicorn strayed from a group of young ponies and called out to her. Her attention was brought to the pony in front of her, and her awareness of the world around her was reclaimed from the depths of thought.
‘Hey! You’re an explorer right? Go on adventures and stuff?’ the bright eyed pony asked.
‘Sure am, and I’m one of the best,’ Daring boasted, lifting her head high.
‘Well can you help me out with something? Some weird things have been happening…’
The explorer’s eyebrow raised as she listened to the filly. “Weird? How?’
‘Well every night I can see a light coming from inside the Rockfall Forest from my bedroom. Ma says I’m just seeing things but I swear I’m not! No pony will believe me!’
The group of fillies began to snicker and groan, obviously hearing of this tale before hoof. Daring’s attention snapped back to the filly in front of her , who was blushing slightly as she looked back towards her friends.
‘How long has this been happening?’
‘Umm…five days now, I think,’ the yellow filly looked down in thought. ‘Now that I think about it, it’s been happening ever since that earthquake.’
Daring raised a curious eyebrow, intrigued by the filly’s tale. She had known young foals to make up some pretty outlandish stories, even still, intuition was telling Daring that this filly was telling the truth.
“Didn’t hear about any earthquakes kid, must have happened while I was away… I’ll be sure to look into it though,” she said with a gentle smile. “I’ll be up and about tomorrow. If you see me, just give me a shout ‘kay?”
‘Great!’ the little pony giggled, bouncing off to rejoin her friends with a wide grin on her face.
Daring Do was indeed engrossed by this story, almost salivating at the thought of a new adventure that could result from it. There was the inevitable the possibility the filly was telling fibs or, if she really was seeing strange lights, the filly could merely be making a fuss over nothing. Either way, Daring now had a new hunger building inside her belly- one that could only be satisfied by adventure.
But that would have to wait. The urge to sleep was beginning to overcome the need to explore.
There was a sudden, brash knocking on Daring’s apartment door, shocking the brown pony out of her sleep. She yawned and rubbed her gritty eyes, agitated at the her rude awakening. After forcefully climbing out of her nurturing bed, Daring Do stumbled over to the door and opened it to find a dark orange stallion with a white mane panting for air on the other side.
‘Uhh…can I help you?’ Daring asked with furrowed brows as the pony at the door regained his composure.
‘It’s…It’s Caves! Caves Gallant! Somepony found him badly injured out in a forest not far from here, last thing he said before he passed out was…was that he wanted to see you,’ the orange pony exclaimed, huffing and puffing as he finished.
The startling news knocked Daring out of her tired state, suddenly being overcome by panic. She’d known Caves Gallant ever since she was a filly; he was her idol, her inspiration in becoming the fearless pony she was today.
‘Wh-Where is he? Is he okay?’
‘He’s…he’s at the local hospital…and I’m not sure how he’s doing, but it sounded urgent…I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, I’m just a messenger pony.’
Without wasting another second on conversation, Daring Do slipped past the orange stallion and through the open door. She broke into a full gallop and, without haste, sprung into the air and spread her wings wide. Caves had never failed an expedition before, nor had he ever returned empty hooved. He never once left her thoughts once whilst she flew to the hospital.
She stared at the sickly white door, wondering what to say when she walked in. Daring had never prepared herself for anything like this; she never expected somepony she thought to be invincible would ever be put in a hospital bed. It made Daring completely rethink the full dangers of her occupation. The grey maned pony sharply inhaled, and gently nudged the door open with her nose.
The reality of the situation struck her more when she saw him covered in multiple gashes and bruises stretched out on the hospital bed. He looked almost the same as Daring had last saw him, the only difference being he was in worse condition. Cave’s mane was still styled the same, his hair was swept to the side at the front, his long, flowing mane whipped around his shoulder. It was aged a light grey, and now Cave Gallant’s age was becoming all the more apparent to Daring. He had faint wrinkles in the corners of his eyes, his golden coat seeming less exuberant than it was in his youth.
The only sound which could be heard in the desolate room was the unnerving and steady beep of a heart monitor, that and the occasional murmur from Cave’s Gallent while he slept. She inched closer to the legendary adventuring pony, not knowing what Cave’s reaction would be, the stench of the jungle still lingering about him.
Caves Gallant’s eyes cracked open and a weak smile spread across his face. ‘If it isn’t my favourite filly explorer,’ he said softly.
