The cloud home sits quiet, not a disturbance for miles. As the shadows thrown by Luna’s moon cascade across the rooms, a dim figure can almost be seen, creeping through the house. The mare stops her progress to take a slow, deliberate breath. This had to be the most nerve-racking situation she had ever been in, and she had been in a lot. Ninjas and sphinxes and fan clubs had nothing on how scared she was right now. She begins to move again, careful not to touch any of the furniture, careful not to step into the light or to make a noise. Her leg back leg aches from a recent wound, making it harder to keep silent. A single sound could mean the end for her. She hears movement, perhaps something shuffling. She stands stock-still. The seconds pass by with agonizing silence. She assumes it is safe to move again, must have been the wind. She is getting close to the door now. Since it is made of clouds, it will not creak or make a sound as she opens it. A perfect escape. Inch by inch she makes her way, closer and closer.
Suddenly, the room is illuminated by a bright light. Nearly blinded, she makes a rapid dash for the door, closing the last few steps and slamming into it uselessly. The door doesn’t budge, it opens in from this side, she forgot. She must accept defeat, and turn to face her captor. “Daring, what are you doing up at this hour? And what did I tell you about walking on that leg of yours? It’s not healed enough yet.”
Daring Do raises her head rebelliously to look at the face of the mysterious stallion. She could easily see the bags under his eyes, she had no idea what time it was. “I was just going out for a midnight fly. You know, to stretch a little.” she lied.
The stallion brings a hoof to his face in annoyance. Why won’t this mare allow herself to be cared for? Why won’t she allow herself to recover the right way? “Come on young lady, back to bed.”
She stomps her hoof on the cloud, which, since it’s a cloud, has little effect. “Young lady? Who do you think you are talking to?” she says in a playfully angry tone.
“I know exactly who I am talking to,” responded the gray pegasus. “Bed” he ordered again with a firmer tone, but not too firm.
Daring Do accepted defeat for the third time that night, and headed back to her room. The pegasus pony’s eyes track her as she leaves, while his mind is lost in thought.
~2 days prior…
Dawn breaks on another beautiful day in Equestria. The sun, though just coming up, is warm on the face. The weather patrol has their job cut out for them today. As a pegasus pony makes her way through a dense forest, she regrets that she will not be enjoying the perfect day outside for long. While admiring the sunrise, she is looking for the entrance to an ancient tomb, located somewhere south of Baltimare. Her goal? The treasures located within. Her name was Daring Do, and she was on a mission to retrieve the Enchanter’s Crown.
The crown is said to be located in the deepest part of an unnamed tomb. Soon, it will be hers. After searching for most of the morning, she nears a particularly dense area of trees and she notices strange carvings on one of the trunks. Upon closer inspection, she discovers that they are not trees at all. They are solid rock, carved to look like trees. She must be close to the entrance now! A quick lap around the enclosure reveals a gap between the rocks, just big enough for a pony to slip through. Inside the enclosure sits a stone arched doorway leading steeply into the ground. The passageway looks dark and damp and unwelcoming. “Perfect” said the adventurer, “just another day on the job.” Outside the entrance, carved into the stone itself, was a passage written in several different languages. She skimmed down until she found one she recognized and began to translate.
“Abandon hope, all those who alone enter here. For without a partner, steadfast at your side, you have no hope to survive the Paramour’s Tomb.”
“Paramour’s Tomb? What could that mean?” she thought out loud. “A paramour is a secret lover, a special somepony. How does that have anything to do with the Enchanter’s Crown?” She rubbed her forehead under her signature headpiece, contemplating whether to come back later with Rainbow Dash. Daring dismissed the thought, adjusted her hat, and entered the tomb. She must have translated it wrong. There is a first for everything, she thought.
