The moment that the chamber was sealed, Daring Do made a rapid assessment of the situation.
Ahuizotl had chosen lava this time for his death trap. She was strapped down to a wooden platform and lowered near enough to the lava she could feel the heat through it. If she didn't escape quickly the platform or ropes would burst into flame and that would be the end of her. To make it worse, her enemy had been smarter than usual and taken her gear away. Even if she could free herself from her bindings, her wings had been injured in the earlier confrontation and would be of no use in her escape.
Things looked grim indeed.
Well, first things first: get loose from the bindings. She slowly, but determinedly, began to wiggle back and forth to test the strength of the ropes and was rewarded with them loosening slightly. A triumphant grin briefly broke on her face before she wiped it away.
Too soon to celebrate.
Continuing to wiggle with the purpose of shifting herself out from within the ropes, she inched her way along — hindered by her forelegs still being trapped and by the need to protect her wings from additional injury. The platform growing ever hotter leant urgency to her efforts.
Finally, she got one foreleg free and then the other. With their aid she was completely free of the bindings in short order. Taking a quick glance around, she noticed a small stone platform sticking out of the wall nearby. She jumped to it and turned just in time to see the platform to which she had been bound burst into sudden bonfire. The heat of the sudden flames made her throw up a foreleg in front of her face in protection.
Step one complete, but she still needed to find a way out of the chamber and rescue her companion from Ahuizotl's evil clutches.
Now that the most immediate threat had been avoided she was able to more carefully assess the area. There were ledges of various sizes (and questionable stability) at odd intervals all along the wall. They would get her near the chamber door, but she wasn't sure how she would get into position where she could open it and escape yet.
Solve that problem when you get there. First I have to reach it.
That thought firmly in mind, she began jumping from ledge to ledge, inwardly cursing her inability to fly with each near-fall. Twice the ledge proved less sturdy than expected and broke to fall in the lava below as she leapt away just in time. She was sweating from her efforts and the heat of the lava by the time she finally arrived at the platform nearest the door.
Now what?
As she frowned and looked around for ideas she noticed that the previously fallen bits of platform were floating on the lava. That could be her way out.
She decided that luck was on her side as she noted a large broken chunk of stone on her own current platform. She shifted it to the edge, then gave it a sudden solid kick to send it toward the door. Luck was with her once again as the chunk landed near the door and floated there. Trusting in her luck to continue holding, she took a deep breath and jumped...
...and barely managed to avoid losing a leg in the lava as the stone shifted with her landing. Her heart was racing at the near-disaster, but she didn't have time to pause. The heat was extreme this close and so she quickly took advantage of her new position to pull open the door and jump out into the much cooler passageway beyond.
Now that she had rescued herself, it was time to rescue her companion. She listened carefully and managed to pick up the sounds of both Ahuizotl and her friend. At least that meant her friend was still alive and didn't sound injured. The trick now would be to make her way to them without drawing attention of either Ahuizotl or his minions. She hadn't seen any trace of them as yet, but that didn't mean they weren't there.
She began creeping down the dark passageway, ears perked and twitching immediately to any unexpected sound. There were a number of chambers off this passage and she took the care to peer cautiously into each one that was open in case of hidden threats. In this way she slowly approached the subdued voices.
She paused just outside the light from the large chamber at the end of the passage. She could now just barely see Ahuizotl, pinning her friend down to a small platform against a low wall. She couldn't see any other minions, and the fact he wasn't boasting loudly was an argument that there were none. She knew that he couldn’t help boasting if he had an audience.
She was worried though.
Ahuizotl's position had him facing away from her, but he could easily spot her if he merely turned his head the right way. Additionally, she worried that he was preparing to do something to her pinned friend. She had to act quickly.
She began creeping forward again as quietly as possible, but with an inner sense of urgency. That low wall against the platform was her goal. If she could get behind that he would not be able to easily see her and she could get the drop on him.
It felt like hours, but was really only a minute or two, when she managed to reach the meager protection she'd sought. She nearly gave a sigh of relief, but stopped herself just in time. This close to her enemy he might have heard her and then been on guard. She crouched in preparation for a leap and watched for an opening to exploit.
It came quickly. He raised himself up from her friend just a bit and his back became visible over the short barrier.
"DAWING DO TO THE WESCUE!" she screamed as she launched herself.
The surprise battle cry made him jerk upwards and more fully into her trajectory. She wrapped her hooves around his neck as she hit and they tumbled to the floor of the large room. There was a brief chaos of rolling bodies and flailing limbs, but she quickly triumphed and stood on top of her downed foe.
She grinned triumphantly down at his stunned face and declared, "I have escaped and wescued my fwiend fwom you evil gwasp! Admit defeat Ahuizotl!"
Shining Armor smirked down at his marefriend who was stretched out on the couch below him. "I told you I knew what I was doing. Almost an hour and not a sign of Twilight."
He found himself wavering between being annoyed or amused that her expression of amused haughtiness never wavered. It was that 'I know something you don't' look that she was so good at. "And I still think you're celebrating too soon."
He leaned down and nibbled at the tip of one of her ears, earning a giggle. He repeated the gesture and then whispered, "I told you: I tucked her in then told her the floor is lava when the door is closed. She still has enough imagination to treat it that way and not leave her bed."
He could feel the vibration of her laughing silently and pulled back a short distance so he could look questioningly into her eyes.
She couldn't help another small chuckle at his look, but answered the unasked question. "She does have an active imagination. That's the problem."
He leaned up away from her as he started to reply, "You just don't want to—"
"DAWING DO TO THE WESCUE!"
Shining jerked up fully in shock at the sudden shout from behind the couch and felt something slam into his side. He and the mystery object tumbled off the couch and onto the floor in a heap. He shook his head in an attempt to reorient himself and looked up to see Twilight standing over him looking massively pleased with herself.
She grinned triumphantly down at his stunned face and declared, "I have escaped and wescued my fwiend fwom you evil gwasp! Admit defeat Ahuizotl!"
His jaw hung open at the sudden turn of events and before he could reply he heard Cadance burst into unrestrained laughter, followed by a thump as she rolled off the couch in her mirth. He turned his head and found himself face-to-face with her. She had her own look of triumph even through the ongoing laughter.
Eventually she managed to reduce her laughing to mere giggles and declared, "I told you sending her to bed early wouldn't work!"
Author's Note
Had this one on the back burner ever since I colored up the bit of art I used as cover photo. Hope you all enjoyed. 
PS: Shining was forced by Cadance to clean up the mess and fallen furniture in her room that occurred during her "escape." 