Daring didn’t know how to respond, so she just gave a gentle smile.
‘I guess this day marks the last of my little excursions,’ Caves said with a heavy heart.
‘C’mon old-timer!’ Daring beamed, ’since when were you ever defeated by anything? You always taught me to never be afraid in the face of danger, and never give up no matter the odds!’
Caves Gallent’s silence told Daring more than words possibly could. The usual playful, cherry coloured eyes that Caves wore were shrouded with grief, an emotion Daring had never seen him portray.
‘Look Daring, I wouldn’t of called you down here if I didn’t have something important now would I? So I’ll just go ahead and cut to the chase. I want you to have this.’ He tucked his hoof into his top right pocket and fumbled for a bit, before revealing a masterfully crafted compass and gesturing it towards Daring Do. The compass was a rich golden colour, the rim of the glass was studded with diamonds and it seemed to expel a light from his very hoof.
‘I can’t take this…’ Daring answered, almost stunned by its beauty, ‘I can’t take your compass...This is the great Caves Gallant’s compass! It should be passed down through generations as a family heirloom, not given to me…’
‘This is not my compass.’ Caves face changed from peaceful, to very serious. ‘This is the long lost...’ He paused for a second. ‘...well, recently found, Diamond compass, you wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to get this.’
‘You ended up like this because of a compass?’ she asked confused.
‘No, don’t be silly. I already had the compass when this happened,’ Caves said quite gruffly.
Daring lifted the compass out of his hoof and compared it to hers. Her old faithful compass was a faded bronze colour- it looked like a piece of junk compared to the glimmering golden one in her hoof. But Daring’s compass was hardy and reliable, just like the pony who wielded it. The Diamond Compass suddenly seized to glow, and the arrow on the compass began to spin wildly.
‘Hey, no offence or anything, but I think it’s broken,’ Daring assumed. There were no markings where North, East, South and West should have been, just a single golden needle rapidly rotating behind the glass.
‘That’s because it doesn’t point in a specific direction. It doesn’t lead North or South. Oh no, it’s much more special than that…’ Cave’s head began to sway, his eyes grew heavy and colour began to drain from his face. ‘I don’t have the energy to stay awake much longer,’ Caves wheezed, ‘so let me just get to the reason you’re here. I’m and old pony Daring, I’ve done my fair share and I’m handing this on to you. Consider it more of a gift than a burden,’ he rasped grinning slightly. ‘Finish what I couldn’t Daring, what I failed to do, this pony’s adventuring days are over…’
‘Wha-what are you talking about?’
Caves Gallant’s eyes began to flutter and he seemed to sink further into the hospital bed.
‘Just do it for me Daring. I know you have it in you, follow the compass Daring, and hurry…only two days left …’
Caves Gallant drifted into unconsciousness, leaving Daring stood by his side with the Diamond Compass in her hoof. She looked down at the now sleeping pony, watching the rising and falling of his chest. She saw no point in staying and figured she should let Caves get his rest. Daring left the hospital, taking with her the mysterious Diamond Compass, and leaving only a single tear by Caves Gallant’s side.
As she walked home, she couldn’t stop thinking about the incident with Caves: The legendary stallion put in a hospital bed, the Diamond Compass... it all seemed too surreal to her. Caves Gallant wouldn’t lie to her, nor to anypony, even so, she still doubted the delirious Caves Gallant’s tellings. One thing Daring Do knew for certain though, was that if this treasure was real, she would be the pony to recover it.
Daring slowly opened her eyes, yet saw nothing but black. She could see nothing but herself in the lonely, dark void. She began to walk, but it seemed as if she was neither going anywhere, nor had anywhere to go. It was almost as if the explorer was walking on nothing, the usual ‘clip-clop’ of her hooves was absent in the endless oblivion, the eery silence putting Daring on edge.
Suddenly a jet black silhouette burst from the nonexistent ground, and began pursuing Daring Do. She tried to fly, but every time she spread her wings an invisible force would push her back to the ground. Daring could hear the smashing hooves of her en-shadowed pursuer, but couldn’t turn around. There was an abrupt flash and Daring’s vision was clouded with white. The shadowing silhouette reared up and let out a bellowing whinny, before slithering back into nothingness. The startled pegasus regained her sight, and looked upon what was in front of her.