After a little walking, Daring Do came to the first chamber, and the first puzzle. She couldn’t see anything in the room, it was too dark. On the wall next to her was a torch holder, luckily it still had a torch in it. She lit it up, and it started a chain reaction lighting the other torches in the room, as well as the rest of the tomb. There was a crevasse in the floor, with visibility ending mere feet from the edge. A bridge could be lowered over the gap, but how? Lining the chamber were several boulders, in the center was two pressure plates. “Hmm. I see now what it meant by needing a partner.” Daring thought. While thinking, she scanned around the room again to have her eyes fall on, obviously, her own wings. She could just fly over! “HAHA!” the mare said triumphantly as she flew over the crevasse with ease. Landing on the other side she thought, “If all the puzzles are that easy, I’ll be through this tomb in no time. She then dashed onward down the next corridor. It comes to a split, a left path and a right path. Without thinking she chooses the path on the right and plunges deeper into the tomb.
~Meanwhile…
A gray pegasus approaches the grove of stone trees, being able to locate it easily with the map he had. Upon finding the gap, he decides not to try getting stuck between the rocks and flies over the trees, landing in the clearing. Upon inspection of the tomb’s entrance, he also notices the engraving and translates it. “That’s it?” he said in confusion. “That’s all it’s going to tell me about the tomb?” his eyes scan farther down the rock face, looking for additional lines of warning. When he reached the base, he notices slightly smaller hoof prints in the dirt where he is standing. “That is strange. Nopony should have been here for hundreds of years. It must just be my imagination.” He too disregards the warning and journeys into the tomb.
Several traps later, Daring Do comes to another large chamber. The ceiling is much shorter in this room, and looks to be made of a strange pattern of rocks. A series of catwalks over a floor covered in sharp spikes seems to be the only way to the next door. “Looks like I’ll be able to fly over again.” She said, and she took off towards the ceiling. As she got closer to the ceiling, the textures seemed to be forming into shapes now. They almost started to look like, “…spears.”
The ceiling was covered in downward protruding, iron-tipped spears. The flapping of her wings caused several to dislodge and fall straight toward her. The adventurer performs several evasive maneuvers in the air, but only proceeded to make more projectiles come loose.
She is frantically flying for the opening now, narrowly dodging falling spears. The pegasus is flying too fast, and forgets to bring in her wings for the doorway. She scrapes her wings against the wall, scratching her left wing and losing some feathers.
She takes a moment to recover from her crash and catch her breath. “Wow. That was too close that time. Hopefully I won’t have to fly again.” Daring stands back up, folds her wings to her side gingerly, and continues down the hallway at a casual pace.
The mysterious gray pegasus has entered the first chamber now. The torches are already lit, was there another pony here before him? They couldn’t have been burning for long. After close inspection of the puzzle, he sees a solution. Using his leg strength, he pushes one of the boulders onto a pressure plate, and he himself stands on the other one. The bridge lowers and the pegasus proudly strides across the gap. “One down.” He says. This is going to be a piece of cake.
When he comes to the tunnel split, he sees more hoof prints in the dirt. “This is no coincidence. There has to be another pony down here somewhere. Do they know what they are getting themselves into? Do they know what dangers could lurk down here?” the gray pegasus canters down the left path. He had to catch up to this pony and escort them to safety, before it was too late.
Further into the maze, Daring Do comes to another chamber; this one is different from the rest. In the center of the room in a pedestal, an empty pedestal. Whatever used to sit in that location is gone, and the mount itself covered in some rather strange fingerprints. Fingerprints? Shouldn’t they be hoof prints?
Daring moves closer to inspect the platform, and confirms her suspicions, “They are fingerprints. And there is only on creature I know of that likes to hang around in old tombs, let alone have fingers… Ahuizotl.” She had to hurry now, knowing the powerful artifact is in danger of falling into the wrong hands. Daring gallops toward the next door, only to trip over a wire. “Tripwire…”
The earth begins to shake and the ceiling is literally falling to pieces. Giant slabs of rock and stone plummet to the floor around the renowned adventurer. She scrambles to her hooves and sprints for the exit. Luckily, she manages to make it to the doorway in one piece. “Phew,” she says in relief, “it’s a good thing that no one is following me in here…”
Back in the chamber with the spear, the anonymous pegasus has begun to make his way along the narrow catwalks. He had emerged from a tunnel located directly above the one that the previous pony came through. Suddenly, the room begins to quake as pieces of the walls and ceiling shatter and fall into the pit below. Thinking quickly, the pegasus leaps off the catwalks and proceeds to fly underneath of them. Using the walkways as cover, he reaches the other side and shoots through the exit hole.
