Daring Do came to a stop on the snow–covered mountain and looked back at the rest of the group. Reliquary and Professor Sky Diamond were wearing cloaks and heavy vests to protect them from the chill, while Sullivan had insisted on nothing more than his tacky red shirt.

She wasn’t surprised; griffons had coats specially suited for cold climates.

Daring Do and Uncharted Fortune similarly did not need heavy clothing because, being pegasi, their innate magic mitigated all but the most extreme temperature differences. What surprised her, however, was Iron Bull coming up the mountain in little more than baggy, striped breeches. She lulled slightly so the others could pass her until Bull caught up.

“You hanging in there, big guy?” She asked him, slightly concerned.

“It’s a little nippy up here, but I’ve seen worse.” He replied nonchalantly and hefted the packs he was carrying. “I appreciate the concern, though.”

“Huh, I was wondering because I’ve met minotaurs before and most of them could barely handle an Equestrian spring day.” Daring said. “So, why are you really here?”

“Oh? Didn’t Fortune tell you everything?” Iron Bull asked and Daring gave him a confused look. “I was sent by the Kingdoms to watch over the expedition and report back what I see.” Iron Bull sighed wistfully. “I suppose I can’t blame you for not knowing. Fortune kinda left out the fact that he was bringing you in, Daring Do.”

Daring stopped, a jolt of panic going across her spine.

“You… you know who I am?” She hissed, ready to move at a moment’s notice but was caught off guard when Iron Bull gave a shrug and she began moving forward again.

“Well, yeah.” He replied. “You wouldn’t know it, but the Kingdoms have a pretty damn good intelligence network. We’ve known about you for a long time.” He pointed at Reliquary and Uncharted Fortune. “I’ve worked with both Reliquary and Fortune before to claim some artifacts from ancient Taurian ruins and Sully there plays a mean game of cards, as I’m sure you know. Can drink with the best of ‘em, too.” He turned his eye to Sky Diamond and frowned. “As for the professor, I can’t really say. Ever since the Crystal Kingdom resurfaced, the Kingdoms have been in a tizzy trying to get as much intel as possible.” He leaned down close to Daring. “However, something bugs me about him. Couldn’t say what, but I feel like he knows more than he’s letting on. Also, whenever I look at him, he seems kinda… flat.”

“I’m not sure if you noticed, Bull, but you only have one eye.” Daring replied. “That might have something to do with it.”

Iron Bull gave a deep, genuine guffaw of laughter and clapped Daring hard on the back, making her stumble.

“Nice to see you have a sense of humor and a sharp one at that!” He grinned broadly. “I suppose I set myself up for that one, but in all seriousness he does appear… flatter, than anyone else when I look at him. It’s like I’m staring at some kind of cardboard cut-out or something.” The minotaur shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand unless you also only had one eye.”

“I see…” Daring Do said, and then she looked back at Iron Bull. “You know, I don’t think I’ve met a spy as forthcoming as you.”

“Well, when you’re a big guy like me, subtlety isn’t really much of an option.” He replied with a shrug. “I suppose I could just lie, but I find certain people are friendlier when you’re direct with them. Hard to trust someone to keep you alive when you can’t trust that they are who they say they are. I’m sure you’d know all about that.”

Daring didn’t reply, instead opting to shoot the muscle-bound minotaur a threatening glare. She didn’t have long, though, before they heard Fortune from up ahead.

“Hey, hurry up you two! The campsite’s just up ahead and we’ve gotta get everything set before nightfall!”

Daring Do and Iron Bull looked at each other and then hurried up the slope until they reached a section of flat ground with several mounds of snow around it.

One of the mounds had a large hole opened into its side and they could see Uncharted Fortune waving them toward it before he disappeared inside. They followed him in and Fortune shut the flap behind them to keep the snow out. Daring peered around the wigwam and saw Sullivan tending to a small fire in its center while Sky Diamond and Reliquary were unpacking bags. Professor Diamond turned, saw Iron Bull, and waved the minotaur over to him.

“There you are, Bull, can you put the equipment next to this table please?” The crystal pony said and Iron Bull trudged over to him.