A compass, almost the size of Daring herself, hung directly in front of her. The giant compass shone a miraculous golden light, and the needle on the other side of the glass was spinning at an unusual pace.
Daring Do looked closer at the glass, which had a reflected image of none other than Caves Gallant portrayed on the front of it. He had an almost defeated look on his face- there were blackened rings around his eyes, showing exhaustion as he stared blankly straight at Daring Do. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could say anything, his aura was whipped into a somber cloud of black, before swiftly turning into the ghostly stallion from before. The shady creature shattered its hoof through the glass, and grabbed Daring Do pulling her inside…
Daring jolted upright in bed and gave a small yelp. It was the first nightmare she’d had in months. The familiar surroundings of her bedroom comforted her, and the face of reality slowly started to push away the bad memories from the dream.
“Follow the compass. Only two days left.” She could still hear it ringing from the recesses of her mind. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she noticed a faint, eerie glow coming from under her bed covers. She drew the blanket back to find the source of the light, the Diamond Compass. Instead of it spinning like earlier it was focused on a single point. Once the weight of her sheets was off of it, the compass began to shake and it was being slowly drawn towards the direction it was pointing.
Daring snatched it off her bed before it went over the side, and held it to her face. She could feel the pull of the compass even when it was in her hoof. She wasn’t going to pass on this opportunity, even if she was sleep deprived. She grabbed her olive-green jacket and her pith from where they were left. The pull of the compass seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, to the point where there was actual effort needed to hold onto it. Daring rushed out of the door, slamming it behind her and quickly locking it. She lifted up the compass once again, radiating enough light now to make Daring squint. With no second thought she looked at direction the needle was facing, put the compass away and broke into a gallop towards where it was pointing.
She raced through town to the edge of North Gait, the compass shining so brightly by this point it could be seen glowing from inside her coat pocket. Daring’s vision was being impaired by the sheer darkness of the night, and she could barely see her surroundings. Daring stopped for a second, pulling out the Diamond Compass once again to check where to go. As soon as its brightness was not muffled by the fabric that concealed it, the compass fought back the shadows with a blinding golden light, making it impossible to see the pointer and forcing the grey maned pony to look away from the exuberant brightness.
Suddenly, the light from the compass died. It all seemed to be absorbed into the depths of the strange device, and it ceased to glow. Daring looked back at the needle, slightly confused. It was spinning again, just like it did at the hospital with Caves Gallant.
‘Ugh!’ Daring sighed, slightly frustrated, ‘I hope this thing is worth all the trouble it’s caused me…’
Just as Daring had finished talking, a similar light to that of the Diamond Compass suddenly exploded in front of her, the light pouring through the open woods. The light shone onto a close by sign making the words on it just readable. “Rockfall Forest” it read in bold letters.
‘So the little unicorn wasn’t just telling pony tales…’ Daring said quietly to herself.
The now visible forest didn’t look so sinister as it did when covered with the blanket of night. It was obvious nopony had been here in years, yet the lifeless wood still had an unmistakable presence within it. She followed the golden beacon into the thick green, almost being hypnotised by its unusual beauty. Wilted branches and roots of trees snagged her clothing and lashed at her exposed hide, yet Daring didn’t notice it, nor did she care. The bewildered pony’s attention was on the glimmering light in front of her. It beckoned to her. She finally reached the end of the forest, and was face to face with a rocky cliff almost four meters high. The rock formation had many cracks and edges jutting out from the side of it, but there was one thing in particular that stood out to Daring. One formation, resembling almost an archway, seeped a brilliant white light from in between its cracks.
Daring turned around, put all of her weight on her two front hooves and bucked the wall as hard as she could. The stone wall crumbled in on itself, the previous brilliant light from behind the rock disappearing on impact. The dust settled, and Daring Do looked inside the now uncovered archway. In front of her stretched a large passageway, the crumbling walls scarred with age. It was a different colour to that of the cliff-face- the walls were a dull grey colour, opposed to the rock outside being a brilliant orange. Daring winced slightly at her now aching hind legs, the stone wall being sturdier than she had previously thought.