He made it through without a scratch due to his quick thinking. “What was that?” he says in between pants. He didn’t set off any trap, he knows that. It must have been the other pony. “When I get my hooves on them… Gah. Whoever was stupid enough to journey into an old tomb and set off its traps. Any more of this and I’ll need a rescue as well. I better hurry before they bring the whole place down with their bumbling. I hope they survived that so I can give them a piece of my…“
His eyes found a light gold feather. In fact, there were multiple feathers lying strewn about the hallway. Some had blood on them, and several gray hairs were dropped as well. “The other pony, they must have gotten hurt. The wing, by the look of it, though they lost a couple mane hairs as well. At least now I know what color of pony I am searching for. Gold colored, with gray hair.”
The gray pony starts down the hallway, only to discover that the ceiling has caved in. Luckily, a hole in the wall has opened up a new path. The pegasus carefully slips through the hole and continue on. Through twisting turns this narrow tunnel is taking him, he’s not sure this is the right way anymore.
It almost seems like a secret passage. Maybe it will take him straight to the treasure room! He approaches an opening in the side of the tunnel up ahead, and looks through it. “Gasp!” he takes several speedy steps back, he just saw something on the other side. Something he didn’t expect to see again so soon.
It was Ahuizotl.
Seconds pass and nothing happens; he must not have been seen. The pony cautiously creeps up to the opening again and peeks through. He is looking through a crack into another room of the tomb. Ahuizotl is in the middle, trying to solve the puzzle to let him pass. It looked like a giant stone version of Dance Dance Revolution, and it worked the same way. Naturally, since this is a tomb made for couples, there are two platforms with arrows on them. Ahuizotl was trying to play both platforms at once. It was easy to say that the evil creature was not succeeding. His grunts and curses could be heard echoing around the room as the announcer tells him what a terrible job he is doing.
The gray pony chuckles to himself, “He’ll be there for a while. Maybe if he had one more hand?” the pony then leaves the comical scene in a significantly better mood.
Not too far ahead, Daring is coming to yet another seemingly bottomless pit. The only way across is a network of hanging stone slabs. The ropes holding them up looked ancient, and not very strong. The gold colored mare weighs her options; try her luck with the old ropes, or fly over. The pain in her wing reminded her that flying was not the best idea, but it seemed unavoidable now. She had to fly over or risk getting seriously hurt.
So Daring Do took flight into the air, careful not to strain herself. But the effort was too much, she was losing altitude fast as she neared the safety of the other side. She was falling a lot faster than she liked and contacted the ground with a sickening thud.
“Oof!” the landing had knocked the wind out of her, causing her to be momentarily disabled. She tried to get up, felt a sharp pain in her back leg, and lay back down again. She tried again to climb to her hooves, and again was met with searing pain in her right back leg, forcing her back to the ground.
“Horesapples!” She was almost panicking now, and quickly craned her neck to get a look at her leg. It wasn’t bent at a weird angle, nor did it look broken. A slight bruising was forming, but it didn’t look serious. The mare tried once again to raise herself. She managed to balance on three hooves, any weight on the fourth caused serious pain. She would just have to carry on and hope that she wouldn’t be doing any more flying. Walking was getting pretty tough too right about now.
Daring Do exits the room hearing the sound of stone being broken in the room behind her. It was probably just one of the platforms, she assumes. She limps down the tunnel leaving an obvious trail, but she didn’t care. There was probably nothing behind her and no way out but forward.