Daring Do frowned, checked to make sure none of the others were watching, and then placed a hoof over one eye to cover it. As she expected, the loss of the eye reduced her vision to only two dimensions and she looked around the room, inspecting it to get visual reference for what everyone looked like. That done, she looked at Sky Diamond and found that he seemed unsettlingly… flat. It wasn’t terribly perceptible, if Reliquary and Iron Bull hadn’t been standing next to him, she probably would never have noticed the difference.

“Trying to look like the big guy there, kid?” Sullivan asked suddenly, making Daring start. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I-It’s okay Sully.” Daring replied, putting her hoof down and looking away, her face hot. “A-and no, I wasn’t, I just had a… a headache is all.”

“Really?” Sullivan inquired, cocking an eyebrow.

“Yes, really!” Daring snapped. “I’m fine now, though.” She pawed at the ground she was standing on. “What’s the deal with ground? Did the previous team work the stone or something?”

“Maybe, we don’t know.” Reliquary replied as she brought a teapot across the room. “There aren’t any records detailing this area, so we’re essentially flying blind.”

“But that’s why we’re here, Rose.” Fortune said from his seat next to the now much larger fire while Reliquary leaned outside the wigwam, filling the teapot with snow. “We’re gonna look around at the ruins that are supposedly in this area and report back with our findings.”

“So just in and out, no fighting expected?” Iron Bull inquired as he also sat next to the fire, across from Fortune.

“Pretty much.” Sky Diamond stated from his table and Iron Bull gave a contented sigh.

“That’s good. Might not be as much fun as beating back changeling bandits or wrestling a dragon, but it’s nice to get an easy job every once and a while.” Iron Bull gave Daring a nudge as she sat next to him. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“I wouldn’t count the stars before they rise, Bull.” Daring replied, taking her favorite pith off and setting it on the ground next to her. “I’ve seen plenty of ancient temples that looked nice on the outside, but inside it would throw everything and the kitchen sink at you trying to put you down.”

“Similar to how in book four somepony actually did try to kill you with a kitchen sink?” Reliquary stated as she put the teapot over the fire to boil, causing a hush to fall over the group and Daring Do stared at the elegant mare slack-jawed. After a moment Iron Bull burst out laughing and slapping his haunches.

“You’re shitting me!” He exclaimed in between laughes. “Someone actually went at you with a kitchen sink? I mean, an actual, honest-to-Celestia kitchen sink?! I have got to read these books!”

“Fortune, you told me that you didn’t tell everypony who I am!” Daring Do snapped at her fellow pegasus.

“I didn’t, Daring, I swear!” Uncharted Fortune replied defensively, clearly stunned that the others knew.

“Miss Reliquary informed me of your identity this morning.” Sky Diamond said from the table, smiling. “She told me not to say anything about it until we’d left the city.”

“Well, this is news to me!” Sullivan stated, flabbergasted. “You’re telling me that not only is Daring Do real, I’ve known her for years?” The older griffon rubbed his temple with one claw. “Any other ‘fictional’ people I’m acquainted with that I should know about?”

“So, I have to know, did they use it like a club or did they throw it at you?” Iron Bull asked, leaning forward and grinning.

“Read the book, Bull.” Daring replied and then stood. “I’m gonna go check out the area, see if I find anything interesting.”

Sky Diamond perked up and dove into his bag, producing the journal.

“I’ll come with you. You’ll need me to show you where the ruins are.” He told Daring as he slid back into his heavy coat.

“Fine, just try not to fall off the mountain or anything.” She told him as she opened the flap leading out of the wigwam and Sky Diamond hurried to follow her.

“Be careful out there, you two.” Reliquary called out and Sky Diamond turned his head, stared at her, and after a moment he nodded.

Daring Do cocked an eyebrow and looked from the crystal pony to the earth pony. When her gaze fell on Reliquary, however, the mare stared the adventurer straight in the eyes and Daring suddenly and inexplicably felt as if she were being threatened. She only held Reliquary’s gaze for a moment before following the professor away from the shelter.

‘Something feels off… I’ve been getting nothing but bad vibes from this job ever since I got here…’ Daring thought to herself as Sky Diamond led her away from the makeshift camp and further up the mountain while happily chattering about something or other.

“Miss Do?” He said, suddenly in front of her and breaking her ruminations. “Here, these are the ruins.”