Daring Do cautiously walked through the archway, her eyes fixed straight ahead rather than watching where she was going. A playful smile shot across her face as she delved deeper and deeper into the unknown. Eventually she noticed a narrow opening ahead and was relieved to escape the stuffy passageway. Before her lay a circular room with similar brickwork to that of the previous architecture. Trinkets, coins and other valuables lay scattered around at the far reaches of the room; Daring made quick note to salvage them later. Upon further inspection, she noticed the walls were marked with runes and symbols that Daring had never encountered before, most of the runes being focused on the five main pillars at different corners of room. It wasn’t the work of cave dwelling trolls, that much was clear. The scratchings were too complex for their usual primitive style, but nor was it the etchings of any intelligent life she had seen. Slightly stumped, the puzzled pony walked into the centre of the room where there stood a single, lustrous, golden pedestal. As she drew closer to the centerpiece, it became clear that it wasn’t a mere pedestal, but a glorified golden coffin.
Daring suddenly felt almost disrespectful. Breaking into a shrine that was dedicated to somepony, and even considering taking their possessions. Who ever it was inside the glorious casket would obviously want to stay there undisturbed. Even though the itch of adventure was irritating her beyond belief, Daring would have no second thought on turning tail and going home when it came to respecting the dead.
The slightly disappointed pegasus began her journey out of the tomb, feeling like this was almost a complete waste of time. Suddenly, Daring felt a pull on her clothing. Caught off guard, it managed to drag her a meter or so across the dusty floor before the she regained her footing. Even so, the relentless pull continued, which Daring noticed to be originating from one of her coat pockets. The Diamond Compass erupted out of her front pocket, tearing the pocket off of its seams. The compass flew through the almost empty room, before smashing against the golden sarcophagus with the unmistakable sound of colliding metal.
As Daring drew closer, she noticed There was a perfect imprint of the Diamond Compass on the side of the coffin, in which the compass was now embedded into. She reached out to touch it with her hoof, only to cringe back from the blinding light that followed. There was the teeth grinding sound of rough stone scraping together, then as abruptly as the light had appeared, it left. The covering of the coffin had been shifted aside, yet inside was not the deceased as Daring had first thought, but what seemed like an endless staircase that tunneled deep underground.
Even the amazing Daring Do, a mare of few words, managed to let a quiet ‘whoah’ escape her lips at the perplexing, way of passage somepony had left before her. The compass had now lost its unexplainable magnetism towards the underground entrance. Daring snatched it out of its holding place and put it in her other, unripped pocket.
Daring gazed at her surroundings. The runes on the wall were flickering with the lightest of yellows, directing figures of light that danced around the room. Something was off though, and it wasn’t the runes that were making Daring feel unsettled. She twisted her neck behind her to see a dark grey pony, made completely of stone. It stood there staring directly at Daring Do with eyes of Azure. Unblinking eyes that almost flickered with life. Eyes that seemed to pierce into her soul. She froze in her tracks- surely that statue was there before. It was possible she could have missed it when she was distracted by the tomb.
The statue still stood there, a guardian of the tomb, still glaring into Daring’s eyes with the same, cold eyes of blue. Daring tore her eyes away from the stone pony, focusing her attention back on the staircase, thinking it as nothing more than a stone model. Nothing more than a lifeless statue...
Daring Do and the Diamond Compass
With a deep breath, Daring began her descent of the cold, twisting staircase. As she descended deeper and deeper underground, the walls seemed to become more confined and the stairs became narrower. The adventuring pony could not afford to be claustrophobic, for obvious elements within her occupation. Still, she tried to avoid small spaces as much as she could, always allowing herself breathing space. The endeavouring darkness seemed to creep up on Daring as she progressed, and before she knew it, was in complete blackness. The now blinded pony gingerly carried on the rest of the walk, being careful not to trip and get to the bottom by falling the rest of the way. She felt uneasy of how exposed she felt with even one of her senses impaired, as to perform her best she always relied on every single one of senses. Anypony’s word against Daring’s instincts would be dismissed with the wave of her hoof.
The pegasus suddenly felt an almost burning sensation gnawing into her chest. It was not painful, but it was still powerful enough to gain the pony’s attention. She stopped for a moment in the lightless spiral staircase and reached for the source of the aura, her top right pocket. In her hoof shone the magnificent Diamond compass, bestowing the same, captivating golden light that Daring had witnessed throughout her ownership of it. It was as if the compass was calling to her when it was needed, shining for her to help fight away the enveloping shadows.