The gray pegasus finally comes to a dead end in his shortcut passage. The wall looked to be eroding a little, and light was showing through cracks in the stonework. It looked like sandstone, and sandstone could be broken easily.
The pony calls upon the applebucking lessons he was given by a particular blonde earth pony. The pegasus turns around and gives the wall a good solid kick and it crumbles away.
He emerges into a large room with a pit dividing it. The only way across the pit was a network of stone platforms suspended by ropes. The ropes looked ancient, but the craftsponies for this tomb were extremely skilled. The ropes were probably in good condition, strong enough to hold his weight and the stone slab’s.
His assumption is confirmed when he steps onto the first slab with no give or sway in the ropes. Feeling mildly confident he places a hoof on the second platform, only for it to crumble and disappear into the dark pit. He retreats a step, now not so sure of his safety.
For the first time he notices that the slabs have symbols carved on them, he had to extend his neck to see the symbols on the other platforms, but it seems that there was a letter on every one. If his translation is correct, he is standing on ‘P’. What letter was next?
On a hunch, the next tile he tries has ‘A’ on it, and it holds his weight. Next he went to ‘R’, then ‘A’, then ‘M’, ‘O’, ‘U’, and ‘R’. His next step put him safely on the other side.
“Of course,” he said to himself, “PARAMOUR.” He turns toward the exit as something catches his eye. In the dirt there is a small indent and a limping trail leading away. “Oh no.” the stallion said to no one in particular. “They must have tried to fly over again, but crashed. They could be seriously hurt!” he then gallops down the next tunnel as fast as his hooves could take him. “They can’t be far now…”
Daring is already at her next obstacle. Of course, it is another narrow, winding walkway over a ‘bottomless’ pit. It was just her rotten luck. It didn’t seem too difficult, but the pain in her back leg told her otherwise.
Steeling herself, she begins liming across. She is making good progress, but about a fourth of the way along the walkway it starts getting thinner and thinner until she is almost walking on a ledge. Sweat beads on her furrowed brow from concentration. Just as she thinks she’ll be able to handle it, ‘CRACK!’ echoes around the chamber.
The ledge breaks underneath her and they both plummet into the darkness.
Author's Note
Special thanks to my editor, D-VAL13NTE.
First chapter of my first story. Not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous as to how this is gonna turn out. Feel free to comment, I appreciate any feedback.
Sound
The only sense still registering in her brain. The sound of air rushing past her as she fell. She had no idea how long she has been falling, all she could see was darkness. It could have been, seconds, or minutes, she didn’t care. The great Daring Do had given up. She had failed, and was soundlessly falling toward her end. She didn’t know when she blacked out, but she remembered coming to traveling back up.
She was flying, somehow. As her senses came back to her, she realized she wasn’t flying, not be herself. She was being carried. There was something behind her that was holding her, carrying her to safety. She still couldn’t see any light above her yet, had no idea how long she had been falling, or when her mystery savior had caught her. Regaining some of her strength, she shifted restlessly, uncomfortable with being carried by who knows what. His hooves were digging into her armpits.
“Stop fidgeting.” was what the creature countered her movement with. Daring analyzed the voice. It was male, probably a pony. He didn’t sound evil, or like he would do her harm. He did sound strained though. She had no idea how long he had been carrying her; he must have extremely strong wing muscles.
“Do you want me to try to flap too?” she asked, hoping for a chance to do something to help the mystery pony.
“Only with your good wing, and only if you think you can handle it.” Was that annoyance that crept into his voice along with the relief? She couldn’t tell. She started flapping her good wing in rhythm with his wings, but only succeeded in throwing him off balance with his flying. On the bright side, they were moving at a slightly faster pace.