Daring looked around at the snow-covered landscape. Just like everywhere else on the mountain, the snow was fairly deep and piled eagerly on every outcropping in the area. However, Daring had been to enough ruins to know what one looked like and this place fit the bill. There were sharp corners all around the area that were quite obviously not naturally formed and several arches that created perfect geometric shapes. She took flight so she could survey the area and get a better idea of what she was looking at.

The area almost seemed like a normal mountainside ruin, with what was obviously worked ground and several snow-covered spires that were placed in too symmetrical a fashion to be natural. She hovered over to one of the spires and brushed snow off of it until she could get to the structure underneath. After a minute of work, her hoof brushed against the spire and she froze.

She had just touched metal.

“Metal…?” She murmured to herself, and then began brushing the snow away with more vigor.

It wouldn’t the first time she had encountered ruins that used metal decoratively, but never in something like an obelisk or a statue. Gold and Silver were difficult to get in large enough quantities to use in anything other than currency or jewelry and they were too far north for it to be brass or bronze. After another few minutes work, she managed to uncover enough of the spire to actually see the surface and she had to admit, she had never seen anything like it.

“What is it?” Sky Diamond called from down beneath her. “Did you find something?”

“I don’t… I don’t know!” Daring replied, rubbing her hoof along the surface of the spire. It was covered in geometric lines that looked almost like tubing of some kind and they were made of a metallic substance that she wasn’t familiar with. “Go get the others, I’ll stay here and try to uncover more of the structure!”

“Y-Yes, got it!” Diamond replied and then hurried back the way they had come. Daring Do watched him leave, and then turned her attention back to the spire. She rubbed a hoof under her chin for a moment before turning around and bucking the spire hard, causing snow to fly off and reveal more of it.

Daring’s breath caught in her lungs when she saw it. A mechanic she knew in Canterlot had once taken apart a radio and shown her the circuitry inside, with all the wires twisted around and leading from the speakers, the dial, and the power source. What she saw on the spire, even though it seemed entirely alien, was unmistakably covered in circuitry. She hovered around the spire to look at it from all sides and discovered that one side had what appeared to be some kind of glass oculus. She looked curiously at the oculus, and then turned to face the direction it pointed, positioning herself in front of the glass eye.

It was pointed directly at the sheer cliff face on the side of the mountain. The adventurer grinned, delighting in her own cleverness.

“Trying to hide something from me, are we?” She said, and then hovered in front of the cliff. She reached out a hoof and rubbed the wall to see if there were any hidden doors, but was instead confounded once more when what she touched was not rock, but glass. “What in the name of Celestia…?”

She heard crunching in the snow and turned to see the rest of the group appear in the clearing and they gawked at the half–uncovered spire.

“Wow, that’s…” Sully started, but trailed off as he gazed at it.

“Creepy as Tartarus.” Iron Bull finished. “Am I the only who thinks that looks like some kind of machine?”

“No, you’re not.” Daring Do told him, and then she lifted a back hoof and bucked the glass wall behind her, causing it to make a ringing noise and shrug off its burden of snow. “And this place is way beyond anything we’ve ever seen before.”

Daring Do flew over to the group and landed, turning to observe her work while the others’ mouths dropped open. The snow had fallen off the cliff face to reveal a large, circular glass construct ringed with metal attached to it, similar to the oculus on the spire but larger. Looking at it, Daring Do thought it was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen in a ruin and yet… she felt a sense of foreboding, as if there was something innately wrong with it. Every part of her being was telling her that what she was looking at was dangerous and didn’t belong in this world.

“What is that?” Reliquary asked, her face an unreadable mask though her eyes betrayed suspicion. “Is it some kind of decorative piece?”

“I think it might be.” Uncharted Fortune replied. “It wasn’t uncommon for ancient cultures to build such things in order to show off their wealth or power.”

Daring Do wanted to agree with him, she truly did, but experience told her otherwise; told her exactly what they were looking at.

“No, it’s not.” She sighed and began to trot forward. “There’s an oculus of some kind on that spire and it’s pointed directly at that thing which can only mean…” She paused, standing between the spire and the glass wall and she turned her head toward the group. “That this is a door.”

The group was silent, staring in awe at the glass portal.

“So… if it’s a door, there must be a way to open it, right?” Sully asked.