For that brief moment, as Daring stared deeply behind the flawless glass of the dazzling instrument, she felt an attraction towards the compass, a bond between her and the strange device. It astounded her to have ever felt such a thing, but in a way, Daring felt as if the compass was really alive. She considered that perhaps Caves Gallant had not sent her alone on this task, he had sent her with a companion. She shook her head, getting rid of such silly thoughts. Such ideas were not of Daring’s concerns and would only slow her progress, her only burden for the time being was getting to the bottom of the stone staircase.
The pegasus pony held the compass in her mouth and continued her trek down the musky path. Not too long after she had continued walking, Daring could hear the faint trickling of water, she smiled at the thought of ridding herself of all the dust she had accumulated on her under the steady, smooth flow of pure cave water. Light began to return to her dingy descent and the salvation of an exit was close at hoof.
Daring skidded to a halt when she finally reached the mouth of the exit. The Diamond compass clattered to the floor as Daring Do’s mouth hung open in shock. She was standing on an ancient bridge around 20 metres long, inscribed with the same vibrant runes and symbols she’d seen earlier in the tomb. Below her was a gaping bottomless hole, cutting deep inside the bowels of the earth. Two breathtaking waterfalls roared at both sides of the bridge, falling so far into the pit below the water dispersed into mist. The pulsating drawings on the bridge provided the light source for the whole cave, the ceiling being composed of jagged, dampened stalactites which sparkled with the reflected light below. Daring Do decided there and then that this was definitely not the home of cave-trolls.
The baffled pegasus recovered the compass off of the floor and checked for any damage that she may have accidentally caused, rotating it in her hoof to examine every inch of it.co
‘Not a scratch,’ Daring said, her lips pursing into a small grin.
Upon taking her first few steps onto the bridge, the runes of light brightened further wherever she placed her hoof, as if the symbols of gold were able to sense her presence. Intoxicated by the splendor of the place, Daring failed to notice a trap that she was all too familiar with, a hidden stone pressure plate. She stumbled as the plate sunk into the bridge, the sound of grinding stone causing Daring to shudder. As stone brick fell through the bottom of the bridge the whole place erupted in a violent rumble, bricks beginning to fall into the endless hungry abyss. Bricks around the small hole began falling after it, the giant chasm beneath Daring devouring them all as they tumbled into the dark void. Daring began galloping across the descending bridge, but soon it came apparent to her that she wouldn’t be able to keep up. Just as the last brick gave way beneath her hoof, she leapt into the air and unfolded her wings, gliding the remaining distance as the ancient structure crumbled away into nothingness.
Daring flew to the opposing platform, stumbling slightly upon landing. She turned to face where the wondrous relic was once situated. The air was teeming with thick, black dust. The light from the glimmering characters danced on the dust particles, creating strands of light that almost seemed to be produced by the sun itself. Unfortunately for Daring, beyond the beautiful light show, the sudden quake had sealed the entrance she’d came from with a large pile of rubble, completely covering the destroyed archway.
With a sigh Daring Do turned to face 2 passages, one of them collapsed and unusable, the other being a lengthy passage that cut deeply into the side of the wall. The rim of the arch had the same, unmistakable markings she had previously seen, but something was amiss. Unlike her prior encounters, these symbols were not glowing, they were merely engraved into the side of the stone. They still maintained the same, mysterious foreign style than before, but they simply did not glow. Thickly stemmed, glowing mushrooms were protruding from the cracks in the ancient bricks of the hallway, filling the damp corridor with an ominous green shine. At the end of the hallway, Daring noticed a more prominent light, that of a tree of some sort. She decided to progress further, finding herself once again driven by curiosity to continue.
A loose object got caught under Daring’s hooves and caused her to collapse. Daring cursed herself for being so clumsy, this being the pony’s second slip up. With hooves planted on the ground, she turned to find a shattered skeleton sprawled against the mossy tunnel wall. Vines and other greenery twisted around the old bones and held them in place, moss and other fungus clung to the outside of the skull, proving this body had been here a while. The only abnormality present was that the rib cage was brutally caved in, as if there was an impact of some sort. It belonged to a pony, she was sure of that, a pegasus in fact. Upon surveying the pony further she realised something was tucked underneath the remnants of a wing, a satchel.