She could see a little light now, details started coming into focus. She could see the sides of the pit, and the walkway from which she fell. They fly up to safety slowly and he set her down as gently as he could. She appreciated it. Relief flooded through her with the feeling of solid ground beneath her. Now, in the light from burning torches, she could finally gaze upon her rescuer. He was a gray pegasus pony with a darker gray mane. His hair was tossed around his head, almost playfully. She sat up to get a better view of him. He was stretching from the long flight, his powerful wings extended. His wing feathers, it seemed, were layered perfectly. He obviously took very good care of himself. His legs were sturdy, yet not heavily built. His cutie mark was of 3 puzzle pieces; she wondered what that could mean. He was slim, toned, and lean. She couldn’t help admiring his frame. He had on a dull green vest with several pockets. Then she got to his face. He was handsome, there was no doubt about that. He had natural laughter lines in his face, as if he must have been smiling for his whole life. She also felt drawn to look into his blue eyes, such a rich color.
Thoughtlessly her own wings start to extend, causing her a sharp prick of pain. Embarrassment crept through her, she forced her wings closed without removing him from her sight. She was so caught up staring at him that she didn’t notice that he had begun staring back. She quickly looked away in embarrassment, as did he. The silence of the tomb is broken by his voice.
“Horsefeathers, we are on the wrong side.”
“No we are not,” she argued,”this is the side that goes deeper into the tomb.”
He brought his face around to look at her again, “That’s what I meant. We need to be heading for the exit, which is on the other side of the pit we barely just crossed.” He let a hint of annoyance creep into his voice, while he set his face sternly.
Jack may have looked like he was staring her in the eyes, but really he was examining the mare in front of him. Despite her apparent injuries she looked very fit. She had obviously been active and athletic for a long time, and it shown in her appearance. She had a very good body. And, he noted, she was pretty cute too. Her hair was colored in grayscale, and his previous observation about her coat being gold was correct. Her cutie mark was of a compass rose.
She had just said something, but he was distracted admiring her. “What?” he asked.
“I said, the tomb collapsed behind us, there is no way back.” The significance of her words set in, he knew she was right. But another thing occurred to him.
“Well you are hurt, pretty badly. And you shouldn’t even be here. If you hadn’t wandered into this tomb, you wouldn’t have set off the trap that caused the cave-in.” He remembered Ahuizotl, “And you have no idea what is lurking around in this tomb.”
Daring was taken aback; this mystery pony was blaming this all on her. She let the fact that he knew it was her who caused the cave-in slide off her. “I have no idea?” she thought he must have been stupid. He doesn’t know that the worst thing in the tomb isn’t the traps, it’s Ahuizotl. “It is you that doesn’t know what really ‘lurks’ in this tomb. I have every right to be here. Who are you?”
That is a reasonable question, the gray pony admitted to himself. He hadn’t thought about asking for her name, he thought guiltily.
My name is Jack Stone. You could call me a treasure hunter, or an adventurer. I journey into tombs and crypts to bring artifacts back for researchers and museums. I sell some of the items as well, but just enough to keep myself stocked and comfortable. Who are you?
“I am Daring Do.” she said, like it should have been obvious.
Jack had heard that name before. “Like from the adventure books?”
“Yeah, why? Have you read them?”
“I might have flipped through a few pages on occasion.” Jack had the full collection.
Daring paused for a moment to consider this new information. She wasn’t sure if this Jack Stone was to be trusted. But his story sounded convincing, and he DID save her life. She decided to dig for more information.
She decided to be blunt, “So you are here for the Enchanter’s Crown too?”
At the mentioning of his goal, Jack lapsed into educator mode. “Yes, the Enchanter’s Crown. It is said that whoever wears it can perform great acts of magic, even if they don’t have a horn. Their power is limitless; they can even enchant items with different spells and incantations. To have it fall into the wrong hands, well, I’m not going to let that happen.”
“But you are going to sell it!” Daring's previous run-ins with treasure hunters usually ended badly, what could make this one different. Once this was over, his friendly facade could easily dissolve into thin air as the greedy pegasus emerges.
Jack was surprised by her accusation. “NO! An artifact like this is too powerful. I am not some greedy amateur. I have a special place for the crown to go where no one will be able to get it.”