“Yeah, I think it has something to do with this spire.” Daring replied, and then she turned to the object in question. “I don’t know what, though. Might take a while, and I’ll need everyone’s help to get all this snow out of here.”

“Young lady, you are asking too much of this old griffon, y’know that?” Sully told her and Daring laughed.

“I bet you wouldn’t be complaining so much if it was a hot, young griffoness, would you?” She retorted and this time Sully laughed.

“Okay kid, you got me, where do you want us to start?” Sully asked her and Daring pointed at the base of the spire.

“Clear off the spire, the mechanism may be on or around it.” She began to trot toward the glass portal. “I’ll take a look around the door, see if-”

Precisely halfway between the door and the spire, the ground around Daring lit up and suddenly the snow around her flash melted, revealing a glass panel beneath her hooves. Before she even knew what was happening, white geometric shapes sprung out of the panel in a ring around its perimeter, shifting and interlocking and closing her inside it. The first thought that went racing through her mind was that she had stupidly fallen into some kind of trap, but as the others cried out in alarm, Daring looked up and saw the oculus on the spire was also glowing. Iron Bull began to charge at the ring surrounding the adventurer in an attempt at rescue, but Daring held up a hoof.

“Wait!” She commanded, and the muscular minotaur slid to a stop, looking at her in confusion. “This isn’t a trap! I… I think this is the door’s opening mechanism, it’s interacting with the spire!”

Even as the others turned to look at the spire, Daring saw a beam of light lance forward from its oculus and toward the glass portal. Upon contact, the glass began to shift and collapse in on itself, revealing a cavern beyond it. Once it stopped, Daring waited a moment before slowly stepping off the glass panel. She stepped fully away from the device and, once she was certain the door would remain open, motioned for the others to join her. The group of explorers stood in front of the open doorway leading into a cavern full of precise corners and looked in.

“So, uh…” Sky Diamond swallowed hard. “A-are… all ruins are as d-dark and terrifying as th-this one?”

“No.” Uncharted Fortune stated, looking around before somehow finding a nearby torch and lighting it. “Usually only the dangerous ones.”

“That’s great… what do we do now, boss?” Iron Bull asked and Reliquary stepped forward and gave him a sideways glance.

“We go down.” She stated and proceeded into the darkness. Everyone else followed her except for Sky Diamond, who lingered.

“Why must we go to such terrifying places…” He muttered, and then hurried after the group.

Author's Note

Grimoire Card acquired: Meeting transcript: Iron Bull

Meeting between Reliquary and The Iron Bull. Transcribed by Studious Scroll.

Reliquary: "Greetings Iron Bull, it's been-"

Iron Bull: "What do you want."

Reliquary: "Why the hostile attitude? I imagine it would be detrimental to the acquisition of patronage."

Iron Bull: "Doesn't seem to chase off the ones I'd rather not deal with... like you."

Reliquary: "Now, now, Iron Bull, you know I always pay well and besides... you still owe me."

Iron Bull: *grunts with disapproval* "Fine, what do you got in mind?"

Reliquary: "As you are well aware, the Crystal Kingdom has recently returned and-"

Iron Bull: "Fuck that, if you're going to-"

Reliquary: "Do not interrupt me, Mister Bull. My reasoning for being here has nothing more to do with than the fact that an... associate of mine has made a discovery in the mountains and has requested my aid in finding out more about it."

Iron Bull: "And my job in this is..."

Reliquary: "To be an armed escort. I know not what dangers may lurk in those mountains, but you are the best and I am calling in a favor, so to speak."

Iron Bull: "..."

Reliquary: "Do we have an accord?"

Iron Bull: "...Fine, but after this we're through, no more debts."

Reliquary: "Of course, and as a token of my good will, I had my friend here make a transcription for you to hold onto."

Iron Bull: "Works for me, but just so we're clear... you are a conniving bitch and I'll be glad to be rid of you."

Reliquary: *smiles* "Such harsh words. Know that everyday I cannot call upon you at a whim is everyday I regret not... Are you... are you still transcribing?!"

Scroll: "Yes ma'am."

Reliquary: "Stop it, we have finished our business arrangement!"

Scroll: "As you will, ma'am."

Reliquary: "And how many times do I have to tell you not to transcribe yourself?!" *Groans in displeasure* "Good help is so hard to find these... STOP WRITING, YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL!"