It was blue in colour, a faded blue at that, and had simply the embroidery of an ‘L’ stitched onto the side. It was an expensive looking satchel, whoever it belonged to was surely wealthy. The bag contained but 3 items, an empty water sack, a broken pair of glasses and a crimson hardback diary. Most of the inserts appeared to be ravaged by the wearing of time, yet there was one passage on the last page of the book that Daring could comprehend.
I am not certain of today’s date, for I know not how much time has passed since my last entry.
The majority of my energy has been consumed by avoiding sleep, for I fear my next slumber may be eternal. The pain in my chest is fading, the damage, unfortunately, is still very much present. My right wing seems to have been broken from that ghastly creature I encountered, its terrible blue eyes will be remembered for as long as I live, however long that may be. Death is imminent, I accept this now, yet I instinctively cling to life for the sake of living.
My body grows numb, my eyelids heavy, even now I am struggling to keep this pencil held in my mouth. To anypony who may stumble across my defeated, dormant body, let this be a warning.
Run, turn back, escape if you can. Make certain the monster that robbed my life does not take another...
The handwriting trailed off the paper in the form of a crooked line, giving evidence that the mysterious traveller had slipped away. Daring tucked the satchel back under the wing of the mysterious ‘L’, hesitating a moment to gaze thoughtfully at what was left of the traveller. She carefully removed her pith and held it to her chest, drooping her head in respect for the fallen pony. After a brief pause, she returned her hat to the comfort of her head and continued onwards through the long tunnel.
“Seeing as I can’t turn back,” Daring told herself, “only way out is forward.”
The ceiling of the room opened up into a magnificent dome, a golden tree being the main centerpiece. The ceiling was tainted a teal colour, various patterns that consisted of golden swirls and curves dominated the outer rim. Strange, yet beautiful flowers were scattered throughout the room, being heavily focused beside the great tree. All plant life there shared the same qualities as the mushrooms, yet it was still unlike any she had seen in Equestria, or any other place for that matter. The tree had a thick, wavering trunk that seemed as if it was pulsating. It had long, twisted branches that came down in spirals almost to ground level. Some of the branches even held delicate looking fruit from the end of their spindly peaks.
It was while gawking at the beautiful flora that Daring Do noticed how much she was sweating. It seemed the humidity fueled by the waterfall created the perfect greenhouse in this specific room, allowing plant life to thrive and blossom. She began to approach the tree to further inspect the fruit, when she heard a faint rustle from above. Daring froze and cautiously looked up, being aware that the slight the rustle she heard could mean a possible threat. The branches above daring suddenly parted and a furry creature landed on Daring’s face, obscuring her vision. The startled pony began writhing and bucking, trying to free herself from this creature’s grasp. With a swift sweep of her neck she managed to free the animal’s hold, the creature then bouncing to the floor and scampering to the far wall.
Daring turned to face her attacker, planting her hind legs firmly into the ground and lowering her head, ready to charge. To Daring’s surprise, the tiny creature did not behave as she had predetermined. It simply sat quivering against the wall it was huddled against, occasionally letting out a feeble squeak or two. The confused pony lowered her guard and slowly approached her timorous attacker. When she was within a metre of the creature it quickly recoiled further against the wall, emitting muffled whimpers with its face against the smooth stone. The pony smiled, lowering her head and posture to seem less confronting. She delicately nudged the animal with her nose, warmly grinning as it cautiously turned to face her.
The small, fuzzy creature’s large blue eyes stared inquisitively into Daring’s, its head tilting slightly in the process.
“Blue eyes...”
Daring turned her attention to the tunnel from where she entered, surely this harmless creature couldn’t be the one written in the journal, though it did match the description. She turned back to the furry ball of an animal in front of her, which was now slowly edging closer. Daring was reluctant at first, but eventually allowed it to make contact with the side of her front leg. It began brushing itself against her, purring quietly as it did. From this she could get a better view of the fuzz ball. It appeared bipedal, though under the thick layer of snow-white fluff it was hard to tell if a second pair of legs were being concealed. It’s deep blue eyes had small tints of turquoise, the texture of its hide being being that of cotton. A small horn protruded from the top of its head from beneath the lush fur, greatly resembling that of a unicorn’s.Was it possible this creature was capable of magic?
Daring made the doubted decision to allow the timid beast to clamber up her tail and nestle on her back. She briefly glanced back at the furry lump rested on her.
‘I’m gunna call you Lapis,’ she giggled.