It could have been a bluff. But he sounded so... truthful. “Where could you possibly put something that powerful that nopony could find it?”
Jack smirked at the mare, clearly relishing in the moment of intellectual superiority, “Well, that is for me to know, and fictional characters to wonder about, now isn’t it?”
“Not if I get to it first!” she made a break for the next tunnel, only to not make it 2 steps before stumbling, landing hard on the ground. She lied painfully on the ground for the second time that day, and the red tinge of embarrassment creeped onto her face. Jack, reminded again of her injuries, rushed to her side and held her down with his hooves. Surprised, she retaliated, throwing herself around, trying to get him off her.
Briskly, he yelled, “Hold still! Buck, would you stop struggling I’m trying to help!” The mare stilled herself, momentarily shocked by the tone he took with her. Who did he think he was, talking to her like that? Now that she was lying still, he inspected her injuries, mumbling softly to himself.
“Scraped wing, minor, needs wrapping. Leg, badly bruised, but not broken. Needs splint, and rest.” He let out a drawn out sigh. “One problem at a time.” He reached into his vest and took out the necessary supplies. Jack bandaged her wing and made a splint for her leg, giving it support to help it heal properly. All the while she lay still, internally fuming. She was not happy with this self-proclaimed ‘treasure hunter’.
Not happy at all.
After he finished he helped her to her hooves, and the silence continued until broken. “I don’t suppose you will be heading anywhere near the exit, will you?” She shot him a steely look, giving him all the answer he needed. He conceded tot eh gold mare, “Alright, let’s get going then.” She took a step and stumbled, only for him to catch her.
“Stop. Here, lean on me. It’ll make things easier.” They set off down the next tunnel, her grunts and growls echoing off the tunnel walls. She was still silently fuming, and he picked up on it. After a little ways he stopped, moved a step away from her, and sat down against the tunnel wall. “Alright,” he said is a voice of surrender, “let’s have it.” He knew what was coming; she needed to get it out of her system. The gold coated mare exploded
“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, RAISING YOUR VOICE TO ME LIKE THAT? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO FOLLOW ME INOT A DANGEROUS TOMB AND HOLD ME ON THE GROUND! LET ALONE FEEL ME UP LIKE A PERVERT, WASTE VALUABLE BANDAGES ON ME, THEN TELLING ME WE SHOULD GO BACK THE WAY WE CAME! WHO ELECTED YOU THE EMPEROR OF THIS TOMB! I SWEAR IF I WASN’T SUCH A NICE PONY I WOULD BEAT THE CRABAPPLES OUT OF YOU, YOU HEAR? NOW I GOTTA GET THE REST OF THE WAY THROUGH THIS PLACE WHILE LOOKING OUT FOR YOU AT THE SAME TIME, WHILE YOU ARE INJURED! GAAHHH!!!”
The echoes of her outburst hang in the air of the tomb only to slowly be replaced by the sound of her heavy breathing. As she panted, momentarily exhausted by her own outburst, she made a shocking revelation. In the seconds of silence after she finished, she realized that she was referring to herself. He wasn’t injured, she was. She was just venting out of anger of her own mistakes over the day, and expressing her worry over the future. This time, she didn’t try to hide the feelings that washed over her face. Meanwhile, Jack sat unflinching through the whole ordeal. A feeling of understanding came over him. Now, he was no people-pony, and wasn’t exactly comfortable in social and personal situations. But this pony, this mare in front of him, he understood perfectly. He couldn’t say he wouldn’t have acted the same way in her circumstances.
The seconds go by as they got their feelings in check. Just above a whisper, she said, “Okay, I’m good. Let’s get going again.”
The gray pegasus rose to his hooves and moved to her side so she could lean on him again. As they started walking, he said in a calm, even voice,
“Don’t you worry Daring. I won’t let anything else happen to you.” His words touched her deeply, they sounded truthful. Astonishingly, she believed him.
As they continued into the tomb, she hid a smile under her hat, thinking positive thoughts.
